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This Week in Lumps
#6 [26/06 - 02/07]

· Congratulations to Apple, it looks like its been a successful weekend. A product must be good when you know people are willing to camp outside for hours on end just to be one of the first to own it. A few weeks back in this blog, I discussed the iPhone’s possible impact on mobile technology:

I predict it will sell well, whether it meets the ‘10 million by 2008‘ figure that Apple have set for it is debatable, but the market’s there for the taking. Having the Apple brand gives it a distinct advantage of course. According to a few sources, it plans to have 3 million units ready for sale day.

Figures are now trickling though that the first weekend saw many stores completely sell out, reaching an estimated 500,000 units sold nationwide, and that this coming weekend will see them reach the 1 million mark. Despite its numerous downfalls, ‘10 million by 2008′ could very well be reachable. And apparently at a healthy profit margin. So again, congratulations. But for us Brits, where does that leave us? What’s to be expected when the iPhone reaches Europe? There are plenty of rumours flying about that the networks that will carry the iPhone will be Vodaphone and T-Mobile, while the Carphone Warehouse is set to be the MVNO. The biggest news, however, is that while the US have been queuing up for models with EDGE data, rumours for the Europe release is that it shall be a 3G version. However, in all honesty, since the iPhone has only just been released in the US, I cant see Apple doing this until at least Christmas, so that they can release it in the UK and in the US, otherwise facing a huge backlash, and numerous product returns.
An announcement was rumoured to be made on Monday in regards to all of the above and more, yet at this current time (7pm Monday), I’ve only re-read the rumours… or Trumours? Well we shall all just have to wait and see. I do strongly think that the UK market will be going just as ga-ga over the iPhone as the Americans did. Rightly so? It’s a personal choice I guess. Me? I wont be running around looking for one.

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· Fans of the best selling video-game franchise Grand Theft Auto can rejoice, as Thursday saw the unveiling of ‘Looking for that Special Someone’, the second trailer for the upcoming eleventh installment of the series, which you can view in high-definition on the Xbox-Live marketplace and also the Rockstar games website.
GTA IV, pencilled in for a 16 October 2007 US release date, follows on from the hugely popular, and hugely controversial GTA: San Andreas release, which saw Carl ‘CJ’ Johnson kicking ass and chewing gum around the streets of Los Santos, battling against gangs, the police, and his former friends. IV seems to follow a similar kind of sandbox-style play, allowing a free roam around a huge city, interacting and, of course, causing mischief. What struck me, is that after seeing both trailers, there’s a real unsettling feeling, and dark ambiance being set; much like GTA:SA did when those trailers were revealed. As much as I can compare the two games for emotional attachment, and playability (or should that be un-put-downable-ability, if that were indeed a word), in a way, they are two completely different feelings. Anyone who played SA will tell you it definitely feels good to be a gangsta, however IV looks to be based around the underhand tactics of a shady looking Eastern European. The first trailer, which introduced us to the main character Niko Bellic, really did set the tone:

“Life is complicated; I killed people, smuggled people, sold people. Perhaps here, things will be different.“

In related news, buying the special edition of this game will land you with all these wonderful looking goodies, including a limited edition Rockstar duffel bag, Art Book and soundtrack CD. Will this game be enough for me to fork out and buy a console, or will I finally find someone nearby who doesn’t mind me being round 14 hours every weekend until I complete this? Only time will tell.

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· Time Magazine recently featured an alphabetical list of 25 sites they ‘cant live without’, or in other words, websites that are either addictive, fantastic at what they do or provide, and sites that are found dwelling within bookmark lists the world over. A great list of sites, most of which are well known (Amazon, Ebay), and some of which I use and have talked about here (del.icio.us, Digg, Facebook). The rest of the links are currently only suitable for the US market (such as craigslist), but either way, the list is definitely worth a look. There are sites I think will one day make it onto that list, and some which I’m glad haven’t yet appeared. There are also sites that I have been signing up to over the last week or so to test out and see if they too are just as addictive, or providing me a service that I know one day I wont be able to live without. I’ll be referring to these sites over the coming months, but first you will all need an introduction, so you know what I’m referring to.

First into the firing line is Pageflakes, which is aiming to be everyones homepage, where you can customize the widgits its calling “flakes” – small, movable versions of all of your Web favourites that you can arrange on your personal homepage. That does mean they are now stepping into the boxing ring with Heavyweight Champion iGoogle, which crippled Ask.com last week. Speaking of rivalling a site I’m a big fan of, I’ve seen many users add the iLike feature to their Facebook page, and checking out the website I find the actual figure of Facebook users stands at a whopping 3 million. I’m hoping to find out what the big fuss is about. The same could be said about ma.gnolia, which helps share bookmarks with your friends, much like del.icio.us. and also on sharing: Pownce, which is the new side project from Digg’s Kevin Rose. Finally, I’ll be finding a decent photo package to eventually replace my old and jaded photobucket account, so leading the race in this field is Uber, Flickr, and Picasa. I’d really like to give an opinion about Orkut, but sadly none of the estimated 49 million users have managed to invite me just yet. Anyone? pretty please?

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That was the week in lumps, a week in which: The Paris Hilton backlash began (and it’s been long overdue), $100 million will get you to the moon, Tetris is only the 9th greatest game of all time, and we bid a sad farewell to one of the greatest, friendliest music stores this country will ever see: Fopp. Personally, this really is a true heart-breaker, considering the amount of time and money I’ve spent in their stores growing up. It really is true that you don’t know you miss things until they’ve gone.

And that’s it for this week, with just enough time for me to share this little gem with you. An American woman brought $16,000 in cash to try and buy all of the iPhones at one store in Dallas, to sell them on eBay. She pays a guy $800 for his first spot in line. The result? well, it has to be seen to be believed. That’s the hardest I’ve laughed all week.

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