Thriller – Live

Posted on June 1, 2007 by mike

The next live event I went to see here in London was “Thriller – Live” at the Hammersmith Apollo. Yet again, I have not been disappointed! A great evening! Based around songs from Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5 it was like a trip down memory lane!
Getting some decent images or videos from the show was a bit harder. I got twice “interupted” by some security guy, making me aware that it is not allowed to make any recordings during the show. Anyway, here is a short clip, giving you an idea about the show.

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MultiTouch Displays

Posted on May 30, 2007 by mike

Microsoft Surface Logo

MultiTouch Displays have been around for quite some time now, but none was actually really available in a commercial product.The first commercial product to actually have a MultiTouch display/interface will be the iPhone, but Microsoft has now announced their own range of MultTouch devices, and I have to say that they look very impressive! Have a look a thei website introducing the Microsoft Surface range of products. Many demo videos can be found by now on the net, one example is here. Amazing! Microsoft indicates that the first products will be available around the end of the year!

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Google Maps StreetView

Posted on May 30, 2007 by mike

Google Maps StreetView

Google Maps StreetView Google has recently added a new feature into GoogleMaps: StreetView. Although currently only available for major US cities, it is rather amazing! Click on teh picture above to get an idea about what it looks like, or try it out for yourself…make sure you are using maps.google.com and not one of the country specific sites. Once you select StreetView, you will see most of the streets marked in blue, indicating you which streets have already been added into the system. You can then select any location on any of these street and it will present you with a 360degrees view of that exact location! Simply amazing!

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Die Fantastischen Vier Video Clip

Posted on May 29, 2007 by mike

As promised, here is a video clip showing some of the images/videos I took recently at the Forum in Kentish Town. It is 15 minutes long…enjoy, but don’t expect HiDef quality. The pictures and videos have been taken with a Sony DSC T9.

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Die Fantastischen Vier

Posted on May 25, 2007 by mike

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I went to see "Die Fantastischen Vier" tonight at the Forum in Kentish Town, and I have to say that I haven't been disappointed at all! It was great fun! Nearly 2 hours incredible fun! Although it was a bit weird to be surrounded only by German speaking people (kind of expected this). It was actually rather funny to see the guys on stage speaking English 😉 Anyway, I can only recommend to go and see them live! The fact that their only gig here in the UK was in a rather small venue made it even better. Although, the Forum isn't that smal. The concert was initially planned at the Mean Fiddler, which is much smaller, but was sold out within a short period of time, and as a consequence they moved to the Forum, which was also packed with people! Great fun! I will upload some more pictures and short clips in the coming days.

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Red Bull Air Race coming to London

Posted on May 9, 2007 by mike

Red Bull Airrace

I have just noticed that the Red Bull Air Race will this year, for the first time, come to London (28/29th July). And to make it even more exiting, the "track" will be on the river Thames between Docklands and the O2 (Millennium Dome), meaning directly in front of the place where I live! I am certainly looking forward to this event. You can find more here.

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Joost for friends

Posted on May 2, 2007 by mike

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The latest version of Joost Beta has a new feature: Unlimited invites! Although content on Joost, especially if you are located in the UK or in Europe is still limited, it is still interesting to play around with it! It is getting better with every release. Some examples of contenat that can currently be seen on Joost over here in the UK:

– XL Recordings Channel – Plenty of "The Prodigy" videos
– Fifth Gear clips
– GameStar TV
– i-Concerts (London Live Episodes 1-12, Bjork)
– Ministry of Sound TV

And many more… 

Anyway, just drop me a note if you want to test it for yourselves.

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BBC HD on Freeview on your PC

Posted on April 22, 2007 by mike

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I spend some time recently to find out how I could receive BBC HD (High Definition) over Freeview on my Vaio MediaCenter PC. Although the process of getting it to work is not really straightforward, it is certainly worth the effort. I managed to do it using DVBViever, PowerDVD7 H.264 codecs and AC3 filter. Unfortunately it seems that even a Core2 Duo 6300 is not fast enough to stream it without problems. But it is possible to record the stream and play it back without too many problems. I guess I will continue to play around with it , but I guess without a faster CPU, I will be stuck with non perfect quality. Anyway, well worth the time to give it a try. Oh, yes, there is obviously one limitation: You need to live in an Area with very good reception from the Cristal Palace Transmitter, since at the moment, this is the only transmitter which carries the BBC HD channel.

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New TV Series: Drive

Posted on April 14, 2007 by mike

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I was recently watching the first two episodes of a new TV Series on Fox (and CTV), and I have to say that I actually was positively surprised. The series is created by Tim Minear. Tim is a well known writer of many episodes of several other popular TV series, like Angel and Firefly. One of the 12 main actors is Nathan Fillion, which a lot  of you might remeber from Firefly. Anyway, certainly worth a to give this new series a try. Find more at the FOX Website

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Fanta 4

Posted on April 8, 2007 by mike

As the title already indicates, this entry is about the german band "Die Fantastischen Vier". I heard recently that they will have a gig here in London, as part of their Club-tour called "Fornika für Dich" Well, I have never seen them live, and as such, I decided to buy tickets straight away. They will play at the Mean Fiddler on May 24th. Can't wait for it!

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