Author: Christopher Roberts

Christopher's Author Bio: Founder and editor of Technology Bloggers, Christopher is passionate about sustainable technology and environmental initiatives. He wants to popularise critical thinking, promote responsible innovation, and excite you about the world around us.

Higgs boson find makes time travel “feasible”

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Ground-breaking research has emerged this morning, as scientists from the LHC released verified data that proves the existence (and therefore discovery) of the Higgs boson.

CERN's logoThe particle which has been hailed by some as the ‘God particle’ was thought to have been discovered earlier last month, causing euphoria amongst physicists across the globe. This morning CERN have released certified proof of the particles existence.

Late last night cosmologist Carl Sagan and theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking (among other high profile scientists) descended upon Geneva for what was known up until now as a ‘private consultation’. It is now thought that the scientists were being asked to help verify the findings of the LHC’s latest discovery.

At just gone 12am BST (01:03 local time) a spokesman emerged from the centre in Geneva and announced that CERN had “falsifiable proof of the existence of the Higgs boson“.

Time Travel

In the press conference which was held shortly after the announcement, leading physicist Stephen Hawking commented on how due to the structure of the particle, he felt that in the not so distance future there is a “real possibility that time travel could soon become a reality“.

After Hawkins statement, there was an eruption of excitement among the media present, and no doubt across the globe from all those watching the press conference live.

Our Sun

Nuclear fusion (the reaction which happens within the sun) is a technology which we are yet to crack

Later in the conference, after the euphoria had died down slightly, a CERN scientist mentioned that not only did the Higgs boson seem to hold the key to time travel, but also (like previously thought) the origins of the universe.

Furthermore, nuclear fusion now seems to be a viable possibility as a future power source. Nuclear fusion is the reaction that goes on in the sun, and could enable us to create an almost unlimited supply of energy from a very limited amount of resources. Until recently scientists have been struggling to understand how to ‘crack’ the fusion equation, with the Higgs particle seeming to be a key component.

On the 1st of April 2013 we find out that free unlimited power and time travel are just around the corner. What a discovery!

UPDATE: This was an April Fools’ joke!

Goats, Gangnam and the Harlem Shake

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For some reason, many of us internet folk seem obsessed with internet memes.

What are internet memes?

Okay, if you don’t know what an internet meme is, then my opening line probably didn’t mean that much to you. Who better to ask than Mr Oxford? A meme is “an element of a culture or system of behaviour passed from one individual to another by imitation or other non-genetic means” – basically something which becomes a phenomenon, usually in a very short space of time.

Recent examples of internet phenomena include music video Gangnam Style, the Harlem Shake dance (and its parodies) and all those songs that have been given the goat treatment.

Probably the most well known historical internet meme is Rickrolling. In April 2008 the BBC reported how “an estimated 13 million internet users have been tricked into watching the video for Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up” in the space of just a few weeks. The number of users online and the size of the internet has grown significantly since then, so when put into perspective, 13 million is a lot of people!

Rickrolling

Rickrolling is when you go to click a link, believing it is going to a certain resource, website etc. when in reality you are diverted to a video of Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up. Basically, rickrolling is a simple bait-and-switch, which is (usually) just harmless fun.

Rickrolling

Rick Astley dancing in his ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ music video.

If you find yourself on Rick Astley’s video, (when you didn’t intend to visit it) then you are said to have been rickrolled.

It isn’t thought that Rick Astley attempted to create the internet meme, or in any way endorsed it, however some argue that it the meme played a large part in reviving his musical career!

Some rickrolls were just done in a humorous style, with no harm intended, whilst others would cause more havoc, some making it very difficult for users to turn the video off, and others even using it as a way of installing malicious software on users computers.

Probably the most high profile rickroll was in 2011, when The White House rickrolled followers, adding a link to the video in a reply tweet.

%CODETWEETRICKASTLEY1%

YouTube hits 1 billion active users

I recently tweeted via @TechBloggers how YouTube now has over a billion monthly users.

%CODETWEETTB1%

This is an amazing achievement for the social network/video sharing site. Earlier in the month I reported how PayPal has around 110 million active users, which seemed like quite a lot, but it’s only 11% of YouTube’s figure!

YouTube is [arguably] the biggest beneficiary from internet memes, as more often that not, the memes are video based.

Probably the most famous internet meme that didn’t really involve YouTube was planking. Planking involves taking pictures of people lying face down in unusual places. Flickr and Tumblr benefited from planking much more than YouTube. Planking has a slightly more sinister history than many internet memes however, as there were deaths caused by people planking in dangerous locations.

It is a goat?

Last year Jonny wrote about mistaken identity, and how when something is adopted by the press, or the internet and becomes widespread, then it is hard to stop, even if it is wrong.

One of the current internet phenomenon is giving songs the ‘goat’ treatment. As I am sure you already know, this involves replacing parts of a song with a screaming goat. One of the first songs to be given the goat treatment was Taylor Swifts ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’. Have a watch.

%CODEYOUTUBETAYLORSWIFT%

Humorous right? You can see why there is a goat based internet meme! 🙂 But it isn’t a goat!

The goat treatment

The screaming sheep which features in the videos which have been given the ‘goat treatment’

The animal in Taylor Swifts video – and many of the other videos in the phenomena – is a sheep! One person posts a video, calling it a goat, and everyone else blindly copies. I too was a victim of this mistaken identity, and would talk to people about the goat video, that is until I was corrected by a Animal Behaviour Studies student!

The funny thing is, the original upload of the screaming sheep was named exactly that, ‘The Screaming Sheep (Original Upload)’.

Gangnam Style, the Harlem Shake, The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger, The New Old Spice Guy ads and LOLcat pics are also all internet memes.

So, what do you think about internet memes. Do they have a purpose? Should we all endorse them as we do? Your thoughts below 🙂

Integral Compact Camera Case Review

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It’s been about two weeks since I last posted an article, and to get back into the swing of things, I am going to do a review.

Camera Case Review

The beauty of today’s review, is that it is a case that is suitable for the majority of compact digital cameras. In my most recent case review, I looked at a case for the BlackBerry Curve 8900, which was a great case that I am still using, however it wasn’t a general case for use with all phones, which meant it was more of a niche market product. The camera case I am going to review today, can protect most modern, small and medium sized compact cameras.

Integral Compact Camera Case

Integral camera case and memory cardThe case in question is an Integral Compact Camera Case, which (at the time of purchase) costs £16.99 GBP. You might be wincing at the price already, as you can pick up a reasonably good camera case for just a few pounds these days. So what makes this case special?

As you would expect, the case is secure. The case has a strong zip, with two metal pull tab sliders, so you can open and close the case with ease.

Inside the case, there is an additional storage pocked. I use it to store the batteries, although you can use it for anything really, a spare memory card, credit cards, whatever you like really.

The case feels very firm, yet the inside is softer to ensure that your camera doesn’t get damaged. I think the case would be better were it to have slightly more padding on the inside, as it is a multi-camera case, small cameras could potentially break easier, as the case is fairly roomy.

The case has a belt loop and a strap, so you can either wear it over your arm, attach it to your belt, or carry it in your pocket.

Compact camera case and strap

Additional Features

A fantastic additional add-in that comes with the case is a 16Gb SDHC memory card. Most compact digital cameras now support SDHC , and 16GB is a lot of photos! On one of its best settings, my camera can take around 4,000 photos, which is a lot! The memory card has a transfer speed of up to 20Mb per second, which is pretty fast, meaning that when taking photos, and downloading them to your PC, the memory card shouldn’t ever slow you down.

Overall I really like the case, it is simple and does the job of protecting my camera well. It is easy to carry around, and is reasonably sturdy, so that were I to drop it (not that I plan to) I think it should protect my device. 🙂

The camera case used in this review was provided by Love Cases, who have asked us to point you in the direction of their camera cases, so if you liked this review, you know where to get a case!