Author: Gary Cutlack
PADDED LAMPPOST UPDATE: It was just a shameless PR stunt cooked up by the "hilarious" 118 118 crew
We knew it. We just KNEW IT. Something seemed wrong. Something about this update regarding padded lampposts for the protection of distracted texters seemed too strange. It seemed a little bit too much like the sort of thing the ad agency employed by 118 118 would come up with.
And it was. Bollocks. There’s nothing more sickening than the realisation that you’ve just fallen for a bloody bit of PR. Worst feeling in the world. I haven’t been this upset since Flopsy got run over in 1983.
The 118 118-branded post pads were…
Nokia's DVB-H standard adopted by EU as official mobile phone TV format
Mobile phone TV, eh? The amazing-for-30-seconds flash-in-the-pan literally nobody cares about? Well, somebody cares. Nokia cares. And the European Union cares. Together, they have just announced that the DVB-H digital format is now the preferred format for mobile telly in Europe. Hooray!
What this means for us is we’re about to get bombarded with promotional images of mobile phones showing football clips on, as everyone thinks men watching football clips is the only way to sell TV services. Like this:
Sorry this news is a bit dull and about digital TV formats…
EADS wants "production line" of space planes! Crack out the silver tracksuit – we will be in space soon
EADS, or the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, has said it can see a day when space travel becomes as routine as paying £17.99 to go via RyanAir to Amsterdam for a three-day stag-do.
“It will develop towards a classical aeronautical business model. Someone will build the planes; somebody will operate them; somebody will sell the tickets; somebody will provide the accommodation – like any tourism,” said Robert Laine, the chief technical officer of the rocket builder. A division of EADS called Astrium, which currently makes the Ariane rocket, reckons it’ll be knocking about 10 “space planes” a year to sell to operators.
Here’s an entirely unrelated photograph of the space shuttle Endeavour in which you can clearly see an astronaut’s iPod through the window:
So hopefully, before we die, we’ll all get…
1.3megapixel Spy Camera Glasses – currently not illegal
If you want some of these, you’d better buy them now before they get made illegal. Because they will be made illegal soon.
Available for a relatively cheap $99 from here, they’re ideal for causing loads of trouble this summer. The specs come with a little remote control, so all you have to do to take a picture of the innocent wildlife scene you’re currently enjoying is…
The Roland Edirol R-09HR MP3 player – proof MP3 players DID exist in the 1970s
Silver buttons? Chunky grey plastic? Company name that sounds like a pesticide the government banned in the 1950s after finding it lead to babies being born with more than the usual number of heads?
Yes, all of those, packed into the super-ugly form-factor of the updated Roland Edirol high-end music player…
Crazy Kart 2 – another hot-looking iPhone game
OK, so it looks like it’s little more than a quite incredibly shameless Mario Kart clone, but there’s no denying the smoothness and quality of the action in this little video demo of Crazy Kart 2 – already up, running and looking way more than half-decent on iPhone.
"NO WE ARE BLOODY NOT" says Microsoft, about Blu-ray add-on for Xbox 360
Clearly a bit bored of reading lies on the internet about what it may or may not be doing next week or month or year, Microsoft has come out all ANGRY and said it’s 100 percent definitely NOT DOING a Blu-ray player add-on for Xbox 360.
“Xbox is not currently in talks with Sony or the Blu-ray Association to integrate Blu-ray into the Xbox experience…
"Smart Goggle" will remember whether you put your keys in the oven or fridge while drunk last night
The whole idea of Terminator/Predator style augmented vision is shaping up nicely in Japan right now, thanks to the efforts of another group of clever augmented-reality scientists.
The rather bulky set of glasses to the left there features a camera and display, with the camera feeding data to a clever – and apparently the “best yet” – object recognition system…
IPod nano safety fears hit Japan – battery "emits sparks" during charging
Uh-oh! Global safety panic alert!
Japan’s trade ministry has pressed the big, red EMERGENCY button in its offices, after receiving reports that an iPod nano’s battery started to give off “sparks” while it was being charged.
The incident took place in Japan during January, with Apple itself…
Nokia and Channel 4 teaming up to cross-promote brands and intellectual properties vis-a-vis capturing the critical youth demographic
At least we think that’s what’s happening.
A new TV show called “The Nokia Green Room” will appear on Channel 4 later this year, with the mobile company sponsoring the 30-minute live music show.
The unique selling point that convinced executives on both sides of the table that this was a great idea? Putting cameras and microphones “backstage” so viewers…