iPhones & shiny stuff - fluffypig.com

If You Love The Killers, You Need To See This!

Shaun — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:00:42 +0000

The video below is quite possibly the best live performance of any track i’ve ever seen by any band/artist.

I love The Killers, a lot, I saw them twice on the same tour in the space of 4 months this year (pic opposite is from Manchester) and Dustland Fairytale is by far my favourite track from the latest album Day & Age. When I heard about this performance I was intriguied but really didn’t expect it to ‘work’.

Well I was VERY wrong! It seriously works, it takes the song to another level!

Full Orchestra

So you’re booked to appear on Letterman and perform your latest single? How do you improve on an already amazing track? Bring a 20+ piece orchestra with you of course! Including a harp!

I honestly can’t say how much I was blown away by this performance the first few times I saw it and i’ve seen it 100s of times since and still love it! The harp at the start is stunning and the when the violins are really going for it in the breakdown is just amazing.

Watch the video below and let me know what you think in the comments!

Napster FREE Trial – 6 Million Tracks!

WIRED Magazine Subscription – 50% Discount!

Shaun — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 22:30:53 +0000

WIRED magazine has been my favourite magazine for a long time. It’s actually part of the inspiration behind this blog and kind of similar to what I intended this blog to be like! Work and time constraints have meant I haven’t quite achieved that but thankfully WIRED is still going strong!

What Is WIRED?

Chances are unless you’ve ended up on this blog by accident that you’re interested in the latest technology stories but with a twist. Well WIRED is for you! It’s not like any other tech magazines out there, you know the type of people most of them are aimed at.

WIRED is the magazine for smart, intellectually curious people who need, and want, to know what’s next. WIRED will always deliver stimulating and compelling content and stunning design and photography. Every issue is packed full of ideas, technology, culture, business, social media and sometimes just bizarre stories with an edge.

Recent Example Stories

Just a quick flick through some of the latest issues reveals some extremely interesting stories.. below are just a few examples.

“The Creator of Facebook’s Most Annoying App Explains Himself ”
“Why Is Obama’s Top Antitrust Cop Gunning for Google? ”
“10 Best Prison Breaks”
“3 Smart Things About Beer Marketing”
“Brewing Beer from 45-Million-Year-Old Yeast ”
“Why Paper Money Hurts the Economy”
“Tweets That’ll Get You Fired From Celeb Ghost Twittering ”
“Danger Mouse + David Lynch + Sparklehorse = Sickest Supergroup Ever”
“How the iPhone Is Shaking Up the Videogame Business”

I’m sure you’ll agree that they sounds just a bit more interesting than your average tech mag!

Subscribe Today!

WIRED is offering an amazing new subscription package where if you order through this link you receive a 50% discount and pay just £2 per issue! I seriously can’t think of anything better to spend £2 per month on! It’s not even 1 drink down the pub! I genuinely look forward to receiving my copy every month and now you can too!

Click Here To Receive 50% Discount On WIRED Subscription

Quickoffice iPhone App – Create Word & Excel docs On Your iPhone!

Shaun — Sun, 24 May 2009 18:02:17 +0000

There are plenty of iPhone apps out there to open and view Microsoft Office files on your iPhone.

That’s all very well, but what if you want to edit or even create them?

I’ve been looking for an iPhone app to do exactly that for a while, I was actually hoping Microsoft would develop an iPhone version of Microsoft Office themselves. Clearly they have no intention of doing that but there is a great alternative.

Quickoffice

Quickoffice contains 3 apps in one. QuickWord, QuickSheet and QuickOffice Files.

QuickWord lets you edit and create new Microsoft Word documents. You can change fonts, font sizes & styles (bold/italic etc..), create lists with bullet points and wait for it… cut & paste!

Cut & Paste???

Yes, you heard it right! Quickoffice have implemented cut & paste to the iPhone before Apple have! It’s not quite as slick as the cut and paste Apple have promised for iPhone 3.0 but it really works!

It also has auto-save and auto-restore features.

QuickSheet is similar to QuickWord but for Excel documents. Again you can edit or create new files, it fully supports even the most advanced Excel features. You can easily adjust column heights & widths or insert new rows/columns.

QuickOffice Files is similar to existing iPhone apps such as Datacase and Filemagnet. It allows you to mount your iPhone as a wireless drive over wi-fi so you can drag and drop files between your iPhone and PC or Mac. You can also view most common filetypes and organise, rename and move them on the iPhone itself.

One of the best features that sets it apart from those similar mentioned apps is the ability to email remote or local files without having to download them! You can also remotely access your iDisk which is very handy.

Highly Recommended!

Overall QuickOffice is a fantastic app for anybody that works with Word & Excel files a lot, it’s obviously not ideal using the iPhone keyboard for large documents but for small changes it’s perfect and I am already using an Excel spreadsheet to help me track business milage whilst i’m out and about.

Download QuickOffice

Prison Break Is NOT Finished (yet) – The Final Break

Shaun — Tue, 19 May 2009 09:38:50 +0000

* UPDATE * UPDATE * UPDATE * UPDATE *

Since writing this article and thanks to assaf I learned that Sky 1 were not being entirely truthful in claiming the ‘Word Premiere’.

Because Prison Break – The Final Break was actually shown in Israel last night! (24th May). It is now available to download from the usual places.

Unfortunately it was not broadcast in HD so I will be waiting for Sky 1 to show it on Wednesday. But for everybody outside the UK or people not interested in waiting for the HD version grab it now!

* Original Post Below *

Yes that’s right. Prison Break is not finished! The double episode ‘Season Finale’ which aired on Sunday in the USA and tonight on Sky 1 in the UK is not the last episode.

There is another double episode still to come!

For some reason Sky have been incredibly bad at advertising this in the UK. Less surprising that Fox have not mentioned it as they don’t have the rights to show it, so of course it’s in their interests to bill the penultimate episode as the ‘Season Finale’.

This blog post exists simply to avoid me repeating myself as I seem to be spokesperson the for Prison Break finale!

Confused?

Let me explain, without ruining it for people that have yet to see tonights episode on Sky 1. The episode does what Prison Break does best and is actually by far the best in a pretty disappointing season IMO. The episode ends 4 years in the future with the death of a major character. But we have no idea how or why they died.

People who watched the ’season finale’, did you not wonder what had happened? Not feel like you were missing a pretty vital part of the whole shows storyline? Considering it was supposedly the last episode ever?

The Final Break

Luckily the writers did and that’s why there is another double episode named ‘Prison Break – The Final Break’.

The Final Break fills in the gap between the end of real time and 4 years in the future where the last episode ends. So we get to see how what happens actually happened and why as well as tying up lots of loose ends for the other characters.

UK 1 – USA 0

The confusion has arisen because in the USA, Fox who usually air Prison Break don’t have the rights to show the last episode, instead it’s being released on DVD on July 21st. Presumably to milk a last bit of money from the Prison Break faithful.

Luckily for us UK people, Sky 1 is showing the final episode. Not only are they showing it but they have the world premiere of it!

Next Wednesday 27th May you can see the real season finale on Sky 1.

No doubt in a complete role reversal, next Thursday the whole of America will be downloading the Sky 1 version from various torrent sites!

4 Great TV Shows Return Next Month!

Nintendo DSi Released! Compare Prices Here!

Shaun — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 16:24:46 +0000

So the long awaited follow up to Nintendo’s popular DS and DS Lite console has finally arrived.

The Nintendo DSi was released today and boasts loads of new features including 2 cameras, an online store, built in web browser, music player and slot for SD memory cards.

I’ve just launched a price comparison site for the Nintendo DSi, so if you’re considering purchasing one check out the site and grab yourself the best possible deal!

The site is http://NintendoDSiComparePrices.info

Zen Bound Review – iPhone 3G / iPod Touch Game

Shaun — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 18:03:17 +0000

It’s been a while since I posted an iPhone game review. Sorry about that, it’s partly because i’ve been too busy to play many new games with my business and new website http://celebswhotwitter.com. But also because nothing really grabbed my attention enough to write a review about.

Until Zen Bound that is!

Zen Bound is the most original game I think I have ever played, on any platform. I’m not even sure if ‘game’ is the right description for it.

Hype

I heard a lot of hype about Zen Bound but I didn’t really understand what it was about, even as I started to play I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. After just a few minutes I ‘got it’, it’s a truly beautiful experience.

From the high quality 3D graphics to the ambient music and the incredibly relaxing game play. But what does it actually entail I hear you ask, well put very simply it’s a meditative game of wrapping rope around wooden sculptures. I know that sounds a little, well dull but trust me it’s not.

5 Stars

It’s a shame that the game doesn’t have a Lite version as I know my review won’t have done it justice, check out the ratings on the iTunes App Store though, almost every single person has given it 5 stars which should say something about how good it is!

Download Zen Bound

Twitter Takes Over The World

Shaun — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 17:20:56 +0000

Ok so it’s not quite at that stage yet but the increase in the usage and interest in Twitter over the past few months has been massive.

Tech Community

Twitter has been around for almost 3 years now, it’s was hugely popular with the web design community of which i’m part of and the tech community as a whole pretty much from the start.

The biggest names on Twitter until recently were tech icons such as Kevin Rose of Digg and journalist Leo Laporte. That all changed when the now President Barack Obama became the first high profile politician to begin tweeting. He quickly collected over 200,000 followers.

New Direction

Then in October of last year along came Stephen Fry to take Twitter in an entirely different direction. Stephen began tweeting about his work and travels and soon began competing with the tech heavyweights when it came to followers.

Mainstream

Another UK celebrity who can claim a major credit for the explosion of interest is chat show host Jonathan Ross who began tweeting in December last year whilst suspended from the BBC. Ross gained many followers himself and several of his more controversial tweets made it to the UK newspapers. But it was when he returned to work on ‘Friday Night With Jonathan Ross’ with Stephen Fry as a guest that the media and general public really started to take notice. This was because Fry & Ross not only mentioned Twitter but spent a few minutes actually talking about it, on a prime time TV show with an audience of over 4 million!

Since then the amount of celebrities signing up to Twitter and the amount of users signing up to follow them has increased dramatically. From presenters to actors to rock stars, huge names such as Demi Moore, Lance Armstrong, Chris Moyles and even the Dalai Lama! Along with hundreds of minor celebrities too.

CelebsWhoTwitter.com

This explosion of interest has prompted a new website from the makers of fluffypig.com, introducing CelebsWhoTwitter.com. Primarily a directory of the celebrities on Twitter but also used to warn people of the inevitable fake accounts. At the time of writing this post we have 93 celebs listed but they are being added all the time. We’ve uncovered well over 10 fakes.

You can search for celebs, browse categories such as Sport & TV and when you find a celeb you’re interested in there’s a link directly to their Twitter page for you to follow. You can even subscribe to receive details of new celeb additions either via RSS or email.

Check out the site at http://celebswhotwitter.com.

Follow us on Twitter at @fluffypig and @CelebsWhoTwiter (note only 1 ‘t’)

Happy Birthday Mac!

Shaun — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:47:34 +0000

It’s quite common knowledge that i’m a MASSIVE Apple fan, I own 4 Macs, one of which is connected to my 42″ Plasma TV as a Media Centre, an iPhone, more iPods than I know what to do with, a 1TB Time Capsule and lots of other bits & pieces.

Core Business

I love Apple products, the iPhone is the best thing i’ve ever owned and the iPod revolutionised an entire industry, but however great these products are it’s Apple computers that are their core business. If it wasn’t for the popularity of the early Apple computers, the iPod & iPhone would probably never have existed.

Game Changing

This weekend marked the 25th Anniversary of the first Apple Macintosh computer being released! After being relatively successful with their early Apple I and Apple II computers, it was in 1984 when Steve Jobs the Apple Macintosh that things really began to take off.

In typical Apple style the machine was launched with a now famous $1.5 million TV commercial directed by Ridley Scott. It was aired during Super Bowl XVIII on January 22, 1984. You can watch the commercial below, it’s amazing to think that I was 2 years old when it was aired, it would feel modern even today and it shows why Apple was such a success. But as well as this great campaign they also needed great products and the Macintosh was!

Keynote

You can also watch Steve Jobs unveiling the Macintosh at the keynote, he’s a lot less thin and got a lot more hair but his speech is as good as his recent keynotes have been. I doubt Apple would be anything like the company they are today without his presentation skills. As for the product itself, Steve makes fun of existing ‘dull & ugly’ competitors computers before ‘amazing’ the audience by taking the Mac out of a small bag (Macbook Air out of envelope anybody?). Dramatic music playing over the product demo. Using the revolutionary speech capabilities of the Mac there’s even jokes from the Mac itself such as “Never trust a computer you can’t lift” about IBMs.

Happy 25th Birthday!

I did intend on this post being a history of the Mac range, from this first Macintosh right up to the iMac, MacMini and Macbooks of today. Unfortunately I don’t have the time at the moment and I don’t want to miss the big 25 year date so I will leave it will the original.

Enjoy the videos and here’s to another 25 years of great computers!

Steve Jobs Unveiling Macintosh

Original Macintosh Commercial ‘1984′

Ringtones For iPhone 3G via Ringtone Feeder

Shaun — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 17:49:36 +0000

RingtoneFeeder is a service i’ve been testing for a while. It offers automated weekly delivery of original iPhone ringtones, they’re produced exclusively by a popular musician. They really have amazing sound quality and it’s great to have some original music rather than the same tired old music you always listen to if you make your own.

200 Ringtones!

When you first subscribe you get the 10 latest iPhone ringtones released, then a minimum of 2 new ringtones every week for as long as your subscription is valid. The Ringtone Feeder website states that “Once a ringtone has been released it will not appear in the weekly updates again.”

Who knows what we could be missing??

So it really pays to subscribe right now, obviously the earlier that you subscribe the bigger and more unique your collection of ringtones will be.

Another great feature is that you get both a vocal and an instrumental version of the ringtones.

Value For Money

Starting at just $1.98 a month it’s definitely great value for money. With a year subscription each ringtone will cost just 9 cents!

Check it out now at RingtoneFeeder.com

iPhone 3G MMS Photo Messaging App (Finally)

Shaun — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 12:40:47 +0000

The iPhone 3G is a fantastic phone, after trying the Google A1 and the Blackberry Storm i’m still in love with my iPhone. Not only does it look far better than other similar smart phones but it still has by far the best user interface and is a joy to use.

MMS?

One of the few downsides to the iPhone though was the decision to leave out MMS Photo Messaging, as far as I’m aware, that decision has still never been explained by Apple!

Personally it hasn’t been that big of a deal for me not being able to send MMS but I know a lot of people really miss it. What did bother me though was receiving an MMS and having to log into o2’s crappy website to view it. On a revolutionary phone packed full of technology that just didn’t feel right.

App Store Saves The Day

Luckily, one of the BEST things about the iPhone is the App Store and specifically the quality of the app developing community. And thanks to one amazing developer we now have an iPhone 3G MMS App and it’s great!

MMS Photo Messaging – Review

The first thing I like about the App is it’s icon, it mimics the iPhones standard SMS icon, only red and with MMS in place of SMS. This is a nice touch, and they look great together on the homepage. If you didn’t know, it’s impossible to tell it’s an external App.

iPhone-esque Interface

The MMS App itself has a very simple iPhone style interface with your photo messages Inbox, Sent Items and Drafts at the top, and account information below. Then the usual iPhone ‘Create New Message’ icon at the bottom.

The first time you use the App you simply enter your phone number and o2 pin number. After that when you receive a new MMS simply enter your Inbox where you will see all of your photo messages, with any unread being marked with the usual blue spot.

Save, Reply and yes… Forward!

The size and quality of the photo display is far superior to the o2 website and you have more options available. You can easily save the image from the MMS to your phone, you can reply to the sender directly from the app and you can even forward the picture via MMS! (Could the developer please rewrite the SMS app for Apple ;) )

Sending MMS

So receiving photo messages is a joy, what about sending? Well that works great too but there is a minor downside which is the cost. Because this is a 3rd party app and nothing to do with either Apple or o2 you must purchase MMS Credits from the developer and they are a little more expensive than on regular contracts. Costs 38p each when you buy a minimum of 10, you can also buy in bulk of up to 75 MMS but the cost doesn’t decrease much really, 75 MMS will cost you £25.50 with is 34p each.

Personally, I think that this price is acceptable, considering the the App is completely free the developer has a right to earn some profit from a brilliant product which without we wouldn’t be able to send MMS at all.

Excellent Purchase System

Although the credits are a little expensive the system is brilliant, your balance is displayed on the main screen, to purchase more you simple select how many you want to buy and are then taken to a PayPal screen. If you already have a PayPal account you just enter your email address and password and the credits are instantly added to your balance and you’re taken back to the MMS App. If you don’t have a PayPal account you can still purchase credits but obviously will need to fill in credit card and contact details.

Once you have credits you can either use an existing photo from your phone or take a new one with the camera and send to anybody exactly the same as if you were writing an email.

The App That Apple Forgot

In summary this is an amazing app, one that Apple should have included from the start but i’m very grateful to the developer for doing their job for them and don’t mind at all that he is making a premium on the cost of credits.

iPhones & shiny stuff - fluffypig.com

If You Love The Killers, You Need To See This!

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WIRED Magazine Subscription – 50% Discount!

What Is WIRED?

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Subscribe Today!

Click Here To Receive 50% Discount On WIRED Subscription

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Highly Recommended!

Download QuickOffice

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