Wordpress have been putting out teasers for their open source iPhone client for a couple of weeks now and I’ve been keeping one eye eagerly on the app store ever since.

Finally it’s here and I’m typing this post on my phone and do you know what it’s pretty damn good. They don’t seem to have compromised on functionality to cram things in to the interface and hooking it up to a self hosted blog is a snap.

They’ve even done a very nice job of integrating safari into the client to show a live preview of your post. Only drawbacks I’ve spotted so far is that any photos added to a post just get dropped to the bottom rather than being able to insert them as you go and you don’t seem to be able to add links to posts which is a pretty major omission.

On that note, below is a little sign I spotted at kings cross that made me smile.

So, there I was this evening, with unusually a free evening and nothing planned…and there’s nothing on television. Apart from Heroes later, but i’ve already recorded that. So I fired up the iPlayer to see if it had anything to offer.

Since I last looked (and apologies if this is old news) they’ve launched a new beta version with a much more comprehensive interface. It makes it much quicker to browse through programmes with a more TV guide like approach. They’ve also made it easier to find multiple episodes of the same programme and group them together. But best of all, it certainly seems like you have to wade through a lot less daytime dreck like Doctors and Flog It! to get to the good stuff.

But as with most software, more choice brings more confusion and the array of new ways to slice and dice the data is, at first at least, quite arresting. Not so bad for me, but I can see my mum, who’s only just getting to grips with the whole TV over IP thing getting a bit of a surprise next time she logs in.

But the thing that really made me smile, and that I really hope is a deft little nod to Spinal Tap from the developers is that the volume control when streaming a programme, goes up to 11. That’s one louder. Marvellous.

There’s something quite sweet about the message that you get from the BBC iPlayer if you’ve yet to download anything. Most software would say something like “0 programmes downloaded” or “Programme Library Empty”, the BBC have gone for something a little more sweet and polite. It gives my inner pedant the same little frisson I get when I see the checkouts at M&S with their signs saying “5 items or fewer.”