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Animatronic Queen Elizabeth I is one creepy but realistic portrait
Queen Elizabeth I is widely thought to have carefully controlled her image. She would sit for portraits only until her face was drawn, which she would personally approve. In her later years, it was important for the heirless queen to appear youthful. She used agelessness as a symbol of power. Conversely, other unsanctioned depictions of Elizabeth I have verged on the grotesque, so when artist Mat Collishaw was commissioned by Royal Museums Greenwich to create something to complement her famous "Armada Portrait," he went as realistic as possible.
Queen Elizabeth II takes to an iPad to send her first Tweet
Queen Elizabeth II of England is pretty seriously old-school. She casually signs her name, "Elizabeth R." (the "R" stands for "Regina" or, in English, "Queen"). She wears killer matching outfits (as seen above) that would be at home in 1962. But she's also not above jumping into the modern age every now and again. Take, for instance, the tweet that she sent this morning -- her first ever -- from London's Science Museum. It's how she helped open an exhibit on "The Information Age" -- a live-action tweet from an iPad. There's some contestation over whether she sent the tweet herself; the tweet originates on an iPhone, though the Queen was clearly using an iPad. Does it really matter? Do you care? This is all a publicity stunt anyway, right? Let's all just enjoy that beautiful blue dress and the killer matching hat. The tweet, in all its glory, can be found below. Update: We've got an especially hilarious update on the did she/didn't she debate, straight from a spokesperson for the Queen of England: "If an iPhone was involved it was purely processology." And no, in case you're wondering, "processology" isn't a real word.
Steve Jobs' knighthood rejected by Gordon Brown?
As a loyal iPod user, you'd have thought that Queen Elizabeth II would have seen fit to bestow an honorary knighthood on a certain Steven Paul Jobs by now. After all, Sir Bill received his back in 2005 even though his company couldn't quite get its cellphone or tablet strategies to stick with consumers. According to an anonymous senior Labour MP who left Parliament in the last election, Jobs had reached the final stages of approval for "services to technology" only to be rejected in 2009 by the then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Why? Well, according to The Telegraph, Jobs had the audacity to turn down an offer to speak at Labour's annual conference. In retaliation we hear that Apple is holding Jony Ive -- himself, an honorary Commander of the British Empire -- hostage in an infinitely looping orange grove somewhere in northern California. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
President Obama offers iPod to the Queen of England
No, this isn't an April Fool's joke. President Obama met today at Buckingham Palace with the Queen, and our forward thinking commander-in-chief brought along a little tech for gifting purposes. Obama presented Elizabeth II with an iPod containing video from her 2007 visit to the States. In return, the first family received what is apparently a standard present for visiting dignitaries to the Palace -- a silver-framed photo of the Queen and her husband. At a glance, it seems like Obama has a thing for gadgets (and related media); he recently handed off a set of DVDs featuring classic American films to Prime Minister Gordon Brown... who was unable to play them due to incorrect region encoding. Regardless, the Queen appears pleased with the music player, telling the President during their 25 minute tea that she "Finally has something to listen to [her] Pantera records on."
UK tabloid reports that the Queen loves the Wii
Good news, Nintendo Defense Force -- the most powerful member of the British royal family just joined your ranks. According to The People, a weekly British tabloid, Queen Elizabeth II has been on a Wii Sports bender ever since her grandson, Prince William, received Nintendo's console for Christmas (or, for our friends reading this across the pond, the day before Boxing Day).According to the rather journalistically unsound article, Her Majesty the "QWiiN" (sigh) is quite the gadget savvy monarch, owning an iPod, blackberry, and fully pimped-out mobile phone, so her interest in the Wii is not so unnatural. We wish the Queen the best of luck in finding her own system -- we hear those things are harder to find than ... wait, there's nothing harder to find than a Wii. Except two Wiis, we guess. (Thanks to everyone who sent this in!)
When podcasting jumped the shark: QE II
Mark well this day, for it is the day the music died -- or at least, the day podcasting stopped being cool. This year's Christmas message from Queen Elizabeth will be podcast for the first time. You don't get any more old-media than the Queen, but apparently her royal majesty now is ready to have an RSS feed.Considering that The Queen is the 40th British monarch since William the Conqueror, I suppose it is high time that her Christmas message gets delivered in 21st-century fashion.[via Macworld/PlayListMag]
