I'm once again reconsidering my relationship with networked devices. After my recent holiday abroad I've been reluctant to re-immerse myself in the 'social web'. Many of the notifications I receive come from bots telling me what people may be doing. Not the people themselves. I have put my phone on silent permanently and have 'Do Not Disturb' activated from 8pm to 8am. I don’t need 24/7 rolling Continue Reading
How to make the Perfect Martini (According to Roger Moore)
Roger Moore never said 'Vodka martini, shaken not stirred" in any of his seven James Bond films. I've always liked dry martinis stirred but I'm willing to try anything once. While looking for a recipe for a dry martini I stumbled across an article from 2015 where Roger Moore explained his preferred recipe. You start with swilling a martini glass with an eggcup measure of the dry Continue Reading
Pack less and document more – My latest EDC the Tom Bihn Pilot
You don't need another bag. No really. You probably have loads. But if for some reason you do need something smaller than your standard 'Every Day Carry', and you want to buy something you can pass down for generations, it might be worth looking at what Tom Bihn has to offer. I'd say try to buy second hand on eBay but people barely let go of them. It's no secret that I'm a fan of Tom Bihn's Continue Reading
The Joy Of Cassettes
Recently, I accidentally started collecting cassettes. I’m not the only one. There is a movement out there. Not as mainstream as the vinyl revival. I hope it stays that way. It all started in my attic. I’m no good at throwing stuff away. While I have the space I’d rather store it for when I have time to digitise and archive. With so few of my elders left, old photos, VHS cassettes and tapes Continue Reading
My Sony DSCRX100M4 is already old.
There is no shortage of pockets at this time of year and the very pocketable camera that I carry alongside my phone at the moment is the Sony DSCRX100M4. It was in the camera shops of Singapore that what started as curiosity into the latest camera tech, turned to fascination and then the sudden need to upgrade my then every-day-carry (EDC). It's form factor many have left behind. In a time Continue Reading
The Pro-Ject VC-S Vinyl Record Cleaner
This is my new favourite gadget. The Pro-Ject VC-S record cleaner. I got it from Henley Designs and for £299 it handles like a serious industrial cleaning machine. The silver arm you can see in the photo both sucks up the debris and also dries the record in the time it takes for a full revolution. It's nosy for a few seconds but there's a hell of a lot of suction power. Your vinyl is ready to Continue Reading
Rebalancing my relationship with technology
There's been eight newsletters since my last blog post. If you subscribe to my newsletter you will have recently read me wondering how I might manage without my iPhone and Apple Watch for a week. The more my mobile devices can do, the more they seem to want me to do. I was considering a dumb phone to try and experience 7 days with fewer distractions. Yes it's a drastic step when all I Continue Reading