New Century Global Center

The Huffinton Post reports: [edited]

Where can you spend a day at work, do some serious shopping, sleep in a five-star hotel, go ice skating, swimming AND tanning without ever stepping outside?

At the New Century Global Center, in Chengdu, China.

The recently opened city-sized structure is being called the "world's largest standalone structure" by Chinese officials.

According to the Independent, the complex measures roughly 1.7 million square meters. It is approximately the size of Monaco, could hold 20 Sydney Opera Houses and is three times the size of the Pentagon Building in Washington, D.C.

Beyond just offering office spaces, shopping, and entertainment in the form of a 14-screen IMAX movie theater, the building also boasts two, 1,000-room five-star hotels, "Paradise Island" water park, an artificial beach that can accommodate 6,000 people and a faux sun that will shine 24 hours a day. A giant LED screen mimics shoreline and ocean.

Image by Getty
------------

Rust could boost hydrogen production

BBC reports: [edited]

Rust could help boost the efficiency of hydrogen production from sunlight - a potentially green source of energy.

Tiny (nano-sized) particles of haematite (crystalline iron oxide, or rust) have been shown to split water into hydrogen and oxygen in the presence of solar energy.

The result could bring the goal of generating cheap hydrogen from sunlight and water a step closer to reality.

Researchers from Switzerland, the US and Israel identified what they termed "champion nanoparticles" of haematite, which are a few billionths of a metre in size. Bubbles of hydrogen gas appear spontaneously when the tiny grains of haematite are put into water under sunlight as part of a photoelectrochemical cell (PEC).

Where the particle is correctly oriented and contains no grain boundaries, electrons pass along efficiently. This allows water splitting to take place that leads to the capture of about 15% of the energy in the incident sunlight - that which falls on a set area for a set length of time. This energy can then be stored in the form of hydrogen.

Iron oxide is cheap, and the electrodes used to create abundant, environmentally-friendly hydrogen from water in this photochemical method should be inexpensive and relatively efficient. The hydrogen made from water and sunlight in this way could then be stored, transported, and sold on for subsequent energy needs in fuel cells or simply by burning.
------------

Free Font - Lot

HypeForType has made this ultrabold, uppercase-only display face available for free download.
------------

Garmin Heads Up Display

The Verge reports: [edited]

Garmin has announced the HUD, a portable heads-up display unit for vehicles that can receive navigation instructions from a smartphone and display them on any car's windshield. Paired with a transparent film that sticks to the window or a dedicated reflector lens, the HUD is designed to make sure drivers keep their eyes on the road instead of looking at various screens for navigation purposes.

The HUD pairs over Bluetooth with Garmin's StreetPilot or Navigon apps for smartphones, and it can display turn arrows, distance to the next turn, current speed and speed limit, as well as estimated time of arrival. It also offers speed limit alerts, traffic delays, and locations of cameras, and guides drivers into the correct lanes they need to be in. Garmin claims that the unit can auto adjust its brightness so that it is visible in direct sunlight or at night.

Price: $129.99
------------

Herbicide drones launch strikes on weeds

New Scientist reports: [edited]

A drone zipping over fields in Denmark can spot the tiny colour variations that give away the presence of weeds in amongst the crops. Logging the coordinates, it can then send a ground vehicle in to spray the densest patches, reducing the need to spray whole fields.

This is the ASETA project, led by Anders La Cour-Harbo of Aalborg University in Denmark. It aims to reduce herbicide use by concentrating weedkiller only in places where it is needed most.

The project uses a camera attached to a UAV to survey the fields. The camera is tuned to pick up parts of the light spectrum that correspond to the reflective signatures of the weeds and crops it is looking for – for example, thistle sticks out because it absorbs yellow light more than surrounding beet plants. Information is sent back to a central computer, where it is used to update previous flight maps of the fields.

The system then identifies areas that could be dense with weeds, and sends the ground vehicle in for a closer look and possible spraying. It's all automatic: the only human input is defining the boundaries of the field to be surveyed. The drone system is currently being trialled in Denmark.
------------

Epigenetic Changes to Fat Cells Following Exercise

Science Daily reports: [edited]

Exercise, even in small doses, changes the expression of our innate DNA. New research from Lund University in Sweden has described for the first time what happens on an epigenetic level in fat cells when we undertake physical activity.

The cells of the body contain DNA, which contains genes. We inherit our genes and they cannot be changed. The genes, however, have 'methyl groups' attached which affect what is known as 'gene expression' - whether the genes are activated or deactivated. The methyl groups can be influenced in various ways, through exercise, diet and lifestyle, in a process known as 'DNA methylation'. This is epigenetics, a relatively new research field that in recent years has attracted more and more attention.

In the study, the researchers investigated what happened to the methyl groups in the fat cells of 23 slightly overweight, healthy men aged around 35 who had not previously engaged in any physical activity, when they regularly attended spinning and aerobics classes over a six-month period.

"They were supposed to attend three sessions a week, but they went on average 1.8 times," says Tina Rönn, Associate Researcher at Lund University.

Using technology that analyses 480,000 positions throughout the genome, they could see that epigenetic changes had taken place in 7,000 genes (an individual has 20-25,000 genes). They then went on to look specifically at the methylation in genes linked to type 2 diabetes and obesity.

"We found changes in those genes too, which suggests that altered DNA methylation as a result of physical activity could be one of the mechanisms of how these genes affect the risk of disease," says Tina Rönn, adding that this has never before been studied in fat cells and that they now have a map of the DNA methylome in fat.

In the laboratory, the researchers were able to confirm the findings in vitro (studying cell cultures in test tubes) by deactivating certain genes and thus reducing their expression. This resulted in changes in fat storage in fat cells.
------------

Science Builds a Better Pie

The New York Times reports: [edited]

Amy Rowat, a biophysicist and assistant professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, teaches a class on science and food in which students examine all aspects of apple pie. She shares some of her insights and explains how the home baker can apply them in the kitchen.

For an A4 PDF version of the page, click here
------------

Lunatik Taktik Extreme

If you regularly drop your iPhone 5, this could have your name on it.

- Corning Gorilla Glass Impact Lens For Screen Protection
- High Impact Ballistic Bezels
- 9mm Impact Truss
- Water + Dust Resistant Membranes
- Sealed Audio & Charging Ports
- Secure Screw Closure
- Direct Access To All iPhone 5 Ports & Features
- Ringer Silencer Switch

Price: $125

For more information, watch the video, and/or click here


------------

Contact Lens with 2.8x Optical Zoom

Petapixel reports: [edited]

An international team of researchers have developed the world’s first telescopic contact lens — a 1.17mm thick pair of contact lenses that, when you want them to, will magnify your vision by 2.8x.

The lenses use patterned aluminium mirrors to reflect the incoming light rays four times, magnifying the resulting image and correcting for chromatic aberrations in the process. The magnified image is then projected onto the edge of your retina.

Each lens comes with a clear portion in the middle that allows light through unaffected, and a telescopic portion on the outside. In order to allow users to choose between magnified and unmagnified sight, they equipped the lenses with a polarizing filter in front of the clear portion, so that switching between the two is as easy as putting on a pair of polarizing 3D glasses.

People with age-related macular degeneration (or AMD) suffer from degradation of the high-resolution fovea at the centre of the retina. These contacts project a magnified image on the lower-resolution perifovea, greatly enhancing these peoples’ ability to see details like text.
------------

Photocube Compact Photo Printer

Sharper Image reports: [edited]

The compact photo printer is small and compact at 7 x 4 x 6”, and produces 300dpi 4”x 6” prints in under a minute.

Dock accommodates all iPhones up to 4s. Compatible with the iPhone 5, iPad with Retina Display and iPad Mini and Android smartphones (OS 2.0 & above) by plugging the device into the USB port.

Price (inc. 12 print cartridge): £70
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London - Lincoln - Nottingham - London, 29-06-13

London to Lincoln
Under Dubwood - The Dubwood Allstars
V.E.N.O.M. - Pulled Apart By Horses
Comedy - Shack
Ladykillers - Lush
Give It (Radio Edit) - X-press 2 featuring Kurt Wagner
Beaten Up In Love Again (Album Version) - The Doves
3 AM Eternal - KLF
The American - Simple Minds
Can't Take My Eyes Off You - Andy Williams
Let Your Shoulder Fall - Matthew Jay
There She Goes, My Beautiful World - Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds
All My Friends - LCD Soundsystem
Something There - Beauty and the Beast
Telephone - Lady GaGa & Beyoncé
Do It Again - Camera Obscura
Great Balls of Fire - Jerry Lee Lewis
Ruby, don't take your love to town - Kenny Rogers
19th Nervous Breakdown - The Rolling Stones
Give It Up - Talk Talk
Judy Teen - Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel
Feel Good Inc (Single Edit) - Gorillaz
How It All Went Wrong - Les Incompetents
Baby's coming back - Jellyfish
I Will Never Love You More - Soko
Caught Out There - Kelis
Same Jeans - The View
Mulder And Scully - Catatonia
Indiana Wants Me - R Dean Taylor
Ooh Aah Just A Little Bit - The Wurzels
Pinball - Brian Protheroe
Take Me With U - Prince And The Revolution
Sweet Disposition - The Temper Trap
It's Getting Better - Mama Cass Elliot
Purple Rain - Prince
Float On - Modest Mouse
Bottle Rocket - The Go! Team
This World Of Water - New Musik
I Would Die 4 U/Baby I'm A Star - Prince And The Revolution
Watching Xanadu - Mull Historical Society

Lincoln to Nottingham
Young Love (Ft Laura Marling) - Mystery Jets
Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) (bootleg?) - Frank Wilson
Feel The Need In Me - Detroit Emeralds
Want You In My Soul (daft punk mix) - Stee Downes
She Is Beautiful - Andrew W.K.
I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor - Sugababes
Bloodbuzz Ohio - The National
Gepetto - Belly
Cars And Girls - Prefab Sprout
Crimson and Clover - Joan Jett & The Blackhearts
Up The Junction - Squeeze
Golden Skans - Klaxons
25 or 6 to 4 - Chicago
Burst - The Darling Buds
Hounds Of Love - The Futureheads
Too Young - Phoenix

Nottingham to London
Trash - Suede
Trying To Be Cool - Phoenix
Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 1 - The Flaming Lips
Wake Up - Arcade Fire
Dawn Chorus - Beth Orton
Animal Nitrate - Suede
Rock Me Gently - Andy Kim
The Soul City Walk - Archie Bell & the Drells
Evolution of Get Lucky - PV Nova
In A Broken Dream - Python Lee Jackson
Excerpt From A Teenage Opera - Keith West
It's All Over Now Baby Blue - Them
I'm Gonna Make You Mine - Lou Christie
Beautiful Ones - Suede
Dashboard - Modest Mouse
Respect - Otis Redding
Love Machine (live) - Arctic Monkeys
Have I The Right - The Honeycombs
Appetite (2007) - Prefab Sprout
Paris sous la neige - Mellow
I Think We're Alone Now (techno) - Tiffany
Jungle Love - Steve Miller Band
Maggie May - Rod Stewart
Sleepyhead - Passion Pit
(There's) Always Something There To Remind Me - Sandie Shaw
Do You Believe In Magic - The Lovin' Spoonful
Swamp Thing - Chameleons
Pretty Fly (For A White Guy) - The Offspring
Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town - Cake
The most beautiful girl in the world - Charlie Rich
Half Moon Street - Pete and the Pirates
I'll Kill Her - Soko
Bizarre Love Triangle - New Order
Banquet - Bloc Party
Stay With Me - The Faces
------------

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 II

Digital Photography Review has a hands-on preview of Sony's upgrade of its premium compact zoom camera.

Improvements include:
- Hot shoe
- Tilting LCD
- WiFi capability
- Backlit 20.2 megapixel CMOS sensor
- Claimed 40% higher sensitivity in low light

My son, Brook, owns a RX100, and I am very impressed with the quality of the images it produces (comparable to those captured with my Olympus OM-D E-M5) so it will be interesting to see if this new model is a significant improvement on the original.

------------

AutoRip in the UK

The Verge reports: [edited]

Amazon is bringing its AutoRip track matching service to the UK, giving its people access to MP3 copies of the CD and vinyl releases they’ve purchased over the past 14 years.

Digital copies of the tracks will be automatically added to your Cloud Player library to stream or download without counting against your storage limit.

The company says that it has AutoRip support for more than 350,000 albums.
------------

Skitch

iTunes reports: [edited]

Skitch lets you communicate your feedback and important ideas in an instant. Use Skitch to mark up a PDF, snap your screen, annotate a photo, or draw something new. Share your thoughts with friends or co-workers. Annotate images and PDFs with arrows, stamps, text, shapes, and more. Getting everything done just right has never been easier.

Free. System requirements: OS X 10.7.4 or later, 64-bit processor.
------------

Samsung Galaxy NX

Digital Photography Review reports: [edited]

Samsung has announced the Galaxy NX: the world's first mirrorless interchangeable lens camera running the Android operating system.

The Galaxy NX takes a 20.3 megapixel, SLR-style mirrorless camera and adds 3G, 4G LTE and Wi-Fi, connectivity and Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean). It sports a gigantic 4.8" HD LCD touchscreen - with which you'll control nearly all camera functions.

The Galaxy NX will be available sometime this summer for an undisclosed price.
------------

Stealth Bomber Electric Bike

Electric Bike has a full review.

Edited conclusion:

"The Stealth Bomber is definitely among the highest quality, fastest ebikes offered as a turn key ready to ride machine. The Stealth Bomber is fast, agile, quiet, long range, and cool looking. What’s not to like?"

"This bike has 2 major drawbacks. One is the $12,000 price. Second is the weight. 116lbs (63kg) is considered super heavy even by electric bicycle standards, and a lot of that weight is in the unsprung back wheel."

Their promotional video is extremely entertaining.


------------

LG 84LM960V 3D Ultra HD 84" LED TV

Currys reports: [edited]

This 84" TV has a screen resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels.

With a resolution 4 times higher than Full HD, you'll be treated to amazingly immersive, vivid and crisp picture quality. It offers an Ultra HD Upscaler feature, upgrading standard and HD pictures to appear significantly enhanced.

The big screen is ideal for 2 player split-screen gaming thanks to the Dual Play feature, giving each player their own perspective – there are 2 pairs of Dual Play glasses included.

Price: £16,999
------------

Charge as you drive

Business Insider reports: [edited]

One of the biggest complaints around electric cars is that their batteries aren't good enough for long trips.

The Volvo Group and Swedish power company Alstom have a solution in mind. Last year, they built a quarter-mile long track with two power lines at Volvo's testing facility in Sweden that charges vehicles as they drive over it.
------------

Moby music free for non-profit filmmakers

nino film reports: [edited]

Moby has released a set of 150 songs to be used for by filmmakers in their non-profit projects. Proceeds from commercial projects go directly to the Humane Society. The dedicated website mobygratis has been online since 2008.

All the videos need to be checked by Moby’s team, but according to him, they haven't said no to any production so far – and their feedback comes within 24 hours. They also encourage users to upload their videos to the site, so everyone can see them.
------------

The Secret Life of the Cat

BBC has published a fascinating mini-site which allows you to track a group of GPS-tagged cats studied in the village of Shamley Green, Surrey, for Horizon's programme The Secret Life of the Cat.

The Horizon team - aided by the Royal Veterinary College and Lincoln and Bristol Universities - tracked dozens of cats over several 24-hour periods using specially-designed collar GPS devices and tiny "cat cams".

The result? Scientists discovered the cats appeared to timeshare territory to avoid confrontation with neighbouring felines and visit each others houses. However, the cat cam footage also revealed squabbles over territory remained. There was also an incident with a fox and with a nest of fledglings.
------------

Windowseat Lounge

dornob reports: [edited]

A seat that loops over the head of the sitter provides a sense of enclosure and privacy in busy public environments like airports and hotel lobbies, or simply reduces distractions at home. ‘Windowseat Lounge’ by San Francisco design studio Mike & Maaike simply extends three ‘walls’ to create a room within a room.

Incorporating these architectural elements makes it easier for the sitter to shut out the hustle and bustle of the room just beyond their safe little refuge. The back is left open so you can easily lean back and peek out, maintaining a connection.

This unusual chair design would also fit right into offices with open plans, where it’s easy to feel very exposed. Closing yourself off in a private space to think or make a phone call is as easy as sitting down. The walls of the Windowseat Lounge muffle ambient noise.

Made of a steel frame upholstered in wool, Windowseat Lounge is available in four colors from the Haworth Collection.

------------

Cheetahs not as fast as we thought

New Scientist reports: [edited]

"Everyone thinks cheetahs run at incredibly high top speeds, over 60mph, but these measurements were made with imprecise speedometers," says Alan Wilson of The Royal Veterinary College at the University of London.

In the quest for better data, Wilson designed solar-powered collars with GPS trackers, accelerometers, gyroscopes and other bits of kit to get a snapshot of life on the savannah, and fitted them on three females and two males.

The fastest speed recorded was 58mph, but the team was surprised to find their cheetahs tended to run at a more moderate 34mph. What made them such good hunters was their ability to accelerate up to 3 metres per second and decelerate by 4 mps in a single stride. The muscle power required to generate this acceleration was four times what Usain Bolt used for his 100-metre world record.

"Cheetahs don't run particularly quickly," says Wilson. "Their success is more a matter of the manoeuvering and acceleration." The impala, gazelles and other animals they prey on are agile, and the final moments of a hunt are often played out with an intricate to-and-fro of footwork, rather than a flat-out race.
------------

The Psychology of Colour

Painters of Louisville has created a useful infographic illustrating the way colours can affect our moods.

PDF version available here.
------------

Sony PS4

techradar reports: [edited]

The PS4 will cost £349 when it goes on sale later this year.

Sony announced a number of PS4 games, including the 'Sony exclusive' Final Fantasy XV.

There will be no need for an online check-in, even for authentication purposes, unlike the 'every 24 hours' requirement of the Xbox One. The PS4 has no used game restrictions, and owners can lend a game to their friends, trade it in at retail or sell it.
------------

Apple WWDC, June 10, 2013

Apple has announced a slew of new products, including

- OS X Mavericks

- Upgraded MacBook Airs

- iOS 7

- iTunes Radio

- An all-new Mac Pro

For far more than you want/need to know, including an opportunity to watch the keynote address, click here.
------------

Nikon Coolpix A

Digital Photography Review have published a comparitive review of Nikon's £840 high-end APS-C compact against Ricoh's £600 GR

Conclusion snippets follow:

"Nikon has brought its mass-market expertise to make a camera that offers the same simplified interface and pleasant JPEGs that underpin its popular entry-level DSLRs."

"The Coolpix A JPEGs have the pleasant color response of the company's DSLRs, as well as offering the clever Active D-Lighting processing option for getting well-balance images straight out of the camera. Low light performance is also good."

"While many photographers will be very happy with it, a considerable portion of its thunder is stolen by the Ricoh GR - a camera that achieves the unusual trick of being a touch better in almost every respect while also being significantly cheaper."
------------

Xbox One - latest news...

The Register reports: [edited]

Microsoft has confirmed that Xbox fans' worst fears are at least partially true: Although the new Xbox One gaming console won't need an always-on internet connection, that connection had better be on pretty often or you can forget about gaming. And don't assume you'll be able to sell or trade your old games, either.

What that means is that while offline gaming is technically possible with the Xbox One – as an earlier leaked memo suggested it would be – it will only actually work as long as the console is able to phone home at least once per day.

While a persistent connection is not required, Xbox One is designed to verify if system, application or game updates are needed and to see if you have acquired new games, or resold, traded in, or given your game to a friend. Games that are designed to take advantage of the cloud may require a connection.

Although it will be possible to trade in, resell, or give away your disc-based games in some cases, and Redmond won't charge you any fees to do so, it's up to game publishers to decide whether it's allowed for their games – and how much it might cost.

Even giving games away is subject to approval. According to Microsoft, you'll only be able to give them to people who have been on your friends list for 30 days, and each game can only be given away in this fashion once. And even then, it's up to game publishers to enable the feature for their games.

Worse still, for now all of this is hypothetical. "Loaning or renting games won't be available at launch," Microsoft writes, "but we are exploring the possibilities with our partners."

image courtesy of Forbes
------------

Interval Training Infographic

Greatist has published a helpful infographic illustrating a range of interval training techniques.

For a print-friendly version click here
------------

MindWalker

New Scientist reports: [edited]

Two years ago, Antonio Melillo was in a car crash that completely severed his spinal cord. He has not been able to move or feel his legs since. And yet here I am, in a lab at the Santa Lucia Foundation hospital in Rome, Italy, watching him walk.

Melillo is one of the first people with lower limb paralysis to try out MindWalker – the world's first exoskeleton that aims to enable paralysed and locked-in people to walk using only their mind.

Five people have been involved in the clinical trial of MindWalker over the past eight weeks. The trial culminates this week with a review by the European Commission, which funded the work; the project has been carried out by a consortium of several major universities and companies.

After some tentative first steps, Melillo is looking more confident. He won't be swapping his wheelchair for a MindWalker just yet, but hopefully one day. "It's great finally being able to look people in the eye," he says.

Image courtesy of New Scientist
------------

Musguard

Core 77 reports: [edited]

The now-on-Kickstarter Musguard is a blade-like strip of polypropylene that is affixed to one's seat tube with a velcro strap, fixed in place at the seatstay bridge such that it sits almost directly above the rear wheel.

The Musguard is produced locally in Slovenia, and is not only removable and rollable but also recyclable as well:

Musguard is looking to reinvest some of their Kickstarter funding in developing a matching front fender. They surpassed the $10,000 funding goal within just a few days of launching their campaign about two weeks ago.
------------

Adobe Kuler for iOS

Adobe reports:

Kuler lets you capture colour inspiration anywhere you find it. Capture colorus from a mural, garden, or wherever you happen to be with a snap of your iPhone camera. Browse, create, and customize themes for your designs – all on your phone.

The color themes you create with the Kuler app can be synced to the Kuler website, an online community for colour enthusiasts, for use with other Adobe applications such as Illustrator and Adobe Ideas.

Whether you’re a designer, artist, developer, hobbyist, craft maker, or just somebody who loves colour, Kuler will transform your phone into the ultimate color inspiration tool.

- Choose and adjust your colour themes with the colour wheel

- Edit your colors using RGB color sliders

- Five pre-set colour moods in camera mode, such as colorful and muted

- Six pre-set colour rules in the colour wheel, such as monochromatic and complementary

- Set the base colour to quickly identify other colours that will work well with together
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Printable Papers

Doing what it says on the homepage, a site that hosts PDFs (some customisable) that allow you to print out a wide range of page grids.
------------

Scientific 7-Minute Workout Video

LifeHack reports: [edited]

News about the 'Scientific 7-Minute Workout' has been buzzing around the web for the last month.

The workout was developed by The Human Performance Institute and requires only resistance from body weight, so you don’t have to purchase any fancy exercise equipment or visit a gym to get in shape. The downside is that the 7-minute workout explanations from Institute and The Times only featured descriptions of the exercises paired with pictures or illustrations -something hard to base an exercise routine on if you’ve never actually done these workouts before.

Fortunately, we are here to help and have created a video of the 7-minute workout so you can see exactly what goes into the routine before you try the famous 7-minute workout for yourself and, when you do try it, this video can help you keep track of the exercises and your time.
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London, Nottingham, Lincoln, London - 25-05-13

London to Nottingham
Sigh’s Smell Of Farewell - Cocteau Twins
Thank You Girl - John Hiatt
September Night - Van Morrison
Married to a Lazy Lover - The Auteurs
Streams From The Fountain - Kevin Prosch
Jump - Paul Anka
Oh, To Be Back With You - Steve Forbert
I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl - Nina Simone
I Think I'll Disappear Now - Crash Test Dummies
Words With The Shaman Pt. 1 Ancient Evening - David Sylvian
Chemo Limo - Regina Spektor
Man Gave Names To All The Animals - Bob Dylan
Your Lucky Day In Hell - Eels
Bridge Over Troubled Water - Elvis Presley
Good-Bye To Carolina - Lyle Lovett
Distant Sun (live) - Crowded House
Wrapped in Grey - XTC
Rock & Roll Heaven's Gate - Indigo Girls
Take These Chains From My Heart - Hank Williams
Nasty Dan - Johnny Cash
Help Me Somebody - Brian Eno & David Byrne
My Head Is My Only House Unless It Rains - Captain Beefheart
Violin - They Might Be Giants (TMBG)
Wings - Josh Ritter
The Same Old Rock - Roy Harper With Jimmy Page
Hang On Every Word - Vigilantes Of Love
Livin' In A House Full Of Love - Glen Campbell
Sunshine After The Rain - Elkie Brooks
Honey Child What Can I Do? - Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan
The Wind Cries Mary - Sting
Sad About Girls - Elvis Costello & The Attractions
Homecoming / The Death Of St. Jimmy / East 12th St. / Nobody Likes You / Rock And Roll Girlfriend / We're Coming Home Again - Green Day
Rebel Without A Pause - Public Enemy
Window Wide Open - Scritti Politti

Nottingham to Lincoln
L'Americano - The Gypsy Queens Feat. Madeleine Peyroux
Fire - Kasabian
Super Freak (Part 1) - Rick James
Such Great Heights - The Postal Service
Down In Mexico - The Coasters
I Love You Always Forever - Donna Lewis
Parklife - Blur
Three Small Words (Movie Theme Song) - Josie and the Pussycats
Human - Daughter
Breakout - Swing Out Sister
I'm Beginning to Think You Prefer Beverley Hills 90210 to Me - Fight Like Apes
Reptilia - The Strokes
Big Girls Don't Cry - Frankie Valli And The Four Seasons
TVC 15 - David Bowie
Get Lucky [ft. Pharrell Williams] - Daft Punk
(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher And Higher - Jackie Wilson
Moves Like Jagger (feat. Christina Aguilera) - Maroon 5
Mountain Sound - Of Monsters and Men
Helena Beat - Foster the People
Diane Young - Vampire Weekend

Lincoln to London
Do You Believe In Magic - The Lovin' Spoonful
Only Imagine This City - DJ Schmolli
Who Loves You - Frankie Valli And The Four Seasons
Float On - Modest Mouse
Whiskey In The Jar - Metallica
Half Moon Street - Pete and the Pirates
The Boys of Summer - DJ Sammy
That's Alright - Laura Mvula
Shoot the Runner - Kasabian
Zing! Went The Strings Of My Heart - The Coasters
Bottle Rocket - The Go! Team
The American - Simple Minds
Policy Of Prutataaa - DJ Schmolli
Never Wanted Your Love - She & Him
Where Do You Go to (My Lovely) - Peter Sarstedt
Get Dancin' - Disco Tex & The Sex-O-Lettes
A Taste of Honey - Herb Alpert
The Jean Genie - David Bowie
Dashboard - Modest Mouse
Hooked On A Feeling - B.J.Thomas
While We're In Love feat. Ghost Beach - Viceroy
There Are Bad Times Just Around the Corner - Noel Coward
Chelsea Girl - Simple Minds
Respect - Otis Redding
Gudbye T'Jane - Slade
Chop Suey - System Of A Down
GMF (feat. Sinéad O'Connor) - John Grant
Rock On - David Essex
Lady Like - The Coasters
Want You In My Soul (daft punk mix) - Stee Downes
Feel Good Inc (Single Edit) - Gorillaz
Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) (bootleg?) - Frank Wilson
Silence (single) - Delerium
Burst - The Darling Buds
Charlie Brown - The Coasters
I've Been Thinking about you - London Beat
(There's) Always Something There To Remind Me - Sandie Shaw
She Will - Savages
Fighter [Sped Up] - Christina Aguilera (mix by djbj)
It's Better To Have (And Don't Need) - Don Convay
Generator - The Holloways
Tiger Feet - Mud
------------

Free FontFont Fonts

25 in total, Motter Festival and Fancy Writing being my personal favourites, available from their Pinterest site.
------------

Photography Infographics

Designzzz has curated a useful range of photography infographics.
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Why 3D Printing is Overhyped

Gizmodo has published an excellent article on the current limitations of 3D printing. The whole article is worth reading, but for the time/attention deficient, snippets follow:

"The main issue lies with raised expectations, build quality, price and usability."

"3D printed parts are not as strong as traditionally-manufactured parts.In something like injection moulding, you have a very even strength across the part, as the material is of a relatively consistent material structure. In 3D printing, you are building it in layers — this means that it has laminate weaknesses as the layers don’t bond as well in the Z axis as they do in the X and Y plane."

"Surface finish: People hear you can print in plastic, so they visualise a plastic item [that is] glossy and smooth. They don’t visualise a matt finish with rough layer lines all over."

"Cost is based on material used, so big things are expensive, and small things are cheap. That’s it. There is no economy of scale, so if one item is $1, a thousand items are $1000. Producing anything in bulk that is bigger than your fist is a waste of time."

"Items regularly take hours to print, even days. The notion of ‘but it’ll get faster in the future’ is not necessarily true, as we are limited by the chemical properties of materials such as ABS and PLY — these materials can only be extruded so fast, and at such a rate before you start to destroy the properties of the part."

"To print something, you need a CAD model. Getting that is hard. Really hard. When you write a letter, you don’t just click ‘print,’ do you? You have to actually type it and check it for mistakes. Now this is the same for 3D printing, but a million items harder."

"A great analogy I once read was the comparison of 3D printers to the bread making machine. In the '90s, bread makers suddenly became affordable and everyone got one; they then went and spent $4-7 on the ingredients. They followed the instructions and left the bread cooking overnight. In the morning they came down to the wonderful smell of freshly cooked bread. They smugly sat eating their bread thinking "this is the best loaf of bread ever". Two weeks later the bread machine is in the cupboard and they’ve gone back to buying their carbs from the shop. I’d say that 99 per cent of the population would rather go out and buy a loaf of bread for $1, rather than making one for $3, despite it being more rewarding."

"3D printing will continue to grow in areas like the prototyping market, low-volume production runs (on very high-end machines), medical, aerospace — the list goes on. But as an everyday household object? I’m not convinced."
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Pixelmator 2.2

9to5Mac has published a review of one of the best budget (£10.50) Mac image editors.

Snippets follow:

"Pixelmator 2.2 focuses heavily on shapes and vector drawing options. The new Shape Style palette lets you set and tweak a variety of different settings on your shape. From the Shape Styles palette, you can edit properties such as fill and stroke colors, stroke size, drop shadow, inner shadow, and more."

"Any text, from full sentences to individual letters, can be turned into a shape, making it much easier than before to work with fonts and type. Once you’ve turned text into a shape, all of the same shape style properties that are applicable to normal shapes are available to your text shape as well, meaning it’s now really simple to create great looking, stylized type, right in Pixelmator."

"Pixelmator 2.2 gains a new retro Light Leak Effect, which contains 8 customizable Light Leaks, each offering a unique look and sliders for adjusting the intensity.These new effects are great for pictures that you want to a retro feel."

"Pixelmator 2.2 includes many other small tweaks, including an improved Type Tool, new gradient presets, improved Drawing Toools, the ability to copy a shape’s style to another shape, as well as some much welcomed performance improvements."
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Adobe Project Mighty

core77 reports: [edited]

The Adobe Mighty Pen is designed for sketching on tablets. The screen can distinguish between the pen's nib and your mitts, so you can draw with the pen, then erase with your finger. No more having to click a submenu to change the tool. And when you do need a submenu, you click a button on the pen itself to make it appear on-screen.

The second device is the pen's Napoleon Ruler. Adobe's VP of Product Experience Michael Gough was trained as an architect, and wanted to bring the efficacy of sketching with a secondary guiding tool to the tablet experience.

The pen and ruler are not available yet, and no release date has been given.

For a video demonstration, see below.


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Grenade Reload Protein Flapjack (Chocolate Browning)

Protein bars have three things in common. They possess daft names, upset your stomach and taste dreadful. The featured bar stays true to the first, but (for me at least) escapes the second and third.

The consistency is dry, chewy, not-too-sweet and with a pleasant mouth-feel and after-taste. The 70 gramme bar contains 280 calories, similar to a Kit Kat Chunky or a 45 gramme chocolate bar. However you get 14 more grammes of protein and a much slower release of sugars, helping to stabilise your insulin levels. One thing to note, if you're intolerant to oligofructose products, you should avoid these bars.

There are other flavours available, but I haven't tried them.

For those who study these things, nutritional details follow:

Energy: 279 Calories
Protein: 15.5 grammes
Carbohydrates: 32.4 grammes
Sugar: 18.9 grammes
Total Fats: 9.9 grammes
Of Which Saturates: 2.9 grammes
Dietary Fibre: 11.7 grammes
Sodium: 0.1 grammes
Salt: 0.4 grammes

Ingredients: Oat Blend (Jumbo Oats, Rolled Oats, Oat Bran) (34%), Oligofructose, Protein Blend (Soy Protein Isolate, Defatted Soya Flour, Whey Protein Concentrate, Casein Protein), Invert Syrup, Rapeseed Oil, (Vegetable Oil, Water, Emulsifier (E471)), Dark Chocolate Pieces (4.3%) (Sugar, Cocoa Mass, Cocoa Butter, Vegetable Fat, Soya Lecithin), Fat Reduced Cocoa Powder (2.8%), Natural Flavour.

Price: £24.99 for a box of 24

Thanks to Zak Jordan for the heads-up
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Sony Xperia ZR

The Verge reports: [edited]

Sony has unveiled a new variant of its flagship Android smartphone, launching the LTE-enabled Xperia ZR with enhanced waterproofing for use at depths of up to 1.5 meters. The Xperia ZR is a mid-range smartphone and ships with a slightly smaller 4.6-inch display than the Xperia Z. While the device utilizes Sony's Reality Display technology, it only features a 720p panel.

The Xperia ZR still offers plenty of power with its 1.5GHz S4 Pro quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM, with Android 4.1. The device also includes the same 13-megapixel sensor as the Xperia Z, and with an IP55/IP58 Ingress Protection rating, offers slightly improved water resistance compared to its bigger counterpart. Sony says the Xperia ZR will launch in "various global markets" in Q2 but has yet to set a price.
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€250,000 test-tube burger served soon in London

The Verge reports: [edited]

A hamburger created from bovine stem cells will soon be served in London. The €250,000 (roughly $325,000) burger is the result of years of research led by Dr. Mark Post in the Netherlands, who hopes to show the world that so-called "in-vitro meat" could become a viable food source.

The burger was crafted using cells from the neck of a slaughterhouse cow and techniques developed for the creation of organs. Stem cells have the ability to turn into a multitude of other cells, including the muscle cells needed for the burger meat. Dr. Post's team used tens of billions of muscle cells to create 20,000 thin strips of cultured muscle tissue, which amount to a quarter-pounder. Although his in-vitro burger has no fat, Dr. Post assures The New York Times that it tastes "reasonably good."

In the future, Dr. Post believes the cost of in-vitro meats will come down significantly, but admits there are major hurdles that will have to be solved by the scientific community before the mass production of meat could start. One hurdle isn't scientific, but cultural: persuading society that meat grown in a lab is safe to eat is a tall order.
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Olympus E-P5, Video Review

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London-Nottingham-London

London - Nottingham
Analogue - a-ha
Blood Red Roses - Sting
Big River - Johnny Cash
Aftermath - Vigilantes Of Love
Midas Shadow - Al Stewart
Ugly Guys With Beautiful Girls - Sparks
Chain Gang - Sam Cooke
The Liberation (Red, Black & Green) - Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson
If You Go Away - Dusty Springfield
A Letter To Heaven - Wynona Carr
Why Get Up? - Robert Palmer
I Come And Stand At Every Door - This Mortal Coil
Cry, Cry, Cry [Live] - Elvis Costello & The Attractions
Parting Shot - Vigilantes Of Love
Avalanche - Vigilantes Of Love
Dizzy Dean Movie - Charlie Peacock
Cannibals Hymn - Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds
Abbey Road (entire album) - The Beatles
Perfect Stranger - Steve Forbert
Get Off Of My Cloud - The Rolling Stones
Lucille - Little Richard
Liar [2011 Remaster] - Queen
Available Space - Ry Cooder
Ms. Jackson (live) - Outkast
Miracle Of The Rosary - Elvis Presley
The Valley Of Malls - Fountains Of Wayne
Gun Shy (live) - Natalie Merchant
True Love - Elvis Presley
Good On the Sally Army - Cliff Richard
Rock Island Line (alt 2) - Johnny Cash
Crown of Thorns - Yngwie Malmsteen
For A While - Nina Simone
Afraid To Fail - Josh Rouse

Nottingham - London
6 Music - Sasha's Dance Mix
Spin On A Red Brick Floor - Nanci Griffith
Life On Mars? - David Bowie
Our House (Stretch Mix) - Madness
Mind Games - John Lennon
Girl In Saskatoon [Album Version] - Johnny Cash
Go (up) - Moby
Life In The Fast Lane (live) - Eagles
Life's Been Good (live) - Eagles
Democracy - Leonard Cohen
Words Of Love Spoken - Vigilantes Of Love
Wobbling - Victoria Williams
Front Porch - Slobberbone
Cinderella Man - Eminem
I'm Looking Through You - The Beatles
On Coming From A Broken Home (Pt. 1) - Gil Scott-Heron
Just - Radiohead
Why So Close - James
The Painter's Link - Kate Bush
Boots Of Spanish Leather (alt) - Bob Dylan
Furry Sings The Blues - Joni Mitchell
Seven - James
A Million Days - Prince
I Think Ur A Contra - Vampire Weekend
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The Scientific 7-Minute Workout

The New York Times reports: [edited]

An article in the May-June issue of the American College of Sports Medicine’s Health & Fitness Journal does just that. In 12 exercises deploying only body weight, a chair and a wall, it fulfills the latest mandates for high-intensity effort, which essentially combines a long run and a visit to the weight room into about seven minutes of steady discomfort — all of it (allegedly, Ed.) based on science.

“There’s very good evidence” that high-intensity interval training provides “many of the fitness benefits of prolonged endurance training but in much less time,” says Chris Jordan, the director of exercise physiology at the Human Performance Institute in Orlando, Fla., and co-author of the new article.

Work by scientists at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and other institutions shows, for instance, that even a few minutes of training at an intensity approaching your maximum capacity produces molecular changes within muscles comparable to those of several hours of running or bike riding.

Interval training, though, requires intervals; the extremely intense activity must be intermingled with brief periods of recovery. In the program outlined by Mr. Jordan and his colleagues, this recovery is provided in part by a 10-second rest between exercises. But even more, he says, it’s accomplished by alternating an exercise that emphasizes the large muscles in the upper body with those in the lower body. During the intermezzo, the unexercised muscles have a moment to, metaphorically, catch their breath, which makes the order of the exercises important.

The exercises should be performed in rapid succession, allowing 30 seconds for each, while, throughout, the intensity hovers at about an 8 on a discomfort scale of 1 to 10, Mr. Jordan says. Those seven minutes should be, in a word, unpleasant. The upside is, after seven minutes, you’re done.

The original article is available here, complete including a link to a PDF describing how to perform the exercises.
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Free Font - Clutchee

A decorative block face, designed by Sinisa Komlenic.

Available from Font Squirrel.
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AL13 iPhone case

ZDNet reports: [edited]

The AL13, referring to the abbreviation for aluminum in the periodic table and the fact the case weighs 13 grams, the product has the same brushed metal look as the iPhone 5. It's available for the iPhone 4/4S and iPhone 5, in five colors —black, silver, red, blue, and gunmetal. It's half the weight of most other metal iPhone cases, doesn't require any tools to install, and has a shock-absorbing rubber lining inside the metal.

The AL13 sells for $79. It is undoubtedly a premium product. But, for those who want the best case that money can buy to suit up with an iPhone, then you'll be hard pressed to find a better alternative than the AL13.
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Specialized Turbo

Wired reports: [edited]

The Specialized Turbo is their first electrically assisted bike. It’s been on sale in Europe for a year.

“Turbo” is an appropriate name for this rig. With a 342 watt-hour lithium-ion battery pack sending juice to a 250-watt hub-mounted motor, this e-bike will hit its top speed without breaking a sweat. It’s also the first electric bike that doesn’t look like a grade-school science experiment or a rejected Blade Runner prop.

This is among the few electric bikes that actually looks like a bike. It’s an odd blend of mountain bike ruggedness and city bike ergonomics. It’s sized like a 29er, but the lack of any suspension combined with the stiff tires that look like over-inflated tubes make it strictly something for the street. And be prepared to use your legs as buffers when going over ruts and uneven asphalt.

This thing is huge. The downtube, which holds the battery, is about the size of a softball bat, and every other tube had to be similarly oversized to maintain some semblance of visual balance. And although the frame is made of aluminum, the Turbo tips the scales at more than 50 pounds. You’ll feel every ounce of it as you huff and puff along without the electric assist and, worse, as you schlep it up and down the stairs to the train. Shouldering this thing is quite a workout, and will leave you with more than a few bruises and aching muscles if you aren’t careful.

Flip the motor to its highest of four settings — called, appropriately, “turbo” — using the red button near your right thumb and this thing flies. It’s like a tailwind on demand, providing superhuman boost that has you over the 20 mph mark in seconds.

The instantaneous speed is a blessing and a curse. While it’s crazy fun while riding, you must keep that hair-trigger acceleration in mind when stopped. Apply the slightest bit of weight to the pedal and the Turbo rockets forward beneath you. It’s best to hold the front brake when stopped.

If unfettered speed isn’t your thing, Eco mode drops the assist down to 30 percent of capacity to maximize range. “Off” is self-explanatory, and useful only if you really want to build up your quads. “Regen” applies a little drag to the rear motor while coasting to send power back to the pack. The pack is good for 45 minutes to an hour of moderate to high-speed riding.

Price: $5,900
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Joby Grip Tight Micro Stand

Digital Photography Review Connect reports: [edited]

The Grip Tight Micro Stand is small enough to carry it in your jeans pocket or even use as a key fob. Yet it's a nicely made and sturdy mini-tripod that firmly holds your smartphone in place and allows you to easily adjust the shooting angle.

The Grip Tight Micro Stand is two products. The Grip Tight is a foldable spring-loaded smartphone holder that screws on to any standard size tripod mount. The Micro Stand is a foldable micro-tripod that can be combined with the Grip Tight but also works well with compact cameras. The mount's socket joint is stiff enough to even hold larger models, such as a Micro Four Thirds camera with a kit lens.

It works well as a table tripod but doubles as a smartphone stand for watching videos or conducting Skype calls.

Price £25.00
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Google Glass - A 60 second introduction

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Nikon D7100

Digital Photography Review has published a very positive (85%/Gold Award) in depth review of Nikon's 24MP 'enthusiast' APS-C DSLR.

Edited snippets from the conclusion follow:

"The D7100 is a fast, responsive camera in most operational aspects. Most impressive though is just how many features it shares with its higher-priced full frame siblings. The D7100 one-ups its Nikon stablemates with an RGBW rear LCD which offers more efficient operation and gives the option for greater brightness than an RGB panel.

"The D7100 delivers outstanding image quality and detail rendition at low ISOs in both JPEG and Raw mode. Noise does start to become visible at the pixel level even at moderate ISO sensitivities, but is kept well under control given the pixel density of its 24MP APS-C sensor."

"The camera's auto white balance does a fine job of rendering accurate colors in all but the more extreme lighting conditions. We also find that the camera's default JPEG settings produce pleasing files that avoid prominent sharpening and/or noise suppression artifacts."

The D7100 maintains nearly every operational and handling feature we liked about the D7000, improves upon those we found fault with and offers a compelling upgrade in resolution, image quality and high ISO performance. And at a list price of £999 (body only), the D7100 inherits an impressive amount of features and performance from the much higher-priced full frame Nikon DSLRs.
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