"I assuming the reference to Ireland was for the Republic of Ireland. But yeah Northern Ireland is part of the UK. Apparently the restrictions are both about accents, but also tuning to the place database for that country. The speech technology is from Nuance."
- Rafe Blandford
"Thanks for your comment. Some of the technologies - HTML 5 etc. seem to lend themselves to cross ecosystem activities - and lets face it for almost all service providers there's nothing to be gained by being in a single ecosystem... It sort of feels like it could be operator portals all over again. And the business that moves first (or maybe does most to enable this) may have a significant advantage. Just one of many reasons that the idea the ecosystem race is over is ridiculous in my opinion."
- Rafe Blandford
"I need at least 15 minutes to get half way through... and that's just sticking to apps. But I agree the apps discussion to often get simplified down to numbers and I think that can be very misleading. Like a lot of mobile there are so many overlapping factors its actually quite difficult to get a full grip on the subject and talk about it in a holistic way. One of the things that most irritates me is the general assumption is that everyone is the same and, with regards to apps, that is definitely not true - not just in type of apps, but also the importance and priority they attach to apps."
- Rafe Blandford
"In terms of reading / presentation - no changes needed. Clear, concise and informative. I already like the responsive nature of the design and the minimalist styling and use of white space. I tend to be alerted to stories via Twitter (and to a lesser extent RSS). With audio I like the ability to play embedded, but a nearby subscribe option is very helpful too. I don't watch that much video myself, but prefer YouTube or Vimeo embeds. The site works well on mobile device for me (in design terms). There might be scope for saving on image downloads by offering adaptive images (http://adaptive-images.com/) - though the savings here tend to be limited to really big images (and increasing mobile screen res isn't helping). The embedded video do not appear on Windows Phone devices, but I'm aware of some of the limitations here."
- Rafe Blandford
"The amount of news does vary from week to week... so obviously sometimes there is more to talk about that at other times. Ironically, judging by feedback, some people prefer fluff and more chat, while others like focused news and discussion. Got to get the balance right. I will be doing a review of this, but one good thing about doing it weekly is it establishes a regular pattern, both for us and listeners. One option I'm considering is dropping the length to 20 minutes on slower weeks."
- Rafe Blandford
"As the other commenter says this seem a bit strange. Worth checking the settings. Nokia devices are generally very good on GPS. With a internet connection present I'll get a lock in less than 15 seconds almost all the time. City canyons can cause problems, but even that seems to happen less now."
- Rafe Blandford
"Yep same here. This is one of those app I'll happily have used C disk space. It is really very impressive and under rated by most IMO. The Symbian version is also a long long way ahead of the Windows Phone version too."
- Rafe Blandford
"Thanks, that info was based on the Beta Labs site. I guess the Irish accent is close enough (I assume that's the reason for the restrictions)."
- Rafe Blandford