Macbeth

Following on from my 'discovering' Slings & Arrows, my good friend 'Mr Henry' treated me to a visit to the Gielgud Theatre to watch Rupert Goold's production of Macbeth.

Patrick Stewart plays Macbeth, on a stark set dominated (and often lit) by a massive lift entrance. Other persistent set pieces are a battered fridge, an ancient television set, some tables and a large sink.

The atmosphere is enhanced by 'make you jump' sound effects and huge images projected onto the brick walls of the set.

I don't watch much theatre. And I'm not used to the (archaic/opaque) Shakespearean prose. Sometimes it reminded me of listening to a Bob Dylan song, you don't fully understand what the words mean, and yet you still understand the emotions that they are conveying.

The main actors performed superbly. Macbeth is intense, a man used to war, morally torn and defiantly aware that he is caught up in something beyond his control.

The relationship between Macbeth and his wife (Kate Fleetwood) moves from Lady Macbeth being a dominant, sexually aggressive woman to a broken, tormented creature.

The Weird Sisters (I'm told) were played a little differently from usual, but they were appropriately sinister, going about their witchly duties in an unsettling and efficient manner.

I enjoyed Macbeth very much. Mr Henry is even now searching out another play for us to visit. This time it's my treat.
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Is it a mobile phone, is it a UMPC?

RegHardware reports: [edited]

The SPH-P9200 runs Windows XP, has a 1GHz CPU, 512MB RAM and a 30GB hard drive.

A SIM card slot allows users to tune in to GSM/GPRS/Edge and 3G HSDPA cellular networks, and the machine features WiBro, Korea's answer to Mobile WiMax. Wi-Fi connectivity - most likely 802.11g - is built in too, but there's no mention of Bluetooth in the new model's specs, even though it featured on the P9000.

There's a 5in WVGA (854 x 480 pixel) display and a folding Qwerty keyboard.

The screen's principally operated by a stylus, although a mouse could be connected through one of the machine's multiple USB ports for use on a desktop, and there's a 1.3 megapixel camera.

Users will get around 2.5 hours of life with the standard battery. The machine weighs 650g.

Samsung hasn't yet confirmed when the SPH-P9200 will make it onto the market, but in time for a Korean Christmas could be a good guess.
------------

Wii Fit

Reg Hardware reports: [edited]

Nintendo has announced plans to launch its anticipated Wii Fit home fitness game in Japan later this year.

The game, which is based around Nintendo's Balance Board peripheral, initially goes on sale in Japan on 1 December for the equivalent of £36, although the company hasn't yet mentioned when the game will be available in the UK.

The Balance Board [Irritating smiley child not included, Ed.] looks slightly larger than a set of bathroom scales and contains pressure sensors that detect when the user leans, moves or jumps in time with the action on screen.

Nintendo has said users will be able to head virtual footballs or take part in ski-jumping. There's also expected to be some more traditional fitness pursuits too, including yoga and aerobics.
------------

TiltViewer

Airtight Interactive reports: [edited]

TiltViewer allows you to browse images in a 3D space. It's designed to provide a fun, intuitive user experience. Images are pulled from Flickr's Interestingness list.
------------

Always look for the 'Super Hi-Vision-ready' sticker

EE Times Asia reports: [edited]

The people at the Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) see their ultrahigh-resolution broadcasting, which they have labeled Super Hi-Vision, as the next generation of consumer TV.

The specs are impressive. Super Hi-Vision's resolution is 7,680 x 4,320 pixels - 16 times that of today's 1,920 x 1,080 pixel HDTV. NHK, Japan's public broadcaster, has demonstrated it at several venues over the past two years using 600 inch screens.

Based on their experience with HDTV, NHK officials said it takes about 30 years for a broadcasting system to be developed and accepted. NHK began working on HDTV in 1969, and it was the first to start HDTV broadcasting in 1989.

It took 31 years, until 2000, for NHK to start satellite digital HDTV broadcasting in Japan. Terrestrial digital TV broadcasting, in collaboration with some private TV stations, followed in 2003. And by last December, coverage of the terrestrial digital HDTV service had spread to all corners of Japan.

Based on that 30-year-cycle theory, since NHK started working on Super Hi-Vision in 1995, the technology should be ready around 2025.
------------

Wear-Fi

ThinkGeek reports: [edited]

Thanks to the ingenious ThinkGeek robot monkeys you can display the current Wi-Fi signal strength to yourself and everyone around you with this stylish Wi-Fi Detector Shirt.

The glowing bars on the front of the shirt dynamically change as the surrounding wi-fi signal strength fluctuates. Finally you can get the attention you deserve as others bow to you as their reverential Wi-Fi god, while geeky chicks swoon at your presence.

You can thank us later.
------------

Dear Sarah

Every once in a while, I come across a typeface that is special. 'Dear Sarah' is one of those typefaces.

In the words of its creator, Christian Robertson:

"Dear Sarah harks back to a time when people wrote to loved ones in longhand on wax-sealed stationery. Until the advent of OpenType, the magic of handwritten characters was ruined when identical letters glaringly showed up twice in a row.

Dear Sarah Pro uses OpenType to its full potential, with hundreds of contextual alternates that allow natural cursive connections, plus swash, dingbats, and small caps."

There is even a set of beautifully crafted 'ink-blot' characters.

Visit Veer Type to see the whole typeface. And download the excellently produced 6-page PDF to see how beautiful it looks in print form.

At a mere $119.00, it's now at the top of my 'find a project that gives me an excuse to purchase it' (FAPTGMAETPI) list.
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Bicycle sound

In my day, the nearest we got to music on a bike was by taping bits of carboard to the front forks so they made a 'flap-flap-flap™" noise as they contacted the spokes. Apparently things have moved on a bit since then...

FeedMoo reports: [edited]

If you want to wake up the neighbours and bother everyone with your music while you ride your bike, the cy.fi wireless iPod dock is the bike speaker for you.

Working with the old-school iPod nano (and probably working with any iPod with a dock connector), it's a wireless speaker, and no, it's not using Bluetooth. It's using the Kleer Audio transmission that claims to be 10 times more energy efficient than Bluetooth.

The Cy.Fi speaker is about the size of a deck of cards and mounts on your handlebars. It spreads its stereo sound to let to the left and right, and makes it so you don't have to wear earphones that might obscure important noises of impending danger. Get more speakers, and one iPod can broadcast its signal to everyone in your riding group.

You can also control volume and skip tracks right from the speaker. Available sometime in 2008, it'll cost you $149.

Thanks to Gareth for the link.
------------

London-Lincoln-London, 07-10-07

London-Lincoln
Lover - Devendra Banhart
Hush - Kula Shaker
jerk it out - Caesars
My Perfect Cousin - Undertones
Please Stay - Kylie Minogue
It's My Party - Lesley Gore
Brush Up On Your Shakespeare - Cast of Kiss Me Kate
There is nothing like a dame - Reel Big Fish
Woman In Love - Barbra Streisand
Where's me jumper - Sultans of Ping
Mr Mom - Lone Star
Let's Dance To Joy Division - The Wombats
We don't have to take our clothes off (ext) - Jermaine Stewart
Born to Hum - Erin McKeown
How Will I Know - Whitney Houston
Suspicious Minds - Fine Young Cannibals
Real Girl - Mutya Buena
Love in the first degree - Bananarama
Destination Venus - The Rezillos
Love Shack - The B-52's
The Second Summer Of Love - Danny Wilson
Rubber Bullets - 10cc
Alcohol - CSS
Amylase - Cajun Dance Party
Nervous Breakdown - King Kurt
My Best Friend's Girl - The Cars
Machines - Biffy Clyro
Ooh Aah Just A Little Bit - Gina G
I’m A Cuckoo - Belle & Sebastian
Bad to good - Statler & Waldorf
Is This The Way To Amarillo - Tony Christie
She Couldn't - Montgomery Gentry
Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go - Wham!
Radiation Vibe - Fountains Of Wayne
The Champ - The Mohawks
American Girl - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
All The Things She Said - The BossHoss
Delivery - Babyshambles
Fall to Pieces - Avril Lavigne
This Ain't No Beach Party - Cruiserweight
Ode To A Superhero - Weird Al Yankovic
Save Your Kisses For Me - Brotherhood Of Man
I Wanna Do It All - Terri Clark
king of the jungle - Tommy Cooper

Lincoln to London
1 Thessalonians 2:13-16 - Antony Billington
Fire Brigade - The Move
Sister Surround - Soundtrack Of Our Lives
25 Minutes To Go - Johnny Cash
Walkin' The Boogie - John Lee Hooker
Twist - Goldfrapp
I Got Heaven Right Here On Earth - The Temptations
Defending Ancient Springs - Jackie Leven
Adidas Hoodie - Lady Sovereign
Team Mate - Kaiser Chiefs
Jaded - Aerosmith
A Walk Across The Rooftops - The Blue Nile
Nowheresville - E
The Devil Went Down to Scunthorpe - Toy Dolls
My Baby Sure Can Shag - The Tams
World Of A King (live) - David Mead
Adia - Sarah McLachlan
Disgusted - Lucinda Williams
Tracery - Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
It Wasn't Me - Shaggy
Blue Melody - Helicopter Girl
Hey Julie - Fountains Of Wayne
Aisle Of Plenty - Genesis
Always Too Late - Annie
I Know There's An Answer - The Beach Boys
Poison Oak - Bright Eyes
Nobody Knows - Paul Brady
It's All Over But The Crying - Garbage
I Dreamed I Stopped Dreaming - Sam Phillips
It's Only Natural - Crowded House
Longtime Coming - The Zutons
Nevertheless - The Rutles
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London-Lincoln-London, 06-10-07

London-Lincoln
Suburban Sweetheart - Josh Rouse
Dial Jesus For Sweetness - Republic Of Loose
Trouble, Heartaches & Sadness - Ann Peebles
Brave New Century - Tears
London Girls - Vibrators
Awful - Hole
God Bless the Child - Blood, Sweat & Tears
I'll Tell Me Ma - Van Morrison & The Chieftains
Fuzzy - Grant Lee Buffalo
The Sound Of The Crowd - Human League
Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
Don't Get Around Much Anymore - B.B. King
Can't Cry Hard Enough - Judy Collins
I Wanna Do It All - Terri Clark
Which Way To Happy - The Magic Numbers
The Love You Give - The Stands
Incommunicado - Marillion
The Ballad of Billy Jo - Jerry Lee Lewis
Made To Last - Semisonic
Who Will You Love? - Bill Mallonee
Heat Wave - Tommy McCook
Ito Okashi - Passengers (U2)
Heartbreak Hill - Emmylou Harris
Reelin' & Rockin' - Chuck Berry
She Couldn't - Montgomery Gentry
Tickle Me - Alan Price
Hymn - Ultravox
Jump - Madonna
Lean On Me - Beth Orton and Terry Callier
The Bucket - Kings of Leon
Comedown (Bonus Track) - The Lilac Time
Veena - Talvin Singh
Hunting High And Low (Remix) - a-Ha
Stop & Get A Hold Of Yourself - Gladys Knight
This Side - Nickel Creek
All The Things She Said - The BossHoss
Don't Go Away Mad - Little Village
One Night - Juliet Turner
Coming Up Close - 'Til Tuesday
Run For Cover (Escort 7") - Bob Marley And The Wailers
Beautiful World - Coldplay
I Knew The Bride (when she used to rock and roll) - Dave Edmunds
Andvari - Sigur Rós

Lincoln to London
Joyride - Roxette
Livin' Thing - Electric Light Orchestra
Rapture - iiO
Second, Minute or Hour - Jack Penate
Starlett Johansson - The Teenagers
She Said - Longpigs
D & W - They Might Be Giants (TMBG)
Lollipop - The Chordettes
Valerie - Mark Ronson & Amy Winehouse
One More Chance - Candie Payne
Jacqueline - The Coral
Mad Dogs And Englishmen - Noel Coward
Shut Up and Drive - Rihanna
Charm Attack - Leona Naess
Don't Rain On My Parade - Barbra Streisand
From Despair To Where - Manic Street Preachers
Ding Dong Song - Gunter
All Rise - Blue
Say You Will - Fleetwood Mac
Young Folks - Peter, Bjorn and John & Victoria Bergsman
The Land Of Ring Dang Do - King Kurt
Strictly off the record - Statler & Waldorf
It's Raining Men - The Weather Girls
La la Song - The Kissaway Trail
Song 4 Mutya - Groove Armada Ft. Mutya
Going Out Of My Head - Fifth Dimension
Good Golly Miss Molly - Little Richard
Jump - Van Halen
Theme From S-Express - S-Express
Prescilla - Bat for Lashes
Benny Hill [TV Theme] - Benny Hill
Tarzan & Jane - Toy Box
If I Had A Hammer - Trini Lopez
Toxic - Britney Spears
Good and Bad - Statler & Waldorf
Closing Dialogue - Statler & Waldorf
Can We Fix It? - Bob the Builder
The Bad Touch - Bloodhound Gang
Fell off the stage - Statler & Waldorf
Dashboard - Modest Mouse
Doing It Right - The Go! Team
Shake Some Action - Flaming Groovies
You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet - Bachman Turner Overdrive
Idealistic (Radio Edit) - Digitalism
I Bet You Look Good On the Dancefloor - Arctic Monkeys
Flawless - The Ones
It Must Be Love - Madness
------------

Vertu Ascent Ferrari 60

RegHardware reports: [edited]

Vertu's latest creation costs £12,600, and has been designed to celebrate Ferrari's 60th anniversary.

The back of the handset is partly decked in brown leather, embossed with Ferrari's logo, and a titanium panel featuring a gear-box pattern.

The screws used to hold the phone together have the same head pattern as those used to hold Ferrari's cars together and (just in case you don't think you're getting excellent value for money) Vertu have thrown in some Ferrari ring tones and wallpapers too.

The phone gives four hours talk time and is tri-band GSM. It also includes Bluetooth and has "precision engineered" keys to help users dial their butlers more accurately.

The Ferrari 60 handset is available now. You'll have to hurry though because only 60 are being made.

BRETT'S THOUGHTS
Spookily, you could buy 60 iPhones for the price of one Ascent Ferrari 60.
------------

Gold-plate your MacBook Pro

BornRich.org reports: [edited]

A gold plated MacBook Pro is now available from ComputerChoppers [not a made-up name, Ed.]. You can opt for the base metal and stones of your choice for the logos, anything from gold to platinum and diamonds to sapphires.

It costs between $1200 and $1500 to 24kt gold plate a MacBook Pro.
------------

What's missing from this picture?

The apple symbol on the Command key.

Gone.

For a full history click here
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Free 'hand-formed' fonts

Pixilate create a range of hand-formed and pixel typefaces.

They've made a number of them available free, including the ones adorning this blog.

Blackout and Patchanka are pleasantly scratchy, while Kemie, Onder and Rafa make good handwriting substitutes.
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Tintin, the movie!

Coming Soon reports: [edited]

British scribe Steven Moffat is writing DreamWorks' Tintin, the movie trilogy collaboration from Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg that adapts the European comic strip created by Herge, says The Hollywood Reporter.

Moffat is best known for the new "Doctor Who" series and the BBC's "Jekyll."

In the comics, Tintin is a young Belgian reporter and world traveler who is aided in his adventures by his faithful dog Snowy. He later was joined by such colourful characters as Captain Haddock, Professor Cuthbert Calculus and bumbling detectives Thomson and Thompson.

Kathleen Kennedy is serving as producer on the three feature films, which will be made using performance-capture technology and produced in digital 3-D. Jackson and Spielberg are each directing an installment, with the helmer of the third movie to be determined.
------------

W.C. Fields

I am regularly sent emails with PowerPoint files attached.

I assume their contents are intended to amuse, inspire and edify me.

Sadly, the mixture of execrable typography, poor writing style, even more poorerer grammar, smelling pistakes and (with the religious ones) mawkish heresy inspires quite different reactions.

The most recent example to hit my server possessed many of the above properties, but some of the images tickled my funny-bone.

So, in the spirit of 'If you can't join 'em, beat 'em', I cleaned up some of the images, put them into a simple layout including some pun-some titles, and created a PDF of it for your viewing pleasure.

(Thanks to Andrew for the idea.)
------------

Nikon D3 - no flash gun required

In August I blogged about the D3, Nikon's new 'pro' digital SLR.

The first pictures are filtering on to the internet. Cliff Mautner has blogged his initial experiences, and it looks as if one of its real breakthroughs is in handling low-light shots.

For downloadable full-res images, visit the Nikon site.

Now, how long will it be until this technology trickles down to more affordable compact models?
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Fairy Tower

Littlewing are one of those companies who do one thing, and do it very well. And the thing they do is computer simulations of pinball machines.

The graphics are clean and simple 2D copies of the pinball machines they are emulating. What makes the games special is the physics. The balls act like real pinballs. The flippers behave like real flippers.

Located in Japan, LittleWing's first computer pinball game, Tristan, was released in North America in 1991, and they have released a steady stream of successors.

The latest is Fairy Tower, and a free demo (Windows and Mac) is available for download.
------------

Changing faces

Mutating Pictures reports: [edited]

A population of 1,000 random pictures, created in October 2007. You allow the fittest pictures to survive. The higher your rating for a pic the more mutated offspring it produces.
------------

The Teenagers - Starlett Johansson

Prefix Mag reports: [edited]

Like their countrymen Phoenix and Daft Punk, the Teenagers use big dumb 80s riffs that have been Frenched up to the point of acceptability. The song follows the group’s established template, with an ambiguously European creep speaking slowly, leading to an airy (and Air-y) chorus from his more dashing counterpart.

The only things these two seem to know about Miss Scarlett are nuggets gained from men’s magazines and video rentals. In the manner of a seventeen year old dolt, the actions of the parts she plays are attributed to the actress herself..

But when you hear the words, “and then I noticed/poor Jared Leto,” avoiding a grin is clinically impossible.
------------

Revolutionising online payments

BetaNews reports: [edited]

After attempting to shake up the healthcare industry, AOL co-founder Steve Case is now looking to do the same to online payments.

The new venture is called Revolution Money and allows users to transfer money at no charge, as well offers a credit card for business that has lower fees for the money they get charged to accept it.

Businesses are only required to pay 0.5 percent of the total sale made on the RevolutionCard to the company, rather than the industry average of 1.9 percent. In addition, consumers gain the added security of a PIN number on their cards.

If the customer desires, the card could even include no name or account number on it, making transactions anonymous and the card useless to thieves who would need the PIN number in order to use it.

"Traditional, and even online, incumbents have been charging what adds up to billions of dollars of fees every year that ultimately comes out of consumers' pockets," Case said in a statement earlier this week.

The concept is enough to get Wall Street excited: Revolution Money has already raised $50 million in venture capital funding from companies that included Citibank and Morgan Stanley.

Not surprisingly, its first partner is AOL, who will allow payments through the AIM service.

The online payment system could be seen as a threat to PayPal and Google Checkout, while its credit card concept could significantly shake up the long-entrenched personal credit industry, which has three large players - American Express, MasterCard and Visa - and a host of others with limited reach.
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Halo 3 - "Biggest entertainment launch in history"

RegHardware reports: [edited]

Halo 3 achieved record US sales of $170m within its first 24 hours on sale, Microsoft claimed today, boasting the figure makes its game the "biggest entertainment launch in history", eclipsing records set by the Spider-man 3 and Harry Potter movies.

The company also claimed that 1.7m Halo 3 copies were pre-ordered in the US, which also makes it the fastest selling computer game in history, it alleged. Halo 3 snatched this title from its predecessor, Halo 2.

Winning both titles will be good news for Microsoft's front-man, Bill Gates, who took a brief break from counting his money to shake hands with Halo 3 fans as they received their copies of the game at a launch event in Seattle.
------------

iSlide powered skateboard concept

AutoBlog reports: [edited]

Designed by Ofir Tal, a recent graduate of Israel's Hadasa College, the iSlide is powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, with lights at the front for travel at night.

With a top-speed of 15 kilometers per hour, don't expect to get anywhere too quickly, but that doesn't really seem to be the point of this exercise anyway. The machine is made up of "Epoxy and fiberglass, polyurethane, magnesium and titanium and rubber inserts."
------------

Lifesaver bottle

Lifesaver Systems reports: [edited]

It is the world’s first all in one ultra filtration water bottle. It will remove bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungi and all other microbiological waterborne pathogens without using chemicals like iodine or chlorine which leave a distinctive foul taste.

It produces filtered sterile drinking water quickly and easily. It incorporates technology which shuts off the bottle’s cartridge upon expiry, preventing contaminated water from being drunk.

There is no need for tablets, boiling or chemicals.

Cost: £190 per bottle.
------------

Amazon MP3 Store opens

Daring Fireball reports: [edited]

The new Amazon MP3 Store looks like no previous iTunes Store rival. The music is completely DRM-free, encoded at a very respectable 256 kbps, includes a ton of songs from major record labels, and offers terrific software support for Mac OS X.

When you purchase singles, you can download them directly via your web browser. When purchasing entire albums, however, Amazon requires the use of a helper application called Amazon MP3 Downloader.

When you purchase albums from Amazon, your browser downloads a .amz file, which opens in Amazon MP3 Downloader. Amazon MP3 Downloader then begins downloading the tracks from the album.

By default, tracks are stored in a new “Amazon MP3” sub-folder inside the Music folder in your home folder. Amazon MP3 Downloader also opens the files in iTunes, importing them into your iTunes library.

There’s a very high “it just works” factor here. Music is easy to find, easy to buy, and easy to download once you have the Amazon MP3 Downloader installed. When you download music with Amazon MP3 Downloader, it simply shows up in iTunes, as you’d expect, with no manual importing or additional action required on the user’s part. Sync your iPods, and the new music shows up there, too.

The songs sound great and come with high-resolution album art. Singles cost $.89 or $.99, and album prices start as low as $4.99 — i.e. they’ve introduced variable pricing to sell music for less, not more, than the iTunes Store. When you search for songs from an artist whose entire catalog is not available through their MP3 store, Amazon provides a direct link to the artist’s catalog in their CD store.

Two million total songs is far less than the six million Apple offers at the iTunes Store, but it’s a pretty good start, and all of Amazon MP3’s songs are DRM-free. I’m not sure how many DRM-free iTunes Plus tracks Apple offers, but it certainly seems like far fewer than one-in-three, and thus far fewer than two million. So while Amazon can’t claim to offer the most songs, they might be able to claim the most DRM-free songs.

The Amazon MP3 Store is clearly the biggest and best rival to the iTunes Store. It’s not a coincidence that they’ve eschewed DRM completely.

BRETT'S THOUGHTS:
The store is U.S. only. I got around it by putting all my credit card details in as usual, but with a U.S. state and postcode. The files have downloaded fine, and I've got the confirmation billing emails. Will be interested to see if there are any ramifications.
------------

Another one bites the dust

Less than a month after Sony closed its music download site, the Virgin (or Vigin?) Digital site will cease selling music tracks from the 28 September.

There is no indication how long those who signed up for a subscription service will be able to play the tracks they've downloaded.
------------

New York Times - more free stuff

New York Times reports: [edited]

The New York Times will stop charging for access to parts of its web site.

In addition to opening the entire site to all readers, The New York Times will also make available its archives from 1987 to the present without charge, as well as those from 1851 to 1922, which are in the public domain. There will be charges for some material from the period 1923 to 1986.

What changed, The Times said, was that many more readers started coming to the site from search engines and links on other sites instead of coming directly to NYTimes.com. These indirect readers, unable to get access to articles behind the pay wall and less likely to pay subscription fees than the more loyal direct users, were seen as opportunities for more page views and increased advertising revenue.
------------

Battlestar Galactica, Series 3

The first episode of Battlestar Galactica was aired nearly 30 years ago in 1978. Created by Glen Larson (Alias Smith and Jones, The Six Million Dollar Man, Knight Rider), it was a plagiaristic combination of Star Trek and Star Wars, lacking the inventiveness of the former, and the special effects of the latter.

The new Battlestar Galactica, 're-invented' by Ronald Moore (Star Trek) is a lot better. And Battlestar Galactica Season Three is excellent. The Daily Telegraph has dubbed it 'West Wing in space', and while I don't believe the acting or the dialogue warrants this, the 'big themes' it explores (religion, terrorism, genocide, diaspora, democracy, genocide, robotics) are handled with balance, creativity and wit.

The DVD box set has just been released, put it on your Amazon wishlist.
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Somerset to London, 23-09-07

Must Be Love - Fya Feat. Smujji
Valentine (Single Version) - The Delays
Cindy Incidentally - The Faces
Hold the line - Toto
Hooked on a Feeling (Ooga Chucka) - Rusted Root
Twistin (Blues Brothers) - Ray Charles
Stray Dog And The Chocolate Shake - Grandaddy
What A Wonderful World - Joey Ramone
I Ain't Gonna Stand For It - Stevie Wonder
Werewolves of London - Warren Zevon
Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Dwight Yoakam
My Way (clean remix) - Butch Walker
Under the Sea - The Little Mermaid
Shiny Shiny - Haysi Fantayzee
I Wish I Could Fly (Orville's Song) - Keith Harris & Orville
Who's That Lady - The Isley Brothers
Psycho - The Sonics
Cool For Cats - Squeeze
Sulk - Billy Bragg
Suddenly I See - KT Tunstall
Ev'rybody Wants To Be A Cat - Aristocats
You've Got Your Troubles - The Fortunes
Snoopy vs The Red Baron - Royal Guardsmen
Daddy Cool - The Darts
Tango - Lady Sovereign
He Said He Loved Me - Reverend and the Makers
You Little Thief - Feargal Sharkey
Fat Lip - Sum 41
(I Hate) Everything about you - Ugly Kid Joe
Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out) - Hombres
I Want You Back - Jackson Five
Cotton-Eyed Joe (feat. Ricky Skaggs) - The Chieftains
Touchy! - a-Ha
Girl Crazy - Hot Chocolate
Into the Groove - Madonna
I Wish I'd Looked After My Teeth - Pam Ayres
The Salmon Dance - The Chemical Brothers
Airport - The Motors
Last Train to Trancentral - KLF
The Logical Song - Scooter
Sophomore Slump Or Comeback Of The Year - Fall Out Boy
Delilah - Tom Jones
Burn Baby Burn - Ash
Spanish Stroll - Mink DeVille
------------

London to Somerset: 21-09-07

Absolutely Everybody - Vanessa Amorosi
Wrapped Up In Books - Belle & Sebastian
So In Love - Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
A Cruel Angel's Thesis (Neon Genesis Evangelion) - Kentaro Fukushi
You Keep It All In - The Beautiful South
Foundations - Kate Nash
Picture This - Blondie
Girls Who Play Guitars - Maximo Park
Carnival - The Cardigans
Emo Patrol - Skamasutra
Happy - Victoria Williams
Autumn Song - Manic Street Preachers
Fluorescent Adolescent - Arctic Monkeys
How Would It Be - Lene Marlin
Laughter In The Rain - Neil Sedaka
Everytime We Touch - Cascada
La Dolce Vita - Ryan Paris
Bomb the twist - 5,6,7,8s
Together In Electric Dreams (Ext) - Georgio Moroder & Paul Oakey
1234 - Feist
Down Boy - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Hold On - KT Tunstall
Nine/Begin The Beguine - Noel Coward
Screamager - Therapy?
Pony Ride - The Crash
Wouldn't It Be Good? - Cascada
Brand new key - Melanie
Love is a Battlefield - Pat Benatar
Running Out of Time - Hot Hot Heat
Dress You Up - Madonna
This Is It - Melba Moore
Vehicle - The Ides of March
Take Her Back - The Pigeon Detectives
Great to be a Nerd - The Arrogant Worms
Off The Wall - Michael Jackson
This Love - Maroon 5
Why Can't the English? - Rex Harrison And Audrey Hepburn
I'm Doin' Fine Now - New York City
Amylase - Cajun Dance Party
La la Song - The Kissaway Trail
Little Does She Know - The Kursaal Flyers
She's hitting him with her Bible! - Mike Childs
Prescilla - Bat for Lashes
People Everyday - Arrested Development
Jack & Jill - Ray Parker Jr. and Raydio
Sale of the Century - Sleeper
------------

The Wii could have been made for this game

Yahoo! reports: [edited]

LucasArts has announced that its next-generation action adventure, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, will be arriving on the Nintendo Wii platform, in addition to its already revealed PS3 and Xbox 360 versions.

Ever since the Wii's unusual motion-sensing controllers were unveiled, gamers and Star Wars fans around the globe have been anticipating using the Wii-mote to control a lightsaber. Their wish will be fulfilled next year when the game is scheduled to release.

LucasArts also mentioned the Nunchuk controller will allow players to enact their character's Force powers.

The Wii version of the game will feature an exclusive Duel Mode that pits players in head-to-head battles for the title of ultimate Jedi master.

Set in the span of time between Episode III and IV, the player will take on the role of Darth Vader's apprentice.
------------

Three free typefaces

Die Gestalten Verlag (dgv) "specializes in developing content for aficionados of cutting-edge visual culture worldwide...".

Part of their service is type design, and they have made 3 complete typefaces available for free download.

Naiv-Fat is a deceptively legible 'under-exposed' rounded sans-serif.

Neon Glow is an intriguing neon-sans-outline-egyptian hybrid.

Regular Cargo-Bold is a condensed and readable sans-serif stencil.

There are also a couple of very attractive postmodern sans-serifs, Engel Light and Nuri Light. However, these are 'limited' sets, with no punctuation. Fine if you need a headline, not so good if you are intending to use them for body copy.
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IBM workers protest pay cut on Second Life

BoingBoing reports: [edited]

Italian workers with IBM are protesting a $1,377 paycut, and they're organising a September 25th protest in Second Life, where IBM has a large corporate campus and marketing site. (The company's UK division has been using SL as a '3D web' development platform for over a year.)
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You type it, Atsune will sing it

GamersWeb reports: [edited]

Vocaloid is software developed by Yamaha that enables users to synthesize authentic-sounding [Japanese] singing by typing in the melody and the lyrics of a song.

Vocaloid 2 has just been released, featuring the voice of Atsune Miku, a 16-year-old virtual singer (according to her official bio she is 158 cm tall, weighs 42 Kg and loves pop and dance music).

During the last two weeks Atsune Miku has stormed the Japanese otaku [obsessive anime/manga geeks] and video-gamers underground, with users posting videos with music created on Vocaloid 2 on Nico Nico (japanese equivalent of YouTube). It is currently the top-selling piece of software on Amazon Japan.

The site has links to MP3s and YouTube videos featuring songs created with Vocaloid 2.
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Longest unmanned flight

National Geographic reports: [edited]

A new ultralight aircraft has reportedly demolished the previous world record for longest unmanned flight.

The Zephyr High Altitude Long Endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) stayed aloft for 54 hours during a recent test flight at New Mexico's White Sands Missile Range, says London-based defense firm QinetiQ.

No observers from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) were on hand, so the flight may not officially break the previous record of 30 hours, 24 minutes, 1 second set by Northrop Grumman's RQ-4A "Global Hawk" on March 21, 2001.

The Zephyr is an ultralight aircraft made of carbon fibre. Though it has a 60-foot (18-meter) wingspan, it weighs just 66 pounds (30 kilograms) and is launched by hand.

During the day, the plane draws on power supplied by paper-thin solar arrays mounted on its wings, while simultaneously charging batteries used for night operations.

With further improvements, it's hoped that not everything that goes up has to come down. The solar-powered aircraft could stay in the sky indefinitely, acting as a permanent surveillance source or temporary communications relay during an emergency.
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Polar bear pix

ucumari has a flickr page devoted to polar bears. If you don't go 'awww' at least twice, you're an android. Or Antony Billington.
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Flexible batteries

arstechnica reports: [edited]

If you crack the back off a modern portable electronic device, you'll find a battery that contributes to a large part of the device's weight.

Fuel cells and solar power have both been floated as promising solutions to the battery weight/capacity problem, but new research suggests that carbon nanotubes may eventually provide the best hope of implementing the flexible batteries and supercapacitors needed to shrink our gadgets even more.

Part of the problem with designing flexible batteries and supercapacitors has been the necessity of layering such devices. Typically, two electrode layers sandwich two charge-holding layers, with an insulating layer in the middle of it all. As the layers build up, flexibility goes out the window.

However, researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and MIT have developed a new material that eliminates the need for a multilayer battery. They grew carbon nanotubes on a silicon substrate and impregnated the gaps between the tubes with cellulose—that's right, plain old paper. The cellulose also covered the ends of the nanotubes, but once it had dried, the paper material could be peeled off of the silicon substrate, leaving one end of the carbon nanotubes exposed to form an electrode.

By putting two sheets of paper together with the cellulose side facing inwards (and a drop of electrolyte on the paper), a supercapacitor is formed. These supercapacitors retain the flexibility of normal paper, but they have a rating that is comparable to that of standard commercial hardware — a 100g sheet could replace a 1300mAh battery. Because the medium is flexible, the researchers say you could shape batteries of all sizes for very specific use.

It doesn't stop there, however. By putting a drop of electrolyte on a single sheet and then putting a metal foil consisting of lithium and aluminum on each side, a lithium ion battery is formed. This paper device had a respectable 110mAh/g capacity, and the researchers indicate that small prototypes could already power small mechanical devices like fans.

Thanks to Conrad for the link.
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Persian Rug Jigsaw Puzzle

GeekAlerts reports: [edited]

“PuzzlePerser” is a Persian inspired line of rugs created by the German product designer Katrin Sonnleitner. Featured here is the classic version, using nine different colors to create the beautiful and playful pattern.


There is also a black and white PuzzlePersianBW, and the PuzzleGreen in four different shades of green. The puzzle pieces used for the rugs are made of a recyclable mix of both natural and synthetic rubber.

View the PuzzlePerser and other creations by Katrin on her website. [familiarity with the German language an advantage, Ed]
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Travelodge - make yourself at home

The Telegraph reports: [edited]

For most people, a cut-price weekend away in a Travelodge hotel or an overnight stay to break up a long journey is enough. But one couple found they enjoyed not having to cook, clean or do the washing up so much that they have lived in one of the roadside hotels for 22 years.

They experienced their first night in one of the roadside hotels in 1985, when they drove to visit an elderly aunt in Staffordshire. They enjoyed it so much that four months later, when that relative died, they decided to ring the changes. They turned their back on their flat in Sheffield in favour of a Travelodge on the A1 in Newark, Notts.

Ten years ago they transferred their allegiance 15 miles south to take up residence in a new Travelodge, which opened in Grantham, Lincs. Mr and Mrs Davidson have spent £97,600 on their hotel costs in 22 years, which could have bought them a two-bedroom terrace home or flat in the Lincolnshire area.

Sitting in the hotel's room one yesterday, Mr Davidson, 79, a retired banker who served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War, said: "This is our home. We have everything we need here - and the staff are like family now.

"We get great rates because we book well in advance and all our bed linen is laundered too. It doesn't get much better than that does it? We only have to walk across the car park for meals as there is a Little Chef here too."

They pay around £8,000 a year at Grantham, depending on room rates. Help the Aged say the cost of a residential care home for one person is between £21,000 and £25,000 a year. They still own the flat in Sheffield, which they bought for £25,000 in 1980. It has quadrupled in value.

Mrs Davidson, 70, said: "I really like living here as it's so convenient and our room is on the ground floor so there are no stairs or lifts to deal with. I don't have this kind of room in our flat in Sheffield. It's spacious and makes things easier for us. We don't get hit with huge heating bills over the winter and it's safer than a lot of places these days. For us it's a better and cheaper option than an old people's home and we're well looked after."

The couple visit their first floor flat fortnightly to check for mail and describe their Travelodge room, adorned with family photographs, as "home from home".

"Our room looks out to the car park and a busy slip road where lorries pass by throughout the night."
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Building a better kilogram

Wired reports: [edited]

Has the kilogram gone on a diet? Maybe. For some reason, the official kilo — a 118-year-old lump of metal stored in a vault at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures outside Paris — has slimmed down by as much as 50 micrograms in the past century.

The solution? Build a better kilogram. Researchers at the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization are cutting, grinding, and polishing a boule — a big crystal — of ultrapure silicon 28 into two baseball-sized spheres (one is for double-checking).

Materials scientists are able to measure precisely how many atoms of that silicon isotope are in any given hunk (the completed orb should contain 215 x 1023 atoms).

Creating "the roundest object in the world," says CSIRO engineer Katie Green, means technicians have to worry about only one dimension: diameter. Once finished, it will weigh a perfect kilogram. Give or take an atom.
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iPod touch - Steve's Newton?

In the previous blog, I published RegHardware's article on why they believe the iPod touch is going to be a successful product.

I featured it because it challenged my initial reaction to the latest iPod range, which was '?'.

The iPod classic had the storage I wanted. But nothing else.

The iPod nano is not for me. Not enough storage. Not enough features. And I'm reserving judgment on the form-factor. My intial reaction is 'Fisher-Price'.

The iPod touch looks great. The storage is not huge, but flash media keeps it slim and improves battery life. And I'm used to using smart-playlists to manage capacity limitations with my existing iPod, so that's not a big problem.

The lack of Bluetooth annoyed me at first, as I would have liked to be able to listen to songs without wires. However, the current range of Bluetooth headphones are either poor in audio quality, or so bulky/power-hungry that I wouldn't use them anyway. I wonder if WiFi earphones are a possibility?

And then I start to think, is this Steve Job's Newton?

It runs OSX. It isn't shackled to a telecom carrier. It's reasonably priced. It has a great screen. A usable touch-interface. A fast processor. Good battery life. WiFi.

How long will it be before third-party developers find ways of synchronising data and broadcasting sound via WiFi?

All it lacks is an app (and a microphone) to allow it to be used as a Skype device. WiFi availability is growing fast. How long will it be until the iPod voice makes an appearance?

I believe that convergence is inevitable. One day we will carry/wear/implant tiny devices that take superb quality pictures, store (or stream) our entire music/video collections and allow us to communicate with the rest of the world via voice and data.

However, as the RegHardware article suggests, this is the device for those of us who don't believe convergence has arrived yet.

I still prefer my Fuji F30 as a camera to any phone (including the Nokia N95). My Nokia E65 is an excellent mobile that gives me access to the internet via WiFi, GPRS and 3G, but I don't enjoy browsing the web on it, I don't like the quality of the images or videos it captures and the screen is too small to enjoy watching videos on it.

The iPod touch could end up being the first successful UMPC (Ultra Portable Personal Computer), providing the average user with enough horsepower and features to keep them happy until Apple, Fuji and a Telco team up to provide the ultimate convergence PDA.
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iPod touch - Apple's laptop replacement?

RegHardware reports: [edited]

So was nine months of relentless iPhone hype and froth just a distraction? Not quite, but you could be forgiven for thinking so. I believe Apple's most important product of 2007 was actually announced this week.

The iPod touch is going to be a sensation. Not only does it bring Apple's capacitive multi-touch interface, to its key music products, it does so at a very low entry point: $299 (or £199)

But the interface is simply a means to an end. Because the Touch has Wi-Fi, so you get the most attractive web browsing device at a very low cost as well.

And as a bonus Apple stealthily enters a new market altogether: the connected PDA.

This 'Second Box' business is one that almost everyone has neglected, because they've followed the conventional wisdom that Everything Must Be Converged. But what if that isn't true?

Unlike the iPhone, which is locked down at the carrier's request, third-party applications will not be restricted on the iPod touch. All it's lacking is Bluetooth and removable storage.

In short, the iPod touch brings much of the value proposition of the iPhone to people who are perfectly happy with the phone they've got - or who are locked into a long contract with a network operator.
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Scientists discover (very) big hole in universe

New Scientist reports: [edited]

Radio astronomers have found the biggest hole ever seen in the universe. The void, which is nearly a billion light years across, is empty of both normal matter and dark matter. The finding challenges theories of large-scale structure formation in the universe.

Lawrence Rudnick and colleagues of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, US, stumbled upon the void by accident. Rudnick’s team had been studying data from a survey carried out by the Very Large Array radio telescope in New Mexico, also in the US. "One morning I was a little bored, and said, 'why don’t I look in the direction of the WMAP cold spot’," says Rudnick.

The team was in for a surprise. They saw little or no radio sources in a volume that is about 280 megaparsecs or nearly a billion light years in diameter. The lack of radio sources means that there are no galaxies or clusters in that volume, and the fact that the CMB is cold there suggests the region lacks dark matter, too.
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New iPods

Just in case you missed the announcement yesterday. A strange looking replacement for the iPod nano, now squarer in shape, with a bigger, video-playing screen. The re-badged iPod classic, like the iPod but now available with up to 160GB of storage. And the iPhone touch, which is a stripped-down iPhone (no phone, no camera, no bluetooth).

Looking forward to seeing them in real-life, meanwhile you can visit the Apple site for tech specs and intro videos.
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Voyager, 30 years on

Voyager 1 was launched on the 5th September, 1977.

Still operational after 30 years, Voyager 1 is now more than 103.2 astronomical units away from the Sun.

Astronomers believe it has now entered the solar system's heliosheath - the termination shock region between the sun's solar wind and interstellar space.

Signals from Voyager 1 take 13 hours to reach Earth, travelling at the speed of light.

Wired has an excellent slide show of Voyager-related images. Worth a browse.
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Sony's online music store to be axed

Playlist reports: [edited]

Sony’s three-year effort to beat Apple’s iTunes Music Store is over. The company will be closing down its online Connect Music Store.

In its place, Sony is adding Microsoft’s Windows Media technology to its music players and allowing consumers to download copy-protected content from numerous Windows Media-compatible music stores on the Internet, including those from Napster, Audible.com and Wal-Mart.

Sony will also distribute Windows Media Player 11 software with its devices.
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Pantone mugs

My first freelance job involved making a lot of tea and coffee for the other designers. I used Pantone colours to make sure I got the strength of people's brew's just right.

Looks like Suck have had a similar idea.

Thanks to Sora for the link.
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Budget supercomputer

Calvin College reports: [edited]

Brom, now a graduate student at the University of Kentucky continuing his studies in computer science, worked with Adams to build Microwulf, a machine that is among the smallest and least expensive supercomputers on the planet.

“It’s small enough to check on an airplane or fit next to a desk,” said Brom.

This may prove useful next summer when Brom and others from his graduate program travel to England to do work that will require “a significant amount of computing power.”

And as the price of commercial supercomputers is often prohibitive for many educational institutions, bringing a “personal” supercomputer like Microwulf could be a cost-effective solution for the group of graduate researchers.

“So far as we can tell, this is the first supercomputer to have this low price/performance ratio - the first to cost less than $100/Gflop,” said Adams [the original project cost $2470. With current hardware prices, another system would cost half of that amount].

Microwulf is more than twice as fast as Deep Blue, the IBM-created supercomputer that beat world chess champion Gary Kasparov in 1997, and cost only a fraction of the $5 million spent to build Deep Blue.
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