Shiny Shiny

Psst wanna buy an imported iPad? The UK eBay iPad scramble begins

Ashleyn — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:04:41 GMT

Today at Shiny Towers we have been discussing how we might be able to nab one of the iPads that lucky Americans will be taking delivery of very soon. We thought about a quick trip to New York (too pricey),...

Has Twitter peaked? Or why micro blogging needs another Demi Moore bottom shot

Ashleyn — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:16:24 GMT

There appear to be signs that Twitter's astonishing rate of growth may be coming to an end. According to a study by Barracuda Networks the growth in the number of Twitter users peaked number of users peaked at nearly 20%...

How to Back Up: Five tips to keep your hard drive purring

oliverjones — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:28:22 GMT

So you want to know how to back up? Well good for you -- we've all been in that awful situation: You're working away on that snazzy new infographic when, click... click, click, click. Crap. You reboot in the vain...

Foursquare team up with Starbucks - world domination beckons

Ashleyn — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:08:52 GMT

It has been a pretty good year for Foursquare so far. The number of people playing the online location based game has rocketed, it recently announced some interesting partnerships with UK retailers and it has Vodafone on board too. And...

Gallery: Linux open a merchandise store, geek T-shirts a-go-go

Anna Leach — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:11:21 GMT

Linux, the stripped-down computer operating system favoured by hardcore geeks and members of the leet-erati have just launched... their own merchandise store. Yes I think that makes us all very happy. Is it an attempt to gain a wider fan-base?...

The GPS-enabled dog collar that tracks your beloved pooch from your phoneon

Anna Leach — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:55:08 GMT

Where *is* that pesky dog/lovable pooch/furry soulmate of yours? Well if you had only embedded a GPS tracking device into his collar, you would know exactly. And you could track his progress on your phone as he mooches from...

App review: Vlingo the voice recognition app

Anna Leach — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:39:15 GMT

Phones keyboards are fiddly to use so an app which lets you use your voice to activate controls on the phone could make the whole process smoother and easier. There have been a few apps that offer this, but one...

Gallery: Linux open a merchandise store - geek T-shirts a-go-go

Anna Leach — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:23:26 GMT

Linux open a merchandise store: geek T-shirts & mugs a go-go

Anna Leach — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:51:52 GMT

App Review: Tweetsii mushes Foursquare in with Twitter

Anna Leach — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:46:41 GMT

New app Tweetsii, from sucessful Chinese social networking platform Gypsii promises a richer Twitter experience. Tweetsii has a lot of competition in more established Twitter apps: Tweetie, Twitterific, TwitterBerry. Does it provide a better experience? If you're internally groaning at...

App Review: Twitter app Tweetsii from Gypsii

Anna Leach — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:30:35 GMT

Smush Creme Eggs with your iPhone: the Creme Egg app

Anna Leach — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:54:18 GMT

Creme Egg fans, there is a iPhone creme egg app. No you can't eat it, but you can replicate the moment when you crush the chocolate shell of the creme egg and all the goo oozes out. The Scramble the...

The Most Expensive TV in the world - a cool £1.5m

Anna Leach — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:34:01 GMT

Yes, if you do coat your TV set in rose gold and embed it with round cut flawless diamonds - it will cost more than average. In fact if you do it through Liverpool jewellers Stuart Hughes it will...

The Most Expensive TV in the world - oh god

Anna Leach — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:18:06 GMT

Yes, if you do coat your TV set in rose gold and embed it with round cut flawless diamonds - it will cost more than average. In fact if you do it through Liverpool jewellers Stuart Hughes it will...

Google's Public Data Explorer makes stats into beautiful graphs

Anna Leach — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:46:44 GMT

Love or hate Google, you gotta admit it provides some of the best web services out there - maps, docs, mail - and all for free. One of the latest tools they've released is Public Data Explorer, a way...

Tech companies that give out free tampons: Microsoft yes, Google no

Anna Leach — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:46:44 GMT

Err, this isn't exactly a breaking news story, but I came across a photo and post on Flickr recently that shed a little light on the inner workings of the world of tech, and though the gender imbalance in technology...

Twitter builds in location tags: but does anyone care where you are on Twitter?

Anna Leach — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:58:31 GMT

You can now tweet your location from the main Twitter site. Location tags now pop up on tweets if the users choose to geotag. This means you can now see where they were when they sent it. On a...

Sky will work with all 3D TV sets

Anna Leach — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:58:31 GMT

Following the announcement of new 3D TV sets, Sky - the main providers of 3D TV content just wanted to make sure that everyone knows that their boxes will work with all 3D TV sets. So let's just say that...

Twitter builds in location tags: but it's not where you are IRL that counts it's where you are on the internet

Anna Leach — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:10:52 GMT

You can now tweet your location from the main Twitter site. Location tags now pop up on tweets if the users choose to geotag. This means you can now see where they were when they sent it. On a...

Phase Car Stereo lets you play music from iPod or memory stick

Anna Leach — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:23:17 GMT

If you are fed up with jiggling CDs around to get music in your car, then winkle out the car stereo and replace it with this, the In Phase IPS-100SSD. It's a headunit or a digital car stereo that...

GuitarBud: plug your Guitar into your iPhone for geeky jam sessions

Anna Leach — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:54:33 GMT

Okay so it doesn't exactly sound like rock and roll, but a new cable system GuitarBud that lets you plug your electric guitar into your iPhone is bound to please geeky guitar-players. Made by Paul Reed Smith Guitars, GuitarBud...

Twitter handles: the available, the regrettable and why it's okay to a be a bit loopy

Anna Leach — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:06:57 GMT

Seemed like a good idea in 2008 didn't it? calling yourself littlebunnyfufu on Twitter because no-one you knew was on it or looked likely to join it and that was your msn name back in the 90s. Now though, you've...

LG brings a 3D TV triple whammy to the UK's sitting rooms

Anna Leach — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:18:13 GMT

LG just announced that they are launching a portfolio of 3D TV devices due to hit UK shops in May - bringing the 3D experience of films like Avatar to the nation's sitting rooms. The products were raced to...

App Review: Stickybits - letting you stick digital stuff to real objects

Anna Leach — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:13:39 GMT

Stickybits lets you tag digital content to the real world - an idea that immediately got me excited. Using product barcodes and the iPhone's ability to "scan" them using the camera it lets you leave photos, video, audio or...

Entourage eDGe eBook bags 1500 newspapers in content deal

Anna Leach — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:12:57 GMT

Turning an inch-thick hinged eBook into the world's largest newspaper kiosk, newspaper and magazine distributors Newspapers Direct have done a deal with eBook the Entourage eDGe to bring hundreds of newspapers to the device. Subscribers to the PressDisplay.com service...