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A FEW years ago, in what now amounts to a previous life, I helped Sting and his wife, Trudie Styler, promote the Rainforest Foundation, a charity they established in response to the violation of the rights of the Kayapo Indians in Brazilian Amazonia, and the wanton destruction of rainforests in which they live.While making a television commercial with John Hurt to publicise these issues, I noticed that the annual area of Amazonian deforestation was a round 20,000 square kilometres. Being a Welshman, I knew this to be an area the size of Wales and I mentioned the fact to John. "My God!", he said, "That big?" I suddenly understood that if I equated the scale of the problem to an area that people were familiar with, it would be quickly and succinctly understood. So, I rewrote the words, John...

s7awek has passed on some great links that should be of help and inspiration to anyone writing online. These are An ever expanding list of blog fiction at http://fictionblogs2.blogspot.com/ An article about how blog fiction has evolved at http://tracearchive.ntu.ac.uk/process/index.cfm?article=91 And finally a very interesting and prominent piece of blog fiction http://shes.aflightrisk.org/ Thanks to s7awek Blog, Collaborative Links, Fiction, links, Resources,...

Following up on the successful Xbox 360 Theme page, I’ve added another useful addition to the site: Region-Free Xbox 360 games. If you know of any titles that should be added to the list – please don’t hesitate to contact me.  I’ll update the page and post a credit to you. Contact Me!...

Interested in 360 Faceplates? Check out LikSang’s latest offerings which include some fancy new Joypad Faceplates (you will need a screwdriver! #Shock! Horror!#). For some reason I’m attracted to the wooden faceplates, I don’t know why. It simply wouldn’t go with my current setup?!  ......

Due to heavy demand and numerous requests, I’ve finally decided to include ‘preview’ pictures of Xbox 360 themes on my theme list page. Just click on any link in the list and you’ll be redirected (in a new window) straight to a preview pic or a folder containing pictures of all of the dashboard blade images. It’s quite rough around the edges, I haven’t bothered to make fancy pages for each of the themes, but you will get to see what you want. Enjoy. Take me to those Xbox 360 Themes!...

I forgot to mention that earlier this week there was a new addition to the Xbox Live Marketplace, a new  Burnout Revenge theme - to help stoke some interest for the game, which is due later this month. And thats not all, to help myself (and others) keep track of what’s exactly available in the muddled Marketplace, I’ve whipped up a page with most (if not all) of the themes currently available on Xbox Live. You can find it here - or click the link titled ‘Xbox360 Themes‘ link on the bar to the right.  It’s a simple listing for now… maybe I’ll update it with preview pictures in future, if there’s a demand for it. To see preview pictures for ’some’ of the themes and gamer pictures, check them out at the official...

I finally recovered my USB stick from my thieving evil sister and I’m now able (once more) to transfer pictures from the PS2 to my PC. Behold, one of my all time favourite cars the Rally Toyota Celica and before you ask… my preference for it was influenced by the mighty Sega Rally. For informations sake I’m only 12% into Gran Turismo 4. I’m half heartedly playing it inbetween getting achievements on the Xbox 360....

I listen to quite a lot of Podcasts, some are good, others are bad and a few are somehow simply brilliant. TeamFremont Live fits into the latter category. Despite being a fanmade, videogame based podcast they successfully manage to be consistently informative and naturally amusing without sounding too scripted. In their most recent podcast they read out an email which I sent into the show a couple of weeks ago - unfortunately it wasn’t about gaming but err… Judy Dench (long story).  I hope they and other listeners found it as amusing as I did. Download their latest podcast here or you can find it on Itunes....

Datel have recently released some info on its ‘Xbox 360 Transfer Kit’. With it, you will be able to transfer game saves, downloads, user data etc. All you have to do is just plug in your 360 memory unit into the docking port and connect it to any available USB port on your PC. At the moment the software, which comes bundled with the docking port, called Xchange 360, only allows the user to back up and restore an entire memory card image. Although if you were to use other software like: Xplorer360 or WxTheme, things do get a little more interesting. Possibilities: Extract PGR3 Photos Transfer Xbox game saves to the Xbox 360 Customize 360 Themes Upload game saves to the Internet. Want one already? The price of Datel’s little gizmo is expected to be around $14.99 (expect something...

Snipped from Endgadget.com: “Microsoft really has nothing to gain from either format winning. Just listen to any of Gates’ recent interviews and how he talks about discs as a necessary evil until the world is ready for media-free distribution. That said, Microsoft has much to gain from both formats losing. Think back to the format war between DVD-Audio and SACD. Both formats lost and it was a computer company that stepped in to become the new center of the digital music universe.” “Microsoft was a bit late to the game for that one, but it’s making a big investment into securing Windows Vista for Hollywood as well as ensuring that Portable Media Centers work with DirecTV set-tops. Microsoft gets to sell DRM software and Windows Mobile licenses so that...

Coincidentally, after my little rant last night, it’s now possible to extract your PGR3 photos from a Xbox360 straight to PC, albeit with a little bit of 360 modification. Chaps at 360gamesaves.com are currently developing a bit of software called Xplorer360 (Beta2) which, as the name suggests, allows eager gamers to explore a 360 HDD or memory card and extract any data they require - like PGR3 photos. I can’t say I’m overly keen on hooking up my 360 HDD upto my PC and using software which may or may not corrupt the whole thing, but it is an option at least. For further details on this check out the forums at 360gamesaves.com or www.xbox-scene.com for updates....