From July 27, the BBC are going to be making their top shows free to download, a week after broadcast. We'll be able to view them but not save them, they say, and I'm sure that's just how it'll work out. You'll need a 2Mb broadband connection to download a half hour program in half an hour, so you can watch as you download.

The bad news is it's just for Windows. They say they're working on an Apple Mac version, but don't mention Linux in the article.

If you should find yourself browsing their offerings you could do worse than the new BBC series called Paris, in which charming, elegant art historian Sandrine Voillet wanders round that city being about as French as anyone could possibly be. I can't get enough of that kind of thing myself, and my daydreaming mind has clasped onto her and held fast, as she leads me gently through the boulevards and whispers sweet nothings about crepes Suzettes and chatelaines, before taking me up the Champs Elysees with a Pere Lachaise she's acquired for the purpose. Sacre Coeur!