So the new Bond film is called Quantum of Solace. A strange choice, it sounds like sci-fi, but the actual story behind the name was nothing of the sort. It first appeared as a short tale in For Your Eyes Only, the volume of stories that also contained A View to a Kill.
But just as [...]

We watched Goldfinger at the weekend. Rich had never seen it before, but he made a very good point: Bond doesn’t actually do anything.
M and the Governor of the Bank of England put him on to Goldfinger, so he does nothing there. Felix points him out in Miami, so he doesn’t even have to stalk [...]

The TV License is a brilliant way of funding the BBC, and I’d always defend its continued existence.
TV Licensing, though, is a vicious set-up that mercilessly hounds innocent individuals. Every three months or so for the last two years they have been threatening me with action over the fact that I don’t have a license. [...]

Have you got an iPhone? Then buy The Independent Guide to the iPhone. It’s the first time I’ve actually had my name on Amazon. The last book I wrote made it onto the site (and it’s still there today - see the grab below), but the publisher went bankrupt before they got it to print. [...]

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows marked the ultimate conclusion of JK Rowling’s wizarding epic.  She promised it would bring Harry’s journey to a logical conclusion, and largely it does.
The seventh book in the series, it is more than a single story, for while it could conceivably be read in isolation the assumption must [...]

If you didn’t see White Diamond last night, you missed it. In the cinema at least. It was a one-night-only showing of the film that documents Kylie’s return to the stage after winning her fight against breast cancer. It will be out on DVD in time for Christmas.
In the two hours it took to tell [...]

Two greats of radio and TV died yesterday, but while one received tributes on Radio 4, and will be highlighted in a special show tonight at 18h30, the other’s passing seems to have gone by relatively unnoticed.
Ned Sherrin, who died following complications with throat cancer, was probably better known for presenting Loose Ends for the [...]

The BBC has bought Lonely Planet. Not just a single guidebook to help research a coming series, but the whole lot. Books, websites, TV shows and all, though its commercial arm, BBC Worldwide. Reuters reckons it cost about £100m, which roughly roughly equates its profits last year.
It’s a logical fit, and great news for all [...]

The Eiffel Tower
Apple seems to take the Paris show far more seriously than London. I remember last year how there were Apple people here prowling the smaller stands to see what people were talking about. This year they’re even patrolling the press room. Admittedly not closely enough to see what you’re writing, but it’s interesting [...]

I’ve been to more than my fair share of launches over the last 12 years. Some lavish (first-class flights, a week in Japan, and dinner with a geisha); some not so (four journalists and two dozen product pushers at the London Dungeon - somewhere you don’t even want to head on a day out, never [...]