If you haven’t played it before, you can just imagine how hard drawing on a touch phone or tablet can be right?
Well some people certainly like to show off. Have a gander through these!

Once installed, I spent a fair bit of time looking like a loon, pointing my mobile in all sorts of different directions in hope of spotting both planets and stars alike. This got me thinking about mankind’s space travels (and the lack of space travels) and our achievements and discoveries.

And then, only the next day astrologists announced that they had discovered Earth’s sister planet, Gliese 581c (catchy huh?) that is sitting quietly at a mere 20.1 light years away – that’s almost a 5 Billion year journey. Which is a bucket load of boiled sweets and toilet breaks! In all seriousness, let’s put the distance into perspective, our Moon is approximately 0.0000000406 light years away and Mars is a minimum of 0.00000062363 light years away.

Not only is this newly discovered planet 14 times closer to its parent star, it is almost double the size of our home world, resulting in a much stronger gravitational pull. Easily turning 63kg into 102kg.There are plans to send powerful telescopes in search of extra terrestrial life by 2020. Now, I’m an optimist when it comes to astrology and new discoveries, but I wouldn’t count on any major discoveries in our lifetime. However, bookmakers William Hill have slashed the odds regarding the existence of intelligent extra-terrestrial life from 1000/1 to 100/1 since this discovery.

The long anticipated debut album from Nero arrived in stores and was made available for download on the 15th of August 2011. And of course it’s a treat for all those DubStep heads out there. Even if it’s not your cup of tea, this album has a lot to offer and could be the album that turns you into a convert.

In 2009 Nero released a remix of The Streets’ Blinded by the Lights, since then they have progressed from an underground duo to a UK phenomenon. Six years after their original release they have built a comfortable reputation as the UK’s biggest producers around the Drum & Bass scene.

On 6th June 2011 they performed with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and demonstrated their musical talents far succeed Drum & Base. You can read my review Here.

I can’t describe how my ears felt after listening to the entire album through some inner ear headphones. All I can say is they have succeeded in making you feel the bass pulsate through your body, much like being in a club. The first (and only) word that springs to mind? EPIC!

In all honesty my expectations for the long awaited album have been matched.
Why not judge yourself and download it from iTunes.

The power of the icon is greatly under estimated, behind every user interface be it on the web, your desktop, or even phone… I guarantee it wont take you long to find these small pieces of artwork.

Tha Phlash is a designer based in Canada,  and the man behind ThaIcon - the biggest icon website in the world. His work has taken mobile devices by storm, and with his urban art bringing buildings to life you can only imagine what his next project will be.

I recently sat in on a virtual interview to see what makes him tick; to see what his history is and more importantly for a few words of wisdom.

You originally started off as an urban artist painting murals, what originally drove you to that and if any, what was your inspiration?

“I actually started by drawing scrolls for churches, very tiny intricate work that was draw with a feather (yup, very old school). Than after a while I couldn’t bare to do small work i needed something totally the opposite, saw this big wall and made my homework to paint it. I had the piece commissioned by a balloon festival and it took me a good full month to do the piece, lots of fun… and kept going for a good 500 walls afterwards…”

At one point in your career you were a Flash programmer, and have experience with PHP scripting, MySql, Javascript, HTML, XML. Why didn’t you pursue that path?

“I like the knowledge of new technology and how it can improve my work, and make it easier… When I started, Photoshop was great for making mural mockups to present to clients while Flash allowed me make creative website where I could animate my artwork… and I needed coding knowledge to integrate everything together… I still uses all my scripting abilities today as a web-designer.”

So it all started with a bit of ‘magic’ (HTC Android powered phone) – Excuse the pun. Do you still have it as a piece of history, a memorabilia?

“Well shame on me its still my primary devices haha!… I have yet to upgrade, but i’m just not too demanding in this regard. I use my followers to test my work for compatibility on a range of devices tho.”

Do you still use your original designs on your current HTC device or have you traded them in for some of your more recent work?

“I personally use my original icons, a bit of Tha Krom, Tha 3D and Tha Shag as well…”

You seem to churn amazing designs on a regular basis, how do you manage it? Surely it takes time to come up with new concepts…

“Well the secret besides hard work is that I have my icons in a lab folder where I work a particular style for sometimes months… They then pass through several development stages over a long period of time… so don’t worry if sometimes I disappear for a few months, and come back.”

With that said, where do you seek inspiration?

“From everywhere really.. new movies, textures, request submitted by my followers, and anything around me that stimulate my senses.”

Personally I currently do concept work and have a folder of 30+ basic stock icons that I manipulate in my designs. Assuming you have stock files you use, ball park figure – how big is your library?

“I have vector sources and production files for all my icons… you could say that my icon project folder has around 240 000 files in it.. it takes quite a lot of method to manage everything… and that method was implemented since day 1… since the first icon.”

You also take requests, in all honesty what was the strangest and favorite request of all time.

“Requests are great really… no matter how good you are a new perspective is what gives you a edge really… but my weirdest pack HAS to be Tha Nyan Cat… truly epic weirdness.”

You’re ‘brother’ site “ThaSyndicate” deals with a wide range of website services, do you have a partner in design there or do you fly solo?

“Tha syndicate is my corporate headquarters to manage my web-clients and my work oversea, I have partners in there, do hosting and stuff like that… its mainly for my clients that are corporations and where my lawyers reside… for Tha icon im by myself and partner up with a few developers to create my apps.”

Every designer has their unique style, how would you describe yours?

“Don’t think I limit myself as far as style is concern. I really appreciate the art of adaptation and self renewing, if there’s a style I would say is constant it would be quality… never settle for anything less.”

Where do you see yourself in a year’s time?

“In a years time, I want to sustain myself only with icons, be a themers best friend, and give another perspective to the general public that icons are a lot of work and that there’s value to this work, good icons shouldn’t be free if someone worked their *** off to make them… inspire other to do the same, so that we become a industry.”

Piracy is a huge issue in the film, music and software industries. Even for designers like yourself, but how do you combat that persistent challenge?

“Piracy is rampant in icon design, but the way i think about it is that piracy is simply a competing business. They happen to sell at the price of $0, so you can’t beat them on price, but you CAN beat them on 1. convenience and 2. content (piracy takes awhile to get up to date unless you have a hugely popular pack which gets pirated within HOURS of release). As long as these two points outweigh the price difference, you’ll be ok.”

 And finally some words of wisdom?…

“Rule of thumb for posting your icons online: Treat people as if they were standing in front of you. Be consciously polite. Assume people’s intentions are good. Remind yourself that your lucky to be alive, and grateful to be in the presence of others. Though I’m sure I’ve wavered from this philosophy on occasion, I’m not proud of those moments, and try to get better.”

According to the analytics firm ComScore; Google+ now has over 25 million users – not including those on mobile devices.

Impressive? Now consider it was originally started on a referral scheme, is still in the development stages and continually making changes based on feedback provided by its sizable community. Record breaking.

The report also states that Google+ is also the fastest growing social media network in history with around 1 million new users per day. This has been achieved within the small amount of time is has been live. Clearly Google has jumped onto the scene at a time when people are more than willing to branch out and join new social networking sites.

How long did it take other social networking sites to hit the 25 million target I hear you ask?…Facebook: 3 years, MySpace: 2 years and Twitter: 30 months

With MySpace being sold by News Corp. despite talks of Justin Timberlake aiming to bring back its spark (I can only assume that this was inspired by his role in 2010′s hit movie “The Social Network”) will Google+ become the largest social networking site, or will it ‘flop’ like its predecessor Google Buzz?

Only time will tell.

Last month I wrote a review on Tiny Wings, a game that in my opinion could possibly rival the huge hitter in the app stores, Angry Birds.

They say that mimicry is the best form of flattery, well in the truest sense, replace a Bird with a Armadillo and you have Dillo Hills, the equivalent of Tiny Wings – compare the clips below, the game play and concept are uncanny.

You can find an interview with it’s creator Here

This tiny armadillo’s biggest dream is to fly through the air like a bird. But without any wings, he’ll have to improvise! Slide along hills to build up speed, then take to the sky and soar!

Dillo Hills features fast-paced physics, a beautiful environment, challenging obstacles, and four lovable characters who all dream of reaching the sky! The game is simple to learn, but only the best and the bravest will explore distant lands and dominate the scoreboard!

Unfortunately my phone wasn’t up to spec for the game and I was unable to find it on the market, if you have this same issue (or you have an iPhone) you can play with it’s web browser sister.

If I was to say space travel what would your first thoughts be?…
Sci-Fi, Star Wars, Star Trek, or even Conspiricy Theorys?

Or perhaps none of the above?… How about NASA.

In 1957 during the Cold War the USSR sparked the biggest race known to man by launching the Sputnik satellite into orbit. This drove the USA’s need to be dominant beyond earths orbit by setting their sights on landing the first man on the moon. And in 1969, they did just that.

Prior to the big space race USA and the USSR had repeatedly sent man made craft into Low Earth Orbit. In order for a space craft to stay in orbit it has to travel at a casual 17,500 miles per hour (28,000 kilometers per hour).

President Obama
The space race inspired a generation of scientists and innovators, including, I’m sure, many of you. It’s contributed to immeasurable technological advances that have improved our health and well-being, from satellite navigation to water purification, from aerospace manufacturing to medical imaging.

However with each space shuttle costing approximately $1.7 billion and each space shuttle launch setting back the country a whopping $450 million per mission, you can see the financial strain the NASA programs creates.

President Obama – 15th April 2010
So NASA, from the start, several months ago when I issued my budget, was one of the areas where we didn’t just maintain a freeze but we actually increased funding by $6 billion. By doing that we will ramp up robotic exploration of the solar system, including a probe of the Sun’s atmosphere; new scouting missions to Mars and other destinations; and an advanced telescope to follow Hubble, allowing us to peer deeper into the universe than ever before.

But on the 8th July 2010 Atlantis marked the final space shuttle mission for the USA for the foreseeable future. So if either American or British astronauts want to get a ride into orbit it seems that we’ll be having to hitch hike with the Russians (our original competition) – good luck with that one!

So what about Civilian flights into space I hear you ask?… Richard Branson’s Virgin were the first, and currently the only “galactic” airline providing this service to the general public. It seem’s while their internet and media packages may be severely lacking in quality, I’m pretty sure this makes up for it.

In December 2010 Angry birds swept the market by storm and has already achieved a staggering 12 million downloads.

With there now being Angry Birds merchandise and talk of a cartoon series/short film it is set to not only be a success on your smart phone.  Who’d of thought that hurtling birds into pigs could be so profitable?…

But hey, back to the topic at hand!

Tiny Wings was unleashed to the Apple App Store in February 2011 and it quickly became a huge commercial success by achieving 2 million downloads, finding its place at top of Apple’s download chart for two weeks (until Angry Birds catapulted back to the top). Designed, Developed and Published in Germany by Andreas Illiger it has the potential to give Angry Birds a run for its money.

Unfortunately it isn’t up for grabs on the Android Market and is currently exclusive to Apple but luckily expansion hasn’t been ruled out!

But until then, feast your eyes on the official trailer.

“You have always dreamed of flying – but your wings are tiny. Luckily the world is full of beautiful hills. Use the hills as jumps – slide down, flap your wings and fly! At least for a moment – until this annoying gravity brings you back down to earth. But the next hill is waiting for you already. Watch out for the night and fly as fast as you can. Otherwise flying will only be a dream once again.”

Everybody knows the feeling of listening to a new album for the first time, primed and ready to hear something new, with the potential of stumbling across that one track that will no doubt be your song of the week, or even song of the month?… I can only begin to describe “No More Idols” as “Amazing!”  Yes, I think the Jamaican vocals on the first track might aid that statement slightly, but when you hear the line-up of supporting artists you know it’s going to be full of hard hitting tunes.

Featuring a range of artists including; Maverick Sabre, Dizzee Rascal, Tinie Tempah, Plan B… And more!!!

Chase and Status first grabbed my attention when their song “End Credits” featuring Plan B was on the sound track for Harry Brown back in 2009. Not only did that allow me to find the new sound of Chase and Status but it also opened the door to Plan B which is a different story entirely.

If I were to be wearing a hat right now, I will indeed take it off to that man.

Chase and Status are set to be touring the O2 Academy’s across the UK in October this year.