BBC Radio 3: Big Red Nose Show with Largest Kazoo Ensemble

Audience at yesterday's BBC Radio 3 Red Nose Show at the Royal Albery Hall has set a new world record for 'Largest Kazoo Ensemble'. The record involved 3910 audiences taking part, 49 more than the previous record set in Sydney back in 2009. Me and @hardij were there when the record, played over Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries and the Dambusters March, was broken. The chaotic video below was recorded via my N8, so please excuse the blurriness. Add that to YouTube compression, and it isn't the most stunning video but at least you get the idea.



The event will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on Friday 18 March 2011 at 7pm, as part of Red Nose Day telethon for the Comic Relief charity.

Charbonize Macbook Air sleeve review

As you know I recently invested in the new 13" Macbook Air. The gorgeous notebook demands and deserves the best sort of protection, so I set out to look for the right case for it, one that is simple, unique but also chic.

After a week of searching, a mate of mine suggested to check out etsy.com for unique individualistic cases. There are plenty of cases to choose from on etsy.com, most of which were unique and handmade. But I had my eyes fixed on a stunning wool felt and leather case by Charbonize. Three weeks after ordering, it was delivered. The finished product was exactly as it was described on the website.

This case was tailor made for the Macbook Air using grey wool felt with white leather buttoned flap. There is also a choice to personalise it further by adding your name to the small embroidered wool tag on the side of the case. It is breathtakingly gorgeous and manufactured with great attention to detail. The seller is also extremely helpful and friendly. Thank you so much Charbonize, I will definitely to checkout other products by them!

Here are some pictures of the beautiful 13" Macbook Air sleeve case by Charbonize.





This review is by guest author @hardij

Nokia N8 ad with new status bar and portrait Swype spotted

Well well well, what do we have here? What at first looked like an innocent advertisement for the Nokia N8 on Yahoo!, actually provided us with a sneak peak on some UI changes that will likely début with firmware PR 2.0 or PR 3.0. The image was tweaked to fit onto Yahoo!'s square ad format, but there is little mistaking what it shows.

First up, the ad featured Swype portrait QWERTY keyboard. This was always known to be coming, so it isn't anything new. The second is the new Symbian status bar. This is now slimmer than the original Symbian touch status bar which takes up more than double the space. It is not known if the new status bar will be available system wide or only within certain applications.

Hat tip to @macintosh for spotting this ad.

Thank you!

Wow, this blog has been ranked 27 by Cision PR on their top 50 consumer technology blogs list in the UK. This surely ranks way up there in this blog's achievement (the other being linked by Nokia)!

I am pretty surprised by the recognition. When I started blogging in 2004, I did not know I would still be maintaining this blog eight years later. Through this blog, I've come to know many great people many who I'm become friends with, like Vysia from Unruly Media, who I met in 2005 in a small blogger's meetup.

Looking at the list, I feel honoured to be sharing them with some other people I know: Dan who writes for Coolsmartphone (4), Rafe from AllAboutSymbian (5) and the wonderful peeps from Three UK (50).

Special thanks to Jenni, my long term partner who has put up with me for far too long than she deserves. Also thanks to my friends on here and twitter, and last but not least you readers. Without you, this blog would not still exist!

Thanks to Mark for the heads up!

Three UK launches All You Can Eat data plan on Pay As You Go

Contract shy data addicts can finally rejoice! Three UK today is once again disrupting the mobile network industry by launching an 'All You Can Eat' data plan for Pay As You Go customers for £15. Whilst other UK network operators are cutting back on data allowances, the people at Three has decided to buck the trend again. In an age of smartphones and so-called 'superphones', Three are the only UK operator who seems to want to provide customers with the ability to use the smartphones as intended by the manufacturers.

The new data plan will be available as two add-ons: All in One 15 and All in One 25, and will be available to new customers. Older customers will be able to access the new add-ons after migrating onto the current tariff. All in One 15 will cost £15 and comes with 30-day access to unlimited data, 300 any network minutes and 3000 texts. On the other hand All in One 25 will offer 500 any network minutes, 3000 texts as well as 30-day access to unlimited data for £25. I should add that tethering is not supported with either All in One plan. Tethering is only available with Three's The One Plan.

There are fears that Three's network would not be able to cope with the increase in bandwidth demands. but Three's Sales and Marketing Director, Marc Allera, has stressed that their network was built for data, which is why they can introduce deals like this. With All You Can Eat data, users can now use their phones freely without fear of stepping over some threshold and incurring additional credit charge.

To celebrate the launch of this new offer, Three has informed me that they will be running a competition over the coming month to show the value of the deal, with prizes including a 30-day first class rail travel pass to Europe for two. Other prizes includes a smartphone along with a year's free All You Can Eat data and a huge amount of free calls and texts each month will also be up for grabs. To enter all you need is to head over here.

This blog will also be giving away something courtesy of Three UK in the coming weeks. Watch this space. :)

WhatsApp review

Two days ago I wrote about how I paid £20 for six months of Pay As You Go mobile internet, and how I thought there are little reason in needing voice and text bundles. These days most of my communications are text based, with voice calls made mainly through Skype or a land line phone (we do need them for our broadband).

So what do I use as a SMS replacement. Normally I use direct messages via twitter, but not everyone is on twitter, particularly my friends in Asia. For those who aren't, I use WhatsApp. WhatsApp is a cheap instant messaging client not too dissimilar to RIM's BlackBerry Messenger service - only this allows for cross platform conversations. Because WhatsApp uses your data connection, it is also cheaper - particularly if you send a lot of international texts. The only issue is your friends will have to use WhatsApp as well, but this applies to all instant messaging client.

Feature wise, WhatsApp is limited to text messaging with no option for voice calling. WhatsApp's main advantage over competing instant messaging clients is it automatically scans your phone book and presents a list of contacts (including profile pictures) who are also using WhatsApp into the Favourite category. Obviously this doesn't mean you can merrily contact anyone on that list. They have to have you listed on their phone book as well before they can see you.

Starting a new chat is easy. Simply click on a contact's name and start typing in the input box. Chats are presented with a threaded view, and is far quicker than the default Nokia's Conversation application (what isn't?). You can also send images, videos, audio notes and your current location. Unfortunately I have not found a way to cancel an upload short of closing the application.

Anyway, within the chat area, you will also be able to see whether the contact is currently online, and here lies the biggest issue with WhatsApp: unlike text messages, a text can't be pushed towards the contact if he or she isn't online. Early versions of WhatsApp for Symbian has proven to be a battery hog, but I've had no batteries issues with the latest version.

Quirks aside, WhatsApp is a cheap way of getting people off an expensive text messaging plan. It is currently available for a one year free service for those on Symbian and Android, after that it only costs US$1.99 a year to subscribe to the service.

Whatsapp is available for iOS, Symbian, Android and Blackberry platforms.

Killzone 3 Ultimate Recruit

Killzone 3 was released in the UK last week. The PS3 exclusive game, developed internally by Gureilla, has been gathering rave reviews. I've played the demo, and if you are a PS3 gamer I am sure you have. Based on the demo, I honestly believe this may be the most polished console first person shooter game out there - and I don't normally play console FPS games.

In any case, as part of Sony Computer Entertainment's grand Killzone 3 launch, they have opened a competition called the Killzone 3 Ultimate Recruit. Those who pass the Ultimate Recruit Training Program are being given the chance to fire a real life Helghast weapon over a live range remotely and win a couple of cool prices.

For a chance to take part to shoot the real Helghast weapon, you will need head there and sign up, then complete all the training missions. The first 500 to do so will earn the right to remotely control the weapon. Be the highest scoring recruit and you will win a paid trip this this year's E3 in LA!

I've bagged a pass to fire one of this bad ass weapon, and will report here once I am done.

Cheap data for your smartphone

This morning I paid £20 for another six months of Pay As You Go mobile internet. In the age of Twitter, Whatsapp, email and Facebook, I see little reason in needing voice and text bundles. I only occasionally top up to send a couple of texts. Granted it is on T-Mobile UK, the network that pissed over their customer base last month, but I can't complain with the price. And with Orange roaming enabled, they are still the best 2G network in terms of coverage.

There is one big catch. First while supporting HSDPA, T-Mobile speeds are capped at 250 Kbps on Pay As You Go, which is barely even EDGE speed. I've complained to a T-Mobile engineer about this, but there was nothing he can do apart from the go contract advice. Still, despite the 500 MB limit, it is fine for Twitter, email, Facebook and browsing via Opera, and you only pay an average of £3.33 a month for data. Besides I have a Three MiFi that I top up during times when I do need the bandwidth.

All I need to stay connected

If you do need voice and text bundles and do not mind going contract, Three UK's SIM 300 tariff on a 12 month contract is a good deal. For £10 a month you get 300 minutes, 3000 texts and 1 GB of internet. If the 12 month contract puts you off (like it does me), the SIM 100 rolling contract offers a bit less (100 minutes, same amount of data and texts) for £10 a month.

Three does (did?) have a £5 a month SIM only contract purely for mobile internet users, including 5000 minutes of Skype-to-Skype calls. Unfortunately the deal is buried deep on their site (if it is still there). I do know the tariff existed in some form, but you may need to ask one of their sales store as I can't find it on their site.

Obviously if you are a big data user like some of my twitter friends are (who regularly use 1 GB a day!) you can always go all you can eat with Three's The One Plan. £25 a month for 12 months, gets you unlimited data goodness to consume. And unlike most networks, tethering is allowed.