Fresh Out The Frying Pan: Mayer Hawthorne

Growing up in Ann Arbor, Michigan just outside of Detroit, Hawthorne lists a host of soul greats including Smokey Robinson, Barry White, Isaac Hayes & Leroy Hutson as some of his main influences. After signing to Stonesthrow Records last year the 29 year olds' debut single 'Just Ain't Gonna Work Out' soon came to the attention of a number of well known dj's and producers. Making it's UK radio debut on Gilles Peterson best of 2008 show Hawthorne's soaring falsetto has also been receiving a lot of support and radio play from the likes of Mark Ronson and BBC 1Xtra's Benj B. It must also be noted that the multi instrumentalist plays a number of the instruments used on his records and while opinion amongst certain purists is divided, in my opinion he does seem to capture some of the essence of that classic sweet soul sound. Click below to listen or head on over to his Myspace Page for more tracks (watch out for his cover of the 'The New Holidays - Maybe So, Maybe No'). If you are in London you can also catch Mayer performing at Cargo on March 7th 2009.

Sneak Peek: Adidas Oregon Ultra LE

Since it's original launch in 1982 the Adidas Oregon had been one of Adidas' stable models, generating a continuous and substantial income for the company over it's 27 years in production and it's numerous incarnations. I particularly like this updated version of the original which I believe first appeared in the late 90's and is called the Oregon Ultra LE. It features completely reconfigured uppers and toe box yet in my opinion still retains the charm of the original. This clean black/white/grey colourway shown above I believe formed part of Adidas's 2008 spring/summer Originals Consortium - AZX Project collection with the colours themselves put together by clothing and apparel retailer and designers UNDFTED (Undefeated). Although currently unavailable in most stores a quick eBay search revealed a few sizes of this crispy colourway still floating about. Click the link to see some other interesting Oregon colourways.



Daps Of The Apps: UX Theme Multi-Patcher

Strictly speaking this is not an application rather a patch, but useful nonetheless. UX Theme Multi-Patcher is patch that is applied to the uxtheme.dll file in your Windows XP system which controls the themes located in the appearance tab of Display Properties, allowing the user to use any 3rd party MSS style. In normal English this means you can alter the appearance of the navigation bars and windows, giving your windows a whole new look/style/colour/feel etc. There are thousands of user made themes available (link shown below) in a multitude of styles, Including other popular operating systems (Vista, Apple OSX, Linux etc)

You can get applications that do this but by directly patching the windows system file it means you will not have to run any external applications (such as Windows Blinds) to implement such changes. Please be aware you alter your system files at your own
risk. Microsoft has in the past provided a couple of themes of it's own that do not require this patch such as the Zune theme, however these are not far different from the default Windows XP theme. After the patch is applied you simply click the msstyles file in your downloaded theme and you are good to go! Click the link for screen shots, additional info and downloads.

Other free utilities that are often used in conjunction with windows themes are Styler (which alters windows navigation buttons and bars) and Icon Tweaker (which changes your default icons). Again packs of icons and toolbars are widely available. Hit the Links for more info and downloads

UX Theme Multi-Patcher - Windows XP Sp2
UX Theme Multi-Patcher - Windows XP Sp3
Deviant Art - Windows Visual Styles


Tech Check: Palm Pre

Although Palm is nowadays not frequently sighted as a major force in the mobile tech industry, it has not always been the case. During the 1990's and early 2000's Palm PDA's were frequently sighted as some of the most innovative and forward thinking devices on the market, with many attributing some of the design concepts, included in their original Operating systems as providing a blueprint for many of today's most cutting edge smart phones and portable communications devices.

However after a series of poor business decisions and accusations of a decline in innovation and their forward thinking approach to tech design they had become famed for, the company eventually came close to bankruptcy. However, in January of this year at the consumer electronics trade show in Las Vegas Palm introduced a product which many are saying may well propel them back to the peak of the industry and pose a real threat to other revered products such as Apple's iPhone. A smart phone called the Palm Pre. Click the Link for more pics and info.

The phone itself incorporates many cutting edge technologies and is built on a completely new platform which palm are calling 'WebOS' which has been inspired by a deck of cards, with different applications and functions appearing as scrollable cards on the desktop. The device incorporates similar multi touch screen technology as included in the iPhone as well as a whole host of other new features. Using a new CPU from Texas Instruments called the Omap 3 the Pre is also set to be the most powerful smart phones on the market. We also find a gesture bar situated below the screen for gesture based input as well as a hard slide out keyboard.


Other ideas and functionality Incorporated into the device include 'wireless charging', and all the usual functions and applications you would find on cutting edge smart phones such as Wifi, b/g Bluetooth 2.0 (including A2DP for device tethering), 3G , google maps and an online application store in the pipeline. Palm have also introduced a number of features unavailable on the iPhone such as copy and paste MMS. Not to mention something that Palm calls Synergy, which allows you to pull together contacts and calendars from lots of different sources, but without altering or merging that data. For example Synergy will grab the same contact from Facebook, Gmail, and Outlook, then combine those into a "stack" of info for that person on your phone.

Scheduled for release in the first half of 2009, if the preliminary reports are to be believed Palm's Pre is set to become one of the most anticipated hand sets of all time and may well indicate a return to form for the struggling company. Click the link for indepth info, photo galleries and videos.

Engadget - Palm Pre Indepth