It’s a new year so time for another season of sports fixtures, all delivered directly to your calendar applications.

Over the last few years, you may have noticed I’ve been building quite a collection of sports-related calendar services which allow you to download or subscribe to certain sports fixtures throughout the year, making it easier to organise your social life. This year is no different.

6 Nations

The first sporting event of the year we’ll be embracing is the 6 Nations rugby competition between the Home Nations (England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland), France and Italy. This all kicks off on Saturday 6th February 2010 between Ireland and Italy at Croke Park and continues through to Saturday 20th March 2010.

To make sure you don’t miss any fixtures, download or subscribe to the 6 Nations fixtures calendar. Not much has changed on the website since last year with regards to design or functionality but, if you have any ideas for improvements, don’t hesitate to send them through.

Formula 1

Just as the 6 Nations competition comes to an end, the Formula 1 season will be starting with the Bahrain Grand Prix in Sakhir on Sunday 14th March 2010.

Working with the talented Andy Higgs, we’ve now updated the website inline with the new season and you’re now able to download or subscribe to the Formula 1 season calendar for 2010.

We’ve got a few improvements planned for the user interface later in the year but, to make sure you don’t miss any of the schedule, the calendar is readily available.

UEFA Champions League & Europa League

Last year, a team of us including Brian Suda - the inspiration behind all these calendar services - worked directly with UEFA on a dedicated solution for delivering the entire fixture schedule as downloadable UEFA calendar files, for both the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup (now know as the UEFA Europa League). Users were also able to access individual club calendars to focus specifically on a club of interest.

The original service was so well received, UEFA were keen to build on the service and offered us an opportunity to extend the functionality for the new season. Our proposal for Phase 2 was well received by the organisation and their Media & Technology department so we are now in full swing on the improved system architecture and additional functionality, scheduled for a three phase rollout over the next six months.

Everyone involved in the project is really excited about some of the upcoming functionality and, hopefully, the large user demographic will enjoy it as much as we will.

World Cup 2010

On the 11th June, the biggest football tournament in the World starts in South Africa - World Cup 2010.

With the huge success of the original World Cup KickOff - the first sports-based calendar service we built - we would have been foolish to ignore this opportunity.

Work has already began on the updated solution with Gareth Brown (from One Black Bear) working on the user interface while Brian and I continue to work on the development.

We’re also lining up an interesting partnership with London startup which should add some really special value to the user experience. It’s too early to say at this stage but, needless to say, it is going to be exciting.

We’re planning to launch this project for May 2010, giving you a month or so to plan your World Cup social calendar. If we can release it sooner, we certainly will but it’s better to be realistic than optimistic some times - best follow @worldcupko on Twitter for updates

Following last week’s show with Mark Doyle presenting the latest house tunes from his record box, here’s Week 16 of Fierce Angel Radio show for you to download and listen to at your leisure.

Don’t forget Fierce Disco 3 is out now, available on triple CD from Amazon for £9.98 or digital download from iTunes for £9.48.

Downloads

• Fierce Angel Radio - Week 16 (First Hour) (50.3MB)
  
• Fierce Angel Radio - Week 16 (Second Hour) (50.3MB)
• Fierce Angel Radio - Week 16 (Part 1) (37.16MB)
  
• Fierce Angel Radio - Week 16 (Part 2) (37.09MB
  
• Fierce Angel Radio - Week 16 (Part 3) (37.09MB)
• Fierce Angel Radio - Week 16 (Part 4) (37.13MB)

Track Listing

Part 1

1. Syke ‘N’ Sugarstarr ft Bonny Ferrer - Toda A Minha Vida [White]
2. Blank & Jones - Relax Your Mind (Ian Pooley Mix) [White]
3. Fac 15 ft Cathi O - Blue Skies (Beach House Mix) [Fierce Angel]
4. Wamdue Project - Closer Everyday (Wamdue 09 Mix)[White]
5. Born To Funk ft MC Cupid - U Rock The House [GFAB]
6. Daniel Merriweather - Red (Moto Blanco Club Remix)
7. Nadia Ali - Love Story (Album Mix) [White]
8. Wamdue Project - Fogiveness (Eric Kupper) [Fierce Angel]
9. Just Jack - Embers (Bimbo Jones Extended Club Mix) [White]

The Fierce Angel Classic

Lisa Lisa - Let The Beat Hit ‘Em (Part 2)

Six Degrees of Fierceness

1. Steve Angello, Axwell, Sebastian Ingrosso, Laidback Luke - Leave The World Behind
2. Milk N Sugar - Let The Sunshine (Milk N Sugar Global Mix)[Milk N Sugar]
3. Inaya Day meets Antoine Dessante - U (Antoine Dessante Club Mix) [White]
4. Whelan & Di Scala vs Max C - I Believe In Curves [3Beat Blue]
5. Out of Office - Love You Baby (Dabruck & Klein Vocal Mix) [White]
6. Agnes - Release Me (Moto Blanco Mix) [3Beat Blue]

Part 4

1. Get Far - Shining Star (Gianlucca Motta Extended) [White]
2. James Talk & Ridney - What You Need (Lenny Fontana Remix) [Promo CDR]
3. Funkfanatics ft Peyton - Love Is The Answer (Freemasons Mix) [Promo CDR]
4. Calvin Harris - I’m Not Alone (Deadmau5 Mix) [Sony BMG]
5. Arno Cost - Cyan 09 [CR2 Records]

Regular visitors of this website will know, I’m a huge advocate of the record label Fierce Angels. Mark Doyle has successfully managed to migrate his trademark style of dance and house music he founded in Hed Kandi into another fine brand which has gone from strength to strength over the last few years.

In the last year, Fierce Angels have started to broadcast their own radio show around the globe on a multitude of different radio stations. Recently, they managed to land some great slots around the UK but distribution still hasn’t reached all the local or regional stations (although I know Mark and the team are working hard to improve this).

Thankfully, there are some people around the globe who are recording and archiving the shows for the rest of us to hear while Fierce Angels resolve the issue.

With agreed permission from the Fierce Angel team, I will be doing my best to keep up with the latest Fierce Angel Radio MP3 offerings from around the Web and linking to the downloads from here, starting with (the rather late) Week 15.

Download the two separate MP3s from Mediafire

Track Listing

Part 1

1. Doman & Gooding - Pacific State (Main Mix) [White]
2. Nadia Ali - Love Story (Album Mix) [White]
3. Milk & Sugar - You Got Me Burnin (Milk & Sugar Mix) [Milk & Sugar]
4. (Unknown Artist) - Praise [White]
5. Degrees Of Motion - Show Me (RJ’s Original Vocal) [White]
6. Calvin Harris - I’m Not Alone (Extended Mix) [White]
7. Dino Lenny ft Ann Nesby - The Pressure (90’s Mix) [White]
8. Peyton - All That Matters [White]
9. Loletta Holloway - Love Sensation (Felix Baumgarter Mix) [Newstate]

The Fierce Angel Classic

Bel Amour - Bel Amour

Six Degrees of Fierceness

1. Sykes N Sugarstar ft Bonny Ferrer - Toda Minha Vida [Global]
2. Milk N Sugar - Let The Sunshine (Milk N Sugar Global Mix) [Milk N Sugar]
3. Alicia Keys - Hold Me (Eric Kupper Mix) [White]
4. Agnes - Release Me [3Beat Blue]
5. Elektra vs Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Thru The Grapevine [White]
6. Elektra vs The Stranglers - Always The Sun [White]

Part 4

1. Natsuyo ft Alexandra Prince - Rise Over [Avex]
2. Soul Avengerz - Someday [Soda]
3. JCA - I Begin To Wonder (2009 Mix) [Great Stuff]
4. Shanie - Read My Lips (Alex Graham Mix) [White]
5. Audio Guru - Down Below [Axus]

Before anyone asks for a podcast of the show, I can’t actually deliver that due to the techniques implemented on file sharing services like Mediafire who cover their download costs with surrounding adverts. It really is a small price to pay waiting 10-60 seconds for a free download to activate.

According to Feedburner statistics, the first Funky House Finesse was downloaded over 10,000 times - that is more than double of any single episode of the One Phat DJ Podcast. It just goes to show that funky house is still hugely popular online and there is a market for it.

The problem is this: I know that only a tiny minority of that figure actually spent money on the featured tracks. Naughty, naughty!

The reason Funky House Finesse is produced is to promote the latest funky house tunes to everyone, especially those tracks that don’t get prime time coverage but deserve it. Seriously, if you’re enjoying the tunes, reward the artists and producers for their efforts by purchasing the track. Nearly all the tracks featured are linked to legal download websites where you can buy the track, normally for about £1.

With the lecture out the way, let’s move on to the second show from the Funky House Finesse series.

Featuring some monster tracks from the likes of Bassmonkeys, De’lacy, Jay J, One Foot In The Groove, Rudenko, Bimbo Jones, Ricky Luchini, Moony and a sexy remix by Jazz N Groove of Soulsearcher’s classic “Can’t Get Enough” kicking the show off, you’re in for 90 minutes of pure class mixed up by your resident One Phat DJ.

As before, the show will only be available to download for 1 month so make sure you don’t delay and download it right away.

Download Funky House Finesse 2 (April 2009)

Funky House Finesse 2 will also be broadcast on Lifted Radio soon. Dates and times are still to be confirmed but I am over the moon about landing the slot. I’ve been keen to broadcast the Funky House Finesse shows since the start and its an honour that Lifted Radio have offered me the slot. I’ll be sure to announce where and when you can check it out.

Talking of Lifted Radio, good friend Paul Velocity who also hosts a fortnightly show every Thursday afternoon kindly allowed me to sort out a guest mix a few weeks back. Thankfully, you can download and listen to the Platform Six show any time you want as all the shows are archived in a podcast. Check it out - I start about 25 minutes in.

Finally, if you enjoy the Funky House Finesse series, how about contributing to the production and download costs? A lot of work goes into the show behind the scenes and those downloads don’t come for free - bandwidth for 10,000 MP3s over 100MB in size isn’t cheap so if you’re feeling generous, how about donating to the cause via PayPal? Click the button below.

With all that said and done, I present to you Funky House Finesse 2 (April 2009).

Don’t forget to send us feedback on the show and spread the word. Even a mention on Facebook or Twitter will do the job.

Track Listing

1. Soulsearcher - Can’t Get Enough (Jazz N Groove Nu Disco Vocal) [Defected]
2. Jay J ft Latrice - The One (Original Mix)
3. Passionardor - There’s A Candle (Passion Vocal Mix)
4. Leon Lopez - Dance (One Foot In The Groove Club Vox) [One Foot In The Groove Records]
5. Kings Of Groove ft Andrea Love - Dreaming About You (Original Mix)
6. Boheme ft Angie Brown - Music In My Life (Matt Williams & Steve Price Vocal Mix)
7. Bibi ft Malou Beauvoir - Got To Believe (Original Mix)
8. Ministry of Funk - Way Back (Clubzound Remix)
9. Rudenko - Everybody (Morjac Remix)
10. De’lacy & Marco Gee - Bodyswerve (Soulshaker Remix)
11. Bimbo Jones - And I Try (eSQUIRE Mix)
12. Ricky Luchini ft Moony - Little Bird (Disko Kriminals Klub Mix)
13. Bassmonkeys - Purplehaze (Original Mix)
14. Alessia Kay  & Cannyrock - Cube AH Reloaded (Soul Power Mix)
15. Da Slammin’ Phrogz - Something About The Music (Kamasutra Extended Mix)
16. Star Pilots - In The Heat Of The Night (Dave Armstrong Remix)
17. House Bros - Let The Music (House Bros Back To Funk Mix)