David Harfield

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Archive for October, 2010

More mead, wench! All are invited to dine at Henry VIII’s court, underneath the Tower of London!

Posted by davidharfield on October 15, 2010

Canny guests will arrive a little early to get first dibs on the best fancy dress; this could mean the difference between spending the evening as Robin Hood or Friar Tuck.

Medieval Banquet

 

Ivory House, East Smithfield, London E1W 1BP

Buried deep in the dungeons next to the Tower of London lies a hidden palace of untold excesses; jesters juggle and knights battle in between four courses of Ye Olde Worlde cuisine.  The Medieval Banquet has been running for almost 40 years, with actors portraying Henry VIII’s court, complete with serving wenches who serenade costumed guests while they enjoy their supper.  The first course of vegetable broth is served with oven-baked bloomers that boast a crisped surface, giving way to a soft, doughy middle, perfect for tearing and sharing.  The second course consists of mixed pâtés, salads and a selection of cheeses; then it’s on to the main course, where chicken drumsticks, roast potatoes and mixed vegetables are served in authentic cauldrons, before the dessert course of a chilled fruit tart.  The food is intended for sharing, as are the jugs of ale and wine that flow freely throughout the meal, before the dungeon morphs into a medieval disco.

David Harfield

Published in Blue Tomato, October 2010

To visit Medieval Banquet’s website, click here.

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Putting personal trainers out of a job, the ‘iFitness’ App is your new workout buddy!

Posted by davidharfield on October 15, 2010

There are many reasons why you shouldn’t get a personal trainer.  Leaving aside the rock-hard abs and toned biceps that would all be yours if only you could

By logging your progress as you go, iFitness can show you detailed graphs of workout data that are great reference points for moving forward. Also, each exercise comes with a video demonstration…your very own virtual trainer!

find the motivation to work for them, imagine having someone who is a professional fitness expert scrutinizing your body as you pound away on a sweaty treadmill, or texting you with a guilt trip message just before you head out for a boozy dinner to remind you that the chocolate torte that you have been craving all week will only be a moment on your lips, but a lifetime of podgy, confidence shattering ridicule and shame.  Oh, and they cost about a million pounds per hour.

Well, with the iFitness App you can now enjoy all the benefits of a personal trainer without the constant pressure or the exorbitant price tag.  iFitness is the ultimate exercise App, with a detailed list of exercises for each area of the body, complete with a detailed diagram of the human body to match your work out to whatever muscle group it is that you want to improve.  It also offers a comprehensive list of routines and programs to match your targets; for example, the ‘Basketball Conditioning Routine’ shows the budding hoop star the best exercises to work on at certain points in the season to optimize their body for the courts.  There are also more regular routines, such as the ‘Swimmer’, ‘Runner’ and Soccer Programs along with routines that will help you lose weight, build your abs or even define your glutes!

The routines can be done anywhere from training with free weights and aerobic exercises in the comfort of your own home, to which machines to use at the gym; there is even a ‘Business Travel Workout’ that uses office chairs as props for those of you who don’t want your workaholic lifestyle to prevent you from getting a polished set of guns to show off beneath your suit!

With a personalized log of all your workouts, as well as other extras such as a BMI Calculator and Weight Monitor, the iFitness App really is the future for anyone who is even slightly serious about healthy living and exercise…and if you do want that extra slice of dessert at dinner, then your iPhone won’t judge you.

David Harfield

To read the published article, or purchase ‘iFitness’, click here.

Posted in iPhone App Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Anchorman Soundboard app – The funniest quotes from the film ‘Anchorman’ on your iPhone

Posted by davidharfield on October 15, 2010

This is only one of many film and TV quote Apps; ‘Bond quotes’ is a necessary accessory to any geeky party, as is the highly popular ‘Alan Partridge’ App…“A-ha!”

We’ve all been there.  You’re sitting at a friend’s dinner party drinking post-meal coffees and the discussion turns to films.  Everybody is out to impress, so obviously the standard French and Japanese classics are churned out, along with ‘Schindler’s List’, ‘Raging Bull’ and that one about a young Che Guevara, yet you are just itching to shout out your favourite film of all time, but fear the ensuing ridicule at the mere mentioning of such a lowbrow film as ‘Anchorman’.

Well, here’s what to do.  See which guest is most likely to be a kindred spirit in your adoration for one of the stupidest, funniest quotable film of all time and subtly slide your iPhone across the table, with a nod and a wink to test the water.  They will undoubtedly press one of the many ‘quote buttons’ and the sound of Brian Fantana waxing lyrical about his ‘Sex Panther’ aftershave, “60% of the time, it works every time,” will slice through the pretentious waffle like a knife through cheese.

For those of you who haven’t seen ‘Anchorman’, this is a veritable ‘best of’, with a selection of the funniest quotes from the film; if it tickles you in away, then I suggest renting the movie so you can see what all the fuss is about.  This App won’t change your life, but it will make future social gatherings a lot funnier, as you entertain and annoy your friends by giggling at the ‘Anchorman’ back catalogue; pretty soon you won’t even need to go to dinner parties, you can just stay in and click away with your new set of virtual friends!

For the price of a packet of crisps, you can have Brick Tamland invite you to a pants party, time and time again.  Now that’s good value for money.

David Harfield

To read the published article, or purchase ‘Anchorman Soundboard’, click here.

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It’s only Rock and Roll but iLike it! ‘Ultimate Guitar Tabs’ App offers tablature for all of your favourite songs!

Posted by davidharfield on October 15, 2010

There are some musicians who will never have to pick up a song book, or read a note of music, having been blessed with perfect pitch at birth and can

The ‘Random Tab’ button is an excellent way to try out songs that you would never usually consider learning. Also, the Auto Scroll function allows you to play the tabs continuously, without pausing to drag down the page.

therefore unleash a flawless rendition of any song within minutes of first hearing it.  Then there are the other 99.999% of us, who actually have to learn our favourite songs the old-fashioned way.  However, trawling through second-hand music books or deciphering the scribbles that your mate’s older brother jotted down for you isn’t anyone’s idea of a good time, and let’s face it, hardly rock and roll.

Well, ‘Ultimate Guitar Tabs’ provides iPhone users with the chance to learn any song of their choosing, simply by logging on to their database and browsing the collection of guitar, bass and drum tablature as well as chords and lyrics for over 300,000 songs!  You can use the Advanced Search tool to specify which instrument it is that you want to use, which part of the song it is that takes your fancy, as well as the difficulty level of the piece and its tuning.

Another cool feature is the Tab Pack option, which gives the user a set of pre-grouped tabs that come under a specific genre and skill level; so, if you want to be a punk rocker in the morning then you can whizz through The Ramones back catalogue, then chill out with some lazy blues in the afternoon before finishing the night off by shredding through a classic Metal Tab Pack.

Purists may scoff at the easy accessibility of it all and declare that unless you’re hunched over a gramophone, tortuously working the notes out one by one, then it ‘ain’t proper music’…feel free to silence them with a deafening display of your ever-growing repertoire before filling all of the spare time that you have saved learning songs the fun way with some good old rock and roll fun!

David Harfield

To read the published article, or purchase ‘Ultimate Guitar Tabs’, click here.

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Stuck for a stamp? Try the fun new App that will personalize your ‘Postcards’!

Posted by davidharfield on October 15, 2010

Postcards will only accept payments via Paypal, so make sure that you have your username and password ready. Also, if you are sending your postcard from another country, (not Wales), then avoid costly roaming charges by finding free Wi-Fi.

Going on a trip?  Maybe it’s a well-deserved cruise around the Atlantic, a tour of the Pyramids or perhaps a recession-friendly mini break to a caravan in Wales…well, wherever you plan on travelling you can make your friends and relatives jealous by sending them a custom made postcard using photos of your adventures as you go.

The new ‘Postcards’ App can be downloaded for free and allows users to select images from either their phone’s library or take a new snap there and then, before flipping the image over and scrawling a personal message on the reverse of the e-postcard.  The image is then sent to eCards, who will dispatch your postcard to whichever of your friends’ postal addresses that you have given them, all for the very reasonable sum of £0.99p, so long as you are holidaying in this country, (£1.49 for anywhere else in the world.)

This takes the hassle out of choosing a cheesy, ‘Wish You Were Here’-style postcard from a newspaper vendor, then finding a different shop to buy stamps, before walking across to the other end of town to find a postbox, only to notice that you have misspelled the name on the message and you have to start all over again.

A very simple, incredibly useful App that will save you time and bother when you are supposed to be relaxing and enjoying yourself…think of all of your friends’ faces turning a greener shade of envy as they open their postbox to find another picture of you kicking back in the Welsh caravan.

David Harfield

To read the published article, or purchase ‘Postcards’, click here.

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