Here at The Processor, it may surprise you to know we are not just obsessed Steve Jobs and Apple fans, but are also fascinated by other techy industries like television productions and live events, and the launch of the executive production team for the London 2012 Olympics today is a great opportunity to explore this.

While the limelight falls on directors Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) and Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot), a another figure who will be fundamental to how the world perceives this event is Executive Producer for Broadcast, Hamish Hamilton. Essentially he is the man who gets to play with all the cameras, sit in a gallery of flashing buttons, cuing shots, while billions of people world-wide watch the spectacle unfold on TV.

If you needed any proof of his credentials, watch the video above to see him in action in the gallery at a live U2 concert during the 2001 NBA Playoffs. Amazing stuff! With him at the helm, we might just pull it off.

Is it worth it? The new paywalled TheTimes.co.uk website.

Today is the day when Murdoch puts his money where his mouth is. The biggest gamble since I placed my £10 bet on North Korea to win the world cup. The Times news website is now behind a paywall. This means to access all content off of the front page of TheTimes.co.uk now requires users to sign up and pay £1 per day or £2 per week to access the content.

This is a very big test for a big business to change it’s model online in one day. Should it work; News International will single handedly be responsible for turning news online on it’s head and actually making it profitable. Should it fail; it would be a spectacular event, a story told for generations to come, where the big nasty corporation screwed it up massively and people just went to read the free but equally good news on the BBC News website instead. WHICH IS WHAT I PREDICT TO HAPPEN.

News International – head up own arse shocker

This quote from Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News International, is particularly apt:
“We are proud of our journalism and unashamed to say that we believe it has value.”, yes but so is the Guardian and it is free on their website. Furthermore, I would like to see News Int. use the same argument when their other ‘quality’ newspaper website TheSun.co.uk goes behind the same paywall, not so proud now are you.

I’d love to be a fly on the wall of The Sun’s online target market; when unemployed Doreen in a council estate in Slough, who can barely read let alone get a bank account is asked to enter her credit card details into a 5 page sign up form on the site. Good luck Murdoch.

All that negativity to one side; the site looks really rich and seems a cut above most online news sites, with content and design being carefully considered. Whether this better user experience is worth paying for, or if people will just go elsewhere, will become apparent very soon. And such is the power of the internet that has allowed this to happen, be prepared for people like me to scream and shout about it until it we are happy.

Photo Credit: Diana Walker from the book 'The Bigger Picture'

Poor old Steve Jobs obviously has nothing else to do with his time at midnight on a Friday, sitting all alone in his big ivory tower, shouting at things. You wouldn’t guess that he was the CEO of one of the biggest tech firms in the world. But here is a link to an email argument that Jobsy was engaged in regarding the hot topic of porn on the iPad, ahem I mean Flash, with an employee of Valleywag (part of the Gawker Media team that Apple hates)…

Steve Jobs offers world freedom from porn – Valleywag

So here you are, our top 5 shit-tech. Some serious, some not so, all up for discussion, feel free to post your own.

1. Microsoft tablet

Boooring, what is soo friggin exciting about a tablet PC running Windows 7. Microsoft, stop it, you are just embarasing yourself. Why not try and make a cool new product that really differentiates itself from the rest of the market, instead of half assed e-readers.

The most interesting thing about this fail is how they have managed to look shit in comparison to a company that was not even there, and next to a product that has not been launched yet, the Apple iSlate!

More here

2. The Phubby (wrist-on)

It’s a mobile phone holder for your… hand. And as an added feature, it also will make you look like a total douche!

Found here

3. 152-inch Plasma TV

As the world’s leading consumer electronics show it’s good to see the number of affordable televisions on show, like this 152-inch plasma TV. Panasonic have not released any information on pricing, but early calculations predict Slovenia. Yes, that’s right, we assume it will cost you about as much as it would cost to buy a former Soviet state.

Found here

4. Ford In Car Twitter

Really, you got something to twitter about while you are driving. Like, what, you’re driving. That is not interesting. This one goes in the file with internet fridge etc.

Found here

5. Hannspree Polar Bear TV

Ok, so this polar bear shaped TV is supposed to highlight the plight of polar bears in the face of global warming. Ooh the irony!

Found here

I am sure we will see more as the event goes on, but for now if you find any more please feel free to Tweet at us or post a comment below.

Google calls these POI’s their “Favorite Places on Google”, and could include restaurants, shops, bars and hotels. Their logic is that most people decide what business to use based on user feedback and would like to access this whilst browsing a menu or looking at a pricelist in a shop window.

This could be very handy, I can see myself now, staggering down the road after a boozy night, getting recommendations on which fried chicken shop to choose on Old Street; FCKF, Dallas Chicken & Ribs or Chiken Cottage, hmmm thanks Google!

The iPhone is unarguably a decent piece of kit, and a few minor niggles aside, there’s very little to criticise. When it comes to iPhone users however, it’s pretty much open season.

The latest ammo comes from Retrevo, which conducted a survey into the habits and lifestyles of 445 smartphone users. For anyone keen to crassly stereotype anyone who owns Apple’s handset as an image obsessed tosser, the results make for rather amusing reading.

- iPhone owners’ said they find cool gadgets, “most attractive,” about a person, in fact, three times more so than a college degree. For boring old BlackBerry users, the priorities are reversed.

- Both demographics were pretty tech snobby however. When looking for love, 35% of iPhone owners and 29% of BlackBerry owners deemed stuffy old gadgets as a bit of a turn off.

- In an awesomely hypocritical turn, it appears that typically app-obsessed iPhone users are less tolerant of that behavior in others, with 25% of users having binned a significant other for heavy smartphone usage. 17% of Blackberry users had done the same.

- When the dumping does come, iPhone users are less likely to do it face to face, with 33% saying they had broken up with someone via text or email, compared with 22% of Blackberry users.

- Unsurprisingly, iPhone owners used their handsets to check news and sport and watch TV and video more than their Blackberry sporting counterparts, but they also accessed way more pornography. 20% compared to 12% admitted to frequently watching adult material.

- Finally, iPhone users seemed to boast significantly larger egos, with more considering themselves intellectuals, extroverts, jocks and media buffs than BlackBerry owners. The Blackberry isn’t completely lacking in sex appeal though, interestingly, partners of BlackBerry owners ranked them slightly higher in these areas.

Augmented reality is pretty fucking cool right? I mean how could it not be – projecting fake stuff onto real stuff is an inherently cool use of technology. Given these high base levels of cool, you’d be forgiven for thinking that it wouldn’t be too hard to come up with something at least reasonably cool, even for a socially crippled and chronically uncool games designer. Arcade Reality – an AR shooter for the iphone – comprehensively stomps that theory however. Quite honestly, it looks about as much fun as masturbating with an electric sander. Who cares that you can tackle nasty aliens in your office/car/vermin infested bedroom when they look as awful as this.

iOffer - How Apple do job offers

Ever wondered what it would be like to get a job offer from one of the most highly regarded companies in Silicon Valley? Well one blogger, Twisted founder Glyph Lefkowitz, was lucky enough to get one. And as all good bloggers should do, promptly posted an Engadget style ‘unboxing’. Commenting on things like the “hinge tension” and the “tab style navigation”, Apple can be sure that they have hired another disciple obsessed with the same attention to detail as The Lord Jobs Himself.

Read this, then go get yourself a job! Slacker.