This half-hour radio 4 programme on the increasingly prevalent use of pilot-less drones in war gives a nice overview of the subject. Being so short, it doesn't go into some of the thornier issues surrounding their use - the law on extrajudicial executions, the differences in accountability between military and CIA use of drones - but it's extremely enlightening nonetheless.
I'll tell you what this blog post doesn't have: A link to the Times webiste, any mention of Muse, talk about scientology or the night sky.
So what am I rabbiting on about today?
Well, as we're starting our print module now, which is based on magazines, I thought i'd draw attention to quite a snazzy little online publication made by the radio station, talkSPORT.
It's a freebie and on the face of it, it looks quite light on content. But you'd be wrong. It has all sorts of things in it and pretty much everything is interactive. It has quizzes, embedded videos and everyones favourite... reviews! It also has women but that would be quite chauvinistic of me to go on about that so I won't mention it....
I love and I think it is epic.
We'll be taking a closer look at interactive magazines (and maybe even building our own version) in the online section of convergent journalism in the new year. The online page-turning idea has been around for years without ever having really taken off. And even the rich-media versions haven't put the concept into the mainstream. But there are still plenty of publishers giving them a go. I quite like the Wired one, produced by Ceros, the same outfit that does the talkSport one. It'll be interesting to see, for example, how the traffic to talksport's main web site compares with traffic to its interactive mag.
Weirdly enough, I was dreaming about interactive magazines last night. (Christmas break is obviously needed so that I can regain my sanity)
The content's not my cup of tea, but I like how they've done it. So much better than anything Muse could have done...
I completely agree. Then again, I wouldn't pay to watch them design an online magazine. They can't even make a decent music video.
Becci's inevitable response: They can't even write a decent song!
Consider the burden lifted. Thank me later.
My favourite bit of this issue is the Global Sport section (26 & 27). Great fun.