David Beckham Leaves LA Galaxy on High After MLS Cup Win

Posted by James in Football, Sports

David Beckham guides LA Galaxy to a second successive MLS Cup win in his last game in the MLS.

David Beckham wanted to sign off from the MLS in style and he managed it after guiding LA Galaxy to a 3-1 win over Houston Dynamo.

LA Galaxy fell behind to a goal by Houstons Calen Carr but equalized when Omar Gonzalez scored from a header.

Then came 2 penalties for LA Galaxy, one converted by Landon Donovan and the other by Robbie Keane after he was tripped in the penalty box during overtime.

The 3-1 victory saw LA Galaxy win the MLS Cup for the successive seasons and gave David Beckham the send off he wanted as he contemplates his future in Soccer. He left the field in the 93rd minute to the LA Galaxy fans chants of “Thank you Beckham”.

David Beckham summed up his feelings,

“This is a very special place for me and it will continue to be. I am happy to have been part of this club for six years and I am grateful to have been successful for the last four years. I am sad this is the end.”

A whole host of clubs are now chasing the Beckham signature including big names from the European leagues. They know that they not only get a soccer player but a brand name like no other.

If anything, brand Beckham is stronger now than at anytime in the past with Victoria Beckham also enjoying a wave of success in the fashion world. David Beckham still pulls the fans and media to him like no one else.

Who Is David Beckham?

David Beckham is from East London, England (now known as the area that hosted the 2012 London Olympics) and his soccer career started when he won a place in the Bobby Charlton Soccer School after via a skills competition. This led to a place in the Manchester United youth scheme and David Beckham went on to play for the first team winning the league for the first time in 26 years and a dramatic European Cup win in extra time. David Beckham captained his country and played in the World Cup and European Championships. He won the Spanish league while at Real Madrid and the American league with LA Galaxy. He married the Spice Girl, Victoria, and they have had 3 sons and 1 daughter. The Beckhams are known all over the world as style icons, global superstars and David Beckham even has a statue in a Thai monastery.

Photo: The Bay Area Bias

Super Bowl 2012: NY Giants Vs NE Patriots

Posted by James in American Football, Sports

Super Bowl 2012 in Indianapolis getting ready for kick off.

Super Bowl 2012, or Super Bowl XLVI to give it its proper title, is almost here and will see the New England Patriots take on the New York Giants.

Super Bowl 2012 will be a repeat of the 2008 Super Bowl when the New York Giants upset the odds to beat the New England Patriots 17 – 14. The Patriots had won all of their previous 18 games that season and were in great shape.

The driving force of the Patriots that season was their legendary quarterback Tom Brady, winner of 3 Super Bowl rings and looking to lead his team to the perfect season for only the 2nd time in the history of the NFL.

It wasn’t to be though, Brady was under constant harassment and was dogged by an ankle injury. It gave his opposite number, Eli Manning, the opportunity to shine with a game winning touchdown pass late on.

Both quarterbacks are among those still playing for the same teams and perhaps it is an injury free Tom Brady (age 34) who now has prove himself.

Eli Manning (age 31) for his part has so far had an outstanding season throwing for 4,933 yards and 29 touchdowns. Leadership and resilience have also marked him out and the same could be said for an injury hit Giants squad.

So perhaps the New York Giants are once again the underdogs, but underdogs can often have a nasty bite. Who do you think will win super bowl 2012?

Super Bowl 2012

Photo: Christine Anne Dunne

iBooks 2 Launched by Apple to ‘Reinvent’ the Textbook

Posted by James in Apple, Education

iBooks 2 launched by Apple in order to ‘reinvent’ the textbook.

Ahh yes the bane of every young students life, a bag full of text books each 500 pages thick and weighing more than they do.

I almost killed myself when I was 12 as the bag of books I was carrying swung from one side of my body, where it had been nicely balanced, over to the other side… where it was not.

The sudden shift in weight caused the bike I was riding to veer across the road in front of oncoming traffic. It all happened so fast I had no choice but to hang on and pray.

Thankfully, all I bruised was my ego and I got away with a few honks from shaken motorists. I had to pick up a cycling proficiency award later that day too, life’s funny that way sometimes isn’t it?

Anyway, I digress. Back to Apple.

iBooks 2

I can certainly see where Apple are coming from with the launch of iBooks 2. They want todo away with such cumbersome things as a good old fashioned textbook and bring education into the 21st century.

With iBooks 2 they see a world where textbooks are interactive and fun (presumably with every student using an iPad). They demonstrated how iBooks 2 utilized the portrait position of an iPad to show a text led book and landscape mode to enter into a far more interactive experience.

iBooks Author

Apple also launched a free app to make it easier for anyone to create an interactive textbook. It is called iBooks Author and it is described as being to ebooks creation as garageband is to music creation.

You can download iBooks Author for free at the app store here and it includes templates already made by Apple that you can use as a starting point.

The big educational publishers such as McGraw Hill and Pearson Education are already publishing their books for the iBook 2 app and more publishers are producing content as I write this.

Apple promised that iBooks 2 will offer books for every subject, grade level and student.

How schools will react to Apple’s plan for educational domination is not known.

A classroom full of kids playing with very expensive hardware worth many hundreds of copies of a textbook may be some teachers idea of hell.

Thats if they could raise the funds in the first place, add to that the cost of the ebooks themselves and you have a very large investment.

If parents are going to pay for such devices then their kid might suddenly become the most popular kid in the school, perhaps not for the right reasons.

Photo: Apple

Playstation 4 & Xbox 720 Release Date Rumored for 2012

Posted by James in Gaming, Technology

Playstation 4 & Xbox 720 release date rumored for 2012.

If the rumors are true (and there is no way to verify, Sony and Microsoft are keeping tight lipped about any dates) then having both the Playstation 4 and the Xbox 720 release date at the same time could be very interesting.

Even if we have to take these rumors with a pince of salt, the mere fact that the Playstation 4 and the Xbox 720 are being talked about suggests that things are really happening behind the scenes. This in turn suggests that the hardware development may already be done.

Playstation 4

One rumor that makes sense is that the Playstation 4 will have an upgrade to its move controller.

The move controller is a great device but Sony were basically playing catch up with the Wii controllers.

Microsoft on the other hand took it a whole stage further and produced the ground breaking kinect system.

It is rumored that the Playstation 4 will have similar whole body movement control available at launch.

I would also suggest that Sony were annoyed that Microsoft got the jump on them and launched early in the marketplace with the Xbox 360.

This allowed it to gain market traction by stealing Sony customers. The Playstation 3 didn’t come along until later.

I would make an educated guess that they won’t let this happen again and will be keen to steal a march on their competitors.

Xbox 720

With the Xbox 720, expect major graphical and sound upgrades as well as a move into Playstation multi-media territory, for example with built in direct video recording.

Some of the biggest changes are coming in the next few years to the TV sector with Apple, Google and Sony all trying to get a piece of the pie. Don’t expect Microsoft to be any different with the Xbox 720.

Also expect some changes to Kinect, more than likely this will be integrated directly into the console.

One console already confirmed for the E3 trade show in 2012 is the new Nintendo Wii U which we featured last year.

What do you think about all the rumors? Do you believe the hype or not? What features do you think they will have? Let us know in the comments below.

Upcoming Movies 2012 – Coming Soon

Posted by James in Entertainment, Movies & Film

Upcoming movies 2012, coming soon to a theatre near you. We take a look at the new movie releases for 2012.

First up we have Rock of Ages starring Tom Cruise, Russell Brand, Catherine Zeta-Jones & Alec Baldwin. It tells the story of small town girl Sherrie & city boy Drew as they pursue their dreams of fame and fortune. It’s based on the successful musical & features some classic rock hits so we know it will at least have a good soundtrack. It is coming in June 2012, check out the trailer below.

Upcoming Movies 2012: Rock of Ages Trailer

Next we take a look at what will be one of the biggest releases of the year, The Dark Knight Rises. Due in July 2012 Christopher Nolan returns to complete his Batman trilogy with Christian Bale once again reprising the role of Batman the caped crusader.

Upcoming Movies 2012: The Dark Knight Rises Trailer

They don’t come any bigger than the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in December 2012.

From the Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson expectations are surely sky high for the first of 2 films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is set 60 years before the Lord of the Rings and features Bilbo Baggins as the hero played by Martin Freeman.

Ian McKellen returns as Gandalf the Grey as does Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, Ian Holm as the older Bilbo Baggins, Elijah Wood as Frodo, Christopher Lee as Saruman, Orlando Bloom as Legolas, Andy Serkis as Gollum and Hugo Weaving as Elrond.

The second film will be called The Hobbit: There and Back Again, scheduled for release in December 2013.

Upcoming Movies 2012: The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey Trailer

SWTOR Release Date is Near (Star Wars The Old Republic to Most of Us)

Posted by James in Gaming, Technology

SWTOR release date is near & gamers everywhere are getting excited. If you don’t know what ‘Star Wars The Old Republic’ is then read on.

Star Wars The Old Republic or SWTOR as we shall now refer to it (because we are lazy typers) is an online gaming title that is set to replace World of Warcraft (WoW) as the premium online multi-player game.

These types of games are called massively multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPG) and are hugely popular with games fans because of their seemingly endless landscapes, possibilities and interaction with other players.

The SWTOR release date is the 20th December although millions of pre-orders were taken allowing access a week early.

Reputed to have had a development cost of around $130 million it is a serious attempt to capture some of the lucrative MMORPG market by its publisher Electronic Arts.

The storyline uses the familiar Star Wars world but is set 3,500 years before the events of the Star Wars films.

You get to decide whether you play the dark side or the light side of the force through your initial character choice and then though your moral decisions during the game.

SWTOR system requirements

SWTOR Leveling Guide (SWTOR Savior)- The Unfair Advantage?

Already other products are springing up around the SWTOR release date.

SWTOR leveling guides such as SWTOR savior allow players to quickly learn the tricks of the trade and level up their character much faster than normal.

SWTOR savior promises to take you to level 50 in 4 days and includes maps and waypoints for the game as well as a members forum.

SWTOR leveling guides can give players a serious edge over opponents as each level jump means a more powerful character and weapons.

Click here to see the SWTOR leveling guide if you want to level up fast.

Socrates the Brazilian Soccer Legend Dies Aged 57

Posted by James in Football, Sports

Socrates, the former Brazilian soccer captain has died in Sao Paulo aged 57.

Socrates had been admitted to intensive care on Friday suffering from an infection of the intestines and passed away over the weekend.

He had already been taken to hospital twice in the last 6 months with internal bleeding and had admitted that he had problems in the past with alcohol abuse and smoking.

Socrates was widely considered to be one of the best midfielders to ever play the game of soccer. He won 60 caps for Brazil between 1979 and 1986 and played in 2 world cups.

Socrates was a tall player even for a sportsman at 6’4″ and possessed the physical strength to match his two footed technical skills.

He was also able to read the game and was blessed with vision to pick a pass and see the bigger picture of what was happening in a game. He could do the hard work as well as show the silky skills.

Personally I remember the 1982 World Cup very well and a particular goal that Socrates scored in that world cup.

He ghosted past the first tackle, dummied to shoot flooring another player and then unleashed a right foot shot from well outside the penalty area that fizzed into the top corner.

Socrates & the Brazilian World Cup 1982

iPhone App Development – Could You Do It?

Posted by James in Apple, Technology

iPhone app development seems like a difficult thing todo, but is it really? With $millions being made in mobile applications development we thought we should find out how to make an app.

We reported the other day that the game that made it’s name on the iPhone, Angry Birds, has now hit 1/2 billion downloads.

Now the game is cheap, being an iPhone app, at less than a $1 (and could be considered an absolute bargain when you think how much console & PC games of a similar standard are), but at 1/2 billion downloads it’s easy to do the maths & come up with a figure of $kerching$.

Yes, there is a free version but there are also upgrade options & cross selling going on so which ever way you slice it it’s good business. The market agrees too, valuing the parent company at about $1 billion.

So, is it possible for mere mortals to enter this lucrative market? Can someone without ninja programming skills learn how to do it?

iPhone App Development without Programming?

We looked around locally for a course that might be able to do just that but the answer was always the same. All the courses we have checked out, including classroom led courses and books, all state that you have to have programming experience before you even start thinking about iPhone app development.

“iPhone app development? You need to know programming mate.” as one helpful instructor put it.

Then we came across Mike on the rather less local internet, he told us that it is possible and he teaches people just how todo iPhone app development the easy way. We were curious to find out more.

How to Make an App

Mike is a developer and in his presentation video he shows his developer account paid out $63,896 in September 2010 as well as $80 a day in earnings from ads within his apps.

Mike says that iPhone app development and mobile app development in general doesn’t have to be as complicated as you think. He started with no programming experience,

” [iPhone app development courses] assume you are at least expert in C++ before you start learning XCode and other iphone development stuff. I decided to change this approach completely.

You know I had no programming skills at all when I started out so I don’t expect you to know anything about programming. You don’t have to have any technical knowledge. If you can operate your iPhone and basic computer software – that’s all we need to start.”

Mike says that his iPhone app development course starts off with the basics and general app development. This moves on to specific iPhone app development tools and the ‘cheating’ tips and tricks that cut down development time and cuts out the need for any serious programming skills. There are even details for iphone development on windows.

In the final part of the course there are specifics about marketing your newly created app, probably the most important area that usually gets overlooked by most traditional courses. After all, if no one knows your app exists, how are you supposed to make your money?

There is also a useful case study of a space invaders game that Mike created. You may want to check the copyright on that one though Mike!

One of Mike’s customers said of his training course,

“Hey mike! You know I had no programming skills but I have been dreaming about creating my game since childhood! Your course was an eye opener for me! i not only created my first game but sold over 2500 copies last month!! thanks a lot man!

Hans, Germany”

A $1 trial of his training course is available here.

The truth is that if you wanted to create something as polished as Angry Birds you will need some serious skills and a decent sized developer team.

But other iphone apps are not so complicated & could be the result of following a course such as Mikes. And at the end of the day, even Angry Birds is a very simple concept wrapped in some pretty packaging.

Overall it is an intriguing prospect, iPhone app development without being a programmer or graphics designer. Now where did I put that game design that I did when I was 13?

Angry Birds Hits 500 Million Downloads

Posted by James in Gaming, Technology

Angry Birds has hit an amazing 500 million downloads just 2 years after it’s launch.

The number is an astonishing result for Rovio, the games company that produces the addictive mobile games Angry Birds, Angry Birds Rio and Angry Birds Seasons.

The Angry Birds franchise now also has it’s own merchandising range and retail outlet. Over 10 million items have already shipped to fans who can’t get enough of the squawking birds.

With massive interest in the the game from China and other areas outside Europe and the US, it seems that the billionth download is probably not very far away (see here if you are interested in how to make an app.)

Estimates are that Rovio are now worth about $1 billion after a recent round of funding and a flotation is looking likely.

Further exploration of the Angry Birds brand will likely be a feature length animation or animated series.

Its along way from the humble beginnings of the previously small Finnish iPhone app developer. Angry Birds was a great game when it launched but has achieved it’s growth with the help of some great marketing and branding.

After all, there are many great mobile games on the market but none have come close to the sales of Angry Birds.

To put it in perspective, Angry Birds now gets the equivalent of 300 million minutes of gametime a day. Now that’s a serious game of…well…skittles?

Angry Birds in Numbers