Author / Xavier Voigt-Hill

Unknown's avatar

Posts by Xavier Voigt-Hill

hi
by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Digixav Podcast 009 – May 28th 2013

Digixav Podcast 009

What would a Digixav Podcast be without a serious discussion about songs that deal with adultery in all its various forms and hipster racing cars? Not episode 9, that’s for sure. This time Xavier and Chris talk about the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and various facets of Samsung and HTC before delving into the more underground side of tech with chat about Jolla, the gold PorscheBerry and a game that comes with a free supercar as a pre-order bonus. Chris also keeps shouting “GEORGIANA STARLINGTON” and something about cream cheese bagels, while Xavier begins to formulate some Xbox and Glass app ideas for the folks at Bang With Friends.

If you have any feedback, questions or comments, tweet us or send us an email to podcast@digixav.com. We’d love to hear what you think!

Right click and save this link to download, and why not also subscribe to us in your favourite podcatcher? Use this RSS link!

You should also check out our intro music on SoundCloud! It’s Melodic Trap by Harry Ling.

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Porsche Design BlackBerry P’9981 refuses to die and has a titanium-lined golden coat to prove it

Gold BlackBerry Porsche P'9981

When BlackBerry, then known as Research In Motion, unveiled the P’9981 in collaboration with Porsche Design in October 2011, many people laughed. While non-billionaires aren’t really the target market for a phone with a £1250 price tag, most of us felt free to laugh at a Bold 9900 with a new software theme (on top of BlackBerry 7) and a metallic curve-phobic body that appeared capable of cutting through a steak. With the Z10 and Q10, it is evident that BlackBerry has changed and is capable of making phones that aren’t painful to use once again, and many of us assumed that the P’9981 and its ridiculous apostrophe had gone forever.

How wrong we were.

Continue reading →

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Digixav Podcast 008 – May 18th/19th 2013

WP_000302

In case reading isn’t your thing, we have an exciting competition in this show. Listen to at least the first few minutes of the show for all the details.

On Saturday, we began to do the unthinkable – record an eighth podcast. Xavier was tired from a day at Lord’s marching and watching cricket and generally being awake, while Henry and Chris were busy getting distracted by 4chan’s infamous /b. After numerous Audacity-based failures, things began to take shape on the fourth attempt, but an unfortunate spontaneous barbecue-related event sprung up and we had to abandon things. Shedding Henry who opted to watch the new Gatsby film rather than resume, an even more tired Xavier and an even more distracted Chris picked up the microphone, kept calm and carried on. What they said about Nokia, Google and possibly even some other thing probably makes no sense and will lull you into an endless doze, but we’re presenting it to you nevertheless.

Two days late.

Because #YOLO.

Did I mention there’s a competition?

Continue reading →

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

HP announces SlateBook x2, a convertible Tegra 4 Android tablet for $479.99

HP Slatebook x2

I like to call HP the most unpredictable company in tech. One minute they’re acquiring Palm for $1.2 billion, then the next they’re discontinuing all webOS products and throwing TouchPads out of the door for less than £100 a pop. There is literally no way of telling what wacky thing they’ll do next, and at MWC they proved this by announcing the Slate 7, a £129 Nexus 7 competitor with near-stock Android and Beats Audio. While there was absolutely no reason to buy one over a Nexus 7, it still suggested that HP had an interest in good value Android machines with unmodified software. Now it seems that theory is correct, as the company has unveiled the SlateBook x2.

If you’ve ever seen HP’s Windows 8-powered Envy x2, then the SlateBook x2 should instantly feel familiar. It’s smaller, at 10.2″ compared to 11.6″ for the Envy x2, but it follows the same basic concept of a slate being paired with a detachable battery-equipped keyboard to make a notebook form factor. The slate itself is powered by Nvidia’s Tegra 4 chip, has a 1920 x 1200 IPS display and 64GB of storage which is expandable via microSD and, in the keyboard dock, a full size SD. The software is also pretty much stock Jelly Bean with HP’s only additions being printing stuff and some document editing/file management capabilities. Best of all the whole keyboard and 64GB tablet package will only set you back $479.99, so less than a 16GB 9.7″ iPad, meaning that it’ll probably end up at around £390 in the UK. If Android tablet app offerings were more compelling, I’d be seriously tempted.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9EcgzjT7e8]

Source HP (YouTube)
Via Android Beat

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Without Glass: Blogger Spends Entire Google I/O Keynote Duration In Real World Completely Oblivious And Survives

Xavier Voigt-Hill [right] pictured with comedian Bill Bailey two months before his three-hour long offline ordeal

Xavier Voigt-Hill [right] pictured with comedian Bill Bailey two months before his three-hour long offline ordeal

For any tech blogger, young or old, to miss out on attending, liveblogging or even following an event such as Google’s annual I/O keynote sounds like an impossible idea in the 21st century, but 16 year old Xavier Voigt-Hill disrupted the synergy of the modern world by doing just that, managing to remain oblivious to the occurrences at Google’s San Francisco event for its entire three hour duration.

Speaking exclusively to Digixav, Voigt-Hill claimed that staying away from the Internet blogosphere between the hours of 5pm and 8pm BST on Wednesday was far easier than many addicts may believe, as he interacted with real humans and went outside.

“I had prior commitments for over half the keynote time, so I thought I may as well do my best to miss the whole thing and then catch up on all the news later on. It turns out that was surprisingly easy.”

Logo of Google I/O 2013, the keynote of which Voigt-Hill avoided for three whole hours

Logo of Google I/O 2013, the keynote of which Voigt-Hill avoided for three whole hours

Voigt-Hill, who has played bassoon since the age of 12, blamed the scheduling of a school band rehearsal for his initial decision, although the rehearsal was later cut short and stopped 3 times due to inclement weather.

“I knew that during band practice I would have no chance to check Twitter or any of the liveblogs, let alone write my own, but when it was delayed I just decided to talk to people and then write a satirical blog post because I was really, really bored.”

When asked what he wanted Google to announce during the keynote presentation at Moscone West in San Francisco, the self-proclaimed technology fanboy had strong opinions.

“Chrome OS stuff. The web only life is not far away, and Chrome OS is definitely the thing to take us into the future of computing. Google Glass is the next big revolution too, so I hope they have something better than last year’s skydiving. Android stuff I can give or take, really.”

Xavier Voigt-Hill returns to his career as a full-time Internet user tonight at 8pm BST. He promises to never leave home again.

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Blue Samsung Galaxy S4 arrives in Japan, looking pretty blue

Blue Arctic Samsung Galaxy S4

The Galaxy S4 is a phone from Samsung. Blue is a colour. If you combine the two, then you get a blue Samsung Galaxy S4, and that’s just what Japanese consumers will be able to snag today. NTT DoCoMo, also known as the network that gets all the cool things that Europe never sees, including Sony’s Xperia Tablet Z, is going to be the first network in the world to market this variant, named Blue Arctic, while the rest of the world is forced to stick with the Black Mist and White Frost models, although this probably won’t remain the case for long. Like the others and the Galaxy S III before it, however, the blue model is insanely reflective thanks to Samsung’s Hyperglaze coating that acts more as a fingerprint magnet and magpie attractor than anything else. There’s no sign of some of Samsung’s Galaxy S III colours such as Titanium Grey, Amber Brown and Garnet Red coming to the latest phone yet, but keep your eyes peeled and you may well see those – and a special Google edition with stock Android – in the not too distant future.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11O-zaWXzoc]

Via Android Beat

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Nokia’s Lumia 925 is a book with a new cover and nothing more

You probably know what the Nokia Lumia 920 is. Last year you voted it your favourite smartphone and we also gave it our design award, so it’s fair to say that it went down pretty well. Aside from the complaints about its weight (which I thought were ridiculous, frankly), the only issue that people really had was with Windows Phone and its ecosystem or lack thereof. At an event in London today, Nokia unveiled the latest addition to the range of Windows Phone 8-powered Lumias, with the 925 joining the 520, 521, 620, 720, 810, 820, 822, 920 and 928 as the new flagship for everything that’s not Verizon, but what has changed? Apart from the shell, absolutely nothing.

And I’m mad.

Continue reading →

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Digixav Podcast 007 – May 1st 2013

Scoble in the shower

We’re back, baby! Xavier, Chris and a tardy Henry reconvened to talk through all the big news of the past two and a half weeks, from Xboxes and smartwatches to wearable computers and horrible Samsung songs (or Samsongs if you want to get all punny about it). We even divert ourselves onto the now-regular culture section, Google I/O rumours, Twitter #music and, of course, Robert Scoble having a shower.

If you have any feedback, questions or comments, tweet us or send us an email to podcast@digixav.com. We’d love to hear what you think!

Right click and save this link to download

Why not subscribe to us in your favourite podcatcher? Use this RSS link!

You should also check out our intro music on SoundCloud! It’s Melodic Trap by Harry Ling.

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Reliance Digital’s dreadful Gangnam Style parody sets a new low for even Galaxy S4 marketing

It’s very fair to say that the official launch event for Samsung’s Galaxy S4 didn’t go down that well with, well, anyone remotely sane. We spoke about all the crap surrounding the phone’s unveiling (and the phone itself) in a special episode of the podcast, but it seems that Reliance Digital, a leading Indian tech retailer, has managed to do things even more horribly at a star-studded launch event. Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh was dragged onto stage and, over 7 months after it blew up and at a point where even PSY has moved on, performed a parody of Gangnam Style that was all about, you guessed it, the Galaxy S4. I would pick out a few of the most dreadful lyrics, but I feel it my duty to present you the whole ordeal in its entirety without any spoilers.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJs7N3aM75Y]

Horrible, wasn’t it?

Source Films of India (YouTube)
Via The Verge

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Digixav Podcast 006 – April 13th 2013

xraycoat

If one show this week wasn’t enough for you, Henry was dragged in by Chris and Xavier for another episode of the Digixav Podcast, this time filled with questions from listeners, Samsung’s gigantic phablets, the age-old battle of Ryan Seacrest vs. Joel McHale and why Helvetica is always better than Arial. Stay tuned for more cultural recommendations from Chris and a jacket with 22 pockets for all your technological needs – even an iPad. We also talk even more about that Facebook Phone, the HTC First, the Asus FonePad, O2, EE, Microsoft Office for iOS and Android and Twitter Music, along with a bunch more mysterious unplanned topics!

Warning! This show contains immaturity and strong language. And two penis jokes.

If you have any feedback, questions or comments, tweet us or send us an email to podcast@digixav.com. We’d love to hear what you think!

Right click and save this link to download

Why not subscribe to us in your favourite podcatcher? Use this RSS link!