It’s always handy to know a quality local tradesman someone who doesn’t shy away from a challenge. One such craftsman is our new friend Hayden. He’s produced a fantastic coffee table that’s sure to appeal to all you retro gamers. If you’re quick off the mark you can purchase of one of these made to order tables via our sister organisation Pedestrian where one will be on permanent display in the gallery.

Our latest iPhone/iPod Touch App, which we created for DSU, has just gone live in the Apple App Store.  It’s available for free right here.

The OFFICIAL DSU App has been designed to bring De Montfort Students all the latest from DSU.  The App includes:

SNAKE BITE! – Play the SNAKE BITE game and battle for the top spot against other members of the Students’ Union in the shared high score table.

NEWS – All the latest news from the Union, from reports on the work of the exec to the latest in Level 1.

EVENTS – Information on all the events happening around DSU and in Level 1 with the handy calendar application.

VOUCHERS – EXCLUSIVE OFFERS from around the Union delivered live to the app. Discounts and deals in the Union Shop, Level 1, DSU Tech and much more instantly delivered to the app.

OPPORTUNITIES – All the latest opportunities to get involved with DSU Volunteering, DSU Active, Demon Media and much more, in your pocket.

With all the latest news, events, opportunities and special offers, the DSU App is an invaluable way to enhance the student experience at De Montfort University.

The very talented Sally Rose Renner has finished off our entrance mural. It’s stopped many people in their tracks. The detail is amazing. It’s inspired by our wonderful city’s history, people & buildings.  We commissioned Sally to do our walls after her wonderful work on www.iloveleicester.com

This week, our APP OF THE WEEK is Wispa Bar Wars

Check out the full video review over at AppyFamily

disclaimer: We have a vested interest in this App, as we produced the survey functionality.

Last week, Google announced WebM, an open source media project which will attempt to solve the lack of built in support for video within modern day web browsers. Video has become an essential part of day to day web experiences, but there is still no free and open source method for implementing it.

The draft HTML 5 specifications feature a <video> tag, which intends to embed video within the webpage rather than rely on 3rd party plugins on the host system….this plugin is provided by the browser itself. The main browsers are separating themselves into different camps at the moment – Google Chrome and Safari both support the H.264 codec, whilst Firefox, Chrome and Opera opt for the Ogg Theora codec, which is free and open source, but supposedly lesser quality than H.264.

Which opens the doors to the open source WebM project from Google. The project hinges around Googles acquisition of On2 who developed the VP8 codec, which was rumoured to be a competitior to H.264.
Google have made the bold move to release the VP8 codec under a BSD style royalty free license in an attempt to end the video wars we’ve seen so far. There are some early adopters in the browser world – Mozilla have announced full support, Opera has already released a Lab Build of a WebM compatible browser and Adobe has announced that it will support VP8 in its next flash player release. Microsoft have stated that “IE9 will support playback of H.264 video as well as VP8 video when the user has installed a VP8 codec on Windows”….which does kinda miss the point! The last major player is Apple, who have thus far not shared others enthusiasm for the news!

The fact that Google have started to convert HD YouTube videos into this format shows their commitment to the project.

If you’re keen to have a look, head on over to wmproject where you can download the latest overnight builds of HTML 5 supported browsers and preview some films at youtube.com/html5.

Today Dan & Rob have been over in Redditch filming the final day of a Youth Sport Trust project all about dance in primary schools. The kids came up with ideas for the theme of the work and created themed spaces to dance in. Tonight was the culmination of half a terms work, with the final performances to the parents.

When you were aged 9, did you ever wonder what £10 worth of Panini stickers looked like?

Well here is the answer – a bounty of sticker book entertainment!

This week, our APP OF THE WEEK is WordSearch Rush, by local developer We Are Colin.

Check out the full video review over at AppyFamily

Welcome to Leicester, city of the Stars!  The latest addition to our ever-improving Cultural Quarter is being installed today ahead of St. George’s Day tomorrow – our very own Leicester Walk of Fame…  Check out the stars we have right outside the studio:

This week we have all been playing Sketch Nation shooter from publisher Engineous Games.
It is a seriously addictive top down shooter, where you can completely craft your own characters, enemies and levels from drawings, vectors or even typography!
Check out our video review below for a full look at this app.