Thieves stole over one hundred Motorola phones from a warehouse near Basingstoke, Hampshire back in September.  Now local police are claiming these are being sold in the town itself.  Okay, so not exactly the most interesting story ever but, as you'll be aware from the title, these are no ordinary phones. No siree, Bob!  These things are worth a whopping £1,200 each!

I wouldn't pay £120 let alone £1,200 for this!

I'm a local and have yet to see or hear of anyone with one of these or to have been approached by someone trying to flog one.  But the police claim these are doing the rounds and have warned people they face up to 14 years in prison if they buy one.  Yeah, right.  Recently a local man stabbed his wife to death and is likely to serve just 3 years.  Strange world we live in, isn't it?

Here's Trusted Review's take on the Aura - as it's known.  There's no 3G, WiFi or GPS and only 2 gig of built-in memory with options for expansion.  Seriously, what the fudge?!?

I'm not in the habit of buying stolen goods and this phone wouldn't tempt me anyway.  I mean really, £1,200 for that?!?  Yes, a circular screen looks rather cool but can you imagine finding apps to work with it?  No Opera Mini for a start!

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I've been swamped this week so I wasn't able to blog everything I wanted to blog about straightaway.  Well not on VOX anyway.  I was microblogging over on Twitter.  So, if you follow me there (and you know you should) you'll have seen me posting live from the big bash for the BB1.

I was asked along to the launch party of Peugeot's new baby, the BB1.  It was a rather glamourous affair held at The Hospital Club in London's Covent Garden on Wednesday night.  Yours truly was by far the most dressed down - although I did have brand new shoes on!  Attending the event were a varied bunch of celebrities including Christopher Biggins, the Cheeky Girls and Jodie Kidd (who, by the way, is unbelievably tall!)

Giant Jodie on the left, in front of Jazzie

Peugeot BB1 London Preview Event

Being completely out of touch with modern pop culture I had no idea who all the other famous people were - only that they had to be famous as the photographers were taking lots of pictures of them.

One person I did recognise was Soul II Soul's legendary Jazzie B, who was DJing.  Two of my all time favourite tunes were Back to Life and Keep on Movin'.  I can't even begin to say how awesome it was to meet him in person.

Me and Jazzie B

Just a quick rough 'n' ready summary for those that didn't see my earlier VOX post or my tweets...

The BB1 is an all electric concept vehicle that Peugeot have designed.  Although it's very small it's big enough to fit four.  It's very comfy - at least the front seats are (there's a video of me in the driving seat on its way - once I've finished editing it!)  As for the rear seats, I didn't manage to sit in the back, my own motor skills (excuse the pun) aren't all that great after a few drinks!  To be honest it looked like a tight squeeze but then again, it's not really meant to fit four adults in on daily basis.

From now on I'll be the eye candy at all international motor shows!

Now, as many of you will know, I'm not a motorist.  I can drive but for various reasons I don't have a car (no, I didn't lose my license!)  On top of that I'm not a motoring enthusiast - so you won't ever catch me watching Top Gear.  But I do love fun and quirky designs and, well, anything that challenge's convention.  I'm saying this so that you know where I'm coming from.  If you're after detailed analysis and comparisons between other electric vehicles you'll need to go elsewhere.

The great thing about such events as these is the chance to talk to top bods at the companies.  This, IMHO, is more fun (for want of a better word) than talking to the celebs.  Why?  Because it's great being able to ask questions about the product, the design and how it came about.  There's a real passion there, they're talking about their 'baby' after all.  Speaking of which, that's apparently why Peugeot named this mini marvel of theirs the BB1.  Cute, huh?

What really amazed me about the car, and I think I may have an 'exclusive' on this (I don't recall seeing it elsewhere!) is that it only takes six hours to fully charge from a normal household electrical supply.  As it has a range of 75 miles, that's none too shabby (especially when you think how long those electric ride-on kid's cars take to charge!)  Remember that the BB1, and similar cars, are meant as a city run-around vehicle - they're not designed for a long motorway commute.  And, if you're still not convinced that 6 hours is not too long - it will charge even quicker from a suitably equipped garage supply.

And finally (for this post, at least) the obligatory preview/launch/press event bag of swag.  This one included 'foot relief' lotion (incidentally the BB1 doesn't have foot pedals), hand and body wash, a USB memory stick, a little note pad and, in that box, a mini digital picture frame...

The goods

By the way, if you're in and around London this weekend, the car is on display in Covent Garden between 10am and 7pm.  I know, I know, that's a bit late notice for today - but there's still a whole day Sunday.  Full deets here.

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I've been invited up to London tonight to see Peugeot's concept car, which I think may be a little more than just a concept, in some swish place called The Hospital.

Many of you will know I don't actually have a car and haven't driven in years - so it may seem odd that I'm excited to see this but anyway, I am.  Now if only they can lend me a trial one or fit one into a goodie bag (it is pretty small, so maybe, just maybe...)

Anyway, here's a video of it, the 'BB1' in action (oh and it's 100% fully electric!)

PEUGEOT BB1

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As the title says, I'm bloody shattered yet full of energy at the same time.  That's probably a good thing as this week's been (and will continue to be) a busy one.

It wouldn't be half as busy if it weren't for the fact that I live 50 miles outside London and then a couple of miles on top of that from my nearest train station.  I'm not flush with money so I eschew the taxis (there's no buses when I get back from 'The Big Smoke') and use my plates of meat (as some cor blimey Cockneys would say) instead.

Oh well, it's about as much exercise as I'm getting at the moment so not all bad - plus there's something relaxing about walking home at night with barely another soul out and about (although that's not always the case, there have been some hairy moments!)  And I'm always grateful when I can walk as there have been a few occasions recently where I could barely hobble around my flat.

So back to this week..

Last night was TalkTalk's HQ to hear their take on Digital Britain including the proposed 'broadband tax' and Government's plan to crackdown on file sharers.  And, of course, their new broadband and phone packages (which I've not got my head around yet).  Then I headed to the London Bloggers Meetup (which I was convinced would be next week) followed by a drink at the Buddha Bar (yes, A drink - it's waaay too pricey for us humble bloggers!) with three of the #LBM regulars.

I kind of lost track of time, only just making it to Waterloo before the last train (which is 1.05am FYI) - Sadly this was a stopping service for half the way - then a bus replacement was laid on for the other half.  I don't think I got home until 3.30 or possibly 4am!

Anyway, I'm off out again in a bit.  This time for something that should be very, very cool.  More in the next post.  But before I leave for London, I'm going to check to National Rail as I don't want any surprises tonight as I'm up very early Thursday 'cos I'm going to London (again!)

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There's something a little surreal about this, is there not?  A LEGO set that you build that's a construction site that's, well, building.  So you're constructing something that's constructing...

LEGO_City_Construction

...my head hurts - I think I may need to lie down.

Oh and if the video's too jumpy or you can't be arsed to watch it, here's a piccy...

LEGO City Construction Site

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It would appear that Virgin Atlantic now have an app of their own for Apple's iPhone.  It's aimed at those who are a little on the queasy side when it comes to being airbourne.

Flying Without Fear? I always forget to pack something!

"Our first iPhone app will bring the benefits of our successful Flying Without Fear course to millions of people around the world who are now using mobile technology to make their lives better," said the bearded one (Branson).

The bearded one extends his greetings - amongst other things

It was cobbled together with the help of Mental Workout who, as it turns out, aren't a charity who help the insane keep fit.

This could be relevant to me on a daily basis...

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First off, let me apologise for my video editing skillz.  I'm using Windows Movie Maker (I know, I know!) and this was the best I could knock up in the short time I've had available today.

This cracked me up the other night.  Long story short, this woman was clearly out of her depth doing this interview - I could say more but I don't want to appear mean.

Anyway, despite my rough edits - I've not taken anything out of context.  I've just edited it down to the best bits.

Skunk: "A road to a lethal pathway"

The funny thing is she (inadvertently) does a remarkable job of demonstrating why Professor Nutt was right and why the Government was wrong.

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South Korean taxi drivers can now legally watch TV whilst driving thanks to a court challenge the cabbies won on November 1st.  Full deets over here.

Korean mobular televisual contraption

Mobile TV has really taken off in the country with 44 million eyeballs* tuning in (that's assuming all those that have devices actually tune in and have a pair of eyes each - having never been to S. Korea I can't know for certain).

That's quite a staggering amount and almost as crazy as being legally allowed to drive whilst watching whatever they watch on TV over there.

*The Korean Times article makes for some interesing reading.  The country didn't even have multi-channel TV until 1995 but, just a decade later, they launched not one, but two mobile TV services (one by satellite and one on terra firma).  Both are losing a shedload of money despite ther popularity.

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Moving on from my last post about the Symbian Foundation's Horizon app store (launched earlier today) it has been announced that Apple's iPhone now has 100,000 apps in its store.  Yes, one hundred thousand!

No matter how crap the vast majority of them are, that's still one hell of a number and they're all located in the one place.  In amongst the dross, there has to be dozens, if not hundreds of really good apps - this is something that cannot be said about Symbian devices no matter how more advanced and plentiful the phones are.

It's no fun having to trawl the entire interweb searching for games and applications for my current two phones, an i8910 and 5800.  These are both great devices that are dying for software to show them off to their fullest.  I wouldn't want to swap either for an iPhone but I've got to say I'm jealous of all the great, useful and, even, mindblowing apps available for both it and Android.

Oh well, like I said in my previous post, hopefully Symbian Horizon will address this problem.  I sure as hell hope so, anyway!

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Symbian Horizon

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