Bbc Archive

  • The PS3’s yellow light of death: Big deal, or sorta ‘meh’?

    The PS3’s yellow light of death: Big deal, or sorta ‘meh’?

    Posted on September 18, 2009 | No Comments
    The BBC is running a piece about “the yellow light of death,” the PS3's equivalent of the Xbox 360's “red ring of death.” Well, perhaps the word “equivalent” isn't the right one to use, since, at least according to Sony, less than one half of one percent of PS3s sold in the UK have turned up bad.

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  • Gamers getting older, fatter

    Gamers getting older, fatter

    Posted on August 18, 2009 | No Comments
    Well, bad news for gamers in the Pacific Northwest. Turns out that according to a study by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) the average age and weight of the common gamer is going up. This is not good for obvious reasons, since weight problems also can contribute to other health issues.

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  • Video: This is what Sweden’s Pirate Party is all about

    Video: This is what Sweden’s Pirate Party is all about

    Posted on July 23, 2009 | No Comments
    Probably the name needs to change, but Sweden's Pirate Party has its heart in the right place. It doesn't aim to give everyone the right to download the latest Modest Mouse album from privatetorrents.com all willy nilly (as the Huffington Post implies), but rather to reform copyright laws so that they accurately reflect the 21st century. And as you may already know, the party had its first European MP elected in the most recent elections.

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  • Morgan Stanley report shows that teens don’t use Twitter, don’t buy music (but still go to the movies)

    Morgan Stanley report shows that teens don’t use Twitter, don’t buy music (but still go to the movies)

    Posted on July 13, 2009 | No Comments
    There's a fantastic report coming out of Morgan Stanley that analyzes the way teens consume media in this day and age. The source was a 15-year-old boy; he interns at the company. The results will the music industry, make Hollywood very happy indeed, and put to bed the notion that everyone is head over heels in love with Twitter.

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  • Mexican Jumping Beans: Not a good fajita topping

    Mexican Jumping Beans: Not a good fajita topping

    Posted on June 29, 2009 | No Comments
    Did you know that the worms inside Mexican Jumping Beans weave a silk wall if their beans are broken? Or that they avoid light and heat? Or that they taste horrible in a burrito? Learn all this and more in this video from the BBC and then head over to MyPetBeans where they sell a tin of beans for $10. I just bought some for my kid(s).

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  • i-Real: Toyota updates its futuristic tricycle

    i-Real: Toyota updates its futuristic tricycle

    Posted on June 29, 2009 | No Comments
    Formerly known as iSwing, Toyota's single-seat personal mobility cars gained worldwide attention back in 2005 when TIME magazine called it one of the ”coolest inventions” of that year. But now Toyota has decided to update the vehicle (by reworking the 4-wheel car into a 3-wheel "chair"), give it a new name (i-Real) and let the Central Japan International Airport near Nagoya test a total of four units on a daily basis.

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  • 13 Year Old Uses Walkman for a Week. Result: Embarrassment

    13 Year Old Uses Walkman for a Week. Result: Embarrassment

    Posted on June 29, 2009 | No Comments
    The BBC convinced 13 year old Scott Campbell to swap his iPod for a Walkman and use it for a week. The first shock came just from seeing the thing: [My Dad] had told me it was big, but I hadn’t realised he meant THAT big. It was the size of a small book. It gets worse [...]

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  • One of our interns makes it big by carrying a Walkman for a week

    One of our interns makes it big by carrying a Walkman for a week

    Posted on June 29, 2009 | No Comments
    Wee Scott Campbell of Aberdeen, Scotland is 13 years old and sent us an email last week asking if he could write for us. What he lacks in physical age he makes up for in chutzpah. And so, much to my surprise, I wake up this morning to discover young Campbell on BBC comparing an iPod to a Walkman with his mum and generally impressing the heck out of us. The bairn writes:
    My dad had told me it was the iPod of its day. He had told me it was big, but I hadn't realised he meant THAT big. It was the size of a small book. When I saw it for the first time, its colour also struck me. Nowadays gadgets come in a rainbow of colours but this was only one shade - a bland grey. So it's not exactly the most aesthetically pleasing choice of music player. If I was browsing in a shop maybe I would have chosen something else. From a practical point of view, the Walkman is rather cumbersome, and it is certainly not pocket-sized, unless you have large pockets. It comes with a handy belt clip screwed on to the back, yet the weight of the unit is enough to haul down a low-slung pair of combats.

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  • Video: Israel’s One-Eyed Robotic Combat Snake

    Video: Israel’s One-Eyed Robotic Combat Snake

    Posted on June 17, 2009 | No Comments
    The Israelis are working on this rather creepy robot snake, a reconnaissance device which fitfully flips and flaps across almost any terrain and captures some rather clear video along the way thanks to the big camera embedded in its head. So creepy is it that it seems to have startled the BBC reporter into this [...]

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