My colleague Anna and I recently hired a car
for client research we were conducting in the Midlands. We decided drive up, so we wouldn’t have to lug loads of cables, cameras and computers on the
train. Plus we thought we could have a relaxed journey listening to some tunes on the way… most importantly, some Bhangra and Bollywood.
Our car happened to be a Vauxhall Corsa,
which was OK - any car with a media player would have been fine. It was the radio
we particularly wanted access to… but could we work it? No, not immediately and
definitely not without endangering that relaxed journey we envisaged.
Continue reading "Corsa know how to use it!" »

Although, for the British, queuing seems to be one of our national sports, I hate waiting in lines at stations, bus stops, shops,
Post Offices … the list goes on. In particular, I have always dreaded visits to
the Post Office. Cue flashbacks of endless waits in very slow moving queues.
This was, until last week…
Continue reading "Post Office no-queue system - is it ‘just the ticket’ or ‘too good to be true’?" »
With rumours abounding that Apple will release an oversized touch tablet, which may be up to 10 inches diagonally, potentially in time for the Xmas shopping season, I began wondering why I wasn’t glowing with excitement or working out my finances in preparation for the release.
While there’s something tempting about a computer that's all screen and nothing else, if I think beyond my initial attraction (spawned by Sci-Fi) towards the practicalities of using a tablet device, queries and doubts creep in. Indeed, while I acknowledge that the touch concept can readily work with smart phones such as the Apple iPhone, exclusive touch interaction on a larger device makes me wonder what the ‘hook’ would be.
Continue reading "Apple touch tablet … meh!" »