Bob Larbey: ‘I’d like a Star Trek transporter’ | Celebrity squares
The Good Life co-writer on why he bought a Mac, and how he had to admit defeat with a chess computer What's your favourite piece of technology, and how has it improved your life? I suppose it's a Mac, which I'm sitting in front of now. I don't know if it's improved my life, but it's made bits of it easier. You can find things out much more quickly now, so it's eased life. When was the last time you used it, and what for? This morning, to look at some train times for a friend of mine. What additional features would you add if you could? None, really – as long as it does what I tell it to do, that's all I want. Do you think it will be obsolete in 10 years' time? Oh God yes, it's probably obsolete now. It's a year old now, so that's an antique by computer standards. What always frustrates you about technology in general? That it's too difficult for me to understand.
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Bob Larbey: 'I'd like a Star Trek transporter' | Celebrity squares
Martin Freeman: ‘I hate the fact that so much of our life is computerised’
Actor Martin Freeman might enjoy downloading, but his favourite piece of technology turns at 33rpm What's your favourite piece of technology, and how has it improved your life? It would have to be a record player, because that's the one I've used most since I was a child and the one I use most now. It's the one I use for all my music, and I thank the person who invented that. When was the last time you used it? I used it last night for a couple of albums I've just bought. I'm still always buying records, but finding the time to play them isn't always easy. What additional features would you add if you could
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Martin Freeman: 'I hate the fact that so much of our life is computerised'
Christmas gift guide: Gadgets
A little (often, tiny) something for the geek in your life. And not all with big price tickets. As chosen by Kelly Bowerbank
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Christmas gift guide: Gadgets
Celebrity Squares: Flash of Genius director Marc Abraham and star Greg Kinnear
Repairable typewriters and silent satnavs top the wishlists of Flash of Genius director Marc Abraham and star Greg Kinnear What's your favourite piece of technology, and how has it improved your life? Marc: The typewriter. It was a great piece of technology for me the Selectric electric typewriter was my favourite. Up until then I had manual typewriters and I had written a couple of books as a sports writer. Then the Selectric came in and it was faster, and it also had a built-in white-out for when you made a mistake. Honestly, I can remember that was huge. Greg: The onboard navigational system – the automobile GPS. The idea that there is someone in my car readily getting me from point A to point B is pretty terrific. I'm hooked on it. My wife gets frustrated cos even if I'm going two blocks down the street I like to put it on and punch in the address. I like to know where I'm going. When was the last time you used it, and what for? Greg: To get to the bottom of the street, I think – the gas station, or something like that. I use it for everything. It would be great for this town – London is built for the GPS, by the way. I live in LA, which is pretty simple to drive and get around, but this – this is a GPS town right here. Marc: Funnily enough, I do use it [an electric typewriter] because I send personal notes and I've gotten so my handwriting doesn't work very well. So what I've done now is that I bought an old typewriter specifically for this and I use it to type personal notes when I'm thanking people for things. And I always get questions back like, "Did you really type this on a typewriter?" What additional features would you add if you could? Marc: The only thing I'd change is probably make it easier to find somebody who can fix it.
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Celebrity Squares: Flash of Genius director Marc Abraham and star Greg Kinnear
Celebrity Squares: DJ Target is devoted to his Nokia E71 but sceptical about robot butlers
The musician and 1Xtra host has not given up on CDs and DVDs yet - but can see a future involving minuscule ear-based gadgets What's your favourite piece of technology, and how has it improved your life? At the moment my favourite is my Nokia E71 mobile phone. It's more or less similar to a BlackBerry. Ever since I've had it, it's made my life so much easier with access to emails and the net and all the other bits and bobs. When was the last time you used it, and what for? I used it five minutes ago to send an email. I'm using it all the time, either as a phone or to do email and other stuff. It's handy for Facebook and Twitter as well. What additional features would you add to it if you could? Sky+ TV – all the channels, that would be really good. Do you think it will be obsolete in 10 years' time? Probably. There are already watch-phones and stuff like that, so sooner or later we won't have to carry anything at all – we'll all have tiny gadgets in our ears. What always frustrates you about technology in general? Even though all of us have the latest phone or camera or computer or whatever, none of them are perfect – they always crash or go wrong. Sometimes they're not very helpful, such as the sat-nav not knowing where you are just as you need it. If you had one tip to give about getting the best out of new technology, what would it be? I'd say to have a look at the manual before you go ahead and use it, depending on what piece of technology it is. There's always so many options, and it's good to know what you're dealing with. Do you consider yourself to be a luddite or a nerd?
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Celebrity Squares: DJ Target is devoted to his Nokia E71 but sceptical about robot butlers
Microchips: Tiny devices with huge ambitions
The Pentagon is pioneering micro technology for just about every device, from 10g video cameras to tiny atomic clocks on a chip Wouldn't it be handy if everything we needed to build the next generation of portable devices and robots were available on a microchip? You could just plug in a navigation system, a radar sensor, cryogenic cooling system, or even a miniature power unit. For laboratory applications, there would be micro versions of everything from mass spectrometers to magnetic sensors. The Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), the Pentagon's extreme science wing, aims to provide all this, and more, in handy "matchbook size" electronic packages. Forty years ago, Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Intel, accurately predicted that the cost of processing power would halve every two years. We have come to expect devices to get smaller, cheaper and more powerful over time. Now the revolution is spreading to other types of device. The development of mems (microelectromechanical systems) has already paved the way for "lab-on-a-chip" chemical analysis
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Microchips: Tiny devices with huge ambitions
Ask Jack: March 05 2009
Computing in the clouds I work for a company with 20 employees across five offices, and we're wondering if we can get network-style functionality - automated backups, data sharing, shared diary and contact database systems - at a cut price using "cloud computing". Lee Corless JS: "Cloud computing" involves doing things using remote servers on the web, rather than servers that you install and own yourself. Assuming you all have fast, reliable internet connections, then the smaller and more spread out the company, the more sense cloud computing makes. Your company sounds a good candidate. However, there are drawbacks. It's essential that your company keeps its own copies of all data, because online services can be unavailable (Gmail was recently down for hours, and "hangs" often). Users can be locked out by network and password problems, and suppliers have been known to accidentally delete records, or go bust. If you don't have control of your own data, then you are betting the company on someone who has little or no interest in your survival. Thus, moving to the cloud solves some problems, but it introduces others that may be hazardous to your corporate health. There are other drawbacks. Online services are slower and generally much less powerful than desktop alternatives. You may not need all the features, but slower operation comes at a significant cost in staff time.
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Ask Jack: March 05 2009
Biometrics: Keeping a close eye on schoolchildren
A Cambridgeshire college has dropped the traditional register to pilot a facial recognition system, raising concerns for parents "Ainsley. Babcock. Bland. Carthorse.
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Biometrics: Keeping a close eye on schoolchildren
Technophile: Ultrasone HFI-2200 headphones
With the right material, these headphones can sound wonderful – just give Eric Clapton a miss Ultrasone is swimming against the tide. The German headphone manufacturer has just brought an expanded range of headphones to the UK, headed by the £229.99 HFI-2200. And any hi-fi buff will be able to tell you're wearing them. They have a retro look that could be described as ugly: they're very dark brown, with thick orange padding around the earpieces – a good match for a brown Zune. They are also novel in having off-centre drivers. The blurb says that with S-Logic headphones, "the sound does not go directly down your ear canal as with conventional headphones, but instead filters off the outer ear as you listen. By doing this, your perception of distance, depth and instrument placement are greatly enhanced." This goes against the prevailing trend towards closed-canal in-ear phones such as the Etymotic models, which basically work like active earplugs. Both types of design are sold to musicians and audiophiles with the claim that they help protect your hearing, but tastes vary. I find in-ear phones uncomfortable, and like having giant pillows that enclose the whole ear. You may prefer the opposite.
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Technophile: Ultrasone HFI-2200 headphones
Newsbytes: March 05 2009
Open source action The UK minister for digital engagement, Tom Watson, has announced an action plan for open source in public sector IT projects. Tiny Atoms for Taiwan TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor) has signed a deal to make Intel Atom chips for consumer electronics products and industrial devices.
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Newsbytes: March 05 2009