I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! line-up revealed: Meet the contestants

9 November 2011 5:28 PM

The I'm a Celebrity motley crew pose in their jungle gear ahead of the new series launch. (Picture: ITV)

Ant and Dec are returning for another series of I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! and its line-up has finally been announced, with rumours being confirmed as The Only Way Is Essex star Mark Wright enters the jungle with the likes of Dougie from McFly and Freddie Starr.

Joining them in the jungle is Crissy Rock, Stefanie Powers, Anthony Cotton, Lorraine Chase, Willie Carson, Fatima Whitbread and Jessica-Jane Clement, with notable exception Sinitta reportedly having dropped out at the last minute.

If you’re struggling to work out who any of these people are and why they qualify as celebs, then our I’m a Celebrity… guide is here to help you.

Freddie Starr;
Comedian Freddie has already had plenty of practice eating live animals if the notorious headline ‘Freddie Starr ate my hamster’, which appeared in the Sun in 1986, is anything to go by. The story turned out not to be true, but Starr says he is fully expecting the headline to crop up in conversation during his time in the jungle, especially if he’s forced to eat live wigety grubs during the bush-tucker trials.The comedy legend is counting on his sense of humour to help him win favour with the public and admits that he’s taking part in the show to raise his profile.

Freddie’s Phobias: “I don’t like putting my hands in a hole and not knowing what is in there.”

find out more & source: metro.co.uk

Google Offers App Comes to Android

3 November 2011 4:18 PM


Google has released an app for its daily deals site Google Offers, making it more convenient for U.S.-based Android users to discover, purchase, and redeem online coupons.

The app offers the same deals as its Google Offers beta Web site; today’s deal is $15 for $25 worth of REI outdoor gear. You can purchase the deal through the app and flash your phone to redeem it at the merchant. The app also stores all your offers and alerts you when they’re about to expire.

An iOS version will come … eventually. “iPhone users, stay tuned because Offers is coming soon to the App store” Google said.

Download Google Offers version 1.0 at the Android Market. It requires Android 2.1 and 1.4MB of space.

Last week, Google Offers announced cross-promotion deals with 14 other daily deals sites, and will send an email of offers from partners like Gilt City, Dealfind, DoodleDeals, GolfNow, HomeRun, Juice in the City, kgbdeals, Mamapedia, Plum District, PopSugar Shop, ReachDeals, Active.com Schwaggle, TIPPR, and zozi.

Yesterday, Google faced some heat when its highly anticipated native Gmail app for iOS was launched with numerous problems, forcing the company to withdraw the app.

Apple admits there is a problem with iPhone 4S’s battery life – but says it will take weeks to fix

3 November 2011 4:14 PM

Apple has finally admitted that there are problems with the new iPhone 4S’s battery life, after weeks of reports of devices overheating and batteries draining in less than 12 hours.

The good news is that the problem appears to be due to a bug in the iOS 5 software that the phones use – rather than a problem with the battery itself. The bad news is that the problem will take ‘a few weeks’ to fix.

Speaking to website AllThingsD, Apple said, “A small number of customers have reported lower than expected battery life on iOS 5 devices.”

“We have found a few bugs that are affecting battery life and we will release a software update to address those in a few weeks.”

Mac websites also report that a new ‘test’ version of the software has already gone out to app developers, and one of the changes is that the new software, “Fixes bugs affecting battery life.” Australian users will also be reassured to find that the new software reportedly makes it easier for iPhone’s Siri voice control system to understand their accents No fix is in the pipeline for Scots who find that the voice-command system can’t understand them, however some temporary fixes are available for the battery problem, however. Apple’s official ‘help’ forums have been deluged by complaints about the problem – with some users reporting that the battery lasts less than a day. Sites such as Macworld have offered guides to how to ‘fix’ the handset while users wait for help from Apple.

So far, though, no one solution appears to fit all the problems. The Apple fan site iDownloadblog suggests that the problem might be in the section of the Settings menu dealing with the phone resetting its time zone when you travel.

iOS 5′s GM release introduced a bug that causes the Setting Time Zone function to keep the location tracking circuitry running constantly, draining battery power considerably,’ said the site.

Switching it off may mean that your iPhone will no longer set its own time zone when you travel. “But that’s a small price to pay for having your iPhone last more than 12 hours on a full charge.”

So far, though, the fix is not confirmed to work on all affected iPhone units. Other users have reported different bugs where using the browser causes battery life to drop alarmingly. Others have found that the phone gets worryingly hot in their pockets Apple has reportedly been in touch with individual iPhone users over the past days to try and pin down the root of the problem.

GTA V: Grand Theft Auto 5 trailer promise makes Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3 a lot less exciting

25 October 2011 3:39 PM

Grand Theft Auto left fans of the video game franchise salivating today as it promised a trailer of the new version of the joyriding favourite.

The homepage of makers Rockstar Games featured simply the game logo Grand Theft Auto V with the promise: “TRAILER 11.02.11”. The title bar of the page simply had the hashtag #GTAV.

It was GTA V which became a top trend on Twitter as fans shared their excitement at the promise of a new game.

With that one simple splash page, next month’s hugely anticipated no-holds-barred deathmatch between shooters Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3 has been downgraded to the status of a minor playground squabble.

The brevity of this morning’s website announcement was only matched by it’s sheer out-of-the-blue unexpectedness: not only does the much-rumoured Grand Theft Auto V exist, but there will be a trailer released on November 2.

No other information was forthcoming, but that in itself was enough to set the internet ablaze with excitement and speculation.

Which fictional city will it be set in? Will it make use of LA Noire’s much heralded facial animation technology? And why does the ‘V’ in the logo look like a dollar bill?

For the uninitiated, Grand Theft Auto V is very big news indeed. To date, the series has sold copies by the truckload (Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas remains one of the PlayStation 2’s most successful titles with some 17.5million units shifted on that platform alone), while the breathtaking GTA IV was heralded as one of the first truly next gen games.

The series has not been without controversy, though. The overtly violent gameplay possible within its vast open worlds – users are able to steal cars, indulge in random and graphic acts of physical violence and even interact with prostitutes – has seen GTA become the whipping boy of choice for moral campaigners concerned about the affect of video games on the young.

Not that its legion of fans care one jot. If anything, they’ll be hoping for even more of the same next time round. And in the absence of concrete details ahead of next week’s big reveal, experts and fans alike are already drawing up wish-lists for what GTA V will contain.

[source]

iTunes 10.5 – Now available for download

11 October 2011 7:01 PM

Summary: Full of iCloud goodness.

Ahead of tomorrow’s release of iOS 5 and iCloud, Apple has released an update for iTunes.

iTunes in the Cloud
iTunes now stores your music and TV purchases in iCloud and makes them available on your devices anywhere, any time, at no additional cost.

Automatic Downloads
Purchase music from any device or computer and automatically download a copy to your Mac and iOS devices.

Download Previous Purchases
Download your past music, TV, app, and book purchases again, at no additional cost. (Previous purchases may be unavailable if they are no longer on the iTunes Store)

Sync More
Sync with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iOS 5.

Wi-Fi Syncing
Automatically sync your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iTunes any time they’re both on the same Wi-Fi network.

iTunes 10.5 brings with it compatibility with iOS 5 and iCloud, and adds support for the iTunes Match part of the iCloud service.

iTunes Match is a $24.99/year subscription service that allows users to have their entire music library synced with Apple’s database of over 20 million tracks, making those songs available for use on any iCloud-enabled device. If a particular track isn’t available on iTunes, don’t worry, it can be uploaded so it too is available to all your devices.

If you’re going to be upgrading to iOS 5 tomorrow then you will need this update, so get it now rather than having to fight it out tomorrow.

Updated (07:01PM) with information on Windows-specific elements of iTunes 10.5
ITunes 10.5 requires Mac OS X 10.5 or later. On the Windows side, iTunes patches a slew of vulnerabilities, including several that could allow a remote attacker to execute malicious code. iTunes 10.5 also marks the first time an iTunes installation on Windows doesn’t include (or require) QuickTime.