Archive for July, 2007

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Highlight: Mr Paparazzi

July 9, 2007

Technorati Tags: Mr Paparazzi, media, celebrities, paparazzi, camphone, camera, photo, video

MAKE MONEY FROM YOUR SNAPS

Celebrities often complain about their glamorous lifestyles being tracked by the mainstream media and the attention that they receive. The division between their personal and professional lives is often indistinguishable. Celebrities often don’t get on with the paparazzi that hound them as they attend premieres, clubs and even their own homes. Now, the development of technology allows regular fans to make literally thousands of pounds for getting a quality shot that can be used in the media.
Camera phones are constantly improving. I used to see little point in taking VGA quality images using a fixed focus lens. The cameras integrated into phones used to be for novelty alone, now upping the mega pixel count, using auto focus and proper XENON flashes, it means that almost anyone has a decent camera with them all of the time. Add optical zooms to camphones and regular people could be getting that prize shot every time.
The Sony Ericsson K800 launched last year with a 3.2 mega pixel camera, auto focus and the XENON flash, making it suitable as a decent camera integrated into a phone (or should that be the other way round?). It’s successor, the K810 retained the decent camera, whilst the forthcoming K850 ups the mega pixel count to 5 mega pixels. That might be the same as the already available LG KG920 and Nokia N95, but with a XENON flash it will excel both as a well specc’d camera. Seriously, add optical zoom and cam phones will almost certainly beat stand alone digital cameras. Digital camera pics are still better, so if you have a choice take the snap using the highest res on a digital camera.
Mr Paparazzi aims to make your pics famous. No, not that one of your mate hanging from a tree. They’d rather have that one of Paris Hilton or an ex Big Brother contestant, wearing last year’s fashion, eating a burger or escaping from prison. If used, your image could fetch as much as £10,000. So, what are you waiting for, stop recording set-ups for You Tube’s Been Framed and get down to that Big Brother eviction night now.
Remember though, your aim is to get your image seen. So you shouldn’t be in the image with your arm wrapped around them, you probably shouldn’t be in their home (laws against that apparently) and ultimately don’t hang around, get your pics sent to them right away before someone else does or the news is like soooo last week.
They take videos as well as photos too. Get over to Mr Paparazzi if you think you have what they’re looking for.

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Can’t buy ‘two’ many iPhones

July 8, 2007

Had enough of iPhone related items yet? Nah, me neither. So here’s the story, a woman with plans to sell a number of the phones on eBay bought the first spot in line at an AT&T store for $800. But, she got the wrong end of the stick. Check out the video to see why.


iPhone Fan Sells His Place in Line $800 for the first spot in line, and he got a phone anyway.

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iWant an iPhone

July 7, 2007

Yes, you read right. After all I’ve said over the past few months about the iPhone. I want one. I mean who doesn’t. OK, it isn’t as fully featured as I may like, but it’s cool and that’s all that matters right? Of course, I jest, I’ll probably never own an iPhone, and honestly won’t have too many regrets about not owning such a popular, status symbol that has become the most desired product in consumer electronics. Nevertheless, if I could have one without the price tag, then show me the dotted line.

iWant an iPhone – the musical is a short music video to the tune of “I did it my way”. Totally reflecting the enormity of what is, the best, average mobile phone, media player, internet communicator available.

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Carbon Footprint

July 7, 2007

Technorati Tags: Consumer electronics, global warming, Sky, Dell, power, carbon footprint

Somebody slap me. Consumer electronics need power, even when in standby?!?!?

It’s obvious that flat panels require more energy than CRT TVs just based on the amount of heat that they produce and wattage. This might be improved with the next generation of displays using SED, OLED and LASER. I think that whilst consumers can do their bit, the consumer electronics industry needs to do a lot more to reduce energy. But it’s often an afterthought as they rush to get their next product into people’s homes. It’s taken a long time to make necessities such as washing machines and fridges which have longer life spans than consumer electronics technology that has a shorter life span; before becoming obsolete as it’s replaced with newer technology. It wouldn’t be too difficult to have a big impact, if devices like TVs were made to be more power efficient. A few months back, Sky released a firmware update to it’s STBs that will power the unit down into standby if it’s not being used for a period of two hours.

Why is the carbon footprint such a big problem? Trees take in carbon dioxide, then pump oxygen back into the air. So the solution, instead of complaining about reducing power, plant more trees! Dell recently started an initiative to plant trees with/without purchase. I also think that global warming is being over hyped. The Earth’s temperature does naturally rise and fall over long periods of time. I’m not trying to say that it’s right to abuse the environment, or that global warming doesn’t exist at all, but I don’t think it’s anywhere near as bad as what it is being made out to be.

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Samsung joins end of format war

July 5, 2007

Technorati Tags: HD-DVD, blu-ray, disc spinner, HD, high def, high definition, player, Samsung, BD-UP5000

Thought that the LG BH100‘s ability to spin both next gen disc formats was the solution to the format war but was left disappointed with it’s inability to play all those HD-DVD interactive features and it’s £1000 price tag? Well, now you can set yourself a new, more wallet pleasing aspiration; the Samsung BD-UP5000. Samsung, until now has been firmly in the blu ray camp, but now it’s new player is set to spin HD-DVD with all it’s extras as well as the faithful blu-ray. The best bit is the price, when Samsung first launched the BDP-1000, it had a price tag of between £800 and £1000, now the BD-UP5000 is predicted to be retailing at $545 (approximately £230 + VAT). That’s the kind of price that you’d pay for a stand alone HD-DVD spinner, and less than the X-BOX 360 or PS3. The format war could therefore be over when this player is set to launch in October. This could be the last format war that we ever see as we move toward downloading high quality movies from the net. Then we’ll choose the best format for ourselves to store our DRM ridden digital files.

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Smart umbrella ella ella

July 4, 2007

Technorati Tags: Ambient, Accuweather, umbrella, weather, rain, snow

As I post this, the weather is bleak, the roads are wet, rain is dripping from the leaves, it’s supposed to be summer and Forecast Fox (a Firefox weather add-on) is informing me that it’s currently “mostly sunny”. That add on is powered by Accuweather, an American weather service that’s failing to successfully inform me of what the weather is doing right now, let alone tomorrow. Now Ambient launch their umbrella for $125, also powered by Accuweather to inform you whether it’s going to rain/snow during the day with a glowing, blue LED toward the handle of the umbrella. Now this might be useful for someone who doesn’t watch television, listen to the radio or looks out of the window before going out in the morning, but for the rest of us, the inaccurate weather warnings from Accuweather are probably better to be avoided. The umbrella will doubtlessly fall apart like any other with the slightest breeze, which is something that you don’t want from a $125 umbrella. Now, if only they’d made this an adapter for your current umbrella.
[Read]
[Contact: Ambient Devices]

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Highlight: Bring back Wispa

July 3, 2007

Technorati Tags: bring back Wispa, iGeneration, Rik Waller, Cadbury, Web 2.0, Glastonbury

I recently blogged about the iGeneration taking the Internet by storm. Well now, I’m going to be featuring some of my personal highlights from the weird and wonderful sector of the web, now referred to as Web 2.0. My opinions on the latest technology news will continue to be covered alongside.

Wispa was a chocolate bar produced by Cadbury but was recently dropped from their product range, being supposedly replaced with Cadbury Bubbly. I came across this Bebo page after trying to find out whatever happened to the Wispa bar. The result is a campaign to bring back the Wispa bar, one which seems to be going well. Recently at Glastonbury, a number of people took to the stage armed with “bring back Wispa” banners during Iggy Pop’s performance at the event.

The campaign also has celebrity support from Rik Waller, something that I’m sure is a great achievement for any campaign – a self proclaimed obese, talent show loser. I can see him in role reversal, Subway style commercials now, “as i was growing up my thing i used to buy everyday on my way to school was the Wispa and I’m pretty sure this was the main reason why i am so obese to this day but all of this doesn’t matter to me as I’m quite close to suicide because i want it back, i am very willing to pay as much as i can to get it back so Cadbury, name your price”. I’m not totally sure how true this quote is (especially as Wikipedia is cited as a source) but it really can’t be a great image for the company.


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iPhone Smash Hit

July 3, 2007

Technorati Tags: iPhone, smash, broken, screen, glass, table, Apple

The iPhone’s been selling modestly well with it’s first mile stone of more than 500,000 handsets being sold within the launch weekend. At least one of which has been dropped in the street and another against a table (main image) as the owner tried to answer his phone whilst it was charging. The short cable suppplied with the device obviously wasn’t long enough, proving that Apple really have used glass rather than the plastic screens found on most mobiles. Hmm, it might be more scratch resistant, but it sure don’t take the knocks. They really don’t make ‘em like they used to do they?
The kind people at Apple replaced it for free. Well, when I say free, that is after they guy’s just entered into at two year contract that’s gonna cost him at least $2000, but hey Apple could have made him buy a new iPhone – it would boost their sales right?
Oh and just in case you were wondering how much it costs Apple for components, well 4GB iPhone is at $200 and the 8GB is $220. Reduce the cost of assembly and Apple sure has got a profitable device on it’s hands. Now you do the math for the 500,000 already sold at between $500 and $600 for the phones alone.

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iGeneration

July 2, 2007

Technorati Tags: iGeneration, Facebook, YouTube, Web 2.0, Glasgow International airport, tragedy, disaster, Sheffield flood, society, technology

Web 2.0 has taken the Internet to whole new levels, allowing people to share their photos, videos and portions of their lives. An increasing number of people are looking to the web for entertainment more than ever. Now it’s fair to say that people are spending more time online than they are watching television. Social networking sites like MySpace take a significant amount of dedication from their users for new online communities to thrive and develop. Now, Facebook is stealing some of Myspace glory as this is becoming the new, most popular, social networking site. Facebook has the advantage of a cleaner appearance and a policy that only allows friends to see people’s pages. A good thing certainly to restrict the amount of spam that is popping up on people’s spaces such as Myspace.

The iGeneration – as I like to refer to the current MTV generation – is now becoming featured more prominently outside the walls of the confines of the web. The majority of people have a camera with them wherever they are. Camera phones are coming of age, being used as stand alone cameras. Therefore becoming useful to capture the moments of everyday life and the more rare incidents that may become newsworthy. The recent devastation that struck Glasgow International Airport over the weekend could be captured as it was happening before news teams could be on the scene. This proves to be vital to represent the news items that matter, but also reflects the current state of technology in society.

I used to be totally against camera phones, yet now am warming to them. When they were VGA resolution, I could see little point in taking shots, it’d be more clear in my memory than on the low res shot. But now, camera phones are catching up to stand alone cameras. Not only the mega pixel count either, the use of XENON flash, auto focus and Carl Zeiss lenses are making cam phones more appealing. Add optical zoom and I might even consider ditching my standalone camera. There are still advantages to having pretty basic cameras with you all the time though. Aside from snapping your mates, they can be used to take decent quality snaps for other purposes. For example, it would be a good idea to take a picture after a car crash for proof to show the insurance company. When unlikely events happen, like the recent flooding across the UK, photos and videos can be taken and shared quickly with family, friends and the rest of the world thanks to the development of web 2.0. The image above shows the flooding from last Monday in Sheffield. It was taken using an 8 Megapixel digital camera, but others were out in force with a wide range of devices and abilities, right from small cam phone, right up to big boy D-SLRs. Whilst not every photo and video from the day was shared, uploading to the web allows people to see how it was for them. Footage from inside shopping centres shows just how bad the flooding was as the river Don burst its banks.
Here’s my video account of the flooding in Sheffield last Monday.

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Touch 2007

July 2, 2007

del.icio.us Tags: Apple, iPhone, HTC Touch, Microsoft, Surface, LG Prada phone, touch, multi-touch, laptop, touchpad

Technorati Tags: Apple, iPhone, HTC Touch, Microsoft, Surface, LG Prada phone, touch, multi-touch, laptop, touchpad


The Apple iPhone, Microsoft Surface, HTC Touch and LG Prada phone each share the same interaction method that’s becoming ever popular in 2007 – touch sensitivity. But now, unlike before touch sensitive innovations are incorporating multi-touch, that allows users to interact with virtual objects in a similar way to they way they would if they were real.
Now, Microsoft are demonstrating early prototypes of multi-touch being incorporated into laptop screens (see video below) whilst Apple are rumoured to be using similar technology in the touch pads for their forthcoming range of Macbooks. Let’s not forget, speech recognition was supposed to revolutionise the way that we interact with technology. Instead, it is frustrating and/or irritating, unless necessary, to speak continuously to computers. So, will touch sensitive devices prove to be truly innovative or will we become just as frustrated with smudged screens? Only time will tell, but right now I’m loving the concept of an innovative gimmick.