Heathrow Airport, 17-01-08

BBC reports: [edited]

A passenger plane has crash-landed short of a runway at Heathrow Airport, ripping off part of its undercarriage. All 136 passengers and 16 crew escaped from the British Airways flight BA038 from Beijing. Eighteen people have been taken to hospital with minor injuries.

An airport worker told the BBC the Boeing 777 pilot, named later as Peter Burkill, 43, said he had lost all power and had to glide the plane in to land.

The worker also said the pilot had told him all the electronics had also failed. "He said he had no warning - it just went," the worker added. "It's a miracle. The man deserves a medal as big as a frying pan."

Fire crews doused the plane in foam to prevent its fuel tanks catching fire.

Aviation expert Kieran Daly, from Flight International magazine, said not a single Boeing 777 had been lost in a crash since the aircraft was launched in 1995.

"This is a near miracle that neither passengers or anyone on the ground has been seriously injured," Mr McDonnell said.

The plane involved is one of 43 Boeing 777s in BA's fleet. It is believed to be about six years old.
------------

MacBook Air redux

The MacBook Air is a lovely machine. Apple have done what they do best, producing something that is lovely to look at and a joy to use, in a package that pushes the barriers of what is possible with current technology.

I particularly like the fact that it has moved towards a softer form-factor. My favourite laptop design was the Pismo PowerBook, and the Air is a move toward its organic curves.

Another favourite of mine is the 12" PowerBook, especially the way the screen and keyboard came right up to the edges. By contrast, the MacBook Air has a lot of 'padding'.

There are probably good engineering reasons for this, but I think it would have looked even more stunning if Jonathan had shrunk the dimensions by a few centimeters.


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

Tetrical

Developed by Digital Machina, Tetrical is a three dimensional (3D) stacking game programmed in Flash. The object of the game is to obtain the highest score by filling layers with falling polycubes.

I know some of you like Tetris. I found Tetrical intriguing, but impossibly difficult.
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Steve Jobs' 90 Minute Keynote in 60 Seconds

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Marvellous!
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Iomega Ego

RegHardware reports: [edited]

The Iomega eGo range [eughhh... Ed.] of 2.5in portable drives has added a 250GB model, and added the option of a second USB 2.0 port and a FireWire 400 interface.

The 160GB model is available in Jet Black or Alpine White for £90. Those opting for the 250GB drive with FireWire have the additional option of plain red or silver and Midnight Blue for £160. The 250GB drive without a FireWire port is available now for £140.
------------

MacBook Air

Just in case you missed it, Apple have introduced the world’s thinnest notebook computer. And it is really, really thin. It actually gets thinner the longer you look at it.

In addition to a 13.3-inch LED-backlit widescreen display, it offers a full-size, backlit keyboard, an iSight webcam and a large trackpad with multi-touch gesture support, letting users pinch, rotate and swipe in a similar way to using the iPhone/iPod Touch.

The base model is powered by a 1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 2GB of memory, an 80GB hard drive, 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1.

To view the ad, and/or an excellent guided tour, visit apple.com.
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Poor little rich kids

New York Magazine features a 6-page article on how extreme wealth affects North America's richest kids.

Some quotes to whet your appetite...

As an elementary-school kid in suburban New Jersey, Jordan Roth says he didn’t quite grasp the dizzying extent of his family’s wealth. It wasn’t until he was a teenager and moved to a marquee address on Park Avenue that larger disparities began to reveal themselves. His father, for example, had a private jet. “During the holidays, people would ask things like, ‘What flight are you on?’” says Roth. “How do you answer that?”

Roth was willing to talk about his money. But even he had his limits. He tells me, for instance, that he had his first “crisis of wealth” when he graduated from Princeton and found himself installed in a beautiful two-bedroom apartment in the West Village that his mother had picked out for him—and helped him furnish.

He wasn’t working at the time. Yet he was luxuriating in its splendour. “It’s very clear, if you don’t want it,” he says. He’s handsome, buzz-cut, as long and lean as a baseball bat; when he speaks, he’s unhurried and looks you right in the eye. “It’s less clear if you do want it but don’t like what that necessarily means.”

Right, I say. We sit in silence for a moment. So how much was the rent on a nice two-bedroom apartment in the West Village in 1997, anyway? He smiles [before replying] “I’m totally not telling you.”

---

The Wall Street Journal’s Robert Frank observes that the wealthiest Americans have effectively built their own country within a country... By 2004 the richest one percent of Americans were earning more than the total national income of France or Italy.

---

How do you drum a work ethic into those who, strictly speaking, don’t have to work? Most advisers to wealthy families have a simple answer to this: You make sure that the kids do have to work. You give them chores. You insist on summer jobs. You restrain their spending with allowances. And above all, no matter what, you keep the children’s trusts out of their hands until they’re at least 35...

---

...wealth, to some degree, simply exaggerates the instincts and urges that all parents experience. All parents, for instance, have to restrain themselves from spoiling their children at some point or another... almost all parents, from the moment their children are born, fantasise about being able to protect and help them in a sustained and continuous way.


via kottke.
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T 2.5

Fox reports: [edited]

At the end of "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," Sarah vanquished the Terminator sent from the future to kill her teenage son, John. Sarah and John now find themselves alone in a very dangerous, complicated world. Fugitives from the law, they are confronted with the reality that still more enemies from the future, and the present, could attack at any moment.

TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES reveals what happens when SARAH (Lena Headey) stops running and goes on the offensive against an ever-evolving technological enemy bent on destroying her life, and perhaps the world. Her son, 15-year-old JOHN CONNOR (Thomas Dekker), knows that he may be the future savior of mankind, but is not yet ready to take on the mantle of leadership that he's told is his destiny.

John finds himself inextricably drawn to CAMERON (Summer Glau), an enigmatic and otherworldly student at his high school, who soon proves to be much more than his confidante - she assumes the role of Sarah and John's fearless protector...

---

Brett's 2p'worth: I've watched the first episode, and while I'd watch just about anything with Summer Glau in it, it has all the ingredients of an extremely enjoyable romp!
------------

Two free fonts

A couple of interesting examples from DaFont.

DeutscheZierschrift is a Germanic Fraktur with some nuanced inline and shading work. Best used big, and where individual letter legibility is not at a premium (check out the captital 'A', the lower-case 'c' and 'r', and both 'x' characters).

Virus 43 is a subtly distressed take on a bitmap design. Useful if you don't have time to do the 'ageing' in Photoshop, and need something that is easy to read even in small sizes.

Oh, the ampersand is one of my favourites, Adobe Caslon Pro Italic.
------------

Casio EXILIM Pro EX-F1

dpreview reports: [edited]

Casio have announced its EXILIM EX-F1 - a six megapixel camera with 12x zoom and the ability to capture up to 60 frames per second at full resolution and 1200fps [yes, you did read that right, Ed.] if you drop the image size to 336 x 96 pixels.

It will also shoot 1920 x 1080 Full HD movies at 60fps. Helping to ensure the moment isn't missed is a buffer system which continually updates then saves the contents to card when the shutter is released. Illumination is taken care of by a conventional strobe which works at up to 7 fps and a cellphone-style LED for 10-60 fps.

The EX-F1 will be available from March 2008 priced at $999.99.
------------

Sony XEL-1 OLED

Sony's XEL-1 OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) television is now available for sale in North America. The 11-inch set has an angled, articulating arm that's attached to a base, and the unit's depth is just 3mm. Its OLED technology delivers deep blacks, a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, accurate colors and details, and a bright picture - all with no backlight and lower-than-typical power consumption.
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London, Lincoln, London 13-01-08

LONDON to LINCOLN
Mirror Mirror (Mon Amour) - Dollar
Electric Avenue - Eddy Grant
Simon Smith And His Amazing Dancing Bear - Alan Price
Make Me Smile (Come up and see me) - Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel
(The angels wanna wear my) red shoes - Elvis Costello
Knock Knock Knocking - Deaf School
You're The One That I Want - Olivia Newton-John & John Travolta
Super Trouper - A-Teens
United State of Pop - DJ Earworm
Hit me with your rhythm stick - Ian Dury & The Blockheads
Girls Just Want To Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper
Elvis Ain't Dead - Scouting For Girls
Crazy Angel - Kill Hannah
When Doves Cry (single) - Prince
Don't Let Me Down - AJ Croce
Bizarre Love Triangle (ext) - New Order
Shake It Shake It - Thomas Tantrum
Brainless - Sunny Day Sets Fire
Say Hello, Wave Goodbye - Soft Cell
Hakuna Matata - Nathan Lane & Ernie Sabella
Little Less Conversation - Elvis Presley & JXL
Lift Me Up (Mylo Mix) - Moby
Living On The Ceiling - Blancmange
I'm So Excited - Pointer Sisters
Boyz - M.I.A. (XL)
Pump Up the Volume - Marrs
Material Girl - Madonna
The Streak - Ray Stevens
Song 4 Mutya - Groove Armada Ft. Mutya
Sleepy Dad after the theatre - Little Britain
Love U More - Sunscreem
Wipeout - Fat Boys
I Don't Know What It Is - Rufus Wainwright
634-5789 - Eddie Floyd, Wilson Pickett, Johnny Lang
Burning Love - Wynonna
My Guy - Mary Wells
do your ears hang low? - kids
I Only Wanna Be With You (Alternative Vocal & Mix) - Dusty Springfield
Come on Eileen - Save Ferris
Poison - Alkaline Trio
Pray - Take That
Twinkle Star - Halcali
Mr. E's Beautiful Blues (Untitled) - Eels

LINCOLN to LONDON
4th Time Around - Bob Dylan
Dear Mom And Dad - The Bran Flakes
Rock And Roll (Part 1) - Gary Glitter
Livin' La Vida Loca - Ricky Martin
Dressed Up Like Nebraska - Josh Rouse
Funny How Love Is - Queen
Tangled Up In Blue - Bob Dylan
Lonely For You Baby - Sam Dees
Landlocked Blues - Bright Eyes
Endless Cycle - Lou Reed
Bad - U2
Bold Jamie - Cara Dillon
Deathly - Aimee Mann
Willie And The Hand Jive - Bo Diddley
Telegraph Road - Dire Straits
Let 'Er Rip - Dixie Chicks
Heartache Tonight - The Eagles
Where You've Been Hiding - Architecture in Helsinki
Old Man - Wilson Phillips
The Way I Love You - Continental Four
Peace Of Mind - Boston
Hasn't Hit Me Yet - Blue Rodeo
As Long As He Needs Me - Shani Wallis
Bye & Bye - Bob Dylan
Broken Things - Julie Miller
She's Out Of My Life - Michael Jackson
Step On My Old Size Nines - Stereophonics
Let's Get It On - Marvin Gaye
If I Should Fall From Grace With God - The Pogues
Across Yer Ocean - Mercury Rev
Heysátan - Sigur Rós
Nightgown Of The Sullen Moon - They Might Be Giants (TMBG)
Life's A Freeway - The Greencards
A Long December - Counting Crows
Camelot Motel - Mary Gauthier
Inchworm - Danny Kaye
Rhythm Section Want Ad - They Might Be Giants (TMBG)
Aint It Somethin - Lyle Lovett
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iRobot ConnectR

No, this is not a picture of a one-parent family clinging to their dog for protection from a scary hoovering robot. This is a promotional shot for iRobot's latest offering, the iRobot ConnectR.

Basically a wi-fi enabled webcam and microphone mounted on a motorised sled, it can be remotely maneuvered over the internet via a joystick.

I'm really, really not sure about this one. How difficult can it be to gather your family around a webcam? I mean, it doesn't even have a vacuum cleaner function.
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London, Lincoln, London 12-01-08

LONDON to LINCOLN
Who's That Girl - Eurythmics
Who Am I - Margaret Becker
Baby Blue '57 - Gene Vincent
When You Give It Away - Bruce Cockburn
Carolina in My Mind - James Taylor
Flexible Head - Ned's Atomic Dustbin
The End - Ryan Adams & The Cardinals
Because Of Toledo - The Blue Nile
Reunited - Peaches & Herb
Jeannie's Diary - Eels
Out Of Sight - Them
Adios - Linda Ronstadt
Lone Rider - Flee-Reekers
I've Loved A Lot More Than I've Hurt - Montgomery Gentry
Not A Lot To Do - The Zutons
Danny Jo Doss - Riptones
Quit Your Low Down Ways - Bob Dylan
Pissed Off 2 A.M. - Alejandro Escovedo
how far we all come away - Phosphorescent
Intentional Heartache - Dwight Yoakam
Easter Parade - The Blue Nile
Hung Up - Madonna
It's A Love Thing - Whispers
Troubled Times - Fountains Of Wayne
Circus Games - The Skids
In The Box - Vigilantes Of Love
Punky's Dilemma - Simon & Garfunkel
My Lady Story - Anthony Johnson
Dusk: A Peach In The Orchard - Eels
Go Revolutions - Gogol Bordello
So Jealous - Tegan and Sara
Panther Dash - The Go! Team
Rip Her To Shreds (live) - Blondie
Tomorrow Never Knows - Jason Mcniff
Who's Afraid Of Thomas Wolfe? - Josh Joplin Group
1974 - Amy Grant
Two Lights In The Nightime - Bonnie Raitt
High Summer - Van Morrison
Evil Ways - Riptones
Alanson, Crooked River - Sufjan Stevens
Picture of the moon - Gary Moore
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - Elton John
Unveiled Faces - Sarah Masen
Natch - Cornershop
The Longest Time - Billy Joel
Celebration Guns - Stars

LINCOLN to LONDON
You can do magic - America
Toxic Milkshake - Kelis vs. Britney Spears
Boten Anna - Basshunter
Dizzy - Vic Reeves & The Wonder Stuff
Merry Christmas from the Family - Robert Earl Keen
I Should Get Up - Teddy Thompson
Hold On - KT Tunstall
Together In Electric Dreams (Ext) - Georgio Moroder & Phil Oakey
Someone To Call My Lover - Janet Jackson
Jacqueline - The Coral
Shame - Evelyn 'Champagne' King
Daydream Believer - The Monkees
Those Dancing Days - Those Dancing Days
Islands In The Stream - Dolly Parton (with Kenny Rogers)
My White Bicycle - Nazareth
Stuck With You - Huey Lewis & The News
Right By Your Side - Eurythmics
Moving to New York - The Wombats
Jack and the Beanstalk - Children's Disco Musical Stories
Hum Hallelujah - Fall Out Boy
The Name Game - Shirley Ellis
I Can't Go Back To Savoury Now - John Shuttleworth
Shut Up and Drive - Rihanna
That's Not My Name - The Ting Tings
Love You To Death - Kill Hannah
There Is Nothing on My Mind (Pts 1 & 2) - The Teen Queens
The Tide Is High - Atomic Kitten
I'm in the mood for dancing - The Nolans
Some Kinda Rush (Edit) - Booty Luv
We're All Going to Die - Malcolm Middleton
Something's Gotta Give - LeAnn Rimes
Groove Is In The Heart - Dee Lite
Flux - Bloc Party
Dashboard - Modest Mouse
That Don't Impress Me Much (dance remix) - Shania Twain
Gay Idiot - Green Day vs. Electric Six
Lover - Devendra Banhart
I Need A Holiday - Scouting For Girls
Paper Planes - M.I.A.
Bliss (I Don't Wanna Know) - Hinder
I Touch Myself (Soda Club Radio Mix) - m*a*s*h feat. Stacie D
Terra Firma (Album/Single Version) - The Young Knives
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Biggest plasma screen yet...

RegHardware reports: [edited]

Panasonic have demonstrated the world's largest HD plasma screen.

Its 150 inch display is composed of 4096 x 2160 pixels (more than four times the current hi-def specification of 1920 x 1080) in an area equivalent to nine conventional 50 inch plasma screens.

---------

Brett says: I wonder if this is Panasonic moving toward supporting the Super Hi Vision format? With approximately half the resolution of its 7,680 x 4,320 pixel specification, screens like this would be perfect for installing in pubs and clubs. And eventually as Blade Runner-style advertising hoardings.
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Room with a view

Wired reports: [edited]

Werner Aisslinger's 420 sq ft Loftcube is a singular creation, with a singular intent: It goes on an existing roof. It has tall windows and a certain retro look, perfect for taking over the world's rooftops.

"Imagine a place where your neighbours fly and windows are 360 degrees wide, a place where you can work, relax and share your life with your friends," the makers ask. And it's yours for $136,000, deposited in situ by helicopter.

Tata Nano launched

BBC reports: [edited]

Tata Motors has unveiled the world's cheapest motor car at India's biggest car show in the capital, Delhi. The vehicle, called the Tata Nano, will sell for 100,000 rupees (£1,277) and enable those in developing countries to move to four wheels.

The four-door five-seater car, which goes on sale later this year, has a 33bhp, 624cc, engine at the rear. It has no air conditioning, no electric windows and no power steering, but two deluxe models will be on offer.

Tata will initially make about 250,000 Nanos and expects eventual annual demand of one million cars. The Nano release comes as India's domestic car market is predicted to soar in the coming years on the back of the country's fast-growing economy and increased consumer wealth.

Indian car sales are predicted to more than quadruple to $145bn by 2016. Company chairman Ratan Tata said the launch of the Nano was a landmark in the history of transportation. He said the car was "a safe, affordable and all-weather transport - a people's car, designed to meet all safety standards and emissions laws and accessible to all".

Environmental critics have said that the car will lead to mounting air and pollution problems on India's already clogged roads.
------------

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3

In June 2006 I bought a Fuji Finepix F30. I was so impressed with it, that by August it had replaced my Sigma SD9 DSLR as my primary camera. Since then I have used it in a wide range of situations, including taking pack shots for commercial work.

In April 2007, I blogged about the release of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3. Its main feature was its impressive zoom range, the equivalent of 28-280mm on a digital SLR, squeezed into a 105 x 59 x 37mm, 232g body.

The thing I miss most about using my Sigma SD9 is the lack of zoom range, and in November I saw that the DMC-TZ3 was selling for under £200, so I bought myself an early Christmas present.

I'm very pleased with it. The low-light ability isn't quite as good as the Fuji F30, and there's no aperture or shutter priority mode. But the build quality is excellent, the ergonomics are good, the zoom lens' operation is smooth and fast and the 3" screen is superb.

Now I'm wondering how long it will be until they manage to squeeze the kind of low-light quality enjoyed by Canon EOS 40D owners into a more pocketable format.
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Fun hoodies

If you're going to be a 'hood-rat', you might as well do it in style.

As well as the Shark Bite model pictured Monster Hoodies also offer Dinosaurus Rex, Neko Gato and Monster Kun. No rats though.
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Sony still not understanding 'DRM-free'

Whatever reports: [edited]

"Sony BMG spokesperson: We’re pleased to announce we are the final major music corporation to release electronic tracks without that pesky DRM!

"All you have to do is leave your house, go to a selected retail outlet, buy a special card there, go back to your house, scratch off the back of the card to find a code, go to our special MusicPass Web site, enter said code, and download one the 37 titles we have available, from Celine Dion to the Backstreet Boys!"

The rest of the blog, featuring some suggested responses by its target audience makes amusing reading.
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What do you get if you cross a cow with a kangaroo?

The Age reports: [edited]

Thanks to special bacteria in their stomachs, kangaroo flatulence contains no methane. Scientists want to transfer that bacteria to cattle and sheep who emit large quantities of the harmful gas.

"Fourteen per cent of emissions from all sources in Australia is from enteric methane from cattle and sheep," said Athol Klieve, a senior research scientist with the Queensland Government.

"And if you look at another country such as New Zealand, which has got a much higher agricultural base, they're actually up around 50 per cent."

Researchers say the bacteria also makes the digestive process much more efficient and could potentially save millions of dollars in feed costs for farmers and graziers.

Even farmers who laugh at the idea of environmentally friendly kangaroo farts say that's nothing to joke about, particularly given the devastating drought Australia is suffering.

It will take researchers at least three years to isolate the bacteria, before they can even start to develop a way of transferring it to animals such as cattle and sheep.
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Logitech Z-2300 system

On the two occassions that I have braved the high street in the past 3 months, I was struck by the plethora of amplification systems available for digital music players.

Gift shops were selling them, clothes stores were selling them, coffee shops were selling them, even the oriental people who sit on the pavements selling counterfeit DVDs were selling them. So, when my eldest son decided he wanted an amplification system for his iPod, I knew I wasn't going to be starved for choice.

His main specifications were:

1. Loud
2. Lots of bass (i.e. loud)
3. Usable for a party (i.e. loud)
4. Should sound good

My main specifications were:

1. Should sound good
2. Should cost less than £100

This immediately levelled the playing field. Most of the systems are underpowered, with audio performance that makes musical greetings cards sound good.

After extensive web browsing, we decided on the Logitech Z-2300 system. Currently available from Amazon for less than £90 including delivery, it is a THX-approved system (a performance benchmark set up by George Lucas in 1983), rated at 200 watts RMS.

Two days later a large parcel arrived. The subwoofer (which also houses the amplifier) is a reassuringly solid thing, about a foot square. The satellites are also well-constructed. The volume controller is the usual silverised plastic, but it works well enough. It houses a headphone socket, which seems a little pointless.

Hooked up to the iPod's dock (don't use the headphone socket unless you have to, the sound quality is significantly reduced) via the supplied cable, the sound was very impressive. The subwoofer produces a lot of thump, and responds musically and accurately. The satellite speakers reproduce a wide range of music in a convincing and enjoyable style.

Oh, and it is loud.

For full specifications, visit the Logitech site.
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Sleep in a bottle

Wired reports: [edited]

In what sounds like a dream for millions of tired coffee drinkers, Darpa-funded scientists might have found a drug that will eliminate sleepiness.

A nasal spray containing a naturally occurring brain hormone called orexin A reversed the effects of sleep deprivation in monkeys, allowing them to perform like well-rested monkeys on cognitive tests.

The treatment is "a totally new route for increasing arousal, and the new study shows it to be relatively benign," said Jerome Siegel, a professor of psychiatry at UCLA and a co-author of the paper. "It reduces sleepiness without causing edginess."

The monkeys were deprived of sleep for 30 to 36 hours and then given either orexin A or a saline placebo before taking standard cognitive tests. The monkeys given orexin A in a nasal spray scored about the same as alert monkeys, while the saline-control group was severely impaired.

Siegel said that orexin A is unique in that it only had an impact on sleepy monkeys, not alert ones, and that it is "specific in reversing the effects of sleepiness" without other impacts on the brain.

Any commercial treatment using the substance would need approval from the Food and Drug Administration, which can take more than a decade.
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At last, a decent Dark Knight trailer

The Dark Knight Returns is (along with Sin City, 300 and Watchmen) one of my four favourite graphic novels. So the prospect of it being faithfully interpreted as a movie is an attractive one. Sin City was brilliantly interpreted. 300 was visually awesome. Watchmen is slated for a 2009 release, as it was in 2008, and 2007, and 2006...

The first Dark Knight trailer (No, no... don't click that link!) ranks (apt word) as one of the most disappointing trailers ever. So it was with some trepidation that I downloaded its successor.

To my delight, it is superb. Of course, it is only a couple of minutes long. But my gut-feeling is that the creators and actors of the film are 'getting it'.

Oh, and I want Batman's motorcycle parked alongside the Cloud Strife Fenrir that my kidz forgot to buy me for Christmas.

Warner dumps HD-DVD

RegHardware reports: [edited]

Warner Bros is abandoning Toshiba's HD-DVD format to settle down in monogamous bliss with Sony's Blu-ray. The company today cited 'consumer demand' for its decision to stop selling HD-DVD-format movie titles at the end of May. It is the only movie major to sell high-definition DVDs in both formats, but has already tired of playing the field.

Kevin Tsujihara, president of Warner Bros Home Entertainment Group, said, "Consumers have clearly chosen Blu-ray".
------------

Images of 2007

The New York Times has published an excellent web gallery titled '2007 - The Year in Pictures'.

The quality of the images is excellent, and any site that features Chicken Dance Elmo dolls is OK with me.
------------

Most played songs of 2007

Selected from songs released in 2007. In descending order by play count.

I Can't Go Back To Savoury Now - John Shuttleworth
Heavyweight Champion of the World - Reverend and the Makers
Oh Creole - The Rumble Strips
Stuck Between Stations - The Hold Steady
Louie - Ida Maria
Valerie - Mark Ronson & Amy Winehouse
She's Got You High - Mumm-Ra
The Monkeys Are Breaking Out The Zoo - Belle & Sebastian
Saturday Superhouse - Biffy Clyro
Take Me - Candie Payne
Men's Needs (single) - The Cribs
Spit At Stars - Jack Peñate
Ruby - Kaiser Chiefs
Shoot the Runner - Kasabian
Whoo! Alright - Yeah... Uh Huh. - The Rapture
Picture to Burn - Taylor Swift
Backfire At the Disco - The Wombats
Charlotte - Air Traffic
Girlfriend (profanity) - Avril Lavigne
Cease and Desist - Brakes
Mathematics - Cherry Ghost
Thou shalt always kill - dan le sac vs Scroobius Pip
Hot Dog (Watch Me Eat) - The Detroit Cobras
We're Not Alone - Dinosaur Jr.
Boulevard of Broken Songs - Greenday vs Oasis vs Travis
I Wish That I Could See You Soon - Herman Düne
Chillout Tent - The Hold Steady
Boney Was A Warrior - Jack Shit
Wonderful World - James Morrison
Golden Skans - Klaxons
North American Scum (Radio Edit) - LCD Soundsystem
Skinny (Radio Edit) - Lo Rider
West - Lucinda Williams
Take A Chance - The Magic Numbers
Your Love Alone Is Not Enough - Manic Street Preachers
Toxic (Radio Edit) - Mark Ronson
Our Velocity - Maximo Park
Hip Hop Is Dead - Nas
Ice Cream - New Young Pony Club
The Way You Move (Radio Mix) - OutKast & Sleepy Brown
I'm Not Sorry (Single Version) - The Pigeon Detectives
We Danced Together (single) - The Rakes
Fidelity - Regina Spektor
On The Radio - Regina Spektor
Alarm Clock - The Rumble Strips
Australia - The Shins
Patience - Take That
Cheer It On - Tokyo Police Club
Wide Awake - The Twang
Same Jeans - The View
You Know I'm No Good - Amy Winehouse featuring Ghostface Killah
The Prayer - Bloc Party
When You Wasn't Famous - Bromheads Jacket
Amylase - Cajun Dance Party
Off the Hook - CSS
Idealistic (Radio Edit) - Digitalism
1234 - Feist
War of the Worlds (New Version) - Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly
Herculean - The Good The Bad And The Queen
Touchdown Turnaround (Don't Give Up On Me) - Hellogoodbye
Foundations - Kate Nash
La la Song - The Kissaway Trail
Well, Love Does Furnish a Life - Larrikin Love
Girls Who Play Guitars - Maximo Park
Real Girl - Mutya Buena
Just a Song About Ping Pong - Operator Please
He Said He Loved Me - Reverend and the Makers
Lady's Bridge - Richard Hawley
Breakin' Up - Rilo Kiley
This Joy - Stephanie Dosen
Starlett Johansson - The Teenagers
Shake It Shake It - Thomas Tantrum
Icky Thump - The White Stripes
We Can Be Strong - Willy Mason
Fluorescent Adolescent - Arctic Monkeys
Delivery - Babyshambles
Prescilla - Bat for Lashes
Flux - Bloc Party
I Like the Way (Radio Edit) - Bodyrockers
One More Chance - Candie Payne
I Don't Want to Play House Anymore - Carrie Rodriguez
Jacqueline - The Coral
Pony Ride - The Crash
Our Bovine Public - The Cribs
Lover - Devendra Banhart
Put A Penny In The Slot - Fionn Regan
Long Road to Ruin - Foo Fighters
Doing It Right - The Go! Team
Song 4 Mutya - Groove Armada Ft. Mutya
Back When You Were Good - The Hours
The Box - Johnny Flynn
Highway 61 Revisited - Karen O & The Million Dollar Bashers
Talk of the Town - Kate Walsh
Crazy Angel - Kill Hannah
Giddy Stratospheres - The Long Blondes
We're All Going to Die - Malcolm Middleton
The Scaffolder's Wife - Mark Knopfler
Dashboard - Modest Mouse
Take Her Back - The Pigeon Detectives
Dead Sound - The Raveonettes
Shut Up and Drive - Rihanna
The Underdog - Spoon
Run-Away - Super Furry Animals
Those Dancing Days - Those Dancing Days
How The West Was Won - Tom McRae
Mansard Roof - Vampire Weekend
On My Own - Vincent Vincent & The Villains
Moving to New York - The Wombats
Terra Firma (Album/Single Version) - The Young Knives
Let's Start A Band - Amy MacDonald
Keep the Car Running - Arcade Fire
Happy Slap - Ashok
23 - Blonde Redhead
Four Winds - Bright Eyes
Hurricane Glass - Catherine Feeny
Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then) - The Decemberists
Queen Of The Lake - Deerhoof
Candylion - Gruff Rhys
Worst Case Scenario - The Hoosiers
Cowardly Custard - King Creosote
Knocked Up - Kings Of Leon
Hold On - KT Tunstall
Modern Love - The Last Town Chorus
Don't Lose Yourself - Laura Veirs
What? What You Got? - Little Man Tate
What Did I Do? - Lord Large
Save Me - Lou Rhodes
Weight Of The World - Martyn Joseph
This Little Light Of Mine - Mavis Staples
Squalor Victoria - The National
If A Song Could Be President - Over The Rhine
Musical Chairs - The Panda Band
I'm Getting Ready - Patty Griffin
Daddy's Old Sayins, Mama's Beliefs - Porter Wagoner
Merry Christmas from the Family - Robert Earl Keen
Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us - Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
Ixtapa - Rodrigo y Gabriela
Winter - The Rolling Stones
Oh My God, Whatever, Etc. - Ryan Adams
Tits & Acid - Simian Mobile Disco
That's Not My Name - The Ting Tings
NBPD Theme - Ugress
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Hello Kitty contact lenses

JennyChoo "loves everything Hello Kitty, including these freakish Hello Kitty contacts. You probably won't even notice at first, but a closer look will reveal the inner kitty in front of you. Do you dare to look at Hello Kitty's eyes?"

Jennychoo is from Florida.

The really terrifying thing is that I know at least two people who would love a pair.
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Tangled cables – they really do 'just happen'

Science News reports: [edited]

Call it Murphy's Law of knots: If something can get tangled up, it will. "Anything that's long and flexible seems to somehow end up knotted," says Andrew Belmonte, an applied mathematician at Pennsylvania State University in University Park. Belmonte has plenty of alarming anecdotal evidence. "It certainly happens in my house, with the cords of the venetian blind."

But the knot scourge is a global one, as anyone who owns a desktop computer can confirm after peeking at the mess of connection cables and power cords behind the desk.

Now, scientists think they may have found out how and why things find their way into knotty arrangements. By tumbling a string of rope inside a box, biophysicists Dorian Raymer and Douglas Smith have discovered that knots — even complex knots — form surprisingly fast and often. The string first coils up, and then its free ends swivel around the other coils, tracing a random path among them. That essentially makes the coils into a braid, producing knots, the scientists say.

Raymer's interest in knots began as an answer waiting for a question. Two years ago, he was an undergraduate student working in Smith's lab at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Raymer fancied taking a class about the abstract theory of knots, offered by UCSD's math department. Smith told him that he should take it only if he could find a practical use for it — some kind of knot experiment.

Raymer never took the class, but he and Smith did come up with a simple idea for an experiment. They put a string in a cubic container the size of a box of tissue. By tumbling the box 10 times "like a laundry dryer," as Raymer puts it, the researchers hoped to observe knots forming spontaneously on occasion. They didn't have to wait for long: Knots formed right away.
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iPhysics

Some nice ideas making use of the iPhone's motion detector.
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Super Mario Galaxy

One of my kidz Christmas presents was the third Mario 3D platformer (after Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine). The game takes Mario on a quest to save the ever-needy Princess Peach from the ever-evil Bowser.

It is one of the few games to have received a '10' score from Edge magazine (the others are Super Mario 64, Gran Turismo, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Halo: Combat Evolved, Half-Life 2, Halo 3 and The Orange Box).

The game is a delight to watch (I'm not allowed to play the games, cos I'm far too rubbish), with Mario scuttling around a series of mini planets, fighting a wide range of weird enemies.

As I observed Brook working his way from planet to planet, I was once again struck by the uniqueness of the Nintendo gameplay, the way it transports you into a world that is 'other', in a similar way to which Tolkien, Lewis and Pullman do with their narratives.

Where games like Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare are copying reality, Super Mario Galaxy takes you into an Escherian super-reality, providing excitement, intrigue and fun without the usual gore quotient.
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London-Somerset-London, 27-30 Dec 2008

Bathtime In Clerkenwell - (The Real) Tuesday Weld
Jerk It Out - Caesars
I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day - Wizzard
Take Her Back - The Pigeon Detectives
Touchdown Turnaround (Don't Give Up On Me) - Hellogoodbye
I Want To Be Your Boyfriend - Rubinoos
Believe (rhythm promo) - Cher
Jeepers Creepers - The Puppini Sisters
Hey Ya - Outkast
Rock Me Gently - Andy Kim
I Won't Let You Down - PhD
Louie - Ida Maria
Knock On Wood - Amy Stewart
Cinnamon - The Long Winters
Lazy guy - Slobberbone
Sunday Morning After - Amanda Marshall
Build Me Up Buttercup - Foundations
I wanna be sedated (Ramones cover) - The Offspring
Dude looks like a lady - Aerosmith
For America - '87 - Red Box
Catch My Disease - Ben Lee
Bing Bang - Lazy Town
Afternoons And Coffeespoons - Crash Test Dummies
Cotton Eye Joe (remix) - Rednex
Christmas Wrapping - The Waitresses
Smoke From A Distant Fire - Sanford Townsend Band
Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps, Please - Splodgenessabounds
Murder on the dance floor - Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Baby, Now that I've Found You - Foundations
Jessie's Girl - Rick Springfield
The Christians And The Pagans - Dar Williams
Hey Mickey - Toni Basil
When You Are A King - White Plains
Oh Lori - Alessi brothers
Too good to be forgotten - Amazulu
Can't Take My Eyes Off You - Andy Williams
Marilyn Monroe - Santa Baby
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger - Daft Punk
Crying at the discotheque - Alcazar
Girl All the Bad Guys Want - Bowling for Soup
I Love You Always Forever - Donna Lewis
Pop Goes The World - Men without Hats
Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep - Middle of the Road
Magic - Pilot
She's So High - Tal Bachman
One More Night - Yellow Dog
Never Do A Tango With An Eskimo - Alma Cogan
Centerfold - J. Geils Band
Crush (new) - Jennifer Paige
Do You Believe In Magic - Lovin' Spoonful
Sweet Caroline - Neil Diamond
Zambesi - Piranhas
Wombling Merry Christmas - The Wombles
Feuer Frei - Rammstein
Daddy's Girl - Red Sovine
Frankie - Sister Sledge
Nellie the elephant - Toy Dolls
Come Back My Love - The Wrens
Alisha Rules The World - Alisha's Attic
Shang-A-Lang - Bay City Rollers
Rasputin - Boney M
Metarie - Brendan Benson
Are You Ready for Love - Elton John
Hey Whatever - Westlife
welsh-potato - Lee Mack, Edinburgh Fringe 2006
bum-look-big - Lee Mack, Edinburgh Fringe 2006
You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet - Bachman Turner Overdrive
It's Getting Better - Mama Cass Elliot
I Can't Wait (extended) - Nu Shooz
Secret Smile - Semisonic
Yes Sir I Can Boogie - Baccara
The Ketchup Song (Asereje) - Las Ketchup
I'm Not Okay (I Promise) - My Chemical Romance
Hey There Georgie Girl - New Seekers
Don't Start Me Down - Pink vs. ELO
Bread and Butter - NewBeats
Resurrection - PPK
(I Hate) Everything about you - Ugly Kid Joe
Take On Me (techno remix) - a-ha
Japanese Boy - Aneka
I Dunno If That Milkshake Is Worth 5 Dollars - Cameo vs. Kelis
Sk8r Boy - Avril Lavigne
Robert De Niro's Waiting - Bananarama
Rollin' (Ballad of Big and Rich) - Big & Rich
The Bad Touch - Bloodhound Gang
You Spin Me Round (like a record) (ext) - Dead Or Alive
Dragostea din tei (Mai Ai Hii) - O-Zone
Leader of the Pack - Shangri-Las
Let Me Be In the Mood - Eminem vs. Glen Miller
Help Yourself - Tom Jones
Good Looking Woman - Joe Dolan
Good Weekend - Art Brut
Everytime We Touch - Cascada
D.I.S.C.O. - Ottawan
Sign Of The Times - Belle Stars
Kitty In The Basket - Diana Dekker
Mary's Boy Child - Boney M
He Said He Loved Me - Reverend and the Makers
I Like the Way (Radio Edit) - Bodyrockers
All Through The Night - Cyndi Lauper
Enjoy The Silence - Depeche Mode
All I Want For Christmas Is You - Mariah Carey
Just a Song About Ping Pong - Operator Please
Downtown - Petula Clark
It's Not Over Yet - Grace
Wonderful Christmas Time - Paul McCartney & Wings
Calling You - Blue October
Don't Call Me Song 2 - Blur vs. Madison Avenue
Where Have All The Cowboys Gone - Paula Cole
Tropical-Iceland - The Fiery Furnaces
B.A.B.Y - Rachel Sweet
Happy Slap - Ashok
It's Not Over Yet - Klaxons
Are You Gonna Be My Animal - Jet vs. The Muppets
Jolene - Strawberry Switchblade
You Talk - Babyshambles
Christmas Countdown (The Twelve Days Of Christmas) - Frank Kelly
iPod Xmas - Hello Saferide
Away in a Manger - Hyperbubble
Oi To The World - The Vandals
2000 Miles - Pretenders
Brother Louie - Modern Talking
Sandstorm (Italian DDR Poison remix) - Darude
We Wish You A Merry Christmas - John Denver & The Muppets
Christmas Time (Don't Let The Bells End) - The Darkness
Gonna Make Betty Sweat - Ram Jam vs. C&C Music Factory
Six white boomers - Rolf Harris
Little Town - Cliff Richard
Step Into Christmas - Elton John
Cruel To Be Kind - Nick Lowe
Oh, Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison
Hooked on a Feeling (Ooga Chucka) - Rusted Root
Waiting For A Star To Fall - Boy Meets Girl
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Online gaming 2008: Let the battle commence

BBC reports: [edited]

Challenges to the dominance of World of Warcraft over online games and gamers look set to emerge in 2008. During the year Blizzard's flagship title consolidated its hold on gamers as its subscriber base kept growing. But debuts by Age of Conan, Warhammer Online and many others may mean that hold begins to weaken.

At the start of 2007, the number of active subscribers playing World of Warcraft was eight million but by the end of summer the number had passed 9.3 million. According to statistics gathered by Nielsen the average WoW player racks up 17 hours of play per week - 12 hours more than its nearest competitor The Sims. As such it was the most played PC game between April and November 2007.

Mr Younger said online games such as Lord of the Rings Online, Tabula Rasa and Hellgate: London were widely tipped to poach significant numbers of players from Blizzard but, he said, it was not clear that had happened.

"There seems to be an inability by other massively multi-player game makers to capture what Blizzard managed to capture," said Mr Younger. "There's plenty of choice out there for players now," he said "You can even play massively multiplayer dancing games, if killing monsters isn't your thing."

Conan is familiar to many from Robert E Howard's original stories, the films starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and the many contemporary novels that explored the world of the iconic barbarian.

Warhammer is the creation of UK firm Games Workshop and has many fans who played the tabletop game, the role-playing system, the earlier games and has read the books set in its world.

Perhaps more importantly the titles are attempting to move online gaming on from the mechanics established by Blizzard.

In Warhammer many areas of the game are contested and factions will battle to regain control of these areas. Solo players as well as those who prefer pitched battles will contribute to this back and forth that will see a lot of the game world's territory change hands many times.

By contrast Age of Conan is explicitly aiming at a mature audience - in particular combat will be bloody and realistic. The game will also allow player teams, or guilds, to set up and run their own cities or lay siege to each other's strongholds.
------------

The megapixel myth

6mpixel.org reports: [edited]

A digital camera with 12 million pixels is better than one with 6 million. ‘That is correct’ is what you would probably say because you’ve always heard more pixels are better.

It’s not true, we have to say when it comes to compact cameras. We, the staff of Image Engineering which is an independent testing laboratory that, amongst other things, tests digital camera for the German magazines Color Photo and c’t. Quite a while ago we noticed that the image quality of digital cameras was getting worse instead of better. The reason is that today’s sensors are divided into more and therefore smaller pixels. We want to clarify the consequences on this website.

The reason we bring this up is the vicious circle we are in and have to break out of. Most people have heard that a lot of pixels make a good camera hence they buy the cameras with the most pixels. Thus, manufacturers produce cameras with more and more pixels so that they will sell better. But this does not improve the quality of the pictures.

6 megapixels is the best compromise between number of pixels and image noise (using the current size of compact camera CCD).

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

Visit the site for the full explanation.
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Sony Alpha DSLR-A700

dpreview have posted a detailed review of Sony's new 'semi-pro' DSLR.

One (long) sentence summary: Apart from some issues with image noise at high ISO levels, it offers improvements in dynamic range and some excellent new features, providing performance comparable to the Canon D300 and Canon EOS 40D, for less money.
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First Coming

He did not wait till the world was ready,
till men and nations were at peace.
He came when the Heavens were unsteady,
and prisoners cried out for release.

He did not wait for the perfect time.
He came when the need was deep and great.
He dined with sinners in all their grime,
turned water into wine. He did not wait

till hearts were pure. In joy He came
to a tarnished world of sin and doubt.
To a world like ours, of anguished shame
He came, and his Light would not go out.

He came to a world which did not mesh,
to heal its tangles, shield its scorn.
In the mystery of the Word made Flesh
the Maker of the stars was born.

We cannot wait until the world is sane
to raise our songs with joyful voice,
for to share our grief, to touch our pain,
He came with Love: Rejoice! Rejoice!

Madeleine L’Engle
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The gift that keeps giving

One of 2007's more enjoyable albums was 'Hey Venus!' by Super Furry Animals.

If you haven't bought it yet, they've made the seasonally titled 'Gift That Keeps Giving' available as a free download.
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Running Windows on a Mac

Tidbits reports: [edited]

Our friends over at MacTech have taken on the laborious task of running benchmarks on the popular virtualization programs Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion, comparing them against each other, running both Windows XP and Windows Vista, against Apple's Boot Camp, and against a standard PC laptop.

Windows XP outperforms Windows Vista by 17 to 30 percent in virtualization, so if you want the fastest Windows performance, stick with Windows XP.

When running Windows XP, Parallels Desktop was somewhat faster than VMware Fusion, and even a bit faster than Boot Camp.

If you want to run Windows Vista, VMware Fusion provides noticeably better performance than Parallels Desktop on all tasks involving raw processing, whereas Parallels Desktop offers significantly better integration with Mac OS X (and thus real-world performance) for all cross-platform tasks.

Keep in mind that these conclusions are relevant only for the things MacTech tested, which did not include gaming (where Boot Camp probably has the edge over both virtualization options) or applications that can use multiple processors (where VMware Fusion would probably outperform Parallels Desktop).

If you want to analyze MacTech's results further, you can download an Excel spreadsheet containing all the test data from their site.
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Big galaxy picks on smaller galaxy

Wired reports: [edited]

The latest act of senseless violence caught on tape is cosmic in scope: A black hole in a "death star galaxy" blasting a neighbouring galaxy with a deadly jet of radiation and energy.

A fleet of space and ground telescopes have captured images of this cosmic violence, which people have never witnessed before, according to a new study released Monday by NASA.

"It's like a bully, a black-hole bully punching the nose of a passing galaxy," said astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York.

The larger galaxy has a multi-digit name but has been dubbed the "death star galaxy" by Daniel Evans of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Tens of millions of stars, including those with orbiting planets, are in the path of the deadly jet, said study co-author Martin Hardcastle of the University of Hertfordshire.
------------

3 Skypephone

In the middle of November I got an email from Matt at 3mobilebuzz.com offering me a couple of the new 3skypephones to try out. I hardly use my phone for voice calls, so I got them sent to my eldest daughter and her boyfriend.

Here is their feedback:

PROS

- Very small and slim.

- 3 provides a lot of useful tariffs on pre-pay.

- Skype chat is fast, history shown, easy to delete.

- Camera is good, with options to optimise images for MMS.

- Attractive, clear layout of phone menus.

- Nice (unusual) keypad tones.

- Allows access to simple text websites.

- Voice calls work well.


CONS

- 'Roaming' function is unpredictable, can be in the same place and suddenly be 'roaming' (outside of the 3 network).

- Fiddly keypad buttons.

- Don't like having to press 7 instead of * to unlock.

- Gets VERY hot during voice/skype calls.

- Deleting contacts on Skype is slow and frustrating.

- Irritating dial tone.

- Couldn't find a way to lock the keypad.

- Doesn't seem to like sending '3mails' with images.

- Voice volume is too quiet.

- Scrolling around takes a bit of getting used to.

- Predictive text only works with text messages.

- Interface can be fussy.

- Slow access to text messages.

- "Connecting your call - hold on" message is unnecessary.

- Expensive on contract (£12 for 100 texts or minutes plus Skype).

- Prominent Skype button is annoying. Could be on side instead of the "change apps" button and use middle button as menu key.

- Takes a long time to charge.

- Doesn't support MSN, but still shows the options.
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HTC X7500 Advantage

Softpedia has a comprehensive review of this 350g UMPC.

To summarise

The Good: It features high-end chipsets and technologies. This is a well-designed all-purpose tool featuring 8 GB Hitachi microdrive, powerful Intel processor, GPS receiver, HSDPA technology, 3 Megapixel camera, big capacity battery, large display and QWERTY keyboard.

The Bad: HTC nerfed the multimedia part which offers a mediocre sound for music fans. Other than that, everything is above average.
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Ida Maria

Norwegian-born, Ida Maria is a missionary-educated (just HOW MANY singers have religious backgrounds?) newcomer to the music scene. She is the first singer I've heard for a long time who manages to combine fun, excitement and originality into her performances. Think Bjork's rockier younger sister.

Quoted as being "sectionable but sensational", her live performances are meant to be excellent. If you're going to listen to just one song, visit her MySpace page and click on 'Louie'.

I'm looking forward to her album, which is due to be released next year.
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London, Lincoln, London 16-12-07

LONDON to LINCOLN
Foxy Lady - Jimi Hendrix
Picture to Burn - Taylor Swift
Honolulu Rock a Roll a - Kitty, Daisy & Lewis
Blue (Da Ba Dee) - Eiffel 65
Shiny Happy People - R.E.M.
Turn To Stone - Electric Light Orchestra
Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While) - The Isley Brothers
Take Her Back - The Pigeon Detectives
Mushaboom - Feist
My Little Red Book - Love
Dare (Radio Edit) - Gorillaz
Touchdown Turnaround (Don't Give Up On Me) - Hellogoodbye
Beg Your Pardon - Kon Kan
Louie - Ida Maria
Beauty And The Beast - Jump 5
Touch Me - Angel City
Gimme All Your Lovin' - ZZ Top
Bing Bang - Lazy Town
I’m A Cuckoo - Belle & Sebastian
An Honest Mistake - The Bravery
Right Now - SR71
Week In Week Out - The Ordinary Boys
The Wrath of Marcie - The Go! Team
Love Your Money - Daisy Chainsaw
Jerk It Out - Caesars
I Hope That I Get Old Before I Die - They Might Be Giants (TMBG)
What's New Pussycat - Tom Jones
In The Key Of C - Jim Noir
Play Something Country - Brooks and Dunn
Sunday Morning After - Amanda Marshall
Valerie - Steve Winwood
In the Middle of Nowhere (Remix) - Dusty Springfield
Dead Sound - The Raveonettes
Jolene - Strawberry Switchblade
Words don't come easy (techno) - Modern Talking
Wouldn't It Be Good? - Cascada
Love can't turn around - Farley Jackmaster Funk
Gonna Make You A Star - David Essex
I Think I'm In Love With You - Jessica Simpson
The Whole Of The Moon - The Waterboys
Alive and Amplified - Mooney Suzuki
Set You Free - N-Trance
Amylase - Cajun Dance Party
Daydreamin' - Lupe Fiasco featuring Jill Scott
Candy - The Addictions
Cruel To Be Kind - Letter to Cleo
Angel Eyes (Techno Remix) - A-Teens
Professional Widow - Tori Amos

LINCOLN to LONDON
Handbags And Gladrags - Stereophonics
Evil One - The Sapphires
Sweet Side - Lucinda Williams
Hi-De-Ho - Blood, Sweat & Tears
Hercules - Mercury Rev
Downtown - Petula Clark
Brassneck - The Wedding Present
Hippy Hippy Shake - Georgia Satellites
Respect - Aretha Franklin
Blue Suede Shoes - Elvis Presley
Urizen - David Axelrod
Glue of the World - Four Tet
Little Bonnie - Drive-By Truckers
Waiting For An Alibi - Thin Lizzy
Down In Hollywood - Ry Cooder
Boys Wanna Fight - Garbage
Your latest trick - Dire Straits
Far Away - Martha Wainwright
Accidentally Kelly Street - Frente!
Infomercial - The Martini Henry Rifles
Motion Pictures (For Carrie) - Neil Young
All Through The Night - Cyndi Lauper
Feel The Pressure - The Charlatans
Just my imagination - The Temptations
Gamble Everything For Love - Ben Lee
Burst Noel - Malcolm Middleton
Girlfriend in a Coma - The Smiths
Just Getting By - Catie Curtis
Skin - ‹‹Rinôçérôse›› (Rinocerose)
Long Live The UK Music Scene - Helen Love
I Don't Know - Menlo Park
Space Oddity - The Langley Schools Music Project
Jelly Bread - Booker T & The MGs
Comfortably Numb - Dar Williams
This Is Not America - David Bowie
The Mountains New Dellray - The Go-Betweens
I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down - Elvis Costello
Listen For The Laugh - Bruce Cockburn
Come Play With Me - The Wedding Present
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London, Lincoln, London 15-12-07

LONDON to LINCOLN
Your Cheatin' Heart - The The
Gonna Make You A Star - David Essex
Blessed But Not Favored - The Jeff and Vida Band
Set Yourself On Fire - Stars
Out on Patrol - The Offspring
Many Too Many - Genesis
Feb 14 - Drive-By Truckers
The Mayor Of Candor Lied - Martyn Joseph
Goin' Away Baby - Jimmy Rogers
After All This Time - Simon Webbe
Flint (For The Unemployed And Underpaid) - Sufjan Stevens
Doll Parts - Hole
After The Ordeal - Genesis
Lady Luck - Vigilantes Of Love
Skank Bloc Bologna - Scritti Politti
chihuahua - Phil Kelsall
Fly - Nick Drake
Every Woman Alive - Marion Loguidice Band
Harvest Moon - Neil Young
Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole - Martha Wainwright
Walk To Slide - G. Love & Special Sauce
Days Of Pearly Spencer - Marc Almond
Disney Girls - The Beach Boys
Dr. Phibbs - I. Roy
Komakino - Joy Division
Goodbye Honey - Ryan Adams
Can't Stop This Thing We Started - Bryan Adams
Cloth Of Life - Vigilantes Of Love
I Honestly Love You - Olivia Newton-John
How Does It Feel? - Wan Santo Condo
Good Morning Judge - 10cc
Funky Nassau - The Blues Brothers
Just To Have You - Jennifer Paige
Vitamins V - Kristin Hersh
'Cause I Love You - Johnny Cash
Walking On The Surface Of The Moon - Wreckless Eric
What Kind Of World - Michael Ruff
I Know There's A Word - Aimee Mann
Pinnochio's Nose - Yazbek
Light My Fire - The Doors
Happy talk (fast version) - Captain Sensible
In Case We Die (Parts 1-4) - Architecture In Helsinki

LINCOLN to LONDON
Happy Slap - Ashok
Long Road to Ruin - Foo Fighters
Enjoy The Silence - Depeche Mode
It's Not Over Yet - Klaxons
Excerpt from a Teenage Opera - Keith West
Another Night - Real McCoy
Hippy hippy shake - Dave Clark Five
Twist and Shout - Salt-N-Pepa
Ask - The Smiths
Tidy Up Tidy Up (Edit) - The Barcelona Pavilion
The Box - Johnny Flynn
Mahna, Mahna - Cake
The Letter - The Box Tops
B.A.B.Y - Rachel Sweet
Devil's Radio - George Harrison
Stuck Between Stations - The Hold Steady
Spin Me Harder - Daft Punk vs. Dead Or Alive
Everybody In Between - Cure vs. Black Box
Walls Come Tumbling Down! - The Style Council
Crash - The Primitives
Let's Make Love And Listen To Death From Above - CSS
Hounds Of Love - Kate Bush
I Like the Way (Radio Edit) - Bodyrockers
Just a Song About Ping Pong - Operator Please
Sweet Harmony - The Beloved
Flux - Bloc Party
Superstar (RWL Remix) - Jamelia
Dolls - Primal Scream
Fake Tales of San Francisco - Arctic Monkeys
Where's the Pleasure? (Radio Edit) - Protocol
Ooh Wee It's Jenny From The Block - Mark Ronson vs. Jennifer Lopez
We're All Gonna Die Someday - Kasey Chambers
Stronger - Kanye West
Empire (Single Edit) - Kasabian
Wapiko's Weather Forecast! - Yoko Ishida
Stupidly Happy - XTC
C'mon Everybody - Eddie Cochran
Have I Been A Fool - Jack Penate
Sweet Child O' Mine - Guns N' Roses
Somebody Told Me - The Killers
One Fine Day - Carole King
Drop The Pilot - Joan Armatrading
We're All Going to Die - Malcolm Middleton
Highway 61 Revisited - Karen O & The Million Dollar Bashers
Happy - Ned's Atomic Dustbin
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Five free typefaces

A few more interesting examples from dafont.com:

AEROFOIL is delicate and calligraphic.

AMPERSAND is chunky and felt-tippy.

DISPATCH is a fancy ultra-bold.

ELLIANARELLE'S PATH is curvy and extravagant.

SOCIAL ANIMAL is a distressed condensed sans.
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Guitar Hero III, now available on PC (& Mac!)

MacWorld reports: [edited]

Aspyr Media’s Macintosh version of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock will hit retail stores beginning December 10, 2007. It will be appearing on store shelves as a hybrid Mac/PC bundle, for $79.99, including an X-Plorer USB guitar game controller

In Guitar Hero III, you’re a struggling musician who’s trying to climb to the top by making deals with record producers, getting bigger and bigger gigs, sealing endorsement contracts and getting good reviews.

You do so by playing along to popular rock songs on the X-Plorer guitar controller, tapping out and strumming according to instructions you see on the screen, in time with the music. Do it well and you’ll move on to bigger and better things — do it poorly and the crowds will boo and eventually you’ll tank.

As you play songs successfully, you’ll unlock new songs you can play. You’ll get to play everything from “Anarchy in the U.K” by the Sex Pistols to “Even Flow” by Pearl Jam, “Sunshine of Your Love” by Cream, “Rock You Like a Hurricane” by The Scorpions, “Bulls on Parade” by Rage Against the Machine, and many more.

Guitar Hero III features many songs by the original artists, with guest appearances by Slash from Guns N Roses and Velvet Revolver, and Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine. The game has unlockable content, a multiplayer action-inspired battle mode, support for bass guitar if you want to play with a friend and online multiplayer game modes.
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