The Establishing Shot: Gadgets

Showing posts with label Gadgets. Show all posts

Sony Made for Bond Advert Naomie HarrisE

We are less than two months away from Sam Mendes' SPECTRE, the 24th cinematic outing of Ian Fleming's James Bond, exploding on to screen in the UK - on 6 November.

In the run up to SPECTRE's release Sony have a little surprise for Bond fans and released a Bond inspired advert for their new Xperia Z5 smartphone and compact RX100 IV Cyber-shot camera. To create the advert they asked Danny Kleinman – the man behind many of the legendary Bond title sequences to direct and Miss Moneypenny herself - Naomie Harris to take the lead in the 60 Second advert highlighting the advanced functionality of both the Sony Xperia Z5 smartphone and compact RX100 IV Cyber-shot. All set to the iconic backdrop of Bond's home - London.

Naomie Harris stars in a 60 second campaign film, as she fights to deliver Bond’s must-have Xperia mobile phone

Sony's new campaign film from Sony features brand new technologies that have been ‘made for Bond’

Set against a backdrop of London’s South Bank, Moneypenny uses Sony’s RX100 IV camera to capture super-slow-motion surveillance as a drama unfolds with an intense chase to deliver Bond’s Xperia Z5 smartphone

Directed by Danny Kleinman – the man behind many of the legendary Bond title sequences

Tarsem Singh Sony Experia Z advert holi festival

Tarsem Singh or Tarsem as he is known, might be best recognised for the other Snow White film Mirror Mirror and the Henry Cavill 3D extravaganza Immortals but before these mostly style over substance pieces he was known for his visually stunning and ground breaking tales Fall and the Jennifer Lopez genre bending The Cell.

He is also the man behind the visually arresting music videos Sweet Lullaby for Deep Forest and the award winning Losing My Religion for R.E.M amongst others. He has created a number of high profile adverts for top tier brands and arguably his most memorable work to date is the catchy We Will Rock You advert for Pepsi starring Enrique Iglesias, Britney Spears, Beyonce and Pink. Check out his show reel here: http://www.tarsem.org/#/reel

Tarsem Singh Sony Experia Z Advert Holi Festival

I have been away for the last couple of weeks and missed a bunch of stuff. So this is a catchup post - just before I jetted off an email landed in my inbox giving me the heads up on the release of the limited edition The Dark Knight Rises Nokia Lumia 900, available exclusively from Phones 4u.

Not only do these limited edition Nokia Lumia 900s come with a number of special features including: Microsoft’s latest Windows Phone 7.5 software iteration, a fully customisable Live Tiles homescreen, a host of intuitive native apps including: Internet Explorer 9, Nokia Drive and Nokia Music as standard. A 4.3-inch super AMOLED display and an exclusive iconic Batman logo laser etched into the jet black polycarbonate rear case. As well as - The Dark Knight Rises Nokia Lumia 900 allows you to access exclusive Dark Knight Rises content: Browse your phone in all Gotham’s shadowy greatness with a limited edition black and grey skin. Download the exclusive Claim Gotham City! Game and take part in the Foursquare powered territory war between Batman and Bane which allows further exclusive media to be unlocked including: wallpapers and ringtones to complete The Dark Knight experience.

You have probably been wondering where I have been & where my analysis of the full Batman trailer is. Well I’ve been spending every free second pouring over the Bat phone! No not Batman’s red retro hotline to Commissioner Gordon, although that is pretty cool though.

I just wanted to wish everyone happy holidays / Christmas / Hanukkah / Festivus and thought I would dig out my list of this year’s must have Christmas gifts at the same time.

Originally this list of much coveted items was put together for the fine chaps over at Liveforfilms.com, but as they are less lifestyle and more film orientated some of the pieces didn’t make the final list. So with only 6 days left till Christmas I thought I would update my list and get it up on the theestablishingshot. If you have any thoughts about other must have items or feedback on any of the items please do leave a comment below.

When Phil asked for us to compile a Christmas list in the run up to year end I naturally whipped out my list of stuff I had either needed or coveted at some point over the last year. A couple of the items will definitely not be in my Christmas stocking this year so it is more of a Christmas wish list. In no particular order:

Turn your living room in to the bridge of the Enterprise!

Any Star Trek fan will have entertained thoughts of sitting in the 'big chair' issuing commands, saving far off galaxies, kissing green-skinned women - or is that just us? This life size replica of the famous perch is, for many of us mere mortals, as close as it's possible to get to actually being William Shatner.

The Enterprise's Captain's Chair delivers all the accents and details from the historic prop along with modern lighting, sound effects and phrases designed to thrill any Star Trek enthusiast. The working swivel design accentuates the two-piece construction, making this the perfect addition to any collection or display.

Dimensions: 41" Tall x 42" Wide x 39" Deep
Features lighting, sound, and spoken phrases from the original series

Own your own Captain Kirk Chair

For a little more info and to buy head over to Play.com

The upcoming Vintage Film Posters and Film Memorabilia sale at Christie’s in London will be featuring a large selection of posters, props and more from the James Bond films. The sale is scheduled to begin at 12:00pm on Tuesday, 24 November at 85 Old Brompton Road in London. Encompassing more than 450 lots in total, 50+ of them will be 007-related. Items include Daniel Craig’s Tom Ford sunglasses from Quantum of Solace, Roger Moore’s two-piece suit from The Man with the Golden Gun, David Niven’s velvet trilby from 1967’s Casino Royale and endless other items. Christies Vintage Film Posters and Film Memorabilia auction Where Christies 85 Old Brompton Road, London, England SW7 3LD When 12:00pm, Tues Nov 24, 2009 More info over here at Christies

A while back (2007) Peter Jackson directed a short film entitled Crossing the Line to test a new model of digital Cinema camera, the RED ONE. The film takes place during World War I, and was shot in two days. "Crossing the Line" was shown at NAB 2007 (the USA National Association of Broadcasters). Clips of the film can be found at Reduser.net.

The Red Digital Cinema Camera Company manufactures digital cinematography cameras and accessories for professional and cinematic use. The company's main product is the Red One, capable of recording at resolutions up to 4096 horizontal by 2304 vertical pixels, directly to flash or hard disk storage. It features a single Super 35-sized CMOS sensor and a cinematography industry standard PL mount.

The Red One does not capture at standard definition or high definition resolutions. However, as part of the process of delivering the raw image data recorded by the camera, the RedCine desktop software can downscale to these resolutions. This process yields extremely high-quality output due to significant oversampling.

On November 13, 2008, larger formats were announced, including a proposed expansion of up to 28,000 horizontal pixels, for a 261 megapixel sensor.

For comparative purposes click the image for a graphic representation of various shows the image resolution of camera outputs. Pixel range from NTSC to 28K resolution shown in comparison at one-tenth scale to other digital video formats. "K" means thousands and refers to the horizontal pixel count, rounded.

"You are cordially invited to the Sony VIP exclusive BRAVIA ‘World’s First’ launch event."

As I made my way through the freezing January evening to the secret location of the launch in the heart of Shoreditch. I was filled with anticipation as the Sony BRAVIA Worlds First launch was promising to be a good night.

Sony Bravia LCD TV installation showing Tal Rosner's short film World First - Sony Bravia TV Launch - London, Shoreditch

"Guests will be treated to the awe-inspiring unveiling of these TV’s (the World’s thinnest (ZX1), the World’s fastest (Z4500), The World’s first wireless technology/picture frame TV (EX1) and the World’s first OLED technology TV (XEL-1), with the help of a mind-blowing, interactive and unique light installation featuring a one-off short film, while celebrity DJ Henry Holland and ‘Filthy Dukes’ spin the decks."

Paul Cocksedge's R.G.B installation & Tal Rosner's short film "World First" - Sony Bravia TV Launch - London, Shoreditch

Giles Deacon & Henry Holland DJ at the Sony Bravia TV Launch - London, Shoreditch

Paul Cocksedge's R.G.B installation & Tal Rosner's short film "World First" - Sony Bravia TV Launch
Giles Deacon & Henry Holland DJ at the Sony Bravia TV Launch - London, Shoreditch

Music, Technology, the Arts, Film and a Party! All key words close to my core. Does it get any better? The large warehouse was filled with colour, lights, music and people keen to have a good time. There must have been more well know faces in the crowd than regular Joes it was quite phenomenal.

On entering the large warehouse area I immediately noticed 3 colour beams projected across the warehouse turned out that this was part of artist Paul Cocksedge's specially commissioned installation. The concept created by Paul Cocksedge, titled 'R.G.B' shined a red, a green and a blue light separately from one side of the venue. All three lights meet at a white dot upon which the four new BRAVIA LCD televisions will hang above. The light concept is based on R.G.B lights within televisions.

Paul Cocksedge's R.G.B installation - Sony Bravia TV Launch - London, Shoreditch

Chloe Madeley & Julia at the Sony Bravia TV Launch - London, Shoreditch

Henry Holland rocking out at the Sony Bravia TV Launch - London, Shoreditch

Paul Cocksedge's R.G.B installation - Sony Bravia TV Launch, Chloe Madeley & Julia at the Sony Bravia TV Launch,
Henry Holland rocking out at the Sony Bravia TV Launch - London, Shoreditch

Above the white dot - hanging from the ceiling was the reason we were here:
The ZX1 - the World’s thinnest TV, seriously no wider than your finger (if your finger is under 9mm wide).

The Z4500 (with Motionflow) - the World’s fastest TV. This cranks out 200Hz and means that the screen refreshes the pixel rate faster than any previous TV ensuring a smoother picture. Although the benefits of this beast were not immediately clear I suspect that watching a Blu -Ray action film of Sky HD sports the difference would be appreciated.

The EX1- the World’s first wireless technology/picture frame. After some discussion I discovered that this meant that hi def images (& sound) could be sent from a “media” box plugged into your source to the TV. No more HDMI cabling :)

Katie Green at the Sony Bravia TV Launch - London, Shoreditch

Katie Green at the Sony Bravia TV Launch - London, Shoreditch, Sony Bravia TV Launch

The XEL-1 - the World’s first OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) technology TV. OLED technology uses materials that emit light on their own and don’t require a backlight. Currently this ultra thin TV (3mm) is only 15 inches big but packs a noticeable higher picture quality (also more eco friendly). Hope the picture quality stays when they rollout the larger screen sizes. OLED is expected to be the next level in the evolution of TVs.

The TVs were showingBafta-winning film-maker Tal Rosner's short film “World First”, featuring historical moments captured on television including footage of the first man in space and the first Miss Universe contest.

The evening was set to the ambient soundtrack that Giles Deacon & Henry Holland were outputting from decks for most of the night. Their play list seamlessly transitioning from cutting edge remixes through to experimental trance.

You are cordially invited to the Sony VIP exclusive BRAVIA ‘World’s First’ LCD TV range launch on Thursday 29 January 2009 at 7pm until 11pm.

Guests will be treated to the awe-inspiring unveiling of these TV’s (the World’s thinnest (ZX1), the World’s fastest (Z4500), The World’s first wireless technology/picture frame TV (EX1) and the World’s first OLED technology TV (XEL-1), with the help of a mind-blowing, interactive and unique light installation featuring a one-off short film, while celebrity DJ Henry Holland and ‘Filthy Dukes’ spin the decks.

As Celebrities/Media and VIP guests will be in attendance, Sony have the right to refuse entry/eject to any guests deemed unruly etc.!!!

Enjoy.

On it’s release Crank! was an injection of pure testosterone straight into the politically correct, sanitised & revisionist heart that currently pumps Hollywood's lifebood. The producers risky
slap tradition in the face strategy paid off. It cost $12 Mill to make and earned $44,777,321 - £30,401,940 worldwide. Keen to capitalise on the fan following Chev Chelios has garnered Crank 2: High Voltage will hit (kick, blowup and more than likely drive over) screens April 2009. Hopefully the sequel will stay true to the original winning formula whilst adding more layers.

At the time of it's release Crank embodied the same original, anti establishment, devil may care stance that John Mclaine brought to the screen in 1988 With Die Hard. There were no half measures and it cer

tainly never tried to be anything other than a fun film. An important factor that many film makers of this genre often overlook.

Unlike many action films released in the last 15 years Crank did not hedge bets with trying to downplay it's adult content, add in a feel good ending or try make the lead sympathetic so that we forgave his rough edges - Oh no! It was made clear that this was a film for adrenaline fans who enjoyed high action and was not kowtowing to financiers demanding that it be watered down to ensure the large teenage market that dominates this genre could view it.

If only all of Jason Stratham’s half hearted films were as good Crank there would more talk of

the obvious effort he puts into these roles to make them credible and less of his bad film choices.

The not safe for work (Red band) version:

Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor the writer/Director team of the the Cranks are also releasing the

sci-fi game film "Game" in 2009 starring Gerard Butler (300, Rocknrolla) and may currently be in pre-production on the film version of the Western bad ass "Jonah Hex" the adaptation of the DC comic with Josh Brolin.

Most recent rumours have it that the Awhile ago the Internet was abuzz with rumours that Thomas Jane was going to be Jonah Hex.

Looks like Game is being scheduled to go up against James Cameron's Avatar and T2ON. To shoot Crank the team used high end cameras this time they are using consumer grade cameras.

Notice the UK's very own Mike Figgis's Fig Rig used to keep cameras stable while shooting.

Classic Star Trek Communicator

Always wanted a Starfleet Communicator as used in the classic 60s Star Trek TV show?- A Communicator that will allow you to stay in contact with your friends & contacts as well as give off a signal that a Transporter could lock on!

Well you still can't have one! But What On Earth are offering a replica of the Zeta Communicator circa. 2266

Cell phone, schmell phone. What you need to stay connected is this replica 23rd-century communicator. Flip it open and enjoy original sound effects and sound clips from the original Star Trek series; check local subspace frequencies before using. A fabulous gift for classic and new Star Trek fans. Plastic. 3"W.

Bond girl dress goes under hammer

The dress made famous by actress Olga Kurylenko in the latest James Bond film Quantum Of Solace was last night expected to fetch up to £4,000 at a charity auction.

The black Prada knee-length dress went under the hammer alongside the Gina shoes worn by Kurylenko in publicity stills for the film, in which she poses with actor Daniel Craig in a desert scene.

Additional items for auction included a limited edition Omega watch in the same style as that worn by Daniel Craig in the film.

Amazon.com are currently running a limited period sale on the 6 disc Blu Ray James Bond collection. The collection includes:

Dr. No
Die Another Day
Live and Let Die
For Your Eyes Only
From Russia with Love
Thunderball

Individually the collection comes in at $210 (£137). A further discount brings the cost down to $108 (£70). The new offer brings the price down to $39.94 (£26)!

To make use of this offer go here. Select the six Bond Blu-ray Discs and click "add to cart." Proceed to check-out and select "Super Saver Shipping" (or Prime shipping if you're an Amazon Prime customer).

You will get the $50 (£33) Blu-ray promotional discount as well as a "$15 (£10) best value discount" applied to your cart.

Please note you need a US delivery address for this deal & Amazon could change the terms of this promotion at any time so please check before purchasing.

Currently Amazon.co.uk is offering the 6 Blu Ray collection for £69.97.

The white 1976 Lotus Esprit from the 1977 film The Spy Who Loved Me, starring Roger Moore and Barbara Bach, will be sold by the international auctioneers on 1 December at its annual motoring Auction Sale at Olympia, in West London.

James Bond Lotus Esprit, London, originally uploaded by Craig Grobler.

The vehicle is one of two Lotus cars driven in the film by Roger Moore’s James Bond character. It turns into an amphibious car for the movie, driven both on land and underwater.

Click here to read an article first published contemporarily in Road and Track Magazine by Doug Nye, renowned motor historian and Bonhams consultant.

Also for sale, is the registration number ‘AU1’, used in another James Bond film Goldfinger. The first registration issued in Nottingham in 1903, this number was fitted to the Rolls-Royce Phantom III used by arch villain Goldfinger in the legendary film of the same name, since AU is the chemical symbol for gold in the Periodic Table. It is expected to fetch in excess of £80,000.

The Establishing Shot: James Bond Exhibition - Submersible Lotus Esprit concept drawings for The Spy Who Loved Me - Science Museum, London by Craig Grobler

The Establishing Shot: James Bond Exhibition - Submersible Lotus Esprit concept drawings for The Spy Who Loved Me - Science Museum, London, a photo by Craig Grobler on Flickr.

The Lotus driven by James Bond is a Lotus Esprit S1, a 2.0 Litre Type 907 In-line-4 engine, capable of 140lb-ft@4900rpm / 160bhp@6200rpm.

The Lotus Esprit S1 is able to accelerate from 0-60 mph in only 8.1 s and reaches a top speed of 124 mph. It uses a 5-Speed Manual transmission and weights 2101 lbs.

The Establishing Shot: James Bond Exhibition - Miniature Lotus Espirit submersible from The Spy Who Loved Me - Science Museum, London by Craig Grobler

The Establishing Shot: James Bond Exhibition - Miniature Lotus Espirit submersible from The Spy Who Loved Me - Science Museum, London, a photo by Craig Grobler on Flickr.

The white 1976 Lotus Esprit is expected to fetch between £100,000 - £120,000 at Bonhams annual motoring sale. It is one of two Lotus cars - driven by Roger Moore in the 1977 film - which turned into an amphibious car when it ended up

in the sea during a chase.
Bond fans will get the chance to bid on the car at the auction in Olympia, west London, on 1 December. The registration number AU1 from Bond classic Goldfinger will also be up for auction in the same sale.
The first registration issued in Nottingham in 1903, AU1 was fitted to the Rolls Royce Phantom III used by arch villain Goldfinger in the film, as AU is the chemical symbol for gold in the periodic table.

Bonhams hope the plate will fetch more than £80,000.

James Bond (Daniel Craig) in a new advert for Sony's Bravia High Definition TV.

Museo Alessi has recently produced a series of short filmed interviews with some of Italy’s most accomplished and renowned designers. These brief conversations, reflections and anecdotes describe with spontaneity the achievements that have shaped the personal and professional lives of these designers. Those interviewed include Richard Sapper, Ettore Sottsass, Achille Castiglioni, Andrea Branzi and Alessandro Mendini. At a special one off event, the Designer Museum will be screening a selection of these short films intersected with a response and debate from a panel to include Alberto Alessi.

Design Museum presents
SCREENING OF ALESSI DESIGN INTERVIEWS, RESPONSE & DEBATE FROM A PANEL INCLUDING, ALBERTO ALESSI, DEYAN SUDJIC

Design Museum, Monday, November 24 at 7:15 PM

To take pictures for the "Life Captured" project each winner received a Sony Ericsson C902 phone. The intention was for each participant to take pics of their daily life that would then be put together in a short film by Mike Figgis. The C902 seemed to be a natural choice as, a main feature of the phone is a built in 5 mega pixel camera.

The C902 is also James Bond's choice of mobile device for "Quantum of Solace". After watching the advert below I was surprised that the marketeers seemed to think that face detection was a key feature and ignored some of the other features that I thought are key to the device.

Other features include:
BestPic™
Activate BestPic™ to take nine pictures in quick succession - with one press on the camera button. Keep the ones you like, delete the rest.

Accelerometer - auto-rotate
Enjoy your pictures in portrait or landscape mode. To move between modes, simply rotate the phone and the picture follows.

Wirelessness
Forget cables - wireless is the way forward. Connect to other devices with Bluetooth™ to sync, share and send. The phone connects to the new bluetooth watch range.

Fast download speed
Enjoy the mobile Internet at broadband-like speed in your phone. Download large files and email attachments in a snap. Get Web sites and news feeds to your screen in seconds. HSDPA takes 3G a step further.

Video & image blog
You get your own personal blog site with your phone. So why not add some moving pictures to it? Shoot a video clip, and all it takes to upload it is a few clicks.

Great touchscreen interface
In camera or video mode

Hi rez camera
5 mega pixels - that's higher resolution than my first digital camera.

Flash
Built in flash that is actually useful, unlike previous versions.

Compelling ergonomics
To switch to camera mode you slide the camera out of the case.

This has to be the ultimate piece of kit for true Star Wars fans. As well as been a working remote control replica of R2D2 (built to 1/2 scale), with realistic sounds and lights taken from the movies, this is also a video projector that can project video (or still images) onto your wall up to 80 inches from corner to corner.

R2D2 lets you use DVD’s and CD’s with his own integrated player. Connect external devices though the video and audio ports, project photos and videos directly from memory cards (SD, MMC, Memory Stick and

Smart Media), USB flash drives and with the integrated iPod dock, even your iPod photos or videos. The iPod docking station can be found in a hidden compartment on the front of Artoo’s body and is compatible with 3rd generation iPod’s and higher.

Stereo and surround sound can be enjoyed through the integrated 20W speakers.

Artoo is fully motorized and his remote control is a scaled replica of the Millennium Falcon. You can move him in any direction, rotate his head unit and even tilt his legs backwards, to make ceiling projection possible.

The remote lets you control all of R2D2’s movements as well as video and audio functions, and gives you full control over your iPod’s menu, which can also be projected.

Artoo has a series of built in sophisticated sensors. The first of these is the surface sensor, used firstly to stop R2D2 from going over the edge of a surface, such as a staircase. The second are leg sensors, located on the body near the legs, and are to prevent anything getting caught during leg movement. The third is the projection sensor, ensuring that Artoo is at least 1.5m from the object wall before projecting.

R2 can currently be purchased for £1,899.99 over at Red5

Interesting office front display, Clerkenwell, London, originally uploaded by Craig Grobler.

During lunch today walked past this office with an intresting window front.

Rather than glaze the window or use a stick on texture they are using a projector to create an effect that the window had a texture to it. This allowed them to create moving imagery across the window.

Transparent Screen in London storefront, originally uploaded by Craig Grobler.

Making my way home after a client meeting I stumbled upon this great effect in a shop window. Seemingly someone had perfected a paper thin transparent video screen. My low res camera phone had the nice side effect of really illuminating the transparent effect created. It took me about 30 seconds to confirm how the effect had been had created.

It turns out that the video is being projected from a way back onto a semi transparent screen. The screen is in the window of Warner Bros. Records store in Tin Pan Alley, just off Tottenham Court road.

Alpha 100, originally uploaded by Craig Grobler.

How lucky can one guy be? Not only am I being jetted off to Prague for my birthday - but this evening I received 2 objects of desire (on the ckc1ne scale). A Blu Ray copy of Casino Royale (to research Bond locations for our trip). As well as a Sony A 100 digital camera. The Bond disc I was going to get anyway for being one of the early registrars of PS3s in the UK, but the camera. Ding Dong. I have coveted one for awhile - but was unwilling to pay the current asking price. I had reluctantly decided to sell my 717 to offset costs and buy one in the near future.

My 717 broke before a sale was made it :-(. Apparently the CCD self destructs after a certain amount of lapsed time. (Sony are currently repairing it for free) So what a bonus. The only downside to this experience is that I spend the day on my cycle taking pics with my T7 - only to receive this 10meg Digital Single Lens Reflex action beast this evening. So I'm changing the way I choose the pic a day. Now instead of being something seen or relevant on the day. I will have a backlogue of images to choose from.

Whopppdi doo. Hi def pics on there way. By the way anyone is interested in an excellent Sony 717 (recently serviced) camera, Casino Royale Special Edition DVD (Unopened) or an unopened Blu Ray version. Please do let me know I accept PayPal. :-)

This has pretty much been the state of affairs since our Sony PS3 arrived. It's mostly been MotorStorm. A high octane dirt racing game.

Game time has increased as both of us have been laid low by the dreaded Lurgi making its way around London.

This morning I caught a bit of BBC's Click. A British gadget show. They were doing a comparison between the Xbox 360 and the PS3. I am usually fairly impartial when it comes to these things. But I was a bit annoyed as to how the PS3 was portrayed, especially its online offering. I have been a keen Xbox'er for a while now and own both an Xbox and an Xbox360 and since just before the UK launch have had a PS3 .

The Click were doing a like for like comparison of " XBox Live " and " Playstation network " they expounded how Xbox live was great and that Playstation Network felt like an add on. I can tell you that the UI of the Playstation Network is streets ahead of Xbox live and that it is free. No subscription charges at all.

UI: I was pleasantly surprised at the ease of navigating around the simple and beautiful interface. Sony have translated the PSP interface to a medium that really works well. By far it is the more superior interface. Think - Xbox's Big, clumsy colorful Hulk Hogan vs. an elegant, poised Sony Bruce Lee.

Online: I can also tell you that so far (the online offering is evoling as Sony rollout new features as more PS3'ers join) that the Playstation Network is more reliable than XBox live that did freeze and had constant lag issues.

Game graphics: PS3 has awesome high end clean graphics. The XBox360 less so. However the XBox's ambient graphics (lighting, texture rendering, etc) is much better so far. Bear in mind I have only played a handful of PS3 games but have a collection of Xbox games. I'm hoping this will be addressed as Sony rollout more games builr to match the most powerful graphics maching currently available on the market. My comparison has been mainly made comparing Gears of War to Resistance: The fall of man.

High Def: I cannot rate Blu Ray High Def Discs high enough - Mainly because I have had a high Def TV for awhile now and been subjected to really low quality broadcasts and regular quality DVD's. Note: Check to see the quality of standard quality rendering on your Hi Def purchase.

The guys that do the installations in our block are quoting a ton for Sky HD as there is no one else using near me at the moment. I'll wait a couple of months till someone else has paid for the cable to be run and then I'll get it installed.

The Xbox 360's high def output (translated via component) is no match for the PS3's purer HDMI output and it rocks. I spent some time actually analysing the pixel by pixel movement on my screen.

Negative: Although he PS3 has loads of ports; USB, Flash, SD, Memory stick pro, etc. It doesn’t matter if I cant play my downloaded Divx or Xvid films. Sony has been ignoring these codecs and favour of more standard easily controllable ones.

Cool, someone has developed a 3D hologram system. So there is hope for my 3D chess game with animated characters. I thought I was going to have to start experimenting with a complex jimmy rig of steam and projectors.Watch this space

Read more at www.youtube.com/watch?v...

The latest member of Jonas Damon's collection
that arrives at the new by revisiting the

familiar. All the different pieces of the collection are only a step or two away from their origins as commercially available items, yet present themselves as something entirely different.

The Untitled (Numbers) LED Clock (previously known as the Open Edition LED Clock) is a set of 4 individual cubes each with a LED digit displayed. The 4 cubes together give you the time.

I need one of these. Damn!! not available on ebay UK yet. The "Kronik Hill Karver" looks like it's the top electric skateboard out there. The Karver in the vid below is the "Grass Kutter".

You can be sure that I'll be picking one of these babies up real soon. That is, if I dont find a better one.

To celebrate the imminent arrival of the 21st Bond film "Casino Royale", Sony unveiled the new limited edition Sony Casino Royale Spy Gear, integrating a Sony VAIO VGNTX007C notebook and a Cyber-shot 7.2 megapixel digital camera.

With an attractive attache case complete with the "007" logo, the laptop offers all of 11.1" WXGA widescreen (1366x768 pixels) goodness. The display supports XBRITE technology for higher brightness levels and natural color.

Just 1" thin, the VGNTX007C weighs 2.8 pounds and is made of multi-layered carbon fibre for enhancing the durability. Sony claims the VAIO TX offers up to 11 hours of battery life. The camera, on the other hand, is the sleek

Cyber-shot DSC-T50 that uses a 7.2 megapixel Super HAD CCD and boasting a big 3" preview LCD.
In order to prevent others from viewing your screen from the sides, Sony also includes a privacy filter: only the person sitting in front of the screen can see what's going on.

The Sony VGNTX007C Limited Edition James Bond Casino Royale 007 laptop will be available starting November 15, 2006.

I've had my XDA Exec for a month now & have been reserving judgement on it until I have given it a thorough working over. If you are unsure of what an XDA is see here , In short its a handy device developed by HTC a brilliant Malaysian based company that are delivering on promises made by film & commercial directors over the last couple of decades. HTC make the devices that are then branded up

by the local mobile providers (02 - XDA, Orange - MVP, etc).

About 3 years ago - After research into a device that could do everything I wanted (see below) it came down to choosing between the Sony Ericsson Palm OS P910 or the XDA. Did I stay brand loyal or try a relatively newcomer in the field? Ultimately the Newly released XDA II
won on:

Screen size - (how could Sony expect me to watch video on a screen that size?)
even if they had a real keyboard.
External memory - fork out for a Sony Memory stick Pro after spending
so much on regular side memory cards that were not compatible. I felt
let down.
Battery life - the XDA pipped the P900 in both talk & standby time.

It would mean a learning curve moving away from graffiti. Oh the XDA supports graffiti. We have a winner.

Recently my XDA II has been looking a bit dated. I should mention it still held a certain Millennium Falcon retro appeal to me plus its still way more advanced then devices that are being released today. Anyway I decide an upgrade may be in order. After a bit of research my winnowed choices were:

HP - built in GPS
Blackberry - Love their innovative development (RIM are the new Apple)
i.e. borrow good ideas & have a loyal use base.
Xda Exec - it looks big, clunky & none of my current software will work on it.

My requirements for a handheld are an all in one device that can acts as :
- a phone
- contacts management (could be used as full CRM system)
- music player
- video player (screen size important)
- Tube journey planner
- dictionary
- encyclopedia
- Tom Tom local & international route planner
- low-res camera
- communication centre inc. VOIP over wireless networks
- wirelessly email & web browse
- sms (or UK txt)
- game console (the usual solitaire, backgammon, chess as well as more
graphic intensive Tomb Raider or Quake) OK not really a requirement but
I was impressed that after installation on my XDA - the aforementioned
games worked
- multilanguage translator
- dictaphone
- able to note/blog/document/spreadsheet on the move
- portable office (runs windows mobile - word, excel, PowerPoint, etc.)
- had a decent battery life
- decent keyboard (I did not know this at the time as I was always v.
Happy with the XDA's virtual touch screen keyboard)

Pros over my previous XDA II
1. It has an integrated webcam as well as a regular 2mb camera (when you consider that my first digital camera (Sony Mavica) was only 2.3MB its not so bad. - I should mention that I have not used either camera, the webcam is supposed to be for 3G calls, video conferencing and the
such. If only I knew someone to interface with. The other camera's rez is to low , but I suspect that there may be a time that a pic will need to be taken and I won't have my camera at hand.
2. It has a real QWERTY keyboard (which as I write this on the tube I am loving more & more). Originally I favored my XDAII as it had no clunky appendages such as a QWERTY keyboard. After all mobile device keyboards are to small to be of any real use, (despite what users may think,they need) they were just a gimmick that would never catch on. Boy, was I wrong a real keyboard is great. I have even moved to stage 2 of usage. Stage 1 being trying to use both hands to wack out docs (picture a cartoon Arnold Schwarzenegger hunched over a tiny typewriter). I have reached stage 2 - the 2 thumb type. Great for walking & typing (surprisingly more useful than you would imagine) & stabilizing the X on bumpy tube rides, say for example the entire Victoria line.
3. It transforms from a mini laptop (so cool) to a tablet (touch screen) PC like my old X
4. It has built in wireless functionality oh so useful in a wireless
network environment. Ok my old X had an SD Wireless card, not 100%
reliable and to make SD slot available I would have to remove my
storage card.
5. The real keyboard
6. The earphone jack is 3.5 rather than the previous 2.5 so I can plug in regular audio headsets without an adapter that doesn't work very well.
7.A mini usb jack to connect and sync with a desktop (or laptop).

I'm guessing the 2 main barriers to it being heralded or marketed pro actively at a grass roots level or:

The price - Don't understand this. If you were to add up the cost of all the devices that the X could replace; Blackberry, mobile phone, PVP, MP3 Player, PSP & GPS device (ok I still need a GPS receiver). Also think of the space you are saving.

Ease of use - OK! you are going to have to actually engage your brain to use this device. It seems that more focus was placed on operation and functionality than intuitivity.

The guys over at Product Dose have compiled a list of the 10 top geek watches:

Considering the wealth of geek chic wristwear out there at the moment, we started thinking about the point where nerd-tech meets personal style. As far as we’re concerned, no one embodies the aesthetic better than James Bond, a character who has effortlessly turned dorky into dapper at the flick of a wrist. While much of the tech that Bond has had access to was fictional in scope, there is a variety of watches available now that carry on the tradition of tech incorporated into effortless cool. In honor of Bond, we’ve compiled a list of our current nerd-style wristwatch favorites, which we hope will help you channel your inner geek-gent.

The list is as follows:

Fossil Frank Gehry Watch