Entertainment « Darren Straight’s Blog

Archive for Entertainment

Valve opens up The Orange Box!

10 Oct, 2007 1 Comment

Valve has today announced the official ‘uncrating’ of The Orange Box, now available on Steam.

The Orange Box features three top-rated new games by Valve: Half-Life 2: Episode Two, the second installment in the Half-Life 2 episodic trilogy; Team Fortress 2, the sequel to the game that put class-based, multiplayer team warfare on the map; and Portal, the game that blends puzzles, first person action, and adventure gaming to produce an experience like no other.

To bring gamers up to date with the Half-Life 2 universe, The Orange Box also includes Half-Life 2, the best-selling and highest-rated action game series of all time, and the episodic debut Half-Life 2: Episode One—together, more than 30 hours of award-winning gameplay. Purchasers of the PC version of The Orange Box who already own Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode One can conveniently “gift” them to a friend from within Steam.

All games included in The Orange Box are available separately or as part of two exclusive Steam collections: The Source Premier Pack and The Valve Complete Pack.

Now stop reading about it - Go Download It!

The Invasion - Trust no-one, show no emotion, don’t fall asleep!

9 Oct, 2007 1 Comment

This Friday the 12th of October, the new new sci-fi thriller film The Invasion staring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig (his first outing since Bond) while directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel (Downfall), is coming to UK Cinemas!

The Invasion is about a space shuttle which mysteriously crashes on Earth, and an extraterrestrial disease in the wreckage begins infecting human beings. A psychiatrist from Washington, D.C., Carol Bennell (Nicole Kidman), and her colleague Ben Driscoll (Daniel Craig) discover that the transformation caused by the infection is triggered by REM sleep, robbing the victims of their humanity. So as the infection spreads, fewer people can be trusted. Fighting to stay awake, Carol looks for her son, who may hold the answer to stopping the invasion!

From what I’ve seen of the Trailer Videos and Images so far, this looks like to be a great film - my reaction when seeing the official trailer was “Wow - followed my cold chills down my back - then Wow again!”

For those of you who have access to the SCI FI channel, the first 10 minutes of The Invasion will premiered exclusively on the SCI FI channel, at 10pm Today (Tuesday the 9th of October)

The Invasion Poster (Released Version - Red)

The Invasion Poster (Unreleased Version - Blue)

Jamie Oliver stars in Pixars Ratatouille

9 Oct, 2007 1 Comment

Pixars animated film Ratatouille will hit UK cinemas on 12th October and with it Jamie Oliver will be making his big-screen debut as the voice of the morose restaurant health inspector!

Jamie said: ‘I probably got the most miserable character in the whole of the film, which is obviously different from me in real life. He’s totally bored with life. It’s the first time I have been asked to do anything which is totally not me.’

‘My motivation for doing this film was my kids. When this film comes out, they are going to love it.’

‘I can see myself in Remy the rat a little bit, I think the message to the world out there is have a go, get amongst it, give it a bash and actually you might surprise yourself and be brilliant. You don’t have to be born a cook, just get involved and have a go.’

Untitled J.J. Abrams Project Cloverfield Trailer #1

26 Sep, 2007 No Comment

For those of you that haven’t heard of Untitled J.J. Abrams Project (aka “Cloverfield”) Movie, I thought I’d post the first official teaser trailer here so you can see for yourself what it’s all about, or better said make up your own mind to what you think the movie is all about… as there’s so much speculation out there right now… but no real story, well there’s snipets or possible just rumours if you digg deep!

Official trailer at Apple.com (QuickTime)
Official trailer in Windows Format
1-18-08 (website requires Adobe Flash Player)
Untitled J.J. Abrams Project at the Internet Movie Database

Chuckle Brothers 20th Anniversary of ChuckleVision

26 Sep, 2007 No Comment

The Chuckle Brothers (Barry and Paul Elliot) are today celebrating the 20th Anniversary of ChuckleVision and wow I can’t believe it’s been 20 years since they first started ChuckleVision on BBC Television, it’s been great watching ChuckleVision through the years!

For those of you that don’t know what I’m talking about, here’s a bit about it:

The Chuckle Brothers, Barry Elliot (born 24 December 1944) and Paul Elliot (born 18 October 1947) are British comedians. They are best known for their BBC childrens’ TV show, ChuckleVision which is a popular British children’s television series, shown on CBBC, first shown in 1987. It follows the adventures of the two Chuckle Brothers, who find themselves in all sorts of situations that they must cope with.

They are prominent figures in British children’s television. The comedy of the Chuckle Brothers usually derives from slapstick and other visual gags, and their catchphrases are “To me, to you” and “Oh dear, oh dear”.

The ninteenth series started on Monday 5 February on BBC One.

Footage from the first ever episode of Chucklevision

Toshiba Tecra A8 Review

20 Sep, 2007 2 Comments

For the past week I’ve had in my possession a Toshiba Tecra A8 Notebook which I have thanks to Talk Toshiba and it’s Tecra A8 triallist programme in which they give bloggers, journalists and community leaders the chance to test out their laptops for a week (more if you request) in exchange for writing an honest, objective review on your blog, forum and community site etc.

So as my week of tetsing the laptop is now coming to an end, I thought I’d better give you my review of it.

First of all the hardware specifications for the Toshiba Tecra A8 Notebook are as follows (this was gatherd using SiSoft Sandra):

Processor
	Model	Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU T7200 @ 2.00GHz
	Speed	2.00GHz
	Cores per Processor	2 Unit(s)
	Threads per Core	1 Unit(s)
	Type	Mobile, Dual-Core
	Internal Data Cache	2x 32kB Synchronous, Write-Thru, 8-way set, 64 byte line size
	L2 On-board Cache	4MB ECC Synchronous, ATC, 16-way set, 64 byte line size, 2 threads sharing
	L3 On-board Cache	2x 4MB Synchronous, Write-Back, 16-way set, 64 byte line size

Mainboard
	Bus(es)	ISA VL-VESA PCI PCIe PCMCIA CardBus USB FireWire/1394
	MP Support	No
	MP APIC	No
	System BIOS	TOSHIBA 1.60
	System	TOSHIBA TECRA A8
	Mainboard	TOSHIBA Portable PC
	Total Memory	1016MB DDR2-SDRAM

Chipset 1
	Model	Toshiba America Information Systems Mobile Memory Controller Hub
	Front Side Bus Speed	4x 166MHz (664MHz data rate)
	Total Memory	1GB DDR2-SDRAM
	Shared Memory	8MB
	Memory Bus Speed	4x 132MHz (528MHz data rate)

Video System
	Monitor/Panel	Default Monitor
	Monitor/Panel	Default Monitor
	Monitor/Panel	Default Monitor
	Monitor/Panel	Generic Television
	Monitor/Panel	Generic Television
	Monitor/Panel	Plug and Play Monitor
	Monitor/Panel	Plug and Play Monitor
	Adapter	Mobile Intel(R) 945GM Express Chipset Family
	Adapter	Mobile Intel(R) 945GM Express Chipset Family

Physical Storage Devices
	Hard Disk	FUJITSU MHV2100BH PL (93GB)
	Hard Disk	Easy Disk USB Device
	CD-ROM/DVD	MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ-841S (CD 24X Rd, 24X Wr) (DVD 3X Rd, 3X Wr)

Logical Storage Devices
	Hard Disk (C:)	93GB (85GB, 91% Free Space) (NTFS)
	CD-ROM/DVD (D:)	N/A
	Removable Drive (E:)	1.9GB (497MB, 26% Free Space) (FAT)

Peripherals
	Serial/Parallel Port(s)	2 COM / 1 LPT
	USB Controller/Hub	Intel(R) 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB Universal Host Controller - 27C8
	USB Controller/Hub	Intel(R) 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB Universal Host Controller - 27C9
	USB Controller/Hub	Intel(R) 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB Universal Host Controller - 27CA
	USB Controller/Hub	Intel(R) 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB Universal Host Controller - 27CB
	USB Controller/Hub	Intel(R) 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 Enhanced Host Controller - 27CC
	USB Controller/Hub	USB Root Hub
	USB Controller/Hub	USB Root Hub
	USB Controller/Hub	USB Root Hub
	USB Controller/Hub	USB Root Hub
	USB Controller/Hub	USB Root Hub
	USB Controller/Hub	USB Mass Storage Device
	FireWire/1394 Controller/Hub	Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
	PCMCIA/CardBus Controller	Generic CardBus Controller
	Keyboard	Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
	Mouse	Alps Pointing-device

Communication Device(s)
	Device	TOSHIBA Software Modem

Power Management
	AC Line Status	On-Line
	Battery No 1	100%

Operating System(s)
	Windows System	Microsoft Windows XP/2002 Professional 5.01.2600 (Service Pack 2)

Network Services
	Network Drivers Enabled	No

Performance Tips
	Notice 5901	CD 1x= 150kB/s; Exercise caution when comparing measured versus published ratings.
	Notice 5902	DVD 1x= 11.08Mbps Exercise caution when comparing measured versus published ratings.
	Tip 2	Double-click tip or press Enter while a tip is selected for more information about the tip.

Not only did I test laptop by using automatic testing software such as SiSoft Sandra, PCMark06 and 3DMark06 but I also took the laptop out on the streets to get a better feel what it was like to use on the open road, as that’s the whole idea of laptops, portability so you can take it out with you.

Here’s what I think some of the Pros and Cons are of the laptop:

The Pros (The Good)

The overall look and feel

The overall look and feel of the laptop is pretty good; it has a simple yet smart appearance with no sharp corners on the edges.
The Size of it is pretty decent too, with a nice screen size of 15.4″.
The weight of the laptop is relatively light, and I had no problems carrying it around in a laptop bag for some of the day while testing it out on the streets.
The power is also pretty good; you can get a little more than 3 hours battery life out of it, especially if you use TOSIBA’s Power Saver Application.
It’s also worth noting that it’s also nice and quite

Hardware specifications

The Hardware Specifications are great for what the laptop is, and is has just about the right amount of external connection ports, however I would have liked to see some USB Ports to the side of the laptop so every time I wanted to plug in a USB Stick I didn’t have to reach round the back.
I found the onboard WiFi to work great while testing it at the University of Kent Canterbury Campus and at home.

The Cons (The Bad)

Keyboard Layout

I think the keyboard layout positioning was one of the things that bugged me most about the Toshiba Tecra A8 because the keys where a little cramped due to the fact that to the left of all the keys was a small vertical black strip section which was reserved for 3 buttons (power button, Toshiba Assistant Launcher, Resolution changer) so when placing your hands on the laptop straight away without thinking you would find that where you thought Q was, was in fact the TAB key and where you thought caps was, was in fact the Caps Lock Button.
Eventually I got a little better to remembering where the keys where but after spending a long time on a normal keyboard and coming back to the laptop keyboard it took a little time once again to get adjusted with the key positioning. I believe this problem could have been solve by either placing theses function buttons somewhere else like above the keyboard or by possible making the black colour strip a different colour.

Operating System

Though Windows XP is still a good operating system, it’s now 6 years old. I believe the laptop would have looked more up to date if Windows Vista was installed.

Conclusion

Other than the keyboard layout problem and the fact that I would have preferred Windows Vista to be preinstalled instead of Windows XP, I think the Toshiba Tecra A8 Notebook is a pretty good laptop for personal/work use, especially as it as a nice screen size and is quite lightweight. If of course Windows Vista was going to be preinstalled some more RAM than the current 1GB wouldn’t go a miss though.

LiveStation and Silverlight showcase at IBC2007

9 Sep, 2007 No Comment

IBC 2007 sees the start of the first large‑scale technical trial of the LiveStation platform, designed to distribute broadcast channels over the Internet to a freely downloadable player, based on a Microsoft Silverlight user experience.

LiveStation is a revolutionary new global network that will enable broadcasters to deliver live audio and video to a potential audience of hundreds of millions of broadband connected consumers.

Developed by Skinkers, a Microsoft participated company, LiveStation uses unique peer network distribution that is far more scaleable and economic than conventional streaming.

“LiveStation is based on real-time peer-to-peer distribution technology exclusively acquired from Microsoft,” explained Matteo Berlucchi, CEO of Skinkers. “This allows broadcasters to take advantage of a managed peer network to reach large online audiences with live radio and television and reduce their distribution costs dramatically.”

The LiveStation player is also one of the first available applications to use the latest Silverlight technology to deliver a dynamic and distinctive user experience. Silverlight allows high-quality video to be mixed with rich animated vector graphics and text overlays. Future releases of LiveStation will use the capabilities of Silverlight to deliver VC-1 encoded video on both Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac OSX operating systems.

“LiveStation is a great example of the power of Silverlight, created using familiar tools and technologies, and enabling even lower delivery costs,” said Gabriele di Piazza, director of the Media & Entertainment Group at Microsoft. “Silverlight enables rich interactive applications such as LiveStation to enhance the end-user experience by seamlessly combining video with interactive graphics.”

Following a successful pilot, LiveStation will initially be available as a technical trial with services from selected broadcasters. Based on the extremely positive feedback so far received from broadcasters, many additional channels are expected to join before the full launch of the LiveStation platform in 2008.

So if you’re heading to IBC2007 (Amsterdam) then be sure to head over to the Microsoft exhibition stand to catch LiveStation being demonstrated for the first time in Europe.

Universal Studios Hollywood closes Back To The Future The Ride

5 Sep, 2007 1 Comment

Monday was a sad day for many Back to The Future Fans as the Universal Studios Hollywood ride “Back to the Future - The Ride” closed forever to visitors at 8:00pm.

It’s a real shame to see Hollywood’s “Back to the Future - The Ride” close forever just like it did at Universal Studios Florida, luckily there’s no plans yet to close the last Back to The Future Ride at Universal Studios Japan, though I bet that won’t last forever either.

Replacing “Back to the Future - The Ride” at both Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Studios Florida will be a Simpsons Ride, which involves a simulator ride similar to the Back to the Future - The Ride. It will use 80 foot screens to give the rider a virtual-reality trip through a cartoon theme park called “Krusty Land.” Sideshow Bob will be a part of the ride though it’s not mentioned how.

Mel Kirk from Carson Systems sings All By Myself!

3 Sep, 2007 1 Comment

Mel Kirk from Carson Systems who is responsible for coordinating the Future of Web Apps Event (FOWA) told me that I wouldnt dare post a video of her singing along to “All By Myself by Celine Dion” on my blog “haha, you wouldn’t dare :)” after I told her that maybe I should post it here on my blog “Maybe I should post this on my blog see what my readers think!” but as she has kind of dared me!

I thought I would post it for a bit of fun!

Microsoft registers Windows Live Translator Domain Names

2 Sep, 2007 2 Comments

Within the last 10 days a number of newly registered or recently transfered domains have made their apperance on MSFT name servers. A list of many (not all) follows. The highlights feature both domains with the terms translation (Windows Live Translator) and television (Microsoft Portable TV).