You could call it "the blind leading the blind..."

Mystery has surrounded today's broadcast in 3D of the Premier League clash between Arsenal and Manchester United. Sky who are claiming (incorrectly) that it is the first TV company anywhere to "broadcast a live 3D TV sports event to a public audience" will not disclose which 9 pubs are kitted out with the necessary 3D TVs. They've done a very good job of keeping it secret.

A list has been going round on popular forums including Digital Spy which is almost certainly incorrect. In fact it appears to be completely fabricated. Sirocco in London is definitely not showing it, a number of people have said Qbar in Dublin is a no-no and The George in Liverpool Street has a sign outside saying "no 3D football".

I've spent all day trying to get to the bottom of it and so far, the pubs that have been mentioned or rumoured to be showing the game (which are not on that forum list) are...

**Only one of these are confirmed and there is mass disinformation abound**

Dublin - Copper Face Jacks (source) or could be Fagan's in Drumcondra (source) (It was Fagan's)
Manchester - The Red Lion Withington (source but pub saying no) (It was the Red Lion)
Edinburgh - Belushis (source but now looking unlikely) / McGuffies (aka the Doric Tavern) (source) | Was shown at Sportsters
Cardiff - Vulcan (source) | Was shown at the Old Arcade
London - The Drayton Ealing CONFIRMED BUT SEE BELOW | The Slug and Lettuce Angel (source) | The Railway Tavern, Liverpool St Station

The info on the pub in Ealing is legit which I've managed to confirm unequivocally BUT it is being shown in a private room for invited press and other contacts of the pub only. The Drayton will be showing a first-come, first-served rerun of the game at 7pm, and the other pubs could well be doing the same.

I hope to update the post with the actual, final list of the 9 pubs so do tell me if you have the info. You can contact me on Twitter or post in the comments below.

One thing is for sure... If you definitely want to see a game in 3D, go to a match, or as one Twitterer suggested... stay home, put on Sky Sports, and drop acid.

Incidentally, the 3D TV being used is a special 47" model from LG to show the game in the pubs. More info on the technology behind the broadcast is here.

UPDATE: My review of the 3D broadcast is here.

Posted by Alx Klive at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Apple and Steve Jobs really missed the element of surprise with the launch of the iPad. The biggest surprise was that more people didn't figure out what the name would be... iSlate... iTablet... err nyet.

It made watching yesterday's Stevenote (once it had been finally uploaded many hours later) all very humdrum. At one point I was fidgety and... dare I say, bored? The most hyped product launch in all of Apple's history had become a bland exercise in telling us what we already knew or expected. That's not how Steve notes usually go.

My biggest disappointment was the virtual keyboard. It was here that I thought Apple would genuinely wow us. Clearly the ultimate virtual keyboard (for touch typists at least) would be one where you don't actually see the keys. Simply lay your fingers down on the screen in any position or orientation, and start typing. As you type, the keys you are typing appear like magic, with clever algorithms and phrase and spell checking figuring out what you are trying to type. Context and learning your own styles of phrase, size/positioning of your hand and style of writing can all contribute.

This to me was what I was hoping for, and short of that or the device actually levitating, flying over the audience and coming back to the Hand of Steve - the presentation was always going to be a disappointment.

The iBook store / interface was cool and the options for new gaming interactions will lead to genuine innovation and paradigm shift. Price point is good too - I wonder if they are taking a leaf out of the gaming console manufacturers and starting to think loss leader. With the Apps store they can.

Of course I will be buying one, like every other Apple fan boy. As Steve was forced to say in an almost embarrassed way due to lack of general applause (the first applause was 23 minutes in)... "it's much better when you have one in your hands".

I'm sure he's right, and I'll be back saying how amazing it is in future.

Posted by Alx Klive at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)