YouTube Higher Quality Lands

Check this out; I thought I’d post up a version on the new Cadbury’s Chocolate Advert, but then I saw something different about YouTube.

Underneath the video, there’s now a link offering ‘watch this video in higher quality’. Clicking reloads the video in - you guessed it - higher quality.

I’ve yet to test the quality for HD compatibility, or to see if YouTube is just limiting the initial quality of the videos, and then offering the original, but this looks like a definate step in the right direction for the video giant.

Hit the jump for an example video, plus links >

Convergence Is Crushing Gadget Functionality

An article on MSN’s Tech and Gadgets section caught my eye today.

Called ‘Converging on a big mistake’, the article points out that technology convergenge - specifically in gadgets - isn’t so great, and can really make the water murky when it comes to functionality, as well as some other points.

To some extent, I agree with her. By cramming many gadgets in one, you tend to lose the essence of some of the functions that you’re putting in as extras. If you look at - oh, say - a mobile phone, you can get a mobile phone loaded with extras like video recording, still camera functionality, GPS, WiFi, and others.

On a mobile phone, the video camera quality is poor, the sound is tinny, the GPS is a little hard to use, and most mobile browsers are - I find - depressingly complex to use, and have cluttered interfaces. This is because the mobile phone isn’t meant for this kind of use, meaning you do get reduced quality of the in-built kind.

Finnish Minister Nailed For Saucy Texts

In my experience, it’s my opinion that those who text, flirt (I might call that Graham’s First Law - to the patent office!). Finland’s foreign minister has unfortunately discovered that those who flirt, get caught.

Ilkka Kanerva sent about 200 saucy texts to Johanna Tukiainen, an erotic dancer, and unfortunately - you guessed it - got caught.

Others in his political party are now calling for his resign, not helped by the fact that he admitted that the messages were less than kosher:

“I would not present them in Sunday School, but they are not totally out of line either”

Apparently Finnish TV station MTV3 heard from unnamed sources that Kanerva’s party is preparing for his resignation.

I guess the moral of the story here is ‘be seen, but not caught out’.

Doctor Who Returns For New Series, Geeks Rejoice

May the geeks of the world - or of the UK, anyway - rejoice. The BBC’s new series of the incredible Doctor Who has been announced for April the 5th, and I for one can’t wait.

If you’re really interested, you can check out a trailer for the new series over at the BBC, here.

Microsoft Developing Office Suite For iPhone - Really

It’s been confirmed to Fortune by Tom Gibbons - head of Microsoft’s Specialized Devices and Applications Group - that the Big Blue will be looking to bring its Office suite to the iSlates.

“To the extent that Mac Office customers have functionality that they need in that environment, we’re actually in the process of trying to understand that now.”

With the help of the iPhone SDK, the eggheads at Big Blue will also be bringing TellMe, a voice recognition technology that they acquired last year.

So it looks like Microsoft is opening up to the idea of rapidly emerging markets, and that they’re willing to take the plunge a lot sooner than I anticipated - either way, it’s great to see big companies playing nice for a change.

Graham

Verizon Wins 700Mhz Auction, And Why That’s Not So Great

What Just happened: Just as Gizmodo, and to a lesser extent I believed, Verizon has won the auction for rights to the 700Mhz chunk of the US airwaves. The Giz has a handy guide here about why that’s important, and what it is.

Why that’s not so great: Simply put, Verizon doesn’t really change things.

When Google threw their hat into the ring, opinions were divided on whether it was purely to save face, but I thought that a Google-owned 700Mhz band would have been far more interesting.

More info after the jump>