Month: January 2010

Behind the Scenes of Inter vs Milan for ESPN

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My own notes, invaluable in times of severe panic

Sometimes a feed comes in, gets an English voiceover and is put straight to air on ESPN UK. But on Sunday, we pulled various aces from our sleeves to bring the Serie A “Milan Derby” to an expecting UK audience.

The feed comes in from Eutelsat W3 in HD, the studio for pre match presentation is SD, the commentators are on site in Milan and come in via ISDN. Question is: How do we synchronise comms with pictures, and how do we create HD graphics during the match?

We use pretty much EVERY piece of kit IMG Mediahouse has to offer, that’s how.

In this article, I’ll explain some of the challenges my dayjob in MCR has to offer. My colleagues and I feel like rockstars when a feat like this can successfully be pulled off, and I’m happy to say we did it once again.

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The scary truth about Google’s Chrome Propaganda

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If you’ve recently passed through Oxford Circus Station, you will have noticed only ONE advert on all billboards at the platform: Google Chrome, and how you desperately need it in your life. In fact, this ad is currently plastered all over the UK, and one must ask the all too obvious question:

Why advertise for a FREE product that won’t make any money?

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Bad Toast at Oxford Service Station on the M40

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Particularly rubbish for a shocking rip-off price: £7.99 for “The Big One”. Includes disgusting scrambled egg, terrible sausages and squidgy bacon. Hash browns and beans were OK, but then what can go wrong when all you’re doing is heat up the contents of a can. “Overpriced Shit” sounds way too positive. Verdict: no matter how …

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Treeworshippers (Etch A Sketch)

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I was going to call it “Sunworshippers” in hommage to the song by Mylo – but then I discovered that the “sun” didn’t actually look like a sun… so I turned it into a tree. Works much better.

It’s my first Etch-A-Sketch Masterpiece in Decades!

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We were passing through a service station in Beaconsfield very late yesterday and spent a spontaneous night at the Etap Hotel. It’s connected via a walkway to a 24hr neon world of McDonald’s, Starbuck’s and an Arcade featurung Outrun 2. It felt just like Vegas! We discovered a Pocket Etch-A-Sketch at WH Smith, and I …

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