Could Birmingham Become ‘Britain’s Berlin’ For Tech?

Rolling into Birmingham on a train from London you’ll see what looks like a couple of derelict car parks and the odd flash of graffiti on the side of some disused building. Indeed, for this observer at least, Birmingham was almost reminiscent of Berlin, with its many concrete buildings and 60s architecture. On looks alone, it’s not hard to see how it gave birth to the bands Black Sabbath and Judas Priest.

But though the impression of a city that’s a little rough around the edges can work from some angles, the place has plenty to suggest it’s not quite ‘poor but sexy’ as Berlin has been described, especially when you realise the derelict building is earmarked with signage for development, and the carpark has the word “Temporary” on it.

[Source: To read the full article visit Tech Crunch]

Samsung Galaxy Note - Check this out

Samsung Galaxy Note - Truly Smart [video].

I love the design of the Samsung devices and really hope I can bring you a review of this as soon as it becomes available.



What makes the Samsung Galaxy Note truly smart? Perhaps it's the enormous 5.3" screen and 8mp camera. Or maybe its Super HD Amoled crispness, ensuring you never miss a detail, not even a cats whisker. 

Or maybe it's the minimum scrolling and screen transition, which ensures minimum efficiency when switching between applications. It could also be the 1.4 Ghz Dual Core Processor powering the whole thing. Either way, put all these ingredients together and you have a smartphone like no other - The Samsung Galaxy Note. Truly smart.

A message from Paul Hunter, Head of HP PSG UK and Ireland

There’s no denying that it’s been a strange week at HP. I’ve spent 16 years with HP in the UK and I certainly can’t remember a time like it. But change happens, and I fundamentally believe that HP and PSG are stronger following the announcements surrounding webOS and PSG.
 
I’d like to firstly clear up any misunderstanding that has arisen from the earnings announcement around the future of the Personal Systems Group. There have been a number of incorrect stories saying that HP is quitting the PC business.
 
Let me be absolutely clear in saying that at no stage has HP said it is quitting the PC business. Three options are being investigated, and whether the company is spun off, sold or kept in the HP portfolio, the team in the UK remains committed to creating and supporting great products and services.
 
I’d also like to reaffirm our commitment to our UK customers regarding both PC products and those that bought webOS devices. HP is the world’s largest PC manufacturer. We are the number one PC manufacturer in UK and Ireland. HP PSG UK is only going in one direction, forwards and that means customers can have confidence that existing HP products will be supported under the terms of their warranties as will any future purchases. Likewise, all webOS products will be supported and HP fully intends to support the future development of the webOS platform, though again how that will be managed is still under discussion.
 
Obviously the announcement has raised a number of questions outside those mentioned above. We are still working through some of these, but I wanted to try and address as many as I could.
 
Regarding PSG activity in the UK, it’s very much business as usual. Actually, it’s more than business as usual. PSG is a $40B annual business. We operate in 170 countries and have more than 180,000 channel partners. Whatever the future strategy, we have a mission and responsibility to all of our employees, customers and partners to continue to deliver fantastic products. To that end, you will see a ramping up of marketing and advertising activity in the UK as we look to raise awareness of our great products ranges like ENVY and TouchSmart for consumer and Elite and ProBooks for business users.
 
Another obvious question is why has HP decided to stop supporting webOS hardware devices. Due to market dynamics, significant competition and a rapidly changing environment, continuing to execute our former device approach was not in the best interest of HP and HP shareholders. HP is fully committed to the ongoing support and service of customers who purchased webOS devices.
 
I know that questions will remain, and I will do my very best to answer these as and when they arise. I apologize that we have been slow to answer some of the questions around webOS. The sheer scale of interest in the discounted products took us a little by surprise. We are now working on ensuring everyone that owns a webOS device has a positive experience.
 
And that is my focus now; to ensure each and every interaction with the PSG UK business, be that from a customer, reseller, partner or journalist is a positive one. These are changing but exciting times. My UK team and I are fully committed to leading this world class business to a new and prosperous future.
 
Very best regards
 
Paul Hunter on behalf of the UK and Ireland PSG management team

YouTube NextUp Update

It would mean so so much to me if you vote for my video. YouTube really is my passion & I would love to win a place at their Creator's Camp which is fours days of superb training. Thank you to everyone for your support.

Please vote for me - Voting begins 1st July 2011 on http://www.youtube.com/nextup
It would make my day, my week, my year and my future complete if I could do this forever.

1. To vote simply go here: http://www.youtube.com/nextup 

2. Scroll to find my video.

3. My video is called: MAKE EVERY DAY A YOUTUBE DAY (by davomrmac)

4. Click my video.

5. Wait for the Vote Now to pop up.

6. Click the GREEN THUMBS UP button.

If anyone watching this could tweet this out, it would really help...
Please vote for Dave at http://www.youtube.com/nextup  the video is called MAKE EVERY DAY A YOUTUBE DAY by davomrmac (please RT)

VIZBOX.tv Leading Internet Entertainment

Sunday, May 29th 2011, saw the successful launch on VIZBOX.tv a new website leading the way in internet entertainment. With a live video broadcast, viewers watched in as the website was switched on for the very first time. What followed was an hour of entertainment with a Q&A session from viewers around the world.

"The launch was a fantastic success, with 1,000 views in the first hour alone" [Dave Cryer, Founder].

VIZBOX.tv brings together a superb mix of content producers, who are very passionate about the videos they produce. It is often the case that good quality content gets lost amongst the thousands of videos published every day. Now visitors can view trusted content all in one place and discover channels that they may never have known existed. The variety of content is awesome, with tech reviews, in-depth tests, comedy, music and vlogging, there is certainly plenty to choose from.

The future is bright for VIZBOX.tv too, with many new channels planned over the coming months. "Each new channel is scrutinised to check it meets our expectations. It is very important that the content quality is good and either informative, entertaining, or both" [Dave Cryer, Founder].

All of the content producers involved like to interact with their viewers. This is a great way to get involved and feel part of the VIZBOX community. On the website you will find a 'Live Events' section, where every week you can join in and pose text & video questions to the hosts. The live events will be very interesting indeed with a different subject matter every week. Be sure to come along for the ride!

Become a Geekanoids Guest Reviewer in 2011

Fancy testing some of the latest technology & gadgets? Why not become a Geekanoids Guest Reviewer in 2011. Check out this video for full details.



Please note: 
1. Just one entry per person please.
2. Video response must be 1280x720 minimum resolution.
3. To qualify for most views/likes, the video needs to be a newly created video uploaded 2nd January 2011 or later.

**UPDATE**
The prize will now also include a Geekanoids Polo Shirt, plus the possibility of attending Gadget Show Live on press day (I am working on this).

Open Planet Ideas with WWF & Sony

Sony and WWF want to hear your smart ideas about using technology to make the most of our planet's resources. And to get you started, we've pulled together a showcase of technologies that are ripe for re-purposing. Now it's up to you to put them together in radical new ways... and shape a cleaner, more sustainable future for our planet.


WWF and Sony have teamed up to create Open Planet Ideas, a new community that will have the mission to brain storm and collaborate to come up with viable ideas to tackle critical environmental issues.

http://www.openplanetideas.com/

Note to original copyright holder. This was uploaded with express written permission by your representative at The 7th Chamber.