Author: Jonathan Weinberg
Opinion: Why are robots still so rubbish!
So there I was on Friday, snowed under with work and wanting the weekend to arrive but take a bit longer than usual to get here so I could finish off everything I needed to do. And then it struck me, what I actually needed was some help around the house. No, I don’t mean an eastern European cleaner, or a girlfriend – the first is too expensive and the second a lot of hassle, or should that be the other way around?
And then I read on Tech Digest about the iRobot Looj: the robot that cleans your gutter. Now that’s more like it! A robot for cleaning my gutter, I WANT ONE! The fact my gutting doesn’t need cleaning and is currently free of leaves, is of no consequence…
Top 5 gadgets for David Cameron and the Conservative Party
It’s the Tory party’s political conference this week in Blackpool, and yes, you’re right – politics has no place on Tech Digest. But while the MPs are by the seaside, we thought it’d be a good time to check out a few gadgets for Dave Cameron and his mates.
Now, any good Chancellor of the Exchequer has to be up on his numbers. And if George Osbourne wants to sit behind the door of No11 Downing Street then this might be worthy of his first purchase. As long as it’s not put on his state expenses!
Opinion: iPhone in the UK – overpriced, overhyped and over here!
Jonathan Weinberg writes…
So the iPhone is finally landing in Britain on November 9 – well, whoop di doo! I’m told Steve Jobs did his usual brain-washing-style spouting at yesterday’s launch – he even turned up live, presumably so it’d work better than via video – and regular readers will already know what I think about that from my column when the iPod Touch launched.
Timewise I make it seven and a bit weeks until the scrum kicks off, so roughly seven weeks from today until a load of morons begin camping out in front of O2 and Carphone Warehouse stores up and down the country in a bid to get their hands on this so-called “holy grail” of gadgetry…
Opinion: Why it's now COOL to be a GEEK
Jonathan Weinberg writes…
This is possibly the most important techno story I’ve seen all week, it’s officially ok to be geeky. A new list of the UK’s most coolest brands has been released and the top 10 contains SEVEN firms related to gadgets, gaming and the internet. So if that’s not a reason to embrace your virtual friends and give thanks I don’t know what is.
The iPod was only pipped into second place in the CoolBrands 2007 by James Bond’s favourite car, the Aston Martin, and you could argue there’s something geeky about being a fan of that motor. No longer is it nerdy to be geeky – because both are different…
Opinion: HMV need more than gimmicks to attract kids to "cyber store"
Quick quiz now – do you still buy CDs on the high street? I rarely do these days, unless it’s an impulse buy in a sale as I browse, but then I don’t get much time to do that either like I used to. Let’s face it, we’re a cash rich, time poor society now and that means one thing – the Internet!
I’m not going to spit out the obvious downloading facts and figures that we all already know, digital music is big business and only a miniscule percentage of people reading this will never have bought or “found” a music track via the web…
Opinion: Why we should all smile as stars of CCTV
Yep, you’re right, that is an album by Hard-Fi but it’s a serious point, because a funny thing happened to me today – I went to the dentist! Nothing particular humorous in that, no you are right, but seriously I am telling the tooth! Ok, enough with the bad jokes already.
As I sat in the dentist chair, he said there was something he wanted to show me and quickly thrust it towards my mouth. I was a bit shocked but suddenly it all became clear – he’s had a techno-makeover in the surgery. And boy, what an exciting 10 minutes it was…
Opinion: Are we not clever enough to withstand Apple's spin
Jonathan Weinberg writes… Hands up who's going to be buying a new iPod after last night's announcements from San Francisco? Keep your hands up if you are all fools – and what is it they say about those and their…
Opinion: Facebook numpties deserve to be defrauded!
Jonathan Weinberg writes…
Two days into the week and TWO Facebook security threats appear. The first in The Guardian on Monday warned secret code from FB’s inner-workings had been published on the internet prompting warnings of a security risk for users. Boring! Code, schmode, it’s far too technical.
But then this piece of wonder appeared today in The Times and it’s far more worrying, not least because everyone I know does it – and also because it involves a frog!
Freddi Staur is a cute green frog who has stolen email addresses and mobile phone numbers from users on the social network website – in an experiment to show how easily people give out their personal information to strangers…
Opinion: Stamp out striking posties with email
Jonathan Weinberg writes…
For those outside the UK, the reason for this rant won’t mean much but the wider implications affect us all wherever we live. We’re currently in the grip of a nationwide wildcat postal strike in Britain and it’s started to get me more steamed up than that kettle you use to open your partner’s letters.
And it got me thinking, what’s the point of post anyway now we have email. I’ve had a pile of stamps sitting on my desk for months.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for workers rights, fair pay for a fair day and all that, and I love my new postie, he’s very friendly and helpful. But the sooner everyone switches over to electronic delivery and snail mail dies off, the better life will be…
Opinion: Pulling ads from BNP Facebook pages is absurd
Jonathan Weinberg writes…
Just a week ago I called on advertisers to think more deeply about which websites they want their brands to be associated with. It came as a response to the Panorama BBC investigation into violent beatings and fights being filmed by youngsters and posted on the popular websites in the name of entertainment.
And now, it seems the money men are sitting up and taking notice. Obviously, I don’t – and can’t – claim the credit for that but I’m not sure I want to in this case, because on this one, I actually think they’ve got it wrong.
A few days ago Vodafone and First Direct, two of the UK’s leading firms, decided to withdraw their advertising from Facebook because it might end up appearing on pages run by the British National Party. Now we can debate the BNP’s stance all day and night but the fact remains they are a legitimate political party able to stand in council and general elections…
