September 2009 Archives

By Jay Garrett

Hello Gadgety fans!

Since my last post I’ve witnessed a kettle from Bugatti, seen Apple TV prices cut and the 40GB version trashed, an iPod being controlled by a magic wand.

Speaking of magic: There’s also a tiny hand-held printer that seems to print by pure magic and a light that is actually powered by blood!

I am not ashamed to say that I have been tempted over to the Apply side of things.  I ‘heart’ my iPhone and have stroked many a MacBook thinking that, one day, I may actually make a purchase.

Thing is – I am a PC.

So; to readdress the balance of my many articles about iPods, iTunes, iPhones and the appstore – here’s some Microsoft flavoured news.

It’s been a while since any noise has escaped from Microsoft Pink-land but the Redmond HQ has been letting slip that it will be busting out a pair of smartphones, with the help of subsidiary – Danger.

By Dan Owen

All publicity is good publicity. When Charlie Brooker savaged DEADLIEST WARRIOR on You Have Been Watching, he actually gave it the kind of marketing push execs can only dream of. The eight-part Spike series was swiftly picked up by Bravo for transmission in the UK and, I have to admit, it's become my go-to for bad taste TV ever since. The series is a drunken pub debate brought to gruesome life, as a team of so-called experts test the killing prowess of two "warriors" (both modern and historical) in a series of tests and simulations, regularly involving pig carcasses.



Gladiator vs. Apache, Viking vs. Samurai, Pirate vs. Knight, Green Beret vs. Spetsnaz. Every wondered who would win in those match-ups? Deadliest Warrior will provide you the answer. You'll even learn what a Spetsnaz is. Of course it's impossible to know who'd be victorious for sure (especially in the case of the historical fighters), but the team have a "computer program" that they claim can run accurate battle simulations between the competitors, using data on the speed, accuracy and efficiency of weapons. I'd love to get my hands on that software, because it sounds like utter nonsense, which it almost certainly is. Every episode climaxes with a dramatized fight between grunting actors, so clearly the writers and choreographers have more sway over who's crowned the winner?

By Dan Owen

A new breed of wildlife documentary has been discovered by the BBC; one that combines the usual lush HD photography with a sense of human exploration and pure adventure. Following the success of Lost Land Of The Jaguar last year, the same team of scientists, naturalists and filmmakers have descended on the jungles of New Guinea -- another "unexplored" region that, in an amusing inconsistency, is later revealed to have been explored a few years back by a group that even left behind some old gear. Way to blow the illusion, guys...

The beauty of LOST LAND OF THE VOLCANO is how it cultivates a sense of discovery and adventure from the comfort of your armchair. You half expect the team to stumble upon a tribe sacrificing a blonde showgirl to a giant gorilla, or for a T-Rex to explode out of the foliage and chomp the head off one of the bearded eggheads. It actually makes me sad documentary filmmaking like this wasn't around when explorers really were venturing into uncharted territory. I guess this is as close as we'll get to a fly-on-the-wall expedition led by Dr. Livingtone in the 21st-century. It's easy to be drawn into the vibe Lost Land wants us to feel, even though I suspect the series is exaggerated for effect.

By Jay Garrett

Hello again Gadgety faithful!

I have managed to successfully move home and now am part of the Walthamstow Massive – albeit without an internet connection.  This shall be sorted on Friday hopefully when I get my Virgin installed ;)

Anyhooooo…….

As I type this; the Apple event is about to start – will there be a tablet, new iPods, new AppleTV’s or even HDTV’s?

I guess we’ll all know by the time you read this

On the subject of Apple Tablets – Toshiba’s JournE Touch looks rather nice.

Asus have brought some tasty offerings to the gadgety table this week with news that their dual screened, colour eReader (or EeeReader) is official and could come to the UK – that should shake up Amazon!

The other thing Asus is tempting us with is the binary design lead Designo MS LCD monitors – full HD and wafer thin! Mmmmmmm……….