September 2008 Archives
By Jay Garrett
Why? That was the very first thing that sprang to my lips when I discovered the latest venture by the large labels to convince us that we need another kind of physical media on which to carry our tunes.
Personally CD’s are my main alternative to MP3, WMA, FLAC, etc.
I still have my vinyl but that weighs a tonne and was never the most portable of formats – ask any DJ and then ask their chiropractor!
Continue reading Gadgets: Sandisk slotMusic.
By Dan Owen
MERLIN (BBC1, SAT 7.30PM) Here comes the next big Saturday night entertainment from the BBC, borne of the channel's success with Doctor Who and (to a lesser extent) Robin Hood.
This is essentially a family-orientated retelling of Arthurian legend with an eye on the Harry Potter crowd. Colin Morgan plays a young Merlin in the Dark Ages before Britain was established – a land where magic has been banned, pantomime-style, by the ruthless King Uther (Anthony Head)...
Continue reading TV Week: Merlin, Hole in the Wall and No Heroics.
By Erik Samdahl
I’ve been asked to cover this week’s Hollywood movie releases, and while I have the urge to recommend Ghost Town, which stars that funny British guy from "The Office" – since News:Lite is run by a bunch of funny British people – I have to go with Lakeview Terrace, which appears guaranteed to not feature a single British accent.
Of course, nationalities have nothing to do with my preference – Ghost Town looks mildly amusing even if utterly unoriginal as far as man-almost-dies-but-is-saved-but-now-can-see-annoying-dead-people-who-want-him-to-do-things-for-him kind of flicks – instead, the thought of Samuel L. Jackson and Patrick Wilson (Little Children and Hard Candy) as two quarreling neighbors makes my blood boil.
Continue reading Movies: Lakeview Terrace and Ghost Town.
By Jay Garrett
It's not every day that you are able to think to yourself, "you know what, I really fancy buying myself a Cray Supercomputer" and just go out and do it.
Well now you have that very chance.
Let me just throw some history at you: If you're not familiar with the Cray brand their first customer bought theirs in July '77, paying US$8.86 million (but that was including the $1 million for the disks) for the pleasure.
Continue reading Gadgets: Cray CX1 a personal supercomputer.
CHARLEY BOORMAN'S FROM IRELAND TO SYDNEY: BY ANY MEANS (BBC2, SUN 9PM) You might recognize Charley Boorman as Ewan McGregor's sidekick from The Long Way Round and The Long Way Down. He's the tramp-like son of director John Boorman (Deliverance), who's somehow persuaded the BBC to fund a Ewan-less trip from Ireland to Australia "by any means" (i.e. avoid airports.)
Charley's an affable bloke, but a weak TV personality. Without movie-star mate Ewan providing charm, energy and a reason for people to watch, Charley struggles to keep things involving.
Continue reading TV Week: From Ireland to Sydney, 8 Out of 10 Cats and Hell's Kitchen USA.
By Erik Samdahl
I’ve been asked to cover this week’s film releases, and while I set out to pan a bunch of movies – after all, September is the dumping ground for the worst of the worst that studios have to offer – I must say that this week is an amazingly good one.
Of all the new releases, I’d recommend Tyler Perry’s The Family That Preys more than any other… oh wait, this movie looks God awful. How many more movies can this man make, anyway, before he figures out that he’s just not very good at it?
By Jay Garrett
Well, what a week for gadgets and tech! There's so many things I could write about.
History has been made as The LHC (or 'the black hole maker' as I like to call it) has been switched on and those protons have made their first 27km sprint. Scary thing is that the boffins are surprised it's gone so well so far – fills you with confidence doesn't it?
Apple events are generally newsworthy and the one that took place in San Francisco produced a new generation of iPod Nano's, updated iPod Classics, a new iPod Touch trio with added Nike+ for the healthy and a Genius infused iTunes 8!
Continue reading Gadgets: Free Wi-Fi in public places.
By Dan Owen
PRISON BREAK (SKY1, TUE 9PM) "In 2004 Lincoln Burrows was sent to prison for a crime he didn't commit. He promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade (with the help of his genius brother Michael), to the Los Angeles underground…"
Yes, there's a definite A-Team vibe to Prison Break -- now, amazingly, in its fourth season. The show revamps itself annually, but this latest metamorphosis is the trickiest to accept. Season 1 was a high-concept prison thriller -- where an architect with the penitentiary's schematics inked on his body had to free his wrongly-imprisoned brother.
Continue reading TV Week: Prison Break, Lost in Austen and Big Brother 9.
By Jay Garrett
Before I go any further and get all carried away let me clear something up.
NFC, or Near Field Communication, is a form of wireless transfer 'tween gadgets up-to around 10cm's away from each other.
So, all this hullabaloo is about a jobby that allows you to pay for things using the wireless power of your mobile blower thanks to the partnership of O2 and Nokia.
The next phase is to whack this clever tech into actual everyday SIM cards so that more phones can be used as a mobile wallet.
Continue reading Gadgets: O2 Shouts Success Over NFC Trial!.
By Dan Owen
WOGAN'S PERFECT RECALL (CHANNEL 4, MON-FRI 5PM) Surely the title should be Wogan's Total Recall? Maybe they don't want us thinking Terry Wogan's taking over from Arnie in a violent Mars-based sci-fi action flick? Just imagine. No, the genial Irishman's "doing a Noel" and hosting a gameshow that requires its viewers are lobotomized.
Here, contestants answer simple questions and the easy answers must be remembered -- because they're also the answers to equally brainless questions later.
Continue reading TV Week: Wogan's Perfect Recall, Don't Miss a Trick and The Wrong Door.
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