"So what did Ofcom do? Naturally, it listened to the public, ignored the uncompetitive rent-seeking proposals from the commercial sector, adhered to EU law, and rejected the proposal. Well, that's what they did in a parallel universe. In this universe, Ofcom accepted the self-serving arguments of the companies they're meant to be regulating, ignored the public whose interests they were meant to be safeguarding, and gave the BBC what it asked for. Why did it do this? It's a secret. But not any more."

YouTube HD has been in beta for a couple of weeks, now it's gone live, plus Facebook has also just implemented HD video. No more bothering with Vimeo for high-res video? Some links to announcements & commentary.

"The communications ministry is pouring 300 million yen into the NHK project to develop and launch a higher quality 33.2 million pixel broadcast standard by 2015."