Mighty Gadget Blog: The latest technology news & reviews in the UK

A slightly off topic post but this weekend I had the pleasure to go down to London to attend the Stuff Live Show 2008. I am lucky enough to live in sunny old Blackpool so getting a train to London was the best option.

Unfortunately while the show was excellent, and my accommodation was good enough I found my experience with Virgin Trains less than pleasing.

I booked our tickets in advanced on thetrainline.com costing me a grand total of £137.50 for 2 people. I know this is not a lot of money but it is quite expensive when the accommodation for 2 nights cost less, and I for £100 for 1 person I paid for a flight to Geneva. I could also book a flight from Blackpool to Barcelona at the weekend for 2 people including taxes and fees for £60.89.

Granted it is common knowledge that trains are not cheap while flights can be. The real problem I had was when boarding the train at Preston there was 4 1st class carriages and 3 2nd class carriages. With a good chunk of one of the 2nd class carriages been taken up by the food and drinks section.

This therefore meant that the train had already filled all the seating area by the time it arrived in Preston so we were forced to stand.

Each stop after Preston more and more people got on to the train, to the point where it was physically to crowded to move, it was impossible to move down the carriage to the toilets. To say I was a little too close for comfort with the man standing next to me would be an understatement.

When we were an hour from London one of the staff on the train kindly informed us we could use the 1st class seats. It was actually so full we still had to stand, but at least I could breathe.

I realise trains are busy, and if it looks too busy I you should just wait until the next one, however I think a train company should take some responsibility, the train was overcrowded to the point I am pretty sure they were breaking some health and safety rules. If the train gets to the point where it is too full a member of staff should stop people boarding.

I also like the fact they repeatedly announced that we should pay attention to their safety posters. Yeah if I could bloody breathe let alone move I may of read it.

I also have to question what kind of moron thinks that putting 4 1st class carriages and 2.5 standard class carriages on a busy train is acceptable? I quickly checked online and the first class return fair would cost me £370, I can't see many people taking that option!

I am just glad I wasn't hungover on Saturday or the 10+ people I was crammed next to would of had me projectile vomiting on them for 4 hours!

I am finally back from London after the Stuff Live show. Unfortunately I seem to of come down with a virus, I guess as a result of my travelling further south than Manchester! So sorry for the delayed posts. Over the next couple of days I will be posting all the information and pictures from the Stuff Live event!

Jack Thompson has been a thorn in the side of video game companies with his fight against computer violence. While he has caused quite a bit of grief for game companies he has become a bit of a laughing stock in the community.

Thompson was recommended for permanent disbarment this year on charges of abusing the legal system and 27 different counts of misconduct. As well as getting permanently disbarred, Thompson was also forced to pay $43,675.35 in legal fees to the court.

According to Game Politics it would appear that the disbarment has finally been made official.

I am sure this wont stop him from being so vocal about his beliefs though

The Florida Bar documents for disciplinary action can be read here

This may not seem so interesting to most people but it is I promise. Adobe officially released Flash Player 10 on October 15th.

The new version of flash has some major improvements over Flash 9. One of the main improvements includes full-screen HD which should help for them specialist sites you like to go on.

The other features include:

3D effects

Create more intuitive, engaging interfaces using built-in support for 3D effects. Get started quickly without being a 3D master by designing in 2D and easily transforming and animating in 3D. Fast, extremely lightweight, and simple-to-use APIs, along with 3D tools in Adobe® Flash® CS4 Professional software, make motion that was previously accessible only to expert users via ActionScript® language or custom third-party libraries available to everyone.

Custom filters and effects

Create high-performance, real-time effects for cinematic experiences that quickly engage users. With new Adobe Pixel Bender™, the same technology behind many filters and effects in Adobe After Effects® software, these dynamic and interactive effects can be used both in production with After Effects CS4 and live with Flash Player 10. The Pixel Bender just-in- time (JIT) compiler can also be used to process other types of data, such as sound or mathematical functions, asynchronously in a separate thread.

Advanced text support

Take advantage of a new, flexible text layout engine that brings print-quality publishing to the web, building on more than 25 years of Adobe expertise in typography. Gain more control over text layout using an extensible library of ActionScript 3.0 text components to flow text and sophisticated typographic elements such as ligatures across multiple columns, around inline images, bidirectionally, vertically, or chained together. Create multilingual rich Internet applications (RIAs) using device fonts that can now be anti-aliased, rotated, and styled, or build your own unique text components.

Dynamic sound generation

Use enhanced sound APIs to dynamically generate audio and create new types of audio applications such as music mixers and sequencers, real-time audio for games, and even audio visualizers. Work with loaded MP3 audio at a lower level by extracting audio data and supplying it to the sound buffer. Process, filter, and mix audio in real time through the Pixel Bender JIT compiler to extend creative freedom beyond the visual experience.

Drawing API Enhanced

Perform runtime drawing more easily with restyleable properties, 3D APIs, and a new way of drawing sophisticated shapes without having to code them line by line. Developers can tweak parts of curves, change styling, replace parts, and use custom filters and effects, delivering improved throughput, creative control, and greater productivity. Enhancements to the Drawing API add the z dimension, real perspective, textured meshes in 3D space, a retained graphics model, read/write rendering, and triangle drawing with UV coordinates, while adding memory and improving performance.

Hardware acceleration Enhanced

Use the hardware processing power of the graphics card to paint SWF files into the browser and accelerate compositing calculations of bitmaps, filters, blend modes, and video overlays faster than would be performed in software.

Vector data type

Use the new typed array class for better performance, efficiency, and error checking of data.

Dynamic Streaming

Show exceptional video with streams that automatically adjust to changing network conditions. Leverage new quality-of-service metrics to provide a better streaming experience.

Speex audio codec

Take advantage of the new, high-fidelity and open source Speex voice codec, which offers a low-latency alternative for voice encoding. Flash Player also supports ADPCM, HE-AAC, MP3, and Nellymoser audio.

File upload and download APIs Enhanced

Bring users into the experience by letting them load and save files from your web application. New file reference runtime access allows local processing of data without roundtripping to the server.

You can download it here

Esquire's October issue will have 100,000 copies sold with a flashing E-Ink display. This is the first magazine to ever use E-Ink and the technology used is exclusive to Esquire until 2009.

E-Ink is a type of electronic paper that is typically used in E-Book devices such as the Sony Reader of the Amazon Kindle. E-Ink is essentially millions of micro capsules containing one positively charged white particle and one negatively charged black particle. When a negative electric field is applied, the white particles move to the top of the microcapsule to become visible to the reader. This makes the surface appear white at that spot. At the same time, an opposite electric field pulls the black particles to the bottom of the microcapsules where they are hidden. By reversing this process, the black particles appear at the top of the capsule, which now makes the surface appear dark at that spot.

Unlike other electronic displays this means that power is only needed to change what is written on the page rather than a continuous supply of electricity. This means that E-Ink uses far less ink than a normal display. The ink can be printed onto any surface including glass, plastic, fabric and even paper, allowing E-Ink to be used in almost any application including magazines and newspapers.

In order for Esquire to achieve this magazine cover they had to make a six-figure investment to hire an engineer in China to develop a battery small enough to be inserted in the magazine cover. The batteries and the display case are manufactured and put together in China. They are shipped to Texas and on to Mexico, where the device is inserted by hand into each magazine.

Unfortunately the batteries will only last 90 days.

Music broadcaster (although it's been a long time since MTV's core channels could be classed as music programming) MTV has confirmed today that it plans to launch a HD TV service in the UK by the end of 2008.

MTVNHD will be a 24-hour service originating in Poland, with a mix of bought-in and original programming, including extreme sports, music charts packages and live concerts.

MTVNHD will also broadcast a block of programming from sister network Nickelodeon, including Spongebob.

Availability of the channel is unconfirmed at the moment, but Sky HD is almost certain to be included. Virgin Media and Freesat HD customers will have to wait and see.

TechRadar reports that the N79 and N85 handsets first captured in spy shots in June have finally become official.

To the left (shown bearing the N00 markings as in the original leaked photos) is the new slider design, the N85. The phone appears to be a baby brother to the new flagship handset, the N96, with a 2.6" OLED screen, GPS, FM radio and 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens. The N85 will be delivered with a free 8GB memory card.

Over on the right is the new "candybar" phone, the N79. Bundled with a 4GB memory card, the N79 packs in all the same features as the N85, and sees the return of the old Xpress-On replaceable covers that owners of the old 3210 handsets will not-so-fondly remember.

Contract-free prices are reported to be €350 for the N79 and €450 for the N85. No word yet on when these will hit the UK networks.

We have just confirmed that Mighty Gadget will be attending this years Stuff Live! Event. It is still a couple of months away but we thought we would remind everyone that it is on. While the show wont be quite as big or elaborate as the likes of CES it should still be a great show.

The follow press release has been issued from Stuff.

The World’s best selling gadget magazine Stuff, are once again bringing the UK’s premier home cinema, gadget and technology show to London. Yes that’s right, put the dates in your diary for Stuff Live 2008, in association with What Hi-Fi Sound and Vision, from 31^st October – 2^nd November 2008.

But this year the organizers have decided to shake things up, with an impressive new venue at the ExCeL centre, in London’s Docklands, following the show’s substantial growth and success over the last few years.

This year’s show will host the Exclusive, first ever, UK Live competition of Guitar Hero’s amazing new game ‘World Tour’.

Guitar Hero will be hosting the first ever UK competitions throughout each day on their exclusive Guitar Hero Stage.  There will be great prizes for the winners so ROCK IT TO WIN IT! So come and show off your skills in front of a live audience at the UK's leading technology show!

Other incredible features include; the Gibson Robot SG & Les Paul Limited Edition Guitars. The Kef Muon Series, six-foot, four-way, eight-speaker solid aluminum speaker set-up, worth £70,000. This new range of Muon speakers, are one of 100 existing sets, designed by Ross Lovegrove designer of the walkman and the iMac.

The show will also feature a Chill-Out Lounge where the Games Room Company will be providing the best and most luxurious games equipment you can buy.  Challenge your friends at Pool, Air Hockey, Pinball, 'old Skool' Arcade games and much more in a specially tailored Chill-Out Zone.

There will also be the world’s first hovering chair worth £5,000, and the world’s first electric superbike worth £40,000 and product showcases from the likes of Canon, Sonos, Tom Tom, Tvonics, LG, Jolida, Asus, Archos, Pure Digital and many more.

In addition to all of this, other highlights include the Stuff Stage, home cinema demonstrations, game screenings, Goal striker penalty shootout, and Stuff magazine’s ‘Show Us Your Stuff’ competition, Live final, which will see five finalists battle it out to become Stuff.tv’s next online Vidcast Presenter www.stuff.tv/showus.

The winners of the What Hi-Fi Sound and Vision annual awards and the Stuff magazine 2008 Awards will also be exhibited at the show. The winners are announced at an annual awards ceremony in London, this October.

If that wasn’t enough, there is also a revamped our image creating a new-look for the show with a stylish new logo and fully interactive website.

The new website, www.stufflive.co.uk now live, and packed with more information on exhibitors, activities, competitions and show information than ever before. Highlighting the very best products on show this year, from hi-fi and home cinema entertainment packages, digital cameras to robots, as well as providing advice and tips on new product launches, and what to see and do at this year’s show.

With a wealth of exhibitors we guarantee there will be plenty to tickle your fancy.

Ticket sales

Tickets, which cost £20 for adults, and £10 for children under 16 years of age plus a £1 booking fee, on sale the website now www.stufflive.co.uk.

Further information can be obtained by calling 0870 040 0383. Or visit http://www.stufflive.co.uk

For a full list of exhibitors, see http://www.stufflive.co.uk