“Thought I’d just let you you can actually watch AlJazeera English in good quality here via the web.

They’re on this great new application called Live Station.

You go to their website, click on Watch Now at top left. This will give you a page which offers three ways of watching. Live Station (free) is the third and bottom option. Download takes a couple of minutes. The  its on your desktop.

It also lets you watch a whole slew of other international channels from the Beeb, ITN, France 24 (English) , Russia Today, Eronews in five languages etc – just by clicking round their carousel.

You just click on the icon at the top of screen to fill the smaller screen. Then you right click to go full screen.

Because AJE is fully HD the picture – even on a big wide computer monitor – is as good as TV. Even the other channels are eminently watchable.

That’s the live oputput.

All AJE programmes and news chunks can also be watched on their You Tube channel which you get to via their website.

Not that I’m suggesting you watch AJE all day!

More pointing out the cutting edge technology that has world networks at anyone’s finger tips.

It makes you wonder – again – at the media make-up of the future and the relationship between TV and online if you can get any TV show from anywhere anytime in acceptable to excellent quality.

Right now you can connect your laptops to your plasma if you want to – the pictures get grainier of course. But the technology is already being tested and even used by which will fix all that.

Who knows how it will all end. But certainly everyone has to sytop thinking in yterms of TV, online , radio or proint. It’s all just programming that follows you around.

I know youy write a lot of Fairfax .. I thought they were being very clever buying the broadcast house to get the expertise and wherewithal for TV and TV-like online production. But now they’re selling! Myopic in my view.”

Uechtritz, who on Facebook describes himself as a member of the group “People Who Always Have to Spell their Names for Other People” has had what might be called a rich career, which may be about to get a whole lot richer.

This evening Uechtritz told me the reason for his move was the opportunity to work with some of the best in the business, plus the Al Jazeera “mantra” of giving a voice to the voiceless.

Which of course, makes the station controversial. Not that Uechtritz will be any stranger to that.

Between 2000-2004, Uechtritz was Executive Director of News and Current Affairs with ABC Australia, appointed by but soon in conflict with the (ahem) mercurial managing director Jonathan Shier. It was reportedly Uechtritz standing up to Shier, resisting his moves against 7.30 Report host Kerry O’Brien that was the immediate cause of Shier’s removal by the ABC Board.

Then Uechtritz moved on to replace Peter Meakin as Director of News at the Nine Network, after Meakin stomped off after a clash with the “black prince” of the Packer organisation, John Alexander.

After that, he was Network Director of News for Nine Network Australia, and then came his current position as Editor in Chief of Ninemsn, the country’s leading web portal and notable in recent years for hiring and developing young journalistic talent at a time when that particular ball has been dropped by many other news organisations.

Al Jazeera English is, of course, the sister organisation to the Arab language Al Jazeera, and is the first English language news service to be headquartered in the Middle-East.

The station says it aims “to give voice to untold stories, promote debate, and challenge established perceptions”, and to “set the news agenda, bridging cultures and providing a unique grassroots perspective from under-reported regions around the world”.

In the past, of course, this has included getting the leaks of Osama bin Laden’s latest missives.

Uechtritz’s life is unlikely to get any quieter.

First Jonathan Shier, then John Alexander, then…Osama?

Uechtritz is due to take up his post on 18 January. He tells me that the Australian’s media commentator Mark Day has already promised to visit him.