Crimson Monkey 2.0

It has now been seven days since the world lost Michael Jackson. No matter what you think of him there is no denying that he was a true iconic talent. And this got me thinking. MJs passing is the first death if a true musical icon in the digital age so how does a tech savvy world process such an event.

Firstly this goes back to way before the tragic loss of Michael. You have probably heard us fans referred to as cult like, obsessive, overly devoted, but to us the global fan base acts like a family and the birth and the expansion of the internet has only helped fuel this. For instance one of the first web sites I ever visited was MJs official site after seeing a url on the back of the HIStory album in 1995. It opened a world of possibilities. You could view videos, interviews, back catalogues (if slowly over a 56k modem) on demand. Turn the clocks forward to today and you probably won't find any artist who has more fan sites than the King of Pop. There are online communities (loads of them) sharing experiences, thoughts, photos and even a wealth of unreleased material and remixes to keep even the most avid fan salavating for more. This is how the Michael Jackson commmuity has survived and even grown. Remember his last release of new material, the Invincible album came out in 2001. This is truely a global phenomenon and one that is set to continue well beyond his death.

Next you cannot deny the part that the internet has played in reporting Michael's sudden death last Thusday. It was a bus of tourists who happend to be passing his LA home who witnessed the ambulance departing who immediatly posted the the news to Twitter as well as a host of social networking web site which in turn was picked up by the media, firstly by the TMZ web site (not a fan) and then the rest of the world. Google thought that they may have been subject to a terrorist attack due to the high volume of users searching for news on the situation. Twitter almost ground to a holt as Michael became the number one discussion topic well over the Iran elections that had been dominating for weeks. A quick look at the tweet cloud shows how quickly this became the number one piece of news on the planet. Social networking and media sites saw their visitiors increase over twenty times the norm and the internet as a whole actually slowed down as a result. This was a truely global event that had anyone with a data connection being able to follow it second by second.

The internet also holds the key to the ever lasting legacy that MJs loss will leave behind. That weekend interest in anything Michael was number one. His albums shot to the top of the charts on all digital music sites (both legal and illegal) with the event that his back catalogue dominated the singles and albums charts. Social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook were used to arrange flashmobs and gatherings to celebrate his life. Most importantly it provided a support network for grieving fans. The cult of Jackson is one of the main reasons I have been able to cope as I have been able to share my heartbreak with like minded individuals and without who (as well as my ever supportive family and friends) I would have felt very alone.

So does this set a precident? Maybe. I believe that it was the impact that Michael Jackson has had on a generation that fuelled it but the technology was there to keep it burning.

Now millions of potential new fans are finding out what a wonder he was and long may it continue.

I would also like to say thank you to my family, friends and MJ fans for their kind words and support during this difficult time. Michael Jackson's legacy will live forever and so it should.

Words, emotions, nothing can explain what I'm feeling right now. This has got to be and probably always will be the biggest shock of my life. I have been a Michael Jackson fan for so long now I can't even remember where it started. A world without him is a very sad and empty place and I don't know how I or his legion of fans will cope.

A big thanks for all the kind words from friends and followers, you know how I feel, the rest of the world won't as they could never understand what it was to be or even know a Michael Jackson fan. The media says we're all a bit nuts. Fair enough. It was worth it.

Rest in Peace Michael Jackson 1958 - 2009

It must be that time (2 pints of Bulmers and jar of whelks) to catch up on another busy week for all things geek.

No surprise that today's big news is the release of the iPhone 3GS. Twitter reports many fanboys in lines for the new tech and hopefully I'll have a full review from @jonathanwildman in the coming days. Additionals come in the form of the 'free' tethering being detailed in full online so check it out if you're a 3G(S) owner. Also the long-awaited release of TweetDeck for iPhone. Obviously if you're not down with Twitter then this will mean nothing to you but if you're as avid as myself this is the best free app out there. Later today I hope to have jailbroken my device for 3.0 which I will report on next week.

In Windows 7 news the EU seem to have had their way with Microsoft with the upcoming release in Europe coming unbundled with IE8. That'll make it fun trying to get online or at least attempting to download Firefox.

Incidently I had my first Windows 7 crash this week. All my own fault. I downloaded and installed a standalone version of IE7 on my Macbook as IE9 is crap with works content mangement sytem. Apparently this is a no-no which proceeded with a full reinstall, the 4th in as many weeks adding to my girlfriends frustations of dealing with a beta tester.

We also had the release of the Digital Britain report where the ill-informed government geeks are looking to tax us all in order to roll out broadband to the entire country (you've probably seen the news reports of cow farmers moaning about connection and speeds). As a user with a fairly decent package I disagree with paying for those rural users who choose to live miles from an exchange or a 3G connection. Your thoughts welcome.

In UEA news we have successfully piloted our custom active directory desktop with full admin rights and a decent take on not ruining your profile space. I will be seeking other pilot guineapigs in the coming weeks.

And that's that. See you soon my little darlings.

Would you ever switch from a search engine to a decision engine. Microsoft seem to hope you will. WTF? Check out Bing.

With the release of the new iPhone 3GS tomorrow both worlds of official and unofficial iPhone users have plenty to keep themselves busy (both good and bad). So is it better to be the home team (the overpriced contract option) or the opposition (the hackers and jailbreakers)?

Now both have their merits. Obviously by signing your life away to contract you assure yourself the latest hardware, decent data plans and all the other goodies that come with it. One thing that would get my back up though is paying any more than that. My previous blog post about the 3GS failed to cover the issue of tethering. This is where you share your phones internet connection with your laptop via cable or Bluetooth thus enabling access wherever you are. Sounds great. That is until your hear that the carriers (in the UK's case O2) want you to pay even more for these data services. Screw that, why don't you tighten the thumbscrews even more? But that's where the beauty of the 'unofficial' iPhone community flourishes. Already they have found a way to enable tethering using your existing data plan for free. This does mean a slight modification to the unit but good all the same. O2 have already hit back with threats of disconnecting offenders but how the hell will they know?

With that in mind the jailbreaking of iPhones (the process of allowing the iPhone to be used by customers of anny carrier and the ability to run third party apps) has remained untouched since the release of the original iPhone back in 2007. This movement gathers pace and remains one step ahead as in parallel to the release of the 3GS the iPhone Dev Team (hackers) will be putting out their mod UltraSnow to allow the jailbreaking of the new 3.0 software released yesterday.

So is the success of the iPhone down to the hardware itself, the provision of the carriers or the wealth of 'extras' available elsewhere? I would think the latter especially when you consider that the options of tethering and MMS are not even going to be supported by AT&T (the iPhone carrier in the U.S. right away).

I know what my choice will be. Do you?

I'm sure I've posted this on every socnet portal I have but forgot to do so here. Please, please, please turn your speakers up and watch this video by the amazing Zefrank and promise you'll try it out on your friends.

Well what a week it's been. I don't know if I'll get as much tech as I've had in crammed into the last seven days again for the foreseeable future.

So like I said earlier in the week it was the annual Apple Keynote at WWDC. As usual I sat by computer and waited for the news to flood in (big thanks to GeekBreif for the live updates) and after two hours I have to admit I wasn't jumping as high for joy as I has anticipated. Anyway here is what went down.

First of all the Macbook range has been re-jigged again. At the last revision we had the aluminium unibody 15" Macbook which was an improvement but they did keep the faithful white model that we all know and love. This time they have done away with the al-oo-minum Macbook, the fave white and gone for a new range of Macbook Pro's. This time it comes as a 13" model as well as the usual 15" and 17" variations. Specs have been improved and battery life extended. The express card slot has been replaced with an SD card slot because apparently all Pro owners are now photographers (news to me). I do feel slightly sorry for those who bought last years aluminium Macbook which has now been ditched in favour of the extended range of Pro's as they are probably feeling a little hard done by. But I guess that's the price you pay for progress.

To be honest the main reason for staying glued to my screen was for news of the much rumoured revised iPhone. For my mind they spent a little to long going on and on about the AppStore and what it could do (surely we can do that by simply browsing it at our lesuire). But good news came in the form that the 3.0 OS would be launched this month with the addition of copy and paste, undo and MMS (finally we have reached 2005 standards). When it did come to the new hardware (which at one point I thought it was never coming) we were presented with the iPhone 3GS. It looks like the old model, works like the old model but it's slightly faster. The noticeable difference was the update to a 3 mega pixel camera which can now shoot video (which is nice). Although my urge to upgrade to the new model was dashed by the fact that number one I don't feel that the 3GS brought enough new goodies to the table and number two the they are keeping the previous iPhone 3G and slashing its price so that is probably the route I will proabably take.

The other news concerned the next evolution of the OS X operating system, Snow Leopard. Like the updates to the iPhone there wasn't much in it apart from improved performance, the odd tweak here and there but not enough to make me jump out of my seat. Set for a Semptember launch this year you can upgrade for as little as $29 which must be in direct competition to the ensuing launch of Windows 7.

On the back of this Windows 7 news has filtered in at a rate of knots, but something I will cover in my next post thus ensuring that you'll all be fully up to date with what a busy week it has been.

As far as I'm concerned the most important news of all is anything to do with the iPhone. This one tiny device has revolutionised the way I interact with the world and I couldn't live without it. Tonight is the Apple Keynote at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) where we should hopefully hear about a new iPhone. The live coverage starts on all the major tech sites at 6pm. I will keep you updated with news.

You may know by now that my Windows blues have faded away now that I've run away with Windows 7 RC but for those of you still putting up with Vista then things are about to get a little better as Service Pack 2 has arrived. Access it via Windows Update or download the 32 bit or 64 bit versions.

Microsoft really seem to be getting everything right at the moment. First of all there's Windows 7 which is just the best OS ever and just now at the E3 Expo in LA they have announced their Project Natal motion controller.

By now we are all familiar with motion control by means of the Wii but Natal takes it one stage further. First of all there is no controller, the movement of your body is captured by a camera an interpreted into the game. You may also remember a this as a crude idea from Playstations EyeToy but this is a whole new concept. Not only does Natal detect your movements it also allows you in interact using face and voice recognition.

It is truely stunning and something that everyone should take a look at. This video should give you a better idea.