Something I just threw together. Enjoy.

1280×800 dimensions

Firstly I want to make it perfectly clear that the British performers are largely not at fault. Josh Dubovie did a good job under the conditions he was forced to perform under. “What conditions”, I hear you ask? Here are five reasons that I think are hurting the British chances of every winning the Eurovision Song Contest ever again.

1. The British selection committee. It is the job of this panel to choose the best song and performer that matches the music style of the time in Europe as a whole. However they keep choosing songs that are standard British ditis and not Euro-hits. Music tastes on the other side of the channel are very different.
2. Prior promotion. The German winner this year (Lena) was all over European radio weeks before the final. Similarly maNga (the Turkish entry) are a well established Rock/Hip-hop/Techno group, known throughout Europe. In contrast, the first time I heard the British entry was on the final night because I missed the selection programme and I don’t listen to BBC Radio 2.
3. Experience. We seem to be opting for ‘newbies’. Performers who don’t have much experience at performing to large audiences. The whole of Europe is a pretty big venue and something a 19 year old doesn’t have the experience to handle. (Lena is an exception as she has been performing her song across Germany to promote her attempt). Otherwise the competition usually comprises of a dual/triple album rock band, a classically trained Violinist who plays for the Pope, and of course a Transvestite Diva with more confidence and charisma than 100 Lady Gaga’s! Suddenly our 19 year old saviour is a shrinking violet.
4. ‘Your Country Needs You’. Honestly I have a lot of respect for Andrew Lloyd Webbers’ legacy as a fantastic composer for theatre but he knows bugger all about Euro-hits. Mix that with the British public only being given a choice of 6 performances… and the fact we are relying on THE BRITISH PUBLIC!!! X Factor this aint!
5. We have no friends. I hate to admit it but the calls for Euro-fixing do seem to be true, especially when it comes to countries not liking Britain. This year was much better for fixing between Balkan States and Scandinavia, but it hasn’t helped our little island much. Perhaps because we haven’t got involved in The European Union as much as we were expected to, and that we are far too deep in the pocket of the US who, really, nobody likes.

So what can we do about it? The only way I can see Britain winning the Eurovision Song Contest is if we adopt the Euro, sack off Obama, and resurrect Michael Jackson to write a song for Take That to perform.

Possible?

Hell, if an Irish winner from X years ago can come back and still come in ahead of us, and a Welsh kid can perform for Cyprus and also beat us then I reckon anything is possible. Bring back Michael Ball singing a duet with Katrina. The Waves can play the music and Bucks Fizz can perform backing lyrics. Sure-fire win right there.

PS I think Graham Norton is a great replacement for Sir Terry. Its taken me a year to decide, but he can stay.

I thought it was never going to happen, I mean it was 1985 when Back to the Future first showed us the Hoverboard. 25 years later and BOOM! Technology catches up with Science Fiction.

Note: It doesn’t work outside quite yet.

Video after the break…

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Apple has pushed past arch-rival Microsoft to become the world’s biggest technology company.
Changes in the share price values of the two in Wednesday’s choppy trading left the total value of Apple at $222bn (£154bn).
Microsoft is now valued by investors at $219bn.
However, Microsoft still enjoys higher profits than Apple. Its most recent annual net profit was $14.6bn (£10bn), compared with $5.7bn for Apple.
Microsoft also reported bigger full-year revenues of $58.4bn, with Apple on $36.5bn.

The value of a listed company, known as market capitalisation, is calculated by multiplying the number of shares in a company by the current share price.
Apple’s shares closed Wednesday trading down 0.4%, while Microsoft fell by 4%.
Apple, which makes computers, iPods, iPhones and now iPads, almost went out of business in the 1990s.
Its growth is partly owing to the launch of the iPod in 2001.
Although the iPod works with computers running Microsoft’s Windows operating systems, it encouraged more people to to buy one of Apple’s computers.
The big popularity of the iPhone, which has become a big seller since it was first released in 2007, has further boosted Apple’s profits and revenues.
The handset has brought internet access on the move to the mass market, and led to an explosion in downloadable mobile "apps" – applications that enable a huge range of activities, from map reading to booking restaurants.
A new version of the iPhone is expected to be unveiled next month.
Meanwhile, this week sees the launch in the UK and eight other countries of Apple’s iPad tablet computer.
This has already proven to be a big seller in the US, so much so that the UK launch was postponed to enable Apple to keep up with demand in the US.

Apple has to look back to late 1989 to see the last time it was a bigger company than Microsoft.
Microsoft, whose operating system runs on more than 90% of the world’s personal computers, has not been able to match growth rates from its heyday of the 1990s.
While its profits remain much higher than Apple, its earnings per share are substantially less, totalling $1.62 for its latest financial year, compared with $6.29 for Apple.
Microsoft continues to make the majority of its earnings from its software and operating systems, and has struggled to successfully diversify into other products.
However, Microsoft has achieved success with its X-Box games console.
Questioned on the news that Apple was now a bigger company, Microsoft’s chief executive Steve Ballmer said his firm would continue to follow a long-term strategy.
"It’s a long game, we have good competitors… we too are a very good competitor," he said.
"We are executing very well and that is going to lead to great products and great success."

BBC News

With the iPhone 4.0 OS coming very soon I decided to Jailbreak my 3.1.3 3Gs while I still had the chance. I did some research and found that with my model iPhone (MC) combined with the Modem Firmware (05.12.01), I only had one option.

Spirit.

I had a really good read on how to do it, what complications could arise (and how to fix them) and decided to tale the plunge. After all, I could simply restore the iPhone with iTunes if anything went wrong and come out the other side no worse than I left off. So I downloaded the Spirit Jailbreak and ran the program.

Was I suprised? YES!

The entire Jailbreak (which comprises of advantage being taken of a security loophole in the Apple software) took 10 seconds! Amazing to say the least. In that time the hack App store Cydia had been installed which gives access to Apps that Apple wish had never been written.

• Change themes
• Enable Bluetooth file transfers (Wouldn’t work on mine – stack issues)
• Change Fonts
• Change message alert tones
• Enable internet tethering without a tethered data plan (also with the possibility of creating a Wifi hotspot!)
• Access to pirate Apps intended to be paid for through the Apple App Store (A service NOT supplied by Cydia or Spirit)
• Plus MUCH more…

Now I must stress at this point that I am not condoning this practice. I merely tried it to see what all the fuss was about. I have to say for my needs the Apple software provided with the iPhone is more than necessary and I regularly happily pay for Apps knowing that 90% of the revenue goes back to the App designers – Plus I still get excited when updates are released for Apps I’ve paid for!

When 4.0 is released I’ll be going back to the official Apple OS. Until then I’m going to keep on hacking!

PS. The Spirit hack also works on the iPad!