Mostly This:

If you like it then you should put a ring on it. Campaigns that...

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 09:56:33 +0000

If you like it then you should put a ring on it. Campaigns that will never happen.

Starbucks Design your own tumbler. Genius. £6.95 of your UK...

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:08:32 +0000

Starbucks Design your own tumbler. Genius. £6.95 of your UK pounds sterling.

Eco Power Chargers. Heres my idea for a power adaptor that auto...

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 11:19:00 +0000

Eco Power Chargers. Heres my idea for a power adaptor that auto turns off. I thought it up a couple of years ago, but never bothered to sketch it out.

It’s such a simple idea, and would only add pence to the cost of making chargers. Basically its adding a spring loaded light touch ‘switch’ which activates when the charger is inserted, turning the charger on. when removed the switch disengages turning it off.

Also for a contactless (like palm pre/powermat) charging pad, simply spring mount the pad, so the weight of the device switches it on.

Any manufacturers out there wanna help me out.

It had to happen, apple release something, well, a bit crap. ok...

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:08:00 +0000

It had to happen, apple release something, well, a bit crap. ok it’s anything but crap, but its just not the unicorn encrusted rainbow project running on fairy tears we were all hyped up to expect. It’s. well. A big iPod touch. Thats it. It’s a niche product, apple do them well, but this is filling a small niche. I’m sure I will buy one, as a second screen for use while watching telly for web (as long as it doesn’t need flash - forget lots of e-commerse and entertainment sites) mail and twitter. But I’m not a typical mass market consumer, I’m an idiot.

It’s too big to carry around all the time, and not able enough to replace a laptop. It’s between a rock and a magic place.

Yes it is magical, but so is the iPhone/iPod and we’ve all had them for 2/3 years.

However, it may be saved by iPhone OS4.0 which hopefully adds some active home page widgets, flash and backgrounding apps. Otherwise that chrome os may not look so silly now.

I can’t help feeling its missing a few tricks, how about a front facing camera / iChat? I would buy one in an instant for my mum, so she can iChat to the grandkids, play scrabble/words with friends, surf a bit, read ebooks. then leave it as a eFrame linked to a family friendly flickr account. Makes perfect sence. There is a potential market for ‘toaster’ devices, Windows tablets and linux netbooks haven’t quite made it yet. And why is anyone releasing a 4:3 screen in 2010, madness.

It feels like apple’s ‘virtual boy’ remember that? no nintendo would rather you didn’t either. Though i suspect it will sell well among the faithful (myself included) it’s probably going to be an apple TV in terms of reach for the meantime.

Mobile Gaming comparison. I wrote this post last year but...

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 11:47:10 +0000

Mobile Gaming comparison. I wrote this post last year but somehow never got round to publishing it. Slightly out of date now, as n-gage has been scrapped, in favour of just selling games though ovi store.

Mobile gaming.

Being an alpha adopter geek I have numerous mobile devices, all which have varying gaming ability’s from 100% to 5% of the overall intended use. So I decided to test them all, using a single game format available on all platforms, casual golf. I choose casual golf because there’s a title on each platform, it’s not overly demanding graphically and it should be possible to compare overall platform suitability rather than judging the games themselves.

Do here’s the contenders

Sony PSP 1000 & Everybody’s Golf 2
Nintendo DS lite & Touch Golf
Nokia E71/N95 & Everybody’s Golf Mobile
Apple iPod Touch and Let’s Golf

Sony PSP 1000

I played everybody’s golf 2, a slick and enjoyable true 3D golf game using the old school ‘three click’ method. Controls were simple and fairly intuitive, though the zoom is a bit messy. Graphics are outstanding, battery life on the psp is great. There is very little to fault. The ‘relativly’ massive screen is incredibly clear and the graphics really shine, the club selection estimated distances matched well, and the game is rich and full of content and extras like online gaming.

The downside is that the PSP is a large device and the games come on large UMDs, certainly too big to ‘pocket’ so its only really taken with me when I’m carrying a bag. One bonus is the recently improved playstation store which lets you buy and store games on memory cards - ending the need to schlep around loads of UMDs. The new overpriced PSP Go! removes UMDs and if you pack an 8gig memory stick you can load up games via the Playstation Store directly now.

Nintendo DS lite

I was initially surprised by the lack of golf games on the DS, just tiger woods and touch golf, while touch golf is the more casual title it’s not quite the super deformed cutesy ride of the other titles. Touch based controls worked well and the 3D graphics were adequate, but felt way behind the PSP and iPod. Overall the DS just feels a little bit second rate in delivery and requiring a stylus - its all a bit clunky. on the plus side the DS does seem innovative and able to launch niche titles, more so with the DSi and its ability to download titles and store on memory cards. The DS clearly comes into its own on numerous wonderful nintendo titles and other DS only games such as brain training, Doctor Layton etc.

Nokia E71 / N95

Now slightly unfair to compare the E71 to gaming devices, but lots of java games are available and titles like this don’t require amazing graphics to be enjoyable. This is a good case in point, while graphically Everybody’s Golf mobile is poor - it still entertains. The biggest problem is the speed, so I fired it up on a nokia N95 - with its 3D hardware acceleration, only to discover it ran at an identical sluggish response. Still all is not bad, the game still offers fun on the move, and is probably the poorest of all the titles but I still found myself playing it when I had no other devices available. The N95 supports n-gage, nokia’s gaming platform, which has some impressive titles like bounce boing voyage, one and star wars force unleashed. The only n-gage golf game is pro series golf, which is more in the ‘tiger woods’ simulation category, I gave the trial verison a go. Its quite nice - but workmanlike and nothing too exciting.

The N95 and n-gage is fun, but the phones just aren’t very ergonomic for gaming, and i fine myself often hitting the menu key (next to the joypad) which throws you out of n-gage and into the home screen.

iPod Touch / iPhone

One billion apps cant be wrong, but iFart is along way from a gaming experience. But getting on for a year after launch the app store is starting to throw up some gems. Let’s golf from gameloft is an out and out rip off of everybody’s golf (update - now also available for PSP via the online store). But it has enough subtle differences to let it live seperatly - but only just. It works because its so well done, and offers a touch based swing as well as a traditional 3-click method. The graphics are lush and almost upto the PSP standard - but not quite. Theres a similar set of game mode and 3 full 18 hole courses + one 9 hole one. All for £3.49. Price wise it’s a winner. The only fault is the club estimates tend to be a bit wrong and you often over or under hit, despite hitting the marks. But if you have an iPhone - its a game you’ll always have with you. The iPod touch is a fantastic form for portability. The only downside is things like fighting games and platform games dont translate well, though recent launch ‘assisins creed’ has show responsive joy pad style gaming can work in the iPod.

So summing up, the PSP is clearly the daddy, but isn’t portable enough to be with you all the time.
The DS is similar but clearly an underperformer, and the novelty has defiantly worn off, The DSi hasn’t added any graphics power to a tired looking console.
The nokias have some impressive titles, esp on N-gage, and are in your pocket - so why not, the downside is the controls are bad and n-gage has some restrictive DRM if you change phones it hard to move your game library over with you. The iPod touch/iPhone is the dark horse - there’s some amazing addictive titles. and its early days for the touch only platform, expect more from cupertino. (Update several months on and the App store is chock-a-block with top notch gaming titles across almost every genre, it’s still missing a good fighting game)

Of the games tested Everybody’s golf 2 and Let’s golf, are clear winners. As to every day gaming - for me while I love the PSP - its just not ‘always with me’ where asI don’t even notice carrying the iPod touch, and if you have an iPhone its the clear winner.

Halo Lego erm Mega Blocs: These halo wars sets are so-so. mega...

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 17:24:40 +0000

Halo ~~Lego~~ erm Mega Blocs: These halo wars sets are so-so. mega blocs never seem to work as well as lego. But check out the mini-figs!

maemober: Tinned Luxury, Oh my WOMWORLD sent me a pair of these...

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:26:47 +0000

maemober:

Tinned Luxury, Oh my WOMWORLD sent me a pair of these nokia BH-905 blue tooth (with wired option) noise canceling headphones to trial, and BOY they are good. I had a pair of sony noise canceling headphones about 10 years ago, and the were a bit rubbish. These are amazing, even without music playing a couple of seconds after you turn on the canceling - suddenly you get drawn into a silent place. apparently there’s 12 microphones built in to sample the surrounding sounds.

Music sounds great on them, I’m no audiophile but they sound really good to me, there are lots of specs that mean very little to me. Every bit of the product oozes luxury, the metal bit seem gold in some light and silver in others. Theres leather, fabric, metal, and a twist in every direction to get the right fit. This is solid engineering, yet they are smaller than you expect, lightweight and comfortable.

There’s a range of adapters for using in ‘wired’ mode, but the freedom of bluetooth make me never want to grab them. The carry case is quite large, and only really suitable for traveling. I would of liked to have seen an additional soft pouch for slinging in any old bag.

I had some drop out and that weird bluetooth catch up on the N900 when first connected, but no issues on the more mature firmware of the 5800. It worked a dream with my macbook pro, to give me spotify around the house.

My wife tried them out and I didn’t get them back for over an hour. Likewise in the office they got nabbed as soon as i put them down. Though we did have a tinny sound issue with a desktop mac pro, not sure why it was sounding very muffled, no problem with other connections so seems some sort of bluetooth compatibility issue with that mac hardware.

I made a couple of phone calls with excellent call quality. In fact it made a teleconference far less painful as i didn’t have to hold my phone for 20 minutes.

I’ve always avoided over the ear headsets before, but having tried these out i now want a pair, as they are so much better than the admittedly more convenient in-ear options.

They cost an eye popping £250, but you can get them a lot cheaper online, google shows £149 being best current price.

Click the main pic or HERE for lots of photos of the headsets.

Information is Bullshitable. Visualising data is all the rage...

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:41:00 +0000

Information is Bullshitable. Visualising data is all the rage these days, everyone is at it, invading the web and print with colourful ways to make numbers mean something.

But some people are clearly faking it. Engadget have these nice colourful graphs down the side of the page, but take a closer look and the size/shape/overlapping elements bare no relation to the data - it’s just BULL. A list with boxes whos size is determined by the amount of copy. There is no accurate appliance of scale, so its pointless and misleading.

26 != 4,

(179 -122) != (112-108)

They have since introduced a timeline based graph that does this in an actual real data way that sometimes (when the fairy’s decide it appropriate) appears in the main body, but its not that much more informative - other than what the most commented on. But still it shows some scale and meaning.

More neat stuff from Product (RED), ok so I’m a sucker for...

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:52:58 +0000

More neat stuff from Product (RED), ok so I’m a sucker for all the (RED) stuff. And this is probably the most obscure, I presume that nike will push these at POS in nike town etc. But otherwise it’s more of a PR thing than a legitimate fund raiser. Maybe some higher ticket price nike items will follow.

AA text messages, a good idea to keep you informed of how long...

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:47:53 +0000

AA text messages, a good idea to keep you informed of how long you have to wait.

Off for the weekend and forgot my charger. Started the day with...

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 19:21:13 +0000

Off for the weekend and forgot my charger. Started the day with about a 20% charge I smelt trouble. Little did I expect it to be a flat tyre on the m4, maps saved my life as I pulled into a nameless industrial estate and called the AA. Maps identified the road and location so I could tell them where I was. When I arrived I popped onto tesco not expecting to find anything but a regular nokia charger (after years of demanding USB charging, I now had second thoughts) but I got a multiple ended charger for under a fiver, with a micro USB adapter. They also had car chargers just shy of £7.

In other news I discovered the swipe to unlock screen for the first time. It appears when you press the power button rather than the screen lock rocker. Nice.

Nokia gaming takes a leap, The N900 has a GPU (similar to the...

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:37:52 +0000

Nokia gaming takes a leap, The N900 has a GPU (similar to the iPhone’s) so now it can handle decent 3D gaming at at high res of 800x480. Just compare the same game (though different version bounce touch vs bounce evolution) to see the difference between software 3D and hardware accelerated.

Game On!

I went to see gary numan last night, it was a 30th anniversary...

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:10:00 +0000

I went to see gary numan last night, it was a 30th anniversary of ‘the pleasure principle’ which made me feel old, though not to fear when i saw the crowd i felt younger ;)

I guess ‘the pleasure principle’ was the first proper LP I ever bought. Grease being the first, as a gift. It sounded great again, and was reproduced pretty faithfully. Then they ditched some of the synths and brought on the guitars for his newer stuff, and FUCKING NOISE! it was bloddy brilliant, and to my surprise the crowd really loved the new stuff too. Mostly hard core fans I guess. If you haven’t heard the newer numan stuff, do. I suggest you start with his remix album ‘hybrid’.

All the photos/vids were taken with a nokia N900.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmmorrison/sets/72157622932722242/

I came across this amazing 8bit NES version of Left 4 Dead on...

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:37:10 +0000

I came across this amazing 8bit NES version of Left 4 Dead on youTube, quite a labour of love. And it reminded me of a project i worked on for SCEE back in 2001, an 8bit version of the first 10 mins or so of jak and daxter’s first outing, though its probably more 16 bit/snes level.

http://www.jakanddaxterlegend.com/en/game.htm

The site is still live, though it’s 8 year old javascript doesn’t play nicely with modern browsers, the game is thankfully java so works ok on the link above. It could do with some sound though.

These things make me happy.

Comes with Spotify. Spotify hits S60, a little while after...

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:15:08 +0000

Comes with Spotify. Spotify hits S60, a little while after iPhone / Android. And it’s quite sweet, the iPhone version suffers from no backgrounding/offline storage/the total lack of O2 data in central london.

Oddly the S60 5th edition one uses ONLY a t9 keypad for text entry, though I presume a physical keyboard (like the N97) will work ok. which makes the interface a bit clunky, but it works a treat with my t-mobile sim / web-n-walk. I’ve only had a quick play with it and not tested its commuting abilities yet.

Just go to http://m.spotify.com on your phone to get it, you need a premium spotify account.

Stupid shared space thing in Sloan Square. This is a road, I...

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 12:23:40 +0000

Stupid shared space thing in Sloan Square. This is a road, I wandered out of the tube, was obviously fiddling with my iPhone then out of the corner of my eye saw something big and fast, looked up and a car sped past me a foot away, had I of not stopped in my tracks it would of hit me. three more went past equally fast, you would think drivers would go though slowly, but NOPE.

There is a mini sign you don’t notice one bit, it looks like a parking restriction notice, as it’s not in the visual language of pedestrians to pay attention to such street furniture, we look for patterns on the road and flashing lights.

Utterly brainless, on what level is this a good thing, there is no positive/benefit to it at all. I guess they thought they would try it out here and see if they can take out a few tourists.

iVulva: nokia have a range of phone for women, not patronising...

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:34:30 +0000

iVulva: nokia have a range of phone for women, not patronising at all in a range of PINKS, add to the mix pixie lott and the name Illuvial, which to me sounds like the some scandanivian word for genitals. As advertised in heat, of course.

Modern Pricewars: Sainsburys had a nice tactical advert for MW2...

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:48:26 +0000

Modern Pricewars: Sainsburys had a nice tactical advert for MW2 in the gadget show last night, selling it for £26, obviously its sold out! both copy’s ;) Tesco are doing it for £25 but only when you buy another game at 39.97. Amazon look best/easiest option at £32. Game/Gameplay have it at £35. So looks like you are saved from its full retail price of £55.

From the home to the arcade, yes the conversions are now arcade...

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:57:08 +0000

From the home to the arcade, yes the conversions are now arcade versions of home console titles, adding in things like proper seats/stearing wheels and LOUD lit cabinets. The Mario Kart arcade game ads in a web cam to put your face in the game as well. Interestingly Tekken 6 was in the arcades for a period before the home release, but just used a PS3 internally.

Brutal Warnings: Brutal Legend makes a nice job of integrating...

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:00:43 +0000

Brutal Warnings: Brutal Legend makes a nice job of integrating ‘Parental Advisory’ into the game play, so the language popup appears mid sentence and just as he’s about to curse. Like wise the gore popup arrives just before a metal dragon beheads three band members. Though I’m not sure how the gore can be toned down, as it’s a game of constant killing. Though i doubt anyone will be accepting the censored options.