Wednesday, June 30

Go Festivals: Toys for Happy Camping

Last Saturday's Go Gadgets looked beyond the extra loo roll as a home comfort for festival camping - with Glastonbury just over and Oxegen coming up fast, the season is hitting its stride.

















The Joby Gorillatorch is probably the pick of the toy box this week, with its new, geekier, even more practical brother, the Flare swinging along behind. Also look at Bruton Coffee to go and the Notebook foldable BBQ.




May the Force be with, next turn on the left

I came across this when putting together the Go Gadgets column for next weekend's Irish Times and it warmed my inner geek. Sat nav makers TomTom, who don't seem to favour that descriptor, apparently preferring instead phrases like Portable GPS Navigation Systems (you can't fight the tide, guys) have added the Star Wars line-up to their premium voices roster.

Check out this recording session with Sith Lord, Darth Vader in the booth.

Thursday, June 24

More Gadgets to Go


The second weekend in June saw 67 teams do the Focus Ireland Four Peaks Challenge - the tallest peak in each province over a weekend - including a group of us, let’s say, more mature walkers. That our team(s) was called Midlife Crisis (1, 2 & 3 to be precise) will tell you plenty. This week's Go Gadgets featured a few tools that we should have brought along: Camelbak's Flowmeter, Steripen and Powermonkey Xplorer.

Browse Go Gadgets images on Flickr.

Or feast your eyes on Midlife Crisis in full, well, crisis.

Go Gadgets column for The Irish Times

In all honesty, I actually don't need an incentive to trawl through technology magazines, gadget catalogues and outdoorsy activity stores. Let me say it loud and say it proud: I am a geek. But just recently, I have been given a most excellent excuse to browse with reckless abandon by starting a weekly technology column for the Go travel supplement of The Irish Times. (Thanks Orna.)

I'm going to cover all manner of travel-related gadgetry from holiday toys to road warrior kit to stuff (technical term) for the sublime outdoors. And I'm a guy who does like the odd hill. The odder the better.

The first week's trio of techno fripperies includes the Pogoplug, the Pango and the Playsport. Afraid you'll have to read June 12's Go Gadgets to get the spec-down on the three Ps.

Wednesday, June 23

Squaring the Circle: Creating U2360º documentary released

I'm not sure about the protocol here, and it may be perceived as bad form to start your blog with a plug, but here goes anyway. While the pause button is still engaged on U2's 360º Tour, you can always check out Squaring the Circle:Creating U2360º, a documentary on the show's conception and realisation which I directed. It's on the bonus disc of U2's new live at the Rose Bowl dvd released earlier this month.

It documents the whole thinking behind the extraordinary 360º production from Bono's initial architectural modelling with forks through to opening night in Camp Nou, Barcelona in June '09 - and the band's reaction to the Tour at the end of the first leg.

The bonus material also includes a pretty cool timelapse sequence (even if I say so myself) of the U2360º spaceship coming to land in Berlin's Olympiastadion (and a little bit of Barca). Both were produced by Ned O'Hanlon.