BBC Accused

It has been announced that this Autumn 'Accused' will be returning to BBC 1 for 4 more episodes.
The dramatic and unique first series hooked viewers in 2009 and the amazing scripts by Jimmy McGovern were supported by actors such as Christopher Eggleston, Marc Warren and Peter Capaldi.
For the second series we can expect to see actors such as Sean Bean, Robert Sheehan and even comedian John Bishop will be making an appearance.
If you didn't know, 'Accused' tells the story of people who have been accused of something and who are now in court. Not all the accused are guilty and none of the accused have a simple story to tell.
I'm really looking forward to the new series and I hope it can stun the nation like the first series did.

5 reasons why a £9000 kitchen is better than a fire, some water and a wooden box

I went camping last week and I realised how much I missed my normal kitchen so here is a list of reasons why a home kitchen is better than a camp one.

1) Freezer - It is extremely difficult to freeze foods at camp unless it is winter. Freezers are useful to preserve foods as unfortunately I'm not allowed to eat all the food we buy within the first 3 days of having it.

2) Rain - When you are cooking at camp and it rains you can't take your fire inside or anything like that or you would fill that room with smoke. Luckily when you are at home, you have a roof above your head so when it rains it goes into the gutters and drains away.

3) You don't stink of smoke after cooking - Every fire produces smoke that will make all of your clothes smell of smoke. Unfortunately you don't realise this when you're camping; you realise it when you are in a public place and suddenly everyone starts complaining about really bad smoke smells. At a kitchen at home, there is no fire so it means all of your clothes remain smelling of whatever washing powder you choose to use.

4) Blender - Apart from if you have loads of batteries that you are willing to waste, you can't blend foods together because you have no electricity. This means that making thick tomato soup with no lumps is extremely hard.

5) Hygiene and practical - How hygienic is it to sit on the floor cooking? Not very. And there is no doubt that sometime during that meal, the smoke will blow into your face and you will inhale it or it will go into your eyes and sting.

In conclusion. I'm honestly not that bothered where I cook as long as the food is tasty. I do think though that cooking on a fire takes a lot more skill and it is a lot more fun.

5 reasons why fire, water and a wooden box is better than a £9000 kitchen

Last week I went camping and I learnt that having fancy electronic kitchen gadgets are a bit pointless when you can have your whole kitchen plus more as just a fire, some water and a wooden box.

1) Microwaves - Who needs weird and confusing settings when you can warm up most foods by putting them in a dry frying pan on the side of the fire. You don't need to go searching around to find out how long you should put the food in the microwave for. You can just touch it every couple of minutes to see if it is warm or not. Alternatively, if you know how long the food needs to be microwaved, you can wrap it in tin foil and put it at the side of a fire.

2) Fridges - Everything that you keep in a fridge can be kept in a cool wooden box unless it is milk when it is advisable to keep it in a bucket of cold water. Fridges use lots of electricity and power to keep everything cold however with the wooden box, it is naturally cold and dry in there.

3) Bins - Everybody gets waste food which most people just put in a bin however if you burn it on a fire it gives you warmth for a while and it helps the environment because it means that your sausage roll isn't getting put into a land fill site to decompose. Which brings me onto my next point...

4) No doubt you will have central heating in your house and kitchen. That is unessential when you have a fire because, apart from plastic, everything burns quite well. Fires give off heat so if it is a cold day you burn more stuff on the fire and sit closer to it. Alternatively, if it is a hot day you sit away from the fire and only go close to it when you need to cook. This saves expensive heating bills because it puts the power in your hands to only make heat when you need it.

5) Entertainment - I can guaranty that it is more fun watching your uneaten food burn slowly in a fire than simply chucking it in a bin and waiting for the bin men to come.

Hungarian Grand Prix

The Hungarian Grand Prix took place on Sunday 29th July 2012, 1 week after the German Grand Prix and Hamilton had pole position followed by Grosjean, Vettel and Button. They had 2 formation laps because of an aborted start. Schumacher's car did not start on the grid so he needed to start from the pit lane.
When the race did finally start Lewis Hamilton kept his position around the first corner and by the end of the first lap, Jenson Button got in front of Vettel.
After another 69 laps, Hamilton finished 1st closely followed by Raikkonen and Grosjean (Both Lotus drivers). Vettel and Alonso unfortunately finished in front Button.
This was Lewis Hamilton's 5th Podium finish of 2012 however Red Bull is still winning the constructors championship with McLaren-Mercedes in 2nd, one point off Lotus closely following behind in 3rd.
Formula 1 is now having a 5 week break over August when they will return in September in Belgium.

Olympic Opening Ceremony 2012

I'm not going to try and act the expert on Olympic Opening Ceremonies because in truth I've only seen 2. Beijing 2008 and London 2012.
The London Opening Ceremony was on Friday 27th July and it surprised me that it looked back in time instead of to the future. I expected the opening ceremony to tell us that London is becoming a better place and it is going to be successful in the future. Instead the first part of the opening ceremony had Victorian people coming out of Coal mines and giant Industrial chimneys being put up.
2 of the most iconic celebrities which appeared in the opening ceremony were Daniel Craig (James Bond) and Rowan Atkinson (Mr Bean) . Daniel Craig who plays James Bond parachuted from a helicopter with the Queen and landed in the Olympic stadium.
Rowan Atkinson who plays Mr Bean was playing with the musicians however he soon got bored and started day dreaming.
Both of them are iconic British Icons and most people in the world recognised them.
The ceremony focused a lot on music and how it has changed through the eras. Dizzee Rascal sung 'Bonkers' and towards the end of the ceremony Sir Paul McCartney from the Beatles sung 'Hey Jude'.
All together, I think it was an outstanding way to start the Olympic games and hopefully since all the team GB athletes are in their own capital city it will help us win Gold.

Wyvern Episode 4

Episode 4 of the Wyvern TV is finally out. Sorry for the delays. We thought we would just make one episode for June and July since the school broke up today.

In this episode Katie talks to an Olympic Torch bearer, Rebecca interviews the Chair of Governors, Doctor David Hall and we report on our win at the Shine Awards London.

Even if Great Britain doesn't win a medal at the Olympics...

I’m not a pessimist and I’m sure that Britain won’t walk away from the Olympic games medal-less but imagine if they did. Would it be that bad? Probably not because the legacy the games are going to leave behind is going to be massive.
London is hosting the games this year which means hundreds of previously unemployed Londoners have been trained and employed to build the Olympic Venues. Hopefully when the games is over they will be able to use the skills they have learnt and get a job or start their own business.
When the Beijing Olympics ended, they turned their Swimming Venue into a massive swimming complex with huge slides and big pools so normal people got an opportunity to use the venues instead of the venues being exclusive for athletes.
Hopefully London will do something along these lines with all of their Venues.

Ultra-Books

Microsoft seems to have just discovered these however they have been around for years.
Ultra books are basically really thin laptops which can perform as well as an expensive computer. Apples MacBook Pro is a really good example of an Ultra-book because it is really thin and lightweight yet still has a brilliant processor, internal memory and graphics.
The only problem with ultra-books is the massive price tag that they have (usually between £1000 - £2500) and for that money you could get something a lot better than an ultra-book. A decent second hand car perhaps or a holiday somewhere warm like Spain?
It is understandable that because they are new they have a hefty price tag so we can only wait in hope that the price decreases.

5 Best iPad Apps

For ages I have wanted to do a blog about my favourite iPad apps and I have finally got round to doing it. So I have carefully thought about this and I've decided that this is my top 5:

5. Storify
If you don't already use Storify this app may seem a little pointless but you should sign up and start using it.
Not many people keep a diary any more because they post what they are doing onto social networks such as Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. Storify allows you to get all of your content about a certain subject or event and put it into a sort of timeline which you can share with your friends if you want. It is a simple drag and drop to add content to the timeline's and you can drop almost anything into the timeline's. This app is in the top 5 because I like looking back on my old status's, photo's and videos from family holidays.
4. Google Chrome
This app only came out for Apple devices in the last couple of weeks and it has been a major success hitting number 1 on the iPhone and iPad app marketplace. The reason it has done so well so quickly is because it is the most popular Internet Browser for computers currently. Google Chrome on the iPad it allows you to sync your tabs with other Google Chrome devices, it is a simple swipe to go back a page and most importantly, it is quicker at loading pages than Safari (The default iPad browser made by Apple)
3. Lego Harry Potter
I was quite surprised when this popular console game was released on iPad because the major concern was that it would be hard to use with just a touch screen. However surprisingly it is easy to move your character, cast spells and change your character. At a small price you can explore the amazing world of Harry Potter and defeat Voldemort.
2. Zeebox
This is one of those apps where you don't realise that you need it until you have it.
For decades people watched TV without being on social networks at the same time however recently it has started. It is hard in the Twitter app just looking for mentions of the program you are watching because you can only search for one thing at a time and it tells you no information about the program whatsoever. However with Zeebox, it puts a live twitter stream of tweets about your program into a single column surrounded by information about the program such as the cast, facts about the show and sometimes even funny pictures. Zeebox is a brilliant app because everything works as it should and once you have sorted a few things out and logged into your social networks it just takes on click to be reading funny comments about 'Embarrassing Bodies' or debating with your friends about issues on 'Loose Women'.
1. Flipboard
Probably the best possible way to combine all of your social and news feeds into an easy to read app. Just swipe your finger from right to left to read some of the highlights of your networks and the news. The app allows you to post Tweets and Status's easily and lets you retweet, like and comment on content as well.


If you want to find out for yourself what these apps are like just download them from the Apple app store on iPad.

Silverstone Grand Prix

Formula 1 isn't the only thing at Silverstone this weekend, there is also a lot of rain. Already people have been turned away if they are turning up in a car as all the available parking space has been taken and the rest is waterlogged.
During practise 3 this morning, the weather on the track was damp however it was not raining. The sun even got out a bit with Alonso doing the fastest lap in 1:32.167. The track is certainly testing the drivers this weekend as proved when during practise 3, Alonso went too far onto the curb and skidded around to a stop. However he wasn't the only one making little mistakes, there were Lotus's, Marussia's and other cars making slips.
If the track is damp tomorrow afternoon when it's the race, it will challenge the drivers hopefully making an exciting race. Canada last year had a lot of rain and it gave us a surprise result and hopefully that will happen this weekend.

YouView: Too much and too late.

Yesterday I wrote being optimistic about YouView and what in my opinion it would need to do to succeed. However when it was officially launched this morning we found out that unfortunately it is going to cost little under £300 and for that money you could get a Sky Subscription for 14 months. And for that you would also be able to watch TV on your iPad, iPhone or laptop to. Along with broadband and calls.
Lord Sugar claims though that this is the first 'all singing, all dancing' model and it will probably decrease in price in the next couple of years. He also criticises Google's TV box saying it is just an internet browser on the TV.
Many people will agree when I say that YouView would have been great in 2010. Just when the iPhone 4 was about to come out and there were not smart TV's. Problem is, now it is 2012 there are loads of smart TV's to pick from.
In a way I almost feel sorry for YouView because I really want it to do well because so many companies have worked together to make a unique service like this. But unfortunately the price is too much and the box is too late.

Finally YouView

In October last year I gave a brief report on YouView (a freeview based on-demand service) which was supposed to come out during the early months of this year. I don't know what the delays were but finally, tomorrow, Lord Sugar is going to announce it's full specs and features.
YouView worked with BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and 5 to bring you a subscription free service. That means that there is no monthly costs.
The TV Box is also going to have an App Store so when you are not streaming TV, you are able to check your Twitter or Facebook. It has full HD Support and the only thing you need is a TV and a good broadband connection.
I'm honestly considering buying YouView however it depends on 2 things. 1) The price. I think that the YouView box will probably cost some where around £150 because if it was any more than £200 then no-one would buy it. 2) Ease of use. I don't want to pay for something that is complicated or hard to use. Hopefully it will be as simple as just a click to load all the programs from yesterday that I may have missed.