Part 1 - Is 2013 the year for nerd cinema?

This is a massive year for nerd film lovers everywhere with a whole glut of awesome looking movies due for release and no fewer than NINE comic book adaptations being released over the course of the year.  In addition to these comic book adaptations there's some rebooted franchises, re-imaginings of cult movies, and  some long awaited sequels.

Bullet to the Head (Feb 2013) - Sylvester Stallone
Based on the graphic novel Headshot (Du Plomb Dans La Tête) by French writer Alexis Nolent, 2012's Bullet to the Head stars Stallone as a hitman who joins forces with a police detective to take down a common enemy when their respective partners are killed.  

It received a score of 48/100 on Metacritic with it's generic plot and back-to-the-80's action, it's the action movie equivelant of Marmite - you either love it or hate it.



Warm Bodies (February 2013) - Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer
Starring Nicholas Hoult (the awkward duck killing Marcus Brewer from About a Boy) Warm Bodies is adapted from the novel of the same name.  Zombie, R, spends his days wandering around an abandoned airport with his fellow zombies until one day he sees Julie and is drawn to her.

Billed as a zombie romance and with a Metacritic score of 59/100 it received mixed, but mostly positive, reviews and I'm including it here cos I'm a sucker for a good zombie flick.

-,

A Good Day to Die Hard (February 2013) - Bruce Willis

The return of everyone's favourite vest wearing supercop the fifth outing for John McClane moved the action from the US to Russia in a bid to breathe new life into the franchise.  Focusing more on family, relationships and attempting to develop the characters of McClane and his son the film swings from (almost) hallmark moments between the pair to overly long chase scenes and by the book gun fights.  A disappointing part of a franchise I dearly love but I guess Hans Gruber can only have so many brothers... To be fair though I did only watch half of it, the rest I was asleep for - not surprising considering the Metacritic score of 28/100 with only one positive review.

Oz: The Great and Powerful (March 2013) - James Franco

A re-imagining (and a prequel of sorts) to the much loved classic The Wizard of Oz tells the story of small time magician Oscar Diggs who finds himself transported to the land of Oz.  Passing himself off as a great Wizard he's soon drawn into a power struggle between three rival witches.

With a Metacritic score of 44/100 it received many mixed reviews from critics but favourable reviews from cinemagoers.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation (March 2013) - Channing Tatum, The Rock, Bruce Willis

Another comic book movie and a sequel to 2009's G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra which, suprisingly, wasn't that terrible but neither was it anything outstanding either.  The forever delayed sequel adds the star power of The Rock and Bruce Willis to try to make it bigger and better than it's predecessor which it appears to have achieved as it managed to score a Metacritic rating of 41 compared to the first films 32.  G.I. Joe is a dearly loved and very major franchise in the US and any attempt to bring it to the screen was always going to get met with some fairly harsh criticism by the fans but at the end of the day this film does exactly what it promises to do - it blows shit up and doesn't take itself too seriously whilst it's doing it.

Evil Dead (April 2013) - Jessica Lucas

I'm a HUGE fan of Sam Raimis original Evil Dead series so an attempt to remake any them was always going to be met with a massive amount of skepticism from yours truly.  At the moment I've not seen it, partly because I love the original so much I don't want this one to foul the experience of watching one of my favourite horror movies and partly because it's Metacritic reviews vary so wildly from 'It's everything a horror movie should be' to 'starts well but soon degenerates into tiresome shock gore'

Iron Man 3 (May 2013) - Robert Downey Jr, Ben Kingsley, Gwyneth Paltrow

Robert Downey Juniors third solo outing as the man in the iron suit, I've yet to see this film but am really looking forward to it as I've heard good things about it and can't wait to see Sir Ben Kingsley as The Mandarin.  Whether it's the script or Downey Junior as the smug yet charismatic Tony Stark I'm not sure but this is one of my favourite Marvel franchises even though I was never a huge fan of the comic books when I was growing up preferring Spiderman over Iron Man.

Star Trek Into Darkness (May 2013) - Chris Pine, Benedict Cumberbatch

Writing this has got me realising just how many films I've missed this year so far and the new Star Trek is one of those, JJ Abrams sequel to 2009's amazing franchise reboot promises more of the same but with the addition of Benedict Cumberbatch (who seems to be everywhere at the moment).  I'm looking forward to seeing how Abram's continues the new alternate universe he created with the time travelling Romulan planet killers from the first film.

Man of Steel (June 2013) - Henry Cavill, Amy Adams
The trailer for Zack Snyder's reboot of the Superman franchise promises all sorts of awesomeness with Henry Cavill donning the red cape to battle Michael Shannon's Kryptonian uber-baddie General Zod.  Going on Snyder's previous comic book adaptations (Watchmen, 300) you can expect the visuals to be jaw droppingly awesome and for the story to stick pretty close to it's source material.

I was never a big fan of Superman as I prefer my heroes to have a bit of a dark side (like Batman) but I'm pretty excited about this one!!!

World War Z (June 2013) - Brad Pitt
I really enjoyed the source novel when I read it so am looking forward to seeing how it's been adapted into a movie considering the book was written as a collection of individual accounts and records of a ten year battle against the zombies which seemed pretty difficult to adapt.

The film stars Pitt as Gerry Lane a retired UN employee who travels the world trying to find a cure to the zombie pandemic sweeping the earth.

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Android Movie Player

For this little How To you'll need several things -

• ~ A device running Android (a tablet would be preferable unless you don't mind watching films on a teeny tiny phone screen)
• ~ Access to Googles Play Store
• ~ Some video files (any format is fine)

Out of the box Android only supports a limited number of video formats (3gp, mp4, mkv) which makes it a pain when trying to watch those videos and TV shows you may have downloaded from somewhere on the internet that aren't in a supported format (i.e. avi files).  Using a couple of apps we can make your Android device into an awesome looking media player that plays all those other formats and will be the envy of your fellow commuters.

1) Copy some video files you want to watch on to your Android device.  I prefer to separate Movies and TV Shows into different directories using the following directory structure on my PC and other devices:

This is the standard directory structure for most Media Server software and it's worth maintaining this structure if you want to implement a Media Server later.

2) Download and install Mizuu

This is a paid app but it's very reasonably priced (£1.29) very powerful, and there's not really anything free which offers an alternative to it although I wouldn't recommend anything other than this anyway.  Mizuu will download metadata and images for your TV Shows and Movies and display them with covers, backdrops, actor information, and trailers.  It even has links to enable you to view details and trailers of upcoming movies and videos on sharing sites like Youtube, Reddit, and Ted Talks and basically creates an awesome looking UI for you to access your files.

3) Download and install BSPlayer or BSPlayer Free

Whilst Mizuu will be the front-end BS Player will be the back-end and will play our video files, the reason we use this software is because it's one of the few which will also play non-native video files (such as AVI files) and transcodes on the fly with no lag in audio that you see on other players.  The main difference between BS Player and it's free version is the ad support, although this normally only appears when you pause the video (so it's relatively unobtrusive) but if you like the software you should pay for it to ensure it's continued support and development.

4) Go in to Mizuu and set up the locations for your Movie files and TV files in the settings, if Mizuu downloads the incorrect metadata and visuals for your files it's simple to change by tapping on the poster for the Movie or TV Show and then tapping the menu icon in the top right corner.

5) Once you've set up your folders and downloaded your metadata/visuals go into one of your Movies or TV Shows and click the Play button.  Android should give you a choice of media player you want to use to play the video file, select BS Player from the available options and then select ALWAYS so you never have to see this option again.

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Is old the new new?

If you know anything about the gaming world or anyone remotely interested in it, and to be fair if you know anyone with a penis then you do, you'll be aware that the E3 exhibition was held last week and, with it, came the reveal of the new Xbox and Sony consoles.  In fact unless you've been doing a Robinson Crusoe and have been stranded on a desert island eating nothing but coconut stew for every meal whilst talking to a volleyball there's a pretty good chance you've heard something about either of them in the news.

What hasn't really been publicised much, unless you move in certain gamer circles, is the upcoming release for Hyperkin's RetroN5 console.  This isn't just a pure gamers console it's actually 9 consoles in one box!!!  Whilst the likes of Sony, Microsoft, and the rest of the world have been looking to the future these guys have been looking to the past and have created a Frankenstein's monster that can play original NES, SNES, Famicom, Super Famicom, Game Boy, Game Boy Colour, Game Boy Advance, Sega Megadrive, and Sega Genesis cartridges.  Unlike other retro emulating consoles of the past the Retron5 utilises software based emulation rather than the cloned hardware emulation of the previous iterations making it more flexible and able to offer more features.  Based on the Android Operating System the Retron5 will offer upscaled graphics output through the HDMI port on the back, improved sound through audio interpolation, and will allow users to save their games at any point (auto saving on shutdown so you can come back to your game at a later date and pick up right where you left off).

The Retron5 console has a total of 6 different controller ports so hardcore retro gamers can use their original pads to play or can use the wireless Bluetooth controller that comes with the console and, due to the software emulation, the user isn't even limited to using a console specific pad so you can use your favourite Megadrive pad to play Super Mario World till your hearts content.

How much for all this Retro goodness I hear you ask?  No official price yet but Hyperkin say it'll be less than $100 so expect it to be around £80 - £100 if it launches in the UK (or if you can find one on EBay) and it's expected to launch this summer so dust off your old cartridges.

What this means for the price of those retro consoles currently selling on EBay remains to be seen, will they hold their price or will their value drop making them more affordable for collectors?  No doubt the value of these cartridges for the emulated consoles will go up due to an increased demand so if there are any you want ready it may be better to look for them online now.

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How to - Set up a Static IP Address

This is going to be a quick and dirty tutorial regarding setting up a Static IP address in Windows 7 partly as this will come in handy for a future tutorial I'm preparing but also because it's kind of handy to know.

What is an IP Address?
An IP Address is pretty much like a telephone number for your computer, any device attached to a network will be given an IP Address by the Router that they are connected to and allows devices attached to the network identify each other.  Every device should have a different IP Address, devices with the same IP Address will not work on the network and you'll see the error message "IP Address conflict with another system on the network"

An IP Address will follow this format 000.000.000.000

Static and Dynamic IP Addresses
Most personal Routers assign Dynamic IP Addresses to devices when they join the network.  Each Router effectively contains the same list of IP Addresses and assigns the next Address on the list to the devices as they connect.  Sometimes the Router gets confused when more than one device attempts to connect at exactly the same time and assigns both devices the same IP Address causing an IP Address conflict.  You may also find that some wireless devices (e.g. printers) are assigned a Dynamic IP Address when you first set them up but if your Router resets and assigns it a different IP Address your PC will fail to find it and you'll need to reinstall the drivers to get it working again.  This can be a major pain in the ass and can be resolved by simply assigning the device a Static IP Address which is exactly what it says on the tin, a device set up with a Static IP address will ALWAYS be assigned the address from the list that has been assigned to it by the administrator.

Why use Static IP Addresses?
Aside from saving you the ball ache of having to reinstall drivers for network devices every time their Dynamic IP Address has been reset when your shitty ISP provided Router has reset itself for the fiftieth time?  If you have lots of devices attached to your home network and, lets face it, most of us do nowadays (PC, Laptop, Console, Tablet, Television, Blu-ray Player, Printer, Smartphone, Kitchen Sink) that's alot of devices requesting an address every time your Router resets and this can cause an IP Address conflict.  Setting a Static IP Address for a few key devices (everything if you want but 99% of the time this isn't necessary) can ensure that your network chugs along happily to itself while you browse for porn... err... I mean the latest info on games and stuff.

How to set up a Static IP Address
Now to the meat and bones... before setting a Static IP Address on your device there are several bits of information that you will need to know so go grab a pen and paper... I'll wait... done?  Okay, here we go.  We're going to need the:

• ~ IPv4 Address
• ~ Subnet Mask
• ~ Default Gateway
• ~ DNS Server

and we're going to get them by following these simple steps:

1) Open the START menu and look for the Search Programs and Files box

2) Click in the box and type CMD then press ENTER, this will bring up the Command Prompt Window

3) Type ipconfig /all in the window and press ENTER, you may see alot of information scroll up very quickly but you can just maximise the window to read it all

4) Write down the 4 things we needed from earlier then type exit and press ENTER to close the window

From here I describe how to assign a Static IP Address to a PC however the process is not that different for other devices on your network

5) Open the START menu again but this time click on CONTROL PANEL

6) Under the Network and Internet heading click on View Network Status and Tasks

7) On the sidebar to the left of the window left click on Change Adapter Settings

8) On the next screen right click on your network adapter and select Properties from the list

9) From the window that opens left click on Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IP v4) then click on the Properties button

10) The next screen is where we assign our Static IP Address.  If the radio button for Obtain an IP Address Automatically is clicked and the rest of the boxes are empty then we're good to go, however if the Use the following IP Address button is clicked and the boxes are full then this has already been done for you and you can exit out now.

If you're continuing with assigning a Static IP Address the first thing you're going to need to do is enter the Static IP Address you've chosen in the IP Address box.  The first 3 sets of numbers should be the same as the first 3 sets for your Default Gateway with only the last 3 digits being changed - these last 3 digits should be in the range from 1 to 254.  Dynamic IP Addresses are assigned in ascending order so you're safest using a section from the highest range of numbers (e.g. from 200+ as a reserved range of Static IP Addresses).

Next enter the Subnet Mask, Default Gateway, and DNS Server information you found earlier into their relevant boxes.  Once done click OK to leave this screen and we're all done.

If you find you have difficulty accessing the internet with your Static IP Address try calling your ISP to check the DNS Server details, they should have this information to hand and will be able to tell you the correct details to use.

Setting a Static IP Address on a Wireless Device
Like setting a Static IP Address on your PC you will need most of the same information for setting a Static IP Address on your Wireless Devices.  You'll need the Subnet Mask, Default Gateway, and DNS Server information but you'll also need the Dynamic IP Address your Router has currently assigned to the device.  With most Wireless devices there is normally some sort of configuration menu where you can view the current IP Address and a browser based network administrator panel that you can log in to and adjust various settings.

Get the IP Address from your device and then open your Web Browser and type the IP Address into the Web Address bar at the top of the page, if you need to log in with a username and password refer to your device manual for this information.  Once in look for a Network tab, left click on it once and then look for a setting named something like IPv4 and click on it.  Once in you should see the option to choose Automatic or Manual IP, select Manual IP and refer to Step 10 above (you may not need to enter the DNS Server details for this), save and exit.  If you've just done this to a Wireless Printer then you may need to re-install your drivers again so that they point to the IP Address you've just assigned to it but this should be the last time you ever need to do it.

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Gifts for the Nerd Dad

Whilst it seems unlikely, some of us do actually manage to find a member of the opposite sex (or same sex - whatever floats your boat) who is actually enamoured by our nerdiness... in my case my wife tolerates it (mostly cos I fix her laptop and spreadsheets for work).   Sometimes we're even lucky enough that we spawn offspring that may end up being as nerdy as us and in recognition of those lucky few here's some gifts that might go down well with the Nerd Dad on Fathers Day.

The 8-bit Tie

Because Dad's have day jobs and sometimes pocket protectors aren't quite enough to demonstrate just how big a nerd you are.  This tie comes in a pixelated 8-bit style in either red or blue and can be found at ThinkGeek

Can also be teamed with the 8-bit Sunglasses for the full retro effect.




Jedi Bath Robe
Allow Dad to act out his Star Wars dreams with this luxurious Jedi Bath Robe styled like the one worn by Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars (the original with Sir Alec Guinness not Ewan McGregor).

Available from ThinkGeek it also comes in Sith style for the Dad with a bit of a dark side.





GeekDad Book

This 272 page tome of awesomeness comes filled to the brim with a host of activities and projects for you and your Nerd Dad so he can share his love of all stuff nerdy with you and you can learn something (cos we all know the school system nowadays isn't quite what it used to be).

Worth picking up if only for the Cyborg Jack-O-Lanterns and the 'Best Slip and Slide Ever' from Amazon.

If you enjoy this consider picking up the companion books in the series.

Sex Panther Aftershave

Your Nerd Dad probably has plenty of aftershave but none quite like Sex Panther from Firebox.com!!!  It's illegal in nine countries*, it's made with bits of real panther**, and 60% of the time it works every time***

It's probably best that you don't buy your Dad this unless you seriously want a little brother or sister and you don't mind early bed times with your head buried under the pillow.
*This is made up
** I hope this is made up
*** It's like Old Spice on steroids so this is probably true (and no-one needs to be on a horse)

Gourmet Coffee

Not just any gourmet coffee, this is Civet Coffee (or Kopi Luwak) which is guaranteed not to taste like shit despite the fact it's made from beans extracted from the poop of the Sumatran Civet.  Responsibly sourced from free range Civet's (that's right - someone gets paid to go searching through cat crap for these beans) and then delicately roasted this is one of the most expensive coffee blends in the world.

Make Dad's day, give him a cup of shit coffee from Firebox.com


Zombie Experience Day

If your Dad's one of those who never misses an episode of The Walking Dead (and who would to be fair... it's an awesome show!) but mutters his way through it about being able to survive a zombie apocalypse?  Then give him a chance to prove it with a Zombie Experience Day from Wish.co.uk

Send him to Zombie Bootcamp to learn how to fight the undead horde then relax safe in the knowledge that should the dead rise and start snacking on your nearest and dearest Dad will be well equipped to save you from becoming a Happy Meal with legs.

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Dead Formats - a retrospective

Before we start lets get this straight - this article has nothing to do with the Essex based band The Dead Formats... If this isn't what you want to hear then you might as well quit reading now otherwise carry on...

Whilst clearing out a butt load of paper files in the archive room at work (my predecessor was something of a hoarder) I came across something I hadn't seen, or even thought about for a long time... this -

For those of you too young to remember what this is it's NOT a coaster (although it may as well be for all the use it gets for it's intended purpose), it's a 3.5" Floppy disk, this is what fits into that pointless slot on the front of older model PC's... the one called the A drive.  This got me thinking about all those old and disused physical formats, not only for computers but also for music and video...

HD-DVD

Toshiba's contender for the HD video industry was short lived lasting only from 2006 until 2008 when they finally gave up the battle against Sony's Blu-ray format which was always going to win the format war based on 3 things -

• * Firstly it was the format offering superior storage capacity (50gb maximum against the HD-DVD's 30gb maximum)
• * Secondly it was the disc format Sony were using for their upcoming PlayStation 3 console
• * Lastly it was the disc format of choice for the American porn industry which churns out more films per month than Hollywood do in a year

CD-ROM

Not really a dead format yet but certainly one that's going the way of the dinosaur.  Up until recently it was the preferred media of choice for pirates everywhere to get their latest 'bangin choons' from their porn riddled PC's in to their ridiculously modified cars so they could cruise down the local high street at five miles an hour with their windows open impressing the 'girls' hanging around outside the local supermarket.  Nowadays they just download it onto their iPod, iPhone, or other MP3 player and plug it in via the AUX port on their overpriced car stereos - this is the only thing that's changed in this scenario.

MINIDISC 

The bastard offspring of the 3.5" Floppy Disc and the CD-ROM the Minidisc felt like it was here one day and gone the next but MD players were still being manufactured up until March 2013.  The Minidisc failed to gain the popularity of the CD and low initial uptake meant many artists weren't releasing their albums in this format and stereos containing Minidisc units remained prohibitively expensive forcing many adopters to hook their MD Walkman up to their stereo in order to record music to listen to.  It's popularity declined further in the late 90's when the first MP3 players appeared and many users began to migrate to digital format instead of hard format.

LASERDISC
The precursor to the modern day DVD, this was a movie on a CD the size of an LP.  The first Laserdiscs were actually made in 1978 and offered superior video quality to VHS and could also handle analog and digital audio whilst VHS was mostly analog only.  Laserdiscs were initially cheaper to manufacture than VHS but by the end of the 1980's the cost of disc pressing was nearly 5 times the cost of VHS due to the amount of plastic and the expensive glass mastering process.  In 1984 Pioneer produced the first commercial Laserdisc player but unfortunately it never took off due to cost and a lack of popularity outside of the US.

VHS / BETAMAX 

Back in the mid 1970's Sony developed the Betamax format which they pitched to the industry as a standard format for the good of everyone.  JVC shocked Sony when they refused to back this format and developed their own rival format known as VHS kicking of the videotape format war of the 80's.  Betamax eventually lost the format war despite offering a superior product due to the perceived benefits of the longer recording times offered by the VHS format and, like the Blu-ray, being chosen as the format of choice by the porn industry.

COMPACT CASSETTE

The compact cassette was originally designed for use with dictaphones but following improvements in sound quality this format eventually replaced 8-Track and Reel-to-Reel tape recording for most domestic applications.  Pre-recorded music cassettes first appeared on the market in the mid 60's and their popularity continued to grow through the 80's with the advent of 'hi-fi' and the Sony Walkman.  In addition to pre-recorded music, cassettes were also used for home recording (with many youngsters using them to record the Top 40 from their radios on a Sunday night in a primitive form of piracy) and for games and data storage on early computers.  Sales of cassette's were over taken by those of CD's in the early 90's and steadily continued to decline dropping from 442 million units sold in 1990 to only 34,000 in 2009.

VINYL (LP & SINGLE)

Introduced in 1948 by Columbia Records the Long Play was adopted as the industry standard for all phonographic recordings and, despite a few minor refinements and a the addition of stereophonic sound capability, has remained the standard format for the last 65 years.  Despite it's decline over recent years there are still labels that release albums on Vinyl for record enthusiasts and for use by DJ's in clubs.

FLOPPY DISKS

Originally developed in the late 60's Floppy disks were originally manufactured as an 8" format then later 5.25" and finally 3.5" formats.  Floppy's became popular in the 80's and 90's to transfer data, store backups, and distribute software for home computers.  By the early 90's increasing software size meant that more and more disks were needed for the distribution of software packages (Beneath a Steel Sky on the Amiga A500 needed 11 disks!!!) and in 1996 it was estimated that there were approximately 5 billion Floppy disks in use worldwide.

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iOS7 - a fresh new look for Apple

On June 10th Apple hosted it's Worldwide Developers Conference and used this as an opportunity to reveal some of the most significant changes to it's long standing iOS operating system since it first launched back in 2007.  As well as a host of new features, Jonathan Ive, Apple's Senior Vice President of Industrial Design, revealed that the new update will also bring in a complete overhaul of it's user interface.  Moving away from the glassy effect web 2.0 style icons and ditching the dated green felt, leather, and wood effects that have dominated the bookshelf and games centre features the new design offers a sleeker, flatter interface giving the device the feeling of newness without being a massive departure from the tried and tested formula that's made the iPhone such a dominant market force.  As well as the new icons the interface offers transparent overlays rather than a straight switch between applications, this makes the whole interface seem much sleeker and more modern.  Whether this revamp was a continuation of Steve Jobs vision for Apple and it's products or if it's something that has only been able to be brought to market since Jobs passed is unclear however it's most definitely a welcome change and breathes new life into what was becoming a dated and boring (albeit iconic) interface.

In addition to the new visual style Apple have considered the way that it's customer base use their products and continue their philosophy of investing in the social aspects of their flagship product. Several of the new features enhance this philosophy with Airdrop allowing users to share files from their iPhone with people in the immediate vicinity by utilising the Ad-hoc WiFi  and Bluetooth capabilities of the device without the need to e-mail, text or use 3rd party apps to get a photo or video to someone standing right next to you.  The photo library uses the EXIF data stored in each photo to automatically sort your albums more easily, using this data you can easily find the photos you want without having to go scroll through hundreds of snaps, want to see that photo from when you went to the Grand Canyon 2 years ago? Easy, go into Photos, select the year, the country, the specific location, show the collection off to your friends!

A new Control Centre has been implemented which can be accessed with a simple swipe up from the bottom of the screen (much in the same way that it's Notification Centre can be accessed with a downward swipe in iOS6) and offers quick access to settings such as Airplane Mode, brightness, and media controls as well as shortcuts to several apps like the built in flashlight and compass.

The way open apps are closed has been greatly improved, gone is the requirement for a long key press to get the option to fully close apps running in the background now they can simply be swiped off the screen.  iOS7 learns your habits and utilises it's multitasking ability based on this - check your Facebook every morning at 9am?  iOS learns this and will update your news feeds before you open the app saving you time and effort!

Admittedly some of the new features in iOS7 are just features you would have expected to be there in previous iterations, others seem to be simply 'borrowed' from Android (swipe to close apps, transparent windows, parallax scrolling on the background), and some just seem to be common sense - like displaying a message on the lock screen if you lose your iPhone and requiring your Apple ID and password to turn off the Find my iPhone feature or to erase the iPhone.

Probably the most innovative feature with iOS7 isn't even going to be available until next year and that's 'iOS in the Car' which integrates the iOS with your cars dashboard computer (if the car is equipped with it) and allows you to make calls, send and receive messages, play music, and get directions using the cars in-built display and controls or Siri Eyes Free.

Whilst this update represents a big leap forward for iOS and some of the features seem innovative I can't help but feel that many of the features are simply Apple integrating 3rd Party apps into their OS or taking the best parts of other well known operating systems to integrate into theirs.  Apple are doing well in keeping up with their competitors here but need to come up with something special to define themselves as the market leaders for their products features rather than their style and accessibility.

Full details of the iOS7 features can be found on Apple's website.

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