William Hern

Author of the techno-thriller novel "CHRONOS"

Fair warning: Tweets frequently about Scottish football

(Profile photo courtesy of Nicholas Dawkes Photography)

[William Hern @whern]

"CHRONOS", a techno-thriller set in a near future where cryptocurrencies have been ubiquitous, is available in hardback, ebook and audiobook formats.

https://t.co/D5N1NNmeF3

[William Hern @whern]

Very sorry that @Twitterrific has had its access revoked, at zero notice. It was the way that I accessed Twitter - I have no interest in using the web browser. As such this is likely to be my last ever tweet. Those interested in what I'm doing should visit my website's blog page.

[Twitterrific @Twitterrific]

Today marks the end of an era. Sadly, we've been forced to pull Twitterrific from both the iOS and Mac App Stores.

Twitter’s unexplained revocation of our API access has left the app with no path forward. Please read our blog for more information🖖 https://t.co/UZSdmqZtMD

[William Hern @whern]

@chrisbaraniuk @bmj_latest Works for me! Great article Chris and thank you to the BMJ for relaxing the paywall to allow anyone to read it!

[William Hern @whern]

Amused by this rather substantial underestimate in the iPad version of the November edition of Scientific American. The authors, of course, meant 10 *to the power of* 82, not 1082!

[William Hern @whern]

@Diego_the_Artis @RupertLowe10 And I'm going to leave it at that. Thanks for the civilised discussion regarding the future of BBC radio!

[William Hern @whern]

@Diego_the_Artis @RupertLowe10 The relevant paragraph of the article:

[William Hern @whern]

@Diego_the_Artis @RupertLowe10 It's collected via the Compass platform that was created jointly by the BBC and Ipsos Mori. https://t.co/xpZ3nnu5UX

[William Hern @whern]

@Diego_the_Artis @RupertLowe10 I think a commercial driven BBC would be a very different organisation to the one that it is today. Many of the things that the Beeb does well - children's programming for example - would unlikely make the cut in a new, completely commercial, organisation.

[William Hern @whern]

@Diego_the_Artis @RupertLowe10 Almost 97% of British adults use BBC services every month (source: page 6 of the BBC Annual Report for 2022). You may not use any BBC services but the vast majority of British people do.

[William Hern @whern]

@Diego_the_Artis @RupertLowe10 I see the licence fee as the least-bad option but would consider a council tax-based fee so that it could become a more progressive tax. Higher-banded houses would pay more for the BBC than lower-banded ones.

[William Hern @whern]

@Diego_the_Artis @RupertLowe10 Subscription service is an unproven business model for public service broadcasting. Ads would result in massive cuts for BBC radio as well as cause many commercial stations to close.

[William Hern @whern]

@Diego_the_Artis @RupertLowe10 You call it horrendous, but it's well accepted by the industry and advertisers pay nearly £640M a year based on its numbers.

[William Hern @whern]

@Diego_the_Artis @RupertLowe10 The industry must have confidence in the numbers as they are used by the commercial stations to charge advertisers. If advertisers thought that the numbers were being overblown, they would refuse to pay.

[William Hern @whern]

@Diego_the_Artis @RupertLowe10 Regarding ads, according to Ofcom's latest Communications Market Report, the total UK ad business for radio is about £640M. The BBC spends almost £700M on its radio output. https://t.co/aGdmlOkwaS

[William Hern @whern]

@Diego_the_Artis @RupertLowe10 You can find out how RAJAR collects its audience listening numbers via its website, particularly this page - https://t.co/uTjWXEC7gK

[William Hern @whern]

@Diego_the_Artis @RupertLowe10 You're most welcome. Enjoy your walk!

[William Hern @whern]

@Diego_the_Artis @RupertLowe10 It's also mentioned in the latest Ofcom report for the BBC ...

https://t.co/CAj36vkzvY

[William Hern @whern]

@Diego_the_Artis @RupertLowe10 The BBC provides radio output simply not available elsewhere. Where's the commercial radio equivalent of "In Our Time", "From Our Own Correspondent" or "Witness History" on the World Service?

[William Hern @whern]

@Diego_the_Artis @RupertLowe10 Encryption of analogue radio signals is next to impossible and DAB encryption would require a new standard to be created, and then for everyone to buy new radios. Not great!