So, the London 2012 Olympics are over. Right before the Isles of Wonder Opening Ceremony and the Closing Ceremony last night there was a 60 second countdown featuring a series of live-action title cards using photographs of everyday London life such as bus numbers, market signs, seats numbers, road signs and book covers.

A quick search on the web shows that this content was produced by 59 Productions.

The backing track for the video was the 120bpm Remix of “The Road Goes On Forever” by High Contrast (Lincoln Barrett). You can read more about this track and his involvement in the Olympics on his website, High Contrast in Olympics Opening Ceremony.

Here’s the 60 second Olympic countdown:

Last weekend I successfully upgraded by Galaxy S2 to Ice Cream Sandwich, the latest version of the Android Operating System.

The upgrade was OK although I did need the Vodafone Ice Cream Sandwich Forum to get a couple of issues resolved.

Here’s the process I followed.  Disclaimer: these worked for me, but I don’t guarantee that this work for you.  These instructions are without any kind of warranty.. Always ensure you backup your phone.

Step 1: Backup photos, media, phone numbers and anything else you want from your phone.  For me, I decided I would copy over my music post-install, so I just backed up my photos to a PC using the USB lead.

Step 2: Factory reset your phone: *2767*3855#
Caution: this wipes EVERYTHING on your phone and puts it back to the state when you first had it.  When the reset completes, don’t both entering your Google account as we’ll be wiping it again post-upgrade.

Step 3: Update KIES.  In fact, what I should really say here is uninstall KIES, reboot your PC and then install the latest version of KIES (available from Samsung GT-I9100L Downloads).

Step 4: Start KIES

Step 5: Attach phone

Step 6: Start upgrade

Note: I encountered the following problem:

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This happened after the firmware has been downloaded, the Android man was appearing on the handset with the message “Downloading…do not turn off target”. It was sort of as though the handset could not download from the PC.

For me, the solution was to restart KIES, disconnect and reconnected phone. In fact, now that my upgrade is done, I’m wondering if this was down to the fact that I had upgraded KIES using it’s “Check For Update” rather than a clean un-install, re-install as mentioned in Step 3.

Step 7: Allow upgrade to complete

Step 8: Perform a Factory reset by dialling *2767*3855#

This was mentioned on the Vodafone forums – apparently KIES/Android may have left some of the older Gingerbread 3.2.5 files around on the phone and this would clear it? In any case, pre-upgrade my phone would stop playing music or podcasts and random times and others had reported that a factory reset would do this. So, cleaning up would mean nothing to lose.

Step 9: Sync your google account. By default most of your Google Play apps will be re-installed, but if you downloaded any apps manually, you may have to apply them again manually. An important tip: Switch off the mobile/cell data network and connect to a WiFi signal while you perform the sync – you will save your data allowance.

Operating Systems! I love them! You can’t beat that feeling of booting up an installer, blasting the partition table, selecting your applications and watching the estimated time to completion box count down to zero. Exciting stuff. And then you get to try out all the new whiz-bang features. But would I go as far as hosting a party for this process? Apparently you can…..

However, as good as those suggestions sound, I reckon you can spice it up even more by replacing the x-rated beeps in the next clip with – well – use your imagination!

Need more spice? 20 Ways to Spice up Your Windows 7 Launch Party

Oh, and if you’re thinking of having balloons at your party, think again! Microsoft pulls Windows 7 balloons from Euro ‘launch parties’ (I guess Europeans can’t be trusted to not go around bursting them and startling guests)

Whilst searching for some previously un-heard (to me) Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis tracks the other day, I discovered Crash by The Human League. The 1986 album features 3 Jam & Lewis tracks: Human, I Need Your Loving and Love Is All That Matters. Lots of good stuff on the Wikipedia page about this album: 3 of the band members left during/after it’s creation due to conflicts with Jam & Lewis, but it also spawned a US Number One with the track Human.

Anyhow, here is the 3rd single to be released from the album. According to Wikipedia “The music video was a result of Virgin Records beginning to lose faith in the Human League and being reluctant to invest in any further elaborate music videos; so the video was kept deliberately low budget.” The track was written and produced by Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis and carries their distinct sound. Enjoy!

I’ve kinda got into NCIS recently, so here is the super aces theme tune and opening credits for seasons 1 thru 6! Thanks to Cazza for this link!

Update: As of April 2012, the original video I was linking to is down, so here is another:

Want more info? Wikipedia’s NCIS Soundtrack page has lots of great detail about the music in the show!

Monday morning on 13 July 2009 can only mean one thing: James Bond! This weekend I rented The Best Of James Bond – 30th Anniversary Collection because I really wanted to hear my fave JB theme: Licence to Kill. (PS it’s licence in the UK, but license in the US!)

Time for some fun facts about it c/o Wikipedia: The song (one of the longest to ever be used in a Bond film) was composed by Narada Michael Walden, Jeffrey Cohen and Walter Afanasieff. It was based on the “horn line” from Goldfinger, which required royalty payments to the original writers. The music video of “Licence to Kill” was directed by Daniel Kleinman, who later took over the reins of title designer from Maurice Binder for the 1995 Bond film, Goldeneye.

More hits from Narada Michael Walden to appear here later, but for now, here’s Gladys:

Time for a techie good-stuff video! I know that you’re already reading the title and thinking how can a credit card payment be interesting? Well, with some fancy graphics and a lovely young lady describing it, it’s super aces! Watch he journey of a credit card payment as it travels 30,000 kilometres in 1.4 seconds!

Bringing you the sports news, regardless of the rights holder…. Tuesday 23 June, 1800 BST:

I do not usually get involved with these, but I think this one is VERY serious – so please take note.

This is serious. Please BEWARE!

Over the last month I became a victim of a clever ‘Eastern European’ scam while out shopping. Simply dropping into ASDA’s for a bit of shopping has turned out to be quite traumatic. Don’t be naive enough to think it couldn’t happen to you or your friends.

Here’s how the scam works:Two seriously good-looking voluptuous 20-21 year-old girls come over to your car as you are packing your shopping into the boot. They both start cleaning your windscreen. Their large firm young breasts almost falling out of their skimpy T-shirts. It’s impossible not to look especially with all the rain we have been having.

When you thank them and offer them a tip, they’ll say ‘No’ and instead ask you for a lift to another store, in my case, Waitrose in Canary Wharf.

You agree and they both get in the backseat. On the way, they start undressing, and both get completely naked. Then, when you pull over to remonstrate, one of them climbs over into the front seat and starts crawling all over your lap, kissing you, touching you intimately, and thrusting herself against you, while the other one steals your wallet!

I had my wallet stolen December 4th, 9th, 10th, twice on the 15th, 17th, 20th, 24th, and 29th. Also January 1st, 4th, twice on the 6th, three times last Saturday and very likely again this coming weekend.

So Be Warned!