January, 2009
‘Star Wars: The Force Unleashed’ Review (Wii)
January 31, 2009
I was really looking forward to playing the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed game because I could wield my Wii remote like a lightsaber and take over the galaxy and destroy the empire! But in all honesty it’s left me wanting to ‘pick up some power converters’. Anyone? No? Well worth a try.
The storyline of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is good, with a few twists and turns that would make George Lucas jealous because it’s Star Wars….and it has a storyline that works.
You play Darth Vaders’ secret apprentice, and you’re sent on missions by Darth Vader to bring down the Empire. I won’t go into anymore detail on the story, because I’ll end up giving something away for those that don’t want to know.
Continue reading »British Airways To Allow In-Flight Mobile Phone Use
January 30, 2009
One of the more frustrating things about flights these days is the fact that, for the whole of the flight, you are disconnected from the rest of the world whilst you are on the plane, at least with regards to your mobile/smartphone – you cannot check emails, you can’t call someone to pick you up at the airport and you can’t surf the web.
You have never been able to use mobile phones on planes, and there are a few good reasons why not – imagine sitting next to an excitable businessman on a 12 hour trans-Atlantic flight as he talks continuously on his phone, fighting the sound of the engines all the time. But now British Airways has released plans to allow mobile phone use on planes which could dramatically change the nature of your flight.
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Mana Potion Energy Drink
January 30, 2009
Do you need more focus sometimes? Then maybe you need to stock up on some Mana Potion Energy Drinks!
Anybody who is familiar with any kind of fantasy role-playing game such as World of Warcraft will instantly know about mana potions and recognise what I’m talking about here! So there’s a potential customer base just there of over 11 million people!
Continue reading »Blackberry Bold 9000 Review
January 29, 2009
Of the three top smartphones that we have covered so far (Apple iPhone 3G, HTC Touch HD and the Nokia E71) none come from such a prestigious background as the Bold. Although ‘Blackberry’ only became mainstream in 2002 they did so in style soon winning over the hearts and wallets of millions of businesses and has become the number one company for business phones.
So much so that ‘Blackberry’ has almost become a noun to describe a smartphone; and if you are interested in American news you will also know that President Barack Obama has ‘fought’ to keep his Blackberry amid security warnings. So let’s have a look at the first of the two Blackberry phones we will cover – the Blackberry Bold 9000.
Continue reading »FEAR 2 – Live Event
January 29, 2009
For those of you out there who are fans of FEAR which was released back in 2005, FEAR 2 is to hit our shelves very soon!!
As part of the publicity for the game, the developers have come up with an ingenious competition that you shouldn’t miss. Although, it’s only available for 8 players, but you will be among but a few in the world to have played the game, and is taking place on Thursday 12th February 2009.
Continue reading »Energizer Advanced Lithium Batteries (Competition)
January 28, 2009
What is it that a lot of our Hi-Tech Gadgets need? Well an awful lot of them are reliant on using traditional sized batteries as their power source and now Energizer have announced a new range of batteries called Energizer Advanced Lithium.
These Energizer Advanced Lithium batteries will provide more power not only for your Energizer bunny toys, but also for your latest hi-tech devices such as wireless gaming controllers and accessories, handheld gaming devices, MP3 players and digital cameras.
Continue reading »Diggnation – Lost in Translation?
January 28, 2009
Diggnation is a weekly video podcast / Internet TV show that has been running for over 3 years now, which I only started watching back in early 2008. The show itself is basically two guys sat on sofa (or even a couch) discussing the latest popular websites and Internet news that’s covered on the social bookmarking/voting website of Digg.com.
The two American guys that present it Kevin Rose (founder of Digg.com, sometimes presenter of Digg Dialogg) and Alex Albrecht (also presenter of Totally Rad Show and Project Lore podcasts) normally discuss their popular ‘Digg’ items, general tech news and emails from viewers of the show in a way that I feel is quite universal. And as such they have fans and viewers of the show all over the world and regularly have ‘live events’ (where the show is filmed in front of a live audience) in different countries.
So this makes for quite an entertaining 45mins of viewing on a weekly basis if like me you like hearing about what’s happening on the Internet from two fairly entertaining guys sat on a sofa drinking alcohol or sometimes even herbal teas!
Continue reading »Sony PSP2 Rumours?
January 28, 2009
Rumours have been around since time began, and they have always offered an insight into what may be to come in the future, or what people want to see in the future. Either way they often do have at least a little truth in them, so when the new, latest stories regarding the possibility of the Sony PSP2 started to make the rounds it sparked great amounts of interest.
First let us look at the Sony PSP which has been in the news recently after the spat between Sony and Sony Ericsson over the brand name, and unsurprisingly it relates to technical specifications for the next PSP. It all started when IGN said that they had ‘credible sources’ that claimed the next PSP (for convenience sake coined the PSP 2) would come with a touchscreen similar to that seen in the iPhone.
Continue reading »The Digital Nomad: A Full Time Job – Part Two
January 27, 2009
I’m afraid it’s been a while since The Digital Nomad: A Full Time Job – Part One, so let me just re-cap…I wanted to “live the dream” of the Microsoft House, so to speak, and stream media all over the house, specifically video. As I found out, It really doesn’t work that easily in the real world, and after I was done complaining about Microsoft, I was about to tell you why.
I’m going to assume that you’re using a PC for all these shenanigans, because at least 92% of you are. If you are an 8% Mac user, please don’t respond in the comments section about how much easier all of this is on a Mac, because it isn’t (in fact, it’s worse), and because it doesn’t apply to most people, no-one really cares about what you think. This article does discuss Windows, but it isn’t about Windows. It’s about standards. It’s not my fault that you may be using Betamax. Now then, where’s my soap box…
Continue reading »Acer 10″ Netbook Announced
January 27, 2009
I am a big fan of netbooks: I love the way they combine portability with a machine that you can actually do things on without being bulky or fiddly (almost a compromise between a smartphone and a laptop). However during the last 6 months I have grown increasingly frustrated with the amount of netbooks being released by big names that have been so generic it is untrue.
But if you are going to look at netbooks you will see there are a few that immediately stand out: the Acer Aspire One, the Samsung NC10 and Asus’ N10 and numerous Eee PCs. They all occupy well defined rungs in the price ladder (roughly £200, £300, £450 [and everything in between for the Eee PCs] although obviously different models result in a large range). But Acer, who have so far been flushed with success, are hoping to displace the NC10 from this list.
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Boom Blox Review (Wii)
January 26, 2009
Boom Blox is an exclusive Nintendo Wii game made by movie director Steven Spielberg. He was actually directly involved in the making of this game devoting time to go to the studios every week giving his input.
Imagine yourself playing Jenga, but instead of pulling blocks from the stack, you throw a marble at the stack hoping to knock the blocks over. That is exactly how Boom Blox plays on the Nintendo Wii.
The game is played with just the Wii remote where you look at a block structure, point then lock it with the A button, then swing the Wii remote at your screen throwing a ball towards that block structure. The ball will knock that part of the structure which then will hopefully send all the blocks to the ground that will get you some points.
Continue reading »Nokia E71 Review
January 25, 2009
We have already looked at a couple of the leading top smartphones (Apple iPhone 3G and the HTC Touch HD) so it is time that we moved on to the third, and this one is a good example of how the ‘smartphone’ market is expanding. The Nokia E71 is the flagship of their business line up (which includes others such as the clunky yet versatile N96) and it is our first example of a ‘traditional’ smartphone.
This is different from the iPhone and the Touch HD because of the fact that it uses a QWERTY keyboard instead of a large touchscreen. This itself is something that automatically gives the phone certain advantages and disadvantages over the previous ones we’ve seen. The physical keyboard makes it easier and nicer to type, but the lack of a large screen means you can fit less on it, it limits multimedia offerings and you don’t get the ease of use that a touchscreen provides.
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Mirror’s Edge Review (PS3)
January 24, 2009
When I first saw Mirror’s Edge I wasn’t keen because I’d not heard anything about it and thought nothing of it. Then the demo became available on the PSN, so I downloaded it and was hooked! I had to have this game!
This is probably one of the most underrated and under publicised games on the PS3 thus far.
Mirror’s Edge sees you playing a runner called Faith. The storyline is a basic one but works well for a game like this.
Faith’s sister has been framed for the murder of a big business cheese, and it’s up to Faith to clear her name and save her sister.
Continue reading »HTC Touch HD Review
January 23, 2009
By now you will know what smartphones are and what we are looking for in a top smartphone, but does the HTC Touch HD have what it takes? They are becoming increasingly popular not only in the business sector but also for those who just want an ultimate phone. We’ve looked at the iPhone 3G which is widely accepted as the market leader, but what have the rest of the pack got to offer and do they even compete with the iPhone’s usability and design?
We move onto the HTC Touch HD which is the latest offering from the portable computing manufacturer, and at first look it is quite impressive. It has a nice black design and makes full use of it with a large touchscreen taking up most of the front of the phone, and like the iPhone there isn’t a QWERTY keyboard in sight.
Continue reading »Ericsson Slashes Workforce
January 22, 2009
Every day we hear depressing news of more companies laying off more staff in an attempt to cut expenditure and stay in the black, and no market seems to be excluded. Now it is the turns of the wireless world as LM Ericsson have announced that they have had to cut a massive 5,000 jobs.
This is a result of a large net profit fall from 5.6 billion kronor (around £480 million) to 3.9 billion (£335 million) which is not only due to the obvious affect of the credit crunch, but also because of “a dramatic drop in contribution” from Sony Ericsson the mobile handset manufacturers.
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iPhone 3G Review
January 22, 2009
When you think of some the top smartphones out there, you perhaps don’t consider the iPhone 3G to be one, more probably you think of a Blackberry – something with a little hard to use QWERTY keyboard that is able to do anything and everything that a phone could do. Whilst that idea is slightly outdated (they do not all have QWERTY keyboards, and they are not all hard to use) the idea that smartphones are super-phones is not far off the truth. They are the rung in the ladder between a standard mobile phone which allows you to communicate and a laptop that allows you to do work on the move.
But in the last few years the market has been thrust into the modern age, and many of the leading companies have found that they have a lot of catching up to do as they try to match what is now the benchmark for all smartphones – the iPhone. But is that really the best you can get? Have Blackberry, HTC and the like managed to cut back the gap and have they taken the prestigious top spot? There is only one way to find out and we will do this by looking at the top 6 smartphones you can get and seeing which tops our top smartphones list!
Continue reading »Star Wars Story – Told By A Girl Who Hasn’t Watched It!
January 21, 2009
I’m one of those people who never really watched Star Wars properly when I was a kid, I remember watching bits of those films, but I never truly appreciated them. That was until I watched them through properly once I was around 13 or 14, so I can understand how people kind of tie bits of movies together and form their own storyline – although I never thought about Star Wars to that extent myself!
Once I did watch Star Wars, then obviously the story is pretty self-evident and not exactly open to much interpretation, however watching the animation below which details a certain girl’s thoughts on what happens in the Star Wars movies – it certainly does provide a level of amusement to anyone who is familiar with the Star Wars story!
Continue reading »Spotify Invite Not Needed?
January 21, 2009
Music on the internet is a big thing in so many ways, not only have you got the online physical and digital sales but you also have the free online streaming services as well as the massive (estimates suggest even 95% of music download activity) illegal market. So it’s always great when people offer you free music and this is something you can access with a free Spotify invite for their beta.
Currently the Spotify beta will allow you to quickly and easily stream music through a combined use of streaming servers and peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. This system will be free, funded by the short adverts in-between songs (although so far I haven’t encountered many). Unfortunately this is only in the beta stage and only those people with invites can use it… but there is a back door so you a Spotify invite is not needed!
Continue reading »Lost-Heroes Parody Video
January 20, 2009
Given that this week sees the return of one of the biggest current TV shows out there – it’s only Lost season 5! I thought that this little parody video of a Lost and Heroes crossover story might give you a laugh and just keep you going until the new, penultimate series of Lost starts.
PSP Causes Sony–Sony Ericsson Split?
January 20, 2009
There have been rumours about a PSP phone for a long time now, and this and a portable Xbox 360 must make up the majority of the hoaxes that the market sees. However people have been fairly sure that Sony were going to release something to do with the PSP and a mobile at some point in the future, but I hate to disappoint you by saying that we are still no nearer to knowing anything useful about it.
However a nice little piece of information has sprung to the attention of rumour followers like me, and this concerns ‘goings on’ between Sony and its’ half brother Sony Ericsson. Since they began in 2001 Sony Ericsson have been constantly licensing brand names from Sony – such as Bravia and CyberShot – but it would appear that the two sides have had a little disagreement over the PSP.
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