Whilst this website is primarily focused towards iPhone and Mac reviews we do sometimes have to step back and take a look at the grand picture. So to summarise that’s exactly what I did today.

I was greeted with the opportunity to spend the morning with Ford and their customer safety team looking at some of the new advances which are coming into the Ford range over the next few years.

Although it may not seem obvious for a website like this, we do try to focus on technology as best as we can and not just limit ourselves to Mac and Apple and this really was too big of a subject to miss.

Since this is technology and some pretty clever stuff too I’ve chosen to do a very in depth review of some of the technologies that were demonstrated today. If you’re looking for a short version then you’re out of luck. There isn’t one. However I think you’ll be find the post more than meaty enough.

With more and more young drivers on the road we are seeing an increased number of them being convicted or cautioned from using a mobile phone or indeed any handheld mobile device. Ignoring the fact that using a mobile phone while driving is illegal, the iPhone in particular presents a problem in the fact that there is no physical keyboard making it an even bigger distraction. Couple this with a loud radio station and or passengers in the car at the same time and it becomes very easy to see how the technology you use may provide enough of a distraction for you to have an accident while driving.

The key focus of Ford, as explained by their safety expert, is to ensure that the drivers focus is on the road at all times and this is something that we can wholly agree with.  Unfortunately however distractions do occur and that’s why this safety event has been touring the country showcasing innovative new features and driver aids to help prevent accidents and also increase the convenience and pleasure of driving a motor vehicle.

Driver aids such as assisted parking, Lane assist and collision avoidance have been available for some time however few have been done well.  For the ones that have been done well they are usually priced so far out of the market of the everyday consumer that you will only ever see them on prestige brands (the E-class Mercedes for example).  even then, brands like Lexus had a self parking vehicle which on every video I’ve seen managers to embarrass itself.  In the case of Volvo  they demonstrated a collision avoidance system which resulted in a written off car and some very embarrassed faces.

Unfortunately as you can see my opinion has been somewhat coloured by past events however I was very grateful for the opportunity and I promised myself that I would enter this with an open mind.

After spending some time speaking to their safety expert  it became obvious that many of my misconceptions and fears were unjustified. True, features like the active city stop and Lane assist are built upon the Volvo platform. However it’s fair to say that significant advances have been made over the past few years.

Today however Fords’ focus was on four main innovations. Active City Stop, Rear Seatbelt Airbags, Park Assist and Driver Alert.

Active City Stop

Active city stop is based on the original collision avoidance system that we saw with Volvo. However this system is designed for use in lower speeds hence the name city. The primary idea with this is that if you’re distracted  in low speed, stop and start traffic or if you’re coming up behind a car stopped at a traffic light, the vehicle will bring itself to a safe stop  if for instance you’re distracted or have a momentary lapse in judgement. This is not to be confused with full collision avoidance of this system is designed to work from reflective surfaces (such as that found in numberplate) and is generally designed for low speeds.

Unlike similar systems, the Ford version will not bring the vehicle to a gradual halt. This system is designed to act at the last minute was providing enough of a jolt to remind the passengers and the driver that their attention should be focused on more important matters.

Ford were kind enough to lay on a demonstration of this, both with a demonstrator and one you could try yourself.  To put it mildly being told to drive the car into a wall is a somewhat unnerving experience. However it provided an effective demonstration of a very effective technology even if they were harmless foam blocks.

the key thing should be noted here however, is that this system is designed to  bring the driver’s attention back to the road rather than providing some rudimentary way for someone to pay less attention at slow speeds thereby keeping the driver in control vehicle.

This technology also goes hand-in-hand with Ford’s next technology, driver alert.

Driver Alert

The driver alert system is just that. A series of complicated computer algorithms combined  with a wealth of sensors mounted on the vehicle to detect when a driver is either not in full control of the vehicle or is driving tired. Indeed there are a number of studies that show  that driving tired is almost as bad as driving drunk.

As you can see from the picture, the dashboard displays a small graphic depicting the traffic sign it’s on board camera just saw.

Using the vehicle mounted camera and whilst tracking the way the vehicle moves the system is able to make a decision about when the driver needs to take a break. The system will provide two warnings, a ‘yellow’ or ‘light’ warning indicating that the driver should rest soon, and a ‘red’ warning indicating that the driver should rest immediately.

There are also a number of other systems to assist the driver. Blind spot assistance where the vehicle actively monitors what’s around it, and a speed limiter. Given the number of speeding tickets that are issued these days, that last one might just be a good idea.

To further assist the driver the dashboard can also display local roadsigns that it sees through its centrally mounted camera. Additionally the steering wheel provides a physical level of feedback if you start to wander out of your lane. A system that’s been introduced before in other vehicles, however this time it seems to be done right. Rather than having a vibrating seat cushion or an audible chime the system will shake the wheel rapidly.

Rear Seatbelt Airbags

At last passengers in the back of the car finally get some attention!  Well, at least in the safety department! One of Fords major new advancements is bringing rear seat belts to passengers combined with airbags. Unlike normal airbags these don’t require pyrotechnics to get them going. These, use a pressurised gas cylinder stored underneath the seat reducing the risk of contact burns. Indeed the seatbelt itself is slightly thicker which many people have reported is slightly more comfortable since it’s akin to wearing a padded seatbelt.

The real advancement here is that not only does this mean a safety device is already in contact with you, thereby reducing the risk of injury and accident, but rather surprisingly the seatbelt airbag is safe to use with a number of child seats!  granted if you use the iso-fix system you won’t be using the vehicle seatbelt however if you have a seat that requires a seatbelt this will increase the safety of your child significantly.

Since the belt covers an extremely large area of your upper torso including an airbag in this reduces the risk of injury especially for those at a higher risk such as young children and the elderly. A specially designed tubular buckle allows the gas to flow into the airbag, protecting five times more of the body including head neck and chest protection.

Park Assist

This is perhaps one of the most fun and eagerly awaited demonstrations today. It’s not often you required to give up control of your vehicle whilst being in the drivers seat.  fortunately however you don’t have to give up all of your control.

As I mentioned above I have many preconceptions and fears about self parking cars after seeing it poorly executed on many different vehicles with embarrassing results. As I said to the team at the event “it’ll be very interesting and exciting to see one that actually works”.

Despite my preconceptions I was pleased to see that the Park assist system was perhaps more cautious than others. Choosing to ignore a space rather than attempt it when the conditions were not quite right.  when the system did take over however it left a lot of work up to the driver. This is a lot better than we might think it’s.  asking the driver to give up control of the vehicle is like cutting off a limb however the Ford system  asks you to control the clutch, accelerator and brakes  whilst it simply does the steering.  Indeed even in automatic cars the system will ask you to manually select reverse or forward gears.

Keeping this level of control allowed me to feel a lot more comfortable in allowing the system to take over. That being said it’s extremely disconcerting the first time it happens,  after that it becomes very entertaining. Don’t ask me why but it does! It would certainly make a long journey far more entertaining and pleasurable knowing that this feature alone was there to greet me at the end.

It’s pretty powerful as well, needing only a space only twenty percent longer than the car itself. If you don’t parallel park that often then having just 20% more than the length of the car is enough to put me off attempting it. It’s a very small spot indeed.

All of the technology here is part of a larger system, the Driver Awareness Package with a sensor pod mounted underneath the rearview mirror.  Contained within this pod is a camera (not unlike a digital video camera), a laser system and a radar system. each of these plays a specific role in all the new technologies being demonstrated today combined with front and rear parking sensors.

In fact for the first time ever I’d say that this has all been done right. As I mentioned before, we’ve seen a number of different attempts over the years but few of them seem to have worked as well as the ford system has today.

Not only have many, if not all, of my preconceptions and fears been eliminated today but Ford have taken it upon themselves to providing effective and clear demonstration of just how far they are prepared to go in the pursuit of safety.

I was genuinely impressed at each and every one of the different products I saw today and I’m confident but by the time these vehicles get the new market and second-hand market we will see a marked improvement in driving and a reduced number of insurance claims. what’s even more exciting is that at least 70% of the new Ford focus is going to be the same as every other Ford focus in the rest of the world. Keeping such commonality between different market versions of the vehicle mean that Ford can keep its costs low.

So what about the future?

Well from all this you can begin to see just how much information the vehicle is recording any one time. it’s easy to see and imagine an iPhone app or a dedicated computer program that you will be able to download your driver profile into in the near future. Not only that but with all this information and telemetry on hand it could mean the insurance companies have an easier time making a decision when it comes to final settlement claims.

Ford also have footholds in something called a smart intersection.

Whilst this is a long way off the basic principle is the information collected from the sensors used to provide the technologies mentioned above is fed to a larger network which feeds an intersection computer system which in turn monitors every other vehicle around it I communicates back to your vehicle whether it is safe to turn, continue and if someone is choosing to run a light.

In fact, because this is all one’s system the software used to make it work can easily be upgraded. Ford have already agreed a standard dataset which will be sent to the intersection and indeed intersections run by competing car companies. The standardisation practice here means that we won’t just see junctions which will work with Ford is only the junctions that may work with other manufacturers making driving one of the safest things you can do.

To me it’s overwhelming. The sheer amount of technology here and the potential for it is mind blowing and whilst not strictly falling into the category of iPhone and Mac App reviews it is simply too big a subject to miss. Especially if you are the type to occasionally pick up your iPhone and fumble away at the touchscreen when you’re rolling up to a junction.

If you spend any time walking around a car showroom at late, you will usually find yourself greeted with an iPhone or iPad application that either presents itself to assist you in the sales process, is there is an interactive brochure about the various accessories you can purchase or,  if you look at the Nissan Leaf, an application that provides you with the power to manage your car whilst it’s on your driveway.

Although this event was strictly about safety, it’s easy to see how mobile applications could be introduced in the future which will us to monitor how we drive, our safety as well is how eco-friendly we are being. Let’s face it, we’ve all got our families to think of and safety is no laughing matter.

This feature was originally published on apptacious.com by me on Friday the 26th of August 2011

Well, supposed to. Ok, I’m awkward, I work in IT so I actually use this, but suppose someone rings me on my phone, I shove it on speakerphone, tap the home screen then go out to google, yup, you can do that, at least… you’re supposed to, in fact, you used to.

For whatever reason, I, my mother, my friends, and various other people who are on o2 can no longer get it. Case in point, today I made a normal phone call, in a 3G area (with signal) and wanted to check google, all of a sudden, BOOM, nope, can’t do it.

Ok, let’s make it clear just so you all don’t start ranting and raving here.
If you are in a 3G area or connected to WiFi this should work, if you are NOT in a 3G or WiFi area, this will not work

For the record, this DOES work in WiFi for me.

So, I called o2, guess what? No-ones ever heard of it. Some even claim that the phone technically cannot do it! so here’s a few facts for you.

This is the same phone that has been released in the US on AT&T who offer this as a feature, the phone is more than capable of doing this in a 3G area

and

From a technical standpoint, the 3G architecture that is used on the phone is more than capable of it

Ok, so that aside, maybe it’s just an o2 thing? Well,

Here is a link to the o2 help website that proves you should be able to do it. In fact, here are two links, I’ve not shortened them, and they link to the original page just in case. This post was written and these pages were present at 9:35 GMT on Thursday 17 2011

The first link is not iPhone specific

So, as you can see, o2 say that you can do it on a current, live page. And just so we are sure, here’s the link to the iPhone SPECIFIC page (you will need to click on the fourth link down)

http://service.o2.co.uk/IQ/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBCGI.EXE/,/?St=184,E=0000000002965095373,K=2583,Sxi=4,T=test_main,Problem=17348,varset_BBDISP=Internet%20help,question=ref(User):str(Mobile)

And so that we are clear once more, here’s a screenshot of the page…

And just so we know that this hasn’t been implemented in the last few days….

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ZtSOT4oCuPMJ:service.o2.co.uk/IQ/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBCGI.EXE/,/%3FSt%3D167,E%3D0000000002942652877,K%3D7443,Sxi%3D3,T%3Dtest_main,Problem%3D17348,varset_BBDISP%3DInternet%2520help,question%3Dref(User):str(Mobile)+can+i+make+a+call+and+use+the+internet+at+the+same+time+uk+iphone+o2&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&source=www.google.co.uk

And here’s a screenshot of the Google Cache that shows all of this…

So, what does this mean?

Well, o2 have advised me that this is incorrect, that this is not something that the phone is capable off (which we know factually to be wrong where it concerns the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 3G and 3G S model) and that o2 do not offer this service (again, we know this to be factually wrong based on their website stating very clearly that this can be done, and one of these links is specific to the iPhone). I have also been informed that the service is not available to customers and that this is not a technical issue.

In my case, I actively used the service up until about October last year, which is around the same time that o2 introduced it’s data cap.

o2 did not inform me (and I suspect a few others) that this service was not available.

So, where do we stand?

Well, in my case, I used it, so I noticed, other people might not, but what’s important to note here is that not only my contract says that I will be made aware of any changes prior to them being carried out (something that they did not do in my case) but that their own website still states you can do this.

I am now escalating this matter with them, because as far as I am concerned (and as far as my research tells me) this means that o2 is in breach of contract, breach of their own terms and conditions, and braking the Consumer Credit Act by not upholding their contractual agreements. There’s also the Sale of Goods Act section 13 and 14, as well as the Misrepresentation Act 1967. – On these, I’m quite happy to be proven wrong provided it’s backed up by evidence

The fact remains that I’m now being told that I am no longer able to use a service that I am paying for as part of my contract.

You may also be in the same boat, and I would strongly advise anyone on o2 with an iPhone to contact o2 and ask them why they can’t do it. How you proceed is up to you, and I would advise you to check your terms and conditions and get the facts right if you choose to make this formal.

Moreover as we can see from the website, it appears that other phones are capable of this as well, and provided you confirm that the phone is capable of making a 3G call and simultaneously using data at the same time, and it’s enabled, I’d probably be contacting o2 as well.

The reason for this post is simple. I don’t believe in accepting things when I’m not told about them, this may seem very small to you, but it’s something I use regularly, and moreover it’s principal, I am not getting what I pay for, so why shouldn’t I complain about it?

Of course, I may not be allowed to post any more on this, but If I can, I’ll keep you all updated.

Are you on o2? can you use the internet whilst on phone call using 3G? Let me know!

Disclaimer
All of the information I have given you here is readily available from o2′s website at the time of writing. To my knowledge I have not broken any law by making this post. I do not intend to cause malice or be detrimental to o2 or it’s parent company or associates and I will state that this is my experience and these are my circumstances. This post is present purely for those who are asking questions about this particular problem and to advise them that they should contact o2 who will advise accordingly. If this has happened to you and have questions on how to proceed, please contact your local Citizens Advice Beauro or someone who is qualified to answer these questions

UPDATE: I have just received a phone call from a senior individual in the retentions department and there is some good news!

They have confirmed 100% that you CAN AND SHOULD be able to do this in a 3G area with no questions whatsoever. They have also tested this with Five different phone units!



They have also confirmed that if you are not getting it, network services will need to investigate this.



So, if you are not getting this when you use your iPhone or other compatible handset, you need to make o2 aware of this!!

The last few years alone for almost everyone have been filled with turmoil, loss and sadness as our own countries finances followed the routes of the rest of the world and descended into deep dark hole of which there appeared to be no return, indeed, thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people lost their jobs, millions more took pay hits, wage freezes or voluntary redundancy as businesses and the world in general struggled to keep afloat.

It’s anyone’s guess as to why we called it the ‘recession’ rather than ‘The Great Depression’. Perhaps they did not wish to be reminded of the past where people would rent hotel rooms, just to leap off of the edge.

Yet despite all this misery and chaos, there are a number of things that have kept us all alive, all connected so that we may share our pain, and rejoice in delight when we finally hear that one small shred of good news.

For me, my life as a techy is indeed a life on the internet. Despite the prejudice and stigmata that surround people who do spend most of their time on the internet, I’m inclined to say that more people are on the web, than are not. I’m also inclined to say that those hypocrites who frequently say things not dissimilar to ‘get a life’ will have texted, tweeted or ‘facebooked’ their friends about every little occurrence in their lives, be it meaningful or not.

To put a case in point,  a family that I’m close with continually states that they are not on the internet much, nor do they have any desire to change this, yet I regularly see facebook updates from them at all hours of the day, and even more emails going back and fourth. In fact both have smartphones, one has a blackberry, the other has an iPhone. Surprising isn’t it?

When I lost my job two years ago, one of the first things I did was go straight onto the job sites and search, apply and contact people. I used my banks online service to cancel various facilities, stop direct debits and plan accordingly. I even logged onto the department for work and pensions, signed up for job seekers allowance and then proceeded to update my calender with various appointments I had made as well as email people who I knew may have been interested in hiring. Only then did I update my facebook and twitter accounts.

Still, if you look at how much I did and think ‘that isn’t much’, lets just remind ourselves of how long this would have taken. Potentially I would have had to wait until the Thursday to get the job listings in the paper, I’d then have to arrange an appointment with my bank which could have taken anything from two days to two weeks (which also means I could have missed a potential job interview), the JSA would have requested an appointment in 14 days as they used to and writing a letter to people I knew? Well of course we all know how the post works, but that’s still an extra day.

Since I couldn’t go out, Facebook and Twitter introduced me to new things to do, things to keep me entertained and a way for me to stop spending money, with the exception of one or two drinks with friends, I spent probably no more than about £100 in two months. Despite the overall feelings of some people, the internet allowed me to socialise and talk with friends as well as contact people about jobs.

Then of course, there’s my phone. Since it’s a smartphone, I was able to text people, I was able to call, I was able to do everything I did above from the palm of my hand and yes I would go as far to say as without the phone, I probably would have been half as effective. Walking down to the job centre to sign on? Well, I was still able to apply for jobs on the move, and I actually did a few times. I even had a telephone interview whilst walking there one time.

There was also support, forums of people who had suffered the same fate, chat rooms and websites all offering advice on ways to cope, ways to describe your downfall in your next job without making it sound like you have a grudge against the evil company that dared to let you go. And yes, all the while I could have my MSN, my Skype and my Facebook buddies popping up with random pieces of information to keep me sane and keep me going.

This is just my story, but I saw countless others doing the same thing, and countless others who were searching for jobs doing word for word the same thing as me.

The beauty of the internet, is that you get to meet people you wouldn’t normally meet. The real beauty is, you get to make connections with someone that you could only ever see by pure chance.

Thankfully, both I and some friends that were in the same boat, found a job, some of us have even moved on since then to bigger and better pastures. The connections that we made, still last today, all thanks to the technology that we have, that keeps us connected and keeps us going. Sad as it may seem, but we really do all use it, even if we’re not quite aware of how much.

Lets also remember that the important thing here, isn’t so much the technology, but the relationships we build. These are what keep us going, and these are the reasons why we keep ourselves connected in this way.

Fortunately I did, however the subject still remains very close to my heart and so I am writing this once more with a clearer head, but in a way that I hope will convey my true feelings and impressions on this subject.

There are three types of people. The thinkers, the do-ers and the wannabes. Sadly there are more of the latter than there are of the first two, and this also extends rather dramatically to art.

You cannot teach someone to be artistic.

There are so many people that I have met that say they can’t draw, they can’t think or write, and yet these people go to college and art schools in the sole belief that they will become better at these things that they have admitted themselves that ‘they can’t do’.

I should say here and now, I am not an artist. Whilst I have received many comments and compliments about my photography, I do not consider it to be anything beyond average. The reason I market it in the way I do, is because those compliments have come from people who have influence, and those who clearly see a market for the type of photography I do. Perhaps it “is” art? Perhaps it is nothing more than a collection of snaps that some people find appealing.

What I can say for certain, is that I am a photographer. That I am creative enough to get a different perspective on objects and people, and take a picture that is visually appealing. I am a photographer and a decent one at least.

You cannot teach someone to be a photographer.

The reason I say this with such certainty, and such profound exclamation is that a few months ago, I offered someone my services for free as a favour. The response that I got was less than complimentary.

“It’s ok, I studied photography in college”

I refrained myself from sending a response, knowing full well an argument would ensue, and having seen the quality of this persons photography, I knew that they simply wouldn’t understand. Mine alone, is near Da Vinci quality in comparison to this persons.

It irks me, frustrates me and downright angers me when people believe that going to college and studying photography will somehow make them a photographer!

You cannot teach someone to look at an object differently, nor can you really teach someone how to light an individuals face with a variety of different things. Sure you can teach them the focal lengths and best practices, but you never really find out unless you try it. A perfect example is when I shot on Casimir effect, and whilst you won’t see it, I actually didn’t use flash, nor did I use all of the regular lights, I used a penlight and a cigarette lighter in one of them, purely because it was the only thing that I felt would give an appropriate light to this persons eyes. They needed colour, not white, and whilst this persons face was lit perfectly, it was not even close to what I wanted to achieve.

You can’t teach that.

Photography is subjective and uniquely down to the individual, and it angers me that people believe they are photographers simply because they went to college.

If you have a talent, or a decent enough level, then of course, go, there are technical things that you can learn.

If however, you have no talent, just a passing interest, then I don’t personally believe you should be going. You may learn the technical aspects of things sure, and who knows you might get taught a few things that you didn’t know, but to go there with some kind of misguided big headed delusion that somehow after your time in college you will emerge as the next David Bailey. You wont.

Build your talent, and build your interest, but don’t become another one of these ignorant people who firmly believe that two years in college will make you an artist unless you have SOMETHING there already.

I have located the new theme for the pro website, which will be accompanied by a minor rebuild and rebrand in places, but it’s finally the site I want.

I’m hoping to have this up and running by the end of December or early January at least, but it gives me precisely what I want and soon, you’ll be able to see it. There will be a post about why I chose the site I did soon!

As with any year, here have been both successes and failures. There have been bridges burnt, friends lost, but there have also been great things, new prospects, new people. I wouldn’t quite say things are falling into place, but they are getting there, although like any end of year, I’m preparing myself for a massive setback.

There is however, a significance in my reasoning for this post on this date. About this time last year, I had somewhat of an unfortunate meltdown, and sadly I vented a lot of it on twitter. Thus that lead to loosing a lot of people. From that however, I’ve emerged stronger, and a little more resilient.

In March I started a new job, I also got a new car, one that has been cursed since the day I got it with more problems than I would care to list, made worse by the people I brought it from (who shall remain nameless in fear of legal ramifications, your milage may vary on this one).

Despite however the new job, I’ve also been somewhat blessed by other things happening. A month or so I was honoured and surprised to find out that I had been nominated for the Wales Blog Awards for my site, apptacious, not only that but I soon found out I had made it into the shortlist, and a mere week ago, I found out that I had made runner up for the best tech blog in Wales. Who cares if I didn’t win, that was an incredible honour to have even been nominated.

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to take part in some incredible photography thanks to Gabriel Strange and his film The Casimir Effect that I had been helping with. From some incredible set photography down at the then disused Mir Steel plant in Newport, to my first work doing portraiture photography. Thankfully, despite the fact it was my first ever time taking a picture of people, I think I did rather well. I also had the honour of meeting some fantastic people including Zoé Mills, John Jenner and Peter Owen-Williams. I even got to take pictures of a celebrity, Neil Rayment, an actor from the Matrix Reloaded. All of them were a pleasure to meet.

Recently, I got the opportunity to meet and shoot Gareth David-Lloyd from Torchwood. Gareth is one of the nicest guys I’ve met, and thanks to just how approachable he is, he even helped me out, giving me some great pointers and learning tips for my photography.

All of this is fantastic, it’s why I think this year has been something of a whirlwind. It has however, been made even better, as only two days ago, I found out that I am now the photographer for Wales ComicCon next year. Okay so I’ll need to start saving hard for some photography equipment, I will get to take portrait shots of some incredibly famous people like Dave Prowse (He played the physical form of Darth Vadar in Star Wars), Hugh Mitchell (Harry Potter) and incredibly, Colin Baker (From Doctor Who, one of the Original doctors!). Ok so on this one I’m still waiting for the legal stuff to come through, so it’s not 100% certain at the moment, but to even be considered is incredible enough.

A whirlwind? Luck? I have no idea what to call it. All I know is I must be doing something right.

It’s not all about photography. I’ve been steadily developing my skill set in other areas, trying to expand my personality and my prospects. At the Wales Blog Awards I got the honour of meeting some fabulous people, and got to discuss some very in depth things.

Photography has been a dream of mine for a long time, so has IT, so have many things. I have a lot of dreams, some are lucrative, some are just personal fantasies. I’d love to record a regular podcast, I would even like to write for someone.

For me a wonderful dream would be to combine writing, photography and IT together, like a newspaper column, photographing, writing about IT as well as recording a podcast about it, alas, that will probably not happen.

I even have dreams about traveling, although some of the places I would like to visit might prove controversial, but there are hidden meanings for all of it, places like Pripyat come to mind, although I would encourage everyone to read the Kid Of Speed blog by Elena Fitalova. It’s incredible emotional, and inspiring.

This brings me on to another wonderful things thats happened. I’ve been invited to do a voiceover for someone else’s podcast series called supermarket matters thanks to Mark Chatterly, honoured isn’t the word of course.

To say I am blown away with what has been literally handed to me on a plate is an understatement. I would love to say that I have personally been responsible and achieved all of this myself, but that wouldn’t be true. I am simply lucky and I owe many of these incredible experiences to people like Gabriel Strange and Mark Chatterly to name a few.

Of course the year isn’t over, and as I’ve learnt some great things can happen in only a few days let alone a few months!

However I have one thing to thank more than anything, and this may come as a surprise. I have to thank, Twitter.

This might seem stupid to many, but it really isn’t. When I joined twitter just under two years ago, I had no idea how to work it, how to understand it, and believe it or not, I was going to give it up. I would never have met these people or been provided with any of these opportunities had I not stuck it out on twitter. I wouldn’t even own apptacious if it were not for twitter and me meeting the former owners.

2010 has been a whirlwind, despite this however, I of course have regrets. I’ve lost some very dear friends thanks to my own ineptitude and stupidity, I can only hope that I can rebuild those friendships, and build new bridges.

2009 was a year of hell, I even posted about it. I begged and prayed for 2010 to be better, and although it didn’t seem it at first, it has been. I can only hope this trend continues.

So to everyone that has been there, and helped me to achieve what I have achieved so far, Thank you, and to everyone who I have lost, I can only say I am sorry.

Thank you.

What many people fail to understand, realise and accept is that depression, is not just a state of mind, it’s also not just a ‘feeling’ we get from time to time. It’s a Mental Illness. That’s just not me saying it, it’s an actual medical fact, agreed by people across the planet, physicians and psychotherapists. What some people don’t realise however is that there are many different grades of depression, ranging from major to manic. Even some forms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder are linked to depression.

The lack of understanding between people is somewhat disturbing. A large number of people see depression as nothing more than a state of mind, a simple feeling, when in fact it can be much more than this. Sadly all to often people are told that they simply feel down, when in fact there is more to play.

Many people do not realise they are depressed. Some people feel very down, and can’t seem to come out of it, others get headaches, weight loss or even weight gain. I’m no psychotherapist or physician, so I can’t list the actual cold hard facts, but a little research can go a long way. The trouble is identifying it, and all to often, people are afraid to actually get checked out.

Of course with this time of year, comes SAD. It’s very common, and in some cases it can only be for the winter months. For some people however, it can be an exaggeration of an existing depressive state. It could in some cases be seen as a blessing, people who don’t realise they are depressed finally get checked out, and find out they were depressed for much longer. For some people this can change their lives. For others, they might simply put it down to the winter months, and accept it.

Unfortunately ignorance is still rife, with many people refusing to consider depression an actual illness. Make no mistake, depression can ruin, and change a persons life in far more ways than you can expect. On the other hand depression can simply be minor for people, affecting them only slightly.

Please, don’t turn a blind eye to mental health.

There is one, seemingly simple question that has always brought up masses of curiosity in me, one that I have never found the answer to. It is in fact the most complex of all questions surrounding AI in the world. It’s not whether it would be ethically right to command something that is intelligent or conscious to be a slave, and nor is it a question of how we should limit information or derestrict information sources to an AI. It’s far more complex, and far more simple than that.

Does an AI have a soul?

This question is one that divides many, confuses others, disgusts some and evokes strong emotional opinions in almost every single person who has ever been faced with the question.

Let’s start at the basics shall we?

A computer, to a certain extent, is a unique individual. It has it’s own characteristics thanks to imperfections in manufacturing processes, and whilst manufacturers will have you think otherwise, no two computers are exactly alike. Memory is slightly slower or faster due to tolerances, hard drives performance waivers to within microns of every other hard drive in the world, even something as simple as your computers cooling, two CPU coolers sit on the processors of two different computers, and whilst they are manufacturers to be the same, the tolerances, and performance reveal minute, almost undetectable instances, so one computer might read 37º and the other might read 37.4º.

These minute differences are almost never detectable by the end user, they are so minuscule that in basic terms, the computers are exactly the same, but in more advanced terms, each and every one of them is just a tiny bit different. So in actual fact, even without AI, your computer is already a unique individual.

In very basic terms, your computer is also alive, it breathes air, excretes hot gasses and technically excretes electricity, since it’s not 100% efficient. It consumes electricity and protects itself from danger. Granted the last one is due to a network of sensors and interlocks, but it does technically protect. About the only two requirements of life that it doesn’t fulfil, is that it doesn’t reproduce or have the ability to consciously think.

Of course with AI, it may not be able to reproduce, but a true AI will mean it can consciously think, so in technical terms if it wanted to reproduce it could command software to build another AI program, or even control a robotic production line to build another. It would in essential steps, be alive in basic terms.

Ok, so being alive is still up for debate, although one theory is a random collection of parts with a simple ‘go’ command could cause a computer to write it’s own code, essentially in the same way a foetus, gets a sudden electrical charge to start beating, that same electrical charge jumpstarts the brain. The jury is out, and probably always will be, but it’s interesting to know.

Of course that brings us to the next part, is an AI actually conscious?
Farthing 1982 defines consciousness as “…. subjective experience, awareness, the ability to experience “feeling”, wakefulness, or the executive control system of the mind”

If computer code essentially writes itself it could be considered aware, since it would need to adapt it’s code to the environment around it. It would need to be able to react to a given situation and be aware of it. Some might argue that the sensors sending signals back, mean it’s simply processing what it reads, but then if you think about it, humans have sensors called nerves. These nerves simply respond to a given situation and send a signal back to the brain for it to interpret. Biology and Psychology teaches us that certain responses are ingrained in our very makeup, but the human minds ability to respond to a different situation has often been described as a computer program, one that can be changed.

The gag reflex can be changed and taught to work in a different way, pain can sometimes become pleasure, and in the case of illness, our responses can be mixed up and turned around. A condition called Synesthesia, means that in some cases a person can ‘hear’ or even ‘smell’ colour. Dissociative identity disorder means that a number of different personalities, each with their own individual reactions to something, are displayed through a persons individuality. This last one isn’t unlike a computer program either, a program can respond to one input, and another program can respond to the same input in a different way.

So, if the code writes itself and we haven’t given it a set of parameters to tell it how to respond the computer is essentially aware of what is going on, of course it may react differently, but a true AI may feel fear because of consequence, e.g. it does something bad and it has one of it’s sensors triggered, or even the power taken out. Essentially the computer could be considered to be aware, and of course because of past experience it could learn to react in a different way. This fulfils the requirements of subjective experience, awareness and it even fulfils the requirement of ‘executive control system of the mind’ since it would have the choice to perform an action, knowing that there could be a consequence.

It could also be described as being capable of ‘feeling’ since sensors would be added to allow it to react to a certain event, since the code could in theory write itself, it could program itself to feel fear, even malice as well as consequence. Remember where we said about consequence? It does something bad and gets the power turned off? It could also feel fear, even become repressed and unwilling to act.

So what about wakefulness? How do we define that in terms of a computer. It’s on, so it’s aware of it’s surroundings, it’s awake, but a computer never really sleeps, it could however choose to shutdown sensors so that it enters a resting or idle state to allow for a processor to cool, this one is a tricky one, and may even become an exception.

Of course the other school of thought is that we would program the AI with an initial set of commands, parameters that tell it what is right, wrong, good, bad, happiness and sadness. The consensus however is that eventually the system would add to it’s own program, even replace the code that is already there. A true AI is widely believed to be one that can exist without input from other users or assistance.

Of course we are at the stage now where we have effectively defined that a computer is technically alive, and could technically be conscious. Now comes the burning question, the one that this entry is all about. Can a computer have a soul?

This perhaps is one of the hardest questions to answer. We’ve shown that a computer with an AI could potentially be it’s own entity, with AI you could be creating a race. But since it is something we built, and in theory, could terminate, is it a soul?

There’s no real medical definition of a soul, there isn’t really a spiritual definition. Do we even know what a soul actually is?

Rather than try and answer the question, I will leave you to ponder your own possible answers, but let’s remember a few things.

A Child, is technically something we create, in theory as with any human, we could terminate it. Although it would not be ethically correct, it’s the same as a computer, we could create it, and terminate it.

A human will inevitably die, and so a computer will through component failure. Even the oldest computers can suffer electrical degradation, albeit over a much longer period.

Humans can be injured, so can a computer. An electrical component could be subjected to an electrical shock, it could still run, although at a reduced capacity.

However, a human in most cases can heal, this is the big thing with a computer. It cannot repair itself unless it has access to a robotic arm and the ability to command them to identify and replace a component. It would however have the ability to run a diagnostic, and work out that something isn’t right, the same way a human could be injured and just know that something isn’t right with themselves.

One thing that is difficult, is identity. A child can usually identify itself or at least what it is within a few months. A child, can usually identify that it is male or female thanks to it’s organs. A computer on the other hand may not be able to do this. Can a computer identify if it is male or female? Could it even choose to be male or female?

The question isn’t so much whether an AI could be alive, but more if it has a soul. In some peoples opinions a soul is defined by so many things, including gender, a soul however to some could be nothing more than a personality which an AI would undoubtedly develop.

Would an AI have a soul? You decide.

The long overdue “dot com” side of my website has hit another snag. Initially I was very happy with the final design and layout thanks to some assistance in design from @staceyjenkins (a local designer) however two things have troubled me.

The current ‘proposed site’ has zero blogging facility, and while I don’t need a blog, the component can be used to provide news and updates in other ways.

It also has no category function, every post is a picture an that’s that, no “drill down” gallery for things like events, special features, and again, this isn’t major as it is meant to be a portfolio, but the problem with no categories is the fact that you need categories to implement a store function, something I’m keen to do.

Short of a complete code rewrite, I’m now on the hunt for a better CMS solution that will allow it, and a theme to rip apart / create from.

It’s a real blow and another huge setback but I am confident that when I finalise and release the design, it will be worth it. The only trouble is working out how long it’s going to take!

“…checking your email is now akin to brushing your teeth…”

So just how important is technology in our daily lives, and is it really akin to brushing your teeth? For me, daily life involves waking up, doing all the bathroom stuff, checking my email and maybe one or two RSS feeds, driving to work listening to a podcast on my iPhone plugged into my car stereo before getting into work, checking my works email and so on. Coming home is much the same, I listen to another podcast on my way home, get in and read more RSS feeds while checking on various technology sites, perhaps reading a book on my iPad or a magazine before going to bed (of course brushing my teeth first).

For me technology is everything. Of course it is, it’s my job, so perhaps I’m a little biased. I’m the type of person who instead of having a tv, had a windows media center pc hooked up so I can get a few extra benefits. I’m not your typical user or consumer, so for me technology is part of my life, and no I couldn’t live without it.

What about someone who doesn’t use technology that much, hard to believe in this day and age but let’s consider my mother or even my father. My mother has an iPhone, but does not technically own a computer, she has a works laptop. However my father has a computer, but only a basic “dumb phone”. Despite these two radical differences, both my mother and father check their email daily. They both always carry their phone with them, and they all go on the web.

My father checks his email on the computer, browses a few sites at least once a day, whereas my mother uses her iPhone for just about everything. I guess you could say that for both of them, technology is also akin to brushing their teeth. Of course it doesn’t help that their son is part of the technology world and is constantly trying to push at least one form of technology into their lives, be it willingly or not. But even for these people it’s still a daily routine.

What about a friend of mine, who isn’t in a techno oriented family? I won’t name any names, but all I’ll say is even he has a nokia smartphone. He checks his email at least once a day, browses ebay every few days, and whilst tech for him isn’t quite akin to brushing his teeth, it’s near enough.

In fact i cant actually think of a single person who doesn’t at least carry their phone with them every day or check emails on a regular basis, and studies have shown that I’m not alone. In fact a few reports have shown that more people now consider it “impossible” to continue their daily lives without some form of computer related technology than ever before.

So how about you? Are you the type that finds technology a necessary part of your life, or are you the type that could happily live without it? Of course the bigger question is a far simpler one, which concerns daily life and work.

Is it possible in this day and age to survive and continue without at least one piece of computer related equipment?

Although this brings up further questions it’s a good point, we could all theoretically survive without email, but could we really survive without the rest?

Tell me your story, and tell me just what makes you think you could or couldn’t survive without a computer.

Now I want to stress something, this website will not contain all of my pictures, it will contain a selection, and a very carefully picked selection that will be decided by me and other critics I have contact with, so I will after a while give you a link to my flickr site instead if you want to see all of them. It is however going to take me a few days to fully implement, but as of tomorrow at 12 midday thelongmile.com will go down, ready to be redirected into the new site, phwew, finally!,

By the way, if you want to critique the photos I have and suggest ones for my porfolio, go to flickr.com/thelongmile and let me know which ones you like!

Production of thelongmile.com photography site has pretty much ground to a halt since I’m having trouble finding a theme under the GPL to rip apart and customise into something of my own, not only that but I can’t exactly start from scratch since I’m not sure what I actually want, what I do know I want is some form of news page to update on photography, shopping cart integration so I can fulfil print orders and a large gallery that displays exif or at the very least allows me to put some comments about the photos I have taken.

So with that the project is on hold for a short while so that I can clear my head so to speak, however it’s still very much in progress since I am always looking for people to send ideas about sites they have seen, however this hasn’t gone as well as I hoped, since I wanted everyone to contribute and make it a site they would actually want to visit, ah well

Other than that for me personally I decided to take the plunge and upgrade teh server for the website with a little more ram, it’s a temporary thing to see if this actually makes any difference to the performance or crashing issues I’ve been having and more so because of the casimireffectfilm.com ‘s increasing web traffic, however at the moment I’ve experienced one lock up that doesn’t seem to have any justifiable cause, I may eventually get a second linode, and do some testing with another webserver platform, it’s all part of the learning but it’s definitely frustrating!

As for me as an individual I’ve decided to take another financial plunge and get shot of my car, you know the big silver mondeo that made me look like a taxi. Instead I’ve gone for something that was a little more… well me, despite this the transition has not been without hinderance, and unfortunately I can’t reveal details of this right now as there may be some legal issues involved, Yes THAT badly,

I’m also planning on doing a summer return to livevideo.com since I’ve actually missed vlogging, and well, need to get my creative feet back moving, Holiday plans for this year are again hindered by political situations all over the world and my job is slowly grinding away at my mind until such time as I get my head around what is going on and what I’m meant to be doing, In other words I’m still finding my feet, but it’s a million times better than the last place I was in thats for sure.

Apptacious.com has effectively seen a halt in all posts at the moment since no-one other than myself is contributing, and since it was supposed to be a user or community based contribution site, I’m a little disappointed that no-one else wanted to share their feelings on the applications they have purchased, especially with all the new hype about the iPad and the possibility of the iPhone 4G looming around the corner, so if you have an iPad, Mac, iPhone, iPod touch or even a humble PC but like following mac related news please do get in touch and drop an email to mark@apptacious.com as soon as you can

Cardifftweetups.co.uk has also seen a virtual stop on just about everything since again I’m the only one contributing, however I’m blaming part of this on the winter months that have come about and no doubt spayed a few people off meeting anyone, although I am a little surprised, hopefully people on twitter will actually read this part of the blog and start contributing or requesting a posting account

In other news I’ve recently started writing for the wonderful wales online blogs on their your cardiff section and it’s proving to be a very rewarding experience, hopefully I can continue on this and start posting something that people actually read and can contribute too, also my typing speed has improved to around 140 wpm, although accuracy leaves a little to be desired,

Anyway thats my smal-ish update that has actually turned out to be quite long, although I did write this in the space of about 10 mins, impressive nonetheless but no doubt I will read this over at a later stage and see just how many spelling mistakes there actually are, or that it probably doesn’t make much sense,

so what’s been going on your life’?

So what do I have to show for it come the start of April. Well, my new car has a severe oil leak and has been in my possession for all of four days while garages try to identify the cost, my new job is, as any new job is, traumatic and stressful as I get my head around all the things I have to learn, and I have another raging ear infection which I’m currently treating with double the prescribed number of antibiotics as well as painkillers.

Not ideally a great start to 2010, although the job stress is perfectly normal and acceptable, I would in fact be worried about the job if there were no stress, so perhaps thats a positive.

This isn’t a rant though, more an, honest blog updating you on my life and my current ambitions. Providing things turn out ok on the car I should have some money left over for a holiday, perhaps even two, one to Thailand, and one to the States, providing of course that the repair bill to finally fix my car once and for all does not make me want to sell my kidneys or genitals on the black market.

Although those of you that do read this, might be surprised to know that this is probably the first real time I’ve talked about it, my near vice like grip on the obsession that is twitter has loosened somewhat, indeed in the last 30 days I must have posted, what, 100 times? if not slightly more. Don’t worry, there is no particular reason for this, I have simply been trying to be a good boy and not tweet much about work, while in work and I’m sure some people could use a break from my mini meltdowns for the time being.

As anyone knows, the internet has become more of an integral part of our daily lives than we first thought. In fact so integral is it, that a recent episode of House hi-lited one womans obsessions to simply blog everything might nearly have been the death of her, but its interesting in a way to see that popular TV shows now are demonstrating the internet more and more. Lord knows, if hollywood producers actually knew what you could do with the internet, we might see a whole host more TV shows and films that touch a little too close to home.

The episode of House did however get me thinking. If I were to blog on a daily basis about my predicaments, would I get more hits? would I have perhaps gotten useful feedback from someone who has actually had an oil leak on a 54 plate BMW 120d? Would I have gotten a lawsuit from potential slandering of the un-named garage I brought the car from and would have likely screamed about? Or would people turn around and read it, not give a crap and ignore the site once more.

it interests me. In fact my silence on twitter was more of an accidental experiment to see whether people noticed, or even cared.

There were, indeed, a few posts on twitter, asking of my whereabouts, but what really surprised me is that on this site alone, my visitor numbers briefly went up. At a low point I get 16 hits a day, on a high, over a thousand. In fact on the 10th of March I got a spike, of almost two and a half thousand visitors, it stayed fairly consistant after that, hovering around the one thousand mark until the 21st when they dropped back down to 600-ish. Strangely, it was only on the 21st that I got a text, asking if I was alright. Odd however that people check my twitter and then my site before texting or calling me to know if something is going on.

It does, however, give a good indication of just how integral the internet now is to peoples lives. I decided a while back that this website is becoming a blog, rather than a showcase of my photography work. I also decided that I would try to do more tech postings and talk less about my life and more about things people are interested in, but every now and then a regular blog can’t hurt.

In fact I would go as far as to say I need to update this far more often, given that people are now coming from twitter to read it (around 63%). I do however wish people would comment more, I like telling stories, even if they aren’t quite happy and jolly, but an accurate and public diary is still a part of me and life today as we know it.

Who knows, perhaps this story will generate some comments, perhaps I’ll have someone come along who has deconstructed the top half of a 120d engine and might offer some advice. Or maybe I’ll get some links to other peoples personal blogs and be able to comment directly on them.

This is now a life blog, more than anything else. But I do pause for a moment while I wonder just what impact technology has on your lives, and whether it is as integral to yours as it is to mine.

The time has come for me to trade in my car, but if I wait much longer I stand to loose thousands and thousands of pounds in depreciation. I have to get rid in the next two months or I may as well not sell. This is not such a good thing, especially when your happening to try and keep the whole ‘prestige car’ thing going and the only ones out there are high milers.

Frustratingly my current role means I can’t exactly be without a car, so I’m quite stuffed in a sense. But if I wait, I stand to loose around 3 grand, whereas if I change now, I don’t loose anything, nor do I have to spend anything at all, the current trade in value for my car is actually so good that I will more or less get a straight swap. Unfortunately that straight swap might mean getting a prestige car with everything I want, except it’s 143,000 miles, on a petrol or diesel. This is not good at all.

Oh dear. Out of interest I’ve looked at Audi A4′s, Volkswagen Golfs, BMW 1 Series and Mercedes C Class. Don’t get me wrong there are plenty about, although some are almost 200 miles away, but in the case of the 1 series, sure I can get exactly what I want, no question about it, except one of them has 114000 miles on a 2.0 diesel, now that’s a lot. The same with Audi A4′s. The only thing that doesen’t seem to have the miles, is the VW Golf, though I might have to travel to get one. Then of course theres the possibility that some little teenage f**kwit has ragged it to within an inch of it’s life, as is the case today with one example I looked at. It was perfect, aside from the blown head gasget!

Which leaves me with a very big problem, if I do it now, I wont have to pay a penny, if I don’t then I’ll have to pay thousands. Why is the used car market so atroctious in Cardiff? Why do the perfect ones have to be 178 miles away…. DAMNIT!

If we move back a week or so, the BBC got wind of the Apple iPad announcement. True to their current form not only was the announcement inaccurate but potentially misleading for potential buyers, here’s the catch line
If you want to view the article, click here. First of all, where did they get this piece of nonsense? and second of all, No it does not have iPhoto. Amongst other things iPhoto is an image editing suite as well as a gallery collection system, it syncs with most cameras, and includes the ability to work with and edit RAW files and pictures. The iPad version is nothing like that. It’s simply a gallery which supports GeoTagging and Facial Recognition. That isn’t iPhoto.

However the latest one is of course the computers in cars article. Which implies, amongst other things, that cars have about 9 computer units scattered throughout the car, see diagram below

What utter idiot came up with this diagram? First off, cars do have computers, but usually a limit of two or three. A car will consist of having an ECU, or control unit for the cars engine, and second of all internal electronics such as airbags, electric windows and locking, ABS, wipers and climate are controlled by an electrical control computer. Granted parking assistance may be controlled by a separate unit however this is usually controlled by the main electrical control unit as well.

I’m sorry but this ludicrous string of false information over and over and over again is getting ridiculous. I know i’ve only posted about two BBC news articles but please Fire your tech editor now! and recruit someone who actually knows what the hell they are talking about!

ARGH!

It seems I’m not the only one! Almost everyone I know with some form of Apple product beyond the basic iPod usually spends an inordinate amount of time cleaning it with everything from micro fibre cloths and window cleaner to specialist Mac cleaning products like iKlear. I’ll confess I am somewhat of a cleaning nut, and I have been known in the past to physically take apart my keyboard and stick it in the dishwasher, or spend an hour with cotton buds getting rid of the crud that has built up in the corner of my monitor, but I have to say that I find myself paying more attention to cleaning my nearly newish Macintosh. Oh and yes, I have brought the iKlear package.

Just how far is too far? And why is it Apple products demand that kind of attentiveness from their owners. Should we simply just put a bit of polish on the old lump of metal and wipe it over or should we spend more time carefully cleaning our technology? After all, it’s not uncommon for someones iMac to be a centrepiece to an office. But does it extend to our iPhones, our laptops and if it does, then why are we not doing it to our televisions?

Alas most of this hasn’t happened, we’re still stuck largely where we were at the end of the 1980′s in terms of the actual world we live in. We still drive from A to B, flying is still prohibitively expensive for some and whilst advances have been made in your Television and Telephone, if you took the TV and mobile phone changes out, the most significant change over the last 20 years is the fact we no longer carry around a Sony Walkman cassette player for our music needs.

Of course I am being cynical, there have been a great number of advances in technology, I just can’t help but feel they have been significantly slower than they should have been. I once remember a child in my school, back when I was 10 or even 9 years old, saying “they would probably have flying cars by the time you learn to drive”. Whilst that might have been a bit ambitious for a 7 or 8 year time gap, if you think about it, we all really thought something like that would happen. Remember the Slug concept car? Apparently by 2001 we were all going to be driving these. Homes would be knocked down and rebuilt with new ultra modern, low cost eco friendly buildings with mountains of technology in them.

Fabulous blade runner esq high rise buildings for people rich and poor containing hi tech homes and doors that opened with speech recognition and the whole world would either be covered in a dense smog like in Blade Runner, or as clear as the air inside the dome from Logans Run.

Yet despite this, despite the hope that we would move with the advances of technology, I still come home to a sixty year old house, with the same plugs, the same wiring and even the same door locks as we had then. The technology has advanced, but not quite in the way we’ve hoped. I have a computer sat on my desk, it just happens to be more powerful. I write letters with it and play games, like most people. We did this 20 years ago with the ZX Spectrum or the Atari ST, just now we do it in richer colour and slightly faster. I pick up my iPod instead of a walkman and watch television that comes through a cable instead of an arial. Yes the advances are there, but they are all just, minor upgrades. The same as twenty years ago I could buy a cassette that was 70 or 90 minutes long. The technology is the same, but just, a little bit better, more convenient.

And so this is my problem, on coming into 2010, instead of creating new technology, instead of ploughing through and improving everything we already have, inventing new things and new technologies we’ve bumbled around with silly things. Take climate change for example. We’ve been focusing for years on how to reduce the buildup of climate change by adjusting the things we use in the home, like light bulbs. Instead of perhaps doing that, or even tearing down the old unfriendly things in favour or rebuilding it with clean new eco friendly things and then inventing a machine that cleans the air for us so that the eco change is really reversed. Why I ask, even now are we still not considering blasting things into the sun? The ultimate waste disposal and it provides our sun with fuel?

Oh I know I am being cynical and perhaps even very unfair, but if someone asked me where we would be in ten years time, I would probably say exactly where we are now. Perhaps my phone will be the size of my thumbnail or even implanted into my ear. Maybe there really will be a rapid change in technology so fast that we enter a real space age, that we start entering a massive form of silicon revolution, the same way the industrial revolution of steam changed the world in only a few years. It has happened before and it can happen again, but I have to ask why it hasn’t happened yet.

And so I leave this slightly longer than usual post aimed toward you, the readers. I ask you to be open, and honest, and to think just totally about this subject and whether it is really fair, what your thoughts are on the next year and indeed the next ten years. I invite you as the readers to indulge me in this article or brush it aside as cynicism or nonsense. But never forget, I love the technology we have now and truly admire the work that has been done, and I see huge potential for the technology we have in ways I can’t even begin to describe but I am disappointed, annoyed and even angry, that we have not pushed ourselves as a race to become more than we are and push the boundaries every day, so I ask you the readers to turn around and put me in my place, put me down, put me out, put me up but most of all just to think about the things you have already and what they have done for you.

Indulge me. I’ll be waiting.

For example, something that would take maybe 5 steps on windows, takes about 2 on Mac, things are where they should be, and the problem is Windows has gotten us all used to using the computer in a very-straight-forward-process-that-cannot-deviaite-from-a-set-line-under-any-circumstances. Exactly like that. The best examples I can think of are joining a Wireless network. On Mac, You click the network, enter your encryption key and click join. In Windows, you usually have to enter a utility (unless your lucky enough to have one that pops up for you and gives you a network list) then you have to select the network, enter the key, then tell it what type of network it is, then click a box that says “reconnect automatically” and then click Save.

It’s not that counter intuitive, but it’s still a process we don’t necessarily need to go through. The extra steps are needed to cover a Windows ‘flaw’ so to speak. In Windows it needs you to specify what type of network it is, to apply security settings. In Mac, due to it’s Unix base, has a set, standard profile set up. For joining a network as standard, it’s great, no extra configuration needed, however there are advantages to the way Windows does it by the way it adds preconfigured ‘Network profiles’ to minimise the effort needed, but then going into why that’s actually a bad thing would require a separate article all on it’s own.

Another example is the Start Menu and the Dock. Think of the dock like that little quick launch area on your Windows machine, your commonly used applications are in it, for instance, here’s mine.

I have finder, (think Windows explorer), Mail, Safari, iChat, iCal, iTunes, Address Book, Spaces (more on this later), System Preferences, Tweetdeck, Skype, Adium (MSN Client), Pages (Mac equivalent of MS Word) and Writeroom (Word processor)

There are also three other things on the right which I will get to in a moment, the far right is of course the trash and works pretty much like the Recycle Bin on Windows so I’m not going to explain it to you (if however you do need help knowing what that is, I suggest you stop using a computer and seek guidance)

So, For me, just like quick launch, if I want to open my Word processor I open Writeroom or Pages by clicking it. Nothing else opens up or takes up the space, all you get is that little white dot underneath the application icon to let you know it’s open. And generally I don’t have to go anywhere else. Up until Windows 7 this was totally different to the way Windows worked. The icons would be there, but that’s all they would be, opening a new application would mean a new ‘tab’ would open on your taskbar which if there was any application activity would flash orange and blue at you. Windows seven now is more mac like by giving a glassier feel to it, but it still flashes. But, what If I want to open another application thats not in my quick launch or dock! Well on Mac, here’s all I tend to do if I want to open say ‘Numbers’ (the iWork equivalent to Excel)

All I tend to do these days is go to spotlight (the magnifying glass) and type “numbers” in, and low and behold numbers has popped up, there are of course easier ways to do this, I could open finder by clicking Finder, I click applications, and scroll to Numbers like so

Or if I really want to be daring I could take that applications folder and turn it into a Stack. (More on that here http://blog.woopid.com/?p=398)

Ok so let’s give the example in Windows to open Excel assuming it’s not an application I use a lot so, wouldn’t have it on my desktop, or in my quick launch icons.

I click start > all programs > Microsoft Office (assuming your application icons are in the Microsoft office folder) and then click Excel. Or if you’re like my last system, Start > All programs > Office applications > Microsoft Office > Excel

It’s a long process that seems normal to us, but, Mac just seems more intuitive. When the original adverts came out that said ‘Think different’ they really meant it.  But after a while you get a feeling that this is really how it should be. You can see on the screenshot above I have a quick link to my Downloads folder, yes you can do this in Windows, but it’s not quite as simple as Mac, you just look at the Places list, think “I want a link to the folder in there” so you drag the folder into the list. it’s simple, intuitive etc.

Oh and installing an application? Usually it’s just drag and drop, and I really mean that.

However I said some things seem alien to me. Let’s start with the first. These things.

On Windows they are on the right hand side of your Application Window. The Far right is an X, meaning “Close the program”(unless your on Windows 7). In the middle is “maximise the current view” and the one on the left of that again is the “hide this application to the taskbar”

On Mac however they are on the left hand side of your application window. The one on the far right in most native applications means, ‘Resize this window to fit the content as best you can” not however to expand the window. The middle on, is minimise the window to the dock. The one on the left we therefore assume is Close the program right? Er… No. I don’t actually know what the technical name for the button is but it’s more like a ‘hide me’ button, thats just infuriating. If i want to close my program I have to press Command + Q or actually go to the application menu and select exit. The button doesn’t close it. it just gets rid of all trace of it yet still leaves it open. This confuses me no end and it’s just utterly counter intuitive.

Other things include the lack of fullscreen web browsing, and decent voice dictation and sometimes getting around. It’s not a major thing but it does sometimes feel a little strange. However I was surprised by the lack of decent voice recognition.

Don’t get me wrong, I know that Mac OS has voice recognition – to a point. It’s more for accessibility than anything else and does work exceedingly well for that purpose, however Windows Vista and Windows 7 came with built in voice recognition, which was actually incredibly good. I always used to use it with a webcam, but almost every blog post up until about a year ago was voice dictated. I loved it, especially as it took fifteen minutes to train and was one of easiest pieces of software to use. I’ve never found anything that worked quite like it, why didn’t mac sort that one out for me?

I guess I really am starting to Think Different….

So naturally being a complete tech geek, I found this out whilst ‘Googling’ for the Out Of Hours information. Did I find it? well, no not really. The problem with technology these days, is that we become so reliant on it that we forget about the other simpler means of finding information out. Like picking up the telephone for example.

Here’s what I did to try and work out what was going on with my ear. It’s a long list but I need to illustrate something, just be patient.

1: Google for symptoms
2: Google for possible home remedies to said symptoms
3: Google for “out of hours doctor cardiff”
4: Panic because I can’t find anything other than medicare insurance plans
5: Resort to trying said home remedies and thus making the problem worse
6: Call my GP, get their out of hours number ring said number, be told I have to call a cardiff GP surgery because I was out of catchment area
7: Google for my mothers local Cardiff surgery
8: Panic because I can’t find it
9: Resort to calling any GP, getting the generic number, making emergency appointment and forgetting to tell them I am a visiting patient
10: Go to appointment, panic, complications, get some sort of prescription

This, is not really how it should have been. Here’s the process as it should have been.

1: Call my GP, be told I am out of catchment area and call Cardiff GP
2: Pull out phonebook
3: Call GP get out of hours number, call it and make appointment
4: Go

Of course, something as simple as pulling out a phonebook never occurred to me, because of course I’ve become so reliant on technology, I forgot such a thing exists. So I ended up spending hours trawling through the websites. I eventually found the page I needed which told me everything I needed to know far too late, the service I have called tonight.

And then of course there is the problem of self diagnosis. I was able to find out that my symptoms could be any number of things, from a simple ear infection, a perforated ear drum, to massive disfigurement, brain tumour or worse (although whats worse than a brain tumour I will leave to your imagination).

Now, I’m going to be hypocritical here and say “I do have enough common sense to know I shouldn’t self diagnose” and I had enough ‘common sense’ to only try the home remedy of getting sterile olive oil in case it was a wax buildup. But then, I didn’t have enough common sense to check the phonebook for local listings before trying the internet.

I’ve done this in the past as well, gone looking for so much information that I’ve ended up never finding what I need, looking for parts, looking for electronics stores, looking for stockists of various things. I’m often left wondering just how much time I’ve wasted, and indeed how much stuff I’ve missed out on just by not pulling out the phonebook. Indeed now I have I find a page in there entitled “NHS OUT OF HOURS SERVICE CALL THIS NUMBER”. That would have saved so much time.

This of course, is the problem of simply Googling things. Perhaps we all need to downgrade a little. So, next time I need something or, if you need something, check your phonebook first.

Update: Just to let you know I was fine, severe ear infection that’s going to be treated with a huge dose of antibiotics and an antibiotic ‘wick’ (Google said nothing about one of those! but most of the symptoms were right for some of Googles results)

“…Zero usability testing went into this…”

This is something I never expected to see someone say about apple, ever.

Now, granted, I absolutely agree that the app store needed a refresh, it needed cleaning up, updating and generally needed to loose some weight, however, this is the wrong direction. The new image preview idea is nice, but hopelessly wrong. The description being shrunk so you have to click a “read more” button to view a standard description, is wrong. Heres the new app stire.

Yes, this is the new iTunes store. The Description now has to be ‘expanded’ to actually see what the developer intended.

The screenshots are now almost double the size, poorly formatted and now have scrollbars. I really would like to know what on earth went into Apples mind when they created this. Worse, take a look at what happens when you click the more button.

Finally more space for descriptions, but oh dear, Giant icon syndrome has taken hold, and well, the screenshots are gone.

It seems all apple really cared about here was the name of the product and the pictures of the app. This to be is really the wrong direction to be going in, especially as so many apps on the app store require disclaimers at the start of the description to ensure that people know that programs require backend support etc. This is just…. the wrong way to go Apple. Clean it up, please!