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The Carphone Warehouse Appys 2012: Music

In this is the season of the BAFTAs, and the Oscars, it is only right that there should be awards for handset applications… The Appys! In this second video in the series, Carphone Warehouse presents their nominations for the best music applications 2012. The other categories cover a whole range of applications grouped under convenient tags, such as games, news, health etc.

The blurb that you can read on the associated website is a little over-the-top, with phrases such as:

We love to learn and share new things every day – which is why we are so besotted with apps. They are little bundles of joy, designed to make you fall deeper in love with whatever smartphone or tablet you own.

Now I like Apps as much as the next person, but “little bundles of joy”?.. Sounds like I am a stork carrying a baby in my beak rather than a handset!

Just to remind you of the deal? All staff at Carphone Warehouse have nominated their favourite apps into a short-list, and the best from the public vote are picked by their panel of experts. For a period of time you can vote for your favourite in each category. What’s the incentive? Each week there will be three prizes including smartphones, headphones and the more categories you vote in the more chances there are to win. Winners for each prize will be announced as they are drawn, so you have to check back regularly to the main site to see if you have won. The winners will also get the chance to attend a special awards ceremony event in London on 25th April.

Music and game apps are probably the most popular- and the winners in these categories will carry some prestige in the industry. So who won last year?

The winner of the Games category last year was Spotify-

This year’s nominations include last year’s winner, and four challengers:

Who are the judges? Apart from Carphone Warehouse officials, there are two from The Sun empire, and the most interesting is Simon Oliver. He owns Hand Circus, a computer game company which he started from his room at home. After being rejected by most game developers, he created his own game ‘Rolando’, which has been so successful he is now Britain’s first App millionaire. Now that’s a person who is likely to be able to sift out the chafe from the wheat!

The video itself is virtually the same for each category, driven along by a catchy disco/sub-rave soundtrack, and there’s no speech- a common video pitch these days- aimed at younger watchers who haven’t the time or patience to listen to the spoken word. Obviously the nominations for this video are the music ones, and at the start form into a music note, contrasting with the games video, which turns into a console. Having pre-selected nominees means that it doesn’t take long to say which one you prefer and cast your vote. It’s short as well, and so has to pack in the key info in less than a minute and a half. It’s likely that once you have investigated and cast your votes for one category (probably music and games being the most popular) you will have a look at the other categories and perhaps cast votes there too.

I wonder whether any famous celebs will be there to join the winners on the red carpet for the Appy Awards event- but it might be good to have a chat with Simon Oliver- he may give you some tips on how you might make your first million! Also you might be able to rub shoulders with the judges from the Sun newspaper… by which time there’ll be a Sunday Sun. Just don’t give them your phone number…

See the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLDMvFtN8Dc

The Carphone Warehouse Appys 2012: Games

This is the season of the BAFTAs, and the Oscars, so what about awards for handset applications? The Appys? In a series of videos, Carphone Warehouse presents their nominations for the best applications 2012. The categories cover a whole range of applications grouped under convenient tags, such as music, games, news, health etc.

The blurb that you can read on the associated website is a little over-the-top, with phrases such as:

We love to learn and share new things every day – which is why we are so besotted with apps. They are little bundles of joy, designed to make you fall deeper in love with whatever smartphone or tablet you own.

Now I like Apps as much as the next person, but “little bundles of joy”?.. Sounds like I’m having a baby rather than an App!

The winner of the Games category last year was, and no surprises here, those feathered flyers with attitude- Angry Birds. But who are the nominations for 2012? Here you go…

No surprises there- not even that the all-conquering Angry Birds is back to have another peck at the prize!

So what’s the deal? All staff at Carphone Warehouse have nominated their favourite apps, and the best are picked by their panel of experts. For a period of time you can vote for your favourite in each category. What’s the incentive? Each week there will be three prizes including smartphones, headphones and the more categories you vote in the more chances there are to win. Winners for each prize will be announced as they’re drawn, so you have to check back regularly to the main site to see if you’ve won. The winners will also get the chance to attend a special awards ceremony event in London on 25th April.

Who are the judges? Apart from Carphone Warehouse officials, there are two from The Sun empire, and the most interesting is Simon Oliver. He owns Hand Circus, a computer game company which he started from his room at home. After being rejected by most game developers, he created his own game ‘Rolando’, which has been so successful he is now Britain’s first App millionaire. Now that’s a person who is likely to be able to sift out the chafe from the wheat!

The video itself is driven along by a catchy disco/sub-rave soundtrack, and there’s no speech- a common video pitch these days- aimed at younger watchers who haven’t the time or patience to listen to the spoken word. The pre-selected nominees means that it doesn’t take long to say which one you prefer and cast your vote. It’s short as well, and so has to pack in the key info in less than a minute and a half. It’s likely that once you have investigated and cast your votes for one category (probably music and games being the most popular) you will have a look at the other categories and perhaps cast votes there too.

There’s no news of whether any famous celebs will be there to join the winners on the red carpet for the Appy Awards event- but it might be good to have a chat with Simon Oliver- he may give you some tips on how you might make your first million!

See the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&v=JrajdzZ2cvw

Pantheon: Sam Bourne’s New Thriller

It’s 1940. Europe is ablaze. America is undecided about joining the fight against Nazism. A brilliant, but troubled, young Oxford don returns home one morning from rowing to discover that his wife has disappeared with their young son. There is only a note declaring her continuing love.

A frantic search that begins in war-blitzed England then moves across the Atlantic and to one of America’s greatest universities, its elite clubs and secret societies – right to the heart of the American establishment. There the don unearths one of the darkest and deadliest secrets of the Second World War.

What is the connection between this and a bizarre induction practice where Ivy League universities take pictures of freshmens’ spines? This is not all fiction: For at least three decades, this induction procedure was standard practice – George Bush Sr went through it at Yale and Meryl Streep was photographed at Vassar, Hillary Clinton at Wellesley College, before the practice was discontinued in the late 1960s.

Pantheon is based on the true story of 125 Oxford children and 25 mothers who left Liverpool for the safety of Yale University in mid July 1940. Like many novels about this period Sam Bourne – writing here under the pseudonym of Guradian journalist Jonathan Freedland – takes his pointers from a number of real life events and allows his imagination to combine hard fact with a tale of betrayal, conspiracy… and eugenics.

The reviews have been mixed, with the better ones saying:

‘A British thriller writer at the top of his game’ Mirror

‘Bourne has mastered the form…with a crisp control of tension and narrative drive’ Observer

The video is short, simple and dramatic with some time and place period setting (Churchill and England standing alone in the Second World War) and the personal drama of the book’s Oxford don whose world is thrown into turmoil. It is effective in throwing up stark statements, words music and images, to give a basic teaser of what the book contains. But is it enough to hook the casual viewer into wanting to know more? Perhaps. The Second World War is still a period of great fascination for many, and while you may think that all secrets of that time must have been uncovered by now, the lure of fresh revelations is likely to prove tempting to potential readers.

Dan Brown successfully combined fact with fiction in The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, so will James Bourne’s book, Pantheon, do the same?

See the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQzLJWE5jhQ&feature=youtu.be

The Bourne Legacy

The Bourne Legacy- but no Jason Bourne? Get over it! You may be forgiven for thinking that the Bourne series (Identity, Supremacy, and Ultimatum) had run its course, but such is its popularity that it is returning soon, as the Bourne Legacy.

The Bourne Legacy expands the Bourne universe created in the Robert Ludlum novels with a new story that introduces us to a new hero (played by Jeremy Renner). However, as you might expect, the plot thickens, and the events draw deeply on the previous trilogy.

This intriguing trailer opens with a little dialogue over some brooding music, and pictures of a recently scarred face…

“There’s nothing you wouldn’t do for this country…”

“Will you give yourself to this programme?”

“You have the strength that’s necessary…”

“Welcome to the programme…”

This is followed by some sequences that certainly don’t give anything in the story away, but show that it is undoubtedly an action movie!

For The Bourne Legacy, Renner joins fellow series newcomers Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton, Stacy Keach and Oscar Isaac, while franchise veterans Albert Finney, Joan Allen, David Strathairn and Scott Glenn reprise their roles. Renner was the charismatic lead in the Hurt Locker, the critically acclaimed 2008 war film by Kathryn Bigelow about 2008 about a three-man bomb disposal team during the Iraq War.

The story sets off after the conclusion of The Bourne Ultimatum with Tony Gilroy as the director, screenwriter of the first three films. Matt Damon, star of the first three films, did not return for this film but has not ruled out starring in any future films as long as Paul Greengrass, who directed the last two films, returns. Interestingly, before this movie was seriously considered, Paul Greengrass jokingly suggested that to make a fourth Bourne movie it should be called “The Bourne Redundancy”!

The film will not be a reboot or prequel in any way, but more likely a “sidequel” or full spin-off with a new character in the mould of Bourne dealing with the ramifications of the Treadstone conspiracy. Hence the “There was never just one” tag. That’s a risk, but it may be that if successful, excuse the pun, a new star will be bourne!

Comments on the trailer are inevitably about Jason Bourne/Matt Damon not appearing in this fourth instalment, but there’s a lot of support for Renner, and the apparently continuing Bourne formula of deals, counter-deals, amnesia, conspiracy and betrayal. These would seem to be all present and correct, along with the required excitement and action.

“The Bourne Legacy” is scheduled to be released in August.

See the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDrSA1gTuKc

Second Day of BlackBerry DevCon, Amsterdam

In this second video about the BlackBerry DevCon 2012, Amsterdam, Alec Saunders, the Vice President Developer Relations & Ecosystem Development, Research in Motion (RIM), talks about how developers are connecting to make the most from the BlackBerry platform.

The video shows him talking at the annual European conference where two thousand BlackBerry enthusiasts came together to collaborate with platform experts to attend sessions, demonstrations, hands-on labs and keynotes speeches— all focused on developing applications for the BlackBerry platform.

Alec Saunders says that Europe has the largest collection of BlackBerry developers in the world. It is an opportunity for developers to talk and connect to the folks at RIM, learn what the plans are for BlackBerry, promote their products, and exchange ideas for new innovations for 2012.

Unlike the first video, this one mentions the much-anticipated BlackBerry 10. There were opportunities at the conference to start building for it using PlayBook. Alec Saunders says that BlackBerry have built all the tools developers will need to create a great business opportunity for themselves, and through that, a great experience for the customer.

This video was less attention grabbing than the previous one, with all the talking coming from just the one person, Alec Saunders, and little of the dynamism talked about by him evident in the clips of the attendees.

In addition, one couldn’t but help notice that either BlackBerry developers are overwhelmingly male, or the video purposefully tried to avoid shots with women in it- I could find only one in the whole video:

While you may expect that the video will have only passing interest to anyone other than existing or potential BlackBerry developers, it was interesting to hear Saunders at the end of the video going into his MythBuster General role. He said that one of the great things about the conference was to be able to talk openly and honestly with people, and dispel some of the myths, rumours and inaccuracies that seem to ferment in the press and on the internet.

Not shown in this video, but possibly worth seeking out, is one of Saunders on stage on the second day, talking about RIM’s state of health, and giving some statistics to show that it is not a declining platform as compared to Androids, and that 13% of BB app developers have made over $100,000 from their products. That, and some more news about the new operating system and the upcoming BlackBerry 10 may have made this video a little less routine, and, it has to be said, dull.

Judge for yourself- here’s the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL8CsIbMSNQ

What is Happening Down Blackberry Way?

Here is the video of the first part of the BlackBerry Developer Community Conference 2012, which took place on 7 February in Amsterdam:

What was it?

The annual BlackBerry Developer Conference is the showcase for the latest innovations and breakthroughs with the BlackBerry Development Platform. It was an opportunity to the new developments and get trained on the latest developer tools first-hand, including BlackBerry WebWorks, the PlayBook, the BlackBerry Messenger SDK, BB Music, BlackBerry 7 tooling, and the BlackBerry Native SDK.

What happened?

Two thousand BlackBerry enthusiasts came together to collaborate with platform experts to attend sessions, demonstrations, hands-on labs and keynotes speeches— all focused on developing and leading mobile applications. The two and a half minute video is a walk-through of the highlights of the first day of the event, with contributions from speakers, attendees, demonstrators and mobile gurus, on developments both present and future, for the BlackBerry platform.

There was the much-anticipated debut BlackBerry event keynote presentation by new CEO of RIM (Research in Motion), Thorsten Heins. He served as Senior Vice President of BlackBerry Handheld Business Unit at RIM until May 2010 and was responsible for the worldwide business of the BlackBerry Handset portfolio, so knows his BlackBerries as well as his onions! Being the first BlackBerry developer conference held in Europe, Heins took the opportunity to reaffirm RIM’s pledge to developers to ensure the “ecosystem” and support that developers need to be successful, is there for them.

Those who were there gave him the thumbs up; saying that he came across as genuine, competent, personable and real! Even during a slight demo malfunction, Heins took it in stride. There are snippets of his address in the video, so you can judge for yourself.

On the announcement front, there wasn’t really anything given away in the form of BlackBerry news. But that wasn’t really the point of the show. The Mobile World Congress is coming up at the end of February, which is probably the better time and venue to officially release PlayBook OS 2.0 (and perhaps announce some PlayBook models with radios inside). BlackBerry 10 phones, due for release later in the year, might be spotted at the annual BlackBerry World conference in Orlando, Florida, between May 1-3, 2012.

As for the video itself, it opens promisingly with a pulsing electronic bass rhythm, and shots of Amsterdam. Thereafter it moves indoors, and we see cuts of presentations, face-to-camera comments, demonstrations and environment cuts to convey the sweep of the event. Most interesting are the sound bites from those interviewed, where the enthusiasm of developers and users of the BlackBerry platform is evident, and words like “revitalising” and “promising future” were used. Although this was primarily for BlackBerry developers to meet and engage, a tit-bit in the video about the new operating system, or soon-to-be-launched development or application would have added a bit of zest. But that is probably a little unrealistic!

Here’s the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSgYyZ8sL88

Should You Let Sleeping Dogs Lie? No Way!

Nearly four minutes of gritty, high octane, visceral action are unleashed in this video trailer for Sleeping Dogs™, a martial arts/maximum machismo cop drama set in the vibrant city of Hong Kong.

As the blades and the bullets fly, you would be forgiven for thinking this is a trailer for a new Andy Lau Infernal Affairs film: It seems to have the same tension, quality acting and action, not to mention the claustrophobic yet cinematic location of Hong Kong. But do a double-take- this is a game not a film!!

Developed by United Front Games in collaboration with Square Enix studios, London, Sleeping Dogs will be available in the second half of this year for the PlayStation3, Xbox 360, and Windows PC.

You want the plot? Under cover HK cop Wei Shen, is tasked with taking down one of the world’s most fearsome criminal organisations from the inside… the Hong Kong Triads. Not much at all then…

The advert says: “As players explore the bustling and crowded Hong Kong island, through its neon-lit side streets and sprawling street markets, an incredible story unfolds of loyalty and betrayal, where Wei begins to question his own motives as he is sucked in deeper than he could ever imagine.”

While the video concentrates on what you would see on the screen, and that is brutal and beautiful at the same time, one wonders how the game will play in reality. It says it has openworld gameplay, and a myriad of manoeuvres to take your opponents down.

The locations include seedy street corners, menacing market-stalls, low-down docks and sky-high skyscrapers. These become the scenes for intense shoot-outs, street races, martial arts combat, and use of some particularly nasty weapons, such as meat cleavers, kitchen knives, pans of boiling oil, and circular saws. Not for the faint-hearted, and that is why this video has an 18 certificate.

So returning to the video, it’s clear from this that the game promises adrenaline-fuelled action all the way. But it may put you off cooking a stir-fry or going into the kitchen to see how good the hygiene is in a Chinese Restaurant! You have been warned!

Here is the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHIRceS-blA&list=UUJH6bCVMtGzPAhD2QfrOyXA

“Hey! I’m sure I paid for that cocktail!”

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, every one’s looking for a way to indulge their loved ones. With the booming business for everything Valentine related, ASDA  has  unveiled a unique strapless  gown made from 1,725 roses!

Joe Massie, the three-time winner of the RHS Chelsea Young Florist of the Year award, is  the proud creator of this stunning  mermaid style gown. It has taken him 170 hours to finish it and the gown weighs just under two stones. He revealed that Stephane Rolland’s 110 pound dress at Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week was the inspiration behind this exquisite creation!

The “horti-couture” gown consists of petals from 1,000 Naomi red roses that cover the entire body, and flowing down to the floor. While Fifteen Carmen roses and 200 chrysanthemums, decorated with gold-leaf are around the hip and skirt of the dress. The hem is made from petals from 150 Purple Power roses, 75 gerberas and 300 carnations.

As Britain brace for severe weather, it is expected that about a third of all the flights due to leave Heathrow airport will be cancelled.

The decision to cut down flights is mainly triggered by the forecasters predicting up to 15cm of snow, freezing fog and reduced visibility. Commenting on the plans Normand Boivin, chief operating officer at the airport said this would allow other flights to take off on time.

He added, “’It also means that those passengers whose flights are cancelled will know in advance, and can make alternative arrangements or rebook in relative comfort.”

Meanwhile, AA reported that it expects over 16,000 recovery calls with flat batteries being the common cause of car malfunctions in the severe weather.

What Does Britain Love? The Full Monty!

A major new advertising campaign has been launched to trumpet T-Mobile’s upcoming “Full Monty” mobile price plan.

It majors on all things British and in just a minute and a half, the video manages to squeeze in some of our national loves…and obsessions; grannies, pets, cheese, the countryside, fancy-dress, gardening and festivals, to name just a few! And there’s more than a sprinkling of the crazy zany humour for which we are noted; wearing a traffic cone, rolling a cheese down a slope, and a pig as a pet! Could it be Babe??

The ad, voiced by comedian Harry Hill – possibly another of Britain’s “loves” – was launched on YouTube on 2 February and will then be shown for a two month period on ITV, Channel 4, Five and other channels. It even has Fenton the dog in it, made infamous on YouTube when the pet stampeded a herd of deer across a park, much to his owner’s vocalised displeasure!

Saatchi & Saatchi, which also created T-Mobile’s viral “Royal Wedding” spoof ad, is the creative agency behind the campaign. The video speeds along at a cracking pace, leaving you quite breathless by the time you get to the festival at the end and the unveiling of the slogan.

By having so many snippets of our national loves and treasures here, there can be few people who won’t find something in the advert to bring out a smile, and of course Harry Hill’s characteristic spot-on delivery drives everything along nicely.

It seems from the comments on YouTube that the video has hit the right spot, with people loving the bit with the wayward Fenton in it. The word “viral” is also used a lot- but in a good way!

See the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&v=K-EvvfMXEwU