A few months ago, I watched a Channel 4 documentary: Life Stripped Bare. It's still available via 4OD, although you have to log in first (which is free of charge). The basic premise was extreme decluttering: three households were completely emptied, with everything put into a storage unit about 1 km away. This included furniture, curtains, ( Read more... )

I've had a LoveFilm DVD subscription for a few years, and it's quite useful: it's helped to reduce clutter in my flat, since I can easily rent films and/or TV episodes rather than buying them. The only real downside is that I can't choose what order things arrive in. For instance, I've put Scrubs season 8 on my list (high priority), which consists ( Read more... )

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... )

I think it's time to replace my TV and DVD player, so my old ones are up for grabs. If anyone wants them then just let me know, otherwise I'll offer them on Freegle.
Edit: Both items are now taken ( Read more... )

When I was a kid, I watched Knight Rider on TV. I still have a lot of nostalgia for it, and I think it was quite iconic: in the same way that it's hard to hold a lightsaber without making "whom whom" noises, people of a certain age who remember the red light going from side to side will often make the equivalent sound effect. This may be partly ( Read more... )

Normally I wait until I've finished a book before I review it, so that I have an informed opinion. However, I'm making an exception for "The city and the city" (by China Mieville), simply because it's annoying me so much. I'm now about a third of the way through (just started chapter 9), and the author has completely failed to explain the basic ( Read more... )

When I moved into my current flat (2004), I had Sky installed. That's partly because I don't have access to a TV aerial, so installing a dish was the only way for me to watch any TV at all, but mainly so that I could keep up with new episodes of the various TV series I watched (since they came to Sky before terrestrial). I got a Sky+ box, which ( Read more... )

When I was little, I used to watch Dungeons & Dragons (the cartoon), which I enjoyed. A few years ago, the episodes came out on DVD, and they were still fun to watch (as per 2004 blog post). Like many DVDs, some of the episodes contained commentaries. Unlike other DVDs, the people recording the commentaries came from an online forum (rather than ( 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... )

Saturday nights are quite good for "guilty pleasure" TV viewing at the moment: Robin Hood on BBC1, immediately followed by Primeval on ITV1. (The episodes used to overlap, but presumably someone figured out that they'd get more viewers this way.) They're not exactly cerebral, and they have major plot holes, but they are quite entertaining. That ( Read more... )