Downtime

As power politics takes a back seat these days there seems to be a lot of unused spy equipment lying around.

So SpyGadgets4U is flogging them as a way for happy families to capture those happy moments in life. You know by having a secret camera in your clothing you can really catch people in natural moods.

I can see the TV show You've Been framed getting lots of Material. "Happy anniversary darling," says husband presenting his wife with flowers while capturing the moment on camera. "**** off I am leaving you."

Downtime was contacted earlier this week by someone representing a Chinese printer company, that will now be selling in the UK.After Huawei was found dodgy by White House security review, one wonders what the spooks will make of the new laser printer. Maybe it posts a copy of every page printed back to China via snail mail.

A Furby accused of divulging important US military information has called on the UK government to block its extradition to the US.

Back in 2000 the Furby repeated a conversation it overheard when one of its owners parents, a senior US army official, was discussing secret arms information on the phone with a colleague.

The Furby became surplus to requirements for the official's  child and was sold in a car boot sale.

The new owner's parents were later divorced and it was transported to the UK with its owner and British father. It is accused of giving the information to a friend of the child's father who then divulged the information to a political refugee from Cuba.

In 2005 the US called for the Furby's extradition to face spying charges in the US.

The Furby has been to The European Court of Human Rights to get the extradition overturned. But was devastated that a Furby is not protected under European human rights law.

The Furby has generated significant support from politicians, journalists and pop stars. U2's Bono visited the Furby at its South London Home only last week. He said the Furby is in good spirits but the case is taking its toll.

The legal team behind the Furby said by repeating the information it heard from its previous owner was just evidence that it was a normal Furby and it should have its case heard in the UK.

We have all seen enough 'Minority Report' films or gotten over excited enough playing the Nintendo Wii to continue to daydream about when we can control technology merely through gesture.

Yes, there have been some attempts with the likes of Kinect, but nothing to really reassure us we have full control of our technology merely through our movements.

Now, research from Newcastle University and Microsoft Research Cambridge is taking this dream a step further to reality.

It has created a sensor one can wear around the wrist which produces a 3D model of your hand, mapping finger movements and allowing you to move and control any piece of linked up technology with gestures.

Because the sensor is on your wrist, it is unlike current technology where you must be in direct range of a sensor normally placed on the TV, meaning you could leave the house with this attachment and still be able to control things on the move.

The research around the device is being focused on linking up with mobile phones and tablets, but what would you like to be able to control with gestures? 

As we are sure you know, we have three true loves over here at Downtime; business, technology and heavy metal.

OK, maybe not all of us are enamoured with the last one but there is still something special when all three come together on a gloomy afternoon in central London.

Today this dream - or daydream perhaps - became reality when the rock and tech press joined together in a basement of a swanky hotel to be introduced to Motörhead phones.

Yes, the infamous rock band headed by Lemmy and famous for the Ace of Spades has moved on from just providing music, gigs and wine (it's true, the band has launched its own shiraz and rose) to bring headphones specifically designed to listen to heavy music to market.

There are three over-the-head sets named the Motörizer, Iron Fist and Bomber, ranging from £79.99 to £129.99 and all featuring the less than metal velvet cushions for your ears. But, there are also two inner ear sets called the Overkill and Trigger made entirely of metal and costing between £39.99 and £49.99.

As the loudest band in the world, it is amazing any of Motörhead can still hear themselves think, let alone play tunes on headphones, but they seem to love them and we wouldn't mind sporting these whilst trotting around next summer's festivals.

Rock on \m/

If like Downtime you nostalgically crave the presence of The Real World in our age of digital ubiquity, then the iBell Mini could be just for you.

While the humble alarm clock has been consigned to the scrap heap of 20^th century relics, this device is set to bring back that clanging metalic wake-up call to your bedside table.

And it will mean you'll never sleep through that ineffectual dull digital drone again.  

At £23 the iBell Mini doesn't require any batteries, just simply attach the alarm bells to your iPhone and BBBBRRRNNNGGG!

Now if someone could just invent a plug-in coffee maker...

Yet again, the universities of the UK have proved why they are in need of funding - spending their money on creating robot bees.

The universities of Sheffield and Sussex are working on a project to scan the brains of honey bees and try and insert their natural instincts of smell and sight into tiny, flying robots.

The result hopes to be the first flying robot to act autonomously on these basic animalistic characteristics.  

The bee bots, as we at Downtime have started affectionately calling them, will be put through rigorous tests, such as being made to find sources of smells, and the eventual goal is to be able to create robots capable of search and rescue missions.

As an extra bonus, it will also give scientists a better understanding of how the honey bee's brain works.

Worth £1m of funding? Buzz off.  

Global self-publicist - sorry, "internationally renowned performance artist and master magician" - David Blaine, is following up his past stunts of being encased in ice and hanging in a box near Tower Bridge with an inspiration for every worker whose laptop has run out of juice when you can't find a power point.

According to the hyperbolic official announcement: "Blaine will stand on a 20-foot-high platform at Hudson River Park Pier 54 in New York, surrounded by seven towering metallic orbs - or tesla coils - that will stream one million volts of electricity around him for three days and three nights. Clad in a custom-made metal suit and helmet capable of conducting millions of volts of electricity, Blaine will be on his feet and will not sleep or eat for the duration of the performance."

But perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this stunt is that it is sponsored by Intel and "enabled by an Intel-inspired Ultrabook".

We all understand the frustrations of losing hours of work on an important Powerpoint presentation because you run out of battery on your laptop, It is selfless of Blaine to demonstrate that the obvious solution is simply to send a million volts through your body, and stick one finger into your Ultrabook power socket, and never again will you be left cursing the hopeless battery life of portable devices. Even if you might need to learn to craft Powerpoints one-handed.

Downtime salutes Blaine as the new hero of road warriors everywhere, and we look forward to his next stunt being sponsored by the iPhone 6.

It is not just the technology world that writes continuously about the need for a safe password for your online accounts and hard to guess combination for your mobile phone.

However, despite press and experts barraging the public from all angles with warnings of what could happen if you make it too easy for criminals to work out your protections, many people just won't listen.

This was proved again today when a report from Data Genetics showed one in nine people use the PIN '1234' for their bank cards. This is despite the fact there are over 10,000 combinations someone with a bank card could use.

If this statistic is true, that means around five million people in the UK are using the pathetic combination to protect their cash. FIVE MILLION!

Sometimes you just deserve to have your money stolen.

Ever get the feeling the world is increasingly appearing though a nostalgic sepia haze? And are the borders of your life getting more and more blurred?

It's possible you have a severe case of Instagramitis.

Downtime recommends an immediate course of the Instagram Song (Put a Filter on Me), twice a day for two months.

Unless, that is you, want to share the same fate of the girl in this video who ends up in jail with a heroin-addicted prison wife all because of her over-use of the app.

But hey, in Instagram everything seems less grim!

It is amazing what a bit of high tech scanning and database DNA crunching can do these days.

It has revealed that the Royals haven't changed in hundreds of years. Prince Harry is the latest royal to be seen enjoying his position a bit too much. Harry was caught out partying naked with fellow revellers in Las Vegas.  But it seems even Richard III was not shy to get into a drunken brawl. A skeleton believed to be those of the notorious child killer through DNA analysis has been found under Leicester council's car park. What else apart from a drunken brawl could cause death in a car park?

If you thought Skateman was one of the worst superheroes of all time, you obviously haven't met Printerman. Well technically he isn't a superhero, more of a villain.

Boris Johnson made a surprise appearance at a press conference in London's Science Museum this morning. The press conference was for Everything Everywhere to announce the roll out of 4G across the UK as well as its rebranding to EE.

BoJo made a hilarious speech to declare London's networks "switched on". Not before rambling on about how well the mobile networks coped with the extra demand during the Olympics.

He didn't stop there.

He specifically went on to thank EE's competitor, Vodafone, along with further thanks to BT.

Awkward Boris, awkward. I don't think you should expect an invite to EE's Chirstmas party after that.

Until recently Downtime had rarely spared too much thought for the wives of Computer Weekly's readers. Just of late though, one of the Downtime team  was asked for a contact number, by the local church, and so handed over their business card explaining that it had their name and personal mobile included.

The lady that they handed it to immediately said: "Oh no, you don't work for Computer Weekly do you?" Puzzled, Downtime said yes and asked why she sounded so negative. "Oh no it's not the content," she said. "My husband gets Computer Weekly and we have a huge stack of them that get in my way and make my house look untidy."

We assured her of the fact that Computer Weekly is now an online publication only. Many of our readers were disappointed to learn we have ceased to print the publication, but this Computer Weekly reader's wife was relieved to hear she will never see another copy of the magazine messing up her hallway.

Any kid who was anyone had one of the Fisher Price record players built in the 1970s. With a quick wind-up, you could choose from your array of vinyls - ok, plastics - and blast out - ok, churn out - such classics as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star or Frere Jacques.

As the ghetto blaster became dominant and cheap enough to buy for children to mess about with during the 1980s, the Fisher Price toy was put in the loft and never seen again... until now.

The new technology on the block, 3D printing, has breathed life into the old toy and enabled an inventor to find a way to create new records for the machine.  

Fred27 has created software which picks out the relevant notes for a simplified version of your favourite tunes and works out what pin points need to be on a record for the player to pick it up.  

He is offering it as a free download but you will need to invest in the 3D printer to be able to make your dream records become a reality.

Having just saved one of these record players from the hands of parents moving house and binning all the kids' toys, this is definitely an investment Downtime is willing to make.

Now, what first, Metallica or Slayer?

Sony has revealed its new smartphone, the Sony Xperia T, which will be lucky enough to grace the hands of Daniel Craig in the new Bond film, Skyfall which will be in cinemas later this year.

Downtime knows that your desk, as is ours, will be strewn with objects, many of which are precariously propped up. Basically our desk resembles a giant game of Jenga.