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September 28 Comparing supermodels and TVsI nearly met a bona-fide supermodel today - not one of those Top Model show winners either but Eva Herzigova ("Hello Boys").
However, with my interview with the Philips Aurea spokesman all wrapped up 20 minutes before the aforementioned model made her appearance in the window of Harrods I decided that I should head back to the office.
However, Eva did, indirectly, give me an amusing story about marketing nonsense - which every company is guilty of in equal measure but does occasionally need to be brought to the fore.
I asked Philips' Rob Bond why he has picked Harrods - and he kindly added a little comment on why Eva was picked as the face of the launch:
"The Aurea feature seduces the senses and puts a sense of emotion and luxury into what could be a functional purchase... At the alaunch today we have Eva Herzigova who emobodies that seduction, emotion and luxury.
"She can demonstrate what the TV is all about better than I can on my own."
Genius...
September 27 Official: Games bigger than moviesIt's official, Halo 3's opening 24 hours earned more money than the biggest film box office (Spiderman 3) and, perhaps more surprisingly, more than the final Harry Potter book to boot.
In fact, the $170 million take is just the US, so it's fair to say that gaming is bigger than movies.
Oh okay, maybe that's jumping the gun. Anyone who actually thinks about the figures can see:
BUT!
So okay, the press release is there to make headlines (I covered it in exactly the way you would expect it to be covered because, that's the thing that people want to read) but there is a genuine case to be made that films are beginning to fade in comparison with games. Which brings me back to the article I co-wrote with movies editor Ed Holden in which he disagreed with that point. How do you like me now Ed? September 26 Pharrell's Halo 3 skills I was lucky enough to attend the Halo 3 launch last night - which was a, ahem, blast. I've had a few days with the game and my review is up today but for many in the audience (made up of compo winners, press and celebs) it was the first time they've actually got involved - and the reaction was very good.
The 'premiere' (and it was very much akin to its silver screen cousin's launch events) happened at the BFI iMax theatre near Waterloo which was a great place, although even HD graphics aren't perfect on a screen THAT big.
So onto Pharrell Williams - the US music producer - who was there to play in a celebrity Euro face off against Carmen Electra in Milan and LL Cool J in Paris. Mister Williams seemed to be a rather small fella with a very large hat (although that may just have been in contrast to his bodyguard) and after much messing around with his controller* he finally got going...
Well kind of. Despite the ministrations of one of his entourage, Pharrell, it transpired, had not only never played Halo 3, but kinda sorta struggled with the whole concept - especially the actual killing other players bit.
Fortunately, there was a competition winner playing at the same time, so the iMax screen was quickly flicked onto him and his race to top the frag charts.
Final score - the winner got 36, Pharrell 2 but, perhaps not entirely surprisingly, Carmen Electra was stuck on just one at the foot of the table. LL Cool J - to his credit was in the top five and clearly knew his way around an Xbox 360.
Host and comedian Iain Lee somehow managed to resist laying into Pharrell's skills, but to say the applause was tepid as the musician exited stage left would not be an exaggeration.
Still, the US got Zac 'High School Musical' Efron...
*To be fair, it was on inverted. MSN Quiz - How well do you know Halo?As part of the Halo 3 coverage (more on the launch later) we have a quiz on all things Halo. What makes this remarkable is that it's the first time a quiz has featured on T&G and not far off the first one of its type to feature on MSN UK. The best thing about them is the timer function that counts down and lets you have just 15 seconds to answer the questions - removing the whole search engine cheat factor (unless you're very quick) Anyway - go have a go and feel free to tell me what you think September 24 Sign up now...or soon anywayAs I came back home yesterday I was asked by a friend abroad to find out some information for him, because he was about to get on a plane.
Now, the problem with that is, that to get hold of this information I had to sign up for a website in order to access it. That in itself is harldy a major surprise, although thankfully it is getting to be less prevalent, but the process itself was so painful that it left me cold.
First of all there was the normal 76 fields of personal information that the site feels it is okay to ask, purely in the interests of providing a better service of course.
Then there is the 'prove you're human' panels that leave me squinting at the screen and swearing loudly at the unbelievable decision to use the character 0 or o which means that you only have a 50% chance of getting it accepted anyway.
Finally there was the bit where I had to wait for an e-mail accepting my registration before I could finally log in and get to the information.
So I waited, and I waited and eventually 25 minutes later it came through.
Now that's the information age for ya... September 20 A Merry ChristmasI was under the illusion that Christmas happened in late December, but apparently not. Apparently search engines see a huge spike in the words Christmas and present in November but that it drops off in December which suggests two things.
1. People are a LOT more organised than me in the buying present department
2. People have very little faith in the British postal service.
To that end, today I will be out of the office to take a look at the Xbox Xmas Showcase (surely that should have been Xtravaganza!). It's shaping up to be a good old end of year for Xbox in the games department with the likes of Mass Effect, Project Gotham Racing 4 and, certainly not least, the mighty Halo 3.
On that topic, I shall be running a Halo 3 special report all next week with the latest news, articles and the hottest content from the official sites as well. September 18 iPhone press release in fullApple Chooses O2 as Exclusive Carrier for iPhone in UK
LONDON – September 18, 2007 – Apple and O2 announced today that O2, the leading wireless carrier in the UK, will be the exclusive UK carrier for Apple's revolutionary iPhone when it makes its debut in the UK on November 9. iPhone combines three devices into one—a mobile phone, a widescreen iPod, and the best mobile Internet device ever—all based on Apple’s revolutionary multi-touch interface and pioneering software that allows users to control iPhone with just a tap, flick or pinch of their fingers. Apple sold its one millionth iPhone just 74 days after it went on sale in the US on June 29.
"We're thrilled to be partnering with O2 to offer our revolutionary iPhone to UK customers," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "US iPhone customer satisfaction is off the charts, and we can't wait to let UK customers get their hands on it and learn what they think of it."
"Our strategy at O2 is to bring our customers the best products and experiences,” said Matthew Key, CEO, O2 UK. “The iPhone is a breakthrough that is changing the way people use their mobiles forever, and we're thrilled to have it exclusively for O2 customers in the UK."
iPhone users in the UK will be able to activate their new iPhones using Apple’s popular iTunes software running on a PC or Mac computer in the comfort and privacy of their own home or office, without having to wait in a store while their phone is activated. Activating iPhone takes only minutes as iTunes guides the user through simple steps to choose their tariff, undertake a credit check and activate their iPhone. Once iPhone is activated, users can then easily sync all of their phone numbers and other contact information, calendars, email accounts, web browser bookmarks, music, photos, podcasts and TV shows just like they do when they sync their iPods with iTunes.
In addition to all the revolutionary features that made iPhone so popular in the US, iPhone users in the UK will have access to Apple's latest music offerings on iPhone including the recently launched iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store. The iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store offers customers the ability to browse, search, preview, purchase and download songs and albums from iTunes over the built-in Wi-Fi on their iPhone. No computer is required and when the customer connects their iPhone back with their PC or Mac, their music automatically syncs back into their iTunes library.
Pricing & Availability
iPhone is scheduled to go on sale on November 9 and will be sold exclusively in the UK through Apple’s retail and online stores, O2 and The Carphone Warehouse's retail and online stores. iPhone will be available in an 8GB model for £269 (inc VAT) and will work with either a PC or Mac. Three new great value iPhone tariffs will be available from O2 starting at £35, which all include unlimited anytime, anywhere mobile data usage and, in a market first, free unlimited use of the UK’s largest single public Wi-Fi network, covering over 7,500 cafes, restaurants, airport lounges, pubs and other locations across the UK.
iPhone activation will require an Internet connection; an iTunes Store account or a major credit card; the latest version of iTunes available at www.itunes.com and a PC or Mac with a USB 2.0 port and one of the following operating systems: Mac OS X v10.4.10 or later; Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 2 or later; or Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Enterprise or Ultimate Edition. iPhone requires a new 18-month contract with O2. Existing O2 customers will have the option of keeping their existing phone number and upgrading their account to work with iPhone while new customers can also simply and easily transfer their current mobile number to O2.
O2 is a leading provider of mobile services to consumers and businesses in the UK. These services include voice, text, media messaging, games, music and video, as well as always on data connections via GPRS, EDGE, 3G and WLAN. Every month, O2’s 17.8 million customers send well over a billion text messages. O2 UK is part of Telefónica O2 Europe which comprises mobile network operators in the UK, Ireland and Slovakia along with integrated fixed / mobile businesses in Germany and the Czech Republic. Telefónica O2 Europe also owns 50 percent of the Tesco Mobile and Tchibo Mobilfunk joint venture businesses in the UK and Germany respectively as well as having 100 percent ownership of Be, a leading UK fixed broadband provider.
Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market this year with its revolutionary iPhone. September 17 Gears of War PC media dayWell I've spent an entertaining morning with the folks at Epic Gaming and Games for Windows playing through a couple of levels on GoW for the PC.
First and foremost I have an interview with the lead designer Cliff Bleszinski, although the ten minute slot was drastically shorter when I'd finally got the correct spelling of his name.
This is the article - which will be my lead tomorrow (blog exclusivity!).
So, what do I think of the game? It's good, although it's not really going to be perfect if you have the twitchy skills of a pro-gamer because, as in the Xbox version, you need to duck and cover and put about a million* bullets into the head of your foe before he goes down.
Still, this makes for a slightly more tactical approach so it's likely to appeal to a section more than the average FPS.
I played through the training and first level and a little of the fifth chapter - which is one of the ones that is exclusive to PC - and it looked absolutely amazing on the massive monitors they gave us to play on. Although we were on the DirectX 9 version it's an impressive beast to look at for sure.
One quote you won't read in the article from Cliff:
"It's my baby but also that of my team, who are a bunch of talented b**tards. I like to surround myself with people better than me because I figure it makes me look better."
It was a good interview :)
*Not literally. September 13 Artifical Intelligence in virtual worlds Some interesting talk today about a company developing AI 'pets' to follow people round in virtual worlds like Second Life and, potentially, World of Warcraft allowing them to learn and begin to interact more and more with their environment.
This is a really fascinating concept on a number of levels. The use of very basic AI has been around for some time in computer games - where having a non-playable character react in the same way a human would to an environment is the holy grail of many programmers.
This means that, as the article suggests, people are much more open to AI as both a concept and as a reality in this kind of environmet.
I recently wrote an article about the use of a daemon - your own personal computer controlled web slave that would give you a permanent presence and do the more mundane things for you.
With Artificial Intelligence, this kind of Daemon could learn the way in which you work, how you like things done and begin to make predictions and assumptions about what you want and need without overtly being told.
The article also suggests that potential future way in which the web could evolve is to BECOME a 3D environment. It's not too much of a stretch to imagine your Daemon following you around whilst you do your thing and then bidding you farewell as you leave to bound off and get on with things while you are offline.
Kinda cute too...
September 12 You'll have to excuse the puns...I must confess that I sometimes, just occasionally, fall foul of the desire to use the odd pun in my work. Obviously I try to keep this to a minimum... okay maybe not. But if there's anything capable of brightening my day it's a good ol' pun.
I mention this because today's lead article contains a couple that I am both immensely proud of and slightly ashamed of all at the same time.
The article is an interview with the CEO of the company that runs 'Skillground' an online forum where you can download computer games for free and then play against other people or in tournaments FOR MONEY.
Which leads to pun #1 in the headline. For those not in the know, killing another player in a computer game over the internet is known in many circles as a 'frag' and if you are good at these skillground games then you can make some cash prizes. Headline? From frags to riches. (Oh, how I laughed)
But then when I was writing the article I was trying SO hard to keep it down to that one pun, but then...
"Skillground is one such service, offering gamers the chance to put their money where their, ahem, mouse is"
I can only apologise...
Anyway, a little more about Skillground. I had a go at UTour, the golf game that they offer and it's actually really cool. The control methods will be familiar to anyone who has played a golf game on practically any format, click for swing, click for power and click for accuracy, but it's done really nicely and the online tutorial allows for mulligans aplenty.
Will I ever win cash playing it? Not a chance. I'm rubbish. September 10 Authors' stupid tech mistakesI'm still shaking sand out of my flip flops, but a week abroad with no access to technology* has left me all refreshed.
So I start this week's blogs with a musing about authors who make stupid tech mistakes that completely take me out of suspending my disbelief and normally cause me to throw the book down in disgust and tell anyone in earshot why it's stupid.
Last year's holiday brought me in close contact with the writings of Sydney Sheldon (the "master of mystery") who had already irritated me by suggesting a game of 'soccer' was 'kicked off' wth a 'bicycle kick' (not so much up on the old association football then Syd?). His tech faux pas was to think that instant messenger works by allowing both parties to see every...single...keystroke.
But I felt on safer ground with Val McDermid, whose books I have read before without finding jarring in any way at all. This particular novel, however, got on my nerves twice.
a) The undercover policewoman's incredibly sophisticated encrypted e-mail which requires a separate box at one end, only requires a .exe file to decode for her lover.
and the really galling one
b) The main protaganist arrives 'within seconds' at a German language newspaper article by typing four English words into a search engine. Impressive...
Anyway, the book itself was good, apart from the bit where the undercover cop snogs her real-life lover in front of an open window when she knows she's being tailed and watched. Doh! The baddie should have just got a .exe file to decrypt her e-mails.
*I took my PSP but Wi-Fi aint so very common in fishing villages. |
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