Revolutionary Goop!

A Californian-based company, Sunrgi, have hit the headlines this month with news that they may have revolutionised the solar energy collection business. Sungri is claiming it can collect twice as much sunlight as other photovoltaic designs and convert it to electricity for 5 cents a kilowatt-hour, on par with fossil fuels.


The company’s technology uses a system based on lenses, which focus the sunlight onto photovoltaic cells and allow for increased numbers of photons to be collected by smaller numbers of cells. This means the collector arrays need less photovoltaic cells then other systems, reducing their cost considerably.

The downside is that there is an extreme over heating problem. As the photovoltaic cells are extremely fragile this is a huge problem. It’s one, however, which Sungri claim to have solved with ‘goop’. Paul Sidlo, co-founder of Sungri, said the nanotube compound is mounted on the back of the solar cells to conduct heat away. The company plans to begin production in about 15 months.

The result isn’t your average solar module. If they can pull this off, the technology might be revolutionary.

What is Social Media?

I think most people, certainly those in the business, know what social media is, for everyone else though I came across this great little video:


Social Media in Plain English from leelefever on Vimeo.

Guitar Hero 4

At the moment I play five games:
GTA4 (XBOX 360)
Guitar Hero 3 (XBOX 360)
Bowling (Wii)
Mario Kart (Wii)
PES (PS3)

My gaming world is pretty complete, and extremely content. Then, today, I StumbleUpon this……


This month GameInformer has a preview of Guirtar Hero IV. Guitar Hero 4! So what’s it all about? New instruments, new songs (a lot more by the looks of it), character customisation, instrument customisation and new game modes - Jam Mode, Advanced Studio mode and……. Creation modes - to allow players to create and share their own songs.

It really looks like Activision and Neversoft are holding nothing back this time.

Nokia to choose function over form?

Last Friday was Nokia’s annual shareholders meeting. In a series of bold and driving statements, CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo completely redirected the entire company. "Our goal is to act less like a traditional manufacturer, and more like an internet company," Kallasvuo said. "Companies such as Apple, Google, and Microsoft are not our traditional competitors, but they are major forces that must be reckoned with. Make no mistake: We are taking on these challenges seriously and aggressively."

Perhaps this isn’t so surprising considering the recent movement of mobile technology. The iPhone and its many pretenders have swept onto the market and brought the kind of hype which Nokia have failed to fully achieve in some time. Kallasvuo, I think, has realised this and is now considering how Nokia can deliver innovation that will get them those kind of results.

Currently Apple has a smartphone, and both Google and Microsoft each have similar projects in the works. So to combat this Nokia has been restructured into two segments: devices and services. The previous system had three divisions: mobile phones, multimedia, and enterprise solutions. Nokia also have the acquisition of GPS specialist Navteq on the horizon, which should enable their movement into new markets, such as navigation systems for pedestrians and location-based mobile advertising.

"When we look at it with the eyes we have now, when regarding pedestrian navigation, map services, digital maps, we are even more excited about the opportunities than when making the decision" to buy Navteq, said Kallasvuo. "I ask for some more patience from the shareholders. There is quite a lot better to be seen ahead."

So what does it all mean?

Well it looks to me like Nokia will make a noticeable shift away from hardware development towards a more precision driven approach to specialised software development and integration. That’s not to say product development won’t be based around new styled handsets, but it will be primarily driven by the capabilities and function of these new devices.
Let’s just hope that the future isn’t too androgynous!

You can't see it, but it sounds beautiful

Much of my life revolves around digital. I work for a digital agency. I use a huge amount of social networking, email and blogs. I have accounts with Flickr, Youtube, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn…… and the list goes on. The thing is, there is something in my life which I take great pleasure in, and is decidedly undigital.

I love to drive.

I don’t own a particularly fantastic car, but it’s got a bit of power and it handles like a dream. Having said that I’d be lying if I said I’ve never dreamed of sitting into the seat of high powered sports car and letting go! So when I heard the rumours about an affordable Ferrari I was bloody excited. Now lets be clear, affordable as in you'll only have to sell one of your children to pay for it instead of the usual two

Unfortunately details have been a bit sketchy. There were some fake drawings a while back. Spy shots have trickled in. A video or two. But now things are firming up. We now know that it will be called the California, or GT. It's expected to share its platform and significant chunks of running gear with similar grand tourers from Alfa Romeo and Maserati.

Still no pictures, but go to the teaser site and listen to it purr!