Jason Bradbury

Dirt Surfing U.K

If you've ever looked at a mountain-board and thought 'hospital' - you wouldn't be far wrong. But an invention called a 'Dirt Surfer', has taken the terror out of off-road downhill. Within an hour of stepping onboard one of the strange two-wheeled contraptions you'll be having that snowboard sans-snow experience you've always dreamt about.

Better still, to test out the latest Dirt Surfer tech, I've been playing on the purpose built slopes of Ride the hill in Surrey. I've linked to them below so you can see for yourself how truly video-game-gorgeous their tailor-made mountain boarding paradise is. I kid you not, with the trees, the stately home, the grassy knolls and the ski-lift... it's like Tellytubbyland for grass boarders.

For general info check out: Wind Surfer Forum

For the hardware visit: Dirt Surfer.com

For the slope go to: Ride the hill

Full Size RC Hummer!

So this is weird. There’s a section in my forthcoming book about a full-size remotely controlled Hummer. And what’s this I’m doing in the picture? Driving a full-size remote control Hummer?

We were alerted to the car’s existence for a forthcoming episode of The Gadget Show. What is even weirder about this £35,000 RC monster is how similar the inside workings are to the ones I’ve already imagined for my book (although my fictional version has a bank of multi-core processors on the back seat and the real one in the picture kept it’s tiny PCs in the boot). There have been rumours of this beautifully engineered brute on the web for a few months; many forum commentators have even suggested that it's a hoax! Well, I’m telling you, it’s real; real enough for me to almost demolish it on a large metal post and real enough to spray up so much mud we very nearly drowned a cameraman.

iRobot-Jase

Photographer John Wright visited the new Gadget Show studio this week to take pictures of Jon, Suzi and I. Here's what he came up with for me. Isn't it fantastic?! There is also a shot of all three of us which should be popping up soon.

It got me thinking about the possibility of living forever as some freaky, smiley, face-bot!

The shot is part of the build up to series eight of The Gadget Show which starts 31st March on Five at 8pm.

Photographer: John Wright.

Air Guitar Rocker

In case you missed it, there’s a computer guitar-game revolution going on. The latest, and for my money, potentially the most novel innovation, is Air Guitar Rocker, from the peeps that brought us Guitar Hero. Just to be clear, you don't need a 360, PS3 or Wii to play this, it's standalone; you simply strap the mini-amp and buckle to your belt and strum away to your hearts content with the wireless plectrum. To my knowledge it’s not out yet, but rest assured I’ll be finger pickin’ me some smooth chords when it is. In the meantime, check out Jada Toys.

Go Gadget Duck

I was just sent Luke Pondwalker for a review in the London Lite ‘Guy Guide.’ I just love it. It’s a duck that lights up when you put it in the bath; and it’s designed after Luke Skywalker (my Postermodernist lecture at University is now so much clearer!) Cleverly, the box folds into a cardboard Duck-Wing fighter. Also check out i-duck nano and Duck Fadar. Check out www.locomocean.com

Gamer Whoopin' Games Vest

Yeah yeah, I know, I look like a dweeb… but come on people, this vest gives your games the power to whoop you… good! The 3rd Space FPS Vest translates code hidden in games into chest, head and back slammin’ pain. I tried it out with one of the company's in house shooters and I was very impressed. If you’re lookin’ to spice up your first person shootin’ and you don’t mind looking like a right Jonny (as my nan would say) then get on over to TN Games where they've got some cool videos of the thing in action.

Future Perfect Moment #12

And here begin-eth the OLED revolution (Organic Light Emitting Diode). Forget LCD and Plasma, if you’re a telly addict, this is where it’s at. Sony are first out of the traps with their XEL-1. Okay, it’s only 11 inches in screen size but it boasts a 1,000,000: 1 contrast ratio. To the none techie, that means it’s blacks are out of the ball park ‘black’ and its colours are better than anything you’ll have seen. Oh, and its super thin at just 3mm deep. Price? £1300 or thereabouts. Roll on, the gigantic 12"!

World's First Outdoor Console?

Once or twice a year there is a gadget that appears out of the blue and shouts ‘I’m new and I could change the world.’ Well, if your world revolves around gaming, you just gotta check out Swinxs. It’s an outdoor gaming console designed to get kids out of the front room, into the garden and playing a series of voice driven action games. It uses RFID wristbands to identify players and then sends them on any number of hide&seek, footrace or puzzle quests in whatever outdoor space they’ve plonked the gorgeous rubberised console. One thing its developers have got spot on is the open SDK which they’ve made available for anyone to use and develop games. So, when you’re bored of the bundled games, you can grow your own, or download a bunch via the console’s USB slot. www.swinxs.com.

It's me... in Assassin's Creed

Well – I’ve received lots of Hey I’ve seen you’s and I’m grateful for all of them – but Chods70 has sent over a screenie of me in Assassin’s Creed which even my sceptical girlfriend has to admit is me. See my previous post about how Ubi Soft scanned me into their game here. A big thank you to all the Assassin’s who mailed me.

Dot Robot

Well, I’ve had clearance from Puffin and can confirm that my book is going to be called… Dot.Robot; at least book one is. It’s the first of a trilogy - for the nine to thirteen /young teen/just about anyone who wants to read it - audience. The central protagonist is a young mathematics genius who lives in a tower block in South East London - his favourite number is ‘11’ (care to guess why?). His exceptional skills as a number cruncher and gamer lead him into a world of intrigue, seriously cool cars, real world gizmos, robots and a baddy you’re just gonna love/hate (could I be any less specific?). He is joined by a brassy young American girl called Brooke who at just twelve is an engineering graduate of M.I.T (and that’s the least impressive thing about her); the only thing she’s not interested in fixing, is her hair. More than that, I can’t really go into just yet – but it involves a tonne of very cool gadgets (surprised?), some curious codes, and tasty morsels from the Web, from popular culture, computer gaming and science. Oh, and chess… which is one of the coolest bits… believe it or not.

Is that an appetite whetter? Let me know.

My first book is almost written!

Long time no blog. And here's the reason. I've got a book deal!!! A life long ambition has been fullfilled and I've got a deal for my children's/teen fiction novel with Puffin! When I haven't been travelling overseas and filming I've been writing, and writing and... you get the idea. Anyway, that's why my blog posts haven't been coming thick and fast. In short, book 1 is almost finished (I'm days away from the final few lines) and before I move onto book 2 I'll try and post some new tech to get you ready for 2008 as I should have a few inside scoop coming up soon.

In case it's not obvious - that's me... signing the deal!

Help find me in Assassin's Creed!

I'm in the game. No...really... my face was used to model a character in what has got to be the game of the moment – but I can't find myself. Answers on a postcard please (tell you what, sod it, try sending me an email). If you find a character in the game that looks like it might be me... do a screenie and send it over and I'll publish it on my blog. All I know is that I'm in the city of Acre, as opposed to Jerusalem or Damascus, and that I may be a Monk, a fat guy or even, praise the game gods, someone with hair! The pic to the left represents what happens if your agile Assassin character misses a hand-hold - that and one of the stages involved in becoming a game character.

Guide to Success on YouTube #6

First, check out MY VIDEO HERE. Tip: Do you know digg.com? How about del.icio.us or stumbleupon.com, Furl, Reddit, and Slashdot? These sites are crucial for getting the message about your video out there as the communities that visit them regularly, trust the democratic way in which they enable users to vote for what's hot. Go to these sites, set up an account and input your video's details. If your work is good enough the massive communities that frequent these domains will rate it and spread the word. If you like my video, send it to all your buddies!

Guide to Success on YouTube #5

First, check out MY VIDEO HERE. Tip: Bloggers are short of things to say. As a long time blogger myself and judge of this year's Best of British Blog Awards, I'm constantly coming up against 'blogger's block' – the lack of inspiration that is the result of having to keep up a constant supply of witty and informative posts. If you've got an interesting video, let the blogging community know about it; chances are they'll do a feature or news item about your flick, which in turn will help to seed it all over the web. If you like my video, send it to all your buddies! The featured pic is of a review my video received on shinyshiny.tv

Guide to Success on YouTube #4

First, check out MY VIDEO HERE. Tip: Think about the YouTube experience. What is it about the world's biggest video portal that people like? This is a broad ranging question but there are a few simple answers. Firstly, people watch YouTube in the way they watch 'America's Funniest Home Videos' or the UK's 'You've Been Framed'. It's all about bite sized chunks, odd, quirky, clever clips that I believe serve YouTubers best if they're less than a minute. And YouTube is international, so if your goal is numbers, make sure you're doing something that is understandable to a German, an American, a Korean and so on. If you like my video, send it to all your buddies!

Guide to Success on YouTube #3

First, check out MY VIDEO HERE. Tip: Be consistent. As YouTube is owned by Google, it uses the same dogged system of tags and language based seeding that made Google the world's biggest search engine. Whatever tags you use when you upload your YouTube video, make sure you replicate them elsewhere when you talk about your video on your blog, in your Facebook or in forums etc. The idea is to build a consistent and seamless wall of references to your video that snakes its way through the Internet. If all your building blocks use similar language, Google will knit them together and point the way to your clip. If you like my video, send it to all your buddies!

Guide to Success on YouTube #2

First, check out MY VIDEO HERE. Tip: Try and get your video 'Honoured'. YouTube awards honours to videos by tracking statistics, like 'most viewed this week' or 'Top Rated'. If you can get your buddies to Rate your video with five stars, or ask another YouTuber with a big following to feature your clip, you might make it into the 'Honours' which appears below all clips automatically. My Video 'Extreme Caterpillar Breakdance' reached #4 in the 'Favourite videos of the day' in YouTube's 'UK Entertainment' category on its second day. This really helped to boost my viewing rate. If you found this useful, pay me back... by passing my video to everyone in your Facebook, MySpace, email contacts... you name it. Expect a new YouTube guide every day this week.

Extreme Caterpillar Breakdance

Guide to Success on YouTube #1

First, check out MY VIDEO HERE. This is number one of several quick guides to getting your YouTube video - watched. Tip: Added value. Incentivise your viewers by offering them something in addition to your short movie - the story of how you made it, why you made it, things that went wrong. If there's something newsworthy about your clip, let people know with a mail out or posts on blogs and forums. New of my viral video experiment was enough to get my video reviewed on ShinyShiny.tv, one of Britain's best Technology blogs. And it seems they were tickled by my YouTube video Extreme Caterpillar Breakdance. There will be a new part to this guide every day this week, in which I'll talk about how your get your 'added value' message out there.

My YouTube Video Experiment

Watch my YouTube video!!! My crazy, 30 second breakdance video needs you – it's a schlock attempt by me and my buddy Rich, filmed as part of a Gadget Show test to see exactly how many people we can get to view our vid. All you gotta do is watch my 80's caterpillar antics filmed on the streets of London. Then, tell all your friends. We're attempting to see how viral marketing works, so the more places you can talk about it, blogs you can link to it from, forums you can post it - the better! Click Here to see it and send it to your buddies.

I'll explain more in subsequent posts - but for now.. watch, enjoy and pass it on :-)

Gadget Show - Series Seven!!!

Welcome - viewers of The Gadget Show, series seven. We couldn't be on at a better time this series, giving all us gadget freaks one show per week up until Christmas day. We've got some seriously cool technology coming your way. Our star studded gadget cast includes: the Easy-Glider, one of the only personal transport devices I've come across that could actually augment the 'walk' to work. Fly-Jumpers, those crazy bouncy leg extenders from... er... that advert. The uber cool RC Cyborg shark and a dolphin-sized mini personal submarine that I'm testing in San Francisco and some sexy HD Blu-Ray camcorders, humongous super-thin tellies and our usual selection of robots including the awesome Roboboa (see picture). And Suzi, Jon and I have visited Hungary, Iceland, Spain, Canada and the US of A in search of ever more ridiculous challenges. So, tune in every Monday at 8pm from now until Chrimbo on Five.

Easy Glider
Fly Jumper
Roboboa
My Gadget Show column

Sun, Sand, Sea and... iPhone

Yep, they are the four things that are guaranteed to make any geek happy... okay, maybe you can loose the Sun, Sand and Sea. We're up and running for series 7 of The Gadget Show and as we've got a new and even fluffier 8pm time slot - we've decided to push the boat out and take Apple's new pocket rocket on holiday with us. You'll be able to see what Suzi Perry and I (yep, that's Suzi and yep that's my arm in shot) got up to in our Nokia N95 versus iPhone challenge when the show launches on October 29th but here's a sneaky heads up on the phone that everyone's talking about... [Read on]

iTunes TV for the UK

Just in case you missed the announcement, Apple's iTunes UK has finally started offering TV shows (and movies?). Thanks be to the god of gadgets – but why oh why so long? The line-up includes offerings from ABC, Disney and MTV and should keep those of us with a passion for infinitesimally small screen entertainment happy for at least a few weeks. You don't need to be a tech blood-hound to work out that it's all about the iPhone – as downloadable video content is what their revenue model is all about. Anyway – I'm off to watch the pilot episode of Commander in Chief as I've got a thing for ladies in suits!

Me V3.0

Me V3.0 is out! Two years in the making, the Me platform has been completely redesigned. The new model builds on the 'cute factor' that made Me V2.0 so popular, but brings a number of third party hardware upgrade options including future proofing for: train set, remote control aircraft/boats/cars and kung fu add-ons. Testers hope to iron out the teething trouble that led to a failed test with an early 'wooden sword and shield' beta. During my first hands-on test, I found no evidence of the claims that the new unit's 'recycling' engine has been improved, but was assured by the manufacturer that this will be updated with forthcoming patches.

See earlier Me V2.0 reviews here

Perpetual Motion Machine... stops!

If you're not sure what Orbo is - check my previous post.

JASON'S REASONS WHY ORBO MIGHT BE BULL':

Here's the evidence that over the course of the last 24 hours has turned this enthusiast into a cynic:

1. Why advertise in The Economist? Much has been made of Steorn's search for scientific testers. That's not where I'd advertise for preeminent scientists - unless what I was really after was investors. {see advert here]
2. So far, eight scientists have, according to Steorn 'validated' their technology but non of these supposed experts have been named, non have made any statement, anonymous or otherwise.
3. So far all information about Orbo has arrived via the media, rather than through the more usual route of scientific publication.
4.They failed to get the web streaming up and running. Don't get me wrong, streaming video is complicated (and even I am guilty of bad time keeping) but if you've cracked science wide open, where the likes of Leonardo da Vinci has failed - you ought really to be able to chuck up a bit of html.
5. They cost me £160 on a first class railway ticket. I'm sitting in a cafe in Newark, Notts, UK writing this post with the wasted ticket in front of me having just been told the demo 'is not working' - by my PR contact.
6.Oh yeah, it defies the fundamental laws of thermodynamics.

[Click below to read on...]

Perpetual Motion Machine live on the web

An company called Steorn are exhibiting a perpetual motion machine in London. That sentence is something akin to 'an alchemist has discovered how to make gold from old bikes' or 'NASA speed of light drive goes live' or 'Cryogenics patient who died in 1964 has been brought back to life.' A free energy device or a 'perpetual motion machine' as it could be termed would be just about the biggest discovery in science for a hundred years. In fact, in practical terms, if the twenty two world renowned scientists tasked with qualifying the technology called Orbo say it works, we are talking about ripping up the laws of physics and reassessing how our entire universe works. [Read on]

The 'Thornton is a Turd' Test

I've come up with a universal way of testing the speed of your computer. It came to me as part of the new children's book I'm writing in which my character Red is told do 'lines' as a punishment. She works out that if she used her laptop she could write the line 'I must not make Thornton into a turd, even though he clearly is one' 1 billion times. The process would take her computer 14 days to complete. [Read on]

Alternate Reality Gaming

Launched today, World Without Oil is an Alternate Reality Game that anyone can contribute to. I've wanted to blog about ARG's (Alternate Reality Games) for ages; if you need a definition then head on over to ARGnet or to see and take part in this one visit World Without Oil. The post below constitutes my contribution to the World Without Oil project which its authors describe as a month-long gaming project that uses 'citizen stories in blogs, videos, photos, audio and phone messages posted all over the Internet' as its gaming subject matter.

My post [here] is a fictionalised account of a mini fuel-crisis I was involved in two years ago in the UK. I used my experience in a gas queue as the basis for a short fictional diary entry that will hopefully be picked up and referenced as part of the month long WWO game.

Pump Rage

If you want to hold a mirror up to man, join a queue. There's no greater mask than the car and there's no more effective way of ripping the veil of civility from the face of its driver than forcing him to sit behind a line of other de-masked, witless motorheads. I'm waiting for a petrol pump, seemingly the last remaining source of gas in all of Christendom. I slipped out at 2am to avoid the jam, used the back roads so no-one would catch-on and follow. It didn't work. We're all here, the whole city, ravenous like a pack of wolves circling an injured stag. [Continued below...]

N95's Barcode Scanner

There's a barcode reader on the N95! Better still, I've created my own barcode (see left). If you've got Nokia's new uber phone, you can scan the image (left) and read the secret message I've put in it (Gimme an 'S' , gimme a 'T' ... alright, just gimme the full 'steganography'). You'll find the barcode scanner in your appilcations folder, or in your Office folder. Switch it on and point it at my image. Super cool app or what?

And the winner is...

ShinyShiny.tv wins the Best of Brit Blog Award in the technology category. I gave the shocking pink girlie-tech blog the prize because I think it's carved out a reputation in 2006/07 more definitely than the other four fine blogs in the final line up (chosen by users). Give shinyshiny.tv a butchers along with some of the other excellent technology blogs that come under the Shiny Media banner such as iPhonic and WiiWii. Read all the winning blogs at Metro.co.uk. I've also recorded a three-part Podcast about the BOBBs for Ask.com and Metro.