Two Sky Sports presenters have caused a stir following comments they made while they thought they were off-mic about female official at the Wolves v Liverpool match on Sunday. 

The coverage of the conversation has been all over the media today, even on Sky News. 

This story highlights something that everyone who ever comes into contact with the media should already understand. There is no such thing as "off the record." I was once told if you wouldn't want your grandmother to hear it, don't say it in front of a microphone. 

In some respects, that's the thing I find more shocking here. Not that men have a prejudice view of women in football, sadly that is frequently all too obvious although incidents like this show how unacceptable it is. The thing I find surprising was that two broadcasters who have plenty of experience between them didn't realise that what they were saying would be recorded and therefore would ineviatbly leak out. 

More worryingly, perhaps they didn't think it would matter? If that is the case then I expect they now realise the extent their naivety. There is no way a business like Sky can afford to be seen to support such out-dated and discriminatory views. 

I suggest that Sky Sports consider sending the two of them to meet with some of the very talented female footballers and officials, and for them to explain why their views were so wrong.  

  Apple is widely expected to launch it's iAd mobile advertising platform in the UK in December. They have apparently signed up a host of big name brands to kick start things too, including Unilever, Nespresso, Renault and Absolute Radio. The idea behind the platform is to allow developers to include ads within their apps. They are hosted by Apple who sell the space to the developers. So the first hitch is the high price tag that Apple is apparently demanding for the ads - reportedly around ten times the current average cost for similar campaigns. The other possible stumbling block for advertisers could be the perennial Apple problem of control. It is true to say the company likes to keep a very tight grip on their platforms and products, for example the approval process for the App Store. Indeed, on announcing their plans for iAd Apple said all of the advertisements would be polished and high quality. This seems to have led to a prolonged creative process which could stymie growth especially for smaller agencies or brands. Whatever the issues though, there is no doubt in my mind that the arrival of iAd in the UK will be huge for the mobile advertising business. It offers new opportunities the likes of which haven't really been seen before and one thing is certainly true, that it will only help Apple's profits to grow even further.  

 

So Andrew Marr has vented his spleen against bloggers of all people. Apparently at the Cheltenham Literary Festival the former BBC Political Editor said that most bloggers are: "bald, cauliflower-nosed, young men sitting in their mother’s basements and ranting."

As you might expect the internet is now aflame with a backlash of posts hitting back at the comments which are obviously fairly ill thought through and out of touch.

Even his own employer dear old Auntie has for some time seen the advantage of encouraging their most expert commentators, including Marr's successor Nick Robinson, to write blogs giving insightful comment to supplement their broadcasting.

The thing that I'm really wondering though, is why Marr is so irked by the online comentators? Is it because unlike him they are not constrained to a Sunday morning television programme to break political stories and therefore are in a position to run stories on any day of the week, there by scooping the traditional end of the week exclusives.

 

So earlier this week twitter made a big announcement. The most interesting thing is that media such as videos and images will now appear in the stream rather like Facebook.

This is important because it means no longer will you have to go off of the current page to see what tweets are talking about. It means that sponsored tweets could include the YouTube video in support of the campaign will show up there in the feed. Clever social media chap Paul Armstrong has a good post for PR Week on the significance of this.

The design is clearly based on new Twitter iPad client and from the shots I've seen looks very slick and smooth.

It just shows how quickly things are moving for the social media site, which I joined in December 2006. In those days no one had an iPhone and mobile internet was very much a fledgling technology which meant the only way to interact with the site on the move was by using SMS. Now it is possible not only to tweet directly using any number of client apps but also take photos and even upload videos directly from your phone. Basically people, the future is here.

As a radio man, my usual routine in the morning revolves around listening to as much wireless as possible, usually switching between national stations upstairs on the clock radio, a local station in the kitchen while I have my breakfast and then something speech based in the car on my way to the office.

Not this week though. While watching my breakfast I've been giving the new morning show from ITV a try. It has replaced GMTV which was largely responsible for launching the TV careers of Eamonn Holmes, Dr. Hillary Jones, Fiona Phillips and Penny Smith.

It is early days for the new show that launched after much fanfare for poaching Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley who proved popular on the BBC's One Show. Their chemistry is apparently what turned their previous show into a ratings winner, and I must admit I have enjoyed watching them this week.

The features seem to me to be more news orientated than GMTV used to be, there have been some very strong items including a look at what happened to those who lost out over the Farepak collapse two years ago, and interviews with Tony Blair and Prince Charles.

There are some things which still need work though, several blogs I've read have picked up on the ridiculously easy quiz question, and the "Something cool before the kids go to school" feature feels like it could be running out of steam already.

The most noticeable difference for the new show is the set, which has a very impressive view over London, although I do wonder what will happen as winter draws in and the mornings get noticeably darker!

Overall I think that ITV Daybreak has had an impressive first week and I have high hopes that it will continue to do well. I expect there will be some producers responsible for BBC Breakfast having a few tough conversations too as it does make their offering look a little tired and dull. It's no competition for the radio in the car though!