Chinese GP

After a tough day in qualifying for the main contenders, Lewis Hamilton came out on top with an amazing time. People thought that Hamilton was going to regret his move to Mercedes as their performance last year was nothing special however they have now proved that they have a fast car. But can it win races? He was followed by Raikkonen and Alonso  It was a terrible day for the two Red Bull drivers. Mark Webber ran out of fuel and couldn't give a 1 litre sample to the FIA so got disqualified. And Sebastian Vettle had an issue with his breaks so he starts 9th.

On Sunday April 14th 2013 it was the Chinese Grand Prix, the weather was good, the only pre-race drama was from the Force India garage where Di Resta's car had a fuel leak which got fixed almost instantly.
It was a 56 lap race and the track had 2 DRS zones so we expected a lot of taking over. The race started at 3PM local time which was 8AM GMT and the 200,000 seats around the Shanghai track were full.

Hamilton got off to a great start, he got away cleanly and made a gap between him and Alonso. The two Force India cars collided on lap 1, forcing Di Resta onto the grass. Also, at the end of lap 1, Webber, who started in the pit lane, returned to the pit lane and he pitted to change his tires. This worked in his favour as it meant he had clean air and fresh tires when he returned onto track.

Disaster struck for Hamilton because during the DRS zone at the start of lap 5 he was took over by both of the Ferrari cars;
Alonso on the outside, Massa on the inside.

On lap 6, Hamilton and Rosberg pitted. Luckily not at exactly the same time however Rosberg came out behind Webber which just shows how much of a difference those fresh tires made.
After a collision with Gutierrez, Sutil got a badly damaged back wing causing him to pit and then retire. A small fire broke out on the back breaks however it was quickly extinguished as Force India unsuccessfully tired to restore his car so it would be fit to race.

Many of the cars were clearly on different strategies as some cars pitted as early as lap 2 and other cars waited until lap 17.

Mark Webber having a terrible day

On lap 15 there was contact between Webber and Vergne as Webber tried an over aggressive take over. Webber attempted to take the inside line and Vergne simply didn't see him. Mark Webber was forced to pit for a new front wing, and tires however things got even worse for him as halfway through lap 16 his gearbox broke and he was stuck in 3rd gear.
When we though things couldn't get worse for Mark Webber, his rear right wheel came off and he was forced to retire.

Alonso was leading the race by 2.7 seconds over Button on lap 22 however they both pitted on lap 24 leaving the lead to Sebastian Vettel. Alonso came out in 4th and Button came out in 5th.

Unfortunately, Nico Rosberg needed to retire on lap 24 because he had an issue with his suspension  It was his 2nd retirement this season.

Lap 25 was when McLaren driver, Sergio Perez finally pitted. He had managed a staggering 25 laps without needing to pull into the pit lane whilst cars like Massa had already had 2 pit stops by lap 25!

Lewis Hamilton shooting past the Mercedes pit wall

On lap 29, Alonso took over Vettel for first position. This week Vettel listened to his team on the pit wall when they said to let it happen. Alonso set a fastest lap with a time of 1:40.973.

Over the next 10 laps, most drivers in the top 10 took a 2nd (and some even took a 3rd) pit stop apart from Button who had only taken 1. This was a risky strategy as his tires were losing grip rapidly however he was doing well in 3rd position. Alonso was leading the race followed by Vettel, Button, Raikkonen and Hamilton.

On lap 42 teams were informed that cars 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 17, 19 and 23 were all under investigation for using DRS whilst the yellow flag was waving. How could this many cars ignore the flag system? Was there something wrong with the flags? The cars were getting investigated after the race and all penalties will be issued for the Bahrain Grand Prix next week.

12 laps before the end of the race Hamilton, Raikkonen and Button swapped their driving gloves for boxing gloves as they fought for 3rd position.
Raikkonen took 3rd place from Button and then Hamilton took 4th place from Button too. Raikkonen and Hamilton were then contenders to be the race winner. There was less than 10 seconds between the top 4 cars.

6 laps before the end of the race Button pitted from 5th position and came out in 7th just ahead of Riccardo. He then had the next 6 laps to try and take over Massa with his fresh tires. He did this after only a few corners. Next he needed to take over Di Resta.

Sebastian Vettel pitted his Red Bull car on lap 52. He came out in 4th place and got told by his team that he was allowed to race the final 4 laps to the finish. Alonso was leading the race followed by Raikkonen and Hamilton.
It looked impossible that Vettel would be able to catch up with the race leaders however he set a fastest lap on lap 53 with an amazing time of 1:36.808. The fastest lap before that was over 1:39!
Hamilton who was coming 3rd was facing traffic and Vettel was catching him rapidly. As the gap started to get smaller, Vettel started to make mistakes and misjudge corners. In the final straight of the race, Vettle could use his DRS however it wasn't good enough. Hamilton finished 3rd.

Alonso won the Chinese Grand Prix after ruling the track for most of the race and setting many of the fastest lap times.
He was followed by Raikkonen who sneakily took 2nd position and of course, Hamilton in 3rd.

In the constructors championship this means that Red Bull is winning with 78 points followed by Ferrari and Lotus. Sebastian Vettel is winning the drivers championship with Raikkonen only 3 points behind him.

Saturday 13th April: In the News this Week

It's the week of Saturday 13th April 2013 and...

PSY 'Gentleman'
YouTube legend, PSY, officially released his new song 'Gentleman' at 11:00AM today. If you are wondering why this is so significant it is because PSY sung 'Gangnam Style' which at the end of 2012 became the most watched video on YouTube. It became a worldwide success within weeks.
'Gentleman' is the name of the song which was released earlier today in a concert in Korea called 'Happening' which was also live-streamed onto YouTube. Over 110,000 people tuned into to the channel to hear the new song and most of them liked what they heard.
The concert was held at the Seoul World Cup stadium in South Korea and before the unveiling of the music video for 'Gentleman' he performed some of his iconic songs.
The song was apparently purposely leaked a few days before the official release of the song so people know the tune of the song before they see the music video.
'Gentleman' sounds extremely similar to Gangnam Style and uses some of the same music techniques however critics do seem to like the song and they think it deserves to have the same success as Gangnam Style.

Facebook Home on the HTC First

Facebook Phone Home Launched
On April 12th 2013, Facebook released 'Home' for a number of expensive Android phones and also the brand new HTC First.
Facebook Home customises your lock screen by giving you a constant feed of your Facebook friends latest photos. It also brings a feature called Chat Heads which is a small circular bubble which sits Facebook Messenger on top of whatever app you are in. This lets you continue Facebook messaging people in any app.
Facebook Phone only looks pretty if your friends are pretty. It will become pretty awkward if you are still friends with any of your ex-girlfriends as whenever they upload a new photo, it will appear on your lock screen automatically. It will become even more awkward if your wife sees and asks you why there are pictures of your ex on your phone.
Anyway, in conclusion, Facebook Phone will be loved by some however hated by most. Sometimes people just want to be able to check their Twitter without Facebook being thrown in your face.

Twitter Trends
In a blog post earlier this week, Twitter announced that they were adding over 160 new places where you can monitor trends including 30 new countries. In the UK alone over 20 new towns and cities have been added including Middlesbrough, Hull, Blackpool and Nottingham.
You can change what trends you see by logging onto Twitter and then where it says trends, click change and then simply select what location's trends you want to see.

If I was CEO of... Microsoft

This is going to be a new series of posts where every report I will tell you what I would change if I was in charge of a major corporation  Some of these are going to be technology, others are going to be food companies and others are just going to be random businesses who have something I would change. First I am going to start off by telling you what I would change if I was CEO of Microsoft.

Windows 8

There are currently two different versions of Windows 8, a version called Windows RT (which doesn't let you download softwares from the internet into desktop mode) and Windows 8 Pro (which does let you download softwares from the internet into desktop mode). Windows 8 Pro is also built for a slightly faster processing chip.

If I was CEO of Microsoft I would get rid of the metro/modern look on Windows 8 Pro and only leave desktop mode. I would still leave the Windows App Marketplace on the desktop and all the apps from the Windows 8 Start screen however they would just be displayed in the classic looking Windows Desktop. This makes the target market for Windows 8 Pro, anyone who wants a desktop computer that performs how a desktop computer should.

Microsoft Office in the Windows 8 Start screen

Windows 8 RT would be the opposite, it would have the metro/modern Start screen however not desktop mode. I would make Windows 8 RT only available for touch screen tablets and Microsoft Office 2013 (which is currently in desktop mode) would just become integrated into the modern Windows 8 look instead of you having to change modes.

Windows 8.1/Blue

Last week, pictures of the next version of Windows were leaked. They show Windows 8 being updated to something that is now called 'Windows Blue'. It shares many features that Windows Phone 8 currently has and this is where I think Microsoft is going wrong.

Windows Phone is good - not great - but good. It is not as popular as Android and iOS however the features and apps it has are perfect for a mobile enviroment. As soon as you start bringing them onto a desktop PC or Tablet - that is where you are making a mistake.

People buy a PC so they can do stuff that they can't do on their phones. So why would they want a PC which does exactly the same as their phone?

XBOX

XBOX is great, I like XBOX a lot more than I like PlayStation devices. If I was CEO of Microsoft I would get the XBOX team to start working on a hand held device which could be carried around with a person. It would have a really long battery life (because I believe that is really important) and people will be able to download the games from the Windows 8 App Marketplace.

As for the XBOX console, I would just improve on what they already have. Maybe integrate Kinect more and upgrade the chips so games work better and faster.

At the same time though - start secretly working on something really ambitious like a holographic version of XBOX which projects games into the air around you.

Saturday 6th April: In the News this Week

It's the week of Saturday 6th April 2013 and...

Outlook Calender... Finally
Only 7 months late the calender on outlook.com has finally been updated to the new metro/modern look.
The calender performs well, is easy to use and the new modern look of it is amazing however as I current Google Calender user, I'm not going to switch to Outlook just yet. The only reason for my delay is that there is no simple way to transfer all of my events over to Outlook Calendar so I would need to remake every event.
I see this isn't a huge problem and I will need to move over to Outlook Calendar eventually when Google Calender stops syncing with Windows Phone. But until then, I like how Google Calender works with every computer and shows you all the information (sometimes too much).
In terms of looks, Outlook looks a lot better and a lot more modern so I do look forward to the day when my whole calendar is on there however for now I am staying with Google.

The scary looking Zygon

Doctor Who 50th Anniversary
Script reading started earlier this week for the 50th Anniversary of BBC Sci-fi Doctor Who. David Tennant (10th Doctor), Billie Piper (10th Doctor's companion), Matt Smith (11th Doctor) and Jenna-Louise Coleman (11th Doctor's companion) were attending the script read through as they will be acting in the November special episode of the show.
The storyline of the episode is still a secret however we found out officially earlier this week that the Zygons will be returning.
The Zygons are a classic Doctor Who monster who were last seen on our screens over two decades ago!
Although, practically nothing is known about the special, it is going to be amazing.

It's Grand National Day
The Grand National is without doubt the most popular horse racing event of the year. It is held at Aintree near Liverpool and 40 Horses enter. Unfortunately 2 horses died in last years race however this year it should hopefully be no horses at all.
I, for one, am certainly looking forward to the race at 4:15PM and I'm sure Channel 4 will do brilliant coverage of it.

BBC School Report 2013 / Wyvern TV #10

Facebook Home

As the day closed in England on a sunny Thursday evening, Facebook in America was just waking up and announcing their new operating system which has been rumoured since last May.

Like all good technology conferences, it started with a short video about why Facebook is so good and then creator of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg took the audience through some statistics about Facebook and how it is by far the most popular thing people do on their Smartphone (apparently anyway).

Zuckerberg then started talking about the thing everyone wanted to hear about - The Facebook Phone. He started off by talking about the new Facebook OS they are launching called 'Facebook Home' which is compatible with most of the latest Android handsets. You just download the new Facebook App from the Google Play store and it takes over your Android device completely. Facebook has even promised that they will release new updates to the operating system every month, each time adding more features and making it more compatible.

The smartphones that will work with the new Facebook Home Software (Android tablets coming soon)

As soon as you turn your new Android Facebook Phone on you are greeted by something called 'Cover Feed'. Cover Feed is an automatic stream from your Facebook News Feed which acts as your lock screen. It looks great and it even allows you to comment and like a photo/status without unlocking the phone.

A 'Chat Head' on top of an app

'Chat Heads' is a new icon on your screen which is actually Facebook Messenger; it almost never goes away from your screen however it allows you to message people via Facebook or SMS without leaving the app you are in. To get the conversation to disappear you simply click on their profile picture and their Chat Head stays on your screen so you can continue talking at any time.
Luckily you can move it around and out of your way if you don't need it however I know lots of people who would constantly use this new useful gimmick.

Facebook Home launches on April 12th and it will come pre-installed on a number of new HTC devices.
The much anticipated and recently rumoured 'HTC First' is the first phone to come running Facebook Home. It comes in a verity of colours (white, black, blue and red) and apart from that, the hardware is pretty standard.
The HTC First is currently exclusive to AT&T however over the next couple of months it will also come to Orange and EE.

In conclusion, the Facebook Phone only brings 2 major new features, the lock screen with the latest status updates and Facebook Messenger on top of whatever app you are in. It is good however not great and I would wait until more updates come before downloading it for your Android phone. Also, if you don't have many friends on Facebook or if they don't post regular status' it is pretty pointless anyway and you should just stick to the current Facebook app.

Malaysian GP

On Saturday 23rd March it was the second qualifying session of the 2013 Formula One season. The sessions started off wet however the track dried out as the day went on. Paul di Resta was one of the drivers who lost control of his car fortunately not hitting the hard steel walls - he qualified in 15th position.
Last weeks winner Kimi Raikkonen, once again qualified 7th however was later penalised 3 grid places after blocking Nico Rosberg.
Surprisingly Felipe Massa had a successful final qualifying session making it to the front row of the grid; the first time he has done this in over two years! However it was last years champion, Sebastian Vettel who dominated the final qualifying session even after having a few slips in Q1 and Q2, he starts in pole position.

The race was on Sunday 24th March and like last year, the track was soaked with rain once again making huge problems for both the cars and drivers.
The drivers got off to a clean start despite lots of spray coming up from the cars from the track making the cars slip and shake a lot.
The million pound F1 cars were shaking round the track like they were made out of wood! 
The only bit of contact was on Fernando Alonso who got a damaged front wing. Everyone expected him to pit at the end of lap 1 to get the nose reattached however since it wasn't effecting the balance of the car Ferrari decided to keep him out on track until they were ready to change his tires as well. This backfired as the nose of the car snapped off on the first corner of the second lap, going under his car and disabling his steering. Luckily no other drivers were effected however Fernando needed to retire from the race.

Fernando Alonso loosing control of his car on lap 2

On lap 6 most cars pitted, including race leader Sebastian Vettel which gave his team mate Mark Webber a huge opportunity. Webber not only set the fastest time for lap 6, he did it again for lap 7 as well! Unusually, Red Bull were telling him through the radio that it is still to wet for him to change his tires although they just got Sebastian Vettel to pit.

Lewis Hamilton having a nostalgic moment

Mercedes driver - no not McLaren driver - Mercedes driver, Lewis Hamilton, went in for a pit stop on lap 8 however went into the McLaren garage instead of the garage of his current team, Mercedes. He noticed almost instantly and then drove 2 garages down to the place he is supposed to be.
Behind him, Toro Rosso released one of it's drivers too soon so it went straight into the front wing of a Caterham.

On lap 13, Webber was leading the race followed closely by Vettel, Hamilton, Rosberg and Button. On lap 20, Webber took his first pit - he was taking a risky strategy and it was unclear if it would pay off or not at this point. He came out in 4th place.

On lap 22 Hamilton took his second pit stop and he actually went to the right garage!!!

The battle for 7th was on on lap 22. Sutil, Massa, Grosjean and Hulkenberg were in the ring trying to take over each other. Massa soon joined this scramble for position as they caught up with him in 6th position.

Although Webber was leading the race on lap 27, he had Vettel and Hamilton less than 1 second behind him. Bad luck for spectators - there wasn't much of a race between these 3 racing superstars, instead Webber pitted on lap 31 and came out in third place. Vettel pitted two laps later leaving Button to lead the race.

Unfortunately, by lap 30 both of the Force India cars had retired. Apparently it was because internal parts of the car had overheated. This is surprising since last week both Force India cars finished with points.

On lap 36, Jenson Button pitted however only came out of the stop with 3 wheels. The engineer with the front right wheel gun knew straight away that the pin wasn't in right. Button needed to be pushed back into his garage.
Button was a serious contender for this race until that moment.

12 laps before the end of the race, race leader, Mark Webber pitted and came out just before Vettel. Things got intense as Vettel tried to get in front of his team-mate. Less than half a second between them for most of lap 45.
Behind them, both Mercedes cars were squabbling for 3rd position. Once again, less than half a second between them. Hamilton managed to maintain his position only milliseconds over Rosberg.
Finally, on lap 46, Vettel took over Webber. The two races were side by side as Webber tried to retake his position. It didn't last long though because Vettel soon pulled away. By the end of that lap, Vettel had managed to get almost a second in front of Webber.

No smiles from the Red Bull team on the podium

On lap 51 team orders were given to the Mercedes driver, Nico Rosberg, when he was told that he wasn't allowed to take over his team mate Lewis Hamilton. Ross Brawn probably gave this order so they don't risk crashing out only 5 laps before the end of the race.

Sebastian Vettel amazingly won the race followed by his team mate Webber, then Hamilton and Rosberg.
This was a controversial win through because it was found out only seconds after the race that Vettel was told not to take over Webber (team orders).
It is drivers that win races however teams that win championships and that is why I think that Vettel should have stayed behind Webber.

Windows 8.1 (Blue) First Preview

Windows 8.1 is the name of the Windows 8 update which is coming later this year. It has dozens of new features which have been leaked this week which allow users to make their computing experience even more personal and make using a PC even easier and more fluid.
The next version of Windows was codenamed 'Blue' however we discovered only yesterday that it will be officially called Windows 8.1.
Note: Windows Blue is not Windows 9 - instead it build on features that are already in Windows 8.

The main difference is on the 'Start' page - Windows Blue gives you more colour options for your background and it introduces 2 new sized tiles; extremely small and extremely large. For customising your tiles and their location there is a new button which lets you move them all at once instead of selecting one tile, moving that and then selecting another tile, then moving that. This new button is found when you swipe down on a tile and the settings appear. It makes it a lot easier to move tiles and make groups of apps.

If you want to see all of your apps you can now swipe up from the 'Start' screen and you will be shown a clean and modern looking screen with a list of all of your apps.

Most of the changes in Windows 8.1 can be found under the Settings menu. Some of these changes are small such as allowing you to access your camera straight from the lock screen however some are pretty major like adjusting your aspect ratio, rotation or additional monitors without having to jump into desktop mode.

Windows 8.1 loves Skydrive even more than Windows 8 did. Microsoft is working on some kind of syncing system from your Windows 8.1 device to Skydrive, and you can also back up your device straight to Skydrive. Like Windows Phone, Windows 8.1 gives you the option to upload all pictures and videos from your camera roll straight into a folder in Skydrive.

In the new Apps menu in Settings there are many new options, one which is called 'Quiet Hours' which allows you to disable app notifications between certain hours of the day. This is useful if you need to keep your computer turned on overnight however dislike having it lighting up and making noise every time you unlock a daily achievement on a game.

Microsoft also seems to be working on a new shutting down page which is extremely similar to Windows Phone as it says 'Swipe down to turn off'.
Windows 8.1 is basically a bigger version of Windows Phone.

Away from Settings, Microsoft seems to be working on a number of new apps. These include an alarm app (which looked very fresh and unique), a calculator app (which also includes a scientific calculator and a  converter tool) and finally, they are also working on a sound recording app.

The biggest new App which we expect Microsoft to be building on is 'Movie Moments' which seems to be a metro replacement for Windows Movie maker. So far it is pretty basic as it only lets you add captions to videos however we expect more to come soon.

Current apps such as Internet Explorer are also getting updated, IE11 has a tab sync function which is very similar to Apple Safari and Google Chrome however a new multiple screen option has also been rumoured. I'm not quite sure how that will work however it should be good once we find out more.

One thing which most people hated in Windows 8 was the fact that if you wanted to use more than one app at a time, you needed to have one app taking 75% of the screen and another app taking only 25% of the screen. Luckily with Windows 8.1, apps default snap into a 50-50 view across the screen however you can still make them smaller or larger if you want. If you have a Windows 8 PC with a high resolution screen you are able to have as many as 4 apps open at the same time which is a huge update from Windows 8 which only lets you have 2.

Finally, Microsoft has also updated the keyboard so it how gives you easy access to the number, you just click a letter on the top line of the keyboard and then you swipe up.

That is basically everything we know currently about Windows 8.1 which will be coming as an update to Windows 8 later this year.

Working the Cloud Review

Kate Russell's new book, Working the Cloud, is the perfect guide for anyone even considering opening their own business. It is also perfect if you need to migrate your business to the Cloud or if you simply just want to know more about how they business world and the technology world are linked.

From the start the book is thorough and detailed and it explains some complicated things in a really simple way so everyone can understand. From technology novices to Internet geeks this book is ideal for everyone.

The book is crammed with useful web links of practically everything from social networks to useful softwares. Kate explains the uses for every website perfectly and if you are reading a chapter about video softwares she gives you a choice of websites and not just the most popular one. This is extremely useful because it allows me to compare the websites myself and decide which one I think is best.

In conclusion, Working the Cloud is a fascinating read which will advantage anyone who uses the Internet - which is basically everyone! I would definitely recommend this book.

April Fools Day 2013

The technology industry seems to embrace April Fools day and they always seem to launch some weird and unusual products. Some of them are even revolutionary though. Here is the top 5 launched today:

5 YouTube Shutting Down
We all know YouTube as a video sharing service right? Wrong - YouTube has actually been an online competition to find the best video in the world and after 8 successful years YouTube has decided that from midnight tonight they will stop receiving entries (video uploads) so they can pick a winner. YouTube has 72 hours of footage uploaded to it every minute so the runners of YouTube have centuries of videos to scan through.
The winner of the competition is decided by thousands of YouTube engineers and the winner will be announced in 2023 when all the videos have been processed and checked. Tonight YouTube will delete all current videos for the public and the site will relaunch in a decade with only the winners video being displayed on the front screen.

4 Nokia Microwave

The new Nokia Microwave

Nokia was pleased to announce today a new Microwave. It has a touchscreen front panel which is so sensitive it even works with oven mitts. The awesome device also comes with the latest eye-tracking technology, which stops the food from rotating when you look at it, and it automatically adjusts the temperature depending on how hungry you look. Of course, it also includes an app store so you can play games, check your social networks or even share your food on the PureFood app.
The Microwave is coming to market in the second quarter of 2013 and it will cost just over €399. Other smaller microwaves are also rumoured to be launching for people with smaller appetites.

3 Gmail Blue
Finally, the new revolutionary email system, Gmail Blue, has been launched. Both consumers and developers in the tech industry have been waiting years for this however now, you can experience Gmail in Blue! It has exactly the same features of Gmail apart from now, they are all in the colour blue! Find out more here: http://www.gmail.com/blue


2 Twitter Vowels
Earlier this morning the official Twitter account Tweeted this:

Trd th nw Twttr yt? Mr tm fr mr twts! blog.twitter.com/2013/03/annncn… #nvwls discover.twitter.com/twttr/
— Twitter (@twitter) April 1, 2013

If you follow the link it explains that over the next few days they will be rolling out 'Twttr'. This new service is free and work just like Twitter, only difference is it doesn't let you tweet vowels. For that privilege you need to upgrade to the $5 a month premium package which will let you use the normal Twitter again. This new update will be coming to 100% of the Twitter users over the next few days.

1 Google Nose
Have you ever wished that you could Google search 'Garlic Breath' and then be able to smell Garlic Breath? No - well neither have I - but now you can with Google Nose. You can sign up at http://www.google.com/nose
It is built into Google Search so if you type in something such as 'Garlic Breath' it will give you the option to smell it in the right hand box.
This is amazing technology and it is available for anyone who owns a computer screen.

That concludes my top 5 April Fools Day pranks that the tech companies have pulled on us however there are loads more. Check out the new treasure map on Google maps and Virgin Atlantic's first glass bottomed plane.