The wonders of the web, eh? Here’s a couple of photos I wanted to share…

Photo from Telegraph, click image to see original

She’s a petite 20 inches (50cm) tall and weighs a mere 5kg (11 pounds) but this unicycling robot, called “Murata Seiko-chan”, is getting quite a lot of attention today.

Seiko-chan was developed by Japanese electronics maker Murata Manufacturing Co. as a follow up to their Seisaku-kun model from 2005. Both ’she’ and the cyclist robot you can see following her are able to balance and move around on their wheel(s) due to two gyro sensors mounted in their bodies. She also blushes - you can’t see it very well in this photo but she has red LEDs in her cheeks - I don’t know if the cyclist can too but I’m sure that’s not the major selling/talking point on either model really.

So that’s the cute taken care of, now meet the 500 year old Eaglemouth tortoise recently found in a Chinese fish pond:

Photo from China Daily, click to see original

Can you guess where he got his name? Unfortunately there is almost NO information on this species on the web - that I could find anyway, please feel free to prove me wrong and hit me up with the links, I’d love to learn more about them! - All I could find out is that (s)he’s thought to be over 500 years old and that the species is so rare that it was thought to be extinct for a time and is now state protected.

[edit] I have just been sent this link and had it suggested that the reason I could find so little information on the Eaglemouth is it may not exist. I don’t want to believe that’s the case but thought I should share the link anyway.[/edit]

Whew, it’s been a busy few days! Late last week we launched the LG Renoir KC910, our new 8 megapixel camera, and we invited some bloggers down to a party in London to get to grips with it. As well as us from the LG blog and some of the phone marketing guys, they also got to meet the guys from DivX and Dolby Mobile, who talked about the phone’s features and of course each other.

It was my first chance to play with the Renoir, which was surprisingly light in the hand - so much so I thought the one I’d been given had had the battery taken out. I didn’t get too long to play about but the video playback quality and the camera both impressed me.

Anyway, you shouldn’t just listen to what I thought about the phone - instead I definitely recommend checking out what they had to say about the phone - Marc of Coolest Gadgets hopes he gets his paws on ones to review, while Simon of Zath is anticipating playing with the audio and video features. James of Electric Pig enthuses abouts the widgets and UI and Matt of Tracy & Matt shot some video of the presentations we gave (although the room’s a bit dark - sorry Matt, we’ll sort out better lighting next time!).

Ewan of Mobile Industry Review has a long and gushing paean to the phone, and then gave the event a long feature on their weekly TV show (featuring an appearance from yours truly). Here’s what they thought of it:

Keep checking back for more info about the Renoir KC910 closer to the release date & we’ll keep you updated with all the latest news and reviews about it.

An interesting bit of news over at Phones Review - a major UK bank is allowing you to now manage your account via mobile Internet:

Lloyds TSB announced today that they have a facility for customers to transfer between their accounts via their mobile phones. Not only that the service will also keep your security in check by alerting you if your debit or credit cards are used abroad. Not forgetting that Lloyds already notify their customers by mobile when their bank account does not have sufficient funds to cover a standing or direct debit or if their account falls within £50 of their limit.

More on the BBC. Mobile banking has had a sluggish beginning in Europe but Lloyds TSB are certainly taking a leap forward here, and it’s only a matter of time before mobile banking becomes as powerful and useful as fixed-line Internet banking. But what about the problems? Over at Gaj-It I spotted this post which was initially unrelated in my mind:

A survey by Credant Technologies has found that over the last six months, 55,843 mobile phones and 6,193 other devices including laptops were forgotten by London black cab passengers. Thankfully, about 80 per cent of surveyed taxi drivers claimed that owners were reunited with their missing item once found, but having your hand-held device in someone else’s hands still poses a huge security threat for the owner.
[...]
Another survey by credit reference agency Equifax found that 16% of its customers saved PIN numbers on their mobile devices while 24% kept birthday dates. Probably not good practice if you take a London cab everywhere.

Mobile banking could be a real boon but it also means making sure it is secure - a phone with mobile banking password saved on it could mean a near-instant emptying of your bank account if it fell in the wrong hands. We might need to rethink security on phones - making sure if a phone is reported stolen, there is an easy way of stopping your mobile banking at the same time to reduce hassle. Or possibly using voice and face recognition instead of passwords, making it harder for thieves to assume your identity (though of course no system is perfect). Or maybe I am just being too paranoid. What do you think?

The music industry has been one of those most changed by the Internet, and despite the boom in online music download services, it’s interesting to see that today the music companies have launched a new physical format for music called slotMusic. Pocket Picks says:

slotMusic is a fancy way of saying DRM-free MP3 laden microSD cards. SanDisk and a collection of big name record companies (including the four horsemen EMI Music, SONY BMG, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group) have grouped together to bring the new physical music format to retail.

So - is it the future of mobile media? Physical will never die completely - people still like to handle a physical product, even if it is really tiny in this case. The removal of digital rights management (DRM) is also interesting - DRM is a controversial subject and we could now see the turning of the tide on that front.

For me, there’s bits of the idea I like. It’s good to see a bit of thought put into it - the cards won’t just have music on them but also cover art, videos and other content (presumably optimised for smaller screens). Entertainment is now multiformat and people have come to expect it. The distribution is also clever - using a format that is widespread and people know already, without having to get new phones or equipment to read it. But I’m not sure if I like the idea of carrying lots of SD cards around with me and facing the potential of losing them (they are pretty small after all). Maybe if I had one card which I could recharge with music in-store for a subscription would save that. What do you think?

Finally, it’s worth noting that the cards aren’t just for mobile - they’re also usable on PCs and other devices, and come with a USB adapter to boot. And if you lose it, well that’s just an excuse for getting hold of this cute ladybird microSD card reader I saw over at Coolest Gadgets and just had to blog about.

So, it’s - sorry, it be - the 7th International Talk Like a Pirate Day today, if you’d some how managed to not notice yet. Once you’ve found your eye patch (what this old thing..?) and got yourself a new Pirate name (I’m now “Disembowlin’ Helga Straw” apparently.. Try saying that after a barrel of rum!) You’ll be more than ready to join in - or you could keep it simple and just ‘Arrrr!’ and ‘Ahoy me hearties!’ a bit at appropriate times…

While it could be getting a bit tedious for those of you Landlubbers who’ve been online all day, reading all the various reports/hilarious antics people are up to, etc, imagine the freedom you have if you get into the spirit of it - as Pet Rock suggests:

Feel free to call your boss a scaliwag. You know that co-worker you hate? Plunder their desk. Take what you can, give nothing back. You’ve got carte blanche on Talk Like a Pirate Day.

I’m not sure I second PR here… Depending on who you are and where you work carte blanche might not apply. But if you can’t get into the pirating spirit at work there’s always tonight and this weekend - the ITLAPD team have been hard at work this year and there are Piratey events all over the place this weekend. It’s inescapable - brands all over the place have been finding their peglegs including iphone apps and ‘pirate’ radio (har har), even GeekDad & co. got into the spirit early with Pirate Week on Wired blogs.

Also, some believe there could be a connection between the decrease in the numbers of Pirates over the past few centuries which is the real cause of global warming..

If they’re right then I think it’s our duty to dress up and take part this weekend. But, in case they got it wrong, why not also check out Sandbag a new online organisation trying to make a big difference to global emissions:

Thanks to policy makers in the UN and Europe levels of pollution are now controlled. Permits must be bought by polluters to let them keep polluting. But there is a finite number of them in circulation and the good news is anyone can buy them. So by taking a permit out of the system we can reduce the amount of pollution taking place and force industry to invest in cleaner technologies. One less permit means one less tonne of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere.

It never hurts to have a plan B, eh?  And on that note, I be off.. Arrr, hoist the Colors & have a good weekend! Aye.

The Corpus Clock is a thing of terrifying beauty:

The brainchild of Dr John Taylor, a fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, the unique timepiece uses the rare grasshopper escapement (the thing at the top) to regulate the ticking, like the early clocks of renowned clockmaker John Harrison. Incorporated into grasshopper design, the aim is, according to its creator, to make a ‘Chronophage’ (time-eater): “a fearsome beast which drives the clock, literally “eating away time”.

It’s certainly striking - the gothic look of the grasshopper, the time-eater, a stark contrast to the beautiful, eternal, gold disc of time beneath it. Certainly something to make the streets of Cambridge that little more fascinating. The clock will be officially unveiled tomorrow by that other master of time, Professor Stephen Hawking. More coverage and some video can be found over at The Guardian.

LG have been sponsors of London Fashion Week for 3 years now and tonight I’m off to an exclusive drinks event hosted by LG where I hope to do some people/fashion watching and meet some of my favourite fashion bloggers - I’ll be joined by lovely ladies from Style Canteen, DisneyRollerGirl, the ASOS blog and a relatively new blog called Fashion Slant. I expect to be the least well-dressed woman there and will have my trusty Secret at the ready should I find anything I need to share with you all. Watch this space!

In the meantime, to get us all in the mood, here are two of my favourite photos from the shows this week - the Giles show goes all Pac Man!

I love that pink dress too.. I’m not a pink person at all but I think I could make an exception for that little beauty. I wasn’t hugely familiar with Mr Deacon before I saw this show but I think I’m a convert now!

Like Susie at Style Bubble I’m also fairly taken with Christopher Kane’s Gorilla and Monkey prints:

The dress Susie has featured is even more visually arresting. You certainly got our attention Mr Kane!

So what are your favourite photos/shows/ideas from this years London Fashion Week?

Last Thursday night we held our Plasma TV bloggers event and for those of you who couldn’t make it, here’s video of George Mead, UK TV Marketing Manager for LG, taking the attendees through the range of Plasma TVs.

That was part one, but also be sure to check out part two and part three as well!

Just to run you through the three Plasma TVs again - they are the LG 32PG6000, the world’s first production 32″ Plasma, the LG PG6900, a dual-tuner Freeview+ Plasma with built-in 160GB PVR, and the LG PG70000, our top-of-the-line Plasma with Bluetooth connectivity.

Check out some of the coverage on the other blogs, including Gizmodo on the 32PG6000, as well as Gaj-It’s nice round-up of the TVs and George giving an interview with AVForums TV about our new line as well. Any questions, ask them in the comments below…

The guys over at Mobile Choice magazine have given the LG Secret a look-over and have shown off some of its features you might not have known about. Secret memo allows you to make password-protected; while touch media allows you to use the phone’s touchscreen to browse photo, audio and video; and slow motion allows you to use the camera to film slo-mo at 120fps. Check it out below:

If you haven’t tried out these features on your Secret then give them a go right now. Be sure to also look over similar videos for the KF600 and KF700. And if you have any neat tricks you know on an LG phone, why not add them in a comment below?

Last night we launched our three new Plasma TVs at an exclusive bloggers event at Craven Cottage football ground - just like we did for LCDs a couple of weeks ago. A good crowd turned up, including Stephen from Gadgeteer and Phil, Sally & Lee from the AVForums. George Mead, LG UK’s marketing manager for TV, showed off our three new Plasmas for the second half of 2008 as well as discussing some of our plans with the future with the attendees:

You can check out more photos of the event here. Anyway, you’re probably dying to hear more about the three new plasmas, so without further ado:

• The 32PG6000 is the world’s first production 32″ HD Plasma television with 100Hz and an built-in tuner. HD Ready with built-in Freeview, it’s perfect especially for homes who want to enjoy Plasma’s rich blacks and motion, but are restricted by small living rooms or alcoves that make fitting a larger screen awkward.
• The PG6900 is a dual-tuner Freeview+ Plasma with built-in digital video recorder, with 160GB capacity (approx 86 hours recording time at standard quality). It comes in 42″ and 50″ versions.
• The PG7000 is our top-of-the-line Plasma, in 50″ and 60″ versions. As well as superb quality picture and sound it also offers top quality connectivity, including both USB 2.0 and Bluetooth as well.

For more information check out the links for each of them, or download the product shots we have (14.6MB, ZIP) we have for some product shots. All three Plasmas will be out very shortly in the UK - no more than 3-4 weeks before you see it in the shops.

We’re proud of all three of these Plasmas, which as George pointed out, greatly expand our range of Plasma screens available on the market, and offer a lot more choice, each catering for different kinds of LG customer. The 32PG6000 especially will shake up the market we think - our research shows that rooms in the UK more likely to be small or an odd shape, making it ideal for people who have been unable until now to fit a Plasma in their house or flat. So here’s Ed from the product training team taking you through some of the features - enjoy:

Eepybird (they guys who did the massively popular Mentos and Coke Experiments: Experiment #137 - which must’ve done wonders for both companies sales!) have decided to give stationers 3M a hand with their sales with their new film: The Sticky Note Experiment:

EepyBird’s Sticky Note experiment from Eepybird on Vimeo

If you fancy trying it yourself you can find how-to videos (& a pdf guide to recreating the soda fountain!) on the Eepybird site.

Found thanks to Geekologie.

This morning LG Electronics announced the regional finalists in the hugely popular LG Style Icon competition - which received over 5,000 entries in total and had an incredible 350,000+ people registering their votes on the website!

The regional finalists were selected by a public vote on the Style Icon site followed by a judging round by an LG and London Fashion Week panel.

Of the ten finalists, one male and one female will be selected by London Fashion Week talent scout, Andrew Tucker and his panel of judges to star in a new LG Mobile advertising campaign. These grand prize winners will be announced in October.

All of the finalists will receive the ultimate in star treatment on 12 and 13 September as part of their a grand prize, which includes a five-star VIP weekend in London, personal shopping experience at Topshop Oxford Street, a professional photo-shoot for their own billboard advert which will be used in their region and a glamorous night out at London’s exclusive VIP bar, Mahiki.

Jeremy Newing, head of LG mobile marketing, said, “The Style Icon competition has been a huge success to-date and as we enter the final stages with the ten regional finalists now selected, two people’s dreams are about to become a reality.”

We’re delighted to announce:

Hannah Hamiliton: regional representative for Glasgow

Jake Egginton: regional representative for Solihull

Kamil Zayn: regional representative for Kent

Laura Fitzgerald: regional representative for Manchester

Laura-Ann Lindsay: regional representative for Belfast

Michael Byrne: regional representative for Dublin

Rebecca Dempsey: regional representative for Reading

Sean Vernon: regional representative for Sheffield

Shweta Shetty: regional representative for Edinburgh

Sinead Hammond: regional representative for Cardiff

These photos can also be found on our Flickr channel.

… which was nice.

Unfortunately they also made this:

Great way to explain the project or painful attempt at engaging the ‘yoof’?  I hated the concept but actually didn’t mind it so much when I listened to it. I think I may have unintentionally learnt something too… Sly dogs!

Like Chris, I’ve been very impressed with Google’s launch of Chrome but I also wanted to comment on Spore’s SporeVote - where another canny move was made, launch-wise.

SporeVote launched a week before the release of the widely anticipated game, giving people the opportunity to submit the characters they’ve made through the Creature Creator (released in June to give a glimpse at some of the characters you’ll be able to create in-game) and get extra buzz.

To celebrate the launch of the Spore Creature Creator, we found 75 of the most creative innovators from around the world and asked them to create a creature of their own. As you can see, it’s an interesting mix of writers, actors, musicians, athletes, thinkers and more—and each has now created an alter ego for you to check out. Have a look around, explore the creatures and vote for the ones you like the best. The winner will get $15,000 to donate to the charity of their choice

There are some interesting submissions from the celebrities - Tay Zonday’s Ten Hit Wonder and Flight of the Conchord’s BattleKiwi being two of my favourites, David Lynch’s seems surprisingly cute while Stan Lee’s is surprisingly not the most popular (it doesn’t really do it for me but neither does the current fav - Phil Defranco’s excitable, horned Red bi-ped:)

Defranco's & Lee's entries.

Unfortunately it’s a bit high spec for my machine (& I’m far to busy working to try it here, obviously) which means I haven’t been able to have a real play about with it but it looks like fun and with a real diversity of characters available.

Of course, the game is actually out now, does anyone have it yet? I’m not really a massive gamer (there is a place in my heart for old skool Sonic, my DS and Zoo Tycon on the PC but I’ve never really delved deeper..) but the idea of Spore does appeal. I shan’t be buying it though as last time I found a game I really got into I suddenly started being late/absent for absolutely everything and I’m not sure my social life could take that again!

Oh also, they had some lovely ads out in the US designed by Drew Marshall of Psilo Design Group:

I don’t think they were out here, I don’t remember seeing any…

On an entirely unrelated note, next Friday (19th) is International Talk Like a Pirate Day and apparently there will be an online event called ‘Blog Like a Pirate’, among other things to celebrate. There’s no description of the event but I would assume it’s a Ronseal deal…Anyone fancy blogging like a Pirate? How would you do it - lots of bad typing due to the hooks? Blogging about sea conditions, booty and rum? Something tells me the more traditional dress up and go ‘arrgh! Me hearties’, etc, at people will be more fun.

What do you think?

Last week we held our bloggers’ event for LCD Televisions in London, and we’re pleased to say we’ve got video up of the event. LG UK’s marketing manager for TV, George Mead, takes our bloggers through both LG’s history of flat panel TVs and the future, showcasing our three latest LCD televisions: the Slimline Scarlet (LG6100), LG7000 and LG4000. George also hosted a Q&A with the bloggers afterwards, which you can see below:

You can see the presentation in full by checking our YouTube channel - part 1, part 2 and part 3 are all now available online.

Check out some of coverage from the bloggers there - Andy of HDTVUK focused on the TVs’ environmental friendliness and easy-to-use user interface, for example. Matthew of Gadget Venueliked all three and especially the quality of the Mark Levinson-tuned audio, while Marc of Coolest Gadgets was most excited about the LG4000 with integrated DVD.

Finally, remember to check out our special LG-dedicated forum on AVForums, which we’ve just introduced - and feel free to join in if you like: the best comment in the first month of the forum’s operation (as judged by LG’s TV experts) will win the author a free LG TV! See you there….

I’ve got to admit, I think Google have just raised the bar for product launches. Their new web browser, Google Chrome, isn’t just interesting because it’s yet another new entrant; it didn’t seem long ago the world was destined to have one browser, but now Chrome enters a crowded marketplace, alongside Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Opera and many more. Google think they can do better than what’s out there right now, especially with the growth of web applications and the demands they have on the standard browser environment.

Chrome isn’t out yet - and when it is it will be on Windows only, but given its open source nature and Google being behind it it won’t be very long before you’ll see this on a variety of platforms including mobile, no doubt. But there’s a lot of chat on the blogs about it, and it isn’t just because of who’s behind it and what they’re doing - it’s because of how they announced it. Rather than just produce a standard page about the browser, they got some of the people behind it to talk about it to comic book artist Scott McCloud, who produced the introduction in comic book form:

While the details of the comic are quite technical, the style is light and breezy and (as you can see) not short of jokes either. I especially like the idea of using the people who made it feature as characters within it, demonstrating the features - getting real people to the forefront. Whether Google Chrome is destined to dominate the browser market or be just a curious side project, it’s impressed really well with a launch as clever and attractive as I can remember. Anyone else seen a tech product launch as fresh as this?