Lydia evicted in Big Brother!

The Great British Public has swung its axing hammer once again, regrettably culling yet another entertaining housemate from the UK's most public house.

In a tense eviction, in which house-bitch Lydia and self-pitying Deana went head to head, the public was divided over who should leave. The hardcore fans and the forum members wanted Lydia to, believing that her scheming ways were what was needed to spice up the house. But in the end it was the casual viewers who won, and Deana survived.

Deana had become a bit of a victim of bullying over recent weeks, with housemates Conor, Arron and Luke S abusing the Indian beauty queen after her failure in tasks. Her story seemed to help rally support from the public, and so she was saved from eviction this week.

After the result was announced, an acceptant Lydia left the house to a massive chourus of boos and chants. Before she was reunited with her "famous fiance" Andy Scott Lee, Lydia spoke to Brian about her time in the house.

Talking about the boos, Lydia said: “I think to be honest I always expecting it. Coming on here was a massive risk for me and I knew coming on here with someone in the public eye as a partner and the stuff I’d done before, some people don’t like that kind of stuff, but I just wanted to represent people my age that are successful.”

Big Brother continues nightly on Channel 5. A 'gamechanging' task is planned for this week.

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BULLETIN: The iPhone is now 5 years old.

BULLETIN: It might be quite hard to believe, but Apple's iPhone has just turned 5 years old. Where were you when it was released? I can hardly beleive that just 5 years ago, almot noone had heard of Smartphones or 'apps' or 'multitouch'. Without the release of the iPhone, we would have no Android, no Windows Phone 7, no iPad, no 'apps'. In short, the whole consumer tech landscape would be vastly different. Neat huh?

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This is Google's Nexus 7 Tablet.

If you thought we had heard the last from Mountain View at their I/O conference, then you were very wrong. Yes Google announced Jelly Bean, the newest version of their mobile operating system, (read about it here) but there is yet more to learn.

You may be familiar with Google's Nexus range of phones. A Google-specified set of handsets, designed to showcase the best 'vanilla' version of Android, without the turgid crapware or ham-fisted skin that often comes with the green robot. The set of phones has been very successful, and successfully serves as a flagship model for the Android march.

But what about tablets? Well El Goog has struggled in this particular area, with almost all the Android tablets struggling to gain traction in an iPad dominated world. There have been complaints of sluggishness, poor battery life and a Marketplace almost totally devoid of tablet apps.

The only exception to this has been Amazon's Kindle Fire. Whoch has carved out a niche for itself as a cheap as chips, Amazon centric entertainment 7 incher. Well get ready, because Google has just killed the Kindle Fire. Behold: the Nexus 7 tablet.

BEAUTIFUL, CHEAP AND QUALITY HARDWARE

The new tablet is made by Asus, which you may know from the keyboarded Transformer series, and is actually a really nice machine. It's thin and light, and the back is made from some sort of material that feels really nice. It reportedly feels like a mix between rubber and leather, a sensation which helps to create a premium finish for what is definitely a budget tablet.

Around the front is a very luxurious 7 inch IPS screen, and while the resolution can't quie match in iPad 3 in terms of sheer pixel pushing, it's bright and sharp enough to provide a comfortable experience when sucking down the Google koolaid.

Inside the tablet is a quad-core Tegra 3 proccessor, and performance is reportedly very snappy indeed. The chips inside make use of the new enhancements in Android 4.1's 'Project Butter' to ensure that everything launhces and runs quickly and smoothly.

Speaking of Android 4.1, there have been several nice updates to the Google Play store. You can now buy magazines to read on your phone or tablet, and TV episodes are now available for renting or buying.

But what makes this tablet special is not it's hardware, or software, or anything available on the Play store. It's the price. At just £159 for the 8GB version of this tablet, the Nexus 7 offers amazing value. It has comparable or better specs to many current £400+ tablets, at a price that rivals the Amazon Kindle Fire. Watch out guys, Google means business now.

 

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BULLETIN: Google 'Project Glass' available to developers

Bulletin: After a breathtaking video, in which skydivers broadcasted their dive and sent it live to the I/O stage, it was announced that 'beta models' of the AR glasses would be made available, to developers - for the slightly steep price of $1500. The glasses are being billed as 'Google Explorer Models' and will ship in 2013. Consumer models are expected to ship in 2014.

 

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All the best features of Android Jelly Bean

The first day of Google I/O 2012 was without doubt a busy one. With several hardware announcements and some really nice pieces of software, Google has more than fought its corner amidst opposition from Apple and Microsoft this month. But the main announcement of Day One was an update to the mobile operating system, Android 4.1. 4.1 carries on the tradition of sickly sweet dessert names, by carrying the moniker 'Jelly Bean'.

So, what are the new features coming to Android? Look no further!

PROJECT BUTTER -

Project Butter is Google's attempt to, quite frankly, make Android suck less. Have you ever felt like your Android phone is sluggish, laggy or otherwise dissappointing in performance? Well then Project Butter could prove to be your answer. The Android team have added several technologies to the underlying code of Andoid in an attempt to speed up the way the operating system runs.

And according to initial reports, it seems to have worked. Some beta testers are saying that the new engine makes old apps 'look and feel like Slow-motion', and Google has confirmed that every app will now run at a blistering 60 fps. It's not clear, however, if developers will have to update their apps to take advantage of Thsi new speed boost. Regardless, it's nice to see the big G working to deal with some of the worst Android gripes.

IMPROVED KEYBOARD - WITH VOICE!

In Jelly Bean, the stock UI keyboard has been given a nice update. Making use of Google's amazing semantic search and prediction abilities, the new keyboard is smarter and slicker. While it doesn't look a whole lot different, the feel of using it appears to be much more like a cross between BBOS10's predictive text and the Android tweak Swiftkey.

Also added to the new keyboard is the ability to dictate text without the need for an Internet connection. With Android 4.1, you will be able to compose emails or text documents with your voice, even while your phone is locked in the takeoff curse of Airplane mode.

CAMERA APP UPDATES

Androids stock camera app has also been given a nice update, with some quick shooting features. The interface is identical to ICS, but users now have the ability to pinch back and visit a film strip to review their shot photos and videos.

ANDROID BEAM

Google has given thier NFC sharing app a little bump, with the ability to share videos wirelessly. It is also possible to pair your Android device with an NFC equipped set of Bluetooth speakers.

NOTIFICATIONS have also been updated with a slightly nicer interface, including thumbnails and larger text previews.

However the most exciting features to hit Android Jelly Bean are the last 2, Knowledge Graph Search and Google Now.

Together, these features basically form Google's response to Siri on iOS. With Knowlege graph, you cause your voice to Google questions and be answered with a response. What makes it even more powerful is that these answers are actually pooled from Google search results, meaning they are accurate and (usually) reliable.

The second part is the most exciting. Google Now is an online service that tracks your behaviour to work out what you are are doing, where you are, and what you might want to know. The service might sound a little creepy - it taps into your app data, contacts and search history - but the benefits could be amazing. Examples include your phone automatically working out where you work, the public transport times and then automatically calculating and telling you when you need to leave your house in order to make the bus or train. If it works, it will be astounding stuff.

All in all, Android Jelly Bean looks like another great update for lovers of Google's little green robot. There are plenty of other features, such as web controls for updating and uninstalling apps, but there is plentry of time for you to hear about them, as it's unlikely you'll be seeing Jelly Bean anytime soon. The update has only been confirmed for Nexus devices and the Motorola Xoom, which is a 'Google Experience' device.

 

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Dear God Why? Inbetweeners USA Cast revealed!

This cannot end well. The first cast photo for Inbetweeners USA has been released, and while I am excited at the premise of more adventures from the foul-mouthed characters that I had grown to love, my hopes have been tarnished by several terrible US imports of blighty classics.

Case in point: Shameless. Another classic, sweary, dirty british comedy which became a true cult classic with a large fan following. But when the American version came along, the humour was replaced with tired actors, terrible comic timing, and a general sense of awfulness. It was a mess, and broadcasters MTV seem to know that.

So we can but hope that The Inbetweeners fare better across the pond. And to be fair, there do seem to be more things going for this adaptation than usual. The series is being co-developed by one of the creators of the US show, so that should at least ensure that the dick jokes and profanity arrive on US shores untouched. One of the most definitve things about the UK show is the near-constant stream of sex, boobs, testicles, swearing and clunge. What is the American word for clunge.

And what are my first impressions of the cast? They look like an interesting bunch, to say the least. I'm not quite sure, however, that a chubby Jay and a fit Simon really capture the feel of the UK series, and I'm not reassured that a low-budget Shaagy from Scooby Doo is the right look for Neil.

However I think it is my duty as a semi-serious journlist to at least give this a shot, and if you want to join me, The Inbetweeners US starts August 20th on MTV.

 

 

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Big Brother nominations revealed!

Big Brother has once again delivered a bombshell nominations announcment into what is turning very quickly into Britain's bitchiest house. After a week of cat fighting, arguments, bitching, noms talk and lack of food depression, what the housemates really needed was some good news to cheer them all up.

Not likely. Instead, Big Brother decided to let housemates know who was up for the chop this week, and it is Lydia and Deana who face eviction. The pair have alienated themselves from the group recently so it is of little surprise that they face the public.

Deana has also become the victim of some rather extreme bullying over the last couple of days, while hard-nosed Lydia has separated herself even further from the group since her best friend Benedict was evicted last week.

So that's it. Who do you want to see evicted this Friday? Or do you wish someone else was up for the chop?

 

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