I have found a site called Snap shot City through a conference about Creative Clusters. seems another chance to place some photos. Not sure where this is going but I welcome ways of linking the web and real life as it appears to be. i cannot yet get my head around Princesshay, it seems too expensive to survive somehow. Still it has established a mood in which Apple is prepared to try out Exeter so this cannot be bad while it lasts. Since actual wifi is still pretty rare in Exeter the prospect of phones with tunes is a way to continue the concept of connected cultural events.

My photo is part of the time travel theme.

Exeter City Council get a few things right, even if progress on wifi is a bit slow sometimes. The latest thing I have heard about is an ice rink at the castle over the winterlude. Sounds a really great idea.

Rougemont Global Broadcasting should get involved with this. RGB is a sort of experiment while Exeter Television is developing.

So here is a photo and a very short video.



The picture is a fake obviously. Original on Flick by Paul Keleher. Larger sizes also on Flickr

I seem to be in a critical mood today, but maybe some clarity will result.

The Guardian reports that OFCOM will investigate whether there may be future demand for more broadband. Something like that.

It seems to me this discussion more or less ignores the global context of what is happening already. Look at OECD figures from the end of 2006.

Fibre is already there in Korea and Japan. Even for ADSL the UK is in a lower tier than other places in Europe.

Should there have been a stronger role from government some time ago? Maybe, but the reality now is that developments around the web will probably happen first somewhere other than the UK.

As reported in The Guardian

Last week, Stephen Timms used his first big speech as minister for competitiveness to warn that the UK risks being left behind. "We need timely deployment of technology," he said. "We can't afford to lag behind others. We need the right conditions for the market to operate effectively."

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A recent topic is about another big win for Exeter, appearing on the Monopoly Board in an expensive area.

Carl, sorry mate, I am going to start raising questions about this.

I do a blog about "wifi Exeter" following an Intel survey claiming Exeter had the highest concentration of hotspots per capita. The blog has had to wander ever wider to find examples of wifi in actuality. My guess is that the number of IT Boxes in pubs where the staff know anything about it is in Exeter as a whole, speaking generally, approx zero. The amount of investigation from Exeter City Council into the potential cultural advantage of this infrastructure would also amount to nothing at all. My guess could be wrong so other info welcome.

I think Exeter should consider the reality of wifi, not just link to dubious press releases.

The Princesshay development may be a new era putting Exeter next to Bond Street. Or it may be unsustainable for a remote county town.

It is possible to go bancrupt building too many hotels.

Let us just stick to the aim of a base for Exeter on Facebook. It would be a start.

At the moment I am getting an error message when trying to connect to Exeter e-Friendly.

http://www.exeter.gov.uk/efriendly/

Maybe this is not the right address. Suggest Facebook meanwhile for continued discussion. The Today program thinks Facebook is legit so probably there are people in Exeter who check it sometimes.

Exciting news from Apple

Connect for free.

As long as you have an iPod touch, an iPhone, or a computer with the latest version of iTunes, you get free Wi-Fi access to the iTunes Store and to Starbucks Now Playing content.

Unfortunately this is only true so far in the USA.

New York and Seattle in October, Los Angeles and Chicago early next year.

But Exeter is somewhere on the Apple radar. One of the empty shops in Princesshay claims that Apple will be here soon. This is amazing and a tribute to the wonderful impact of the new buildings. Whether Exeter can sustain this style remains to be seen. Richer Sounds offers some alternatives at the end of Sidwell Street and some people will choose to compare prices when deciding on elecronic devices for the home.

There is a Starbucks in Exeter already, maybe more than one, so it is possible to imagine that the offer of free wifi while downloading tunes will arrive eventually.

Of course there is nothing to stop the combination of music and wifi happening anyway. For example there are now several screens showing adverts. Apparently they could relay sound but I know nothing about anyone trying this.

It is even possible that music could be broadcast outside some advertising or paid download scheme. Maybe the Autumn Festival would be an occasion to experiment.