The XX have won the Barclycard Mercury Prize 2010

The trio picked up their award last night at London’s Grosvenor House, after a judging panel voted the self titles album the best of the past year. The beat out acts like Paul Weller, Foals, Mumford and Sons, Wild Beasts and Laura Marling to the 20 000 squids prize.

When they got up to pick up their award, the band let Oliver Sim address the audience. Slightly at a loss for words, Sim went on to explain what the award meant to him.

“Thank you so much, we’ve had the most incredible year,” he said. “Everyday we’ve woken up to something incredible.”

Sim went on to state that even being at the ceremony was a “weird moment” for the band, before thanking his record company the Beggars Group.
He then hugged his bandmates Romy Madley Croft and Jamie Smoth, before the left the stage. Aaaaah.

Too cute! These Speak-ers were designed by Sherwood Forlee. Everyone together now: “Awwwww…”

This excites both the geek and the pseudo creative in me. An amazing interactive music video, jumping dots and HTML 5. What else could a girl ask for?

So what is HTML 5 really and why is it making me so giddy? It’s a new weapon in Google’s arsenal and is actually still in developmental stages; whops. Although this is the case, it has already been crowned as the next major revision of the HTML standard – no small feat for something that hasn’t officially been launched yet.

HTML 5 is essentially what is used to create and present content on the Internet, but this new upgrade has advanced features that include video playback and drag-and-drop functionalities these were previously reliant on the intervention of third-party browsers; think along the lines of Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight. Maybe this below diagram will do more good than me trying to word the awesomeness that is.

You still not convinced? Then take a look at a few experiments of HTML 5 in action. Just move your mouse around and be awed. But the two most talked about showcases of HTML 5 is Arcade Fire’s music video “The Wilderness Downtown”. It is fantastic, interactive music video that just gives you shivers up and down your neck. Take a look for yourself and see what the fuss is all about – you definitely wont regret it.

Then there is Google UK’s interactive logo; dots jumping around trying to avoid the mouse. It was both mesmerizing and fun. If this is what can be expected then I cannot wait to see what other innovative sites will creep up in the months to come.

Traveling is fun, its an adventure, where every new day brings new challenges and experiences. But we all know how stressful traveling is as well, especially if its to a country you have never been to before. So Eurostar has come up with an ingenious way to promote its services, while helping tourists explore more than the usual suspects.

Welcome to Europe by Eurostar. Who knows better than a tour guide or book about the places that are found by chance? Other tourists who found these treasures and unsung heroes. So go forth, discover and share your find.

Before you misread the title and wonder if JC Penney stores will have CCTV cameras installed in the cubicles, breath. This isn’t happening at all. Instead JC Penney, has created an online / Augmented Reality (AR) / virtual dressing room, where young girls can virtually try on the clothing.

This is a pretty nifty idea, I know that this is one HUGE hurdle that I need to overcome every time I buy clothing online. The ‘Will it look good on me? Does the colour suit me?’ feeling that I get when I am about to click the ‘add to basket’ button. Lets face it no one has the perfect bodies that mannequins have, or the perfect features and curves that models have or can judge if something will suit us by looking at a picture of it on a hanger. So this at least does take some of the guess work out of online clothes shopping.

But to make it perfect it would be great if a site could actually show me what that piece of clothing will look like on me (even mimicking sizing etc). But till that day comes its either this AR site by JC Penney or me getting surprised when I open a box from asos. If you can solve this dilemma I promise to use your site, as inspiration feel free to use this virtual changing room.

Its time to kick ass and chew bubblegum. And Im all out of gum!! Hell yes its good to say that!!

So its been a while since we have played good old Duke Nukem. BUT… 2K Games and Gearbox Software have confirmed that forever is nearly here, cause ‘Duke Nukem Forever‘ will officially make its long-awaited debut on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Windows PC in 2011.

Duke Nukem, the gaming industry’s most irreverent and quoted character of all time, will bring his signature brand of babe-lovin’, cigar-smoking, beer-chugging, and ass-kicking action as he once again saves the Earth and our babes from hordes of invading aliens.

“All great things take time… a lot of time,” laughs Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. “After a hiatus from the video game world, Duke Nukem is back and better than ever. The return of the King from the glory days of shooters will satisfy our patient, die-hard fans, as well as a new generation of bubble gum-chewing, flat top and shades-wearing bad-asses. Make no mistake about it, ‘Duke Nukem Forever’ is a testament to the era of when shooters were bodacious and fun.”

Put on your shades and get prepped to step back into the boots of Duke Nukem, whose legend has reached epic proportions since his last epic mission. The alien hordes are back and only Duke can bail us out, again. Pig cops, alien shrink rays and enormous alien bosses won’t stop our this badass from accomplishing his one and only goal: to save the world, save the babes!

Come get some!

This needs to be said. It grinds me when brands say that their videos are viral; really? You think that you have the control to say that something is viral? We, the users make something viral. Not you. Anyway, that is a post for a different day. Today we are talking about this great way that Tipp-Ex has used its Branded YouTube channel.

This is a video where the hunter gives the viewers the options to rewrite history; with the help of Tipp-Ex ofcourse. You can tell him what your suggestions are rather than making him kill the bear (PETA will love you for this). And its as simple as us seeing what the hunter and the bear get up to. (We did get  404 Error when we asked the hunter to scare the bear. Pity.)

Get started on your Tipp-Experience now. Enjoy  watching this very unlikely pair dance and gather berries.

Granted this isn’t a new way to use video content, think along the lines of Burger King’s Subservient Chicken, but in our books its still pretty awesome and it’s fun.

So this really smart woman from China called Daizi Zheng (is that “Daisy” in Chinese?) came up with this device – it’s a phone powered by Coke! Here is what she has to say about it:

A green phone for Nokia

This is a client project aimed at designing an eco-friendly phone for Nokia. As a result of my research, I discovered that conventional phone batteries are: expensive, harmful to the environment and difficult to dispose of. In addition, the conventional battery manufacturing process consumes many valuable resources. The concept is based on the idea to create a pollution free environment by using bio-batteries as an alternative to conventional batteries. A bio-battery is an ecologically friendly, energy supply system which uses enzymes as a catalyst to generate electricity from carbohydrates (currently sugar). In order to use the bio-battery as a power source for the phone all that is required is a small supply of a sugary drink. Once the battery dies only oxygen and water remains. Bio-batteries are fully biodegradable and have, on a single charge, a potential life-span three to four times longer than conventional lithium batteries. Meanwhile, bio-batteries are a whole new way of looking at batteries and afternoon tea.

Wowzer. Now, I don’t know about you but this site really hits home… When choosing what one wants to do with one’s life, one is told to “follow one’s passion.” But what if one doesn’t know what one’s passion is? One one, one one one one (man, using the correct grammar can sound ponsy). Well, this guy has the answer – he’s getting a different job every week for a year trying to figure it out. Awesome.

Check out the site. It’s inspired a whole community of like-minded people and let’s you get involved. Love love.

Season four of every geek’s favourite show – The Big Bang Theory – is starting in the US this month (23rd September on CBS.) So we decided we would look back at the previous seasons and find some classic Sheldon Cooper quotes that would make any geek proud:

Sheldon: Scissors cuts paper, paper covers rock, rock crushes lizard, lizard poisons Spock, Spock smashes scissors, scissors decapitates lizard, lizard eats paper, paper disproves Spock, Spock vaporizes rock, and as it always has, rock crushes scissors.

Sheldon: Ah, gravity – thou art a heartless bitch.

Sheldon: Oh, Ubuntu. You’re my favorite Linux-based operating system.

Sheldon: Well, well, well, if it isn’t Wil Wheaton. The Green Goblin to my Spider-Man, the Pope Paul V to my Galileo, the Internet Explorer to my Firefox!

Sheldon: My new computer came with Windows 7. Windows 7 is much more user-friendly than Windows Vista……I don’t like that.

If you need a bit of a refresher before season 4 hits your screens then head over to TV.com for a video recap of season 3.