iTunes 11

Daring Fireball has published a thoughtful opinion piece on Apple's latest version of iTunes.

Excerpts follow:

"There are redesigns and there are redesigns. This one’s the real deal. It’s not a rewrite though. Clearly, in its heart, under the hood, this is still the same iTunes. Apple has addressed the biggest problem with iTunes 10: its presentation was severely cluttered."

"iTunes 11 is a redefinition of what it means to be a modern Mac app. There’s an iOS-inspired emphasis on putting less stuff in your face at the same time."

"I think my favorite new design element is what Apple is calling “Expanded View”. In a graphical list of albums or movies or shows, you click one and it opens in a subview right there under the album/movie/show. Instead of going to a new view, you stay where you are."

"Everything in the main window is set in Helvetica. Looks good on regular Macs, looks downright gorgeous on a retina MacBook Pro."

"MiniPlayer is actually a separate window from the main iTunes window. The green zoom button now behaves like a standard one, and they’ve added a new MiniPlayer toggle button in the top right corner, next to the standard full-screen mode button."
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'Send' 10GB files via Gmail

Mashable reports: [edited]

Google announced Tuesday that it will be integrating Google Drive into Gmail, a move that will make it possible to 'send' files up to 10GB over email.

A new button in the Gmail compose window will give users the ability to attach a file from their Google Drive account rather than attaching the file itself to the message.

Once it’s attached, Gmail will ensure that your recipient has permission to view the file in your Drive account -– or will prompt you to grant that permission –- and then sends the message.

The feature works not only for files you attach to the message, but also for links to items stored in Google Drive you paste into a message.
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ViewSonic Pro 9000 laser hybrid LED projector

Register Hardware reports: [edited]

Following the extinction of gloriously bulky CRT video projectors, big screen aficionados have had a clear choice between LCD and DLP. Both technologies are capable of great results, yet have distinct weaknesses: single chip DLP projectors often suffer from rainbow fringing, created by the use of a spinning colour wheel, while LCD models struggle to distinguish tomatoes from oranges.

But now there’s a third option, Laser Hybrid LED. Viewsonic’s £1600 Pro9000 is the first such out of the gate, although a number of brands will also be introducing the technology. It’s a good-looking 1080p model aimed at the mainstream home cinema market.

Just to put things in perspective, the Epson EH-TW6000 is a typical LCD-based home cinema projector, priced at around £1300. It has a typical quoted lamp life of around 4,000 hours but will gradually lose colour intensity and brightness. Brightness is quoted at 2,200 ANSI lumens and contrast at 40,000:1.

A replacement bulb will set you back around £200. The average power consumption of the Epson is 356W. The Viewsonic, by comparison, is rated at 186W in its brightest configuration. Hence, using a solid state glow stick means no replacement lamps will be required and more efficient power consumption. ViewSonic quotes a life span of 20,000 hours for the LED light source, as well as a 100,000:1 dynamic contrast.

he projector offers Instant On. The image is at full intensity immediately, there’s no prolonged warm up period. Secondly, it runs cool, even after hours of use. It’s a tad noisy at 28dB. You’ll need to enter Eco while in Theatre mode to really drop the volume to a more socially acceptable 22dB.

The projector doesn't exhibit the same clinical delineation commonly associated with single chip DLP. The result is very cinematic, with colour performance a particular strength. Skin tones are nuanced and believable; deep reds, so often the bane of LCD, exhibit stunning fidelity.

The projector’s light output is rated at 1600 lumens, which in a fully dark room is generally acceptable. At 4m you can throw an image measuring 120-inches diagonally. However, stray ambient light quickly diminishes contrast and colour. You can’t use the Pro9000 effectively in a partially lit lounge.

There are other caveats too. Truly deep blacks prove elusive and shadow detail is hard to find. Trees by night take on a blobbyness that wouldn't disgrace Noel's House Party. On the plus side, there's no overt pixel noise either, which at least lends a smooth sheen to darker scenes.
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Elon Musk planning Mars colony

Wired reports: [edited]

Elon Musk doesn’t just want to send a person to Mars — he wants to send 80,000. According to Space.com, the billionaire founder and CEO of the private spaceflight company SpaceX spilled details about his hopes for a future Mars colony during a talk at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London on November 16.

Earlier this year, SpaceX became the first private U.S. company to deliver cargo to the International Space Station. Musk has never been shy about his ambitions to take human colonists to another planet, mentioning in the past that he wants to provide flights to Mars for about $500,000 a person. But now he’s talking about building a small-city-sized settlement on the Red Planet, starting with a 10-person crew in the coming decades to begin establishing and building infrastructure.

That first flight would be expensive and risky but “once there are regular Mars flights, you can get the cost down to half a million dollars for someone to move to Mars,” Musk told Space.com. ”Then I think there are enough people who would buy that to have it be a reasonable business case.” Musk added that he sees the future 80,000-person colony as a public-private enterprise costing roughly $36 billion.
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iPad Classic Match Foosball

The Register reports: [edited]

Classic Match Foosball is a miniature foosball table, complete with two-axis control bars. CMF's creators promise that these "tactile elastomer handles provide a multi-sense immersive experience."

All you need for your foosball fix is the $99 CMF and its iOS app, available free from the iTunes Store – although you'll need to wait until both ship.
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Dai Nippon 3D Book Scanner

engadget reports: [edited]

With help from the University of Tokyo, Dai Nippon has created a book scanner that can plow through texts at up to 250 pages each minute.

A mechanism flips through pages at lightning speeds while a pair of cameras overhead snap detailed images of each sheet as it flies by. Special software then flattens out the photos and turns the picture into a machine readable, 400 pixel-per-inch scan that can easily be converted to PDF, EPUB or other format.

Unlike many other high-speed scanners, this doesn't require a book be damaged by removing the pages. In fact, it's quite similar to Google's creation that powers Books. Dai Nippon is actually planning to bring this beast to market sometime in 2013, but it has yet to announce a price.
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Ulike 2

engadget reports: [edited]

The Ulike 2, a white 4.5-inch Android smartphone has an eight-megapixel main camera on the back, and a five-megapixel front-facing imager with beautification features (including face slimming, skin whitening, skin smoothing and more) to keep the self-portrait addicts busy.
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Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX200

Digital Photography Review have published a comprehensive review of Panasonic's latest super-zoom digital camera.

Conclusion snippets follow:

"Panasonic has returned to their roots with their Lumix DMC-FX200 super zoom camera. Gone are the days of lenses that get slower as you use more zoom power - the FZ200 can stay at F2.8 from 25 to 600 mm. You pay a premium for that, but low light and action photographers may find the FZ200 to be worth the £430/$599 price."

"Beginners can feel quite comfortable uses Panasonic's Intelligent Auto mode, which remains the best point-and-shoot mode on the market. If they want a little more control, there's an iA+ mode, which lets users adjust brightness, background blur, and color balance using "sliders" on the LCD."

"It's ready to take pictures one second after you flip the power switch. Focusing speeds are quite good for a super zoom, only exceeding a second in low light. I didn't notice any major shutter lag, and shot-to-shot delays were minimal, even with the flash. The FZ200's battery life is above average compared to other super zoom cameras."

"The FZ200's photo quality is very good when compared to its peers. Photos are well-exposed, so you won't need to bracket every shot, as on some cameras. Colors were vibrant, and sharpness was pleasing most of the time."

"The FZ200's photos are slightly noisy, even at ISO 100, though that's better than previous models which smudged away fine detail. Things don't get really noisy until ISO 800 in low light and ISO 3200 in good light."

"It's hard not to like the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ200. It has all the bells and whistles that you'd expect on a high-end super zoom, plus an F2.8, 25-600 mm lens that no other camera can match."
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20 typographers to follow on Behance

Creative Bloq has put together a collection of some of the best typography portfolios available on Behance.com
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Tesla Model S

Motor Trend has published a review of its 2013 Car of the Year.

And, as Kottke reports: [edited]

[this is] the first time their top prize has gone to an electric car.

It is one of the quickest American four-doors ever built. It drives like a sports car, eager and agile and instantly responsive. But it's also as smoothly effortless as a Rolls-Royce, can carry almost as much stuff as a Chevy Equinox, and is more efficient than a Toyota Prius.

Oh, and it'll sashay up to the valet at a luxury hotel like a supermodel working a Paris catwalk. By any measure, the Tesla Model S is a truly remarkable automobile, perhaps the most accomplished all-new luxury car since the original Lexus LS 400.

The magazine went on to say that "the Tesla Model S is simply a damned good car you happen to plug in to refuel". This is how environmentally friendly products win, by being better than the less green products they replace.
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Rizoma 77|011 Metropolitan

Stuff reports: [edited]

The Rizoma 77|011 Metropolitan's beautifully bowing shape came about through a team-up between Italian motorcycle accessories company Rizoma and fashion designer Dirk Bikkembergs.

With a monobloc carbon frame and belt drive it’ll be light and easy to maintain. Add that aluminium saddle plus optional pulley brakes and it’s a solid piece of kit.

There are two versions: the White Mat Edition and the Carbon Shiny Edition – both which cost £2960

Duck Duck Go

The Washington Post has published an excellent article on Gabriel Weinberg and his attempt to challenge the Googles and Bings of this world with a search engine that doesn't track users or monitor their buying habits.

Snippets follow:

"Not far from Valley Forge, around the corner from Bravo Pizza, up the road from Paoli Auto Body, there is an odd-looking office building that resembles a stone castle. An eye doctor is on the first floor. On the second floor is a search engine."

"The proprietor of the search engine is Gabriel Weinberg, who is 33. A few years ago, when Weinberg told his wife about his new business idea — pitting him against more established outfits such as Google and Bing — he admits that she briefly thought he was nuts."

"A start-up taking on Google in search is much like a raft taking on a cruise ship as a vacation option. But Weinberg is not delusional. With money lining his pockets from selling a start-up for $10 million, Weinberg bet there was a place in the market for a product capitalizing on users’ emerging annoyances with Google — its search results gamed by marketers; its pages cluttered with ads; every query tracked, logged and personalized to the point of creepiness."

"He called his little search engine project DuckDuckGo, after the children’s game Duck, Duck, Goose. (Instead of “Just Google it,” think “Just Duck it.”)"

So: DuckDuckGo does not track users. It doesn’t generate search results based on a user’s previous interests, potentially filtering out relevant information. It is not cluttered with ads. In many ways, DuckDuckGo is an homage the original Google — a pure search engine — and its use is soaring, with searches up from 10 million a month in October 2011 to 45 million this past October."

"Weinberg wanted to build a search engine that people could use quickly and purely. He wanted to focus especially on the first two or three results that users saw, but he didn’t have a lot of manpower to build a search engine from scratch. Weinberg decided to use publicly available search results from Yahoo — which is now fueled by Bing — for the bulk of his searches and use his programming talents to curate the top few links. He wanted those links to provide answers."

"Going to Google and typing “calories in a banana” will produce a page of links about bananas. Going to DuckDuckGo and typing “calories in a banana” will produce an answer: 105. The answer comes from WolframAlphra, a computational database that Weinberg linked to DuckDuckGo."

"He has linked hundreds of millions of popular searches to other outside data sources, such as Wikipedia and Yelp. Searching for “irritable bowel syndrome” on Google produces three ads as the top three links. The same search on DuckDuckGo produces three links about the disease from Wikipedia."
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A Creative Catharsis

Sharp Suits reports: [edited]

Ireland's creative community got together to release a lot of pent up anger and sadness through the medium of the A3 poster, all in aid of Temple Street Children's Hospital.

Ad creatives, designers, animators, directors, illustrators and more took time out to dress up their favourite worst feedback from clients, transforming quotes that would normally give you a twitch, into a diverse collection of posters.

Thanks to @JayButcher for the link
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Machine translator speaks Chinese in your voice

New Scientist reports: [edited]

Microsoft Research has demonstrated not only how to convert spoken English into Mandarin with just a few seconds' delay - but also how to output that Mandarin speech in the vocal style of the original speaker.

The technology was demonstrated by Microsoft's research chief Rick Rashid in Tjianjin, China, on 25 October.

Rashid spoke just eight English sentences into the lab's new speech-recognition, translation and generation system, yet the company reports the Mandarin output wowed a crowd of 2000 students and academics.

Microsoft's trick is to use a novel neural networking (machine learning) system that reduces word-recognition errors to one in seven or eight. That means the translation engine, Bing Translate, has a far better chance of creating intelligible Mandarin text to feed into the speaking engine.

But the real prize here is the generation of Mandarin speech in a voice like that of the speaker's: if you can preserve the speaker's vocal cadence in the translation, their meaning will be more apparent and the conversation will be more effective.

This was done by having Rashid train a machine-learning algorithm for a full hour, rather than the quick recitation of a stock page of text that software like Dragon Naturally Speaking asks for.
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Urine Powered Generator

The Next Web reports: [edited]

All over Africa, young men and women have missioned across the country and arrived in Lagos, Nigeria. All they want to do is show off what they have made. Maker Faire Africa shows off innovations, inventions, and initiatives that solve immediate challenges and problems, and then works to support and propagate them.

14-year-olds Duro-Aina Adebola, Akindele Abiola, Faleke Oluwatoyin, and 15-year-old Bello Eniola have created a urine powered generator.

Urine is put into an electrolytic cell, which cracks the urea into nitrogen, water, and hydrogen. The hydrogen goes into a water filter for purification, which then gets pushed into the gas cylinder.

The gas cylinder pushes hydrogen into a cylinder of liquid borax, which is used to remove the moisture from the hydrogen gas. This purified hydrogen gas is pushed into the generator.

1 litre of urine provides 6 hours of electricity.
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Barack Obama's victory speech – full text

The Guardian reports:

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. (Sustained cheers, applause.)

Tonight, more than 200 years after a former colony won the right to determine its own destiny, the task of perfecting our union moves forward. (Cheers, applause.)

It moves forward because of you. It moves forward because you reaffirmed the spirit that has triumphed over war and depression, the spirit that has lifted this country from the depths of despair to the great heights of hope, the belief that while each of us will pursue our own individual dreams, we are an American family, and we rise or fall together as one nation and as one people. (Cheers, applause.)

Tonight, in this election, you, the American people, reminded us that while our road has been hard, while our journey has been long, we have picked ourselves up, we have fought our way back, and we know in our hearts that for the United States of America, the best is yet to come.

(Cheers, applause.) I want to thank every American who participated in this election. (Cheers, applause.) Whether you voted for the very first time (cheers) or waited in line for a very long time (cheers) – by the way, we have to fix that – (cheers, applause) – whether you pounded the pavement or picked up the phone (cheers, applause), whether you held an Obama sign or a Romney sign, you made your voice heard and you made a difference. (Cheers, applause.)

I just spoke with Governor Romney and I congratulated him and Paul Ryan on a hard-fought campaign. (Cheers, applause.) We may have battled fiercely, but it's only because we love this country deeply and we care so strongly about its future. From George to Lenore to their son Mitt, the Romney family has chosen to give back to America through public service. And that is a legacy that we honour and applaud tonight. (Cheers, applause.) In the weeks ahead, I also look forward to sitting down with Governor Romney to talk about where we can work together to move this country forward.

(Cheers, applause.)

I want to thank my friend and partner of the last four years, America's happy warrior, the best vice-president anybody could ever hope for, Joe Biden. (Cheers, applause.)

And I wouldn't be the man I am today without the woman who agreed to marry me 20 years ago. (Cheers, applause.) Let me say this publicly. Michelle, I have never loved you more. (Cheers, applause.) I have never been prouder to watch the rest of America fall in love with you too as our nation's first lady. (Cheers, applause.)

Sasha and Malia – (cheers, applause) – before our very eyes, you're growing up to become two strong, smart, beautiful young women, just like your mom. (Cheers, applause.) And I am so proud of you guys. But I will say that, for now, one dog's probably enough. (Laughter.)

To the best campaign team and volunteers in the history of politics – (cheers, applause) – the best – the best ever – (cheers, applause) – some of you were new this time around, and some of you have been at my side since the very beginning.

(Cheers, applause.) But all of you are family. No matter what you do or where you go from here, you will carry the memory of the history we made together. (Cheers, applause.) And you will have the lifelong appreciation of a grateful president. Thank you for believing all the way – (cheers, applause) – to every hill, to every valley. (Cheers, applause.) You lifted me up the whole day, and I will always be grateful for everything that you've done and all the incredible work that you've put in. (Cheers, applause.)

I know that political campaigns can sometimes seem small, even silly. And that provides plenty of fodder for the cynics who tell us that politics is nothing more than a contest of egos or the domain of special interests. But if you ever get the chance to talk to folks who turned out at our rallies and crowded along a rope line in a high school gym or – or saw folks working late at a campaign office in some tiny county far away from home, you'll discover something else.

You'll hear the determination in the voice of a young field organiser who's working his way through college and wants to make sure every child has that same opportunity. (Cheers, applause.) You'll hear the pride in the voice of a volunteer who's going door to door because her brother was finally hired when the local auto plant added another shift. (Cheers, applause.)

You'll hear the deep patriotism in the voice of a military spouse who's working the phones late at night to make sure that no one who fights for this country ever has to fight for a job or a roof over their head when they come home. (Cheers, applause.)

That's why we do this. That's what politics can be. That's why elections matter. It's not small, it's big. It's important. Democracy in a nation of 300 million can be noisy and messy and complicated. We have our own opinions. Each of us has deeply held beliefs. And when we go through tough times, when we make big decisions as a country, it necessarily stirs passions, stirs up controversy. That won't change after tonight. And it shouldn't. These arguments we have are a mark of our liberty, and we can never forget that as we speak, people in distant nations are risking their lives right now just for a chance to argue about the issues that matter – (cheers, applause) – the chance to cast their ballots like we did today.

But despite all our differences, most of us share certain hopes for America's future.

We want our kids to grow up in a country where they have access to the best schools and the best teachers – (cheers, applause) – a country that lives up to its legacy as the global leader in technology and discovery and innovation – (scattered cheers, applause) – with all of the good jobs and new businesses that follow.

We want our children to live in an America that isn't burdened by debt, that isn't weakened up by inequality, that isn't threatened by the destructive power of a warming planet. (Cheers, applause.)

We want to pass on a country that's safe and respected and admired around the world, a nation that is defended by the strongest military on Earth and the best troops this – this world has ever known – (cheers, applause) – but also a country that moves with confidence beyond this time of war to shape a peace that is built on the promise of freedom and dignity for every human being.

We believe in a generous America, in a compassionate America, in a tolerant America open to the dreams of an immigrant's daughter who studies in our schools and pledges to our flag – (cheers, applause) – to the young boy on the south side of Chicago who sees a life beyond the nearest street corner – (cheers, applause) – to the furniture worker's child in North Carolina who wants to become a doctor or a scientist, an engineer or an entrepreneur, a diplomat or even a president.

That's the – (cheers, applause) – that's the future we hope for.

(Cheers, applause.) That's the vision we share. That's where we need to go – forward. (Cheers, applause.) That's where we need to go. (Cheers, applause.)

Now, we will disagree, sometimes fiercely, about how to get there. As it has for more than two centuries, progress will come in fits and starts. It's not always a straight line. It's not always a smooth path. By itself, the recognition that we have common hopes and dreams won't end all the gridlock, resolve all our problems or substitute for the painstaking work of building consensus and making the difficult compromises needed to move this country forward.

But that common bond is where we must begin. Our economy is recovering. A decade of war is ending. (Cheers, applause.) A long campaign is now over. (Cheers, applause.) And whether I earned your vote or not, I have listened to you. I have learned from you. And you've made me a better president. And with your stories and your struggles, I return to the White House more determined and more inspired than ever about the work there is to do and the future that lies ahead. (Cheers, applause.)

Tonight you voted for action, not politics as usual. (Cheers, applause.) You elected us to focus on your jobs, not ours.

And in the coming weeks and months, I am looking forward to reaching out and working with leaders of both parties to meet the challenges we can only solve together – reducing our deficit, reforming our tax code, fixing our immigration system, freeing ourselves from foreign oil. We've got more work to do. (Cheers, applause.)

But that doesn't mean your work is done. The role of citizens in our democracy does not end with your vote. America's never been about what can be done for us; it's about what can be done by us together, through the hard and frustrating but necessary work of self-government. (Cheers, applause.) That's the principle we were founded on.

This country has more wealth than any nation, but that's not what makes us rich. We have the most powerful military in history, but that's not what makes us strong. Our university, our culture are all the envy of the world, but that's not what keeps the world coming to our shores. What makes America exceptional are the bonds that hold together the most diverse nation on Earth, the belief that our destiny is shared – (cheers, applause) – that this country only works when we accept certain obligations to one another and to future generations, so that the freedom which so many Americans have fought for and died for come with responsibilities as well as rights, and among those are love and charity and duty and patriotism. That's what makes America great. (Cheers, applause.)

I am hopeful tonight because I have seen this spirit at work in America. I've seen it in the family business whose owners would rather cut their own pay than lay off their neighbours and in the workers who would rather cut back their hours than see a friend lose a job. I've seen it in the soldiers who re-enlist after losing a limb and in those Seals who charged up the stairs into darkness and danger because they knew there was a buddy behind them watching their back. (Cheers, applause.) I've seen it on the shores of New Jersey and New York, where leaders from every party and level of government have swept aside their differences to help a community rebuild from the wreckage of a terrible storm. (Cheers, applause.)

And I saw it just the other day in Mentor, Ohio, where a father told the story of his eight-year-old daughter whose long battle with leukaemia nearly cost their family everything had it not been for healthcare reform passing just a few months before the insurance company was about to stop paying for her care. (Cheers, applause.) I had an opportunity to not just talk to the father but meet this incredible daughter of his. And when he spoke to the crowd, listening to that father's story, every parent in that room had tears in their eyes because we knew that little girl could be our own.

And I know that every American wants her future to be just as bright. That's who we are. That's the country I'm so proud to lead as your president. (Cheers, applause.)

And tonight, despite all the hardship we've been through, despite all the frustrations of Washington, I've never been more hopeful about our future. (Cheers, applause.) I have never been more hopeful about America. And I ask you to sustain that hope.

[Audience member: "We got your back, Mr President!"]

I'm not talking about blind optimism, the kind of hope that just ignores the enormity of the tasks ahead or the road blocks that stand in our path. I'm not talking about the wishful idealism that allows us to just sit on the sidelines or shirk from a fight. I have always believed that hope is that stubborn thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us so long as we have the courage to keep reaching, to keep working, to keep fighting. (Cheers, applause.)

America, I believe we can build on the progress we've made and continue to fight for new jobs and new opportunities and new security for the middle class. I believe we can keep the promise of our founding, the idea that if you're willing to work hard, it doesn't matter who you are or where you come from or what you look like or where you love. It doesn't matter whether you're black or white or Hispanic or Asian or Native American or young or old or rich or poor, abled, disabled, gay or straight. (Cheers, applause.) You can make it here in America if you're willing to try.

(Cheers, applause.)

I believe we can seize this future together because we are not as divided as our politics suggests. We're not as cynical as the pundits believe. We are greater than the sum of our individual ambitions and we remain more than a collection of red states and blue states. We are, and forever will be, the United States of America. (Cheers, applause.)

And together, with your help and God's grace, we will continue our journey forward and remind the world just why it is that we live in the greatest nation on earth. (Cheers, applause.) Thank you, America. (Cheers, applause.) God bless you. God bless these United States. (Cheers, applause.)

Zboard

Zboardshop reports: [edited]

The ZBoard is a weight-sensing electric skateboard. To ride simply lean forward on the front footpad to accelerate and lean back on the rear footpad to brake.


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Free Font - Verb Black

Font Squirrel reports: [edited]

Verb from Yellow Design Studio is an 18-font sans-serif family that’s friendly and approachable, but trades huggable roundness for confidence and energy.

Verb is lively, motivated and industrious but not too busy to say “hello”. It’s packed with features including true italics, small caps, ligatures, oldstyle and tabular numerals and extensive language support.
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Swing Table

Duffy London reports: [edited]

This table is ideal for putting a little extra fun into dinner times and boardroom meetings. It uses its structure to suspend a central GEO lampshade and eight hanging chairs.

This design creates an exceptionally fun experience and aesthetic, creating a room within a room, with chairs that float around the table, which also make vacuuming a breeze.

Available in bespoke finishes and sizes. (H)220cm (L)235cm (D)135cm.

Price: £6,895
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Previa Playlist, 3 - 4 November

London - Nottingham
Taste It - Jake Bugg
Spoonman - Soundgarden
Regulate - Warren G
That's Mathematics - Tom Lehrer
Sorry I Haven't A Clue (sayings) - Humphrey Littleton & guests
Smooth Criminal - Alien Ant Farm
Sylvia - Focus
The Final Countdown - Europe
Pumped Up Kicks (The Hood Internet Remix feat. Hollywood Holt) - Foster The People
Untouched - The Veronicas
Polk Salad Annie - Tony Joe White
We Care A Lot - Faith No More
That Lady - The Isley Brothers
Groovy Train - The Farm
Two Fingers - Jake Bugg
(There's) Always Something There To Remind Me - Sandie Shaw
New Beginning (Mamba Seyra) - Bucks Fizz
The Rat - The Walkmen
Betting Shop - John Culshaw - Dead Ringers
Underground - Ben Folds Five
Mountain Sound - Of Monsters and Men
Cough Cough - Everything Everything
Down Among the Dead Men - Flash and The Pan
Your Drums, Your Love - AlunaGeorge
The Stairs - Family Of The Year
Girl Anachronism - The Dresden Dolls
Ukulele Anthem - Amanda Palmer
Make the Road By Walking - Menahan Street Band
Best of Friends - Palma Violets
3 AM Eternal - KLF
Rockin' The Suburbs - Ben Folds
Turn To Stone - Electric Light Orchestra
Elephant - Tame Impala
Ill Fit - Wave Machines
Papa Was a Rolling Stone - The Temptations
Galaxy Song - Monty Python
Dance To The Music - Sly & The Family Stone
Immortal Man - Holy Grail

Nottingham - Lincoln
Jungle - Electric Light Orchestra
Hi Jo Hi - Deaf School
Little Green Bag - Tom Jones & Barenaked Ladies
My Girl - Madness
Strong Enough - Cher
Hocus Pocus - Focus
Antmusic - Adam & The Ants
Taxi Firm - John Culshaw - Dead Ringers
Emerald City - United State Of Electronica
Bomb Track - Rage against the Machine
Let the Beat Control Your Body (airplay edit) - 2 Unlimited
Baby I Don't Care 2005 - TLM vs Transvision Vamp
Something to Bang (Single Version) - Absentee
Ping Pong (Single Version) - Stereolab
Truck On - Simple Kid
Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl) - Haircut 100
Bloody Well Right - Supertramp
Theme For A Dream - Cliff Richard & The Shadows
Cheer Up Boys (Your Makeup Is Running) - Foo Fighters
Tell Him - Hello
Turn On, Tune In, Cop Out - Freakpower
Evangeline - The Icicle Works
Kiss - Prince
Girls Who Play Guitars - Maximo Park

Lincoln
Can You Hear Me? (Ayayaya) - Wiley
Gangnam Style (강남스타일) - PSY
Barbra Streisand (UK Radio Edit) - Duck Sauce
Stereo Hearts (feat. Adam Levine) - Gym Class Heroes
Major - The Asteroids Galaxy Tour
Ca Plane Pour Moi - Plastic Bertrand
Domino - Jessie J
Harder Than You Think (Radio Edit) - Public Enemy
Mr. Blue Sky - Electric Light Orchestra

Lincoln - Nottingham
Are You Ready for Love - Elton John
Where Have All The Cowboys Gone - Paula Cole
She's So Lovely - Scouting For Girls
Staring At the Rude Bois (feat. Lethal Bizzle) - Gallows
Oh Boy! - Buddy Holly
We Didn't Start The Fire - Billy Joel
Paradise City - Guns N' Roses
How Will I Know - Whitney Houston
This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us (Fnm Remix) - Sparks
The Show Must Go On - Leo Sayer
99 Red Balloons - Nena
Sharp Dressed Man - ZZ Top
Sweet Talkin' Woman - Electric Light Orchestra
Doctorin' The Tardis (Dr. Who) - KLF (The Timelords)
Do You Realize?? - The Flaming Lips
When I'm Cleaning Windows - George Formby

Nottingham - London
You Don't Love Me (No No No) - Dawn Penn
It’s In His Kiss - Vonda Shepard
Shut Up and Drive - Rihanna
We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off - Jermaine Stewart
Mansard Roof - Vampire Weekend
All Together Now - The Farm
I.O.U. (AEIOU) (7" Version) - Freeez
Paris Is Burning (Radio Edit) - Ladyhawke
Give me some kind of sign girl - Brenton Wood
I Like You So Much Better When You Are Naked - Ida Maria
Half In Love With Elizabeth - Mystery Jets
Calling You - Blue October
Do You Remember Rock & Roll Radio? - Ramones
Maxine Nightingale - Right Back Where We Started From
When Will I Be Famous - Bros
I Don't Believe In Miracles - Colin Blunstone
Wired For Sound - Cliff Richard
Torn - Ednaswap
The Snake - Al Wilson
The Night Chicago Died - Paper Lace
Teenagers, Kick Our Butts - Dar Williams
I can't help falling in love with you - Lick the Tins
I Don't Feel Like Dancin' (Radio Edit) - Scissor Sisters
Push - Matchbox Twenty
King In A Catholic Style - China Crisis
Dancing in the moonlight - Toploader
Breakfast at Tiffany's - Deep Blue Something
Uptown Girl - Billy Joel
My Little Red Book - The Standells
Dat - Pluto Shervington
Union City Blue - Blondie
(If Paradise Is) Half As Nice - Amen Corner
Love Cliché - Bran Van 3000
Lucky Stars - Dean Friedman
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Vertical Farming

Wired reports: [edited]

The first commercial-scale vertical farm has opened in the tiny, densely populated city of Singapore, with the aim of decreasing dependence on food imports.

Singapore, which lies at the end of the Malay Peninsula, is just 274 square miles, almost all of which is city. That leaves little space to grow vegetables. As a result, the city currently only produces 7 percent of its vegetables locally, forcing it to buy from other countries.

The vertical farm, which has been developed by Sky Green Farms, consists of 120 aluminum towers, each extending up almost 30 feet in height. It can produce over 1,000 pounds of three kinds of vegetables per day, all of which are sold in the local FairPrice Finest supermarkets.

The company is looking for investors to allow it to produce two tons of vegetables per day.
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iPad Mini hands-on review

John Gruber at Daring Fireball has published his first thoughts on Apple's 8" tablet. The article is worth reading right the way through, but here are some snippets:

"It’s really light and easy to hold one-handed. The hardware design — chamfered edges, less tapered back, metal rather than plastic buttons — strikes me as better, more elegant, than that of the full-size iPad 3/4."

"But it’s disappointing to go non-retina after using the retina iPad for the last seven months. I adore the size and form factor of the iPad Mini, but I also adore the retina display on my full-size iPad. My ideal iPad would be a Mini with a retina display."

"After a week of using it as my main iPad, the individually discernible pixels are no longer jarring to my eyes. The non-retina resolution is the one and only significant complaint I have with the iPad Mini, and it’s an issue that is only apparent to those of us who already own a nearly-new iPad."

"The Mini weighs less than half a full-size iPad 3 or 4, and the difference that makes is tremendous... it’s just plain fun to hold."

"It also seems optimised for kids. My third-grade son loves the size and weight of the Mini. Reading apps may not be computationally taxing, but games are, and there is no compromise in the iPad Mini’s performance. In both the Geekbench and SunSpider benchmarks, the Mini performs identically to the iPad 3."

"If the Mini had a retina display, I’d switch from the iPad 3 in a heartbeat. As it stands, I’m going to switch anyway. Going non-retina is a particularly bitter pill for me, but I like the iPad Mini’s size and weight so much that I’m going to swallow it."
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