Beta Labs

Jonathon Ross returns

2009-01-24T10:05:00.000Z

Jonathon Ross returns

10.35 Friday (23^rd January) was the return of Wossy. His first guests back were pocket sized sweat machine funny man Lee Evans, the very intelligential and amusing Stephen Fry and Hollywood’s very own alpha male Tom Cruise.

From the outset Jonathon Ross come back punching with funny one liners and the odd reference to his gag back in November with Russell Brand.

Lee Evans has always been the DVD selling comedian to me, short, busting with energy and funny, he had by far the shorter section of the show and did what every decent comedians does, took the piss out of his wife. Sure she loved that

Stephen Fry was actually really funny, he is definitely on a higher intelligential plain that most, the Twitter plug will no doubt get 30 something’s rushing towards the micro-blogging platform but nevertheless does go to prove celebrities can update their own web based apps

Lastly came an actor loved by millions, or to most 80’s babies, maverick, the 5ft something actor Tom Cruise. He obviously came on the show to plug his new movie Valkyrie, Ross did what he has done to most men who try and act the bigger star on his show was to take him out of the comfort zone and make him sing. He did similar to Jimmy Carr. Tom Cruise is a typical alpha male, had to be the star, centre of attention and act like he was in control of his segment. The guy has acting talents (more of years gone by) and has been in the public eye for 25 years now but he really needs to lay off the power trip.

All in all Jonathon Ross’ return was what you would expect from a veteran of the industry, humour, probing questions and the odd dig at the stars, but he does have the charm and lol funny moments which will win back the critics

Danny Denhard

FA Cup 4th Round Predictions

2009-01-24T10:03:00.000Z

FA Cup 4^th round predictions Saturday 24^th January

Chelsea v Ipswich, R4, 15:00

Chelsea will breeze through this, win by two clear goals, providing Ipswich do not sneak an early goal.

Doncaster v Aston Villa, R4, 15:00

Tricky away tie for Villa, Martin O Neill will be ready and will no doubt play a stronger line up. A win by one clear goal. The news of Emile Heskey joining will spur on the Villla.

Hartlepool v West Ham, R4, 12:40

I can see this as the hardest away game for the Premier League battlers, Zola has his work cut out and will find it hard with Chris Turners men won 3 out of their last 6. Fitst of the two televised matches on ITV today. Score draw for me

Hull v Millwall, R4, 15:00

Hard game for Hull who’s form has been struggling as of late. I can see Kenny Jackett’s men being hard to beat, Phil Brown could be wise and lose today to concentrate on the second half of the Premier League season.

Kettering v Fulham, R4, 15:00

Kettering must fancy their chances against Fulham, losing their game against West Ham last week. Kettering owner has come out and attacked TV bosses for not televising this game but just shows how bigger games are available in the 4^th round. Fulham edge it.

Man Utd v Tottenham, R4, 17:15

One of the televised games this weekend, Man Utd on for all the cups this year can beat Spurs in a dress reversal of the Carling Cup final. Spurs lose in the week will still be in the back of the minds of the players who’s form recently has been no short of rubbish. Man Utd to win, and win by a couple, although thinning numbers may mean a few fresher faces for the champions of England, Europe and the world.

Portsmouth v Swansea, R4, 15:00

Holders Pompey wont be fancying their chances against a good team in Swansea. The Swans have been struggling for form but always seem to be able to raise their game. If Adams doesn’t put out a strong 11, he could find himself out. Score draw

Sheff Utd v Charlton, R4, 15:00

All championship affair. Charlton clearly struggling and Sheffield Utd still are there or there abouts at the top half of the table. I predict a win for the blades but not without a spirited fight from Charlton.

Sunderland v Blackburn, R4, 15:00

A northern all Premier League affair, Blackburn in good form since Big Sam has taken over. Neither have had the abilities to splash the cash in the transfer market and could go either way. Blackburn might sneak an away win here, Big Sam could keep the momentum going.

Torquay v Coventry, R4, 15:00

Non league Devon outfit Torquay come up against the midlands sky blues. Hard to say how Coventry could fair here today, I think class should shine through.

Watford v Crystal Palace, R4, 15:00

My local team welcome back Elton John and Graham Taylor to Vicarage Road today. Both appointed to the new look board, Palace always have a habit in recent years of upsetting Watford fans but the Hornets will be up for today (well fans anyways). I think a tight draw. Rodgers will need to get some sort of run going, especially at home, to help stop the rot.

West Brom v Burnley, R4, 15:00

Nice tasty game, this will be a good open game. Both teams play nice football and although the win but ultimately a lose in Mid week to a very lucky Tottenham will only give the Owens men the belief they can overturn another Premier League team. Chris Eagles to sore high again? Away win

Wolverhampton v Middlesbrough, R4, 15:00

Top team Wolves from the Championship against struggling Boro. Boro have lost the last four on the road and Wolves are still going great guns. Wolves home win unless Rob Styles ruins the game. This could be a change at the end of the season and Southgate knows the pressure is mounting.

Danny Denhard

http://betalabs.co.uk

2009-01-19T20:06:00.001Z

watching the liverpool derby - come on the fantasy football points ;)

UFC 93 - Irish fight night

2009-01-18T12:33:00.000Z

Last night was dominated by 3 things, judges, fights lasting the distance and cardio.
Shogun Coleman fight was a bit of a none starter! Not sure if cardio was the real issue or the fact neither fighter had fought in over a year.
Coleman looks dead on his feet from the 3rd minute of the fight, Shogan didn't last much longer, the fact it went to the 3rd and a half job upper cut finishing the match for a TKO for Shogun proved two things, cutting weight @ 44 isnt right or easy. 2nd thing Shogun is not the fighter he once was. One to miss if you missed the fight last night! If I were Coleman i'd retire now, it was almost embarrassing watching the hall of famer in action.

Palhares looked good until his cardio/fitness took over, he struggled to put Horn away when he had his back five plus times, with experience Horn knew he would have to tuck in and take a beating. There is no doubting Palhares' abilities and could be a real force but has to improve his cardio.

Denis Kang's debut disappointed, although dominating stand up and on the matt, he lost by tapping from a fairly deep guillotine choke, the octagon debut often has that effect on new fighters to UFC but someone of Kang's abilites and eros you would have expected better, again you have to give it to Alan Belcher for his submission victory.

The slog fest that was Davis Lytle did not disappoint! Davis won the fight, his boxing was of a higher class and standard, if it went to the ground which both fighters swear they would not and credit it did not I think Lytle would have taken the victory. The Dublin crowd reaction to The Irish Hand Grenade was awesome.

Henderson Franklin fight was one for the technical fan, I would score it a draw but Henderson did land some bombs, Franklin landing good kicks which in my opinion should score higher then throwing a throwing over hand right. Good win for Hendo nevertheless - he will now coach Team USA against UK finest Michael Bisping selected fighters. I predict now Team USA will win hands down.
I think if Henderson beats Bisping he will close to another title shot.... unsuccessful in my opinion as there are too many diverse fighters in front of him.

All in all not a bad fight card and some promising results... the next forthnight will waiting for UFC 94 BJ Penn Vs GSP, the hype is amazing, the fight will be a classic and a fight literally which has all MMA fans excited.

Danny Denhard

FA cup 3rd round weekend

2009-01-03T12:34:00.000Z

With the FA cup 3rd round weekend kicking off on Friday night, it always raises the question to true football fans, does it still have the love factor it used to?
I very much doubt it, big clubs obviously have European football to worry about along with the Premier League.
Last years winners Pompey did well to win it, this year I very much doubt they will get pass the 4th round, personally speaking I think Manchester City or Aston Villa have the best shot, Man U, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea all have European football back in Feb, Arsene Wenger might only be the manager out of the four to want to win the cup, not just for the fans but deep down for him.
Mark Hughes has to win something and the FA cup is the best opportunity for him, the new owners will need some incentive to attract the big players and Hughes needs it to keep him in his new job. I think Hughes providing he has a couple of home legs may fly through to the semi.
Villa although still within a shout of the champions league finishing place in the Premiership will want to win to keep the momentum going and make sure they have a place in the new style UFEA cup, this would also allow O Neal to buy and attract bigger players which he will need to be consider a contender next season.
The FA cup is still probably the biggest domestic cup competition in the world, but definately doesnt have the kudos or the importance it once did.
Possible shocks this weekend it could be: -
Hartlepool win over Stoke, Stoke need to concentrate on their run in to avoid relegation.
Barrow away win against Boro, Boro been poor and the underdogs will definately be up for the away win.
Peterborough away win at West Brom, another team definately involved in the relegation battle and will in the back of their minds enjoy being able to concentrate on the fight over the next 5 months.

My prediciton this year could be Arsenal win, providing they play experienced players away from The Emirates, but strongly fancy Villa and City. Never discount the big three Man U, Liverpool and Chelsea but their targets would be the Premier League and Champions league.

Danny Denhard

Dancehall pinoeers - is music just a business?

2008-12-29T16:27:00.001Z

What dancehall has taught hip hop, r n b and urban artists, smart remixing pushes their brand/ sorry artist
When dancehall made an impact 2001/2002 it emphasised what many artists lose out on, getting your name out there and the small thing... loving the music you create.
Dancehall creates two things, a great production and the ability that artists can jump on the same beat and take the track in a different direction.
A number of riddims created a hype, big artists had to ride the beat, Sean Paul, Vybez Kartel get on the hottest beats which would lead the up and coming rappers to collab and create more hype. Big US artists in turn jumped on it and end up remixed and released to the main stream, through the mixtapes market and big radio play.
This has now been introduced into the mainstream (aka the crazy world of hip hop). Its not new of course but happens alot more regularly and allowing artists the chance to collab on a track which record labels would never allow previously.
From a marketing prospective this has helped artists such as Lil Wayne to jump on tracks, release mixtapes and making him the hottest property in urban music. Other popular mainstream hip hop artists such as TI and T Pain have also had great success.
What is also interesting is that artists such as Akon become a mix of an artists, producer and label owner. Giving him almost complete control. The music industry is ever evolving, developing talents, releasing when its best for one the label and arguably second for the talent. Learning from Dr Dre dropping Eminem was one of the best moves in modern business, same with em dropping 50 and then leading to slim records, clothing ranges, record labels for his recording artists (G Unit records) and even computer games.

Danny Denhard
http://www.last.fm/home

Techy predictions

2008-12-29T14:45:00.001Z

Facebook boom - Facebook branching out again, the obvious being blog's and better messaging facility. Possibly they could improve the email and give the ability to have folders and filters. Facebook connect will take off with the more geeky people.
Myspace music - To become a major site in its own right. Pushing new talents, unsigned talents will have a standard platform to compete with major artists. Social web power or great marketing power?
Mobile web - with the raise of mobile internet or mobile broadband as companies wrongly name it, I can see the improved technology only boosting the amount of mobile internet users. Websites such as facebook have done extremely well with m.facebook.com, I can see many more rolling out mobile websites. Social sites and web 2.0 leading the way.
Widgets and web apps - The amount of widgets to reduce dramatically, less money, less time, less rubbish to be released - a good thing IMHO
Yahoo - an actual sale, Microsoft could eventually buy out.
Open ID - must have this year, think of how many log in and passwords you have. Will become standard
Film screening/buying/renting online - With the popularity of downloading music from mp3.amazon.co.uk and the popularity of tv shows and movie downloads from apple, I can see more films being rented/brought or screen online. Could become a great way of promotions and embedding adverts.
Twitter - Power of twitter to expand, being able to track conversations/tweets will be implemented (have to bow to public pressure) The only worry is twitter will be flooded with mindless old skool marketing types who will abuse the power of twitter (Twitter spam!)
Clones - As the more popular social sites grow and the less popular go into the deadpool, the more likely it is for copycats and clones to be released. Some will improve, others will simply damage the market. 2009 will be the attack of the clones (clones wars)
Ajax - will become more and more popular. It will definitely over take older coding styles and make the web more visually attractive and clearly improve user experience.
More Google handsets - G2 aka cupcake will be released and will sell a few. Can't ever see it being mainstream but can see a few more Google phones with students and geeks. Android to be rolled out to a number of handsets, still too early to tell whether it will take off.
Web Browsers - set to become a huge talking point across the online world. MS Internet Explorer have to set up their game, otherwise market share will drop massively. Firefox and Google's Chrome have really come into their own this year, Modzilla's relationship with Google maybe stretched but will only spur the original alternative provider to step their game up. IE 8 has had a real beating lately, no rush job this time. I can also see Facebook officially partnering with a particular browser provider to release a dedicated browser. Wouldn't suprise me either if Google wrap up social/friend search/internal facebook search and web search on facebook, taking over from the lackluster microsoft search and sneaking out a facebook branded Chrome.

Danny Denhard

UFC 92 predicitons

2008-12-27T09:20:00.000Z

My UFC 92 predictions

Evans will be crowned champion, he has shown in this last handful of fights, he plans each fight from the first punch to the last, Griffin's never say die attitude won't be enough to break down Evans. Rampage should have beaten him in the last fight. Evans might wrap up this fight in a couple of rounds.
Nogueira will beat Mir, Nogueira will either knock him down (Nog stand up is far better than Mir) and he will ground Mir down. It wouldn't surprise me if Nog makes Mir tap as Mir has been far too outspoken and Nog's ground game is sick. Nogueria win will line up a very interesting fight between Lesnar and him.
Rampage has to step up and beat the axe murder, Rampage has already lost twice to Silva in Pride and he will be back to his best otherwise he might find himself right down the pecking order. KO early for Rampage. His training has increased and improved 5 fold since Pride. The only way I see Quinton losing this fight is if he has lost the fight in his head already.
Kongo ever improving will have to stop the new comer Al Turk from trying to take him down. Kongo is well known for his take down defence, I think Kongo will win by KO or ground and pound. New comers never have the greatest first night in the Octagon! Nerves and skills will win tonight. I think if he wins he has to get the winner of Nogueria/Mir and Lesnar. Dana White good luck saying no this time.
Matt Hamill back from his lose to his mate Rich Franklin and will overcome Reese, Hamill TKO.

Off the main card

Closest fight for me to call, but Ryo win after 3
Evensen will be too big and too strong - although his lose to Kongo might be in the back of his head.
CB looks too strong
Okami another ground and pound win
Hardonk KO.

http://uk.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=eventDetail.fightCard&eid=1783

Danny Denhard

2008-12-23T15:06:00.001Z

Possibly the funniest site since sickipedia, http://is.gd/d8vN

Thought of the day 23/12/08

2008-12-23T10:21:00.001Z

Thought of the day
2 days and counting to xmas, 3 days and counting to xmas football, 5 days and counting to UFC 92, 8 days until New Years......

Danny Denhard

Funny vid - check it out

2008-12-23T08:58:00.001Z

Check this out so http://ping.fm/C37ed

Danny Denhard

Thought of the day 22/12/08

2008-12-22T22:11:00.001Z

Thought of the day
I want to know whats more impressive.. 180 in darts? 147 in snooker or perfect hattrick in football?

Danny D

Albums you have to have this year

2008-12-19T10:22:00.001Z

1. Tha Carter 3 - Lil Wayne's year! Deluxe album is hot
2. Paper Trial - TI - definitely his tightest album - clever collaborations and diverse production
3. Only by the night - Kings of Leon - could release every song on the album. Closer has to be released next
4. The making of a man - Jaheim - Never fails to impress, awesome slow jamz
5. Riot - Paramore - Released last year but definitely the best 37 minutes music experience
6. 808 and heartbreak - Kayne West - nothing like you have ever heard before, Robocop and Amazing alternative hip hop at its best, might not be his best selling album - hip hop heads will stay away
7. 140 grime street - Kano - Uk's finest without a shadow of a doubt, he blew up o2 wireless festival! Biggest MC on road
8. The Cool - Lupe Fiasco - Deep
9. Something else - Robin Thicke - Sit back and enjoy

Danny Denhard

My Top Five fighters in UFC

2008-12-17T12:50:00.001Z

5. Raschad Evans aka Sugar - After his win over Chuck, sorry massive KO, he made people stand and notice. He is a bad dude as Joe Rogan would say and don't be surprised if he has a tight game plan and win's the title again Forrest at Ultimate 2008.
4. Thiago Alves aka "the pitbull" - the hottest talent in the UFC at the moment, his clinical win over Koscheck was top notch. His knock power and leg kicks will stop anyone. Definitely the next big thing!
3. Georges St-Pierre aka Rush aka GSP - since his last lose, he has been amazing. His recent wins have been so professional! Even has the American crowd chanting his name over U-S-A.
2. BJ Penn aka "the prodigy" - This is quite possibly the most charismatic fighter in the UFC. I think he could defeat GSP @ UFC 94. If his conditioning is right, then this could be the hardest fight for him.
1. Anderson Spider Silva - truly is greatest pound for pound fighter in the UFC. His stand up is amazing and his ground game is so under estimated, he will blow away anyone in his way!

Danny Denhard

Last FM

2008-12-15T19:00:00.000Z

Last.fm (www.last.fm) is one of those sites which does not come along very often. It has such a cool core idea it supplies a great free alternative to your own music library.

If you are a hip hop fan for instance, search for your favourite artist and you can listen to select tunes or listen to their radio, basically this is where you listen to anything by the artist or artists with similar tags, so it could like a specially made hip hop playlist for you. So if you like artists like Notorious BIG, it will play artists like Jay Z, 2 Pac, Nas etc.

My personal favourite at the moment is the jagged edge radio which has blends neo-soul, r n b and slow jams from the last 15 years. This is much better than my minimal iTunes library on my personal PC.

If you dislike any song you can ban it from the list and it will not play again, simple but definitely a bonus!

It offers you the chance to purchase the music or stream online. If I was apple I would honestly consider “borrowing” the idea

You can also create your own playlists or radio; this isn’t the newest concept (www.mystrands.com or www.pandora.com) but definitely the best and easiest interface around. And as it is online, you have the ability to listen worldwide, unlike any playlist you may have without a remote connection or being a geek.

In short, get yourself onto last.fm and create yourself a playlist and enjoy! It is just class

Btw when I wrote this I was listening to fall out boy radio so just shows you how musically diverse the site is and me of course ;-)

Danny Denhard

http://www.last.fm/user/dannydenhard

To Twitter or not to Twitter

2008-12-15T16:48:00.000Z

Over the last few days I have been experimenting with micro blogging platform Twitter. I have had an account for over a year and decided I should give it another shot. From what I can work out before I had some contacts it had little use for me, however starting to dig deeper I found a number of good features hidden away.

Good features include: -

Connections – is possibly the easiest way to make new business connections (followers often go through big companies and find fellow Twitters through their open profile)

Micro blogging – Being able to sum your subject into 140 characters, including a headline and short piece. Awesome concept if http://search.twitter.com was used properly. Also it is a good way of promoting a new story for bloggers or journalists. No yellow journalism please ;-)

Status update - Short sharp updates, can update your friends what you are up to

SEO – it gives quick and easy backlinks to your newly added content.

Mobile updates – update on the move via m.twitter.com

Direct messages – as in all good social networks it as a direct message, very simple to use and doesn’t have the usual email feel which is refreshing

Famous users – easiest way of keeping up to date with your favourite celebrity and accurate stories. Big shout to Shaq best user by far that I follow (http://twitter.com/THE_REAL_SHAQ).

Things to watch out for –

Spammers - using Twitter to get traffic to their wack sites (Twitter seem to have this nicely under control at the mo)

Fake users – as with all social networks, fake profiles are throughout Twitter, I can see Twitter squatters being the next domain squatters.

Bad mouthing – I can see many users and brands especially using Twitter as brand management and bad mouthing competition. Just remember to keep out

PR stunts – I can only imagine PR stunts being made via twitter.

Personally speaking I can see why so many SEO’s are on Twitter, this is the easiest way to get your latest posts reviewed by users, blackhat’s will have a field day unless it is monitored correctly.

If you have had enough of your RSS reader then Twitter might be the right new solution for you. Just remember you wont be able to keep up to date with everyone!

To conclude, I see the real benefit of twitter, I can see the more technical of people using it as a quick update to their friends and colleagues. I can see it taking over as a mobile phone for many power users, the networking opportunities is unreal. I can it being used by those who have had enough of facebook. It has so many good points and is really useful, but be careful and as ever do not give out too much personal information!

Happy posting ;-)

Danny Denhard

http://twitter.com/dannydenhard