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 James Hardy

Windows 8 not such a flop after all, selling at similar rate to Windows 7

Listen to certain sections of the media and you would be led to believe that Windows 8 has been a massive failure for Microsoft, on the levels of Vista. However, the figures Microsoft have just released tell quite a different story.

It took 183 days for Windows 7 to reach the 100 million licenses mark. Windows 8 has just hit the same milestone. How long did it take? 192 days. That’s just 9 days long than its predecessor, so it is selling at a very similar rate. This shows that consumers are willing to take plunge with Microsoft’s latest operating system, despite there being bigger changes to it than there have been since the last century, and despite certain outlets around the web suggesting that there are many issues still with it and that consumers are responding badly to new style.

Yes, Windows 8 needs some work to bring it up to the standards we expect from Microsoft, but it is a step in the right direction, and hopefully with the now confirmed Blue update we will see a much smoother and more coherent feel to the OS with both the familiar desktop and the brand new start screen.

Microsoft has also released some more figures relating to Windows 8:

  • There are now 700 million Microsoft accounts
  • There are 400 million active Outlook.com accounts
  • There are 250 million active SkyDrive users
  • There have been 250 million Windows Store downloads

Via Windows Phone Central

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!

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Digixav Podcast 005 – April 9th 2013

Sergey Brin Pink Batman Tesla

Following on from our triumphant trip to The Gadget Show Live last week, Xavier and Chris leave Henry in the dark ages for the fifth episode of our podcast. Sticking mostly to topic for the first time ever, we talk about everything from Facebook’s attempt to take control of Android with Home and the HTC First, Nokia’s Verizon-bound Lumia 928, our experiences in the review period of the Microsoft Surface RT, the complimentary content that comes with Sony’s new $699 4K media player and, the biggest news of the year, Sergey Brin’s bright pink Batman Tesla. We also branch out into culture talk with our favourite new media and Chris gets philosophical…somewhere.

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! Continue reading →

by Henry Hunt

Microsoft Surface RT review

IMG_20130124_212237

Last June, a mysterious event invite came out of Microsoft’s Washington HQ. Unlike pretty much every other tech launch in the last two years, we hadn’t seen any major leaks beforehand, although rumours of the launch being for a tablet with Windows 8 (or, according to Mat Honan, a #MSFTaaaaaablet). What the company ultimately unveiled was the Surface, its first piece of Windows-based hardware, in both RT and Pro flavours, the latter of which still hasn’t made it to the UK. In a brave experiment, I have spent the last couple of months using the RT model as my primary computer, and it’s definitely been turning heads. Has this been for good reasons, though? Read on to find out. Continue reading →

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Digixav at The Gadget Show Live 2013

Henry and I went to The Gadget Show Live in Birmingham on Friday, an annual extravaganza for tech companies to show off their latest wares to consumers in partnership with the popular Channel 5 programme, and we decided that we would turn our experiences of the event into a comprehensive report at the end of it. What you will read below this paragraph is the resulting document, which grew progressively more animated as the day drew to a close. What started out as a ‘thoughtful’ and ‘insightful’ piece descended into madness, dictated by bouncing, swiveling and a whole plethora of GIFs. This article is not for those with poor internet connections, but we hope you join us through our journey into the wonderful madness that was The Gadget Show Live 2013.

This was the ticket, which arrived in my hands thanks to a Twitter giveaway from YouTube’s PDTechHD and Otone Audio, whose stand boasted the loudest speakers by far.

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This was the entrance.

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As you can probably tell, the whole event was sponsored by Microsoft, and it became apparent that the company wanted to push its products, mainly Windows, to the showgoers. Dominating the show floor was this stand.

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On this stand, you could find pretty much every Windows Phone and bizarre Windows 8 form factor under the sun, so we made GIFs of them all.

Windows Phone 8 Phones

Windows 8 Form Factors

What impressed us in particular was the Dell XPS 12. We spent a long time just spinning its screen round and round.

Dell XPS 12

In the end, we left it like this.

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Lenovo’s ThinkPad Twist received similar treatment from both myself…

…and Henry.

Lenovo ThinkPad Twist

Henry also took a shine to the dual-screened Asus Taichi.

Asus Taichi

We both just laughed at Toshiba’s 21:9 offering, though.

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As we moved away from Microsoft’s stand, Henry tried to capture the atmosphere on his Surface RT.

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Soon after, we found ourselves in the Game Zone for an on-stage Grid 2 competition. Henry was lucky enough to be one of the 8 competitors hand-picked from the crowd.

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He then faced the embarassment of coming in 4th in front of the gathered crowd. See if you can spot us both by clicking the image for full resolution.

Grid 2 Stage

After this, we found some calmer places to demo the game, which is set for release at the end of May.

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The best one was undoubtedly the LG stand, which let visitors drive round the Red Bull Ring on a £19,999 84″ 4K/Ultra HD TV, shown off in the UK for the first time, coupled with a Vesaro sim racing setup that clocked in at £15,000. Stay tuned to our YouTube channel for videos from this stand later this week.

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Just next door, Samsung had a few HDTVs, a Galaxy Note 10.1 and a Perspex-encased Galaxy S4.

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On the other side of LG, Bowers & Wilkins were showing off some bizarre speakers.

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Sony, perched close to Microsoft, had a bus, which was sadly not open to the public.

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Honda’s tiny stand showcased Miimo, a robotic lawnmower that borrows technology from the company’s line of Asimo humanoid robots.

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Pioneer’s DJ equipment got Henry up and scratching merrily.

DJ Henry

3D printers were all the rage this year.

3D Printing

Parrot’s cage full of AR.Drones being demoed every 5 minutes was prime material for GIFs.

Parrot AR Drone Spin

Parrot AR Drone Fall

The most fun we had all day was at the end with Kangoo Jumps. We bounced a lot.

Xavier Bounce

Henry Bounce

Although Henry gained unnatural amounts of pleasure from making unusual GIFs of me.

Xavier Drinking

Xavier Conveyor

The opposite was also true, however.

Henry Conveyor

Henry Walking

All in all, we had a great day at The Gadget Show Live. It was jam-packed full of cutting-edge technology and definitely worth the 6 hour round trip to Birmingham. From Henry…

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…and from myself…

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…we hope to see you all there next year!