How incredibly ridiculous, I left 1/2 of my UK/US adaptor in the hotel, which means I’m on the clock with a minor uploading drama! So the video might or might not make it up there, with 32 minutes remaining, it’s anyone’s game.
Coffee!! I need Coffee!!
Highlights so far have been a proliferation of newer, greener display technologies (hold tight for OLED on the vid) and an emphasis on mobile content consuming, including a projector that’s been built into a phone.
In fact, the phone-projector from Samsung (using DLP technology) was the gadget I featured for BBC Click during filming last night, that’s going to be broadcast on BBC World, and perhaps even on the internet site too, which is very exciting.
… it’s heavy for its size, like a good bit of electronics.
Here’s a video of what happened when I met Nicole Cooke, the person who brought back the first gold medal for the UK in the Beijing 2008 Olympics. She won the Cycling Road Race.
I turned up at an out-of-the-way studio, and fought my way through rails of incredibly fashionable sportswear accompanied by pumping loud music, gigantic umbrella flash reflectors, and lots of people. This was a photoshoot for Nike’s Here I Am campaign featuring women in sport,
Nicole was refreshingly down-to-earth about her impressive win, and when I asked where she kept her Gold Medal, she replied that when she wasn’t carrying it around for worky things like this, it was in a pouch at home – she only gets it out when people want to see it! She talks about her training regime in the video, which sounds (unsurprisingly) punishing; obviously she looks great on it – I must admit being inspired to get in shape and eat less chocolate as a result of meeting her and the other ladies.
Note: This video was meant to be released ages ago, however, a funeral, the flu and then all this new stuff at the BBC kind of got in the way. Thank goodness for the xmas break, which meant I could finally get to work on these projects! There’s one more vid post coming up before CES 2009, which couldn’t be more different from this video, it involves a sweary heavy metal band being interviewed in the back of a van.
And next week, I’ll be blogging from Las Vegas with all the latest gadgets from the Consumer Electronics Show.
…Last week I found myself perched up on the roof of myhotel in Bloomsbury, London, to hear about a new launch from the people who brought us the Slingbox - the device which allows you to watch your own telly from anywhere in the world with decent internet access.
So here’s the video from that freezing cold day, thank goodness I got to go inside.
Listen out for the incredibly tenacious police chase that’s all over the audio, not even Logic 8 could get rid of that triumph of law enforcement.
That evening I went to the Harvest Twestival, and I’ll be editing up a video about Social Networking soon which incorporates some footage from this event. Thanks to Ben Matthews and Bright One for allowing access for the interviews!
Yes, we’re AVIn’ it large here at Geek Chic – lots of video for tech lovers! The second one is of Nero’s launch of their fabulous Move It software, alongside a release of Nero 9. In fact, instead of just being known for burning software, Nero are moving into something they call “Liquid Media”, which is a rather nice way of describing the way we use video, photos and music in the digital age.
Let’s face it, we’re not fussy where we consume media these days, be it on different platforms such as mobile phones and iPod-type devices, or just plain and simple online streaming like iPlayer on our laptops. It’s a quick and dirty world, media-wise. Content is king, it matters less how we ingest it, as long as we manage to input copious amounts of glorious gluttonous entertainment into our heaving brains, day and night, it’s never enough, and it never will be.
But I digress (as usual).
So here is Patrick Peeters, Nero General Manager, EMEA, telling us what it’s all about:
If you want to know more about the Nero Software, pop here to Nero’s site.
The software looks promising, and anyone who has ever tried to encode from one device to another will appreciate the simplicity afforded by a rather nicely skinned “drag and drop”-style video format swapper. I have my fingers crossed that they will create templates that are optimised for the Archos players, which will hopefully be added to their already generous selection of codecs.
Back into the editing dungeon now for a few more vids, and a lot more tea.
I’ve been editing like a wild thing! Just uploaded video from the Skype 5th Birthday party, in case you wanted to know what went on that night – Apologies for the slightly dodgy audio, the acoustics were not the best in a London nightclub with the New Yuricans playing at full volume during the individual interview section, although I did do a little tweaking. I really liked the fact that Josh from Skype used words like “Woolly Mammoth” in conjunction with Voice-Over IP software.
Nero has just launched some new software yesterday, including Nero 9 and a fabulous new program called “Move It” – I got to see it first last week (it’s been under embargo) and I recorded some vlog footage for your delectation. I may even be able to post the video up today if I drink enough tea to fuel the computer.
P.S. Rather bravely (some might say idiotically), I decided to play with the registry in Vista, being inspired by Techware Labs’ post – much to my amazement, my computer now starts up quicker, although I would be very, very careful and BACK UP if you also have an irrational urge to poke around in your PC’s private areas…
And if you’re wondering what the Bunny Rabbit was at the beginning of the video, it’s the Nabaztag Internet Bunny which will tell you what the weather’s like and pull stockmarket and news data from the internet.
…and for those of you who read my blog, here is a secret for you – hear the background music? That’s mine, that is !!
Yesterday was spent at Virgin Towers filming the second Gadget Spy – this was all done in a bit of a hurry,Virgin are keen to get this up and live on the web by next week – Eeeeek!
So we collected together an array of gadgets (and had some help from www.firebox.com – thankyou!) and hopefully got enough material together for our 3-minute webcast.
This was an incredibly fun day, it was tiring but very rewarding, as we’ve been working flat out since last week getting everything together for the magic day of filming.
We're in the studio area and setting up - within about 10 minutes, most floor space is covered with tech. There is a general need for tea. We've also realised that it's going to be boiling in here.
Phil from Virgin checks the gadgets - we have to work out which order to put them in right at the start of the show, so we can get the camera to pan across at the beginning and match our working script.
We like to have a few quirky, bonkers products in "Gadget Spy" - last time it was the Bubble Wrap Keychain. This time it's the Guitar Rockstar.
Thanks to www.firebox.com, who provided us with a few gadget loans for the pilot, and kindly let us borrow a few more for episode 2. Everything is boxed back up and sent back to Firebox HQ, so they'll lend us stuff again!
More tech ready for filming: you can see the top of the Pinnacle PVT Video Transfer, the Linksys Router, and the Archos TV+ as well as a few bits poking out of the case.
Dan, camera operator, checks the footage. Anyone doing any filming knows to check as soon as you do the first take, just to make sure video is actually recorded.
Here I am, "sitting in" - we're testing the shot before filming properly, we need to make sure the lighting works for the camera, and I've put a mark on the desk so I always sit in the same place!
My suitcase: Kit 'n' Heels, har har. This case got really battered when I took it to China and Dubai, and it's held a lot of tech in its time. On the way to and from Virgin Towers it's bulging with strange and wonderful stuff.
Behind the camera, filming the intro! We steam through the voiceover, the outro and each gadget, doing a couple of takes for each one - the basic rule is when you do a "good one", you do one more for safety. Normally, I'm pretty good at this, because I'm used to live TV and one chance to say something. However, by the end of the day, saying "Port Cool Fan Laptop Stand" took me about 6 tries. We got it all in the can though, and the next thing is editing it up for release - Working date : 10th September 2008
What follows is a quick look at what went on in the day. If you want to see the Flickr Gallery, please feel free to click here. I’m really looking forward to seeing the final cut, hope you like the pics!
Christmas in July is an odd occasion, foisted on us by various technology manufacturers, and I expect it may happen in other genres, too. It’s an event where press and buyers look at what’s on offer for this festive season, and in July, there’s enough time to get the stock ready for December delivery.
These kinds of events are where technology companies show off what they have, journalists talk about the products, then retail buyers / distributors buy the products so eventually they end up on the shelf / online for the general public.
I took my trusty camcorder with and filmed a little for you.
If you want to know what the present was in the video, it was this laptop bag from Tucano, I’m rather impressed actually, as it fits my monster Rizeon Laptop even with its gigantic 9-cell battery on the back and my powerpack too.
…I’ve taken it into QVC with me (I’m here all day today, WiFi blogging naughtily from the Cafe when I’m not on air – ahh, I love the smell of coffee and free internet). I even remembered to take the tag off, too. That label was a monster though, one of those plastic fastenings that don’t respond well to teeth or keys and you have to find proper scissors. That said, I’ll probably take this case to Dubai with me tomorrow, depending on whether I go hand luggage only (toothbrush, credit card, laptop, camcorder, N95, powermonkey), or whether I should risk the wrath of the Conveyor Belt of Doom and actually attempt a suitcase, which (at this late stage) normally involves panic packing.
For those glamorous capsule-wardrobe types (I love you, I wish I could do it too), you might not know about Panic Packing, so here’s a quick breakdown:
Panic Packing Stage 1: the entire contents of last minute TK Maxx (sale, of course) purchases are crammed unceremoniously into a ball and sat on until they just about fit in a suitcase that looks like it’s been through several warzones.
Panic Packing Stage 2: panic re-packing, i.e. realising that nothing useful, practical or indeed wearable has been packed and it’s a good thing you remembered to pack your credit card.
Stage 2 normally (and rather disappointingly) happens on arrival at the destination. Ho hum.
