Month of August, 2007

People freaked out by the sound of buzzing mosquitos!

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Yesterday iTunes in the UK finally got TV shows available for purchase. Individual episodes cost £1.89 which with the exchange rate as it is at the moment makes it twice as expensive as in the US. However based on how much the episodes cost against DVD box sets they are very competitive.

Series such as Lost, Ugly Betty, Greys Anatomy and Desperate Housewives all cost £32.99 in iTunes, the respective DVD's online cost:

Title	Amazon	Choices UK	HMV	Play.com
Lost Series 1	£32.97	£29.99	£34.99	£33.99
Lost Series 2	£29.98	£32.99	£64.99	£26.99
Lost Series 3	£44.98	£44.99	£44.99	£44.99
Ugly Betty Series 1	£29.98	£29.99	£29.99	£29.99
Greys Anatomy Series 1	£20.97	£17.49	£29.99	£22.99
Greys Anatomy Series 2	£33.98	£33.96	£34.99	£33.99
Desperate Housewives Series 1	£25.48	£17.99	£21.99	£24.99
Desperate Housewives Series 2	£17.97	£24.99	£21.99	£34.99
Desperate Housewives Series 3	£33.74	£37.49	-	£33.99

Correct as of 8:30am 30/08/07.

As you can see there is a difference within the UK DVD market however in general by shopping around you can get the earlier series such as Desperate Housewives series 1 at a considerable cheaper price than on iTunes however newer series such as Lost Series 3 are considerably cheaper through iTunes.

In the music store Apple set a universal price of 79p for individual tracks (99p for iTunes Plus), albums are slightly different but usually hover around the £7.99 mark which is very competitive and often cheaper than physical CD's. In the table above we have demonstrated that Apple don't have that competitive edge of being universally cheaper in the video market unless they were to lower the price of older series.

That said Apple have opened up a market not previously available in the UK - being able to buy individual episodes. This will benefit shows such as South Park that have no continuous story line however a show such as Lost needs all episodes to be watched in the correct order. Therefore people may use iTunes as a catch up service for shows they have missed or buy the newer series with the cost saving.

What I think will be key to the success of the video store will be how quickly videos get added after being aired. For UK shows this will be relatively simple however with US shows this could be harder as often the show is aired in the states months before it airs over here. It is unlikely that Apple will be allowed to add the show to iTunes before it airs on UK TV though it could be a very lucrative market especially if Apple managed to bid for a TV show before any UK network takes interest in it.

Apple have been getting a lot of bad press over the past 24 hours about the price of the TV shows in iTunes but if you look at them against the DVD market it doesn't seem so bad. It could be argued that the DVD market in the UK is too expensive anyway but that is hardly Apple's fault for basing their product at a competitive price point. In some ways this could help force down the cost of new DVD sets. These normally have an RRP of around £65 however it is very rare to see a DVD box set on sale for that amount (let alone anyone actually buying it).

In comparison to the download market in the UK iTunes is slightly more expensive than the competition. Channel five offers CSI episodes for£1.49 each (or £29.99 for the series) and Greys Anatomy episodes for 99p each. Channel 4 currently only allows the renting of videos for 99p each (after an initial free 7 day catch up).

Hopefully with the launch of the iTunes UK video store it will encourage studios to start putting more content online at a competitive price but I'm pretty sure the £1.89 price will set a benchmark just as 79p did for music.

Geeky Wedding Cakes

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Every Transformer should be ashamed right now. Darth Vader has rolled onto their turf and made them all look weak in comparison.

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Sharp objects on the wall should be first hint to leave right away.

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If you look at the first paragraph in this link, the story goes: "HACKERS have unlocked Microsoft's new iPhone, allowing it to be used by any network."

All I have to say is, good game.

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This is slightly off beat for this bank holiday weekend however after reading a post on the 43 folders website about how Merlin Mann made his presentations better it got me thinking of how this technique could be used to improve presentations I have done.

Powerpoint makes it very easy to make presentations quickly, the problem is that they look all the same and do not necessarily use the best techniques for slide layouts.. From sitting through presentation after presentation at University you quickly see the good from the bad. Unfortunately the majority of presentations are bad, they are usually too long, have too much text and don't look nice.

One of my favourite points Merlin Mann makes in his blog post is about using stock images in his presentations. Merlin recommends using iStockPhoto for getting cheap stock images however there are a number of free stock image sites which have great libraries of professional photos. I use the Stock Xchng for almost all my images (like the bubbles at the top of this page) and have found it to be the best free site.

Other good free stock image sites include (from the forum):

http://www.adigitaldreamer.com/gallery/index.php
http://www.kavewall.com/stock/
http://www.stockvault.net/gallery/
http://pstutorialsblog.com/?p=44
http://www.morguefile.com/ (excellent)
http://yotophoto.com/ (excellent)
http://www.everystockphoto.com/ (excellent)
http://stock.deviantart.com/
http://www.imageafter.com/
http://www.photogen.com/
http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/
http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/
http://www.burningwell.org/
http://backgroundsarchive.com/
http://pdphoto.org/
http://www.public-domain-photos.com/
http://www.wpclipart.com/working/index.html
http://www.unclesamsphotos.com/

In my final year of University we had a group project to discuss digital technology and the motorist. While we got a good mark for the presentation I always thought we could have improved the slides, here are a few improvements based of the techniques Merlin has described.

The original opening slide:

Redesigned slide, I think half the car works very well here:

Original objectives slide:

Redesigned slide, here I removed some unnecessary text:

Original Audi Quattro Slide

Redesigned slide, here I made better use of the graphic as it is the most interesting point:

Finally the destroyed Gatso slide:

Redesigned slide, the border around the image is not needed neither is the title:

When I have removed unnecessary text it is usually because it's either obvious or should be spoken. In Merlin's blog post he links to a couple of presentation methods that are a useful read, the Kawaski method and the Takahashi method.

Hopefully this has given you some ideas for your own slides layout and that well designed slides do not take much more work - just mainly common sense.

Quite a thorough dictionary....

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These are photographs of the worlds largest helicopter which happened to be on the tarmac in Dease Lake , B.C. this week. It is to be used for taking mining equipment and cargo out to a new mine called Galore Creek. It is owned by a Russian company. It is called the Utsky...

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Ever wish you had more space for all your stuff? Perhaps you should get a sofa that transformers into a bunk bed, a side table that morphs into a shelving system, a chair that doubles as a library or a bench that folds out to seat anywhere from two to sixteen people at once. Pictures, links and videos included.

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The absolute best jump kick you will ever see.

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Peter B. was an out-of-work PHP developer looking for contract work in early 2005. A recruiter he'd worked with in the past emailed him some information regarding a possible position. Reading the job description, Peter thought he'd be a good fit, so he submitted his resume and got a response via email a few days later. See their reaction...

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I wonder if the little girl still gets flashbacks from this event!!!

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A genuine Microsoft Knowledge Base article about a particularly strange error message some people have received on Windows 2000. Never fear though, SP1 fixes these problems! Well, sort of... "Note that the number of required characters changes from 17,145 to 18,770 with the installation of SP1"

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This amazing pool table was brought to Detroit's Woodward Dream Cruise over the weekend, and it's a fully-functional setup built inside of a first-generation VW bus. It's unclear how many hippies go in for bar room games, but regardless, this is probably some of the coolest automotive furniture you'll ever see.

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Our latest article is a follow up to June's article on 21 Ways To Develop Cancer and gives simple advice on how to avoid Electro Magnetic Radiation.

Read more about How to Aviod Electro Magnetic Radiation.

Our recent article - 21 Ways To Develop Cancer has caused quite a stir with a number of sceptics and people with first hand experience with electro magnetic radiation (EMR). A number of comments suggested we talk about how to avoid EMR where possible. Certain people are more sensitive to EMR than others, in a similar sort of way to how pollen effects only certain people. The effects of EMR can be as simple as headaches to life threatening cancer. It is impossible to cut out EMR from our daily lives however we can minimise our exposure to it, with the help from Safe Living Technologies and the guest writer of the previous article - Martin Weatherall I have compiled this list of advice to minimise exposure.

1. Avoid living near a mobile phone masts or radio/TV transmitters.
2. Avoid using cordless phones, especially DECT phones as these transmit radiation even when not in use.
3. Avoid using wireless baby monitors or wireless security systems, where possible hard wire them in.
4. Where possible do not use wireless routers - use CAT5 cable.
5. Where possible use your mobile phone on hands free but without a Bluetooth headset. Aviod using a mobile phone in your car without an external antenna as the radio waves will be reflected back at you from the metal chassis. If your phone has poor signal in the car an external antenna should improve your call quality too.
6. Only use a mobile phone or cordless phone for emergency calls only, use a corded phone for all regular conversations. Avoid using a mobile phone if pregnant and do not allow a child under 16 to use a mobile phone at all.
7. Try not to keep your mobile phone in the same pocket all the time, if possible keep it away from the body in a bag or on a desk. Otherwise rotate it around the body.
8. Avoid using the Microwave, it doesn't do anything good for your food anyway and will flood adjacent rooms with radiation.
9. Minimise the number of electronic devices around your bed, this can include lights, alarm clocks, telephones, extension cords and electric blankets. Battery operated devices such as an alarm clock are good replacements.
10. Make sure you don't sleep near your fuse box or distribution box.
11. Avoid living near or under high voltage power lines. The same goes for electric sub-stations and transformers.
12. Avoid all unnecessary exposure to x-rays and CT scans.
13. Drive cars that have low electro magnetic fields.
14. Make sure electronic devices are grounded (this is not such a problem in the UK as we have three pronged plugs unlike the rest of Europe and America).
15. Avoid using a dimmer switch in the house as these emit high magnetic fields and cause dirty electricity.

This article from Safe Living Technologies provides a lot more detail about how to cut down your exposure to EMR.

Freaky flowers in your garden.

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Till Nowak (http://framebox.de/) created this masterpiece named "Salad". Amazing pictures & behind the scenes .pdf

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This guy is unbelievably lucky. He has a heart attack and collapses, but luckily for him a sales person was just demonstrating their defibrillators.

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Damn they are cheap!! Seriously though...what could this be?

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E.T. says...buckle up!

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This picture will be much more successful than any other right-minded strivings ;-)

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Amazingly, the damn thing still works. I know what laptop I am getting next!

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From the Million Dollar Homepage to Designer Diaper Bags, these ideas should've died seconds after they were conceived.

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Very impressive.

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During the mid 80s, cassettes were at their most popular. The cassette tape offered the opportunity for people to edit and customize their music easily for the first time. The DIY ethic of the tapes didn't stop with home recording though, as many people often created their own artwork for their own mixes. Check out the creativity of the cassette.

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Airtrax omni-directional technology allows this Sidewinder Lift Truck to move forward, diagonally, laterally, in any direction at all.
The wheel system can rotate 360 degrees in its own footprint or go sideways without turning at all.
The navigational options are virtually limitless. Applications are staggering: from power chairs for the disabled

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Google Pack () has recently added StarOffice 8 the Microsoft Office alternative. In 2000 Sun Microsystems released StarOffice as open source which became the foundation of Open Office.

Google Pack now comes with the following software:

Google Toolbar for IE
Firefox with Google Toolbar
Picasa
Google Photos Screensaver
Google Desktop
Realplayer
Spyware Doctor
Norton Security Scan
Adobe Reader
StarOffice

ImAFish previously covered Google Pack in October 2006 and recommended it as a valuable way to keep useful software up to date.

From Google System Blog:

"StarOffice 8 is a full-featured office suite that contains a word processor, a spreadsheet tool, applications for presentations, databases, math formulas and drawing. It has support for most Microsoft Office formats (except for the formats introduced in Office 2007), but it can also export documents as PDF out of the box. The software normally costs $70, but it's available for free in Google Pack. It's worth noting that StarOffice has a huge installer (more than 140 MB), so you should download it only if you have a fast Internet connection."

StarOffice 8 usually retails at £54 (Amazon) however Google Pack includes it for free. StarOffice is now available in the Google Updater:

StarOffice includes:

StarOffice Writer for word processing (picture below).
StarOffice Base for database creation.
StarOffice Calc for spreadsheets.
StarOffice Draw for publishing.
StarOffice Impress for presentations.

StarOffice is almost identical to Open Office apart from proprietary components like clip-art graphics, templates, fonts and tools for MS Office migration. The interface is very similar to Microsoft Office 97-2003 (not 2007) so getting familiar should not take long, StarOffice will also open up all of your current Microsoft Office documents (not 2007 yet).

To download Google Pack click the affiliate banner below:

Frets On Fire is a free Windows/Linux/OS X game that is very similar to Guitar Heroes for the Xbox 360. The main difference being is that instead of using a guitar you hold your keyboard like you would hold a guitar.

This makes you look very stupid but is great fun to play. Below is me playing:

I couldn't get the current version to work on OS X Tiger which is why I'm playing on my PC. You can remap the controls so you don't have to hold the keyboard like that but where is the fun of pretending to be a rock star then?

The game has three modes of play, easy (as featured above), medium and Amazing (as featured below). I've yet to master easy though some songs are easier than others.

The game comes with three songs however there are hundreds more available to download online giving you hours of fun. At the end of each game it gives you a rating and tells you how accurate you have been.

Also included is a song editor that lets you edit current songs or import new songs. The requirements are basic with the game only needing 128mb of memory and an Open GL compatible graphics card. Frets on Fire can be downloaded for free off their website.

Maybe you are looking for a nice diet plan...using REAL tapeworms. Maybe you think that she's your gal, but she's actually everybody's pal. These priceless ads will keep you laughing as you wonder where all the good old-time remedies have gone.

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these days it's impossible to tell.

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Woo hoo! Looks like we'll finally be able to purchase our very own hydrogen peroxide powered jet packs. Anybody got $155,000 I can borrow? :-)

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Googling free wallpaper or fonts turns up a gaggle of random sites with flashy ads and mediocre art. In retaliation, today we've gathered up our favorite sources of quality, good-looking free desktop wallpaper images, fonts and icons for your downloading pleasure.

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Why, build a level three Menger Sponge, of course! What the heck is a Menger Sponge? Glad you asked.

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Here we present what is arguably the tastiest way to design and learn about electronic circuits: make circuitry snacks!

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This is what I call cops with guts !!!

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Indian police forced a thief to gobble down 40 bananas in a few hours, hoping they would force him to excrete a gold necklace he had snatched and swallowed.

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This month we present you with the lovely, Lauren Reeves, a former Alaskan ABC news reporter turned NY actress, comedian, and model – and of course, a bonafide Mac Geek! (How BIG a Mac Geek? Well, she sent us her submission in APPLEWORKS for crying out loud! I mean, even WE don’t use AppleWorks!). A regular on Letterman, SNL, and Conan O'Brien...

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Knowing what to wear for a fancy dress party is always a pain, I normally try to keep to something topical. With the recent Transformers film out it was the perfect opportunity to come as Optimus Prime!

I recently came across this video which gave me the initial concept for my Transformer. The idea is that I could be both the robot and the truck of Optimus Prime.

Here is a video of how the costume worked.

It's basically made from one cardboard box split open apart from one hinge. I've then attached it to my back with a belt and added two other boxes to support it on my shoulders - this way its high enough above my head to close and the weight is evenly distributed.

I've then attached another bit of card to the shoulder boxes so that I can freely move up and down (if I had strapped it to my chest I wouldn't be able to bend and you would be able to see my feet.) The slots in the bottom of the card are so I can move my legs while crouching.

It looked the following while crouching:

Half way up:

And standing up:

Benjie had come as a giant Tetris piece - it made a handy drinks holder.

Here is a better picture of the side of the truck.

And again:

Who would ever have thought this was not a real truck...

Group photo - hint: I'm in the middle.

The giant wings proved difficult for getting through doors.

A full set of pictures of the evening can be found on my Flickr account.

Much love to Beanie and Nej for hosting the party.

"Some of these would challenge the acrobats of Cirque Du Soleil, let alone a 30-something couch jockey with a bum knee."

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"I wanted to do something special for my Husband Tim for his 30th b-day so the obvious choice was to have a giant Optimus Prime cake made for the party. I ordered it from a local Nashville cake shop - The French Confection. They did a fabulous job! The thing is the size of a toddler (and I'm sure has more calories ^_^). It has brownie dirt complete with fondant grass and the body is made of cake and rice crispy treats. I added the cake shops web site to the image to give them some kudos."

Now that's, a lot of colors! :0

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Too good to be true. This is a photograph showing a flower-splashed hillside near Tehachapi, California.

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If you thought the Circuit LED sex positions was ridiculous, how about some Terminator intercourse?

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