A report out this week suggests that TV viewers in the UK are now consuming more ads than ever before. This is purely taking into account actual television viewing, and not online TV, and the stats line up something like this: 16.7 hours of commercial TV per week on average in the first half of 2009 that’s up 9.9 minutes on 2008, which isn’t a lot, but who was expecting it to go up? commercial TV is now 63.7% of all broadcast TV viewing that’s up 3.2% on the last five years (still only counting the first half of the year) the Beeb accounts for the rest, naturally That’s good news for ITV, who had to sell their Friends Reunited site at a loss of almost £100 million, and I forget where I read it, but were also advised that going pay TV would be the best way to protect their future.

I was converted to Google Reader a while ago, after I decided I needed to be able to check my RSS feeds while I was out and about. Until then, I had happily used FeedDemon, which then became Net News Wire when I switched to a Mac. It didn’t take long for me to be convinced that Google reading is the way to go, because: If you’re on a site, you can click the subscribe to feed button, add to Google and you’re done. Easy. You can rename feed subscriptions. I don’t think this is an unusual trait for a feed reader, but I have come across many issues with trying to rename feeds, particularly with them being overwritten every time you hit refresh. Google doesn’t seem to have this problem. My favourite thing about the Google reader is that you can have it only show you the items that are unread, thus eliminating the need to scroll through feeds that aren’t updating very often. It’s also very handy that you can look back through unread items if you so desire, going back even before you subscribed to the feed in the first place. To my knowledge, it also manages to go back in time further than what is on the feed itself, which blows my mind a little bit. I am not sure about the whole new sharing thing, but it seems kinda cool. I haven’t used it to any degree, but it looks like a new way of sharing somewhat equivalent to Delicious. Perhaps I’ll take a look soon. Given these reasons, I am very unlikely to go back to a desktop only version of feed reading. However, I did look for a way to sync my feeds back to a desktop app, because I do feel more comfortable using apps when at home, rather than a browser.

As heard on CNET’s Buzz Out Loud, EMI are apparently backing out of deals with smaller retailers in the US, preferring to only sell to the big stores, such as Walmart and Best Buy. I don’t know why they’d stop, surely it is the same price to deliver to one store as it is to another, however, this is bad news for physical music sales. Independent CD shops tend to have a much wider selection, buy and sell used music, and can track down relatively unknown artists. I don’t remember the last time I bought a CD, and I won’t notice when these shops disappear. I think a lot of people will though.

I have been waiting for a decent way to sync my feeds to the desktop from Google Reader, whilst still being able to keep up with them out and about. My only problem with this so far is that I forgot I already had NNW installed, and my two sets of feeds have merged somewhat. It’ll take a while to sort, but I have a feeling it will be worth it.

Apparently the successor to the somewhat aging USB 2.0 interface will be known as Super Speed USB. The current interface answers to the name High Speed, leaving little wiggle room for 3.0 to go bigger, but bless it for trying anyhow. I cannot wait to learn what comes next. Should we take suggestions now? I’m pitching Supercalifragilistic USB. You? Written by Mr C.

Leo has added to his ever-expanding network with a new show: This Week in Google. The first show is live, featuring Gina Trapani and Jeff Jarvis, with topics including Apple blocking the Google Voice app, drunk emailing, and Google Wave. Always recommend checking out a new TWiT show, even if it’s not your thing.