UK Man Gets PS3 Tattoo On His Arm

Dear oh dear oh dear. There are few things in life that give me more pleasure than a long button-bashing session on my favourite console and as much as i say that i love it, it doesn't mean that i am literally IN love with my gaming console, i mean, i wouldn't do anything rash like go up a dark alley and into a dingy tattoo parlour and get Xbox 360, Wii or PS3 encrypted on my skin but neither would anyone else would they? You'd have to be pretty brainless wouldn't you?

Well sadly, a UK PS3 addict has gone out and done exactly what i just said nobody would ever be stupid enough to do, well not exactly, i don't know about the dark alley and all that but lets just take this opportunity to stereotype tattoo... artists, if that's what you call them and add a bit of imagination to this idiots story. Apparently getting those particular three big black letters scored into his arm forever is a "Worlds First. Usually a worlds first is an achievement but I'm pretty sure there is a different reason why this is a worlds first and i don't think i need to state what it is, you already know. Lets just hope it is a "World's Last" aswell.

The guy, known as Mobiletone, a regular commenter on Sony's semi-official Threespeech blog site, said after getting it done:

‘How much do I love my console? I guess this video says it all. It’s been nearly a year since the PAL UK launch of the console and I decided to get this tattoo done in honour of what I consider the best console ever made. Love gaming, love women and love life.’

Yes you did read "I guess this video says it all" right, there is a video and you can see it below, although it is completely pointless. So Mobiletone may now be "Britain's Most Pointless Man" but lets not bash him too much more. He has definitely made me laugh today and I'm sure I'm not the only one so i salute him for that. Some say laughter is the most powerful aphrodisiac but if i were Mobiletone I'd be sure to stick to long sleeve shirts if out trying with the ladies from now on.

Sony Lay Down Mylo 2

Everyone wants the web sitting right in their pocket nowadays, whether its from mobile phone or a handheld computer, you just have to have it. Sony's new answer to real quality pocket surfing is their new handheld computer... Mylo COM-2.

Mylo 2 is an extremely classy and very sexy device which boasts a 3.5in touch-screen which flips up to reveal a QWERTY keyboard, wi-fi, a 1.3mp camera, Skype, a backlit keyboard, 1GB of storage, email and instant messaging. Now that is a real quality piece of tech and you'd be mad to disagree. It also supports iPhone-style widgets, such as a very sharp Facebook monitoring app. Of course, it'll play music and movies from memory cards and, in the US, it'll connect to Wayporthotspots for free. Sweet!

A UK release date and price is yet to be confirmed but it has been launched in the US for $300.

Google To Launch A Wikipedia Of Its Own

Captain of the ship that is the World Wide Web, Google, has announced they are about to release their own version of the user-submitted online encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

Google say that there are millions of people with useful knowledge worth sharing and there are billions more that could benefit from it but not everything is written because it is simply not easy enough to do it. I beg to differ, Wikipedia managed it easy enough, ok, its inconsistent, everything is not entirely accurate and half the content is most probably written by monkeys but it's simple to use at least. Bearing that in my mind, the point i think that Google are actually trying to make is that it is not easy enough for logical human-beings who actually have something sensible to write to get their article out there.

Googles "Knol" which stands for "a unit of knowledge" will be different from Wikipedia in a couple of ways. Knol is going to be much more author based so you will get recognition for what you've written with your name and picture and users will be able to rate content aswell as add comments, questions and edits. Google say they will not serve as an editor in any way, and will not bless any content. I just hope they have a consistent way of keeping out all the hogwash, otherwise it'll be no better than Wikipedia.

Google Knol is currently in testing and is invite-only but you can check out what a full page will look like here.

BBC iPlayer Update: BBC iPlayer Is Launched Today

BBC iPlayer News

Today BBC have launched their new BBC iPlayer in Public Beta. Want to catch all of the top TV programs from the BBC on your computer? Click here to get BBC iPlayer.

BBC iPlayer Goes Online This Friday

This Friday the BBC will launch the long awaited iPlayer. Having clicked on to the fact that online telly is pretty much in demand, they may have left it a bit later than they should have but who cares, it is here now, well almost.

This means that choosing between YouTube'ing and general web browsing or watching an episode of Eastenders on TV is a thing of the past, after all, why should you have to glance your eyes over to the TV, that just takes WAY too much effort right? Let alone having to stand up to go over and press the button to turn the thing on. Well now you can stay cemented to your computer chair and enjoy both like a "Computer Chair Potato".

A plus point on the iPlayer is that the Beeb have changed it from invite only (like Joost) to Public Beta which means everyone can give it a go! Or does it? Well.... unfortunately it doesn't mean that anyone can give it a go, along with plus points i guess you always have to have..... minus points?

Anyway, that means that their are some drawbacks. For example, BBC iPlayer will only work on Windows XP and will not work on Mac, Linux or Vista initially, down to DRM matters (Yes, damn those bloody DRMs!) Which has resulted in a strong appeal for the player to be banned until it is available to everyone. But fortunately the plan is full steam ahead and it will be released on the 27th July.

As a consolation for Mac, Linux and Vista users, a version is expected to be released for the Mac in the Autumn with Vista and Linux expected to be slightly later. You know, that ain't really much of a consolation is it? If you have ditched XP for a more hip Vista or converted to Mac or Linux, i suggest you fetch it back out of the bottom of the cupboard!

LG And YouTube Team Up For The "YouTube Phone"

Following LG's team up with Google not to long ago to bring us the LG KU-580 (or Google Phone if you will) LG are now going to give us the YouTube Phone.

It is an LG mobile that is specially optimised for YouTube. The new YouTube-enabled handsets will feature a brand new LG user interface for easily accessing and uploading video content. This means all you wannabe directors will be able to film, upload and view videos on YouTube using just your mobile phone, no need for a computer at all. So if you are a hardcore YouTube'er, you can throw that PC of yours out the window rock n roll style and get yourself one of these bad boys.


The phone is expected to be available in Europe some time in the second half of the year.

Related Links:

Carphone Warehouse

YouTube Launches 9 New International Versions Of The Network

As of today YouTube has launched 9 different new sites. The 9 different sites have been launched across Brazil, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom. This is apparently only the first step in YouTubes quest to go completely international. So expect even more to come! Each site will be fully translated to the specific country and searches, content and homepages will all be localised.

YouTube have also unveiled new content partners from all around the world. They have struck deals with companies including France 24 and Antena 3 in Spain not to mention football giants such as AC Milan, Barcelona, Chelsea and Real Madrid! Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace have also struck deals with the video sharing network.

YouTube Local Sites List:

YouTube Brazil - http://www.youtube.com.br/

YouTube France - http://www.youtube.fr/

YouTube Ireland - http://www.youtube.ie/

YouTube Italy - http://it.youtube.com/

YouTube Japan - http://www.youtube.jp/

YouTube Netherlands - http://www.youtube.nl/

YouTube Poland - http://www.youtube.pl/

YouTube Spain - http://www.youtube.es/

YouTube UK - http://www.youtube.co.uk/

Amazon To Open Online Music Store With No DRM

Amazon are planning to launch an online music store that sells music without copyright protection. Amazon are licensed to sell music from 12,000 different record companies. Millions of tunes are to be sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). ALL music sold from the website will be DRM free which means tunes will play on ALL MP3 players, watch out iTunes, oh and Windows Media guys, you better watch out too!

There are no official details on when the store will be open which means we don't have an exact date for "National CD Burning Day" yet, but it will be open some time this year.

Halo 3 Online Multiplayer Released Today!

Gaming News

With more than 2 years spent in the development room, Halo 3 has been let out to get some fresh air. As of today you will be able to try out the Online Multi-player part of the game. There will be 3 different maps to try out in a number of different game types. With a whole load of new features in the new game you wont want to miss out on this chance to get a sneaky shot. From 1pm UK time today it is available on Xbox Live for download. It is only available for 3 weeks so make sure you use the time wisely.

New FREE Programming Tool Allows Anyone To Create Own Video Games

A free programming tool primarily aimed at children has been created that allows people to create their own video games, interactive artwork and own animated stories. The program is named Scratch and does not require any prior knowledge of complex computer coding, a simple graphical interface is used to build your own programs. The Internet nowadays has a huge variety of video and animation experiences and now kids can create their very own! Objects and characters, chosen from a menu and created in a paint editor or simply cut and pasted off the web, are animated by snapping together different "action" blocks into stacks, just like how kids would put together building blocks or Lego.

Professor Resnick said: "With Scratch, our goal is to allow people to mix together all kinds of media, not just sounds, in creative ways. We want people to start from existing materials - grabbing an image, grabbing some sound, maybe even bits of someone else's program and then extending them and mixing them to make them their own."

There are also sites such as HacketyHack that entail more traditional coding. HacketyHack provides kids seven free lessons with one that allows them to develop a blog with just six lines of coding.

Fed Up With Bebo & MySpace? Give Imeem A Go!

Website Of The Week

Sorry to say but this is about another Social Networking site. Frankly, i am sick to the back teeth of your Bebo's and your MySpace but i have found another one that i just cant get away from, i don't know whether this is fortunate or unfortunate but either way i really like it! It is called Imeem and is an online media community. To be a bit more specific i am going to take a line right out of their homepage.

"IMEEM is an online community where artists, fans & friends can promote their content, share their tastes, and discover blogs, photos, music and video."

Recently i have been away from my music supply and it has been driving me mad! I love tunes and when i don't have my sounds to listen to, i get really cranky! Well this Imeem site has saved my life, or rather it has saved others from my crankiness! Very simple to use, sign up in the same manner as all the rest of them, search for a song in the search bar and add it to a playlist, easy! I was very surprised at the amount of songs available and the variety, i have found stuff that i have been trying to find for years! As long as this website is opened up in the browser you can leave the CD's to go dusty in the rack.

I have been using it primarily for my Trance supply but the video, photo and blogging services look great aswell. I'm going to get a video playlist going on next.

Check out my profile and have a look at the rest of Imeem

Online TV Joost Announce 5 New Investors

Online TV service Joost have announced they have raked in $45 million from 5 different investors. The investors include CBS, Viacom, Index Ventures, Sequoia Capital and Li Ka-shing, the chairman of Hutchison Whampoa. CBS and Viacom have already provided content for the service but with other investment the service has been updated and i have seen the channel count rise from around about 10 to 150!

Joost creators Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstroem who were also behind the music site Kazaa are making a good job of dropping their unpopular reputation by creating what is shaping up to be a top service!

Mobile TV To Push Out Music And Games On Phones

Top mobile researchers have announced this week that they believe that it wont be long before TV via mobile will be the peoples number 1 mobile application, ahead of music and gaming. It is pretty unlikely that us Brits will be flicking through the channels on our mobiles any time soon, but, there are services currently available in Japan, South Korea and Italy and they are attracting millions of subscribers! Statistics say that in Japan and South Korea there are 5.8m people watching TV on their mobile phones with millions more watching on other hand held devices and in-car equipment. In Italy, Vodafone and Sky Italia's recently launched Mobile TV service has attracted half a million subscribers. The service has 17 channels to choose from and can be paid for monthly or you can get it for free if you sign up to a contract.

The argument against Mobile TV at the moment is, the majority feel that the quality is not all that great and watching TV on the smallest of screens is not exactly ideal, to be honest, squinting into a mobile phone with my hands cupped around the screen to keep the light out isn't my favourite way to watch TV. One point i want to make here however is that, it wasn't all that long ago where the idea of taking pictures with a phone was wild! and browsing the Internet on your mobile was amazing! and recording your own videos was just insane! The exact same things were said about these applications and now people cant imagine these luxuries not being a part of their mobile. If these guys say that mobile TV is going to be huge, then it is most likely to be true!

Check Out This Video On Mobile TV

ITV Online Service Slaps BBC & C4 In The Face!

Channel 4's On Demand service once looked new and exciting and the BBC's recently announced iPlayer IS the new "new and exciting"online service right? Well, no! ITV have decided to ruin it for BBC and have announced details of their very own online service.

Channel 4's online simulcasts and downloads and BBC's new 7-day web catch up service don't really look all that hot anymore. ITV have really up'd the ante and are offering FREE live streaming of all ITV channels plus a 30-day catch up service. All they ask in return is that you wear a huge grin so they can rub it in the silly monkey faces of the BBC. In saying that however, i have to tell you that watching the Champions League online will still cost ya £20 for a season ticket, no changes there.

The service supposedly will be available in the next few weeks which is another one notched up over the BBC, whose iPlayer isn't due for release until later in the year.

BT To Stop Its ISDN Service

Some time later on in the year, BT is to withdraw its ISDN service from consumer use. ISDN was the most popular choice of connection between home workers as dial up just wasn't quick enough at accessing data. With broadband deals being as cheap as chips nowadays there is just no need for ISDN BT say, but some people still believe that ISDN is essential for their jobs. According to watchdog Ofcom the UK average speed used by the 50% of adults with broadband is 3.8Mbps. Bit of a step up from the 64Kbps ISDN connection ain't it? The death of ISDN is mostly affecting broadcasters. When filing reports away from base, ISDN has proved to be very useful, unfortunately the technology is being discontinued all over the world leaving many broadcasters with a problem of what to replace it with. Gavin Davis who is head of Glen Sound who make ISDN equipment for the broadcast industry believes that there is nothing that can replace it! as ISDN gives you the same speed upstream and downstream.

I'm not sure but i think BT might just be about to make a bit of a boo boo.

DRM Is Being Removed From Music Dowloads!

I wrote a post back in February on this subject, when companies were debating whether or not to abolish DRM from music downloads. At the time it seemed the only label up for it were EMI and they had already started to get rid some of their DRM. The process has now gone a step further and EMI and Apple have joined together to finally scrap these bloody DRM's.

EMI sent out an invitation to a media event today, to the media on Sunday with EMI stating that themselves and Apples Steve Jobs had a new exciting digital offering. The conference is at 1pm today and you can listen to it here

DRM backers say the locks protect the rights of artists and stop wholesale copying of music. Steve Jobs argument is "The abolition of copy protection software known would be good for consumers and music suppliers. Copyright protection has failed to tackle piracy"

I have to say, i very much agree Steve! Get rid of it!

Blogger Hounded By Death Threats

Technology blogger Kathy Sierrra is at the centre of a row over blog bullying. In her case however, "blog bullying" is a bit of an understatement. Ms Sierra has been receiving unbelievable amounts of death threats and she calls for a change in the blogosphere. She has support from some of the worlds big web experts including Tim O'Reilly who was speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live on the matter.

"I do think we need some code of conduct around what is acceptable behaviour, I would hope that it doesn't come through any kind of [legal/government] regulation it would come through self-regulation."

"The fact that there's all these really messed-up people on the Internet is not a statement about the Internet. It is a statement about those people and what they do and we need to basically say that you guys are doing something unacceptable and not generalise it into a comment about this is what's happening to the blogosphere."

Click here to check out the full story from the BBC

Viacom Join With Joost To Deliver New TV Programs

TV big boys Viacom are adding programs onto the Joost TV guide. Joost have always said they were looking to add quality to the service sooner rather than later, as i mentioned in my previous post on Joost. Personally i thought it was going to be another flop and nothing half decent was ever going to be available. The new deal between the two however includes programming from Paramount Pictures, the MTV Networks and BET Networks. Some new programs include Real World, Punk'd and Beavis and Butthead. OK they ain't masterpieces or works of art but at least its new! and with this new deal struck up, I'm sure it'll only be a matter of time before it is up and running with a proper package.

Joost are also rumoured to be in talks with Channel 4 and ITV about putting their programs onto the online service. Channel 4 recently started their own online service with 4 On Demand and ITV are thought to be starting the same kind of thing.

iSporty: It's New! It's MySpace For Sports Fans

Yes its another social networking site, and your no doubt fed up of receiving emails everyday from your "friends" encouraging you to sign up for YET another one. iSporty i found a little more interesting though. I have dubbed it as "MySpace for sports fans" but it is actually a lot better than MySpace and offers you a lot more.

In truth, it ain't just a social site. When signing up, like all other sites of this nature, it asks you your interests and hobbies blah blah blah. But iSporty have put all this farcing around to good use. Yes you get your profile page just like MySpace or Bebo but you also get your own homepage, offering you the latest news, photos, videos and relevant blogs related to the sports that you are interested in. Its kinda like a My Yahoo news page but it does it all for you and only tells you what you want to here. In my case, it is mainly football and lets me know all about the latest news and rumours, especially from the Premiership and Europe so if you are a football fan, i do recommend this, it is bloody brilliant for the football. I've put on a snapshot of my homepage, just to give you an idea of what your homepage will look like.

Other great features are, it offers you a whole load of sports clubs, gyms and all other sorts of facilities that are available in your area, with the option of joining. If you actually take part in your sport and are not just a follower then you will benefit even more. Hooking up with your fellow members from down the gym, fellow teammates or even the opposition is very easy to do, you can really get your group known on this.

iSporty also has its own TV channel going by the incredibly creative name of "iSporty TV" which is made up of real life video clips sent in by its members and is presented by Match of the Day’s Rebecca Lowe, Britain’s top 3000m steeplechase athlete Jo Ankier and ITV pundit Gary Newbon.

Click Here to join iSporty for FREE

PayPal Release New Security Key

The main reason behind this new security measure from PayPal is to beat phishing attacks, that can gain login details for accounts. PayPal which is owned by EBay, is ultra popular with EBay's users and and can also be used on pretty much any website selling something. PayPal have been targeted by these phishing attacks for a long time now, which has resulted in a lot of fraud not just for regular Paypal users but on a much larger scale for enormous amounts of loyal, trustworthy EBay users. The new key will generate a different 6 digit number every 30 seconds which you will use to login to your account along with your username and your account password, giving you 2 passwords if you like. This isn't the first time this has been used by no means as lots of business companies use this system but it really is about time PayPal done something to better their security, no matter how big or small.

Just to keep you aware, Phishing attacks are fake emails if you like, imposing themselves as, in this case, an email from EBay or Paypal. Encouraging you to reply so they can monitor you using your login details. Some are just plain stupid and you really would have to be an idiot to fall for them but some are very well put together and can easily catch people out. So you are warned!

This new "Security Key" will be available to US users first and will cost $5. I will tell you however that this doesn't guarantee total safety. Some phishing attacks can get past this but it is a lot safer than to have one than to not.