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inSYNC: The Team Editor - George Hall Webmaster - Tom Barton Social Network Manager - Tobi Stidolph Production Manager - Jesse Price
Contributing Team Design Editor - George Hall Technology Editor - Tobi Stidolph Gaming Editor - Jack Whiteaway Music Editor - Luke Jackson Contriburtor - Jesse Price Sports Editor (inSYNC Portsmouth) Tom Emmans
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inSYNC Magazine | April 2014
Road,
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UK
Contents
1
On the Cover:
Glastonbury Festival 2014, Foster the People Live & Album Review, Facebook, Glasto Lineup and Faster than 4G: The New Technology.
2 inSYNC Subscribe today and meet the team. 3 Contents Your here now! See what’s in inSYNC April 2014. 4
Pie & Vinyl
5
Editor’s Note
6
Byte-Size News
Take a look at some quick, entertaining stories from the past month.
Castle Road Record Store Day & Easter Fete
8 Example’s One-off Brighton Show A look at Example’s rare appareance at Great Escape Fest. 8/9 inSYNC on Kindle
If you have an Amazon Kindle Fire HD, get inSYNC now.
9
Shakedown Festival 2014
10
Foster the People: Live & Album Review
An update on Shakedown; more acts announced.
Our experiences at Foster’s Troxy apparenace and their latest album Supermodel.
12 Bestival 16
A look at how the EU wants one cable for smartphones. videogame.
18 What Facebook Could Buy with $19 billion A look at 10 things Facebook could have bought instead
made their share price skyrocket.
20 dividephotography 23
Infamous: Second Son Review
A quick look at the latest Infamous game.
24
Titanfall
26
UK Festival News
27
what’s on: Portsmouth
A review of gaming-epic Titanfall.
A roundup of what has been happening with lineups for the UK’s biggest upcoming festivals.
Your guide to see what’s going on in Pompey in April.
28 podd.io
A quick roundup of news from our favourite partners at podd.io.
29 pCell
The new technology that is upto 1000 times quicker than standard 4G.
31
Apple Healthbook
32
Featured: A Warm Up to Glastonbury 2014
36
Blues News
38
Wireless Electricity
39
Super-fast Internet: Moving at a Snail’s Pace
EU Call for Single Smartphone Cable
of WhatsApp.
See what Editor George Hall has to say about inSYNC’s latest Issue.
7
18 8 Things That Has Made Google Billionaires A look at the 8 things that Google has invented, that has
Apple’s newest app coming to iOS 8: Healthbook.
Our featured article on the latest news and rumours from the UK’s biggest festival.
All the gossip from Portsmouth FC’s March.
The furture technology that will power our planet.
inSYNC investigates why quick Internet is taking ages to come to the consumer.
40 Xbox One Expansion Where the Xbox One is headed next. 42
Victorious Festival
44
101 Reykjavik, Southsea
April 2014 | inSYNC Magazine
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Editor’s Note
Editor’s Note Issue 6, April 2014 Editor’s Picks: Made sure you read our Glastonbury Feature. Even if your not heading to Worthy Farm this year, but are a music fan, make sure you check out the latest Glastonbury news (page 32). Also check out inSYNC’s Foster the People Live Review, from The Troxy in London (page 10). I hope you enjoy April 2014’s inSYNC, and we will see you shortly, as we move into May. We will see what happens in the tech, music and business worlds until then. Don’t forget you can also read inSYNC for free online, at our website and on Issuu.
inSYNC Issue 6, April 2014 is here. A great read; and a big focus on music this month, as more and more festival news is pouring out. A press release for Bestival, a Feature on Glastonbury and an ad for Portsmouth’s Victorious Festival. I thought I’d mention that next month we will be launching our YouTube channel, and hopefully we can start making monthly podcasts for you to listen to everything inSYNC on the move. We have some exciting stuff in the pages this month. The EU are calling for a single charger for smartdevices by 2017 (page 16), we take a look at the newly invented technology that could take over 4G to be upto 1,000 times faster (page 29), and we look at one of the future ways scientists are trying to power our planet: wireless electricity (page 38). Last month Facebook bought virtual relaity company Oculus Rift for a record $19 billion. I recommend you take a look at inSYNC’s 10 things that Mark Zuckerberg’s company could also have bought for $19 billion (page 18). Another list to take a look at is the 8 Google inventions that has made their share price skyrocket in the last couple of years (page 19).
Make sure you keep up-to-date with all the latest technology, film, business and music news in-between issues, at www.insynctm.com. Also follow us on Twitter @insyncmag. We are also on Facebook, Google+, Blogger and Instagram. Also check out our inSYNC Top 30 Spotify playlist for some different, exciting tunes.
George Hall, inSYNC Editor Twitter @geogeohall
www.insynctm.com | Twitter @insyncmag | insynctm@gmail.com inSYNC Magazine | April 2014
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Byte-Size News music/business | Kanye West Buys Burger King American rapper Kanye West has apparently bought fiancée Kim Kardashian ten Burger Kings as a wedding present. The couple are due to be wed at some point in 2014, and reports say West now has some European branches of Burger King in the UK, Italy and France. The rapper also owns several Chicago Fatburger stores in his home town. A source also said the West said the locations are ‘a perfect fit’ for Kim and her future career away from reality TV. The rapper also announced his upcoming European tour. The Yeezus Tour will play a number of shows before his Friday headline set at this year’s Wireless Festival in London. The tour will hit the UK, France, Germany, Belguim, Denmark, Sweeden, Norway and Holland, starting on 21st June.
technology | Facebook Buys Oculus Rift As we have all seen, last month Facebook made a shock announcement that it was to buy virtual reality startup Oculus Rift for $2 billion. This came just two weeks after the social networking giant broke the record books, buying social app WhatsApp for $19 billion. This has angered fans and developers alike, including some big names in the industry now refusing to develop games for Oculus. This includes popular indie-game Minecraft.
In January the Royal Mint won 2013’s Wales Innovation Award for developing the iSIS technology. The new coin, which is based in the old Threepenny bit is set to be introduced by 2017.
business | The New £1 Coin The Royal Mint, last month, annouced the new British £1 coin. New, award-winning technology in Wales has made the coin coin possible, and it is said that the coin is the most resilient in the World. The new technology is said to be costing £2 million and has spent 4 years in development. Modern bank note security is now being embedded into coins too, after questions were raised about the amount of counterfeit coins in circulation in the United Kingdom. The new 12-sided £1 is based on the design of the old threepenny bit that was in circulation between 1937 and 1971. The Royal Mint aims to eradicate coin forgeries. ‘iSIS (Integrated Secure Identification Systems) is technology that has been available in bank notes for 20 years but now we can actually use it in a coin. Up until now it’s been more difficult to use in coins because they’re metal, but now we can,’ said Andrew Mills, the Royal Mint’s director of circulating coin.
This said, Oculus then made a statement about how they did not expect such a negative reaction to selling the company to Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook. Oculus’ Cheif Executive sat down with Game Informer to discuss the buyout. The company’s Vice President Nate Mitchell said, ‘We assumed that the reaction would be negative, especially from our core community. Beyond our core community, we expected it would be positive. I don’t think we expected it to be so negative.’ Originally backers of the project, who donated to the company through Kickstarter were angered about the fact that they will now gain no return on their investments. As Facebook will not honour the donations. Other comments in the Game Informer interview game from CEO Brandon Iribe, who stated, ‘If you actually understand [Facebook’s] vision of letting us be who we’re going to be, just like they wanted to let Instagram be who they are. They want to set a precedent of leaving companies alone, but integrating and being able to allow that company to leverage the momentum and strength and size of Facebook.’
music | The Sad Version of Pharrell’s Happy Everyone knows Pharrell Williams’ hit single Happy, which was released late last year. But now, a man called Woodkid, a master of dramatic and moving music, has made a ‘sad’ remix of the Happy song. Whether or not a sad remix was needed, Woodkid has gone ahead a created one for us to enjoy. The remix combines a melancholic piano arrangement with Pharrell Williams’ exuberant lyrics, but, in a weird way, it does work. The song has also been known to make people feel like you’re trying to suppress laughter at a funeral. Watch the video of the song at URL: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=Go_p6oD7AIE
The Mint said that counterfeits cost them around £2 million annually, and there are an estimated 45 million forgeries in circulation. The current electro-magnetic signature in a coin can wear over time making forgeries harder to detect but iSIS technology can sift through at least 4,000 coins a minute to identify fakes. Mr. Mills said, “As the coin ages, the technology doesn’t wear.’ He also added, ‘Ideally, with iSIS, we can identify every counterfeit. The development of our iSIS project has enabled us to develop a new generation of low cost, high security, plated coin with multiple levels of banknote-strength security built in.’ The Royal Mint also own all of the new technology’s patents so the technology can be sold to other countries. This should further help the UK’s exporting economy.
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inSYNC Magazine | April 2014
Category
December 2013 | inSYNC Magazine
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music
Example’s One-off Brighton Gig
Got a Kind
Example to play one-off intimate Brighton Show: Example and his live band have been confirmed to headline a show at this year’s Great Escape festival. The festival takes place at the Brighton Dome on Thursday 8th May. The Great Escape festival will take place at approximately 30 venues across Brighton including Concorde 2 and the Dome between 8th and 10th May. Example first found fame in 2010 with the release of his second studio album ‘Won’t Go Quietly’, which featured the tracks Kickstarts, Watch The Sun Come Up and Won’t go Quietly.
Since then he’s hit the road on two arena tours, which makes any intimate live show of his extremely rare. Supporting Example is Scottish DJ and producer Show N Prove who released his debut album ‘Zimma Frame’ in 2013. Tickets for the Example headline show are priced at £18.50 plus fees, but the show is strictly for ages 18 and over. | Luke Jackson For tickets and information: http://greatescapefestival.com
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Read inSY
Available from the Amazon Kindle S inSYNC Magazine | April 2014
music
Shakdown Festival 2014 with Basement Jaxx
dle Fire?
YNC now.
Basement Jaxx to headline Shakedown Festival: Electronic Dance duo Basement Jaxx have been confirmed as the first main stage headliner at this year’s Shakedown Festival. The Brighton music festival will, for the first time, take place at Waterhall after moving across the city from Stanmer Park. Basement Jaxx, famous for their 2002 hit ‘Where’s your head at?’ will perform at the one-day festival on 19th July this summer. Also joining the Basement Jaxx is fellow electronic dance duo Groove Armada who are doing a DJ set, as well as Gorgon City, DJ EZ, Kidnap Kid and Jaguar Skills. The Audio, Brighton presents the Area 10 Stage that will be headlined by MK with upcoming artists Lee Foss and Huxley, as well as Riva Starr also featuring. An additional main stage headliner, and the full ‘SuperCharged’ arena lineup are still to be announced by the festival organisers. Since Shakedown was founded in 2011, the festival has attracted many big, well known artists such as Razorlight, Rizzle Kicks, Ed Sheeran, Example, Dizzee Rascal, Professor Green, Knife Party, Chase & Status, Sub Focus and Nero.
Store and at www.insynctm.com.
This year the tickets are priced at £45 plus fees, but the festival is strictly for ages 18 and over. | Luke Jackson For tickets and information visit: http://www.shakedown.co.uk
April 2014 | inSYNC Magazine
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music
Foster the People Live at The Troxy
Foster The People arrived in London to play a show at the Troxy on the day of the UK release of their sophomore LP ‘Supermodel’, joined by two additional multi-instrumentalists and another two female backing singers. The band started with two of their debut LP songs ‘Life On The Nickel’ and ‘Miss You’, but it wasn’t until they played the fourth song of the set, ‘Houdini’ that the crowd really got going – with it’s hip hop beats, and colourful synths that got the Troxy rocking. Mark Foster, the bands frontman goes solo for an acoustic rendition of ‘Nevermind’ something which he said had “never been done to a crowd before”, and although this was still good, it doesn’t compare to when the entire band is behind him. The new songs really sound fantastic, including heavy ‘A Beginner’s Guide To Destroying The Moon’ and a psychedelic ‘Pseudologia Fantastica’ – it will be interesting to see these songs live at this summers festivals once the bands fans know the songs much better as the crowd did not exactly give an overwhelming response to many of the new songs. The majority of the bands hits are included in the second half of their setlist, with their new single ‘Coming of Age’, ‘Waste’, and the hit single ‘Pumped Up Kicks’ which are all greeted with a euphoric response from the crowd. The band come back on to do an encore of ‘Best Friend’ – one of the highlights of the new album and this is proved by the crowd’s huge positive response, and also ‘Don’t Stop’ which continues to the get the crowd going right until the end of the gig. | George Hall Setlist 1. Life On The Nickel 2. Miss You 3. A Beginner’s Guide To Destroying The Moon 4. Houdini 5. Pseudologia Fantastica 6. Nevermind (Acoustic Version) 7. Ask Yourself 8. Coming of Age 9. Waste 10. Pumped Up Kicks 11. The Truth 12. Helena Beat Encore 13. Best Friend 14. Don’t Stop (Color on the Walls)
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inSYNC Magazine | April 2014
music
Foster the People
Supermodel Album Review What does the word ‘Supermodel’ mean to you? Mark Foster, the frontman of Foster the People decided to name the album ‘Supermodel’ due to the certain connotations the word has with different people. Mark Foster claims that the digital age we are living in is causing many people to create themselves through social networks as supermodels, and they are not reflecting their true self – a very interesting view, and one that I agree with. When Mark Foster visited Africa, he saw how the people’s communication face to face was much more sincere, and how the digital age is affecting this in the western world and how dangerous this could be – and this inspired a lot of the lyrics in the new album. After the commercial success of Foster The People’s debut record ‘Torches’ I was very eager to hear how they would follow this and whether they would just rehash their original formula or change it. The truth is definitely in the latter, as though you can still tell it’s Foster The People making the songs, they’re still very different lyrically and instrumentally. There’s definitely less obvious singles in this album such as their most successful song ‘Pumped Up Kicks’ which gained huge popularity globally. I respect the fact that they did not just decide to release a ‘Torches 2’ or a second ‘Pumped Up Kicks’. Lead single ‘Coming Of Age’ describes the bands more mature approach their sophomore album, (“It’s like a coming of age”). This song pits together synths, guitars, piano and cooing Beach Boys influenced harmonies to form a pretty impressive single. ‘Pseudologia Fantastica’ is a much more adventurous track which has been placed on the album, featuring much more psychedelic vibes which descends into beautiful white-noise chaos. ‘A Beginner’s Guide To Destroying The Moon’ is quite possibly the bands heaviest moment yet, with a punchy entrance with distorted guitars and angry sounding vocals before setting into a calmer chorus – I really enjoyed this one. The album also has it’s softer and more fragile moments, as heard in ‘The Truth’ or ‘Fire Escape’, a soft acoustic song with soothing backing vocals which describe a fire escapes view of Los Angeles. Overall, the main highlight of the album for me is ‘Best Friend’ which a lusty, colourful blend of bass, chic influenced guitars and horns, with an extremely catchy and punchy chorus. ‘Supermodel’ may not contain a track which will explode as ‘Pumped Up Kicks did, instead it’s a more mixed collection of songs with a range of different sounds and influences. It’s definitely worth checking out. |George Hall
April 2014 | inSYNC Magazine
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Bestival2014
Bestival 2014
The Isle of Wight’s Biggest Event
inSYNC Getting Involved with Bestival 2014 Bestival have really made some amazing bookings this year. Outkast are returning live at the festival, performing together for the first time in over seven years, and the fact that Bestival have managed to book such a prestigious act for this year’s Desert Island Disco speaks volumes as to how much the festival is growing. Foals are the next-generation festival headliner. After a whopping set at Glastonbury last year, and their first major headline slot at Latitude, it won’t be long until a lot of people are knocking on their doors asking for them to headline, and Bestival is one of the first. An incredible live band. Nile Rodgers has one of the most extensive and famous back catalogues of all time. From David Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance’ to last year’s summer hit ‘Get Lucky’, he has had so much input into a selection of famous hits you won’t want to miss him perform live with Chic on the last night of the festival in Robin Hill park. We went to check out the Desert Island Disco Dancehall at The Astoria in Portsmouth on the 28th March. One of many events that Bestival is hosting across the country to help promote the festival. Rob Da Bank, Bestival’s organiser performed a DJ set as many people drank and partied into the night, including us! The levels of production for this one-off event was really superb, and it almost actually felt like being in a foreign country - literally a Desert Island Disco!
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inSYNC Magazine | April 2014
Bestival2014
60,000 Festival-goers. 350+ Acts. 20 Stages. 1 Festival
April 2014 | inSYNC Magazine
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EVERYBODY DANCE! BESTIVAL’S SUNDAY HEADLINERS REVEALED...
CHIC FEATURING NILE RODGERS DESERT ISLAND DISCO FINALE Following his important intergalactic funk mission showing those Daft Punk robots exactly how to party, our fabled dancefloor-filling hero returns to earthly realms. Picking up three Grammys and a BRIT on his way, he wipes the spacedust from his trademark white suit, picks up his legendary six-string Hitmaker, and descends majestically to the Isle of Wight. The call goes out from the Bestival crew - the King of Funk has arrived... Nile Rodgers is here and the Desert Island Disco is GO! Rob da Bank says, “Ever since I first booked Chic and Nile for Bestival a few years back they have hands down been the best live band we’ve ever had at Bestival and Camp Bestival. And once people start realising how many hits Nile has written and produced for artists ranging from Madonna and David Bowie through to Daft Punk’s ‘Get Lucky,’ you realise that this is just one huge disco jukebox that is gonna keep firing out the hits all night! I’m over the moon that Nile and the crew are going to wrap up our Desert Island Disco Finale with a damn funky, glittery bang. Everybody Dance!” We’re chomping at the bit to get on our Desert Island dancefloor as super-producer and the world’s coolest man, Nile Rodgers is bringing the ultimate cosmic party band, Chic Featuring Nile Rodgers back to Robin Hill, this time as glorious Sunday night headliners! Speaking about his headline set Nile Rodgers said, “I’m so excited to be back at Bestival, this time in the prestigious Sunday night headliner slot following legends Stevie Wonder and Elton John. Expect an extra special Desert Island Disco set from myself and Chic! Looking forward to seeing you all in September” The undisputed heavyweight King of Disco, hailed “A legend” by none other than Pharrell following their crowd-slaying collaboration at last week’s BRITs, Mr Nile Rodgers is the world’s most in-demand producer right now, racking up recent studio time with the likes of Chase & Status, Felix da Housecat, Disclosure, David Guetta Tensnake and Avicii. Additionally, Nile is also the man behind the biggest career hits from David Bowie, Diana Ross, Duran Duran and Madonna, to name but a few. In recent years at Bestival, we’ve seen Nile and his Chic Organization re-emerge as a globally respected and truly mighty musical force and can’t wait to see them bringing the house down like only they can, headlining Sunday evening. Following a precedent set by Fatboy Slim aboard HMS Bestival last year, Chic will be performing a spectacular and specially themed show, a Desert Island Disco Finale, exclusive to Bestival. With an awe-inspiring litany of pop music’s greatest hits from “Le Freak (Aw Freak Out)” and “Good Times” to “Let’s Dance” and “Like A Virgin”, it will be a jaw-dropping, eye-popping, firework-fuelled disco inferno to end times. Sunday night at Bestival will be an epic, booty-shaking twerkathon of disco bliss (and the stuff of legends) and we know you don’t want to miss that! With our 2014 Port line-up (featuring tons of incredible DJs) plus lots more bands, performances, magic, mayhem & more still to be announced, keep clicking on www.bestival.net and our Facebook and Twitter for all the latest Desert Island Disco behaviour. BESTIVAL 2014 - TICKET LINKS & INFORMATION: www.ticketline.co.uk/bestival-tickets / 0844 888 4410 Adult Ticket with entry from Thursday 4th September - £195 Student Ticket with entry from Thursday 4th September - £180 (For full-time students only. Valid NUS or ISIC ID required at the box office. No other student ID accepted) Teen (age 13-17) Ticket with entry from Thursday 4th September - £127 Child (age 12 & under) Ticket - Free (but you must obtain a ticket) Caravan Tickets: £101 (per vehicle) Campervan Tickets: £90 (per vehicle) Advance Car Parking - £15
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inSYNC Magazine | April 2014
THE CASTAWAYS KEEP ON COMIN’...
PALOMA FAITH * BASEMENT JAXX * CANDI STATON ALSO SET TO TURN UP THE HEAT AT OUR DESERT ISLAND DISCO! The good times keep on rollin’ at Bestival HQ! Following the amazing news that Chic feat. Nile Rodgers will join OutKast, Foals and Beck as our Bestival 2014 headliners and our frankly off the scale Port announcement last week re Sven Väth, Annie Mac Presents, Chase & Status & loads more class DJs, we have news of three more brilliant acts bringing their dancing shoes to our Desert Island Disco this September 4th – 7th at Robin Hill on the Isle of Wight. Rob da Bank says, “Desert Island Disco seems to have lit up everyone’s imaginations with its mirrorball and palm tree vibes going down really well. So we though we’d add some disco divas and pure upfront house legends to the bill. Basement Jaxx did us the great honour of headlining the first ever Bestival way back when, so I’m doubly chuffed they’re coming back to tear it up. Paloma played a few years back when she was just starting out and, on the eve of her disco inspired album coming out, we thought it’d be rude not to. And where do I start with Candi Staton? She may not have played Bestival before but her hits have been caned by DJs over the years. ‘You Got The Love’ is surely gonna be one of those ‘moments’ at Bestival 2014. See you at the Disco”. A stunning chanteuse and no mistake, Paloma Faith is the very definition of unique and we are delighted that she will be joining us on Sunday night in the Big Top to close this year’s Bestival. With a brand new album, A Perfect Contradiction, due for release imminently, Paloma’s disco credentials are just about as good as they come and with her well know penchant for dressing up, she’s the perfect fit for a sassy climax to our Desert Island Disco. Commenting on her Bestival appearance, Paloma Faith said, “Bestival is the best festival because everyone gets dressed up and I will be too, dressing my band up… It’s so perfect that I should be invited to play at this festival this year because my new album, which is called A Perfect Contradiction, was all influenced by the history of soul music, particularly disco. So, I was listening to artists like Candi Staton, Prince, Chaka Khan, Gloria Gaynor, all of those types of artists; Parliament, Funkadelic, the lot… It is my favourite festival without a doubt - I’m so excited, see you there!” No strangers to spanking a dancefloor, the Bestival crew are very pleased indeed to welcome back Basement Jaxx to Robin Hill. Headliners at the very first Bestival, we know for a fact that Basement Jaxx have got a truckload of tunes that will keep you reaching for the lasers long into the night. A full on live extravaganza, Felix, Simon & co never fail with their hip-swaying, booty-shaking business, so don’t miss them! Basement Jaxx’s Felix Buxton said “It was an honour and a pleasure to headline the very first Bestival - and we are very pleased to be back!” Finally for now, it is a true honour to announce that one of the legends of gospel, disco and dance music, Candi Staton will be gracing our Desert Island Disco with her presence. With super-soulful tracks like ‘Young Hearts Run Free’, her amazing version of ‘Stand By Your Man’ and, of course, ‘You Got The Love’, Candi’s voice has soundtracked two generations of joyful good times and we can’t wait to bust our moves to her grooves. There’s still plenty more to come, so for more vids, pics, words, links and all things Bestival check these out - www.bestival.net / Facebook Twitter / Tumblr and keep up with all the latest Desert Island Disco manoeuvres. BESTIVAL 2014 - TICKET LINKS & INFORMATION: www.ticketline.co.uk/bestival-tickets / 0844 888 4410 Adult Ticket with entry from Thursday 4th September - £195 Student Ticket with entry from Thursday 4th September - £180 (For full-time students only. Valid NUS or ISIC ID required at the box office. No other student ID accepted) Teen (age 13-17) Ticket with entry from Thursday 4th September - £127 Child (age 12 & under) Ticket - Free (but you must obtain a ticket) Caravan Tickets: £101 (per vehicle) Campervan Tickets: £90 (per vehicle) Advance Car Parking - £15
April 2014 | inSYNC Magazine
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technology
European Union Calls for Universal Device Charger Despite model unity within companies, unlike in the 90s when each of a company’s phones had a different charger, every major phone manufacturer still uses a different charger. Chargers come in all different shapes and sizes and the times of hunting for the correct one could be about to change. Last month, EU politicians back a regulation that would force smartphone makers to make a single, standard charger for use in Europe. helped the series progress. MEPs voted overwhelmingly for the new regulation, which would see the new standard charger issue on all new smartphones by 2017. This new EU regulation is in favour of the consumer, but also to cut the amount of electronic
wastage in Europe. Member of European Parliament, Barbara Weiler, said in a statement about the regulation, ‘This serves the interests both of consumers and the environment. It will put an end to charger clutter and 51,000 tonnes of electronic waste annually.’
small to fit in the iPhone 5. A change in cable could cause some companies to have to alter whole devices and make big design changes. Apart from this snag, the regulation should help consumers no end. | Tobi Stidolph
The regulation is early days yet, and it still in draft phase, as it must be approved by Europe’s council of ministers. However, it is reported that the council has already giving informal backing for the law. This suggests that it will win final approval. EU Member states will have until 2016 to make the regulation into a national law, and phone manufacturers will then be given 12 months to make the change. Apparently, the EU regulation began in 2009, and has taken this long to be drafted into a regulation that will make smartphone makers agree on a common design. The suspected favourite for the common design will be the MicroUSB connector that Samsung currently use for its handsets. This is the most commonly found connector at the moment. Tech giant Apple is yet to comment on the regulation, as it is one of the only manufactures that produces devices that use so-called ‘proprietary power ports’. This said, Apple is one of the business signatories of the EU agreement reached with manufacturers to produce chargers. The regulation, however, does raise questions about companies’ patents and design changes. For example, when Apple released their Lightning Connector, this can only be used by Apple as it is a patented design. In regards to design, Apple designed the Lightning Connector specifically
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inSYNC Magazine | April 2014
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April 2014 | inSYNC Magazine
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business Last month Facebook acquired messaging app WhatsApp for a ridiculous, record-breaking $19 billion. Because of that, inSYNC has taken a look at 10 things Facebook could have also bought with 19 billion US dollars!
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01
With the $19 billion, Mark Zuckerberg and co could have bought 4 Freedom Towers in New York City that is costing $3.94 billion to build.
02
Facebook could have paid for the UN’s entire aid budget for a year. In 2013 the budget was $13 billion. This would have helped in the Philippenes and Syria last year.
03
One B61-12 Nuclear bomb costs $28 million. This means Facebook could have bought 678, more than enough to destroy the World over.
08
A Miami artist made headlines when they destoryed a $1 million Chinese Ai Weiwei vase. Facebook could have afforded a few of those.
04
Ukraine last year said they would accept a $15 billion loan from Russia. Faecbook could have managed that loan and still have money left!
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US TV network PBS recieve $450 million a year in funding. Facebook could have funded PBS for the next 4 decades.
05
Mark Zuckerberg’s favorite food is the bacon-wrapped hot dog. Some California vendors sell these for $1.50 each, meaning Facebook could’ve bought enough to feed Mark Zuckerberg one hot dog every second for the next 400 years.
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TV streaming service Netflix costs £4.99 a month. That means Facebook could afford a 198 million year subscription to the service.
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inSYNC Magazine | April 2014
The recovery of the Philippenes last year cost $6 billion. This was after Typhoon Haiyan killed more than 5,000 people. Facebook could have afforded the clean up 3 times over.
Facebook’s top executives Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, David Ebersman, and Mike Schroepfer could have each had an aircraft carrier each, as they only cost $4.5 billion a piece.
technology It may be hard to imagine a World without Google these days, and their list of accomplishments could probably fill the yellow pages. So, inSYNC have taken a look at 8 of Google’s best stockprice-raising projects.
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Space Exploration Google now doesn’t just let you explore Earth and space any smartdevice on the planet, but the search engine is funding something call Lunar X Prize, which will give $30million to the first team that can get a robot to the moon to gather photos and information about our lunar satellite. Currently, 34 teams are competing.
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Android
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Google is now in everyones’ pocket. Every day another one million people join the Android bandwagon. There are almost billion apps to download from the Play Store. inSYNC can’t wait to see what happens with Google Glass. Google Plus
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Driverless Cars Google is the leader in futuristic development of the Autonomous vehicle. Robot drivers are simply better than humans in every way. They make better calculations and they don’t get distracted. Meaning, less accidents and a much safer future. Recently companies like Mercedes, BMW, and Tesla have joined up and are all working towards a driverless reality. Google don’t mind though, as having us free of the burden of driving will just give us more time to use their other services.
Google Now Now is Google’s service that finds what you want before you search for it. It lets users know things like expected changes in the weather or traffic, or how your favorite sports team is doing. It can learn how you search, and will present information to you when you need it with virtually no setup needed.
Maps Google has made GPS and Navigation so easy for the whole World. Google will tell you any street in the World, and guide you where you need to go. Even though Google has blown apart competition with Maps, it never stops innovating. Google even provides tools for first responders when it comes to natural disasters.
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So Google Plus may not be as prominant as Twitter or Facebook, but it does give users the ability to customise different groups of friends. Google+ is a core part of Google’s services and strategy. It’s the service that brings Google all together, concisely. YouTube YouTube is now completely linked with Google+, so commenting and sharing videos with friends is so easy. And you can just share to whoever you want. Advertising
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Google’s biggest stream of revenue is definitely advetising. They do have free tools for customers, but the best thing to do to advertise is using AdWords and AdSense. Google earned around $57 billion in 3rd quarter 2013 from ads revenue. Thats 36% more than the same time as the year previous. Their stock continues to rise
and is now above $1,000 for the first time ever.
April 2014 | inSYNC Magazine
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Category
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inSYNC Magazine | December 2013
Category
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December 2013 | inSYNC Magazine
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inSYNC Magazine | April 2014
gaming
Infamous: Second Son Infamous: Second Son takes large steps away from the comic book roots of the first two games, and tries to deliver a more realistic story. Don’t misunderstand, Second Son is at its core, an open-world superhero action. And it’s an amazing one at that. The games flashy powers and fast paced action feels great. However, it’s the story that really lets this game down. The more realistic stories of the characters didn’t add any depth to the game for me and ultimately left me feeling disappointed. Second Son take place seven years after the events of Infamous 2, although this isn’t really mentioned and I would have loved for the developers (Sucker Punch) to leave little clues to what happened directly after the first two instalments of the game. The story itself feels very generic; your small town gets attacked and you set off on a journey to obtain new powers and get revenge for your people. This makes the game feel rushed, with a fairly short story. As an attempt to bulk the game up there are many side missions that task you with taking back the city, stopping crimes, destroying drones flying all around, and, the best by far, is the various graphite missions that allow you to spray paint walls around the city. But even these side missions became boring very quickly. Story quibbles aside, Infamous is about feeling powerful, and Second Son definitely succeeds in doing this. The four different powers that Delsin options throughout the campaign turn the various enemy checkpoints into a place that gives you a chance to flex your superhero muscle. Whether it’s the all-out destruction of smoke or the accurate sharp shooting of neon, each power has its own strategy, and switching between them in the heat of battle makes you feel unstoppable. if you haven’t got a PlayStation 4 yet, this games is certainly not a reason rush out a buy one. | Jesse Price Skill Trees play a massive part in the Infamous game, and offers more options than in either of the other Infamous games. It allows you to either play with just one Pros: power and upgrade all the abilities, or splitting the different upgrades on other powers to suit your play-type. The powers you can unlock differ depending on your Looks great play style. For example, playing the ‘Evil Path’ lets your smoke powers burn people Amazing combat alive as you watch them turn into ash, or on the ‘Good Path’ neon powers let you take Diverse powers down enemies by wrapping them in neon energy. Not only does this give different ways to approach combat, but a chance to replay the game in a massively different way. Cons : Infamous is a great game that lets you feel like a real superhero, but the story Weak storyline never really got me excited. Everyone that has a PS4 should play Second Son, but
inSYNC Rating
8.0 April 2014 | inSYNC Magazine
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gaming
Titanfall
Since our last look at Titanfall, everyone in the gaming community has waited and eagerly anticipated this brand new first person shooter that, since its release, has begun changing the way we look at and play FPS games. Titanfall is a completely fresh idea that has come from EA and Respawn Entertainment, which was created by the world famous developers of the Call of Duty Franchise, Jason West and Vince Zampella. Since its release on the Xbox One and PS4, Titanfall has radically changed our gaming experience with the introduction of brand new gameplay, ideas and maps that are all simply jaw dropping. One of the best things about Titanfall, in my opinion, is the premise of the game. The developers have taken in what they learnt from Infinity Ward, and created a concept that is unmatched in creativity and the all important fun element. They have taken the approach of ‘bigger is better’, and used it to create a clean, concise game that is extraordinary when it comes to gameplay. The idea of running around in a massive suit of armour, with huge weapons that shake the ground, is not new but has been given a look that takes it to the next level. Whilst the game starts with a ground based troop shooter, you soon realise that everyone in your game isn’t
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inSYNC Magazine | April 2014
gaming
human. Instead, Respawn Entertainment has created ‘drone’ characters that take the place of real players, and therefore have limited the amount of players in the game, and added the drones to replace. Many thought this would inhibit the game, but in-fact it does the exact opposite. As well as this, many thought the idea of a ‘Titan’ would create an overpowered form of the game, but again, it hasn’t. Every ground troop is equipped with anti-titan weapons, and the titans themselves aren’t too powerful, and are balanced perfectly in correlation to other titans and ground players. The use of Titans has meant that the developers have designed customisable titans that can be suited to your style of play. This makes the game a little more in depth and with the use of burn cards, instead of perks like in CoD, it brings in an element unparalleled in comparison to any game. It allows a customisation for your character, and your titan, and is one we haven’t seen as of yet in a game. The maps suit a quick paced shooter, with the little and large element involved, and the gameplay links with the maps, with the idea of a small troop and big titan side-by-side. Overall the game is simply staggering and is unmatched in quality, style and just sheer fun! I highly recommend you buy this, as it is definitely a contender for Game of the Year. | Tobi Stidolph
April 2014 | inSYNC Magazine
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music
UK Festival News Check out what has been happening in the uk in march. below are all the current lineups for some of britain’s best and biggest festivals.
isle of wight festival - Above latitude festival - Below
Reading & leeds festival - top Wireless Festival - middle Latitude festival - top right glastonbury - middle right boomtown festival - bottom right
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inSYNC Magazine | April 2014
what’s on: Portsmouth
Find Out What’s Happening In Portsmouth (08 Apr - 06 May 2014)
- HMS - Here My Story: First World War Artefacts Tour Portsmouth Historic Dockyard 09th Apr
- Castle Road Easter Fete & Record Store Day 2014 Castle Road 18th & 19th Apr
- Foreigner Gig at Portsmouth Guildhall 09th Apr
27th Apr - Lakeside 5K Road Race Hilsea 30th Apr
- ELO Experience Gig at the Kings Theatre 10th Apr - Ian Prowse & Amsterdam Gig at The Eastney Cellars 11th Apr
- Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra Portsmouth Guildhall 01st May
- Easter Fair Southsea 13th Apr
- Kassassin Street The Wedgewood Rooms 03rd May
- Portsmouth Duathlon Series Sporting Event Portsmouth 13th Apr
- Abseil the Spinnaker Tower Spinnaker Tower 03rd - 05th May
- Portsmouth Job Fair Portsmouth Guildhall 16th Apr
- Abseil the Spinnaker Tower Spinnaker Tower 18th - 21st Apr - Joe Black The Wedgewood Rooms 20th Apr - Will McNicol The Eastney Cellars 21st Apr - Billy Gregory: Then To Now The Eastney Cellars 26th Apr
- Spice Island Guided Walk Spice Island 04th May - Blood Brothers Play at the Kings Theatre 06th - 10th May - Daniel O’Donnell Portsmouth Guildhall 06th May
- Eastney Beam Engine House Open Day Eastney 26th & 27th Apr - Jim Diamond The Eastney Cellars
April 2014 | inSYNC Magazine
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podd.io
PHIL SPENCER IS NOW HEAD OF XBOX
MOBILE BANKING ON THE RISE The number of banking transactions made from smartphones has doubled in the past year according to a report from the British Bankers Association. Anthony Brown told the Today programme CE Antho that an outstanding 5.7 transactions are made from British consumers everyday from their smartphones. The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) have R claimed that they have seen 30% less people come through their doors compared to 4 years ago. All this mobile activity brings us on to the safety of mobile transactions and wether there are any dangers.
NINE TIMES OUT OF TEN, YOU ARE SAFER BANKING ON MOBILES THAN YOU ARE BANKING ON A COMPUTER DOWN TO THE FACT THAT MOBILES HAVE A LOT LESS MALICIOUS DATA ON PHONES Author: Tim Warburton
Author: Conor Adamson
FOR DAILY TECH & GAMING NEWS VISIT: http://podd.io/
ATARI TO RELEASE A SOCIAL CASINO SUITE
Author: Harry Zolobajluk
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inSYNC Magazine | April 2014
technology
pCell
area within a city or town. Rather than working to trying to stop wave interference, pCell will embrace the clashing of radio waves and combine the connecting signals from each of the pWave hubs. Each of pCell’s users is then given an equivalent to their own personal cell, hence the company name pCell. This then translates to meaning that within the pCell hub The new technology that’s 1000 times zone you get full signal of LTE whenever you faster than 4G Networks want and wherever you are. And, that means that the new ‘good’ signal strength is upto 1,000 With more and more people joining the times quicker than the 4G networks that are smartphone bandwagon, around 1.5 billion now, the wireless networks need to get better to coming in in the UK. cope with powering our devices. Even with all the World’s technology, we still do lose signal in ‘...signal strength is upto 1,000 the big cities, London in some areas is especially times quicker than the 4G bad. This happens at big gigs and sporting networks that are coming in in events too; everyone trying to get online at once. the UK.’
only use a 1-milliwatt transmitter to deliver mobile data, compared to 250-milliwatts used by a standard Wifi radio. This is not even mentioning the massive amount of milliwatts used by cell towers across the country. pWave radios also use less power when it comes to users. Phone battery will be spared, as far less power will be taking searching for an appropriate mobile signal. And, in the further devices dubbed ‘pCell Native Devices’ could use hardware parts that use even less battery power than Wifi chips in current devices.
pCell also brings a huge reduction in the amount of power a cellular network takes to make it work. Unlike the big cell towers, which require fiber installation to provide enough bandwidth, pWave hubs can be put in enough locations that each unit is able to communicate effectively with one another. This means each hub can bounce data around using However, a new startup may be about to change The pWaves hubs will be small, and could be all that. Started in 2011, a company named put in a number of unobtrusive positions across ‘line-of-site’ radio waves. This more efficient, uses less power and costs far less money. And, Artemis is working on a new wireless standard, a city. So is pCell really better than 4G or LTE instead of using custom hardware, like many called pCell, that could mean that some places networks? Well, the simple answer is yes. companies at the moment, a cellular carrier, like jump straight over 4G. pCell has been gaining Besides being superior is Internet speed and Orange or Vodafone, can run the pCell software hype for a while, but with any new technology signal strength, it uses a considerably little has been gaining some uncertainty too. So, what amount of power in comparison. pWave radios efficiently behind any powerful computer... is pCell? The current 3G, and in some places 4G, cell towers in use deploy a signal that becomes weaker as you get further away. The towers have to be further enough apart so as not to have any interference, but closer enough together so that users can always get a decent reception and Internet coverage. However, a lot of people trying to send data at once can cause problems. Artemis, however, are to go in a different direction in how they provide mobile Internet services to the consumer. Rather than having cell towers, placed in certain locations, the company want to put out a large number of Wi-fi hub-sized boxes, named pWaves, that will provide a super-fast service to a smaller
April 2014 | inSYNC Magazine
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technology
pCell Technology Continued... ...using Linux O/S. The other great thing about the pCell technology is that you don’t require a new phone. To make the switch as easy as poss, Artemis have cleverly engineered pCell to work with......the current, regular
LTE devices. So when its all set up and ready your current iPhone or Android smartphone should already be compatible. This also means that the phone will be dual-compatible; pCell in the pCell network area, and regular LTE 4G when your anywhere else. This said, though, there will be new devices bought out that are ‘pCell Native devices’ that use less power, with a better battery life, than regular LTE compatible devices. To demonstrate the power of pCell, Artemis CEO Steve Perlman showed how pCell could transmit HD 1080p quality video to eight iPhones simultaneously. So timings? pCell will be launched for consumers in the States first, with rollouts in San Francisco at the later half of this year. Artemis has been working with a carrier in the USA to get as many as 350 pWave hubs deployed. This should be more than enough to cope with data traffic in San Fran. Artemis said, in a recent press release, that full pCell deployment will be completed in the States easily next year. Artemis’ demo at Columbia University in February through up some time scales, and Perlman stated that the technology could be in all major markets in the USA and Europe by the end of 2015, but this may not be the case as all new technologies need to prove themselves before companies spend large sums on it. We will see how Artemis and pCell get on in the coming years. It will be an interesting technological advancement in how mobile data and how major carriers function. | Tobi Stidolph
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inSYNC Magazine | April 2014
technology
Apple’s Newest App Coming to iOS: Healthbook
possible.
- Track respiratory to monitor breathing
According to a report by 9to5Mac, the next version of Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS, will include a new health monitoring application, named Healthbook. Although this is not the first time that we have heard of the upcoming Healthbook, it is the first time we have a bit more information on the iOS app.
- Track sleep patterns (telling you how well you’ve slept and how often you get up in the night - similar to current app Sleep Cycle) - Include an ‘Emergency Card’, which will show doctors vital information about yourself in case of emergency
It has also been rumoured that Apple will also open up Healthbook to third-party fitness devices like Nike FuelBand or FitBit. But, Apple may also require you to manually input your data, and rumours are also suggesting that Apple may build the sensors into a wearable device, like the rumoured SmartWatch that Apple apparently have on the cards. Last month, The New York Times stated that some of Apple’s top executives had met with FDA officials to discuss health monitoring capabilities of the so-called iWatch. Such a device would definitely need an FDA approval, especially for sale in the States.
This all sounds great, but the big question everyone is asking is; how will Apple be able to The app is said to be able to: gather all this personal data? At the moment, Apple’s current flagship smartphone, the iPhone - Track steps taken and amount of calories 5S, boasts the M7 processor that can monitor burned steps, and other basic measurements, presuming the phone is in your pocket. However, when it - Monitor blood pressure, blood sugar, and comes to monitoring blood pressure, and sleep blood-oxygen levels patterns, etc, users would have to physically wear another device that can directly measure those - Track hydration (meaning it will tell you how things. But, there are sensors that can measure much water you need to drink, based upon your body levels that won’t break the skin, so it is current activity)
April 2014 | inSYNC Magazine
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featured
Samsung Gala
OUR IMPRESSIONS OF SAMSUNG’S NEWEST FLAGSHIP SMARTPHONE
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inSYNC Magazine | April 2014
featured inSYNC at Glastonbury This month, inSYNC takes a look at the UK’s biggest festival. Glastonbury has recently released its first lot of confirmed acts for this years upcoming festival. The Black Keys, Lana Del Rey, Arcade Fire and Kasabian are among the biggest acts that will take on the festival’s famous Pyramid Stage.
axy S5
The1975, Bonobo, Blondie, Paulo Nutini, Chvrches, Temples, Crystal Fighters and John Newman have also been confirmed to be making an apperance. Take a look over the page for the full lineup so, and inSYNC’s run up to Glastonbury 2014.
April 2014 | inSYNC Magazine
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featured
thus, no announcement came and Emily Eavis even said that although they want Prince to play the festival, he had not been currently booked – but who’s to say things haven’t changed?
The Warm Up: Glastonbury Festival 2014 Arcade Fire So Arcade Fire; the six-piece Canadian band were one of the first acts to be known to be making an appearance at Worthy Farm. Although nothing was said about the band’s appearance early on, Arcade Fire announced their 2014 tour dates and there was a gap where Glastonbury takes place. This was pretty much a self-confirmation by the group. ‘It’s such a communal rite of passage in the UK and there’s this communal spirit, it’ll be a point of touring when we’re scary good. We’re super excited to strap on our wellies and let it rip,’ said Win Butler, the bands frontman. This was said in the band’s interview with Zane Lowe upon the announcement of their Friday night headline slot. After the release of their number one album Reflektor last year, the Canadian six-piece band are finally at the point to headline the legendary Glastonbury Festival. Rumours began about Arcade playing Glastonbury when they announced their US arena last year. Hints were also dropped by the group when they appeared on Jo Whiley’s BBC Radio 2 show. Win Butler was asked whether they would be appearing at any UK festivals, in which the reply came, ‘Yeah, I hope so. It’s a special experience.” After refusing to give any further information, he added: ‘Get your wellies ready!’ The group also confirmed an appearance at Primavera this summer too. Rumours have been circulating for ages, and when Eavis spoke to NME at 2013’s AIM Awards he stated that all this year’ shear liners would be new to the headline slot, ‘Next year’s headliners are more or less in place. They’re three bands who haven’t played Glastonbury,
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and that’s important. There aren’t many bands left who haven’t played the festival, and before we run out I’d like to persuade the ones on my wish list to come down. I think I’ve managed that with these three.’
Kasabian Leicestershire rock band Kasabian have also been announced to be headlining Sunday night at this year’s Glastonbury. Kasabian will close the event, by stepping up to the Pyramid Stage on Glasto’s Sunday and final day. Kasabian guitarist and singer Serge Pizzorno said, ‘We can die happy now,’ after the band had been booked to headline the festival. The band have wanted to headline Glastonbury for a long, long time, and with a release of a new album this year, Michael Eavis has given them the opportunity of a lifetime. Song’s like ‘Fire’ and ‘Underdog’ are sure to get the crowd really going, as Kasabian are often described as one of the UK’s best live bands. A Glastonbury insider stated, ‘Kasabian are the perfect finale for Glasto this year.’ Glastonbury said, ‘It’s a real coup that Dolly Parton is expected to be on the bill too, but her set won’t provide the desired fireworks to truly rock the final night. That’s where Kasabian come in.’ The group, Tom Meighan, Sergio Pizzorno, Chris Edwards, Ian Matthews and Tim Carter reformed in 2012 after the departure of Jay Mehler left the band for Liam Gallagher’s Beady Eye in 2013. They were reportedly left fuming after Glastonbury organiser Michael Eavis failed to book them last year. In a recent interview with O Magazine, the band’s frontman Tom Meigha, said, ‘Roll the dice, mate. I’ve had no phone call yet so I can’t say anything, but I love that festival.’ Kasabian’s 2014 album is due to be released in June, before their homecoming gig at Leicester’s Victoria Park. Glastonbury begins June 25th.
Headliner Rumours - The Mystery Special Guests Rumours are still circulating about Glastonbury’s mystery Saturday night headliner. Who could it be? Currently the biggest rumours for the 3rd and final headliner are Prince and Metallica. After numerous UK shows with his new band, 3rdEyedGirl, many people speculated that this was building up to an announcement that Prince would be headlining Worthy Farm in June, but
inSYNC Magazine | April 2014
The reason for no Saturday night headliner on the current line up poster is for ‘contractual reasons’, which has left many to speculate that it is American heavy metal band Metallica who will be taking to the stage on Saturday night. They were originally announced as exclusive headliners at Sonisphere, the weekend after Glastonbury, but they may have been booked since, and because of which, has meant that Glastonbury are under an embargo to announce that they are headlining anytime soon. Metallica would surely be an interesting act for the festival, and a departure from recent bookings, quite similar to when Jay Z was announced several years ago. Could Glastonbury be going more metal? Either way we will find out in May. Emily Eavis was questioned on BBC Radio 6 Music about why they did not release the other headliner with the other acts, ‘We can’t give you that yet,’ she said. ‘We’re under… it’s just for contractual reasons, but it’ll be with you soon. We’ve got it all booked, it was all confirmed a couple of weeks ago. It’s purely that we can’t give it to you yet. The full line-up, the thousands and thousands of acts playing across the hundreds of stages, will be with you in May.’ Rumours surrounding Metallica started earlier this year when Metallica drummer Lars Ulrick said Glastonbury is the one festival in the world to elude the thrash band considered to be one of the biggest in the world. He told NME: ‘There’s such a vibe and it’s maybe the most quintessentially English festival. Everybody who goes there loves it and obviously Michael [Eavis] doesn’t need our help – I completely appreciate and respect that – but if he ever wants to get hold of us we’re in the Yellow Pages and ready to go!’ Emily Eavis also said, ‘One of the great things for us about this year’s line up is that there are so many artists who have never played Glastonbury before, along with some of the most exciting new bands stepping up to play some of the big headline slots on main stages.’ She added: ‘Getting Jack White was a really big deal for us, he’s got a history here that goes way back. He’s had some really brilliant moments here across all the stages. So when he said he wanted to play here and didn’t want to do any other festivals, it means a lot to us.’ The Stone Roses are also contenders and Robert Plant’s inclusion in the line up has fuelled rumours that Led Zeppelin could be the surprise headliners. It was watching the iconic rockers perform that inspired Michael Eavis to start the festival in the first place and he recently said he thought they would play together again. ‘That will happen one day – I’m sure of it. They will do it,’ he said. The festival officially confirmed eight acts to play: Lily Allen, Disclosure, Dolly Parton, the Black Keys, Blondie, Lana Del Rey, Warpaint and Arcade Fire. But now the first wave of acts has been fully confirmed, with rest on there way next month. Other new acts announced include MGMT, Bryan Ferry, Kelis, Metronomy, Crystal Fighters and De La Soul.
featured
April 2014 | inSYNC Magazine
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inSYNC on iPad
inSYNC. Coming to iPad, iPhone,
Available on the iOS platform alre
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inSYNC Magazine | April 2014
inSYNC on iPad
iPod Touch and iPad Mini Soon.
eady through Issuu and Magzter.
April 2014 | inSYNC Magazine
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technology The new technology, which could save the whole World money, and will help climate change. Lights glowing all by there self with no wires attached. The room, in which the demonstration was being displayed, was filled with cooper refrigerator coils, much like the ones you would find in the back of a freezer. Walking in and out of the coils doesn’t affect the bulb either.
The Future: Wireless Electricity
Dr. Hall, Chief Technology Officer at WiTricity, said, ‘We’re going to transfer power without any kind of wires.’ WiTricity is another startup, like pCell covered earlier in this issue. WiTricity is developing wireless resonance technology. Dr. Hall also explained how the electricity is powered without wires, ‘We’re not actually putting electricity in the air. What we’re doing is putting a magnetic field in the air.’ So how does WiTricity actually work? The company manufacture a device called a Source Resonator, which is a coil of electrical wire that generates a magnetic field when power is attached. Then, when a second coil is bought close by an electrical charge can be generated in it. No wires required! Dr. Hall explained, ‘When you bring a device into that magnetic field, it induces a current in the device, and by that you’re able to transfer power.’ Just that simple; a bulb lights up. This is is something that could make powering homes more effective and cost effective. The other advantage is there’s no chance of a shock. The coil’s magnetic fields are used to transfer energy and are ‘perfectly safe’. They are actually the same kind of field as a Wifi router. In modern homes wireless energy could be as easy as a standard Wifi connection. If everything goes to plan, WiTricity’s technological breakthrough will power smartphones, whilst being anywhere indoors, TVs will play with no plugging in and electric cars will recharge on a driveway. The company has already demonstrated the ability to power laptops, smartphones and TVs by attaching Resonator Coils to Li-ion batteries, and powering electric cars is apparently next on the cards. Dr. Hall sees a future with no wires; ‘We just don’t think about it anymore: I’m going to drive my car home and I’m never going to have to go to the gas station, and I’m never going to have to plug it in. I can’t even imagine how things will change when we live like that.’ Beyond the applications that WiTricity can be applied to, Dr. Hall said that she sees more revolutionary steps. When Hall first worked upon the wireless powering
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of a lightbulb, she thought about how the technology could be used medically; devices transplanted beneath the skin could kept charged all remotely. WiTricity is currently working alongside an American medical company to charge a left-ventricular assistive device, which is essential a heart-pump. It also opens doors for smartphones, which currently, on a whole, have poor battery life. Hall added, ‘The idea of eliminating cables would allow us to re-design things in ways that we haven’t yet thought of, that’s just going to make our devices and everything that we interact with, that much more efficient, more practical and maybe even give brand new functionality.’ The next of WiTricity’s challenges in increasing the distance that power can be transferred efficiently. The distance is linked with the size of each coil, and WiTricity want to perfect the same long-distance transfers seen today on small-scale devices. This means the WiTricity team very high hopes for their new AA-sized wirelessly rechargeable batteries. We will have to wait and see how long before wireless charging is commercially viable, and how it will shape the future of our technology. | Tobi Stidolph
inSYNC Magazine | April 2014
technology
Super-fast Internet: Moving at a Snail’s Pace
So, super-fast Internet connections are possible. Just look at America’s Google Fiber, speeds of upto 100 times faster than basic home broadband. Thats already up and running in Kansas City, Austin and Provo, and last week Google announced that it wants to roll the service out to 34 more US cities. Even US broadband
provider Chattanooga has gigabit broadband in 56,000 homes and businesses in the States. To be honest its expensive in America too, with average Internet providers charging $40 to $60 for broadband thats less than 10 megabits per second. Verizon FiOS charges $300 a month for 500 megabit Internet speeds, which is just a ridiculous price. Yet Google only charges $70 for a full gigabit connection. VTel, a company based in Vermont charges only $35, half that of Google. And in Hong Kong gigabit services only cost around $26 per month. So what exactly is the problem in America? Why are only a small number of companies providing US homes and businesses with gigabit Internet services. The recent Comcast acquisition of Time Warner Cable will delay US fiber services ever further. This is because of Comcast’s monopoly status as a broadband provider will see them overcharge over 30 million American households for Internet links that don’t even top 20 megabits per second. At the moment, around 30% of US homes have either none or only one Internet provider of around 6 megabits per second. And a further 37% have just two providers, probably an Internet provider and a phone provider who will refuse to compete on price, therefore making cable, phone and Internet services ever more expensive for the average man. Beyond cable in American homes, the mobile carrier monopolies aren’t going to upgrade services to fiber either. Verizon was not long ago on the verge to link 18 million US homes with fiber but that all fell through, and was confirmed by Verizon CEO, Lowell McAdam, saying, ‘…going in and digging up yards and deploying fiber in a lot of new markets isn’t on the cards.’ And mobile carrier AT&T continue to push its U-Verse mobile service, which is a hybrid of fiber and copper lines that are
already in the ground, but this rarely gives users more than ten megabits per second. So why is Google the only company pushing for fiber, super-fast connection for the States? And how have they managed to link up so many new homes? Simple. They ask for and obtain concessions from each city, which allows them to connect up homes. And cities are willing to help, if the company is willing to spend the money. In September 2012, Federal Communications Commissioner Ajit Pai said, ‘It is critically important that states and local communities adopt broadband-friendly policies when it comes to rights-of-way management.’ Gigabit Internet services are in demand. Many US cities like Louisville has invited Google to install Fiber, but the search engine giant has turned them down. So where is, and when will, the next generation of broadband arrive consistently across the States, and speeds improve in Europe? We will have to wait and see what happens. But, our guess is that we probably won’t see a major change in the States until the end of the Obama administration. | Tobi Stidolph
April 2014 | inSYNC Magazine
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business/gaming
Xbox One Expansion The next-gen market is ever-growing, and because of this, demand for the consoles and games are becoming greater and greater. Recently, Microsoft has announced the release of the Xbox One in 26 new markets around the world. So what does this mean for Microsoft’s gaming and its rivals as a whole? Well, firstly you have to look at which markets are being targeted by Microsoft. Here is a list of the new markets that will see the Xbox One arrive by the end of the year: Argentina | Belgium | Chile | Columbia | Czech Republic | Denmark | Finland | Greece | Hungary | India | Israel | Japan | Korea | Netherlands | Norway | Poland | Portugal | Russia | Saudi Arabia | Singapore | Slovakia | South Africa | Sweden | Switzerland | Turkey | UAE Of the twenty-six new countries that will see the next-gen Xbox, thirteen of them are European. This clearly shows that Microsoft knows that the European market is possibly the biggest, and needs to expand within the region to maximise potential that the Xbox One can give. It also shows consumers that Microsoft know exactly where they can outsell their main competitors Sony and Nintendo. Three South American countries are also on the list. This is yet another sign that Microsoft need, and want, to expand to a wider audience. As well as this, they seem to be targeting wealthy Middle Eastern countries as well, and this could be because of the high cost of the Xbox One. Whilst markets in European and America fixate on prices, Middle Eastern countries, such as the UAE, aren’t as affected by cost due to their affluent nature. The decision to release the console in the Middle East is a risky one, but it could prove a beneficial move, as sales in this area could cause the Xbox One’s demand in these regions to soar, and therefore, create a price drop in other regions, such as Europe and North America. Microsoft are desperately trying to compete with the Japanese companies, but a release in Asia, I believe, won’t be beneficial as the Japanese market has always been owned by Nintendo and Sony. Mainly because they are Japanese companies and understand the market better. Some of these markets are risky, but if Microsoft want to catch up with the sales of the PS4 and Wii U, then it’s a risk that they will have to take. | Jack Whiteaway
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inSYNC Magazine | April 2014
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April 2014 | inSYNC Magazine
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Victorious Festival
The best value festival in the country?! August Bank Holiday Weekend. Seafront location in Southsea, Portsmouth. Priced at just £15 a day, free for kids! •
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Dizzee Rascal, Seasick Steve, 2 Many Djs, Razorlight, Sub Focus, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Shed Seven, Naughty Boy, Scouting for Girls, The Pigeon Detectives, Dan le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip, British Sea Power, Lucy Spraggan, Swim Deep, Public Service Broadcasting, Menswear, Slow club, Super food, Beans on Toast plus many more acts TBC. Early bird tickets on sale for £15 a day, £6 for children & under 5s FREE. Ticket includes 5 music stages, Real Ale Festival, Boutique Markets, Giant Silent Disco, entry to seafront attractions inc. blue reef aquarium, skate park and Pyramids swimming Pool. Holly and Ben & the Moshi Monsters appear alongside a host activities in the free kids arena.
Following council approval and the success of last years event, the festival organisers, who also run the celebrated Belle Isle bar/restaurants are excited to announce that Victorious Festival will be back for 2014. Situated in its new, larger location; Southsea Seafront, this incredible value for money festival will play host to acts such as Dizzee Rascal, Seasick Steve, Razorlight, Naughty Boy, Shed Seven, Sophie Ellis-Bextor & British Sea Power with many more acts to be confirmed. Look forward to a festival that caters for all members of the family young and old. Andy Marsh (organiser) explained; “ We think Victorious maybe the best value for money family festival in the country. It is a chance to see loads of big acts, entertain the kids and enjoy a variety of attractions without breaking the bank! We cannot thank Portsmouth City Council enough for securing this amazing site for the next 5 years. They share our vision & excitement for the future for Portsmouth & Southsea. The event will be fantastic for the local economy, business, tourism and our cultural presence. Alongside the great music line up, festival–goers will also be given free access to the seafront attractions including The Blue Reef Aquarium, Southsea Skate Park, The Pyramids Centre Swimming & Fun Pool, The D-Day Museum & Southsea Castle. If that wasn’t enough, the highly popular Real Ale Festival, Boutique markets, Street food sellers, and Silent Disco will be back again adding to the exciting and diverse experience that is Victorious Festival. The best local talent are invited to apply to play at the festival via the website. Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th August 2014. Tickets are expected to sell quickly for this impressive event. Visit www.victoriousfestival .co.uk to secure your day tickets at an early bird price of £15 Increasing to £20 advance. Children’s tickets £6. Under 5s free.
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victoriousfestival.co.uk
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December 2013 | inSYNC Magazine
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inSYNC Magazine | December 2013