F1 Drivers' World Championship - Week 1

Vettel after Australian Grand Prix victory

1	Ger	S Vettel	25
2	GB	L Hamilton	18
3	Rus	V Petrov	15
4	Spa	F Alonso	12
5	Aus	M Webber	10
6	GB	J Button	8
7	Brz	F Massa	6
8	Swi	S Buemi	4
9	Ger	A Sutil	2
10	GB	P Di Resta	1

Malaysian Grand Prix

Satellite view of Sepang Circuit in Malaysia

Venue: Sepang, Kuala Lumpur
Race Date: Sunday 10 April
Lap length: 3.444 miles
Race laps: 56
2010 winner: Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)
First grand prix: 1999
Fascinating fact: Kuala Lumpur literally means "muddy estuary". The city's grand prix track was built on a 260-hectare swamp, a factor some have blamed for the increasing number of bumps on the track. Some people claim the circuit may be literally sinking.

Formula 1 - Drivers and Teams

Red Bull - Sebastian Vettel & Mark Webber

McLaren - Lewis Hamilton & Jenson Button

Ferrari - Fernando Alonso & Felipe Massa

Mercedes - Michael Schumacher & Nico Rosberg

Renault - Nick Heidfeld & Vitaly Petrov

Williams - Ruben Barrichello & Pastor Maldonado

Force India - Adrian Sutil & Paul di Resta

Sauber - Kamui Kobayashi & Sergio Perez

Toro Rosso - Sebastien Buemi & Jaime Alguersuari

Team Lotus - Jarno Trulli & Heikki Kovalainen

Hispania Racing Team - Narain Karthikeyan & Vitantonio Liuzzi

Virgin Racing - Timo Glock & Jerome d'Ambrosio

Australian Grand Prix

Satellite view of Albert Park, Melbourne

With the 2011 F1 Grand Prix season about to begin tomorrow, and qualifying taking place today, I believe it is time I post a quick fact file about the Australian Grand Prix. I will be doing this for each race as soon as possible (not necessarily on the day of the race).

Venue: Albert Park, Melbourne
Race Date: Sunday 27 March
Lap length: 3.295 miles
Race laps: 58
2010 winner: Jenson Button (McLaren)
First grand prix: 1996
Fascinating fact: The race returned to Melbourne in 1996 when Martin Brundle was involved in a terrifying crash on the first lap, which split his Jordan car in two. Amazingly, the British driver was able to run back to the pits to collect the spare car for the restart - only to spin off at the same corner on the first lap.

Blackberry Messenger Available for Apple iOS and Android

This week is was revealed that Blackberry have agreed a deal with Apple and Android that it's famous Blackberry Messenger (BBM) will be accessable on all 3 top smartphone brands.

The news came out a few days ago, suggesting that Blackberry had sold all rights for BBM to Apple and Android, however, I can now confirm that they haven't. However BBM will soon be available on iPhone and Android. It is said that BBM on Blackberry's will have a few more unique features; only blackberry's will be allowed to send Photos & Videos over Blackberry Messenger.

As an iPhone user, I have looked into much depth about this discussion as when I heard about this a few days ago I couldn't believe it! With my contract running out soon, I was debating whether to switch over to Blackberry because of Blackberry Messenger. Hearing this news has made me decide to stick with my iPhone until the end of the contract, and I suggest you all do this.

Furthermore, recent news just got out that there will be a new iPhone 5, released in June 2011. Great news! (there will be a post in a few days on this).

Now, back to BBM. At this moment in time, Blackberry, Apple and Android are debating whether BBM should be available on a "one-off purchase" or whether they should have a monthly fee for it. With my experience of the App Store on iPhone/iPod, I strongly believe that they should sell it for a one off fee, however the amount you use it should be determined by the amount of "accessable internet" you have on your contract/pay-as-you-go. I have noticed a problem with pay-as-you-go for this, so I believe it could be a fairly high price - about £4.99 (at a max.) or £0.59 (at a min.). However, if Apple decide that they want to have a continuous charge depending on your internet tariff, I believe it should be a FREE app download from the AppStore. As I don't use Android phones, I don't know how the App store works there, but I believe it is the same as Apple and Blackberry.

Regardless of what happens, no doubt Apple will be able to convert all of the Blackberry Messenger coding into an Application within days. But, as the deal has not been expressed in much detail by the spokesman from Blackberry, one can only assume that BBM will be out as an app at the same date of release as the highly anticipated iPhone 5 which is expected to be out in June 2011 - NOT LONG LEFT!!! For more information on the iPhone 5, check out my post later on this week, with just a small bit of information about why people believe it will be out sooner rather than later.

Six Nations Results - Week 5

O'Driscoll celebrates Irish victory in Grand Slam against England

Here are the results from the 3 matches that took place this weekend in the RBS Six Nations last week of matches.

France 28-9 Wales

Ireland 24-8 England

Scotland 21-8 Italy

 

Here is the final RBS Six Nations Standings.

 

F1: Valsecchi Replaces Trulli or Kovalainen

Formula One racers, Trulli (left) and Glock (right) at a briefing

It was announced today that Italian GP2 driver, and F1 driver, Davide Valsecchi, will replace either teammate Jarno Trulli or teammate Heikki Kovalainen for Team Lotus. He is expected to fill in for the Friday morning practice ahead of both the Australian and Malaysian Grands Prix. I have taken the liberty of comparing his and Trulli's statistics.

Valsecchi:
Starts - 54
Wins - 2
Poles - 1
Fastest Laps - 0

Trulli:
Starts - 234
Championships - 0
Wins - 1
Poles - 4
Fastest Laps - 1

Champions League Semi-Final Draw

Below is the draw for the UEFA Champions League Semi-Final. Again, the team on the left will be playing the first leg at home. Ties will be played on 26/27 April and 3/4 May 2011.

Semi-Final 1:
Inter Milan or Schalke04 vs Chelsea or Manchester United

Semi-Final 2:
Real Madrid or Tottenham vs Barcelona or Shakhtar Donetsk

Champions League Quarter-Final Draw

Below is the official draw for the UEFA Champions League Quarter-Final. The team on the left will have the first leg at home. The ties will be played on the 5/6 and the 12/13 of April 2011. Check out the next post for the Semi-Final draw.

Real Madrid vs Tottenham Hotspur

Chelsea vs Manchester United

Barcelona vs Shakhtar Donetsk

Inter Milan vs Schalke 04

Champions League Round of 16 Results



Below are the final results from the UEFA Champions League Last-16 Round. Check back tomorrow for the full list of the Quarter-Final draw.

Chelsea 0 - 0 FC Copenhagen (agg 2-0) Chelsea Win

Manchester United 2 - 1 Marseille (agg 2-1) Manchester United Win

Shakhtar Donetsk 3 - 0 Roma (agg 6-2) Shakhtar Donetsk Win

Barcelona 3 - 1 Arsenal (agg 4-3) Barcelona Win

Tottenham 0 - 0 AC Milan (agg 1-0) Tottenham Win

Schalke 04 3 - 1 Valencia (agg 4-2) Schalke 04 Win

Bayern Munich 2 - 3 Inter Milan (agg 3-3) Inter Milan Win (on away goals)

Real Madrid 3 - 0 Lyon (agg 4-1) Real Madrid Win

Bryan Robson Faces Throat Cancer

Bryan Robson coaching the Tailand national team

It was announced today that Manchester United and England great, Bryan Robson, has undergone surgery to fix a tumour in his throat. We have been told that the tumour is a treatable condition, and Bryan Robson will be able to continue his role as Thailand manager as well as being an ambassador at his old club, which he signed for a record tranfer fee of £1.5m in 1981, Manchester United.

Sir Alex Ferguson Handed Five-Match Ban

Ferguson during Man Utd's 2-1 defeat to Chelsea

The FA have given Sir Alex Ferguson a Five-Match touchline ban due to his improper conduct towards referee Martin Atkinson during his side, Manchester United, loss against Chelsea earlier this month. The ban starts on the 22nd March and runs through Manchester United's FA Cup Semi-Final match against rival, Manchester City. They have also fined Sir Alex £30,000 because of his actions.

England Nervous Ahead Of Ireland Match

Ben Youngs playing for England as Scrum-Half in the Six Nations

England's scrum-half, Ben Youngs, has admitted that England are nervous for their clash against Ireland this Saturday. If England manage to win, we will see Martin Johnson's side claim their first RBS Six Nations Grand Slam since 2003. To some people this may seem worrying, but, in my opinion, this is good news... Why? Well it shows that England are already fully focused on their tough match against the Irish, showing that we want to do well, and hopefully they can. Check this blog later on this week for the RBS Six Nations results and table.

2012 Olympics Tickets On Sale

Tickets for the 2012 London Olympics

Stats are out that 8.8 millions tickets are available for the London 2012 Olympics. Prices for these tickets range from £20 to £2,012 and events with so much publicity will be balloted. It is expected that the Olympic committee will make half a billion pounds from ticket sales alone.
Tickets for the London Marathon will be free, as always, and 2.5 million tickets will be priced at £20, others start at £30 to £50. Under 17s will be able to "pay-your-age" to early heats, while over-60s can watch the same events for £16.
6.6 millions tickets are available for the general public via the application process. The other 2.2 million tickets; half will be issued to the National Olympic Committees of each country, and half will be split between sponsers, the IOC, guests and hospitality partners.

Footballer Dies Due To Head Injury

Huw Thatcher "lived and breathed sport"

Today it was announced that Under-15 Sunday League footballer, Huw Thatcher, was killed due to natural causes. 15 year old, Huw Thatcher was playing for Hepworth United Juniors in a game at St Giles Road in Brighouse on Sunday when the incident happened. The school student was later taken to hospital, where sadly he passed away.

Let the 2012 Countdown Begin, or Not!

Clock counting down days until 2012 Olympics

Today, the clock counting down the days until the 2012 London Olympics was unveilved. It started at 500 days until the olympics, and then stopped within hours. The creaters, a Swiss-based Swatch Group, announced that the clock was fully tested beforehand and was fully working, they are now investigating into why the clock suddenly stopped. The clock was restarted, however, on Tuesday evening.

Call of Duty: Black Ops - Greatest Game Ever

In-Game Picture from Call of Duty: Black Ops

Black Ops has now officially set the record for the highest selling video game in history. This, however, is according to the market research firm NPD, stating that it sold more than 13.7 millions copies across the United States alone. NPD said that within it's first 24 hours the game had began creating revenues of over £223 million. Within 6 weeks the game had turned over $1 billion of revenue. By creating $1 billion of revenue it was added to the elite group of 3 other entertainment releases; Michael Jackson's Thriller Album and James Cameron's 1997 hit, The Titanic & Avatar. Only Black Ops and Avatar have hit the billion dollar mark this quickly throughout all of history.

Vettel Stays With Red Bull



Mercedes were also interested in signing Vettel

Racing world champions Sebastian Vettel has extended his contract with Red Bull for a further two years, until the end of the 2014 Formula One season. Red Bull were keen to keep Vettel, 23, as they believe he is one of the best drivers at the moment. Red Bull Team Boss, Christian Horner stated that "Sebastian feels very comfortable within the team and the team feels very comfortable with him."

Six Nations Results - Week 4

England Flanker, Croft, powers over the top of Parks to score for England

Here are the results from the 3 matches that took place this weekend in the RBS Six Nations.

Wales 19 - 13 Ireland
Italy 22 - 21 France
England 22 - 16 Scotland

Here is the current RBS Six Nations standings.

The FA Cup Semi-Final Draw

This is the complete draw for the FA Cup Semi-Final sponsered by Eon. All of these matches will be played on neutral ground at Wembley Stadium, London.

  Manchester United              vs        Manchester City
    


         Bolton                 vs            Stoke City
   

FA Cup Quarter-Final Results

Richards breaking the deadlock 16 minutes from time against Reading

Birmingham City 2 - 3 Bolton
Elmander 21, Jerome 38, Davies (pen) 66, Phillips 80, Lee 90.

Manchester United 2 - 0 Arsenal
Fabio da Silva 28, Rooney 49.

Stoke City 2 - 1 West Ham United
Huth 12, Piquionne 30, Higginbotham 63.

Manchester City 1 - 0 Reading
Richards 74.

Knosavvy Site Started

Hello readers,

As I have now hit a total of 1,000 views over 2 months, I feel it is time to expand this url from knosavvy.blogspot.com to knosavvy.com !!! Big news, I have recently bought the site name, and now I am in the progress of creating it in a great, user friendly, format. However, I will be changing posts, here is a specification of my new posts:

- Catchy Title
- Summaries (going to be a brief overview of the news)
- Up-to-date news/events
- Clear quality pictures
- 2 Posts every day
- Simple to read

This is what I hope to achieve in my new posts, however, there will be a weekly segment of "Top 5", as I have been doing. It will contain the Top 5 gadgets (of a certain category) each week. So far there are 2 up, so check them out!!!

Now, to reach 2,000 views or even 1,000 in 1 month! Keep reading! I will leave update with the news on my new site! Enjoy!

Top 5: Toys of the Year

Hello Readers,

I was thinking, I can't let my loyal readers go without a blog post for so long, even though I do have exams. So now, I give you my list of the Top 5 Toys of 2010. These are my thoughts from what I saw at the Toy Fair 2011 - with loads of toys; lifesize lego ninja's :D If you have any views on this feel free to comment.

5. Street Surfing Whiplash Scooter ... £69.95 (best price)

4. Air Picks ... price TBA

3. Zing Air Benda Blaster ... £6.99 (best price)
 
2. AppToyz AppGun ... £20 (best price)
 
1. iBall 3 ... price TBA

Break - Sorry!

Hello readers,

Lately I haven't been posting as throughout the weekend and today, and tomorrow. I have to prepare, and take, exams. I can promise you that I have a great post in line for tomorrow and should have it up before 9PM GMT. Hope you are all ok, and enjoy reading some other posts!

2011 is the Year of the iPad

Hello readers,

Today I round up what was mentioned and revealed at the Apple event in San Francisco; iBooks, iPad 2, iOS4 & Apps.


The iPad 2; The Thinnest, Lightest & Fastest

iBooks:
They mentioned how many new developers and publishers have released 70,000 new books into iBooks. These have already been noticed by many Apple product owners but these will be completed to the list within a few days. Titles include; Dan Browns 'The Da Vinci Code'.

iPad 2:
This has been widely awaited for, above there is a picture of the new iPad and a picture below...enjoy! It is now 33% thinner than the original iPad. It has dual-core processor, the only tablet at the moment to have this. It is now the fastest tablet created. The iPad 2 has back and front facing cameras used to facetime in HD over Wi-Fi to iPhones, iPods & Macs. Photo-booth has now been added as a built-in app allowing you to edit up to 9 pictures at a time using weird and cool effects. There are now 65,000 apps made for the iPad alone. Still remains a 10hour battery life. It comes in either Black or White. Best of all; THE SAME PRICES. The iPad 2 will be in-stores in and around the 25th March - so early!!!
For a full list of iPad specs: Click here
For any more information on the iPad: Click here

No, this isn't slimmed down, this is the actual thickness of the iPad 2

iOS4:
There is a quicker multitasking system installed with iOS4 allowing users to quickly change through Apps and Safari pages without any hastle. Furthermore, FaceTime is quicker and crisper. Folders have also been added. iOS4 now allows users of the iPad 2 to have instant power on, just like the MacBooks. Its safer, allowing your iPad never to be hacked by anything, unless you muck around with it. Any more further iOS updates can be quickly added by connecting your iPad to your computer with iTunes installed onto it. It will be out within a few days as the latest software. It will also be available for iPad 2, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch 2nd & 3rd Gen.

Apps
As I mentioned above, Apple have introduced other built-in apps including Photobooth and "Find my iPad". 2 other apps were released and are available from March 11th. iMovies - this allows you to do exactly what you would do on your Mac, on your iPad. With added functions that allow you to post videos in 1080p quality and post onto YouTube in HD. Next, Garageband - Apple have made this so that you can act as though you are stringing a guiter, playing the piano or adjusting the amplifier. GarageBand on iPad now has everything on the Mac but on a tiny A4 sheet of paper - with added loops and built-in tracks.

Injured: Walcott, Van Persie & Fabregas

Hello readers,

As I live in the UK, today the news was released here that Arsenal's 3 top players; Robin Van Persie, Theo Walcott and captain Cesc Fabregas could all miss their 2nd Leg Champions League match against Barcelona at the Nou Camp.



Van Persie injured knee after scoring his goal against Birmingham on Sunday

 Theo Walcott is suffering a strained ankle ligament, as am I, and is expected to be out for 3 weeks; missing the match against Barcelona, and a key match against Leyton Orient tomorrow night in the FA Cup.
Robin Van Persie has injured his knee, even though it was expected to be a pulled hamstring. RVP injured himself in the League Cup defeat to Birmingham City on Sunday. He is out for 3 weeks and is definately out of Barcelona, unless a miracle happens.
Cesc Fabregas, the captain and possibly the biggest loss, is out for atleast a week - meaning he will miss the FA Cup replay against Leyton Orient and "possibly" the match against his home club, Barcelona.

If we hear any more information on these 3 big injury blows, I will report it as soon as possible. How do you think this will affect the team? Leave a comment.