Blogs

It's kicking off big-time at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin this morning, with most of the major manufacturers holding their press conferences throughout the day. Our four-strong news team has been up since the early hours dashing from one...

The IFA consumer electronics show kicks off in Berlin tomorrow, and as I write this four of our team are winging their way through the air in preparation for a veritable newsfest over the next few days. We'll have regular updates throughout the day here...

Miranda Barber has a beautiful voice and a good ear for a catchy melody, but her debut album, Lips' Decision , doesn't fully capitalise on these talents. Wandering through jazz and blues history, Barber cherry picks the sounds she likes and adapts them...

Regular site visitors may have noticed we've been experiencing a few technical glitches this week, for which a thousand apologies. It was all down to the Advanced Search functionality we added in a site upgrade last week, which turned out to be a tad...

The Script's self-titled debut album is very much what you'd expect from a band composed of two producers and some session musicians. It's technically polished but full of kitsch lyrics and trite sentiment. It's a deeply annoying record and a strong contender...

Battlefield: Bad Company is a first person shooter tipped by many to become the game of the year. More cynical voices have suggested that it merely makes a good substitute for last year's best FPS, Call of Duty 4. To give credit where credit's due, Battlefield:...

Most film buffs can remember an early, eye-opening moment when they became hooked on the power of the silver screen. In the whimsical Son of Rambow the main character, Will, has this revelation whilst hanging from a garage roof in a rowboat, watching...

Interesting to read that Panasonic is now saying that the 'half-life' of its latest plasma TVs, such as the TH-46PZ81B (left), is in the region of 100,000 hours. That's the amount of use it takes for the screen to drop to 50% of its original brightness...

The Shortwave Set's first album went largely unnoticed, except by an impressive group of musical luminaries who began queuing up to work on their second album. Hence Replica Sun Machine , produced by Danger Mouse, of Gnarls Barkley and Gorillaz fame,...

Today's Leisure Lab update includes our review of Vantage Point , a fast moving assassination thriller that features a gaggle of stars and more twists than a Blackjack tournament. Sadly those twists, along with the ropey dialogue and leaden performances,...

We've just implemented a major update on the site this morning, and you'll now find a new Search box on all the Forum pages to help you find the posts you're looking for. We've also upgraded the Content Management System so we can add Advanced Search...

SoulCalibur IV is a game in which ridiculous characters with preposterous swords attempt to slash each other senseless whilst spouting some of the most appalling dialogue this side of an all-night Manga marathon, so why did we like it so much? Perhaps...

We had the Sony people in the other day, bringing the new STR-DA2400ES receiver. And while we haven't got round to giving the thing the full test workout - we don't do listening or viewing with the proud (and slightly nervous) 'parents' looking on - we...

Now, isn't that nice... That was pretty much our response to Replica Sun Machine , the second album from The Shortwave Set. It was good, and we'll definitely listen to it again, but sadly it won't be making any best of the year lists over on The Leisure...

It's going to be a strange week at The Leisure Lab , one in which we'll be mixing conspiracy theories, mindless gunplay and psychedelic electronica to produce a diverse set of reviews. For starters we've been indulging our trigger fingers with the long...

The Leisure Lab , our software reviewing sister site, is growing up fast. We've just added a new music review channel and we're moving from weekly to daily updates. Among the goodies going up this week are Brian DePalma's controversial Iraq movie, Redacted...

Yesterday, we reported on the new deal on net piracy between the BPI (British Phonographic Industry), the Motion Picture Association of America, and the six biggest Internet companies in the UK. The deal obliges the web companies – BT, Orange, Virgin,...

I've just got back from the British Motor Show. Why? Quite apart from the fact that I've been helplessly in love with all things automotive since, ooh, birth, it's also because I'm increasingly getting involved in reviewing in-car audio systems, both...

Warning, the following sentence could make you feel very old. Today marks the release of Now 70 - the latest chart-hits compilation that originally launched as Now That's What I Call Music back in 1983. Wow - 70 double-albums (plus many spin-off 'best...

If you've a chance to tune into BBC Radio 4 today at 11.30am - or catch it via Listen Again or BBC iPlayer at a later date - you can hear a great slice of hi-fi nostalgia in the form of The Disappearing Art of the Mix Tape : a programme in praise of those...

Eagle-eyed users may have noticed that our hi-fi blogs channel has been re-instated. When we launched the new site last month we had a slight technical glitch that meant we were unable to pull in all the hi-fi blogs from the old site, or post new ones....

As a gamer as well as a home cinema and hi-fi fan, it didn't take much persuading for me to stay at the office a bit late last night to watch the live feed of Microsoft's press conference at E3. Microsoft's policy tends to be to concentrate on games that...

Following a brief residency at London’s ICA gallery last year with iTunes performances from everyone from Paul McCartney to Kasabian, Apple has set up shop in Camden this month. Every day during July, Camden’s Koko plays host to a mix of artists and bands...

"I just don't get all this fuss about the new iPhone," lamented one of my colleagues in the office late on Friday. "I mean, I get hi-fi, and I really enjoy my home cinema system at home, but a phone's just for making calls isn't it?" Well Jonny, I'm sorry...

You may remember a few weeks back we ran a story about the first audio-only Blu-ray Disc release, from Norwegian label 2L . Well, quite a lot has happened since then, including the re-launch of this site, and as a result it was only last weekend that...