Get ready for YouView » Freeview 2.0
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The country as a whole may still be waiting to go fully digital but the next generation of Freeview television is about to be unleashed during the first half of 2011.
YouView is set to change the way you watch television forever, at least that’s what their website claims. It certainly sounds promising so far. A service that combines Freeview HD with the latest broadband based IPTV to create an On-Demand catalogue unrivalled anywhere else.
Originally nicknamed Project Canvas the concept is a joint venture between the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Five, Arqiva, BT and Talk Talk, after 2 years of development Canvas finally came to life this summer (September 2010) under the new banner of YouView.
YouView boxes will sell in stores for around £200 and will work in a simular easy manner to existing Freeview boxes, simply plug it in and away you go!
Live TV will still be transmitted through your aerial so you’ll need to be in a digital area to receive it (everyone will be in the next 2 years anyway).
The secret to YouViews success above standard Freeview will be the addition of broadband connection into the box allowing for all kinds of extra touches. Video On-Demand, HD Movie Rental and even an App Store.
YouViews main and most exciting strength though will be its 7 day Back In Time TV guide. Pick a day, any day – say for instance last Tuesday 10.30am on C4 and you can instantly watch what was on back then (although I’d guess at it being a repeat of Friends so I wouldn’t bother!). YouView really is a TV Time-Machine and when combined with a slick visual interface has the potential to reach areas that other TV suppliers can not touch.
The road ahead is not a totally smooth one for the YouView collective though, Sky and Virgin Media are so worried about this new competition they tried to get the whole project killed at birth by Herod… sorry I mean OFCOM. Meanwhile top manufacturers like Sony are also said to be upset with YouView total control over the EPG (Electronic Programming Guide) visuals and software. Sony’s point being that unless they can make the YouView boxes uniquely their own their boxes sale-ability will be greatly reduced.
Watch out for a publicity overload from the YouView team starting early 2011. Exciting times ahead.
Martin Freeman is the Hobbit
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Martin Freeman is about to have the world at his little hairy feet with todays (22nd October 2010) announcement he has landed the lead role of Bilbo Baggins in the forthcoming movies ‘The Hobbit – Parts I and II’.
It’s an amazing career turnaround for Freeman who only a few months ago looked like he’d forever be remembered solely as the hapless Tim from ‘The Office’.
But now with his Middle Earth staring role coming fast on the heels of his part as Doctor John Watson in Steven Moffat’s ‘Sherlock’, it’s been one hell of a year for the former Slough paper merchant.
Indeed his commitment to play Watson again in series two of ‘Sherlock’ originally looked like it would rule Freeman out of the running for Baggins, a fear that has now thankfully disappeared.
Despite the various rumours and speculation surrounding this role, there has only ever been one Bilbo Baggins for us.
Peter Jackson, Director
Joining Bilbo on his adventure will be the returning Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf the Grey and Andy Serkis as Gollum. Together with a new trio of dwarfs; Richard Armitage of ‘Spooks’ and ‘Robin Hood’ fame has landed the part of Thorin Oakenshield the Dwarf leader. Whilst ‘Being Human’ and ‘Desperate Romantics’ star Aidan Turner and Rob Kazinsky (some guy from Eastenders called Sean Slater???) wil play Kili and Fili.
Scheduled to be released in 2011 and 2012, ‘The Hobbit’ films are certainly ones to look out for. Whether they can recapture the epic magic of the ‘Lord of The Rings’ trilogy is to be debated as is the need for two films to cover the quite simple (in Tolkien terms anyway) Hobbit story.
Wayne Rooney A Modern day footballer » Unfortunately
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There is no loyalty in the modern game, we all know that, its been the case for well over a decade. But now an even more unsavoury perspective is starting to emerge out of the murky depths. There is no morality in football either.
Wayne Rooney will probably never play for Manchester United again, a sad day for all United fans who like me will have felt numb with shock as Sir Alex Ferguson verbally bared all in yesterday’s press conference (19th October 2010). What’s more shocking is the alleged revelation that Wayne might well prefer a move across Manchester to play for City at Eastlands.
The transfer of players in the past have often raised the question of player loyalty, but in fairness those players have usually been moving onto bigger and better clubs. If Rooney goes to City though it will in my opinion be purely for the cash and the game of football as we know it will be morally bankrupt.
Yes his PR men will want you to believe that a lack of ambition caused by the greeedy Glazer family and an unmanageable debt is to blame for his want-away.
While these issues don’t help and as many will know I’m no fan of the Glazers, the sooner they disapear the better for the survival of Manchester United as a football club. In the case of Rooney though this doesn’t really add up. Maybe in a few years time if his trophy cabinet has started to gather dust. But last year United finished second only 1 point off Chelsea, they won the Carling Cup and if Rooney hadn’t been injured in the Champions League quarter final… well who knows what could have happened. Hardly a disaster is it Wayne?
Rooney should have gone into this season with relish, determined to wrestle back the Premier League from Chelsea’s clutches and put the misery of his dismal World Cup disaster behind him.
But no, he allegedly turns up for the new season with one goal in mind, to manufacture a move away from the biggest club in England.
If he moves to Madrid, Barca or even Milan then fair enough, they’re all big clubs with big traditions and a great history. But if as is rumoured he does wish to move to City… Don’t treat the fans as fools Wayne – you’re off for one reason and one reason only my friend.
UPDATE (22 October 2010)…
Rooney has now signed a new 5 year deal, just 2 days after his controversial statement declaring his desire to leave and as I predicted blaming the whole thing on the lack of team investment and the teams ability to win trophies in the future.
This turn around was unexpected and has left many a United fan unsure what to feel. One thing is for sure though Wayne if you want to win the faithful over again a hat-trick on November 10th will be just the job.
Nintendo 3DS is full of surprises, just not in time for christmas
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The much talked about Nintendo 3DS press conference was finally held over in Japan in the early hours of this morning UK time (29th September 2010).
The good news… Ninty’s new little 3D gem is packed full of joy and wonder.
The bad news… It looks like us folk in the UK will have to wait until March 2011 to get our hands on one.
Initially launching in 2 colours (black or blue) on February 26th 2011 in the Far East at a price of ¥25,000, which will probably translate to a £199 price tag over here.
The new portable also features a Mii character system based on the original Wii version but with added camera support. A variety of games featuring your Mii’s will no doubt follow.
Another exciting feature is the introduction of a DS virtual console, again much like the Wii’s version but with the ability to download and play older Gameboy and Gameboy Advanced classics.
For me though the biggest seller is still the unbelievable amount of top notch games set to launch with the 3DS, all with stunning graphics and in glorious 3D to boot.
Have a peek at the video showreel below to see what I mean, It’s guaranteed to make you long even more for a Christmas time release date – humbug!
Nintendo and Sony battle it out once more
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Only a week to go folks and we’ll finally know all the details of Nintendo’s latest (and maybe greatest) handheld to date. Will we get our hands on it in the UK before Christmas? Fingers crossed but to tantalise you just a little bit more over the next 7 days the good folks over at IGN have leaked what they believe will be the power spec of the new 3D beastie…
• 1.5GB of flash memory
• 64MB of RAM
• Two 266MHz ARM11 CPUs
• 133MHz GPU
• 4MB of dedicated VRAM
It may not mean much to you, but for a handheld machine it’s all very impressive, if true. Early iPhone and iPod Touch’s used only one ARM11 CPU, the 3DS with its additional dedicated VRAM and RAM will pack a hefty punch. Maybe not the Xbox 360 rivaling graphics that some were hoping for but on a screen the size of the 3DS it should produce slightly better graphics than the Wii and all in glorious 3D without the need for glasses.
Meanwhile not to be outdone by their rivals the first real news of a sequel to the Sony PSP (dubbed the PSP2) have started to emerge. The pictures above show what some believe to be the next generation PSP, due for release sometime 2011 -2012. With its slide out controllers it certainly looks impressive albeit pretty much like the original (leaving me to believe these pics are actually fake). One thing for sure it’s bound to be more powerful than the 3DS when it’s finally released, Sony will be desperate to make that the case.
The problem Sony face though is one of history repeating itself. The Nintendo DS destroyed the original PSP because of serval key factors; it was first to hit the shops, it had a unique selling point (the touch screen), it managed to release a big catalogue of games that suited all tastes (the PSP was too slow to realise the potential of the casual gamer market), finally and most importantly it was sold at the right price.
Whilst we still don’t know all the facts regarding price and gaming catalogue, Nintendo is definitely ahead of Sony on release date and unique selling point. Can Sony pull something magical out of their hats this time to rival Nintendo’s 3D abilities?
It’s all very exciting and we should know at least half the full story next Wednesday 29th September 2010 at the Nintendo 3DS Press Conference.
Manchester United Vs Liverpool » Football doesn’t get bigger than this
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Forget your London, Glasgow, Milan, even Liverpool and Manchester derbies. For me the biggest games of the season are always those played out between Manchester United and Liverpool.
Always tight, always hard fought, never predictable and certainly never dull, these 2 footballing power houses battle it out once more at Old Trafford this afternoon.
This year match as ever will throw up many a debate and argument in the pubs accross Britain over the weekend. With Rooney and Torres both struggling to find any kind of form, the match could be won by those 2 midfleid stalwarts or Steven Gerrard and Paul Scholes. Scholes in particular has had a fantastic start to the season and finally looks like he’s got over the vision issues which have caused him so many problems over the last couple of years. Gerrard’s start hasn’t been fantasic for Liverpool but you can never write him off in a big game like this one. If he can carry over his reccent England form into this match the United midfield wil struggle to cope.
Outside of this match though, problems are strirring for both clubs. A new crop of football upstarts threaten both clubs historic trophy cabinets and they come with the most important factor in todays modern game – bags of money. United and Liverpool might be far and away the most successful teams in history with their 18 top flight Championship a piece but if they’re not careful Chelsea (and dare I say it Manchester City) will start to chip away at those facts and figures over the next couple of decades.
How can they compete in the long term? The Glazer’s took Manchester United, the richest club in the world and saddled them with the most unimaginable debt almost over night. The situation in Liverpool when Hicks and Gillet purchased the club may have started off as love affair but it quickly turned sour when despite all their promises the Americans revealed a total lack of funds and went on to put Liverpool in a simular debt crisis to United’s. Whilst the Old Trafford outfit continue to compete at the moment, one has to fear for the longterm, especially once Fergie does the unthinkable and finally retires. Unless things change at the top for both clubs the trophy cabinets could soon run dry.
One thing is for sure, depite these new big time charlies coming along, they’ll never match the United Vs Liverpool game for sheer drama and passion that we’ll hopefully see for 90 minutes later today and long may that continue.
Frackin Cool predication » Manchester United 3 – Liverpool 1
The Charlatans : Who We Touch : Album Review
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Yes they’re back again, 20 years after their debut album ‘Some Friendly’ and 14 years after their Britpop heyday, its sometimes easy to take The Charlatans for granted. Every couple a years a new release followed by a quick tour around the countries smaller sized music venues, never really making a mark on the nations consiousness. Maybe they’re happy to carry on like this, a real shame really as despite their recent struggles to dint the charts Tim Burgess and co are still capable of creating great music as ‘Who We Touch’, their 11th studio album fully demonstrates.
A mixed bag of styles that offers something for every Charlatans fan, no matter which era is your particular fave. ‘Love is Ending’ and ‘My Foolish Pride’ are instant classics while ‘Your Pure Sure’ (my current favourite) sounds like an outtake from ‘Us And Us Only’. Moving on through the album we hit several tracks that are more of this Millenniums Charlatans before hitting the Pink Floyd inspired ‘Oh!” and the shockingly bizarre finale bonus track ‘I Sing The Body Eclectic’ featuring Penny Rimbaud on lead vocals, a great one off track but leave the singing to Tim in future Penny.
The last few years have seen the boys trying out various different styles and themes for their LPs. I didn’t really get the reggae vibe on Simpatico, whilst the New Order influenced ‘You Cross My Path’ was great at the time but listening back now its hard to pick out any of the classic Charlatans moments that this new album captures. In a nut shell ‘Who we Touch’ is the best album they’ve created since the Holy Trinity line up of ‘Up to our Hips’, ‘The Charlatans’ and ‘Telling Stories’.
Shockingly the album only debuted at number 21, not really good enough but considering the lack of radio airlplay they now get its understandable. A problem that the ‘Manics’ Nicky Wire has also recently commented on, Its a crying shame and something needs to be done. Radio 1 might be for the kids but surely Radio 2 could make more of an effort to get these great bands that still have plenty to offer more play-time. Maybe at the expense of Katie Melua or some other modern muck.
Frackin Cool album review : 4 STARS (out of 5)
The xx take the Mercury
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Despite my colleagues prediction that Mumford and Sons would easily walk this years Mercury Music Prize 2010, the actual award went to The xx for their debut album ‘xx’.
Kudos to them, the album is extremely good and the trio who all hail from London faced some very stiff competition from some very big names.
They picked up the £20,000 winners cheque from host Jools Holland last night (7th September 2010) at the end of a thrill packed show in which all the nominees performed, kicking off with fellow contender Paul Weller.
It will now be interesting to see if The xx can kick on from here and make it big or just fade into obscurity as so many Mercury Prize winners have done before.
Get ready for the Nintendo Wii2
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Nintendo fans will be pleased to hear the first murmurings of the successor to their hugely popular Wii console are finally emerging.
Yes the Wii2 is now well into development in a secret lab at Nintys headquarters over in Japan. No one yet knows when, how much or even what its capabailities might be but in a recent interview one of Nintendo’s top dogs Yoshio Sakimoto has squeaked the first few tantalising noises.
At Nintendo we always have the obligation to surprise users with a new game console. We have never done what others have. We prefer to create something new that catches attention, and I think this will continue this time as well. Surely the new Nintendo machine will leave you all with your mouth open.
Yoshio Sakimoto
So there you have it, what it means we have no idea but get ready to open your mouths!
All very exciting but Nintendo really need to get their act together and release it asap. Despite still being the number 1 seller in this generations console war, the Wii’s lead is now being eroded by the infinately more powerful Xbox360 and Playstation 3. Unfortunatley I can’t see it being released any earlier than Christmas 2012, with maybe the first sneek peeks at the E3 Expo next summer. Will that be too late for Nintendo to stay ahead of the game? Time will tell.
To keep us going meantime however is the exciting prospect of the Nintendo press conference at the end of this month (September 29th 2011), where hopefully they’ll tell us all the news we want to hear – the release of the new Nintendo 3DS before Christmas in the UK.
Sunday Bloody Sunday » Alan Partridge returns
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Okay, it’s Sunday, you’ve read the papers, washed the car and you think to yourself ‘Sunday bloody Sunday!’
If you feel like Alan, you’ll be please to hear he’s all set to make yet another comeback to alleviate your 7th day boredom, staring in 10 mini episodes available only on the internet.
But as each episode is only 12 minutes long it won’t really whet Partridge fans appetites, still I suppose its better than nothing.
Created solely for Fosters lager, they must have paid Partridge creator Steve Coogan an awful lot of money to ditch Alan’s favourite pint of bitter with a Baileys chaser.
Look out for the new material coming this Autumn 2010, hopefully if successful the much talked about movie might finally get the green light.
ALAN PARTRIDGE’S BEST LINES…
1 Smell my cheese!
2 You threw a monkey into the sea?
3 You’re 22 years old and you’re spending your Saturdays in bed with a girl – you’re wasting your life!
Any other classics, post them in the comments box below…