It’s not hard to guess what UK expats miss most when they’ve decided to move abroad. Obviously very few miss the weather, traffic jams and the hectic pace of life in these shores. However I’d guess most will tell you alongside some sort of quirky food stuffs that only exists in the UK – our television stations compares pretty well against international options.
When you’re used to the BBC for instance it can be a shock to find that everything you watch gets interrupted ever few minutes for awful advertising slots. So when the BBC introduced the Iplayer, all us refugees from the UK climate where rather pleased.
Unfortunately in this case the internet didn’t solve our problems at least initially. The problem was although the BBC site is accessible to all, the BBC Iplayer isn’t if you’re not in the United Kingdom. If you try and access the Iplayer abroad then you’ll get a warning message and will be blocked due to your location.
Fortunately it’s easy to bypass as it is for all the other UK stations that broadcast over the internet. You merely need to use either a proxy or VPN service which has a UK server. This will mean that your location looks like it’s in the UK and you’ll be able to watch what you like.
If you want another option then have a look at the amazing Slingbox. These little devices connect up to a TV and Sky box in the UK and allow you to control them and change channel and stream the content to your PC or phone. If you have this set up in a place in the UK it’s a great option although be warned that the UK person has to watch the same thing as you. It is also a bit disconcerting when the channel is being changed by someone living half way across the planet! For many though it’s worth doing and some people even pay for a separate subscription that can be used just for their use. All you need is a friend who can babysit your sky box and doesn’t mind you using their internet connection to upload the shows.
One of the most entertaining things that we can do with our iPad 2 is to download and enjoy different applications. There are a lot of fun and helpful applications in the app store and you’ll be surprised how some of them can help your daily lives.