Danger Danger! High Voltage!

The internal combustion engine has been used to power cars since the first patented auto-mobile was made by Karl Benz in 1886, and is now widely recognised as the way to power many vehicles. However, with resources such as fossil fuels running low and fuel prices increasing more companies are turning to alternative solutions to power their vehicles. A few examples of this are Hydrogen (both to power an internal combustion engine and a hydrogen fuel cell), re-chargeable batteries, solar power and water powered. Since the start of 2012 I have seen an increasing number of electric cars being announced or put on sale. For example the Renault ZE range of electric cars (as shown in the video below). 

In my opinion this range of cars shows what the electric car can be capable of, and that they are not just for commuting around cities as shown by previous electric cars such as the G Whizz. The Renault ZE (Zero Emissions) range covers many aspects of transportation. 
The Twizzy Z.E. is a small two seater vehicle (classed as a Heavy Quadricycle) that is aimed at urban and city usage. It will cost around £7,000 (plus £40 per month battery rental) and has a range of about 60 miles. 
The already released Kangoo Z.E. is a small van that is based upon the current Renault Kangoo, and is aimed at businesses within a city or for shorter delivery distances. It costs around £17,000 (plus £62 per month battery rental) and has a range of about 106 miles. People obviously think this is the way forward for vehicles of this type as it recently won the International Van of the Year Award, beating off rivals such as the VW Caddy and the Fiat Ducato.   
The Fluence Z.E. is a Family Saloon car that is aimed at the Family Market. It will cost around £18,000 (plus £69.60 per month battery rental) after the £5,000 plug in car grant, and will have a range of 115 miles. Due to the range it won't be suitable for long trips, but could potentially be an alternative vehicle for the school run or for the weekly shop.
The ZOE Z.E. will be a big hatchback type car, that will most likely be aimed at the same market as the Fluence. Currently there is no final price for this model, but they do give an indicator of the price with this statement on their website :


'The price of the ZOE Preview has yet to be finalised. Nevertheless, the cost (excluding battery) is expected to be comparable to that of an equivalent diesel model, after state subsidies have been deducted.'


The expected of the ZOE will be 100 miles, which is the same range as the Nissan Leaf and the Peugeot iOn. 


But the big question is...is it worth buying one? There are many opinions on the electric car, some good and some bad. Many people are skeptical, especially due to the range and charge time. Also with electricity prices soaring the cost of the whole package seems to be verging on extortionate. Maybe now isn't the time for the electric car, and it probably won't replace petrol for a few years now. But it is inevitable that we will need to find an alternative to petrol at some point in the future due to the ever increasing prices and our dwindling resources. 


The full specifications of these cars can be seen on the Renault website
 (http://www.renault-ze.com/en-gb/gamme-voitures-electriques-renault-z.e.-1932.html).

Happy New Year!

I know I'm a tad late, but.....
Happy New Year! May this be a great year for products and experiences alike!

New Subaru XV unveiled...MK II

What seems like years ago in the second post on this blog, I looked at how Japanese car company Subaru were advertising their newly revealed XV model. They used a method called augmented reality which allows the consumer to interact with the product. At the time I did not own or have a webcam available to test it out, and said I would test it out as soon as I could get my hands on one. So...as promised here are a few pictures, and my verdict.

In my opinion, augmented reality is a great form of advertising, and it's potential will only grow. It allows the consumer to interact with the product in a unique way, and allows you to see the product from all angles. The rotation of the image was not entirely smooth, and if the paper I used was rotated to too steep an angle the image would freeze. This may be due to the light in the room at the time, or to the lower quality webcam. Even with this I found the experience quite enjoyable, and was able to see all around the car. In future developments I personally would like to see the ability to open doors and use the unique features of the car...but for now it is great.

Check it out at :  http://subaru.co.uk/vehicles/xv/?partner=google&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=9%2E%20Subaru%20XV&utm_term=subaru%20xv%20-p&gclid=CMedo43oua0CFaEhtAodADXrBA 

iPhone 5 Concept

A company called aatma studio has decided to construct a CGI video to show the potential features of the up and coming iphone 5. With features such as a lazer keyboard and holographic display, this would be the ulimate of ultimate phones if the features shown on this video were to come true. I don't even think it would surprise me if Apple were to use atleast one of these features on the new phone...I guess we'll just have to wait and see...

Exclusive Rights over Purple for Cadbury

Cadbury has fought off Nestlé over exclusive rights for the distinctive purple colour it has used on chocolate wrappers for more than 100 years. The Cadbury brothers are thought to have picked the colour as a tribute to Queen Victoria.

The group, which has been locked in a legal battle with its rival for three years, was granted a trademark for the tint – pantone 2865c – to be used on certain chocolate goods such as Dairy Milk in 2008. Nestlé challenged the ruling, arguing that the colour was not distinctive enough to receive a trademark.
The Swiss group's challenge appears to have failed after the registrar at the UK Intellectual Property Office this week ruled in Cadbury's favour, saying it had showed enough "distinctive character" for a trademark. One legal expert said that while it was an interim judgment, the decision was unlikely to be changed in the final report. Nestlé can appeal the decision.
A spokesman for Cadbury said the group was "pleased" with the ruling, adding that the colour was something those at the company "jealously guard".
In his ruling, Allan James, the registrar, said the colour purple had built a distinctive character associated with Cadbury. He added that the colour had been used in its advertising campaigns to distinguish the brand. One of the most popular of those campaigns in recent times was the use of a gorilla playing the drums. He rejected claims that Cadbury had registered the colour in bad faith as "absurd".
Fiona McBride, a partner at Withers & Rogers, described the decision as a "major relief" for Cadbury, saying its use of the colour was now "iron-clad and the brand will be unlikely to face further challenges over the use of the colour purple in the future".
Yet, executives at Kraft, which bought Cadbury in a controversial takeover deal earlier this year, will not get carried away with the victory. The trademark was limited to using the colour on its chocolate bars and chocolate drinks. It had not proved such a distinctive character in all confectionery chocolate, Mr James said, or for protection in relation to assortments such as its Roses chocolates. "Both sides have achieved a measure of success, Cadbury more so than Nestlé," he added.
Ms McBride said: "Colour registrations are notoriously difficult to obtain, largely because it can be difficult to prove sufficient use to demonstrate that the colour has become synonymous with the brand in the mind of the consumer."
Cadbury first applied to patent the colour in 2004, although it was not approved for another four years. Cadbury did try to stop the Australian confectioner Darrell Lea from using purple on its packaging. Three years ago, however, its complaint was rejected by the Federal Court in Melbourne.

Source : http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/cadbury-wins-right-to-the-colour-purple-6262717.html

We've got an app for that...

With the smartphone becoming an ever growing part of our world, it's no surprise apps are following the same trend. These days you can get an app for almost anything, and advertising is cropping up anywhere and everywhere for them. As I was walking through the train station the other day I spotted two lots of apps advertising, and only a metre apart! One is the Cross Country Train app, which is used to track trains, book tickets and check train timetables. The other was an app for Swift Cover car insurance...why it was in a train station I will never know. But it just shows the growing trend of apps and how they're going to evolve over the coming years, especially with the introduction of 3D phones and Augmented Reality.

The 'Super'market

Sitting here in Morrisons Cafe pondering about life, and I think I've found a trend in the business of 'Super'markets.
In all the super markets I have been in over the past year, only a hand full of small branches haven't had either a cafe or a petrol station contained within it's dull surroundings. The managers of supermarkets have obviously recognised a need for food areas and petrol stations in supermarkets...but why? Even in a smaller supermarket like this one, they have managed to fit a bigger than costa sized cafe and a 12 pump petrol station. And when the food is relatively cheap in price, and the petrol is the cheapest in the town, i'm not suprised that super markets across the country have turned to this business trend.

Let there be light!

So it's nearing Christmas, and the Christmas light switch on is a common event happening all around the country. Recently I attended the Christmas lights switch on in my home town, as I have done as long as I can remember. This got me thinking...why do we have lights at Christmas? Is it the fact that it gets darker at Christmas, and we need the light to cheer us up? Or is it too remind us of snow and to make us feel 'Christmasy'. Well, after a couple of minutes thinking about it...I still didn't know, so I decided to research where the tradition came from.  

Lights at the entrance to Stone High Street

According to Wikipedia, the tradition of using small candles to light up a Christmas tree dates back to about the the middle of the 17th century in Germany. However, it took two centuries for the for the tradition to become widely established. In the UK we didn't see the illuminated Christmas tree till the reign of Queen Victoria, but then again in 1881 the Savoy Theatre in London was the first to be lit entirely by electricity. From the 1950's onwards, lights were used more frequently in places other than on Christmas Trees. Strings of lights found there way into the home, with lights running across roof lines, door ways and fireplaces. In more recent times there have been grand illumination ceremonies involving complex illuminated animation, such as the Blackpool illuminations. As the lighting technology is so advanced today...what could be in store for the future of Christmas lights?

I bought it on eBay...

I was searching eBay the other day, and found that more and more clothing companies are turning their attention to eBay to sell stock they could otherwise not. Companies like Schuh, Superdry, House of Fraser, Sports Direct and Bench are using their ebay stores to sell old stock, items with slight defects or just as another outlet to sell normal stock. In most cases the companies eBay store page is just like any normal eBay page, but in some cases they just look like an extension of their own website e.g. Superdry (as shown below). 

This just shows how eBay has become a valuable asset people and companies alike, and how using it has almost become a trend in itself. 

Here are a few links to the eBay stores I have viewed : 

Superdry : http://stores.ebay.co.uk/The-Superdry-Store

Schuh : http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Schuh-Branded-Shoes-Online?_rdc=1

Bench : http://stores.ebay.co.uk/bench-outlet

And so this is Christmas...well nearly

If you somehow hadn't noticed, 'Christmas products' have been filling up our shelves for a while now. Even before Halloween items were cluttering up our supermarkets, Christmas orientated products have been creeping in everywhere...especially in supermarkets. In my local Morrisons they've had a dedicated Christmas isle since early November...utter madness! Instead of seeming like a grumpy old man over the matter, I decided to check out how the Christmas designs differ from the 'normal' everyday products, and what changes have been made. The first image, shows the comparison between a normal Family Pack sized Pringles and the Christmas design version.

As you can see from the above image, they are pretty similar in terms of colour and typeface. Only the subtle changes like the snow in the background and to the pringle shape have really been changed, with a few more subtle changes elsewhere. The image to the left is to show a couple of Christmas designs, and in comparing the three the obvious similar theme is snow.

The Dell XPS 15z....look familiar?

Currently, I am typing out this blog entry on a Dell Inspiron 6000 laptop, which I first bought in 2005. Even with only 512 MB RAM and only a 60 GB hard drive, it's lasted longer than anything else I have ever owned. As you'd expect it's now getting a bit slow and worn out, and with several missing keys and a broken screen hinge it can be quite annoying at times. So I decided it's time for an upgrade, and seeming as this one has lasted me so long I went straight to the Dell website. As I use Photoshop, play the odd game and have quite a hefty music collection I decided to go for an XPS (Xtreme Performance System) laptop. 

Dell (top), Mac (bottom).

This is where I found the Dell XPS 15z, a very powerful laptop and quite an aesthetically orientated one too....but something about the design seemed quite familiar. Then it hit me, it looked very similar to the Apple Macbook Pro. You can't really blame Dell for taking inspiration from arguably the best looking laptop in the world, but it just shows how companies are using Apple products as almost a base to design their own products on. Samsung are one of the main culprits for this, with their 'New' Galaxy tablet having them taken to court by Apple over it's appearance. Granted, here there are a few design features that are different e.g. the hinge, the colour of the inside bottom layer and the design of the keys, but apart from that they look very alike. They are also in a similar price range, and have similar features e.g. a back lit keyboard, a tray-less disc drive and a HD screen.


 Below are some images from different angles of each product to compare....but what do you think?

Dell images (top), Mac images (bottom).

LEGO Art by Nathan Sawaya

Today I was trawling through the many pages of the internet, when I came across something that instantly made me think...wow!

The image I saw is the image to the left. It's work produced by LEGO artist Nathan Sawaya, a former lawyer turned artist. After seeing this I did more research, and found he has done many other pieces with the same impact of this piece. His pieces are mostly based on human form, but he has also created a life size cello along with more abstract pieces. Each piece is being sold for around $10,000, with his biggest piece needing half a million LEGO bricks to complete. In my opinion, these LEGO pieces are some of the most creative and innovative pieces of art I personally have seen. Using a product of which it's primary purpose is a toy and using it to create modern pieces of art, in my eyes is brilliant...plus I love LEGO! 

To see the original article and more images of his art work, visit this link :
http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/the-lego-world-of-nathan-sawaya.html

Gamers brains are proven to 'differ'

I was browsing the BBC News website, and found an article about how the brain of a frequent gamer differs to that of an infrequent gamer. 

Research has shown that the Ventral Straitum : which is connected to addiction, is larger in the brain of a frequent gamer compared to the brain of a non-frequent gamer. This part of the brain is usually activated when people anticipate positive environmental effects or experience pleasure, such as winning or good food. That part of the brain has also been linked with addiction to drugs.

To view the original article, visit this link : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15720178 

New Subaru XV Unveiled

The new Subaru XV was unveiled recently at the Frankfurt Motor Show in Germany. The car is scheduled to be on sale by early 2012, but they haven't released too many details. From a first look it seems to be a modern and big 5 seat MPV, and in my opinion looks like a great car.

But in this instance it's not the car I'm interested in, it is how they have advertised the new vehicle on the Subaru website. They have used a method of interactive advertising called Augmented Reality. All you need to have is a webcam to make use of this very innovative and interactive service. You then print off a pattern on a sheet of paper, which acts as a plain to which the image of the vehicle is projected onto on the screen. You can then tilt the paper to see the vehicle from all angles.

As I don't have a webcam I cannot show the final result, but as soon as I can get my hands on one I will give it a try and post a picture. 








Feel free to check out the site for yourself at : http://subaru.co.uk/vehicles/xv

World Population and You.

In the next few weeks the world's population is expected to reach 7 Billion. Today I discovered a page on the BBC News website that allows you to see where you are in relation to that 7 Billion, based on estimates by the UN population division. It also shows how fast your country is growing in relation to others, and your life expectancy. Below is a screen shot of when I put my date of birth into the site...but where do you fit in?



Here's the link you need to give it a go:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-15391515