In previous posts, I've described features that I'd like to see implemented in mobile phones:
* Radio/GPS tracking to meet someone in a park (Sep 2005)
* Dual-SIM phone (Sep 2007)

With the growth in smartphones, I suspect that the first option is now feasible. I found an article from 2010 (Finding Your Friends via GPS), which lists various ( Read more... )

(Disclaimer: As with all my blog posts, these are just my personal views. I'm not speaking on behalf of any organisation that I work for.)

As I mentioned in my previous post ( International commerce) there are sometimes reasons to import goods from foreign countries. One potential reason is when homegrown companies do a crappy job. Here are a few ( Read more... )

Today hasn't quite gone according to plan. I booked my ticket for the OSS December Dip a while ago, and that took place at 11am this morning. However, I didn't get to sleep until after 6am, so I was still pretty tired when my alarm went off at 8am. I could have dragged myself out to it, but I decided to treat the booking fee as a sunk cost. ( Read more... )

"You have so many clocks! Maybe you could just have one in each room?"
(Aouda to Phileas Fogg, "Around the World in Eighty Days" - paraphrased from memory)Last night, the UK switched over from GMT to BST. Hopefully you all remembered to change your clocks, and didn't oversleep for anything important. When I was young, I remember that our vicar once ( Read more... )

Where I work, we use Exchange 2007 for our email. Some staff also have remote access to their email: they can use Outlook Web Access, or ActiveSync with a smartphone. In particular, it only takes a couple of minutes to configure an iPhone. Yesterday, someone bought a BlackBerry, and it took me all day to get it working ( Read more... )

Technology reviews are a bit tricky, because things change so fast - if you wait a while before posting your thoughts, the specific item you're talking about probably won't be for sale anymore. Having said that, here are some comments on a few items I own; I think that they illustrate features to look for in new purchases. (There's no particular ( Read more... )

I've been out to the theatre a few times recently, so here are my thoughts on "Avenue Q", "Wicked", "Blood Brothers", and "Dirty Dancing". (I've tried to keep spoilers to a minimum.) I've been near the back each time, so I've also commented on how much this restricted my view of the stage. Interestingly, despite the recession, the theatres have ( Read more... )

I was woken up this morning by my mobile phone. I glanced at the caller ID, and since I was half-asleep I thought it was someone from work, but it was actually 01204 384100. When I answered, the caller introduced himself as Wayne (?) from Bolton, which is slightly odd: that's a city, not a company. He then asked whether I'd had any bank charges in ( Read more... )

I've had my current mobile (Motorola "Razr" v3) for a few years now, and considering that they're not really designed for longevity I think it's held up pretty well. However, the front screen stopped working about a year ago, and the battery life has been dwindling since then. Last night I (accidentally) drop kicked it down the road, and I think it ( Read more... )

Apropos of nothing much, I've been thinking about mobile phones recently. Manufacturers tend to keep adding extra features, and I'm sure that some people (particularly teenagers) find them useful, but I hardly ever use my phone to take photos, watch videos, or play music. Instead, here's my idea for something that would be really useful: a dual-SIM ( Read more... )