Them Ones There

Sweet Soul: Ken Parker - True True True

2009-04-08T22:53:00.012+01:00

Sometimes referred to as the 'Jamaican Sam Cooke', Ken Parker was born around 1948 (there is some confusion as to his birth year) and grew up in Savannah-La-Mar in the Westmoreland Parrish area of Jamaica, where his father was a preacher. Parker was exposed early to the effects of gospel music, and he drew on gospel inflections in his vocals throughout his whole career. Working with some of the biggest producers of the time including the legendary Clement Coxone Dodd, this track entitled 'True True True' is taken from his 1974 LP 'Jimmy Brown' released on Trojan Records. One of my favourite reggae artists of all time, an incredible soulful reggae talent. For a good retrospective of some of Ken Parker's best, pick up a copy of 'Ken Parker - The Best Of - Groovin' In Style (1967 - 1973)' (Amazon Link Below)

Ken Parker - The Best of Groovin' in Style (1967-1973) - Amazon

Hangover Cure: Dioralyte

2009-03-30T21:43:00.005+01:00

Although I am not a fan medication and this is certainly not new or ground breaking, Dioralyte is definitely one of the most useful and reliable solutions to the age old problem of the hang over I have ever come across. Before you start rubbing cod liver oil on your ears or jumping in an icy cold bath I would definitely suggest trying this stuff out. As the name suggests it is actually a treatment for Diarrhoea, and works by replacing lost water and body salts, effectively also providing a solution to the cause of a hangover. After a big night out, one sachet dissolved in water before bed and one in the morning if necessary and you will be feeling fresh as a daisy. Available at most chemists/pharmacies in the UK, also available internationally. Click the link below for an interesting article in the Daily Mail which gives more details about Dioralyte and other recommended hangover cures.

DailyMail - What Your GP Takes For A Hangover

Sneak Peek: Supra Perf

2009-03-24T01:09:00.010Z

While Supra have have made a habit of veering towards the more controversial colour palettes, starting off with the infamous Gold Muska Sky Tops some of their latest colourways have a slightly more subtle edge to them. A tidy white perforated upper will feature on 4 of their most popular models from the upcoming Spring '09 collection. First up, the Vaider Tufs (shown above) get the treatment in a stylish check perf pattern. They also feature a sliding metal supra logo on the tongue and matching metal accents. Click the link for more pics and info.

The Cuban's also follow suit, this time with an all over perf pattern, sett off again with a metal chain accent.

The Erik Ellington Pro gets a similar job, with the side panels and heal in clean white.

Finally my favourites, the Sky Top lows. These are all available now from the stockists listed below and all good skate/street stores.

Urban Industry (UK)
The Consortium (UK)
Zappos (US)

Tech Check: Viliv S5

2009-03-16T23:27:00.009Z

With the ultraportable computing revolution in full swing its seems almost every manufacturer under the sun is pushing a netbook, mobile internet device (MID) or UMPC (Ultra Portable Mobile Personal Computer) onto the market. However very few of them have been ticking all the boxes. Korean company Viliv however appear to have a winner on their hands with the S5. Running off of Intel's much reveered 'Atom' Platform the S5 runs a 1.3Ghz Silverthrone Atom CPU and sports a ludicrously high 1024x600 resolution 4.3 inch touch screen display. Chuck in 30/60GB hard drive storage options, Wifi b/g, Bluetooth 2.0 plus GPS and optional 3G configurations and you have a seriously well considered bundle.

As if that wasn't enough...the S5 is said to chug along happily for a surprisingly long 6.5hrs without needing a re-charge (with Wifi on) and also comes with Viliv's own UI software and haptic feedback to enhance the limted touchscreen support of Windows XP Professional. The icing on the cake comes in the form of 720p HD video playback support. All this does come at a price however. Expected to be avilable in Europe through importers at the end of March/early April, the damage will be around the 650/700 Euro mark. A small price to pay however for a pocket full of cutting edge ultra portable computing. Click the link for a video of the S5 in action plus additional links to more pics and info.

Viliv S5 - UMPC Portal Page
Viliv S5 - UMPC Portal 1st Impressions

The Crates: Floyd Lawson & The Hearts Of Stone - Only Takes A Minute

2009-03-08T01:01:00.015Z

Floyd Lawson & The Hearts Of Stone were essentially unknown when they signed to Motown's VIP label in 1970. Despite other far more established artists not being honoured with an album release they received one which was was eventually produced by Henry Cosby. After achieving limited success with the release entitled, Stop The World: We Wanna Get Off they soon parted company with Motown. This Track is taken from a far more obscure 2nd album called 'Coming Out', which was originally released as a limited press of only 1000, but fortunately has only recently seen a re-release on Afro Kats records.

The record has a much grittier rawer funk sound as compared to the 50's/60's r&b/soul feel of the first album. Entitled 'Only Takes A Minute' the track was written and produced by 70's production team Lambert and Potter, and the original was a top ten hit on the billboard 100 singles chart in the US for Tavares, peaking at number ten, as well as reaching number one on the US R&B Chart. It would also rather unusually go on to be covered by British boy band Take That in 1992 and featured on their debut album 'Take That & Party'. It recently saw a 7 inch re-release on K-Gee records along with another track from the album entitled 'Air I Breathe'. Click To Listen, or follow the link for more info.

Floyd Lawson & The Hearts Of Stone - Myspace

Fresh Out The Frying Pan: Mayer Hawthorne

2009-02-23T01:02:00.008Z

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.

Mayer Hawthorne - Myspace
Mayer Hawthorne - Stonesthrow Records

Sneak Peek: Adidas Oregon Ultra LE

2009-02-19T23:34:00.010Z

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

2009-02-09T23:30:00.016Z

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
D eviant Art - Windows Visual Styles

Tech Check: Palm Pre

2009-02-03T23:23:00.010Z

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

Art: Brad Downey - 'An Honest Thief'

2009-01-27T23:26:00.009Z

Brad Downey (born 1980 in Louisville, Kentucky) is an American artist. He uses film, sculpture, painting and drawing to reflect on concepts about the establishment Vs the audience. Currently living in Berlin, many of Downey's pieces are focused around the street and it's various obstacles. With his subtle manipulation of objects, street signs and markings we often taken take for granted in the public sphere, Downey attempts to highlight awareness of these social controls, and hopes the public, will gain a greater understanding of his own urban and social situation. 'An Honest Thief' is an installation exhibition that will be taking place from January 29th to February 8th, 2009 at infamous street artist D*faces Stolen Space Gallery in Shoreditch, London. Downey will also be signing copies of his book from 1pm-3pm on Saturday the 31st. Click the 'Read Full Post' link for photos, links and full exhibit and book info.

Brad Downey - Official Website
Stolen Space Gallery - Brad Downey Exhibit Info
Adventures Of Darius & Downey Book - Amazon

Big In The Game: Jackie Opel

2009-01-27T00:51:00.011Z

Born Dalton Sinclair Bishop in 1938 in Barbados 'Jackie Opel' was a Bajan soul singer, composer, arranger and instrumentalist. Although Opels' Career was tragically cut short at the young age of 32 he was the composer of 700 known songs, an innovator in musical styles & an arranger who helped create the early ska sound. He frequently played and also toured with Jamaican Reggae/Ska Legends Alton Ellis & The Skatalites. Unlike many of the Jamaican singers and musicians of the time he never came to England which some feel has meant his genius has never been widely acknowledged outside of his homeland or in the historical context of Jamaican music. This track is a cover of Jackie Wilson's 'Higher and Higher' and featured on a collection of songs entitled ‘The Memorable Jackie Opel’, which unfortunately is out of print. An incredible voice who, like many, deserves the titles of 'genius 'and 'soul legend' despite his obscurity. For more info about Jackie Opel please read this great article linked below. I have also included a link to where to buy Jackie Opel recordings.

Jackie Opel - Sir Shamblings' Deep Soul Heaven
Jackie Opel - Soul Jazz Records

Sneak Peek: Adidas ZX500

2009-01-21T23:07:00.016Z

With the explosion of sneaker culture over the last few years, it seems that companies are releasing so called 'limited' and collabo kicks so regularly it is impossible to keep up. The 'Limited Edition' sneaker has in many ways become so common that the original statement has almost become a paradox in itself. It has also often occurred to me how many of these 'limited' releases are made with exactly the same build quality and often also with similar materials to general release shoes. The only difference comes in the form of the inflated price tags and unnecessary secondary branding. Click the link for pictures and more info.

With every tom, dick and harry collaborating with the manufacturers you also find many of these shoes to be completely devoid of any subtlety, attention to detail or design integrity...as pretty much anything goes these days. This has lead me to look more closely at some of the GR (general release) kicks which may be overlooked by collectors due to their 'common' nature. A nice example are this pair of Adidas ZX500's. A classic design combined with a refined Sand / Legacy / Violet colour palette and stitched accents. Nothing too controversial but in my opinion simplicity should always prevail.

Available here in the UK at the following stores:

Main Source - ZX500
End Clothing - ZX500

Sweet Soul: Bill Withers - Ruby Lee

2009-01-13T23:30:00.009Z

In my honest opinion Bill Withers is one of (if not) the greatest, song writers of all time as well as one of my favourite artists of all time. The thing I love most about Withers is I can relate to so much of what he is saying in his records, more so than almost any artist I have ever come across. Even artists closer to home or closer to my own age can't seem to speak to me like Bill can. His ability to capture and translate raw human emotion and put it on record is unbelievable. No ego, no gimmicks, no computers, no MTV, no cameras, no smoke, no mirrors. The man has got so much soul that if you look up soul in the dictionary I reckon you should just find a picture of Bill's face instead.

As well as his back catalogue of timeless classics I would recommend checking out some of his lesser known recordings. This tune entitled 'Ruby Lee' is taken from his 3rd studio album, Justments from 1974. This along with the song 'Can We Pretend' which features Jose Felliciano on Guitar are two of my favourite songs from the album. Be sure to also check out his live album 'Live At Carnegie Hall' too, one of the best live albums I have ever heard. Click the link to find out more about the Genius.

Bill Withers - Wikipedia

Daps Of The Apps: Soulseek

2009-01-06T23:35:00.015Z

Although still popular this peer to peer (P2P) file sharing application is not quite as well known as some others big name applications such as Limewire, Kazaa & Bit Torrent. Although it is possible to share all sorts of file types using this application it's principle focus is on music. Created in 2006 by a former Napster programmer, Soulseek was originally a source for sharing underground electronic music or music created by the users themselves. To this day it remains a source for avant garde and underground independent music, offering users access to an ever changing archive of often obscure and lesser known tunes unavailable on many other file sharing applications/servers. Click the 'Read Full Post' for more info and free download links.

Over the years it has grown to encompass a multitude of genres and as a peer to peer (P2P) file sharing program, the accessible content is determined by the users of the Soulseek client, and what files they choose to share. The network has historically had a diverse mix of music, including underground and independent artists, unreleased music such as demos and mixtapes, bootlegs, live tracks, and live DJ sets. In addition, unlike many other file sharing applications, which have become littered with rogue files, viruses and malicious code, Soulseek only lists files shared by registered users and also allows users full access to other users shared folders , giving users a better insight into the source thus minimising the risk of infection. From my experience it is a great tool, and is a good source for finding new, unreleased, rare and slightly more obscure material.

For iPhone owners using jailbroken iPhones, there is also a new soul seek client for iPhone in development called 'Mew Seek' (formerly iSlsk). Visit the developers site for more info >>> www.errrick.com.ar. And remember kiddies, distribution/sharing of copyrighted material is illegal, so use wisely and always support the artists. Click the following link to download Soulseek for PC free. Please note: this program may require a little patience but is well worth it, also think about setting up port forwarding (info: http://portforward.com/default.htm) if you experience slow searches and download speeds.

Soulseek - Download

Tech Check: Cowon S9

2008-12-29T01:30:00.005Z

A few monthes back you might recall that I reported on a new portable media device called the P5 from South Korean Company Cowon. It seems Cowon have been at it again, this time with a brand new even more compact portable device claiming to be one of the best sounding portable audio devices ever made. Big talk, but considering Cowon's glittering reputation particularly in the sonics department it seems perfectly plausible that the S9 may very well live up to the claims... Click the 'Read Full Post' link for more info, pics and videos.

On first impression the S9 is certainly a looker (Click images to enlarge). Clean lines and an elegant looking touch screen is complimented nicely with chrome accents. The question is what distinguishes this device from others on the market? Well when we get into the technical side of things it soon becomes abundantly clear that Cowon really means business and has gone out of it's way to really distinguish this device from the competition. Starting with the display...

Cowon have decided to use a 3.3 inch 480x272 resolution AMOLED (Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode) capacitive touch screen display. For the less technical among us lets just say this was a very wise move. Unlike traditional LCD panels AMOLED's do not require back lighting as the pixels themselves illuminate when activated by an electric current. This means that they consume significantly less power than traditional LCD panels yet are still ultra bright, are capapable of producing ultra sharp images and have great viewing angles. The use of such a display has meant that Cowon are claiming class leading battery performance of 55hrs for audio and 11 hrs for video on a single charge, which is certainly impressive. The use of a capacitive touch panel also means the display should be highly responsive to touch unlike the less responsive resistive panels used in many mobile phones and other touch based media devices.

They haven't scrimped on any of the essentials either. As well as support for some of the most popular audio compression formats such as mp3, wma & ogg, they have also included support for loseless flac, ape and wav formats too. Video support is also decent with wmv, xvid and divx on board. Early reports have also indicated that while Cowon recommend re-encoding video to the player's native screen resolution of 480x272, certain higher res files do play smoothly. xvid and divx video support is said to be particularly good with certain reviews suggesting smooth playback up to DVD resolution (720x480) @ 30 frames per second, although wmv is said not to perform as well.

On top of this you also get a whole host of other features. Bluetooth 2.0 with A2dp is supported meaning unrestricted file transfer between Bluetooth capable devices and wireless Bluetooth headphone tethering is possible. You also get a text reader, photo viewer (jpeg format), FM radio and TV -Out functionality for hooking your device up to a television (cable must be brought separately however). Not to mention Cowons supposedly exceptional Custom EQ and sound enhancement technology known as BBE, said to significantly improve the listening experience. In addition you also get zooming functionality on the touch based interface for increasing the size of whatever is being displayed as well as album art support and a cover browsing system similar to Apples 'Cover Flow'.

The only real down sides are the price and capacity options. With the 8GB model retailing for a hefty £169 and the 16GB model coming in at £199 here in the UK, the S9 is certainly not cheap. Apparently a 32GB version will also be available in the future. I personally would have also liked to have seen an SD card slot included, as found on their older D2 model. In addition, it has been almost a year and a half and still no other company has built a sub 3.5 inch screened device with a web browser to rival that of the iPod touch. Not essential but would have been a great addition.

Here is an in depth 3 part review of the Cowon S9 from portable audio device website, 'anythingbutipod.com' (also available in HD).

To buy an S9 or for more info please visit:

Advanced Mp3 Players - Web shop
Iaudiophile.net - Cowon Fan Forum

Sneak Peek: Fresh For '09

2008-12-24T00:40:00.066Z

With the new year fast approaching, we have already started to see a whole load of preview pics of upcoming styles and colourways slipping out onto the blogs. 2009 is already looking like it's going to be a pretty live year for retro kicks. Click the 'Read Full Post' link for a choice selection of what the new year has in store.

Reebok Court Pump Victory - Michael Chang: Any body who remembers the tennis court stylings of the great Michal Chang, may also remember his signature shoe. Along with Andre Agassi's Nike Air Tech Challenge line these have to be some of the most striking court trainers to emerge from tennis' golden era. Great to see Reebok resurrecting more 90's heat.

Reebok Sk700 - Kidz In The Hall: Definitely Not every ones cup of tea but the Sk700 cuts a nice profile IMO. These colourways put together buy hip hop duo 'Kidz In The Hall' will form part of Reebok's Classic Re-Mix collection. These are scheduled for a March 2009 Foot Locker release. Not convinced by the colourways myself but perhaps we will see some more in due course.

Nike Air Pegasus '89: Definitely one of the most anticipated retro releases of next year. 20 Years after it's initial debut Nike are bringing back this revered runner. Pre-release shots seem to show they have stayed pretty faithful to the original silhouette. These will definitely be taking their spot in my collection.

Nike Air Max BW - JD Sports Exclusive: JD have been know every now and then to drop some tasty colourways and this BW is looking pretty fresh to me. It is a slight variation of the original Persian violet colourway (shown below) which will also be seeing a first quarter '09 re-release.

Nike Air Max 1 - Safari: Seems like Nikes humble safari print has come a long way over the last few years. This tidy little print seems to have shown up on just about everything from retro runners, SB windbreaker jackets, mutant hybrids and even new skool basketball kicks. The Grey variation Premium SP edition shown in the first photo down are actually already available from Proper in the US. The other colourways are scheduled for release sometime during spring/summer of '09.

Nike Air Digs: Now here's a long lost gem I never would have seen Nike resurrecting in a million years. The Air Digs as it is known is actually a Women's volleyball shoe which originally made it's debut in 1991. Teal/Pink colourways and gum soles are always welcome, definitely one for the 80's kids. On my hit list for sure.

Nike Air Structure - New Colourways: Since it's coveted return this year Nike has released a steady stream of original, retro inspired and new colourways of this 90's classic. It seems the fiends can't get enough and 2009 will see a raft of new colours emerging, starting with these four. As with the Air Max 1 Safari Premiums, the first two colourways shown below are already available at Proper in the US.

For more Sneaker news & Info visit these useful spots:

Sneakernews
Sneakerfreaker
Sneakerfiles

Gone Fishing: Back On The Case

2008-12-17T01:26:00.004Z

Apologies for my lack of posts over the last couple of weeks. I have had a lot of stuff to do and haven't had much time to be posting on the blog. I sometimes find it difficult to find the time to go into the depth I would like to go into on some topics and at the same time maintain a high standard of interesting content (rather than just posting any old junk, like so many other blogs) so I often end up not posting until I have the time and info to do the job properly. I also try and rotate each sub category, but sometimes actually have a whole load of stuff to post that falls under just 1 category and end up putting off posting until that category comes round again. I think I may start to just post stuff when I come across it or feel to any way no matter what sub category it falls in. Got loads of stuff I've been meaning to put up so will be back on the case very soon , so watch this space!

Just Arrived: Asus Eee PC 900HA

2008-12-02T00:56:00.007Z

Finally received my net book in the post and I gotta say I'm pretty chuffed. This titchy little affair goes by the name of the Asus Eee Pc 900HA. If you haven't seen an Eee Pc or any 8.9 inch screened net book in the flesh then you will probably be shocked about just how tiny these things really are. Unlike the original Eee Pc 900's this one comes with a speedy 54,000rpm 160GB hard drive and a 1.6Ghz atom processor. This model is actually unavailable in the UK and Europe so I had to import it from the US. The damage? well...It was supposed to cost £248 shipped but after a slapping from the tax man it came in at around £295. Definitely worth it though. Over the next few weeks I will be putting it through it's paces and with any luck get a review out soon. Believe me....you need one of these in your life. Hit the link for the official Asus Eee Pc website.

Asus - Eee Pc Website

Design: Logo Pond

2008-11-23T21:50:00.005Z

Here's a tidy little spot for all you design heads and logo fans out there. Logo pond is a user submitted logo archive and discussion forum. The idea of the site is that it provides logo designers and people with an interest in brand identity a portal where they can submit their works and discuss with other designers ways to improve on their concepts and share ideas. With over 30,000 user submitted logos it is also a great source of inspiration for anyone with an interest in logo design and a good way of contacting designers if you are looking to get a logo designed yourself. Hit the link to pass through:

Logo Pond - Web Site

The Crates: Giorgio - Tears

2008-11-23T20:59:00.007Z

Born in Italy on April 26th, 1940 Giorgio Moroder's ground breaking synthesizer experimentation during the 1970's and 80's would go on to have a significant influence on many genres of modern electronic music. One of his most revered productions was the disco classic 'I feel Love' by Donna Summer which quickly became one of the signature tunes of the generation. Some of Moroder's early works did not go unnoticed either. Taken from his rare 1972 album 'Son Of My Father' Moroder's haunting organ sequence on the track 'Tears' caught the attention of a young crate digger named Josh Davies (AKA DJ Shadow). It would go on to form the basis of Shadow's 1996 classic 'Organ Donor' which featured on his debut smash 'Entroducing..'. Samples from 'Tears' were also used by Canadian hip hop outfit 'Swollen Members' on their track 'Fuel Injected'. Enjoy the vibes...

Sneak Peek: BW Party Continues...

2008-11-17T22:44:00.010Z

It seems Nike really can't leave the BW alone at moment...and rightly so. This time we get another take on the classic silhouette in a clean black and white colourway with striking pink accents. Very nice to see a mesh toe box and although not 100% confirmed but it appears these may also come with the classic embossed tongue which is often overlooked in favour of the standard stitch job. Said to be hitting stores in January of '09, landing first at Opium Store, Paris. Click the link for more info:

Opium Store - Webshop

Tech Check: Minox Leica M3

2008-11-12T22:05:00.003Z

Now here's a tidy little number. In 1954, the launch of the Leica M3 was considered a technical revolution. The camera quickly became known as “the most successful Leica of all time”. Photography enthusiasts worldwide still praise it's iconic design and impact on the industry. Now this jewel is available as a digital camera modelled faithfully to a scale of 1:3 and fitted with a 1.5 TFT display. Digital snaps can be taken at resolutions up to 5 mega pixels and avi video at 320x240. Although the Leica minox is definitely not a powerhouse it's minuscule size and unique form factor will certainly make it a talking point. Visit the link for more info:

Minox Germany - Homepage

Sweet Soul: Terry Callier - Ordinary Joe

2008-11-03T00:44:00.006Z

Born on May 24th 1945 and a childhood friend of Curtis Mayfield, Callier never truly reached stardom despite a number of regional hits. In 1983, after gaining custody of his 12 year old daughter he retired from music in search of a steadier income. Years later however he would re-emerge from obscurity as British Dj's discovered his old recordings and began playing his songs in clubs during the late 80's. He soon began touring again during the early 90's and eventually resurrected his career releasing a further 6 albums starting with 'Timepiece' in 1998. This tune entitled 'Ordinary Joe' from his 1978 album 'Turn You To Love' is soul at it's finest and became a huge hit on the UK rare groove scene. Still hugely popular and serves as a lasting testament to Callier's undeniable song writing, vocal and instrumental talents.

Daps Of The Apps: FLAC

2008-10-27T00:35:00.007Z

Although not an application itself, this audio compression file format has some great advantages over other formats like Mp3 particularly for people looking for a higher level of digital audio quality or those looking to retain the full quality of their digital recordings when transferring files (e.g. ripping Cd's) to Computer. As you will have probably guessed from the picture, FLAC stands for 'Free Lossless Audio Codec'. Being lossless, FLAC does not remove information from the audio stream, as lossy compression formats such as MP3, AAC and many other popular formats do... Click the read more link below for more information and to download FLAC for free.

Just like mp3, FLAC is suitable for everyday audio playback and archival, with support for tagging, cover art and fast seeking. There are many free applications which can be used to playback, rip or edit flac files. FLAC reduces bandwidth and storage requirements without sacrificing the integrity of the audio source. A digital audio recording (such as a CD track) encoded to FLAC can be decompressed into an identical copy of the audio data.

A small file called a 'CUE' can optionally be created when ripping a CD. If a CD is read and ripped perfectly to FLAC files, the CUE file allows later burning of an audio CD that is identical in audio data to the original CD. This is great as it means that if you lose the original CD, then you can make an exact copy that is not of reduced quality, but is in fact an exact duplicate of the original. Bare in mind however that FLAC files are considerably larger than Mp3 files however still no where near as as large as uncompressed audio data in WAV format.

After using FLAC for while now I have really started to notice the difference in audio clarity and depth particularly when playing music on large sound systems. Digital Dj's may find it particularly useful as a compromise between a laptop disk space saving and maintaining high end digital audio quality. Highly recommended.To download FLAC for free and for a whole hosts of FLAC related applications and ripping programs click the following link:

FLAC - Home Page

Fresh Out The Frying Pan: Q-Tip - Move

2008-10-22T01:48:00.010+01:00

Although we haven't seen a solo album from Tip in over 6 years, it would seem that his long absence from the game was well worth the wait. With the legendary J.Dilla (R.I.P) offering the posthumous production, this track entitled 'Move' is an absolute gem. The video pays tribute to the Michael Jackson classic 'Rock With You' and also features samples from the Jacksons' tune 'Dancing Machine'. Be sure to look out for 'Getting Up' too, another strong track from the impending album which will be entitled The Renaissance and is scheduled for release on Universal Motown on November 4th.

Tech Check: SmartQ TAO

2008-10-18T18:08:00.009+01:00

SmartQ, one of the few companies to shake the 'iPod clone' stigma attached to many Chinese media player manufacturers has been hard at work again on a new player called the 'TAO'. The TAO sports a tidy 3.3 inch 480x320 resolution, 262,000 colour display (not a touch screen), a perfect balance between size and pocketability. You also get a huge array of audio/video and image format support. On the audio side, you get MP3, OGG, FLAC, AAC, APE, WAV & WMA support. Images are viewed in a scrollable carousel format, similar to apples 'Cover Flow' (except for photos instead) which has been originally named 'PicFlow 3D'. BMP, JPG, PNG & GIF file formats can be viewed, the player also supports album art.

Finally to top it off you get support for high res XVID and DIVX (upto 720x576) video files as well as RM/RMVB, FLV, WMV, ASF, 3GP, MPEG & DAT. An eBook reader & sound recorder are also included as well as a range of sound manipulation, presets and EQ options. The player has no internal memory but supports cheap as chips SD/SDHC cards up to 16GB. Battery life is rated at 20hrs for audio and 6hrs for video. Importers are pricing the TAO at around $150 /£85 (with 8GB card) however in China it is significantly less. Click the links for stockists, videos and additional info:

Smart Devices - Chinese Home Page
PlaysmartSG - SmartQ Fansite/Retailer
SmarTQ TAO - Youtube Videos

Sneak Peek: More Classic BW Heat

2008-10-15T00:59:00.005+01:00

It seems that nike has really started gettting their act together on the BW front. Favouring the clean traditional solid colourways and classic materials as opposed to this type of cheap looking junk that we have become accustomed too. An embossed tongue just like the original would have been nice but you can't get everything I guess. The obsidian, cayman and grey combo certainly ticks the right boxes and what looks to be a tidy nubuck and mesh material selection completes a nice effort all round. The damage? a relatively wallet friendly (well for the uk, anyway) £75. Available now in the UK @ MainSource and @ Proper in the US.

Main Source - Web Store
Proper - Web Store

(Via SneakerNews)

The Crates: Honey Cone - Innocent Til Proven Guilty

2008-10-13T00:59:00.011+01:00

The Soul/R&b group Honey Cone was the premier female group for Hot Wax Records, operated by the legendary Holland-Dozier-Holland writing and producing team in the early 1970s after the team departed from Motown Records. They clocked up a string of hits throughout the early 70's with their 1971 singles 'Want Ad's' & 'Stick Up' both going straight in at No.1 on the US R&B charts. This track is taken form their 1972 album Love, peace & Soul, which was their last album before the unfortunate demise of Hot Wax Records in 1973 after the label experienced serious cash flow problems. The opening bars of the song were also sampled by Kanye West on Commons' 'Testify' which featured on his sparkling 2005 album 'Be'.

Design: Insa Heels

2008-10-07T01:23:00.012+01:00

Bit late with this one but anyway...London based artist INSA is certainly no stranger to the fashion game. After a string of high profile collaborations, crazy customs, limited t-shirt runs & commissions he has decided after much pressure to officially drop a limited run of stiletto's featuring variations of his classic high heels print. Teaming up with Fashion/Shoe designer Ruth Shaw he pays homage to his London roots by naming each variation after an area of London. Gold/Black for Chelsea, Baby Pink/White/Black for Hackney and Electric Pink/White/Black for Lewisham. All the shoes are made from premium leather and feature a high gloss finish. Best hurry if you want a pair though as they are moving fast! Priced at £200. Click the link for more info and ordering.

Insa Heels - Website

Tech Check: Net Books Round Up

2008-10-04T00:17:00.028+01:00

Remember the days when a laptop costed £10,000 and you needed a forklift to carry it? Things have certainly improved a bit since then. In October of 2007 South Korean Computer manufacturer Asus introduced the world to its Eeepc. What separated this device from other ultra portable computers on the market was that fact that while it was still very small it was also very cheap. The 701 was the first model to be released and featured a 7 inch 800x480 resolution screen, 2GB of solid state memory, 512mb of ram, Wi-Fi, an SD card slot & 2 USB ports all for the meagre price of just $299! (UK obviously saw a slight price bump).

The device was no slouch in the processing department either, packing a throttled 900 MHz Intel Celeron processor and eventually shipping with the choice of either Windows XP or Xandros Linux operating systems. The Eeepc would go on to become an overnight hit as the masses clambered to grab a piece of ultra portable low cost computer goodness. Click the link to read the rest of the article.

Since then almost every well known computer manufacturer on the planet has flooded the market with a whole range of low cost ultra portable laptops. On June the 3rd 2o08 intel introduced a line of processors specifically designed for use within these types of machines which called the Atom. A large percentage of the newer machines now utilise this processor. While clock for clock it is actually slower than the original 900mhz Celeron used in the Eeepc, the first version to ship was the 1.6ghz version which is said to have a similar clocked speed to the 900mhz Celeron yet also incorporates improved hyper-threading technology which helps when running multiple applications at once and is also said to be less power hungry. I have put together a round up of some of the new and upcoming models which are definitely worth taking a look at if you’re thinking of investing. Bare in mind, pictures can be deceptive, these things are pretty damn small.

1. MSI - Wind U100: Slightly larger and a little more expensive than some net books on the market, the Wind is a sharp looking device. It pack the 1.6Ghz Intel Atom processor, a 10inch (1024x600 res) screen, 1GB of DDR2 ram, an 80/160gb hard drive, 802.11B/G Wireless, Bluetooth 2.0 , 3 USB ports, 1.3mp camera, SD card slot and a the option of a 3/6 cell battery. It is available in black/white/pink colour ways and comes with the choice of Windows Xp or Linux. The Wind has received glowing reviews across the board and is said to be a strong performer. Prices range from £280 - £370 depending on the configuration and where you buy. The Wind has also been rebranded under a number of different name including the Medion Akoya and Advent 4211 (available for £279.99 @ Pc World).

MSI Wind - Homepage
MSI Wind - Laptop Mag Review
MSI Wind - Buy @ Play.com

2. Acer - Aspire One: Renowned forselling some of the cheapest laptops available Acers entrance into the net book market was always going to start with a low price tag. Like the wind the Aspire One is nicely styled and comes with a 1.6Ghz Intel Atom. It packs a smaller 8.9 inch (1024x600) screen to the wind as well as 802.11B/G Wireless, 3 USB ports, a 0.3mp camera, SD card slot and a 3/6 cell battery. It is available in a number of configurations with 512/1 GB of Ram, A 120GB Hard Disk / 8GB solid state disk and Linpus Linux and XP flavours. It comes in a range of 2 tone colour ways, black/blue, white/black or brown/black (and solid black in some countries) Again the Aspire has received positive reviews and has good build quality. The mouse button configuration is slightly strange though as they flank the track pad as opposed to being placed in the standard position, below. Prices start as low as £229 and max out at £300.

Acer Aspire One - Homepage
Acer Aspire One - Trusted Reviews
Acer Aspire One - Buy @ Play.com

3. Asus - Eeepc 901: Asus’ latest incarnation of its ground breaking EeePC differs quite significantly in both looks and spec from the earlier models. Again we see the 1.6 GHz atom on board and an 8.9 inch (1024x600) display plus the usual SD and USB ports. Asus have in addition offered a couple of distinguishing features. As well as the standard 1GB or ram, you get the options of a 12GB/20GB sold state disk; no hard disk options are available however. Asus have thrown in Bluetooth though coupled with the faster 802.1.1N standard (as well as B/G) plus a 6 cell battery said to offer over 6hrs of juice! Colour options are white, black and, pink. Os options are XP/Linux. All this does not come cheap though; prices start at £300 and can hit £375 at certain retailers.

Asus have also released a whole host of variations of the EEE which is are actually very difficult to keep up with. There is the 1001 which is similar to the 901 but just with a larger 10 inch screen and keyboard. We also have the 904 and 904HD which feature a 8.9 inch display in a 1001 chassis and a hard drive option. We even have variations of the older 900 model except now with the new Atom processor and Hard drive option. See Asus' website for more details as it's all got very confusing!

Asus Eee - Homepage
Asus Eee Pc 901 - Trusted Reviews
Asus Eee Pc 901 - Buy @ Play.com

4. Lenovo - Ideapad S10: Only just announced recently the S10 will not be released in the UK until November/December, however it looks like it will be well worth the wait. As well as an Atom processor the display is a 10.2 inch (1024 x 600) LED backlight panel, and the touchpad includes multi-touch (meaning it accepts multiple finger inputs, like the iphone). WiFi, Bluetooth, Express Card, 4-in-1 card reader and a 1.3 mega pixel webcam are all included too. The device will ship with either 512/1GB of ram as well as 80/160GB hard drive options in a number of colour ways. A 9-inch screen version with the same chassis to the 10 inch will also be available in Europe and a few other territories. Lenovo have a great reputation and always produce devices of a high standard, definitely one to watch.

Lenovo Ideapad S10 - Engadget

5. Dell - Inspiron Mini 9: Dells net book effort will fit in to the low budget category. Intel’s Atom is present again and Dell have opted for a choice of 8/16GB solid state disk options. You can also expect the usual 802.11B/G Wireless, 3 USB ports, integrated webcam, SD card slot and a 4 cell battery. Prices are said to start at around £269.

Dell - Inspiron Mini 9 - UK Homepage
Dell - Inspiron Mini 9 - Engadget

6. Samsung - NC10: After a long period of silence Samsung finally decided to show their cards and the result is the tasty looking NC10. Nothing particularly unusual here but of course given their industry clout you can always rely on Samsung to put together an attractive package. The spec is actually very similar to the Lenovo S10, A 1.6GHz Atom 270, 1GB ram, 160GB Hard Drive, SD card slot, 1.3MP camera, Bluetooth 2.0, 10.2 inch (1024x600) screen. Samsung have however been kind enough to chuck in a 6 cell battery said to offer an up to a claimed 8 hours of battery life. This one is also said to be priced pretty aggressively with Samsung looking to bring it in around the £300 mark. Colourways will be black, blue and white. Said to be releasing in November.

Samsung NC10 - Engadget

With so many options we really are spoilt for choice. Be sure to look out for the Gigabyte 912M, Toshiba NB100 & the ECSG10IL (being sold @ PC world re branded as the Advent 4213), they look promising too. For in depth reviews, info and chat about net books and ultra portable computing devices I recommend visiting www.umpcportal.com it is a top site.

Sweet Soul: Jose Feliciano - California Dreamin'

2008-09-30T02:00:00.011+01:00

I have decided to start a new section called 'Sweet Soul' as I felt like I wasn't showing soul music the love it deserves. So to open we have a tune by Jose Feliciano. Jose Feliciano is a Puerto Rican singer and guitarist. He was left permanently blind at birth due to congenital glaucoma, nevertheless he over came the effects of the impairment and went on to achieve critical acclaim around the world having many hit singles through out his long career. This tune is a cover version of the Mamas & Papas classic 'California Dreamin'' taken from his 1968 album 'Feliciano!' which features a selection of cover versions of classic 1960's hits. This is in my opinion one of the best versions ever made, he takes it to a completely different level. Also watch out for his cover version of Stevie Wonder's 'Golden lady' another unbelievable rendition. Click to listen:

Jose Feliciano - Official Web Site
Jose Feliciano - Golden Lady (Live on Soul Train)

Daps Of The Apps: WinDirStat

2008-09-29T00:46:00.007+01:00

Hard drive looking pretty jam packed? Can't figure out what file types are taking up the space? WinDirStat can help solve all your problems. WinDirStat is a program that helps you to visualize the data distribution of different files and folders on your drive(s). Takeing a moment to analyze your drive, It then breaks down every file and folder on the computer. It even color codes different files so you can see which types are clustered together. Highlighting a folder in the file hierarchy list will outline the contents of that folder in the visual area. Expand that folder and highlight individual files and watch them be located within the file group. It is very useful particularly when trying to clean your drive of file types that are taking up large amounts of space. You can download it free (all windows versions) here:

WinDirStat - Download/Info Page

(Via UMPCPortal)

Sneak Peek: Lacoste X Ryouki

2008-09-22T23:01:00.010+01:00

In celebration of their 5th anniversary Oxford based sneaker store 'Ryouki' has collaborated on these tasty little numbers knows as the Double Negative. Created in the stores own colours they seem to be ticking all the boxes: mesh toe box, reflective 3m side panels and a speckled midsole. They are in fact a variation on another Lacoste model the Missouri 85 and also include a hidden personal message from store owner Ryan Barr. However with a very limited run of only 100 worldwide, they are sure to be snapped up quickly. They are scheduled for release in October exclusively through www.ryouki.com. Click the link for more pics and info:

Ryouki - Sneaker Boutique

Sneaker Freaker Magazine - Release Info

Art: Ron Mueck

2008-09-19T00:35:00.025+01:00

Tiny old dears, giant new born babies, enormous dismembered heads and naked old men. While this may sound like the backdrop to some twisted new wave horror flick it is in fact a list of some of the subject matter used by Australian hyper realist sculptor Ron Mueck in some of his work. The first and only time I saw Mueck's work in the flesh was at the Sensation exhibition at the Royal Academy in London in 1997. The sculpture on display was a small 3ft model of his father naked. Although this all sounds a bit sinister it was one of the most unbelievable things I've ever seen. At first I actually mistook it for a real 3ft old boy lying lifeless stretched out on the floor, I was on the verge of alerting security until I looked closer and realised it was actually part of the exhibition. Even after closer inspection it was still hard to tell it wasn't real as every hair and pore on the face could be seen close up. Click the link for more pictures, links and info:

Of course I was simply baring witness to the culmination of many years graft. Mueck's early career was in fact as a model maker and puppeteer for children's television and films, notably the film Labyrinth for which he also contributed the voice of Ludo, and the Jim Henson series The Storyteller. Mueck moved on to establish his own company in London, making photo-realistic props and animatronics for the advertising industry. Although highly detailed, these props were usually designed to be photographed from one specific angle hiding the mess of construction seen from the other side. Mueck increasingly wanted to produce realistic sculptures which looked perfect from all angles.

In 1996 Mueck transitioned to fine art, collaborating with his mother-in-law, Paulo Rego, to produce small figures as part of a tableau she was showing at the Hayward Gallery, Rego introduced him to Charles Saatchi who was immediately impressed and started to collect and commission work. This led to the piece which made Mueck's name, Dead Dad, being included in the Sensation show at the Royal Academy the following year. Dead Dad (mentioned above) is a rather haunting silicone and mixed media sculpture of the corpse of Mueck's father reduced to about two thirds of its natural scale. It is the only work of Mueck's that uses his own hair for the finished product. Click the links for photos and more:

Ron Mueck - Pantalicious Write Up
Ron Mueck - Wikipedia

The Crates: Clifford Brown - Yesterdays

2008-09-16T00:07:00.015+01:00

Born on October 30th 1930 Clifford Brown is often referenced as one of the most influential and talented jazz trumpeters of his generation. Despite dying at the young age of 25 he still managed to leave behind a sizable back catalogue spanning 4 years, which included a whole host of live performances and even a collaboration LP with the legendary Sarah Vaughn. This track entitled Yesterdays is taken from a 1955 record released on EmArcy, called ' Clifford Brown with Strings' and combines Brown's distinctive trumpet stylings with powerful string arrangements. Little was Mr Brown to know that 40 years later the introduction to this melancholic jazz number would be sampled and spliced by legendary hiphop producer and pioneering jazzy crate digger Dj Premier to form the main loop on KRS-Ones 1995 classic 'Mc's Act Like They Don't know'.

Comedy: Listopia

2008-09-11T01:28:00.006+01:00

Listopia.co.uk is a website that allows you to upload, read and comment on comical lists. You can make a list or comment on a list about anything. The lists include everything from 'film prequels' to 'words that should exist' to 'headlines waiting to be needed' and many more. A lot of the lists reference British culture and/or British celebrities/TV personalities so people from other countries may not get some of them. Although there are loads of them that don't too. Not recommended if you are easily offended but one of the funniest sites I have ever read. Some lists are better than others but one of my favourite lists has to be 'crap fantasies'. If you sign up you also get a whole load of other 'ruder' lists. Offensive British toilet humour at it's finest. Check it here...

Listopia - Home Page
Listopia - Crap Fantasies

Tech Check: Meizu M8 - The Great Pretender

2008-09-09T00:29:00.032+01:00

What is this you might ask. A new iPhone? a cheap Chinese clone? well the answer to this question is not as clear cut as you may think. After Apple dropped the iPhone bomb shell in January of 2007 mobile phone manufacturers around the world have been struggling to respond to the huge hype created by Apples marketing machine and the massive game changing effect that the 'Jesus phone' has had on the industry. Even powerhouses like Samsung and Nokia have taken to whacking extra mega pixels on their phone cameras and bumping the GB's of memory in their devices to try and combat the lure of Apples silky smooth interface.

However the iPhone has not been without it's critics. Common complaints have included: Chaining to itunes/network carriers, pricey contracts, poor audio/video format support, crippled bluetooth, no cut and paste, no video recording, poor quality camera and no removable battery to name a few. Hackers the world over have even taken it upon themselves to try and break the chains from apples restricted platform. But what if there was another contender, a rogue pretender with intentions of unleashing a device that may just do everything the iPhone can and more....... Click the link for the rest.

This is where a small Chinese company by the name of Meizu step in. While the name Meizu may be unfamiliar to many in the West, the company has been quietly churning out well recieved MP3/4 media players over the last few years. Although frowned upon by some for their 'Apple inspired ' aesthetics, Meizu is certainly not just another Chinese ipod clone manufacturer. In fact their 'M6 Mini Player' has received favourable reviews from many large tech websites and magazines including Cnet.com and has been accredited with having some of the best sound quality in the industry (often attributed to their use of an audio chip manufactured by a Scottish electronics company by the name of Wolfson, who provided the sound chips for the first few incarnations of the ipod). Meizu also secured a deal with flash memory giant Dane-Elec who now distribute their players throughout Europe and the US.

Although debates rage as to when the official announcement was made Meizu and many of it's fans stand by the fact that their M8 mobile phone was in fact announced prior to the iPhone. However a series of marketing mishaps and poorly judged time frame calculations meant that Meizu's M8 had until recently been destined to become the stuff of tech fiction....or so we thought. Here is the first rendering said to have been released by meizu in early January 2007.

After almost 2 years, a whole host of different heavily iPhone inspired renderings and mock ups, numerous forum posts and promises from Meizu's CEO not to mention a raft of tech show no shows and missed release dates, it does however seem that this mysterious device may actually see the light of day after all.

Nevertheless the road has been fraught with controversy. Many believe that this phone is just another in a long line of shameless iPhone clones and knock off's too emerge from China which simply attempts to mimic the look and feel of Apples reveered device with no original thought or innovation taking place at all. However at the same time a whole other school of thought has emerged that is pinning it's hopes on this device being the media communications powerhouse that the iPhone had the potential to be but......with no restrictions, no locks and no Apple making the rules. Large tech blogs such as Engadget have even added fuel to the the fire by posting tid bits of information on the M8's progress sparking debates between the pro Apple lobbyists and the Meizu fan boys which have at times even descended into US vs China copyright law face offs and racial slagging matches.

So the question remains what distinguishes this jumped up pretender from any other phone that has tried to steal some of Apples almost infallible glow. The answer is in the components. Now while the copycats of China's Multi billion dollar fakes industry attempt daily to copy the iPhone or infact any phone produced by the large manufacturers, as you would expect 10 times out of 10 they use cheap components, have horrendous build quality, terrible software, dodgy logos and comical phrases written on them like 'Super Apple Mp4 player'. In my opinion Meizu's M8 can certainly not be classed in this category.

The M8's main processing unit is a Samsung/ARM (6410) processor. This processor is from the exact same family of processors that is used in the iPhone except...the one Meizu will be using will be faster, clocking in at around 667 or 800Mhz it is still unclear (the iPhone clock speed is said to be around 624Mhz). It will also use Samsung nand flash memory, the same type used in the iPhone and many high end flash memory based electronic devices. It is also rumoured to include a Wolfson Audio chip, which is said to produce superior sound quality than the processing unit found in the iPhone. The M8 will also include a 3.4 inch 720x480 resolution capacitive touch screen again trumping the iPhones 480x320 resolution touchscreen (although it is o.1 inch smaller). Not to mention the fact that Meizu will also include their own flavour of Apples famous 'Multi-touch' technology which allows for multiple finger inputs on the device enabling features like photo 'pinching' etc. Like the iPhone it will also incorporate an accelerometer for changing screen orientation automatically. But unlike the iPhone it will also come with support for a whole host of Audio and Video formats (AVI, H.264, MP3, OGG, FLAC to name a few) and will be capable of decoding video up to full DVD resolution, (720x480) which I believe to be a first for any mobile phone on the planet.

Other features and technologies on board include a USB 2.0 host port for plugging in peripherals and hard drives etc. A removable 1200mah battery, a 3.2mp camera, 128mb (1st 8gb version)/256mb of ram (second 16gb version), Opera's latest mobile web browser (9.5), cut and paste, TV-out, Line-out, unrestricted Bluetooth 2.0 & Wifi 802.11b/g. It will also be completely unlocked and available off line for use on any carrier (although initially only in China). It will also be able to be used as a storage solution and not require syncing software and the SDK (software development kit) will be made publicly available after it's release too.

The interface itself will be built on top of Microsoft's latest windows embedded operating system, Win CE 6.0 which is targeted to enterprise specific tools such as industrial controllers and consumer electronics. Not to be confused with Microsoft's current Mobile operating system Windows Mobile 6.1 (which places far more restrictions upon it's programming) Win CE 6.0 will actually form the basis for Microsoft's next generation of Mobile operating system Windows Mobile 7 which it is said will be heavily graphics driven and gesture/touch orientated. The use of Windows CE 6.0 is also also another 1st I believe for any phone available (in the west anyway).

The Graphical User interface has also been part designed by respected Chinese design house Eico who have recently worked with Chinese computer giant Lenovo (formerly IBM) on their latest 'Ideapad' range of internet devices. The best thing about the whole package though is that it is that the 8GB entry level unit will cost below £200! with the 16GB looking version said to come in around the £220 mark. Unfortunately the initial release will not include 3G but it is said that a 3G model will follow in due course.

Now while this all sounds very promising on paper, almost to good to be true, there are certainly no guarantees as to when we will see this device or crucially...how well it will perform in the real world. Meizu are said to be currently negotiating a mobile phone license with the Chinese government and are hoping to release sometime in October or November. However Meizu's track record when it comes to sticking to release dates is not exactly steller and I personally would not expect it to be as polished as an Apple device on it's initial release either. Bare in mind also that initially it will only be available in China so importing will really be the only option for those looking to get their hands on one.

Here is the only video available of the device in action, it shows Meizu's CEO J.Wong using a prototype (that it not softcore porn on the screen btw it is a famous Japenese pin up). iClone or iPhone killer the M8 has already made it's mark and stirred up considerable controversy despite it's illusiveness. But with a domestic market of over 1 billion people and a legion of foreign fans itching to get their grubby mits on one...one thing is for sure...they are definitely gonna shift a few units. Take a look at the device in action and judge for yourself...

Please visit the international Meizu fan Forums for more news and info:

Meizu Me - Meizu Fan Site

Big In The Game: Bustin Loose! 1st Birthday Bash

2008-09-04T01:25:00.005+01:00

Whats the point of having a blog if you can't shamelessly plug your night right? Anyway this ones for all the London Kats...On September 13th 'Bustin Loose! Productions' will be hosting their 1st Birthday Bash. This will be a very special show as it will be taking place at Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes, one of the most unique live music venues in London. With a spanking new sound system, an extensive menu of classic American diner food and a late license until 3am this is bound to be one of the best shows to date. In addition, on the night 4 bowling lanes will be reserved exclusively for bookings from Bustin Loose! family and will be allocated on a 1st come 1st serve basis, so be sure to arrive early to avoid any disappointment. Expect a blinding selection of live music and DJ's dropping the finest soul, funk, hiphop, reggae, breaks, beats & bangers. Click the flyer for more info or visit the Myspace Page (Below). This ones gonna be sick!!!!!!

Bustin Loose! Productions - MySpace

Daps Of The Apps: Media Coder

2008-09-04T01:09:00.005+01:00

With the multitude of audio and video formats floating around chances are you are bound to come across a certain file type now and then which isn't supported by your ipod, media/dvd player etc. Either that or you may just want the file in a different format or a smaller more compressed version. If this is the case then look no further as Media Coder will cater to all your needs. Media Coder is a audio/video batch transcoder for windows. Supporting almost every digital audio/video format known to man, Media coder allows you to easily transcode one audio or video format to another. All the settings are completely customisable too, so any file size/compression ratio, resolution, bit rate etc is possible. You can also transcode multiple files at once. There are many programs that perform similar functions, but this one has to be one of the best I have come across. Being open source it is also free, so click the link to check it out.

Media Coder - Download Page

Sneak Peek: Top Of The Spots

2008-08-28T01:25:00.008+01:00

So your looking to pick up a fresh pair of kicks, but your certainly not about to pitch tent and start queueing up ten days in advance to get that super exclusive s**t. Then again your no slouch when it comes to flexing your trainer muscle, so rocking the standard tat that these big high street chains seem to be continuously peddling just won't cut the mustard. So whats an innocent kicks fiend to do when they have an itch that needs to be scratched?.......well the answers pretty simple....hit the net and hit that s**t hard! Luckily for you though I have saved you all a lot of time by compiling a list of a few of my favourite sneaker spots from around the world. While most of these spots do already offer world wide shipping, if you do come across one that doesn't seem to be playing ball i'm sure a friendly e-mail in your finest chinook jargon will, with any luck, help you to snag yourself a pair of some of those fresh Nike Air 'Mother Theresas' you've had your eye on for so long. Happy shopping!

1. Main Source (UK)
2. Sneakers N Stuff (Sweden)
3. Flight Club NY (US)
4. Essense (Japan)
5. Grandism (Switzerland)
6. Purchaze (Germany)
7. Pick Your Shoes (US)
8. Shoe Planet (Japan)
9. Foot Candy (UK)
10. Patta (Holland)

Big In The Game: Studio One / Trojan Records

2008-08-27T00:29:00.016+01:00

Ask any reggae connoisseur and they will tell you that with out these two monster record labels reggae and all it's associated musical forms would be shadows of their former selves.

1. Studio One: Started in 1954 by the legendary Clement 'Coxone' Dodd, Studio One has been described as 'Jamaica's Motown' and 'The Birthplace Of Reggae Music'. Involved with most of the major music movements in Jamaica during the 1960s and 1970s, including ska, rocksteady, reggae, dub & dancehall their catalogue of artists reads like a who's who of roots music legends. These include Bob Marley & The Wailers, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Burning Spear, Ken Boothe, Toots & The Maytals and The Skatalites just to name a few. If you don't have time to digg through the crates to find the originals of some of this amazing material not to worry, Soul Jazz Records have refiled the vaults for you and put together a great selection of Studio One compilations that are all available on their web shop (linked below). Click 'Read The Rest' for a brief background and links for Trojan Records.

Soul Jazz Records - Studio One Label

2. Trojan Records: Started in the UK in 1968 by Lee Gopthal, Trojan Records was one of a few labels that fed the craze for reggae, ska and rocksteady that swept Britain during this time. These musical styles became particularly popular amongst subcultures like the skin heads and the mods. Trojan's name comes from the Croydon-built Trojan truck that was used by Jamaican producer and DJ Duke Reid which had Duke Reid - The Trojan King of Sounds painted on the sides. Reid's sound system became known as the Trojan Sound, which became synonymous with the new and hip music. By 1970, Trojan artists were even making headway into the pop music charts, these included: Lee 'Scratch' Perrys Upsetters, Bob & Marcia & of course the legendary Desmond Dekker.

However, In 1972 after a decline in the popularity of reggae in the UK , Island Records (Trojan's sister label) pulled out of its partnership with Trojan Records. This lead to a steady decline eventually causing Trojan to become settled into inactivity by 1982.

After A 3 year hiatus, luckily the label was resurrected, and in 1985 and with the help of some new talent at the helm they began to research and compile new Trojan releases. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, Trojan was unearthing and compiling a lot of reggae recordings (including tunes originally recorded on studio one) and re-issuing them for the first time in 25 years. Today Trojan has an unbelievable amount of compilations, box sets and albums available and In June 2007, Universal Music added Trojan Records to its empire with the purchase of Trojan's parent company Sanctuary Records for £45 million. Check out the huge selection of Trojan releases available on amazon, I would definitely recommend the soulful reggae box set, which includes some great re-interpretations of classic soul tunes by reggae artists from the 1960's and 70's.

Amazon - Trojan Records

Web Spots: Deviant Art

2008-08-24T23:26:00.006+01:00

Deviant Art is an international community for artists. Launched in 2000 the site consists of over 8 million members, over 62 million submissions, and receives around 80,000 submissions per day. Deviant Art aims to provide a place for any artist to exhibit and discuss his or her works. As well as offering a shop for artists to sell their works, a staggering amount of user submitted artwork and a huge forum, my favourite parts of the site have to be the resources and customization sections. As well as having fonts, stock images, textures, wallpapers and a whole host of other sections they also have a ridiculous amount of themes and skins. These include ones to change the entire look of your operating system to specific application skins and even themes for your Ipod, media player or portable device. The site also has the biggest selection of Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator and Gimp patterns, shapes, brushes and addons I have ever seen. Any one interested in digital art working, graphics, customization or just anything art and design related in general should definitely check this site out it's amazing.

Deviant Art - Main Site
Deviant Art - Adobe Photoshop Brushes

The Crates: Bobby Caldwell - Open Your Eyes

2008-08-21T16:43:00.018+01:00

American singer songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Bobby Caldwell was Born in New York in 1951. Although he is perhaps best known for his 1978 hit single 'What You Won't Do For Love' (sampled on Tupac's 'Do For Love' amongst others) Caldwell has maintained a prolific musical output over his 25 year career. As well as achieving an almost cult following in Japan, the singers unique brand of blue eyed soul has also come to the attention of many a hip hop producer over the years. With a number of his tracks being sampled on tunes from artists such as B.I.G, Aaliyah, Jazzy-Jeff, Medaphoar, Tupac and Guru to name a few. This tune entitled 'Open your eyes' which featured on Caldwell's 1980 album 'Cat In The Hat' and was again used by the legendary J. Dilla (R.I.P) to create the backing track for the Common classic 'The Light'. 'The Light' was also remixed this year by well know hip hop producer 'Just Blaze'. I also came across this great remix by Kero One. Caldwell is in my honest opinion one of only a handful of white vocalists that can really be accredited with creating 'soul' music in the traditional sense of the word. Enjoy...

Tech Check: Vestax VCI-300 Midi Controller

2008-08-19T16:58:00.013+01:00

With the digital DJ revolution still going strong, the vinyl purists are certainly having a tough time holding their corner. As if the widespread popularity of vinyl emulation solutions such as 'Serato Scratch Live' wasn't enough, other power houses in the game are starting to put out some equally seductive digital DJ equipment. Vestax's latest offering is called the VCI-300 and is described as a dedicated DJ USB MIDI / Audio system and software solution. Unlike it's predecessor, (the VCI-100) the VCI-300 has a dedicated sound card built in, so all that is required to make full use of this dinky little number is a desktop or laptop computer loaded with all your digitally encoded music and then you are ready to wreak aural carnage on an unsuspecting public. The VCI-300 also comes bundled with Serato's latest dj software called 'Itch' and judging by the huge success of Serato's 'Scratch Live' software, Vestax could be on to a winner here. the VCI-300 will however also support any software package that supports midi. Click the link for More info...

On top of that, as well as all the usual EQ's, looping functions, wide ranging pitch shift and key lock controls Vestax have also thrown in a couple of unique functions to keep those digital Djs salivating at the chops. Boasting what is said to be some of the best scratch emulation technology the industry has to offer, the jog dials/platters are also said to have resistance control and an adjustable JOG wheel torque mechanism meaning you can adjust their stiffness/looseness to your own personal preference. Also included in the package is an 'Emergency Thru Switch', which avoids the sound from stopping when the computer freezes, helping you to circumnavigate an onslaught of disgruntled revelers when your system locks up. Due for a UK release at the end of this month prices are said to to be around the £500 mark, very reasonable when you consider 1 Pioneeer CDJ1000 will set up back around £800! Certainly beats lugging around 100's of vinyls and a load of CD's too!

Vestax VCI-300 - Product Page

Fresh Out The Frying Pan: Frank Bell

2008-08-17T18:55:00.005+01:00

Sighting a wide range of influences from Radiohead to The Roots, John Coltrane to David Bowie, Frank Bell hails form Atlanta, Georgia. Although he's been making tunes for a good while, over the last year he has gained a strong following after this track entitled 'The Penguin' clocked up over 745,000 YouTube hits. He has a number of other videos of covers and original material on YouTube as well and his Debut EP, 'On Passion and Reason', is now available on iTunes worldwide. Check him out on MySpace too. Definitely one to watch.

Frank Bell - Website
Frank Bell - MySpace

Daps Of The Apps: CCleaner

2008-08-17T18:40:00.004+01:00

Pc running a bit slow? perhaps a little spring clean might help. CCleaner is an application that finds and removes junk from Internet Explorer, Windows Explorer and other areas of your system. It also targets installed applications such as FireFox, Microsoft Office, Google Earth, Spybot and Windows Media Player. You can choose exactly what you want it to focus on by ticking or unticking the various choices on offer. The program also has a built-in Registry checker, which can fix and find errors and delete old invalid registry entries. It also gives you the option to back up your registry to avoid any unfortunate mishaps. Impressively the Tools section also includes a handy uninstaller and a startup manager for configuring which programs and services start with Windows. This application is a strong performer and unlike many of these type of programs it actually works well and shows some good results. Hit the link to download for free.

CCleaner - Download Page

Tune: Common - I Used To Love H.E.R (9th Wonder Remix)

2008-08-16T17:46:00.017+01:00

Featuring regularly in top 10's of the greatest hip hop tunes of all time 'I Used To Love H.E.R' is without a doubt a true hip hop classic. However when notorious boom bap specialist and producer extraordinaire 9th Wonder got a hold of it last year and gave it an instrumental makeover the result was pretty impressive to say the least. I may even go as far to say that he may have even improved on the original. The 12" release also featured another tasty remix of Common's 'The 6th Sense' on the flip. If you aren't yet clued up about the North Carolina residents back catalogue be sure to take a butchers at Little Brother's 2005 album 'The Minstrel show', the production is top notch, definitely some of his best work to date.

9th Wonder - MySpace Page

Sneak Peek: Nike Air Pegasus '89

2008-08-14T22:15:00.007+01:00

When I initially got word from my man TB that Nike were intending to retro arguably one of the greatest runners ever produced I was pretty chuffed to say the least. About a week later official word hit the blogs that Nike would indeed be retroing the Air Pegasus '89 in the above white/black/pink/grey colourway along with the other original white/black/grey/blue colourway. Clean lines, slim profile and a classic silhouette makes these one of my favourite Nike models of all time. Scheduled for release in early 2009, 20 years after their original incarnation they are still looking as fresh today as they ever did, lets just hope Nike doesn't bodge the re-release.

(Via Sneakerfiles)

Design: Ultra Motor A2B Electric Bike

2008-08-14T17:31:00.005+01:00

Now here's a tidy little number. Gone are the days of electric bikes looking like something an old dear would rock to collect her pension, with this A2B Electric Bike from Ultra Motor you can still get all the benefits of electricly charged peddle power without looking like a geriatric. The cycle does have pedals that can be used if it runs out of battery power or to increase the cruise speed, but they are not actually needed for normal operation. It can travel for 20 miles on a single charge of its lithium-ion batteries at speeds of up to 20 mph. The battery is also swappable on the go, allowing you to double the distance the bike can travel. To charge the bike you simply plug it into an AC outlet at home. Mind you this little baby doesn't come cheap, when launched in sepetember prices are said to start at around £1,250! ($2500). Might have to stuff another cream cake and stick to the push bike.

Ultra Motor - Website

(Via Gadgetaholic)

Big In The Game: Pilooski

2008-08-13T01:45:00.010+01:00

Cedric Marszewski, aka Pilooski, must certainly have had to take responsibility for a few torched rooves last summer when his twisted re-edit of Frankie Valli’s ‘Beggin’ blazed a trial of destruction up music charts world wide. However the french magicians golden touch had already been well documented on the ongoing D*I*R*T*Y Edits and Dark & Lovely 12" series. While he doesn't align himself with any genre in particular, he has become somewhat famed for his re-edits of psychedelic disco and northern soul rarities. Often classed in the genre of 'electronica' the thing I like about Pilooski is that while he fuses electronic elements with organic sounds he manages to retain the integrity of the original tracks yet somehow gives them a whole new energy and lease of life, making them more accessible to a wider audience. One of my favourite tracks has to be this re-edit of a lesser known Pointer Sisters B-side entitled 'Send Him Back'...this one is venomous. Also look out for his remix of Nina Simones 'Take Care Of Business' which is featured on Volume 4 of the Verve Remixed compilation series. Head on over to the MySpace for more tunes & info.

Pilooski - MySpace

(Info Via SugarTax)

Tech Check: Cowon P5

2008-08-13T01:12:00.010+01:00

Universally accredited with making some of the best sounding portable media players on the planet South Korean techno wizards 'Cowon' have been at it again. The P5 sports a 5 inch 800x480 16 million colour touch screen with haptic feedback and has a a custom Windows Ce 5.0 based user interface. As well as supporting a whole host of audio formats (MP3, WMA, ASF, OGG, WAV, FLAC, APE, MPC, WV) you also get a plethora of video formats too (AVI, ASF, WMV, MPG, OGM) that can be played back at full DVD resolution (720x480). They also include a nice selection of image format support as well (JPG, BMP, PNG, RAW). As if that wasn't enough the clever chaps at Cowon have also thrown in Bluetooth, Tv Out, Txt viewer, a 5 band EQ and a USB 2.0 host port for connecting additional storage or peripherals. Cowon haven't scrimped on battery power either, you can expect to get 14hrs for audio and a hefty 9 hrs for video. It comes in 60GB/80GB capacities and while not currently available outside of Korea, rumour has it it will be hitting Europe and the US in the next few months. If you're in the game for a media player but can't wait that long be sure to check out some of Cowons' other offerings too such as it's A3 and D2 models.

Cowon Korea - Homepage
Cowon Global - Homepage
Cowon - Buy @ Advanced Mp3 Players

R.I.P: Isaac Hayes

2008-08-12T02:10:00.011+01:00

Soul Legend Isaac hayes died on Sunday at the age of 65. Amazing producer, composer, song writer and singer. He will be sorely missed. Be sure to check out 2 of his best known works, 'Hot Buttered Soul' & 'Theme From Shaft' both of them are classics.

Daps Of The Apps: VLC Player

2008-08-10T23:43:00.006+01:00

These days trying to navigate your way through the video compression format mine field can prove pretty difficult at the best of times. With a severe lack of any universal video compression standard you could end up spending hours searching for the appropriate application or plug in to play your obscure .TXZFN video file you have just downloaded from your favourite Ukrainian self tanning tutorial website. But never fear VLC player has the answer to all your problems. While you won't be getting the slick interface you find on the likes of windows media player or itunes, what you do get is support for just about every audio and video format under the sun. If VLC can't play it the likely hood is nothing can. They also include support for uncompressed DVD video files (.VOB) which is a nice touch and rumour has it some industrious hackers have also started porting the player to Apples 'Jesus Phone'. With over 96 million downloads under it's belt already, the masses appear to be pretty chuffed with this one. It's free to download too, so get clicking.

VLC Media Player - Download

The Crates: Chairmen Of The Board - Hanging On (To) A Memory

2008-08-10T16:57:00.017+01:00

When Legendary production team Holland/Dozier/Holland left Motown in 1967 to establish their own Invictus/Hot Wax group of record labels , they teamed General Norman Johnson (previously lead vocalist in a group called ' The Showmen' during the 1960's) up with Eddie Custis, Danny Woods and Canadian born Harrison Kennedy as the new company's flagship act, under the appropriate name "Chairmen of the Board". As well as achieving mainstream success with a string of singles during the early 1970's, a cover of one of their songs entitled "Patches", would go on to win a Grammy Award when later covered with great success by Clarence Carter. The following tune entitled 'Hanging On (To) A Memory' is taken from the now out of print complilation entitled 'Salute the General'. It also featured on the live album 'In Session' and reached no.28 in the US R&B chart in 1971. Some of you may recognise the twisted electric guitar sample which was used on a tune off of rapper Lupe Fiasco's debut album 'Food & Liquor' entitled 'Real' which features vocals by Sarah Greene. Ripped straight from the vinyl for your listening pleasure.....this ones raw.

Sneak Peek: Nike Air Max Classic BW

2008-08-09T14:47:00.019+01:00

In recent years Nike has unfortunately had a bad tendency of butchering some of it's classic models by creating horrible mutant hybrids, using cheap looking materials and opting for highly questionable colour palettes. Fortunately every now and then they still manage to drop something that maintains some of the integrity of their original iconic designs. This Nike Air Classic BW comes in smooth leather and mesh in a Classic Charcoal/Dust-Swan-Black colourway. Evidently not the most adventurous of colourways, but finding this combination of materials on general release BW's has in recent years unfortunately become somewhat of a rarity. They failed to retain the embossed tongue found on the originals (they have opted for a simple stitch instead) but have still managed to capture some of the essence of the originals despite the smaller air units. More pictures and info after the jump.

Available from the following webstores:

JD Sports - Webstore
Pick Your Shoes - Webstore
Purchaze - Webstore
Finishline - Webstore (US only)

(Via Sneakernews)

Big In The Game: Guide Horses

2008-08-08T16:29:00.011+01:00

Blind? Thinking about getting a guide dog? Trusty labrador perhaps? A word of advice chum, how about you ditch the pooch and rock the horse instead. Not only can you now sport a tidy 3ft steed with a stylish maroon bib and harness, these 'helping hooves' also come equipped with a tasty set of fresh sneaks to boot! The Mutts won't know what has hit them! Bound to be a hit with the ladies too.

The Guide Horse Foundation - Website

(Props to Filthy Dezza for the heads up)

Tune: Partyshank Vs Yo Majesty (Shanks Bootleg Mix)

2008-08-08T01:40:00.015+01:00

Here's a tune that was doing the rounds on the blogs a while back, had to put it up here though as it's a banger. Partyshank is a British duo from London. So far 2008 has seen the band top the MySpace charts, reaching one million plays in the process as well as gaining widespread airplay on commercial radio. They describe themselves as being in the genre of grime, power-pop and jungle and are also the creators of the style known as ‘ToyStep’. Now while that may sound like pretentious bulls**t, and they may look like they've just escaped from the circus the bottom line is these boys definitely know how to make some noise. After getting hold of Yo! Majesty's electro rap crossover smash 'Club Action' and giving it the mash up treatment, the result is pretty filthy to say the least. Click to Listen.

Partyshank - MySpace Page

(Info Via Manchesteracademy.net)

Tech Check: Iriver SPINN

2008-08-08T00:04:00.046+01:00

Originally formed by 6 ex Samsung employees Korean company Iriver have been cranking out tasty portable media playing devices since 1999, and the SPINN is certainly no exception. Constructed from what looks to be some kind of weapons grade metal alloy, the SPINN is certainly a looker, the question is has it got anything under the hood to match the racy exterior. The simple answer....yes. The designers of this player were said to have taken their inspiration from old analogue radios, which used the combination of a single vertical bar and an analogue scroll wheel to navigate the channel frequency. Not only have Iriver incorporated their own analogue scroll wheel (hence the 'SPINN') but they have also added a razor sharp 3.3 inch (480x272 resolution) AMOLED touch screen display with haptic feedback...

For those not in the know, haptic feedback, means that the screen gives a small rumble or buzzing feedback when you touch it which gives the illusion that the user is touching a real solid hard button. AMOLED stands for 'Active Matrix Light Emitting Diode'. The advantage of having an AMOLED display over a traditional LCD display (used in most portable media devices) is that they do not require a backlight to function. Thus they draw far less power and, when powered from a battery, can operate longer on the same charge. Because there is no need for a backlight, an OLED display can be much thinner than an LCD panel too.

In terms of file format support you get MP3,WMA, OGG, APE, FLAC & ASF for Audio & AVI (MPEG4 SF) & WMV(9 SP) for video. Photos are covered by JPEG. As well as the usual EQ's, sound enhancements (SRS WOW), album art support and ID3 tag browsing and crisp smooth minimalist user interface Iriver have thrown in a few extras too. DAB digital radio will come as standard on the UK version (DMB-T for Korean version) and all versions will support Adobe Flash Lite 2.1, which means you can download flash games on the device and play them using the touchscreen. A nice touch for sure. Unfortunately River have failed to include any expandable storage which would have been nice but you do get the options of 4/8 & 16GB capacities. Said to be releasing in the UK sometime in August, prices have yet to be announced but expect the damage to be significant. Here's a video of the player in action...

For More info...

Iriver Europe - Website
Iriver Korea - Website

(Via Engadget)

Maintenance: Practicing Safe Bloggery

2008-08-07T17:37:00.032+01:00

Making a blog is jokes but at the same time also inenvertantly leads you into an enchanted world of 'html coding'. What a magical place, one stupid f**king ^ out of place and the whole thing is screwed. Anyway...after sweating blood for about 4 hours I have finally figured out how to add a 'Read Full Post >>>' link to my posts. If you look down the page you will notice this link appears under every post. When you click it, it will lead you to another page which will show you the post in full, which allows the poster to write more about the topic without taking up to much space on the main page.

If you click the link for all my past posts the full post page will be just the same as I hadn't added this feature before. But from now on you can use this link to read the entire post in full and I will only give a short intro to longer posts. I still have not figured out how to remove the link for short posts that don't need it...but i'm working on it. Now you can hear about even more junk I come across on the net. Happy times. Click below to try it out.

The wonders of modern technology eh?

Fresh From The Frying Pan: Liam Bailey

2008-08-06T19:05:00.013+01:00

Singer songwriter Liam Bailey first came to my attention at a live music night run by a friend (shouts to Liesl). Originally hailing from Nottingham, he now resides in Stoke Newington and has been performing shows around London and the rest of the UK for quite a while now. Very unique voice coupled with thought provoking lyrics, strong stage prescence and soulful melodies. Definitely destined for big things. The video above is a live performance of a track entitled 'Hush The Many & Heed The Few'. Be sure to check his other youtube videos and you can catch him on MySpace too...

Liam Bailey - MySpace Page

The Crates: Stan Getz & Luiz Bonfa - Saudade Vem Correndo

2008-08-05T18:51:00.050+01:00

For the opening post of 'The Crates', i've pulled out a little jewel. Sampled to devastating effect by legendary hiphop producer J.Dilla (R.I.P) on The Pharcyde's 'Runnin' this track is taken from the 1962 album 'Jazz Samba Encore!', a collaboration between master jazz saxophonist Stan Getz and one of the originators of bossa nova, Brazilian guitarist Luiz Bonfa. This whole album is ridiculously smooth and incredibly crafted, definitely ranks up there amongst the greatest samba jazz albums of all time. Click to preview the track.

Read: Eckhart Tolle - The Power Of Now

2008-08-05T16:36:00.015+01:00

With a name like 'The Power Of Now', a place on the New York Times best seller list and an endorsement from Oprah you could easily be forgiven for thinking the Power Of Now was some standard fare self help Junk. However if you were to think that then you would be mistaken. With a focus on spirituality and many principles taken from the teachings of Zen Buddhism, The Power Of Now begins with Tolle recalling his initial transformational experience in 1980 that lead him to what he believes to be spiritual enlightenment.

Written in a question and answer format the main theme of the book is that while our use of time has a practical aspect, most people are lost in time and are only peripherally aware of the present moment. In doing so, we make the present moment a means to an end for future fulfillment, and we become what Tolle calls unconscious. Tolle emphasises a need to connect with our inner self and move away from the constraints we place on ourselves by focusing on the past and the future and the ego centric endeavours of the mind. I have never read a self help book in my life or anything like this, but I have to say this was a real eye opener. Very difficult to apply to daily life but definitely worth reading. Be prepared to question everything about your existence....no really. Available at Amazon and most good book stores.

Amazon - Eckhart Tolle - The Power Of Now: A Guide To Spiritual Enlightenment

(Props to Ashbeezy and Davidoff for the recommendation)

Daps Of The Apps: uTorrent

2008-08-05T15:17:00.008+01:00

uTorrent Is a free Bit Torrent client for Windows written in c++ and localized for many different languages. I have tried a range of other Bit Torrent clients before including the popular Bit Comet and Azureus. In my opinion uTorrent is by far the most proficient with it's main advantage being that it uses minimal system resources in comparison to other similar clients. But please remember kids this is only for use with legal torrents, we wouldn't want to break the law now would we? uTorrent is available to download here...

uTorrent - Website

Sneak Peek: Nike Air Max 90 Infa Red - Sell Out

2008-08-05T00:46:00.012+01:00

As any good sneaker fan will know the infa Red colourway was one of the original colourways to first appear when Nike dropped the now iconic Air Max 90 surprisingly enough....in 1990. An exclusive European re-release followed 13 years late in 2003 which saw mainstream spots like JD Sports doing a roaring trade. It was retrod again 2 years later In 2005 as part of Nike's History of Air aka (HOA) Pack which also included a range of classic models in original colourways such as the Air Max 95, Air 180 and Air Max 1 (87) among others. You would think buy this time the fiends would have had enough infa red crack to keep the wolf from the door. But apparently not.

Nike has decided to release a limited quick strike run of the highly sought after colourway with rumours of as little as only 150 units hitting select Size stores in the UK. Other select independent European and American spots such as Overkill in Germany were believed to have been carrying a few hundred too, but alas they were said to have flown off the shelves in a matter of hours. It's lucky I put an HOA pack pair on ice back in '05...I guess you really can't touch a classic.

Tune: Al Green - Simply Beautiful (Live)

2008-08-04T01:37:00.013+01:00

The original recording is in my mind one of the greatest songs ever written. Heres a special live performance of the Rev from 2007 for VH1 Classic. 62 years old and still untouchable. One of the greatest to ever do it.

Tech Check: SmartQ T5 II

2008-08-04T00:39:00.015+01:00

With Apples domination of the mp3 player market it has sometimes been difficult for other companies to make their mark in the industry. Although pretty unknown in the west SmartQ, have managed to carve out a niche for themselves in the Chinese market, offering a product that far exceeds the quality of many other domestic m3/4 player manufacturers. While you may not get the flawless slim profile and drool worthy aesthetics of an Ipod the SmartQ T5 II still has a few tricks of it's own up it's sleeve. As well as offering the standard video, audio, photo, record and ebook functions the player also supports a list of file formats as long as your arm. MP3, OGG, WMA, FLAC, APE, AAC, WAV, CUE, AVI (XVID/DivX), RM/RMVB, MPEG, MP4, FLV, JPEG, GIF and TXT just to name a few. Note that FLV support also means that you can play downloaded Youtube videos without conversion.

Included in the package you also get a 320x240 resolution 3 inch LTPS screen, thumbnail photo viewing, full ID3 tag browsing and album art support, a range of customisable EQ's and presets, as well as TV-Out for viewing full screen video on your TV. The sound quality is also very good too and the battery life is listed at around 22hrs+ for audio and 7 hrs for video.The icing on the cake though is that the T5 II comes with support for Nes, Snes, Neo-Geo And Game Boy Advance emulators, which is bound to satisfy the appetite of any hungry gaming fiend. It has no internal memory but takes cheap as chips SD/SDHC cards up to 16GB and needs no software to transfer files either, just drag and drop. The best thing about it though.....the price, which clocks in at around £70 (The above picture actually shows the 'Le' version which will actually be even cheaper but will not have tv-out functionality). Check the Cnet Asia review for more info. Available to import from the below listed webstores too.

SmartQ - Official Chinese Website
SmartQ T5 II - Cnet Asia Review
SmartQ T5 II - Mp4 Nation Web store
SmartQ T5 II - B4Tech Web Store

Daps Of The Apps: Firefox Download Helper

2008-08-03T15:51:00.027+01:00

Here's a little douzy. Download Helper is an add-on for everyones favourite web browser, Firefox. After you install, clicking the Download Helper icon in your status bar will allow you to download content such as videos, music and picture galleries that has been embedded in a web page but is not necessarily directly downloadable. While it doesn't work with every single site it does work with YouTube, MySpace, Google Videos, Daily Motion and thousands of others. I find it useful for downloading remixes off music blogs. Get it here...

Firefox Add-on - Video Download Helper 3.2

Sneak Peek: Supra Footwear

2008-08-03T14:58:00.010+01:00

From it's humble beginnings as a small homegrown independent skate label Supra has certainly come a long way over the last couple of years. Although primarily skate orientated (with many of their models being designed by skaters themselves) celebrity endorsements from the likes of Jay-Z, Kanye West, Smantha Ronson, Chris Brown & Lil Wayne has helped propel the label into the realms of 'high fashion'. After Jay-Z's appearance in a pair of Gold Supra Sky Tops (Skater Chad Muska's signature shoe) in Rhianna's Umbrella video it quickly became clear that the company had struck a chord amongst hip hop's fashion elite.

While i'm not a big fan of some of the more garish colourways and not all the models in their range hit the spot, the thing I like about Supra is the way they fuse elements of classic sneaker design with a slightly more grown up 'shoe' type feel, bridging the gap between sportswear and stylised casual wear. While in the past many street wear fashion brands have basically sought to plagiarise the classic silhouettes of late 80's and early 90's Nike and Adidas models ( Bape Stas *cough*) it is refreshing to see a footwear company trying to do something a little bit different. Check the full range here...

Supra Footwear - Website

Mini Review: Blu & Exile - Below The Heavens

2008-08-02T14:10:00.042+01:00

Although Blu & Exiles Debut LP 'Below The Heavens' was released last year to critical acclaim, I felt I had to spread the word as it appears that many people here in the UK still have not heard about this little gem. I won't go into too much detail but to put it simply this was in my opinion without a doubt the best hip hop album of 2007 and one of the best hip hop albums I have heard in years. Hailing form the west coast and raised on a steady diet of classic hip hop Blu's early influences include N.W.A, Public Enemy, Common, Black Star & The Roots. Producer 'Exile' who forms the other half of the duo originally formed one half of Hip Hop duo Emanon and produces every track on the album.

It has almost become a cliche to talk about Exile's 'soul drenched' production and Blu's heartfelt and deeply personal lyrics, but the truth is that this describes exactly what you can expect from this album. While Blu is clearly an incredibly talented MC on every level, he also maintains a certain integrity as well as a soulful, humble and honest nature to his words which in my opinion is a very rare thing in rap these days. This is the defining element in Blu's lyrics...a normal person can actually relate to them. Exile's production is reminiscent of that true classic 90's sound that people so often whine about missing and frequently claim is 'non existent'. Think Pete Rock meets Hi-Tek meets 9th Wonder. Highlights for me include 'Dancing In The Rain' which features an infectious jazzy guitar loop executed to perfection and 'Blu Colla Workers' an ode to the struggles of the daily grind.

If you are looking for ego rap, big unsubstantiated talk or inflated characters who claim to be living the ultimate hedonistic criminal lifestyle, this album is not for you. If you have an unhealthy obsession with 'multis' and 'punches' again this won't hit the spot. If on the other hand you like your production soulful and you prefer rap from the heart instead of from the penis, this one will blow you away. 99% of reviews I have read agree. Available at amazon and most good independent hip hop stores.

ooooo

Blu - MySpace Page

Exile - MySpace Page

Design: INSA

2008-08-02T02:17:00.011+01:00

London-based artist INSA started out as a graffiti artist but went on to receive more formal training at Goldsmiths Art College in London. His work explores the connection between branding and sexual desire with high heels and sneakers featuring prominently in many of his pieces. Working on official commissions for a host of famous brand names including Nike and Kangol, the style of INSA's trademark high heels pattern has also been copied by a number major high street fashion brands and designers. Recent exhibitions have included giant stiletto clad legs and sprayed canvases of half naked women dripping in paint.

Beautiful women, sneakers, dripping paint and crispy patterns.....definitely a winning combination. More info after the jump...

INSA - Official Website

Tech Check: Pandora

2008-08-01T19:59:00.013+01:00

Portable gaming devices have certainly come a long way over the last few years. While you might be thinking that your PSP is still pretty state of the art business you may want to think again pal. Pandora is essentially an ultra portable open source computer with gaming controls. In terms of raw CPU power and 3D graphics capability this thing to put it mildly, makes your PSP or Nintendo DS look like your little sister's 'speak and spell'. As well as packing a 4.3 inch, 800x480 resolution touch screen (almost twice the resolution of the PSP) it will also have wifi, bluetooth 2.0, A USB 2.0 host port (for plugging in external peripherals like a mouse or Harddrive), Dual SDHC memory card slots, around 10 hours of battery and a full qwerty keyboard to boot.

If that wasn't enough already, once the software developers get this thing into their geeky mits, the system will have the capability to emulate a whole host of older gaming platforms, including the original Sony PlayStation, Game boy Advance, Snes, Nes, Atari ST, Neo Geo & Sega Mega Drive to name a few. We can also expect a plethora of third party applications to deal with all your multi media needs and potentially a few favourites like Mozilla's FireFox web browser.

Pandora is still in the development faze at the moment but will be releasing officially to the public with in the next couple of months with any luck. The first run will be limited to 3000 units and the damage is said to be around the £199 mark. Check the website for more info...

Pandora - Website

Comedy: Summer Heights High

2008-08-01T15:28:00.015+01:00

While some of our American and European conterparts have not always shared the British appreciation for slightly offensive, self depreciating and at times cringe worthy satirical comedy, we can always rely on our Australian brethren to show a bit of love. They did after all, provide a safe and secure home for some of our finest knifers, rapists and other dangerous criminals. Summer Heights High is a 'Mockumentary' based in an Australian High School. Writer Chris Lilley, plays three different roles. Effeminate and megalomaniacal "Director of Performing Arts" Mr. G, a self-absorbed, privileged teenager Ja'mie King and disobedient and vulgar Tongan student Jonah Takalua. Nothing is really out of bounds as Lilley goes about lampooning every aspect of Australian high school life from the 'special' kids to 'try hard asians'.

If you like series' like 'The Office' and 'Peep Show' you will love this. In my opinion this has to be one of the best comedy shows I have seen in a very long time, Lilley is an absolute genius. The whole series was available to watch on the BBC Iplayer, however they have unfortunately taken them down for the moment, it may be making a return however (technical issues?) so keep checking. It does often gets replayed on BBC three as well and is also available on DVD. For more information visit...

Summer Heights High - BBC Page
Summer Heights High - Offial Website

UPDATE: The full series is now back up on BBC iPlayer. Enjoy!

Summer Heights High - BBC iPlayer

Daps Of The Apps: RocketDock

2008-08-01T01:42:00.006+01:00

Ever looked at a Mac and wished you could have that clean and crispy row of bouncing magnifyable icons that Macs are famed for on your PC? Didn't think so...trust me on this one though. RocketDock is a smoothly animated, alpha blended application launcher. It provides a nice clean interface to drop shortcuts on for easy access and organization. With each item completely customizable there is no end to what you can add and launch from the dock. This small program does not take up many system resources and really enhances the look and feel of your system. You can also go to the RocketDock website and find hundreds of high resolution custom icons which you can use to launch all of your favourite applications. In addition you will find extras and addons you can add to the dock to further enhance it's useability. It's completely free to download, so be sure to check it out....it's more pleasing than you think.

RocketDock - Website

Tune: Raphael Saadiq Ft. Stevie Wonder & C J Hilton - Never Give You Up

2008-08-01T00:21:00.026+01:00

At a time when a whole heap of jokers seem to be jumping on the soul revival band wagon and coming out with 'soul' (offensive toilet pop) albums (*cough* Duffy, Sharleen Spiterri *cough*) heres a man who seems to be making a proper attempt at actually recreating the pionnering soul sound of the 1960's. While Raphael Saadiq, (of 'Tone Tony Tone' fame) has been known to enter that 'R Kelly zone' on a few occassions, his latest effort is certainly no 'Bump & Grind' business. And just in case you had any doubts, guess who pops up on harmonica to stamp the golden seal of authenticity? None other than the man himself, Stevie (you're a bloody genius) Wonder. CJ Hilton also provides vocal support. If that wasn't enough Saadiq has also called in the son of legendary motown bass player James Jamerson (James Jamerson Jnr) to deal with the bottom end duties. The icing on the cake comes in the form of Paul Riser, legendary Motown string arranger who also turns his sparkling hand to the soon to be released new album, which will be enititled 'The Way I See It'. There might still be hope yet...Click to listen.

(Via Soulbounce)

Sneak Peek: Nike Air Tech Challenge II

2008-07-31T21:40:00.009+01:00

Way before the likes of Roger Federer and Raphael Nadal entered the frame, in a decade which pioneered many timeless fashion trends such as tight spandex and the mullet, one man ruled the court. His name.....Andre Agassi. Now here was man a who showed us all that wearing luminous pink and cycling shorts didn't always have to mean you batted for the other team. What a champion. In celebration of his greatness Nike have decided to re-release the second incarnation of his signature shoe the Air Tech Challenge II. While they may not be built quite like they were back then they still make me want to get a high flat top. Happy Days...

Still available at a few 'Size' stores in the Uk and certain select independent spots. Other wise hit the Bay to grab a piece of early 90's gold.