Chortle reports that Ideal has been axed. The comedy was brave (given its subject matter), edgy and endlessly inventive. Even when it dialled down the comedy (as in the previous series), it retained the interest, with surreal darkness that came from a very odd place indeed.

Series creator Graham Duff revealed, naturally, that Ideal was getting its highest audience to date when the BBC pulled the plug, and reading between the lines at The British Comedy Guide, the decision seems more down to new (as of late 2010) controller Zai Bennett wanting to stamp his mark on the channel, by cancelling almost everything that was commissioned before he arrived.

This all means that Ideal’s multiple cliffhangers will never be resolved, but comedy fans can rejoice, because while Bennett is arguing for a clean sweep, that of course doesn’t apply to things he commissioned. And so the innovative, daring White Van Man, about a guy who takes over his dad’s decorating business (produced by ITV!) gets a second series. PHEW!

Man, I really want to be a highly paid analyst. Judging by this International Business Times report, the drugs must be amazing. Jeffries analyst Peter Misek:

Users want to be able to pick up any iPhone, iPad or Mac (or turn on their iTV) and have content move seamlessly between them and be optimized for the user and device currently being used. We believe this will be difficult to implement if iOS and OS X are kept separate

Gosh, yes. How—apart from iTunes, say—would Apple be able to utilise iCloud to shift content seamlessly between OS X Macs and iOS devices? If we, say, totally ignore iTunes, and also totally ignore any other software that Apple could easily weld to OS X if it felt like it, this looks to be totally impossible, without Apple hobbling its desktop machines by forcing them to run iOS as of next year.

I would write a full takedown on this piece, but my head hurts too much from REPEATEDLY SMASHING IT AGAINST MY DESK.

Via Sky News, it looks like the UK will finally allow format-shifting by law if proposals go through. Although the BPI has said in the past that it will not sue users ripping CDs to MP3 (or other digital formats) for personal use (Out-Law.com), there’s no provision for this action in UK law. I wonder how many British people even realise format-shifting for personal use is illegal, bar rare exceptions such as television recordings? (Hell, I bet many Brits don’t realise sharing media is illegal.)

According to Sky:

Today the Government is putting the wheels in motion to change this, allowing people to transfer content and make copies for their own and immediate family’s personal use.

The immediate family provision is interesting, because that will also enshrine in law the ability to make a copy that your family can use, which makes sense. Sadly, some people have repeatedly hit themselves with the stupid stick to the point that they don’t recognise what fair-use should entail. Jonathan Shalit, chairman of Roar Global, told Sky News:

The minute you say it is legal to copy something you’re then legitimising it

Oh do fuck right off, Jonathan Shalit. Are you honestly saying that you shouldn’t legitimise fair-use copying? Ah, of course you are: the repercussion for your clients is the inability to resell the same content again and again and again, on whichever media format is the flavour of the day. Again: fuck off, Jonathan Shalit.

and where does the barrier or boundaries of immediate family end.

Gosh, who knows? Maybe that can actually be defined in law, eh? Maybe the new laws will actually have details and stuff, like other existing laws? But here’s my guess: ‘immediate family’ will mean your immediate family. It’s not that tricky to comprehend as a concept, and is presumably designed for household use (i.e. you buy a CD and your wife can use the ripped version). This is sensible, unless, of course, you’re Jonathan Shalit.

I think it has not been well thought through and a lack of respect remains for artists who create the original product.

Those poor, starving artists, who are going to be BANKRUPT through people being able to legally format-shift (something they already do). Hey, how about this, Jonathan Shalit: why don’t we start respecting the consumers? Why shouldn’t I be able to buy a DVD and rip it to my Mac to stream to my Apple TV? Why shouldn’t I be able to buy a CD and then bung it on my iPod? The days of rebuying content whenever a new playback format arrived are dead. And I’m absolutely stoked to see the UK government—typically one of the least tech-savvy around—realising that content purchasers making copies for their own personal use are doing nothing wrong at all.

Via Daring Fireball, Amazon App Store: Rotten To The Core:

That’s right, Amazon gave away 101,491 copies of our app! At this point, we had a few seconds of excitement as well, had we mis-read the email and really earned $54,800 in one day? We would have done if our public agreement was in place, but we can now confirm that thanks to Amazon’s secret back-door deals, we made $0 on that day. That’s right, over 100,000 apps given away, $0 made. Did the exposure count for much in the days afterwards? That’s also a big no, the day after saw a blip in sales, followed by things going back to exactly where we started, selling a few apps a day. In fact Amazon decided to rub salt in the wounds a little further by discounting our app to 99 cents for a few days after the free promotion.

Classy. Apple has got a lot of things wrong with its App Store and how it treats devs, but it never pulls shit like this.

When you started up a Mac in the reasonably distant past, you got a smiling Mac face once the BONNNGGGG had faded. It was like being greeted by a friend, albeit one who’d end up keeling over time and time again, whenever you had the audacity to launch Internet Explorer.

In Mac OS X, Apple went a bit more corporate, with its logo ousting the wee Happy Mac, who was, presumably, shot in the head, as is the Cupertino way. Now, according to MacRumors, our chum is back, albeit in the shape of iCloud’s error messages, thereby proving one of two things:

1. Apple did indeed shoot Happy Mac to death and he’s now in digital heaven, but, shockingly, still under contract. *SADFACE*
2. Apple merely beat Happy Mac into the shape of a cloud, and now even forces him to wear stupid glasses and smile for the camera. FOR SHAME, STEVE JOBS!