BSkyB will launch its Sky Player online TV service on Microsoft’s XBox 360 tomorrow.

The Sky Player will provide video-on-demand service and access to live TV on 24 channels including movies and sports.

It will also provide a range of “unique interactive services”, including apps that allow viewers to communicate real time via XBox Live avatars while watching Sky Sports, and Twitter and Facebook apps in association with TV programmes.

For the app loving, football following, social media sort it seems a dream come true…

But there’s a catch. You’ll need an XBox Live Gold subscription for this one, and you’ll also need to be subscribed to Sky Movies and Sky Sports.

Find out more here

The launch of 0range’s new online press room and the Press Association’s new video news wire mark a significant day in the media world.

It’s a breath of fresh air to see a leading corporate and one the nation’s top media organisations recognise the benefits of digital communications and invest in it despite the recession.

I am in no doubt that this is not a coincidence and I suspect many businesses, if they have not done so already, will start to follow suit and change the way they communicate online.

This will open many ‘digital doors’ for companies like PR Newswire and RealWire – who offer social news releases; MeltWater and Precise – who offer online monitoring and evaluation; and most importantly for us PR people.

Granted, PAs service is aimed at national and regional broadcasters but I expect it won’t be long until they start compressing the footage to .mp4 or .flv and using it on their websites or social network profiles, e.g. YouTube.

And as this product develops so too will the PR industry – with a greater emphasis on creating and delivering video and providing ways for consumers to access social media profiles, such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.

These are exciting times for – which I’m sure, will move at a great speed. Watch this space…

Oh dear, Pc Rob Ward – what a silly boy you’ve been…

Among the variety of Facebook fuelled stories in the media over the past few years, I’ve now seen all three emergency services, the Army, MPs and banks stung by investigative ’social network’ journalism.

Do people and businesses not realise how easy it is to find information about themselves or their staff on the web?!

Granted, Pc Ward may have taken the necessary security measures and the Met may have even advised him to do so – but it seems that where there’s a will there’s a way when it comes to social networks and finding information, pictures or video.

Whether they get to you under a hoax name, or through a friend, or by bribing a follower – they’ll get you. And hats off to them.

But not everyone hack is there yet, in fact, the other day I had a journalist call me and ask  for a picture of an ex-client. Once I’d done my due diligence I said I’d look for it and send it through. I couldn’t find it in the end but suggested, seeing as he was at the end of his tether, that he looked him up on LinkedIn.

Five minutes later he emailed me: “Thanks. I would never had thought of that – way too new age. Brilliant!”

As with him, I am all for new age journalism – just hope it does not bite me one day…

Who really came out on top after the Met’s latest security blunder?

Was it the Met? Al Qaeda? Bob Quick? Or Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith?

It could be the Met, given Quick’s sharp resignation has now deflected the heat off of them at a time when Ian Tomlinson’s name is still firmly on the tip of everyone’s tongue.

But on the grounds that Quick jumped before he was pushed I am ruling the Met out – there’s no way they can be given the moral high-ground on this one.

Al Qaeda are an outside bet. After all the UK has lost a top anti-terror chief. But I’m not convinced for two reasons: 1) because the raid was still successful, thus weakening the terror group’s strength, and 2) because they should never win.

Now here’s a thought…could it be Jacqui Smith? Although she claimed she lost confidence in “bungling Bob” I’m not buying it. Nice try Jacqui but we all know you’re still looking for a scapegoat after your husband’s “bulging blondes” slip-up.

So, that leaves brand Bob Quick. And to be fair to him I think he deserves it. It’s refreshing to see senior public sector workers – come to think of it any public figure – stand up to their mistakes and take one on the chin.

Arise, Bob, quick, before I change my mind. Though I’m sure you’ll still land a cushtie little non-exec role somewhere…

This week’s front page splash in MediaGuardian re The Huffington Post has had me thinking…

This ‘digital whirlwind’ is not only leaving us PRs huffing and puffing as we try to embrace it, but it is also causing newspapers and blogs to change direction. So much so that there is now distinct overlap between the roles both play.

Up until a few years ago a newspaper was a newspaper, albeit in a printed and online version, and a blog was a blog.

But nowadays, with more and more newspaper readers preferring to read the news online for reasons such as, 24/7 updates or rich multi-media content, newspapers are having to provide a variety of content to satisfy a much greater demand.

And the best way of achieving this is by blogging. In doing so a journalist now gets three (four if you include Twitter) bites at the reader’s cherry:

1.   The print article – aka bread and butter, because it appeals to most and does the job

2.   The website article – the marmite covered toast, because…

3.   The blog – the coffee, pain au chocolat and freshly squeezed orange juice, because it goes the extra mile for the ‘thinking-man’ – offering a chance to savour the flavour and ponder further thought

4.   (Twitter – definitely a hard boiled egg, because it’s for cracking another time!!)

So, is it any wonder that bloggers have decided to do something about it? Are they really expected to sit back and watch their readership figures plummet while their ex-readers’ waistlines soar?

It seems that inheriting the investigative work of newspapers remains the only option for bloggers when it comes to tackling these all encompassing ‘news brands’, and as a newly founded blogger, I for one am ready for the challenge…