Unconventional watches


These watches look very cool, though I guess they’re not really that practical. But then, they’re not meant to be practical and are instead a kind of commentry on the relationship people can have with their watches.

From the
Mr Jones Watches website:

“Summissus revives the traditional memento mori – an object designed to remind people that death should be prepared for at any time. Summissus has a mirrored display that reflects the wearer and alternates the time with the statement, ‘Remember you will die”. In this way Summissus fosters humility in the wearer.”

The Summissus is the watch on the left in the picture. I guess, aside from “fostering humility”, it could also make people worry less about other things. Day going badly? Don’t worry, you’re going to die some day. 🙂

Young drive ‘radical media shift’

Young drive ‘radical media shift’

Sixteen to 24 year olds are spurning television, radio and newspapers in favour of online services, says the regulator’s study.

I can’t say that I’m surprised really. Most people in that age group would probably have grown up with computers and the internet. Personally I used to watch hours and hours of tv when I was younger, but in the last 4 or 5 years the amount I watch has really dropped off. Whether it’s because the content on tv has got less interesting, or because the content online is more interesting… I don’t know. The only time I really watch tv is when I’ve checked the tv guide (online of course) and there is something I want to watch on. I don’t watch just for the sake of watching anymore.

As for radio and newspapers… I still listen to the radio, but mostly in the car and the reception for the station I like to listen to isn’t that great anyway. Newspapers… perhaps on a train journey, or I’ll flick through the paper that my mum gets on Saturdays. I’ve always got my news either from television or radio, so the change to getting it online and from multiple sources wasn’t that much of a stretch. The Internet is quicker for news, especially you’d only really get a newspaper with the previous day’s news in it, rather than what is happening this very second.

Implication of Adoption for future generations

Generational impacts of adoption – Harlow’s Monkey

Blogger Harlow’s Monkey discusses her being adopted, not knowing her biological family medical history and how that has affected her own daughter.

Sometimes, I think my unknown medical history is the most damaging feature of being adopted.

[…]

But of even greater concern is that I don’t know if I’m at risk for cardiac problems, diabetes, cancer, or mental health disorders.

This means also, that my children will also be unable to fill out the [√] on standard medical history forms, as we recently experienced when my kids had their yearly checkups.

Again, not knowing doesn’t just affect me. It also affects my children.

I kind of know what she means, though from the perspective of the child of an adoptee rather than as an adoptee myself. While I know at least some information about my mum’s family’s medical history, I know nothing about the medical history of my dad’s biological family. This especially becomes a problem when you start thinking about illnesses that can be hereditary – for example Crohn’s Disease, which my dad suffers from. He didn’t show symptoms of having it until he was well into his forties and without a family medical history to look at, I have no way of knowing whether or not I have a similar risk of finding myself suffering from the same problem. As far as I know, with Crohn’s Disease, there is no certainty that the children of a sufferer will also find themselves also afflicted (not a great word to use, but I can’t think of a better term) but there is a higher risk of them suffering from Crohn’s Disease.

If I knew more about my family medical history, then there might be some clues as to whether I have this to look forward to in twenty years time or if I can relax a bit and not worry quite so much. I guess it would be a bit easier for my dad to find out about his biological family and their medical history being adopted within a country rather than internationally like Harlow’s Monkey.

Personal data: Knowing who has yours

I just read an interview by TechDigest with one of the founders of Egg, the internet bank. It discusses the subject of who might have your personal data – things like your address, date of birth and name as well as other data that might be held by various companies.
In Britain, the Data Protection Act allows you to ask any company for the data they have on you and they have to respond to your request within 40 days. Tom Ilube, one of the founders of new company garlik, says “We decided to create a large-scale consumer-facing company that will help people understand what’s out there about them and how to manage it.” According to TechDigest:

Initially, this will boil down to a service that rounds up all the publicly-accessible data on a person, including their credit file, but also the records kept by private companies.

This all strikes me as very useful. I’m only 22 and just out of university, but I’ve been hanging out online for about 7 years and in that time I’ve done a fair amount of buying stuff online and signing up for websites and things. Not only that, but I shop in regular stores too! Now, I don’t have a credit card because I’m not yet entirely comfortable with spending money that I don’t already have – but I’m sure various companies must have information on me from my limited dealings with banks and building societies. Add to that various competitions I’ve entered over the years and there could be loads of companies that have my personal data, even though I tick the boxes that say that my information can’t be passed on to other companies. It’s all very interesting and I’m curious to see who might have data about me.

Digital TV switchover

Digital switchover a mystery to many:

Analogue TV signals will start to be switched off in two years’ time, but a third of UK TV viewers are still unaware of the switchover.

A survey by Digital UK found that awareness has grown by 13 per cent since the launch of the Digit Al campaign, voiced by Little Britain star Matt Lucas.

But that still leaves one-third of people who have not heard about the digital switchover.

Perhaps surprisingly, awareness is highest among the 65-74 age group, and lowest among 16-24-year-olds, fewer than half of whom know about the switchover.

Could it be that the 16 to 24 age group watches the least tv and this is why they don’t know about the switchover? I know certainly that I (and I happen to fall in this particular age group) don’t watch anywhere near the amount of television I did ten years ago. It’s a combination of getting some sort of life, the internet being more interesting and television getting more rubbish. Every couple of days, I check out the tv guide to see if there’s anything I want to watch on. Generally, it boils down to “Is Doctor Who or programmes of a similar genre on?” or “Is a film I want to see on?”. And usually the answer is no.

Especially when the alternative is cheap dvds from Play.com, catching up with friends, fiddling with my websites (somehow I have accumulated a vast number) or reading a book (something that I somehow seem not to have as much time to do now). It’s not as if I download things to watch either – all I have downloaded is the entire series of Space:Above and Beyond which I’ve not been able to find on dvd and some episodes of Doctor Who, that I’ve already watched on tv and am waiting for cheaply priced dvds of.

So… I’ve not seen much of the tv advertising of this switchover… and I’ve not seen much in the way of other kinds of advertisements.

Another thing about this age group is that most of them could well be bogged down in exam and studying hell. At 16 I was doing my GCSES, at 17 AS-levels, 18 was A-levels and from then till just recently, my life was a marsh of university work and exam cramming. They have different priorities. Going out and seeing your mates rates far more highly than staying in and watch telly. On the other hand, the 65 to 74 age group could well be the group that stuck inside and have tv as a large source of contact with the outside world (I am being a bit pessimistic here). Faced with the loss of the primary source of entertainment and information, I think I would probably find out more about what was going on and how I could deal with it.

Eventually, I suppose, I’ll do something about sorting out Freeview for the house. However, there’s no urgency to it.

Telephone bracelet for Alzheimer’s sufferers

A telephone bracelet has been developed by Orange and Medical Mobile for Alzheimer’s sufferers in France. It seems to be basically a watch containing GPS and mobile phone technology that keeps track of the patient and alerts the relevant people when they wander out of where they’re supposed to be – a bit similar to a system implemented in a nursing home that I read about except this would allow the patient out of a nursing home and down to a local shop perhaps rather than just confining them to the home. Plus there’s the added bonus of being able to talk to the person through the bracelet rather than having to peg it to wherever they are.

This is a really cool idea and could probably be used not just for Alzheimer’s patients, but for any vunerable person who might get confused and disoriented when out and about.

Via Popgadget

Music-loving mums rock CD sales

Music-loving mums rock CD sales

“The top 100 is strewn with records that can only be described as easy listening.

And it is all a reflection of a significant change in the music industry – the power of “mum rock”.

Forty-somethings now buy more than twice as many pop CDs as teenagers and the gap is growing every year.”

While it’s true that I’ve noticed a lot more Mum-friendly music on the shelves… I’m not sure that I really agree with most of this article. Although, heh, at the same time I have no actual evidence to back up my argument, just a vague half remembered memory of reading something somewhere.

According to the article:

“Downloading is one factor explaining why teenagers are buying fewer CDs, especially when it comes to compilation albums.”

Fair enough on the compilation albums, but I remember reading how the teenage age group was actually buying more cds even though they’re the biggest downloading group – probably something to do with actually being able to listen before you buy and getting exposed to a wider range of bands perhaps.

And perhaps the reason the “average teenage record buyer” is spending less money on CDs that certainly aren’t cheaper to buy in shops, is that they’re looking around online to buy CDs at half the price you’d find them at in Virgin or HMV. While CDs are indeed cheap in the supermarket (which is one of the places I like to buy my music and games), what teenager is going to loiter with their friends in a supermarket?