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Roundhouse Returns
January 31, 2006

The Roundhouse is an historic engine shed in Camden that became a legendary venue in the 1960s and 70s. Hosting gigs by The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd and The Doors. The building closed in 1983 and remained empty for many years but in 1998 the Roundhouse Trust was set up to lead its redevelopment. This Spring sees the culmination of that work and it's re-opening.

At the heart of the Roundhouse will be a unique Creative Centre for young people, with state-of-the-art facilities for music, TV, radio, new media, design and performance production. Up to 10,000 young people a year will have the opportunity to explore their creative talents and develop interests, skills and career opportunities in every aspect of the arts. Check out the website for more details.

There is a bit more about the Roundhouse at Derelict London - Where, coincidentally [as I mentioned Pink Floyd above] you can also read a bit about an iconic building soon to be lost forever. Battersea Power Station , which once appeared in an episode of Doctor Who [spookily linking to Tom Baker - below!] in 1964.

Hyperscore is a Free MIT download to create your own ringtones - Apparently cell phone users [there were 810 million mobile phones sold in 2005!!!] have spent $4 billion on ringtones - Create the next bloody "Crazy Frog" and incur the wrath of entire Continents!

Talking of phones... If you live in the UK and use BT's text-to-voice system to get your SMS messages delivered to your landline, you'll be hearing a familiar voice at the other end of the line for the next few months. BT has scrapped the computerized voice it had been using and replaced it with the voice of Tom Baker of Dr. Who and Little Britain fame.

Baker spent 11 days recording nearly 12,000 words and sounds, which were then processed by BT engineers for five months in order to be usable by the text-to-speech system. It has also been programmed to recognise abbreviations and even text speak such as gr8, cu l8r and “smilies” like :-) or you can even get Tom to blow kisses to your loved one on Valentine’s Day. Text “xx” and Tom Baker’s voice will say “kiss, kiss” or four or more x’s and he will say “lots of kisses”. I wonder how many people are going to call just to get him saying Little Britain-esque phrases? I know I am!

BT has said that Tom was chosen as the voice of BT Text for his instantly recognisable voice. In a recent poll of celebrity voices, Tom was voted the fourth most recognisable voice in the UK, behind only the Queen, Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher!!!

Fancy defacing your 'Hood? Do it in style with these stencils

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