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Recently, the people at Dell have been doing a few swanky things that have grabbed my attention. From their 3D gaming technology to their new teeny-tiny Alienware M11x laptop that has a motherboard so powerful it’ll make playing with Robocop seem like child’s play, to their current new release; the Dell Studio 17 Laptop with HD Multi-Touch screen. Yes, that’s right – you can now finger your laptop in public and it’s acceptable.

At first glance, you can’t help but notice the size of the machine with its whopping 17.3-inch screen. In fact, the computer is so big the keyboard has its own number pad. I’m not entirely convinced that this is a necessary feature for any laptop, given the nature of a laptop is for it to be portable and convenient to transport. Another thing that lets this beast down is simply that the weight of the Studio 17 starts at an incredible 3.2kg – of course, depending on how much you decide to kit it out, this number can only go up. Just for the record, the one I have definitely weighs more than that.

Read more of Dell Studio 17 Laptop Review (Multi-Touch Screen) over at Zath…

Last weekend, I attended the Dabs IT & Gadget Show we recently brought you news of, at Wembley Stadium. It was definitely the biggest hoo-ha I’ve seen for an event that was only fairly mediocre, at best. I was forced to book my tickets for this a couple of months in advance because the organisers claimed that the event was in high demand. After doing so, I was then sent a follow-up email (a couple of weeks before the event) asking me to once again confirm my attendance for the event, as well as asking me how many tickets I would like (up to a maximum of four). A couple of days before the event I received an email reminding me of the high number of attendees, asking me to bring along my ID, otherwise me and my guests would not be permitted entry. Finally, I was asked to print out the ticket to bring along with me. I took three friends along and we turned up at the door expecting a mad rush of people.

Read more of Dabs.com Live IT & Gadget Show 2010 Review (London) over at Zath

The Twitter sourcing is going quite well for my film shoot, if I do say so myself. After the interwebs told me where to look to locate a ship nearby, I sent some emails and made some calls. Pretty standard stuff for a producer. But, then the very next day I received an email response from none other than the lovely people at the Golden Hinde telling me they were thrilled to help me with my project! If I told you I jumped for joy, it’d be an understatement. I was almost shouting and running around the office with my colleagues wondering what on earth I was up to. After informing them of my fortune they were also beaming with delight.

Isn’t she a beauty? Here’s a little bit of history to get you going too:

“The original Golden Hinde became famous as the flagship of Sir Francis Drake during his voyage around the world. The journey took three years, with the Golden Hinde being the only ship to complete the voyage. Drake left Plymouth in 1577, the aim of the voyage was for Drake and his men to be the first Englishmen to circumnavigate the globe.”

Yes, the ship is a replica, but it’s the closest thing to a pirate ship I’m going to be handed to use for a shoot. And, quite frankly, I didn’t even think this was going to happen without forking out an arm and a leg for it. The arm I need; the leg might help make the pirate shoot a little more authentic.

After I secured the ship, I put the project well and truly underway and sent out all the initial production emails to all the cast and crew for finalising shoot days in February. This thing’s moving a lot faster than I thought it would be.

One of the other superb things Twitter helped me with was the sound/music for the production. The very lovely and very gifted Jónas Haraldsson tweeted in my general direction and offered his services as musician/sound man. Here’s some of his stuff to get you going once more And if that wasn’t enough – his girlfriend, Laura Viero, wants a piece of the action too. Given she’s been so amazing and already has film work under her belt, I had no choice but to write her in a few lines.

Am now looking for costumes and piratey themed props, so we’ll see how that goes.

I’m a little bit chuffed to (perhaps?) be making the first Twitter crowdsourced film. Do you know of any other short films that have been put together and sourced solely by using social media/networking tools? I’ve done some research and found a few, but let me know of any you’ve come across, it’d be good to see them.

Thanks!

If there’s something that’s going to take over the market next year, it’s the invention and use of the touchscreen as a UI. And, a company that like to use it quite a bit are LG. More specifically, with their new LG Pop (GD510) mobile phone. The phone is sleek, it looks sexy and fits in the palm of your hand – even if you’re a lady with small hands. So, is this affordable phone going to take off and do well next year?

Read more over at Zath

The more this LDNnudetech calendar debate goes on, the more I’m just laughing inside. Laughing because people can get really uptight about the silliest of things and generally laughing because people assume they know more than others and feel the need to pontificate and/or judge because of it. The Evening Standard is behind it and so is the Telegraph. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s simple; 24 successful, hardworking men and women in the London tech scene have posed nude (naughty bits covered) for a calendar, of which there will only be 5000 copies made. All of the proceeds will then be going towards Take Heart India; a youth-run charity that has IT-based projects in India for blind and disabled students.

Read more over at Zath

Last week, I was invited to the launch of the new LG Chocolate BL40 mobile phone at the Design Museum. The phrase “receiving champagne on entry” used in this context does not refer to some sexual act, but does show you their gracious hospitality. The event was snazzed up with the use of partially dressed models holding different handsets (including the recently launched LG Crystal) and posing for you in a variety of fashions. All excellent eye-candy as far as I’m concerned.

Read more over at Zath

Being a big Monopoly fan (read: ‘dork’) I was quick to get this application downloaded. Even the Make Your Own Monopoly couldn’t satiate me. As a Monopoly collector (try not to snort whilst laughing please, it’s rather undignified), you’re always after the next best thing in the property world. Having not been too excited about the games that have been released for the PC, I was a little reluctant to get too excited about the Monopoly iPhone app.

Read more over at Zath

There are many new games released every year, but the ones that still prove popular are the old classics. Once you have an iPhone, you start spending your time thinking about a new application you’re after to enhance your iPhone experience. Or, you know… simply give you something to do when you’re bored on the train.

The other week, I downloaded Tetris to give me some true (wait for it) ‘old school’ gaming fun. And, I have to say, it’s a pretty darn hoot if you ask me. The nice thing about the iPhone is the interactivity and the user-interface. A finger is all you need to make most of the functionality on the iPhone and playing Tetris on it is actually better than playing it on the Gameboy. Touching anywhere in the screen makes the tiles move, with simple drag and drop options – as well as tapping on the screen for a rotation. There is a tutorial that pops up before each game to show you how to do this should you need one (which you can also skip).

Read more over at Zath

There isn’t usually any need to put ‘HIV’ and ‘fun’ in the same sentence, but the people at Warner Brothers and the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) have created a game to appeal to the younger generation called ‘Pamoja Mtaani’, which translates to ‘Together in the Hood’. It is currently being played in Nairobi, Kenya – and has apparently taken off with the young adults there.

Read more over at Zath

Nothing pleases me more than stupidity. My feelings towards its existence, however, are weirdly balanced. I sit pleasantly between cackling like a witch at how much stupid people need to be charged Stupid Tax and feeling happy that there’s a portion of the human population that keeps us all entertained. They’re a necessary evil and I can tolerate their dumb behaviour… just about. There’s definitely an art to it and since everyone else has jumped on this bandwagon, I thought it only fair for me to do the same. Given that I am the intentional Queen of Silly, I’ve spent a little while collecting together the most ridiculous and unquestionably some of the most stupid Facebook (vanity) URLs that have been registered since its launch at 5am (BST) on Saturday 12th June 2009.

Here’s the list of the best/worst (depending on how you view it):

Read more over at Zath