Doctor Who 2013

Picture from SFX website

Last night, the time traveler from Gallifrey in his blue telephone box returned to our screens with a whole new series. The first episode of series 7 of Doctor Who broadcast to our televisions at 6:15PM last night and this new series looks amazing.
This time last year, Doctor Who was getting poor reviews as people weren't liking Matt Smith as much as David Tennant, the story lines were confusing and the show was being accused of 'trying too hard' by TV critics.
This year though, the scripts are witty and clever, the stories are hooking the viewers and the cinematography is now modern and unique. Doctor Who now feels futuristic like what it should be and everything on screen fits and looks perfect.
The 11th Doctor, Matt Smith is so confident with the 2013 series of Doctor Who he said earlier this week:
"It's going to be the biggest and best and most inventive and most exciting year for the show."
Later this series we can look forward to the return of the Cybermen (last seen last year) and the Ice Warriors (last seen in 1974 in a Jon Pertwee episode).

Episode 1: The Bells of Saint John
This uplifting and feel good first episode of Doctor Who was full of life and started series 7 with a bang! Set in modern day London, the Doctor (Matt Smith) is forced to investigate when he gets an unexpected call of confused Clara Oswald (Jenna-Louise Coleman) who can't get the WiFi working properly. The Doctor realizes something sinister is going down so with the help of his new companion, Clara, he travels around London on a futuristic motorbike looking for the source of the Wifi issue which is doing something dangerous to humans.
Although the story with Clara Oswald may seem a bit mind boggling now since she has died twice and then forgot who the Doctor is; the writers of Doctor Who have promised it will make sense in the end.

For a look behind the scenes of the episode you can watch a 3 minute video that the BBC uploads to YouTube every week (below) however it is no where near the standard of Doctor Who Confidential which used to be on BBC 3 after the amazing show every week.



Happy 50th Birthday
Doctor Who will be celebrating it's 50th Birthday on 23rd November this year and yesterday it was announced that David Tennant and Billie Piper will be joining Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman in the special 3D episode. David Tennant was the 10th Doctor between 2005 - 2010 and for one of those years his companion was Rose Tyler aka Billie Piper. Golden Globe winner, John Hurt, will also be staring in the special episode however we don't currently know the character he will be playing.
One thing is for sure, this 50th birthday episode is going to be great. Head writer of Doctor Who, Steven Moffat, is so happy with it he says it will definitely "not disappoint fans".

Saturday 30th March: In the News this Week

It's the week of Saturday 30th March 2013 and...

Flipboard 2.0
Earlier this week Flipboard released version 2.0 of, well, Flipboard. If you didn't know, Flipboard is a cool iOS and Android app which puts your social feeds into a modern newspaper like format so you can flick through your networks instead of scrolling down various social apps.
Flipboard is one of my favorite apps of all time and it was made even better when they released a new version earlier this week. The new version has some minor bug fixes and tweaks however the main difference is that it now allows you to make your own newspaper/magazine by combining web links, tweets and posts from your current feeds.
On the right you can see the Flipboard Newspaper I made for the 'DSMS Wyvern', it contains the latest information about school trips and I can share it to people in our school via Twitter or Email so anyone with the Flipboard app can subscribe to it and receive the latest updates in a dench magazine format.
Unfortunately, Flipboard still isn't out for Windows 8 or Windows Phone 8 however it will hopefully come soon.

Google Glass
How would you like to try out Google's new Project Glass (which is a pair of half glasses which display real time information about weather, location and other information)? Well earlier this week Google launched a competition on Twitter and Google+ where they asked people what they would do if they had Google Glass. The winners were a random selection however there were some celebrity names in there. And although they have won the amazing opportunity  they still need to pay $2000 to pay for the Glasses and also have enough money to pay for a trip to America to pick them up.
It emerged today though that Google is rethinking some of the people it selected to try the Glasses. Rumors are suggesting that the opportunity got taken away from one woman simply because she only had 7 Twitter followers.
It was also in the news this week that apparently Google Glass is going to be manufactured in America which would definitely boost America's economy.
Finally, earlier this week a few developers rumored that they were building apps for Google Glasses. I personally thing that Google Glass will be great for augmented reality apps such as 'World Lens' which is an iPhone app which translates words into different languages by simply pointing your camera at them.


Storify
Storify is a website where you can make streams of tweets, posts, pictures, videos, articles, webpages and basically anything else you can find on the web. I've used them in my blog before. For example: Apps Fighting For Your Photos.
Once you have created a stream of content you can embed it, share it or just leave it on the Storify website for other people to view.
Anyway, earlier this week Storify announced that they were making some new updates. Storify VIP allows a user to make Storify streams that update automatically which is perfect for live blogging, it allows you to make personal streams that aren't shared with anyone and it allows you to edit the way your steam looks once you have embedded it.
So far, the update seems free however you need to request to have the VIP service. You can do that by clicking here.

Why 2013 already isn't Google's year

1. YouTube channel design
Although I originally liked the new YouTube channel design, I have came to hate it for a number of reasons. One fault that I did mention on my last review of it was the fact that it seemed less personal and comparing it to the old design you can see clearly how it has changed. Instead of your channel page being devoted to your content it now has a users subscriptions down the side however that isn't the biggest problem. The main error Google has made is you can't change the background image. Now the background on every single YouTube channel is white, it makes the whole YouTube experience more boring and makes everyone's channels less unique. To anyone on the old YouTube channel design, I would advise you stayed there.

2. Google Reader getting put down
Google Reader is a personal RSS feed which anybody can put together  It allows you to make a stream of the posts from your favorite blogs and websites. This was the most popular RSS feed maker on the internet however for some reason Google has decided that from July it will cease to exist. This is good news for rival website Feedly which has gained around 500,000 Google Reader users in the last week. As one door closes another one opens somebody once said.

3. Windows Phone integration
Most Windows Phone uses will have heard the news that Google is soon stopping their Gmail and Google Calender support with Windows Phone. It doesn't matter what version of Windows Phone you are using, from Summer 2013 your emails and Google Calender will no longer sync.
I can't find a good explanation of why Google is making this move. It seems they will only loose potential and existing customers. Hopefully with the launch of Windows Phone 9 in Autumn these problems will be sorted out and once again people will be able to use Google services like what they should.

What I am putting across here are three reasons why Google seems to be making stupid decisions in 2013 - and it is only March! Hopefully though, Google will sort these problems out and make them the successful and popular company they should be.

Australian GP

A soaked Mercedes car in the first qualifying session 

Qualifying on Saturday 16th March was so wet that after the first session it was postponed for the morning before the race. Despite the track still being damp, most drivers still posted a decent qualifying time on the Wet tires. McLaren's Sergio Perez took a risk as he tried setting a lap in the intermediate tires however this didn't pay off and he started the race in 15th. Like most of last season, Vettel dominated the qualifying session starting in front of his team mate Webber, then Hamilton, Massa and Alonso.

The track was almost dry by the time of the race where due to a technical problem Nico Hulkenberg failed to start the race. Felipe Massa got off to an amazing start jumping from 4th to 2nd however after the first corner Vettel had maintained his position in first. It was a clean start to the race with no crashes or contact.

The 2013 Formula One Drivers

Experts calculated most cars will go in for a pit stop 3 times over the 58 laps they drive. Vettel pitted at the end of lap 7 meaning that Massa could take the lead however this lasted one lap before Massa and his team mate Alonso pitted. When Alonso came out he was just in front of Maldonado who seemed distracted as he went wide and onto the grass in the first corner. 

After the first 10 laps you could see which cars were going to be strong during this race; Jenson Button's team McLaren didn't look like they were having a good race because their car didn't seem to be fast in corners or in straights. As expected though, RedBull were on the ball with some amazing driving from Sebastian Vettel. Two dark horses seemed to be Lewis Hamilton's new team, Mercedes and Kimi Raikkonen's team, Lotus. On lap 15, Hamilton was coming 7th and Raikkonen was coming 5th.

Adrian Sutil who took a break from Formula 1 in 2012 after assaulting someone in a nightclub in China, has returned to the sport this year and he is racing for Force India.
After his pit stop on lap 21 he was coming 6th which was extremely good since he hadn't raced in a year.

Once Sutil pitted from 1st, the race for Pole position was on. Massa, Raikkonen and Rosberg were leading the race however the main action was behind where Vettel was making his way back up the field.

The first crash was on lap 25 when Maldonado slipped on the grass and ended up beaching himself just after the first corner. This caused the yellow flag to be waved (which meant that DRS was also disabled). 

A repeat of some of the practices happened to Nico Rosberg as he failed to finish because of a mechanical problem in the car. He elegantly pulled up on lap 27 where he angrily got out of the Mercedes car. By lap 30 the yellow flag had stopped and the intense race was back on. Hamilton, in the same car to Rosberg, was surprisingly still racing strong and challenging the likes of Alonso. 

On lap 32 their was an eminence fight for 2nd position where Alonso, Vettel, Sutil and Massa were contending to follow the race leader, Raikkonen.
There was less than a second between them all.
These racers were only split up when they started taking their 2nd pit stop.

On lap 42, Daniel Riccardo retired from the race because his exhaust system cracked and burnt a hole in his body work. Other Australian driver, Mark Webber was coming 8th at this point although he was slowly making his way back up to the podium positions.

10 laps before the end and Raikkonen was still leading the race however Alonso was catching up with him quickly. Behind them, Sutil and Hamilton were fighting for 5th position and after numerous attempts, Hamilton's driving skill meant that he took 5th position on lap 52.

Only a few laps before the end of the race you could see how determined and quick Fernando Alonso was; he almost crashed into the back of a Caterham car he was about to out lap. Unfortunately though, the gap was still 10.2 seconds on lap 57 and he had no chance of taking victory of, racing legend, Kimi Raikkonen.

In the past many people would agree that Lotus cars only won races by luck however their win today was definitely not luck. Over the Winter break, Lotus has successfully produced an extremely fast F1 car which should hopefully win a lot more races in the many months to come. It is the first time a Lotus has ever won in Australia and nobody deserved it more than 33 year-old Kimi Raikkonen who returned to the sport last year after a 3 year break from the sport. 

Raikkonen started 7th and amazingly made up 6 places until he reached Pole and then he maintained his position there.

Saturday 16th March: In the News this Week

It's the week of Saturday 16th March 2013 and...

A week for Windows and Twitter
At the start of this week a new Twitter app was launched for Windows Phone 7.5 and Windows Phone 8 and this update brought huge changed. For one, the app now functions properly! It is also quick, sleek and easy to use whilst keeping the Windows Phone look.
Then unexpectedly, on Thursday, Twitter for Windows 8 was launched! Since Windows 8 was launched in October there hasn't been any official Twitter apps - only apps like Metro Tweet (which were decent however not great). The Windows 8 app keeps the Windows 8 look because you scroll left and right to see new content (instead of up and down) and the app makes use of the big screens most Windows 8 devices have. This app was definitely worth the wait and is available free for all Windows 8 RT and Windows 8 Pro devices.


Samsung Galaxy S4
The Samsung Galaxy S4 was announced earlier this week in an event in New York, it has a 5-inch HD screen and a 13-MP camera on the back. The front facing camera for things such as Skype calls is 2MP and their are dozens of camera modes for you to try out. You can make your own GIF's, use both cameras at the same time and it also apparently can take snaps 100 times a minute.
The phone has some really cool and gimmicky features such as 'Air Gestures' which is ideal if you want to browse the internet or your photos without using his hands. You can also hover your finger over an option to show more information - such as on the Flipboard app where you can hover your finger over one of the squares to read the story.
We don't know the price yet however it is obviously going to be over £500 and I'm sure it will be the best phone of 2013 - until the iPhone 6 comes out in Autumn.

Formula 1 is back
Formula 1 returned earlier this week in Melbourne, Australia where there have so far been 3 practise sessions and half of qualifying. Due to heavy rain, qualifying was stopped after Q1 and is postponed until tomorrow (GMT). So far it is unclear to see which drivers are going to be fastest however I guess it will be the usual suspects (RedBull, McLaren, Ferrari) however also some unexpected manufacturers as well such as Lotus and Mercedes.

Google Reader Shutting Down

Google reader is a simple yet effective website which for years has allowed you make an RSS feed of posts from any website or blog. You just need to go to http://www.google.com/reader, sign in with your Google Account and then you are in. To subscribe to a website just click 'subscribe', type the URL and then click 'add'. You can add as many sites as you like and then read them whenever you want from any device.

There are hundreds of apps and websites compatible with Google Reader such as 'RSS Times' made by Samsung for Windows Phone, Flipboard for iOS and Android and loads more. These apps allow you to read the posts from websites you have subscribed to in different styles and formats.

Unfortunately, it was announced today that from the 1st July 2013, Google Reader will cease to exist. Already thousands of users have complained and started petitions however I doubt anything will be done. Some people are blaming Google+ for the downfall of Google Reader however I personally think that it is just because not enough people were using it.

I think this makes it a perfect time for a start-up business to launch a RSS reader website which is just as simple and compatible as Google Reader however until then, you are going to have to visit every blog and website individually to see their latest post.

Twitter Archive

Do you like Twitter, statistics and downloading complicated yet interesting files? If so, you'll love the new Twitter Archive which is now available for everyone.

Downloading your Twitter Archive will allow you to see all the tweets you have ever sent and a small graph showing how many Tweets you send every month. To get this feature you need to log into Twitter, go into settings and scroll down to where it says 'My Twitter Archive' and click download. (You may need to request for it however if you do, it only takes 5 minutes for it to come through to your e-mail inbox). It allows you to download a rather complicated zip file - ignore everything apart from where it says 'index'. Just click on that and it will open your internet browser showing a clean Twitter page displaying all of your Tweets.

The Twitter archive is simple and updates automatically however I think it is way to complicated for the average Twitter user to use.

Bowie is Back!

I woke up early on Monday 11th March 2013 to download the deluxe version of David Bowie's new album 'The Next Day' which has been much anticipated for months now. Now, I don't know much about music however this album is great despite Bowie having a 10 year break from the music industry. Although he is 66 years of age his new album doesn't feel nostalgic at all - it feels slightly vintage however could easily compete against modern artists.
The front cover of the album is actually the cover from his 1977 album 'Heroes' however it has a square box in the middle saying 'The Next Day'.

'The Next Day' is full of potential singles.
It already has two singles; the slow and soothing 'Where Are We Now?' which is already extremely popular and the catchy 'The Stars (Are Out Tonight)' which is about the eternal status of being a celebrity. Both reflect the high quality of the album.

A lot of the songs are about the Medieval time (an era the David Bowie seems obsessed with) and love however I'd need to say my favorite song from the album is 'Valentines Day.' This song is on both the regular (14 tracks) and deluxe album (17 tracks).

In conclusion, I would recommend this album for any previous David Bowie fan and anyone who is looking for some decent music which isn't as mainstream as young pop artists - yet something which is definitely just as good.

Infographics

Infographics are ways of showing information through pictures, charts and as little writing as possible. They are pretty modern and becoming ever more popular. Infographics can be either posters or videos. In the past the 'National Geographic' have shown information about population through a video Infographic. It is a clean and effective way to show off information (like the Infographic on Germany below).
A new website called Infogr.am (http://infogr.am/beta/)  allows you to make great looking Infographics from brilliant templates. You can sign up using Twitter, Facebook or with your email and you then get the option to make an Infographic or a chart. Both of them using the same clean format. The website is really easy to use however can be extremely slow depending on what computer you have; it uses Java so runs slowly on old Windows PC's.
There are other websites which allow you to make Infographics such as Visual.ly and Piktochart  however I find Visual.ly to complicated and advance for what most people want and Piktochart seems to have unnecessary features which nobody would use and it doesn't look as good.
In conclusion, I have so far failed to find a website which allows you to make video Infographics however that is more lightly to come in the form of a software - maybe a theme in the next version of iMovie or something. However I could definitely see myself using the normal type of Infographic in the future as I find it really easy to make and the results are impressive especially from Infogr.am.

Wyvern Webisode

Also a practise for BBC School Report 2013