Ok, so I literally spent about two minutes with HPs ill fated Touchpad down at my local PC world.
First impressions - yup, it's a little bulky and carries a real heft... but I think that was more down to the security device and umbilical attached to the back of the unit.
Honestly, other than the smooth plastic casing that makes up the rear, it didn't feel much different from my iPad. But my iPad is a first generation product, and next to iPad 2, the Touchpad faces stiff competition.
Anyway, I was keen to try WebOS, the operating system under which the Touchpad runs.
Initially, the experience is very pleasing - smooth transitions and animations greet you as you prod and swipe your way through the user interface. The photo viewer worked as expected but the pinch to zoom gesture suffered by being a bit laggy but not by much. But, it has to be said, laggier than our old iPod Touch which operates on much inferior hardware.
How about the web browser? Well, the pulsing 'opening app' icon is certainly reassuring - it tells me that the machine hasn't hung and is in fact doing something.
Not quite sure what it was doing, because it took at least 10-15 seconds to show the browser window. To be honest I wasn't counting because I didn't expect it to take so long. 10-15 seconds? Really? For the browser?
At this point I got caught up the the stores' wifi encryption and couldn't proceed any further without the assistance of a purpleshirt.
But anyway. 10-15 seconds to open the browser?
Now, to be fair, this is mitigated by the fact that the calendar and photo apps opened much quicker and it's easy to swipe between them. So you could endure the wait for the browser once per session and just jump between the stuff you have open. It's much better than Apple's home button double-click approach, as it actually looks like a multitasking UI.
As I said, this was just a few minutes of hands on with an eagerly anticipated device.
It's a real shame HP have decided to ditch the Touchpad so soon after launch. WebOS holds much promise and is sufficiently fresh and different from iOS that those seeking non Apple or non Android options for tablet computing would be more than satisfied with this offering.
I discovered NodeBeat [iTunes link] by accident after seeing it demoed on Youtube.
Based on the idea of note generators and receptors, the app offers a quick and easy way to make pleasing sounding ambient audio on the iPad.
My video below gives you an idea what it's about.
Actually, it was while playing around with this app I was reminded of an old Jean Michel Jarre track, Arpegiator, from the Concerts in China album. See what you think [iTunes link].
When nice weather arrives, you just can't resist the allure of running around the garden with a water pistol. Ok, there are plenty of other ways of enjoying the sun, but bear with me here.
Now, this isn't any old water pistol. The Nerf Tornado Strike takes its style cues from something you might find in or around District 9, the white, blue, and day-glo orange aqua armament being as satisfying to brandish as it is to look at. Sporting a detachable shoulder stock, the Super Soaker feels reassuringly sturdy as you run around the garden SWAT style.
Unlike most fill-at-the-tap water pistols, the Tornado Strike utilises a interchangeable water clip system so you can truly lock and load - carry several for extended soaking sessions.
The weapon is primed with a chunky forward grip with which a single pump will unleash a spinning torrent of the wet stuff. It's range is satisfying at several metres and woe betide anyone caught up close.
But as much as I like the water clip system, it's capacity is limited, only offering 5 or so full blasts before a refill is required. Which kind of defeats the purpose. All Hasbro had to do was throw in a spare clip. Admittedly, it wouldn't make that much of a difference, just that the action of swapping an empty clip for a full one during the heat of battle would double the fun instantly.
Luckily, spare clips are available on Amazon, so I may pop over there before the sun shows it's face again.
And alas, as I write, dark clouds are forming on the horizon. Typical.
I didn't think I needed to write about this, but seeing as it's one the biggest, most complicated gadgets the world has ever seen, I though it apt post some words on this day.
Of course, I'm talking about the Space Shuttle, and the successful launch of Atlantis - the last ever shuttle launch - not more than about two hours ago as I write.
To echo other comments I've read online, I'm surprised by how emotional I've been about the whole thing. I think it's because, like the space race generation before me, the shuttle launches have taken place over a large proportion of my life.
It seems that, with the ending of the Shuttle programme, and the ending of supersonic passenger flight in the shape of the Concorde, the world is taking retrograde steps in the progress of mankind.
That's not in any way belittling the advances in other fields of science - medical progress, the development of portable computing power - personal phones, tablets, really quite powerful battery operated computers - these were the stuff of science fiction when the shuttle first launched in 1981. I don't think we even had a home computer back then.
But the image of the shuttle stack sitting on the launch pad, the sheer brute force of these engines - in my mind represented the ultimate in human endeavour.
So despite being surrounded by small tech - great tech - I'm saddened by the loss of one of the greatest technological feats in our short history.
There are some exciting technologies in the pipeline, I'm sure, but I don't find the same attachment to BDBs* as a delivery mechanism.
I stumbled across Robo-Q at a local discount store - they had a pile of them selling at 8 GBP so just had to pick one up, er, for research purposes of course.
Tomy's Robo-Q claims to be the smallest autonomous robot. There's no denying he's small - measuring just 3.4 cm tall - but a robot? Let's see...
Like these indoor 'copters, Robo-Q charges his tiny battery from the handset. Like Apple's magsafe connector, the little contacts on his belly attach magnetically to the corresponding nodes on the controller. He takes quite a long time to charge - up to 20 minutes - which is disappointing, since his run time is short at only a few minutes per charge.
The [noisy] controller has a few simple controls; a sliding speed control, a left/right control and a button marked 'Auto'. Robo-Q lives in a bubble within the controller itself when not in use, ready to be deployed when needed. Well, not really - see 20 minute charge, above.
Robo-Q himself is kitted out with two IR transceivers, two little arms that can be 'posed', and two little legs that do the walking.
His motive force is provided by two tiny actuators, aka coils, in his legs, and the design of the foot allows him to shuffle forward as the feet flick back and forth. Steering is done by flicking one foot more frequently than the other.
But Robo-Q rarely walks straight - often employing a graceful curve before heading over the edge of the table.
This is where the handy controller comes in - you can manually steer Robo - and one can only imagine the unbridled fun it must be to have two different Robos in the same room independently controllable. Remember the discount store I mentioned earlier? That's right - they only had the one model all operating at the same frequency... so no Robo-Q footy world cup for me.
That 'Auto' button on the controller does just that - it sends Robo-Q into a wall-seeking frenzy. Or rather, it's an aversion to walls - he steers clear of such obstacles, the idea being that, like some lab animal, he can negotiate his way out of a maze.
Of course that's bollocks - unless your maze is uniform and white (but not too reflective) the little bugger will ignore most things you put in his path and instead pounds his little head into that box of tissues you thought would work.
Similarly, he can be ordered to 'follow' an object - well mostly his oversized, multi-faceted 'ball'. This he has some fun with this before kicking it too far and losing interest.
Uh oh. Your five minutes are up. Batteries flat. Time to charge up again.
So enjoy my short vid of Robo-Q in some maze action. Soundtrack by me courtesy of Garageband on iPad. Sorry.
It's not often I'm fooled by technology. I like to know how stuff works. It helps me evaluate the relative merits of the common consumer gadgets on a purely technical basis.
But on the run up to Christmas last year, as I was browsing the technology section of our local department store, I got completely taken in by one gadget in particular - Amazon's Kindle.
I'd played with Sony e-readers previously while killing time in an airport, but this was my first close encounter with a Kindle.
Well, actually, a dummy Kindle. Because of the two on display, only one was a working model - the thing I was uselessly prodding was a mock-up, with a printed sticker for a display. I really was convinced the thing had just hung and needed a hard reset.
So not only is the actual Kindle as light as an in-store fake, the screen - the e-ink display - is as convincing as a printed label.
I was impressed.
However as an iPad owner one has to make do and to be honest at that point I had yet to fully read a book - a novel - on it, from cover to cover. So to speak.
So now, it's late April, nearly a year of iPad ownership behind me and I have actually got around to reading again, the idea of getting down to some good old science fiction (Philip K. Dick) as impetus.
A few novels later, using both the Kindle app, and Apple's own iBooks, what's it like, reading on an oversized iPod?
First is the weight. iPad, 1st generation, weighs 690 grams. A large hardback picked randomly weighs in at 898 grams. Yet amazingly the book seems lighter. Crazy, I know. Something, I suspect, to do with the relative density of the two. But my gut tells me the book weighs less.
What does this prove? It proves that the iPad is a heavy old thing that needs propped up for lengthy sessions. I tend to use it landscape, resting it - well, balancing it really - between my thumb and forefinger. Mostly, though, I look to rest it up against something, like a leg, or an armrest. Or just an arm.
Anyway we knew this already. And iPad doesn't get heavier the more books you add - one of the key benefits of an e-reader.
Another important factor seems to be about location i.e. where one does one's reading. For example, on a recent flight, the iPad proved awkward to position to avoid reflections from the bright sunlight cascading through the window. This is true of viewing anything on iPad in bright daylight, something the Kindle excels in.
Conversely, in a darkened room, with the brightness of the iPad dialled as low as it will go, the reading experience is perfectly comfortable, the soft light from the screen invisible to a dozing partner.
Beyond physical aspects, the actual process of reading is just like, er, reading. Forget the arguments over eye-strain - sessions of up to one and half hours (an yes I know many people read for hours on end) were perfectly fine. In fact I'd go as far as saying that the experience is so convincing, I'd lose the notion I was reading a device, rather than a book.
Which brings me to the software.
As a book reading experience, I found the Kindle app closer to the real thing. A simple tap or swipe enough to bring up the next page. In contrast, although iBooks will flick pages on a tap, the whole, beautiful page animation thing only served to get between me and the words. I found it easier to swipe back a page on Kindle on the occasions I needed to review the last words before the page break - you know, when you lose track of the syntax of a sentence.
In conclusion, this leaves iPad as a perfectly good e-reader, but without the crisp outdoor readable display and the almost weightless feel of Kindle.
OK, so the above patently isn't a 3DS, but it did remind me that for better or worse I've owned nearly all Nintendos' handheld devices.
There was the original Gameboy, a Gameboy Color, the Gameboy Advance, a phat DS and a slim DS. I still have a space reserved on the list for a Gameboy Micro, but fear my eyesight isn't up to it. (And they still fetch quite a lot on eBay...)
So, after a cursory look at the 3DS in a store, I came away suitably impressed with the depth of field the screen lends to the action. It is true that you have to find (and keep) the 'sweet spot' for the stereoscopic effect to work, but even with the older systems gamers tend to hold their devices in a constant comfort zone anyway, so the 3DS shouldn't require too much effort. Pity about the battery life, which got better on older models as the tech matured. Maybe they're keeping that improvement for V2.
It seems likely, then, that I'll get myself a 3DS to keep the lineage of portable Nintendo systems going (I'm allowed to skip the DSi, OK?) and also for the inevitable Advance Wars 3DS. Happy days.
The Rubik's Touch Cube is a great idea on paper that actually made it to product. The familiar look of the Rubik Cube is replicated here not with crude stickers on a rotating frame, but with multi-coloured LEDs projected onto a blank shell. As the name suggests, the cube is operated by touch, and not only that, but by gesture control.
Even before you reach the product, the packaging is premium quality. One would expect nothing less as this is not a cheap toy, even if I did pick mine up at a bargain price at the local Costco. The packaging consists of two halves of quality boxwork, with the cube nestled in a neatly cut foam inner lining. Beneath this is the charger and cradle.
The cube itself is a well constructed item and despite its looks, each face consists of smooth, clear plastic. Actually, this plastic film picks up scuffs really easily - if you have an iPod you'll know what I mean. Also, as it's a sensitive electronic device, you'll need to handle it like any other electronic device - I wouldn't like to drop it or leave it buried at the bottom of the toy cupboard.
Now, in a normally lit environment, this is a light up cube. So far so good. But in moderately dim or even darkness, the cube is positively dazzling in intensity. The pictures don't do it justice, for the colours are rich and vibrant. Each facet has the ability to show one of the six Rubik Cube colours.
The red, green, orange and blue are achieved using discrete LEDs, the white with (I'm guessing) a combination of the red, green and blue LEDs, while yellow is the green and blue LEDs mixed. The effect is arresting, because of the brightness and evenness of the light. It's almost like holding a movie special effect, it's that good.
Each face carries it's own function, operated by the centre facet under which is a microswitch. These need to be double clicked to operate, I guess to avoid accidental operation. There's a power button, scramble and unscramble, volume (yes), a hint button and an undo button. The other cool aspect of this cube is that only the upper face is sensitive to touch at any time. So the device must have some sort of gyro aboard to determine this.
Stroking a slice in either axis will cause the cube to simulate a twist, complete with an unconvincing and repetitive sample of a real cube being twisted. The touch also responds to a diagonal 'rotate the top face' type gesture, but this is harder to successfully pull off, as it often sends another face spinning inadvertently. In the end, one resorts to one dimensional stroking to achieve the desired move.
The scramble option applies 20 random moves to the current state of the cube, enough to get any cube fiddler started. Unscramble appears to work by applying a minimum move type algorithm to the current state of the cube and a lot of the time it's not completely obvious what's going on other than a series of unrelated moves. More on this later.
The hint option makes the cube wink the next move you need to make towards completion, again using the same algorithm.
Undo is obvious, but is most useful for those mistaken moves, especially when handling the cube or getting the orientation set. Solving the cube with my own archaic level-by-level approach is doable, even easy with a bit of re-training of the muscle memory - the need to keep the operating face uppermost can be frustrating at times and the undo facility (which can undo a whole series of moves) is really useful.
Now let's look at what I'd call the missed opportunities of this device.
Remember that each facet is individually settable to one of the six colours. Forgetting that the designers could have used a tri-colour LED with a huge colour palette, there was still an opportunity to set the device to display an evolving set of patterns and colour shifts. Throw in a microphone, and the cube could pulse away randomly to music. In a half hearted attempt at this, it does at least scramble and unscramble itself whilst on charge, lending a nightclub glow to the immediate surroundings.
Taking that idea further, why not add an mp3 player? Not only would you have sound to light, but it could be it's own sound.
Moving on, there's the solving algorithm. Yes, it solves itself, but doesn't in any kind of meaningful way, to me at least. It would have been better to allow the option to solve via both methods - layer by layer is arguably easier to memorise as a novice as there are only half a dozen or so simple move combos you need to know to solve the cube from any position. If, like myself, you do solve by layers, then choose the hint option, the cube goes off on a tangent and messes up your work to that point.
Lastly, and kind of obviously, there's the battery. Disappointingly, for a puzzle that's meant to be studied for hours to get the hang of, a little over an hour of play is offered by the inbuilt NiCd cells before the thing, rather alarmingly, flashes red all over a few minutes before shutdown. And it takes ages to charge, easily several hours. I guess in the age of rapid charge Li Ion batteries, going back to NiCd is a bit of a culture shock.
And while the little charging cradle is neat - the cubes' little metal contacts making, er, contact when the device is propped on one corner - extended play would have been possible if a simple cable attachment had been designed in.
Despite these failings, the Touch Cube represents the ambitious attempt of a toy manufacturer jumping on the 'touch' revolution that has swept through the consumer electronics industry, and for that alone, they must get a little credit.
Shortcomings aside, I really like the Touch Cube. There are a zillion websites and mobile apps devoted to helping solve the original cube, but this is the first fully electronic cube that does what it says on the tin, in a really satisfying way.
Among the flotsam if the itunes app store - and in the case of the iPad - one rarely finds apps that are totally unique not just to the platform, but the form factor.
One such app is Holographium (App store link), whose purpose is not immediately apparent, even after a brief twiddle.
Presented with oversize controls, Holographium first prompts you to enter a phrase, then it asks you to choose one of several neon style colours. You then set a 'depth', then a duration.
The app then does a little calculating before flashing up a bizarre sequence of bright lines and rectangles.
At first, it makes no sense whatsoever, until you realise that the flashing imagery is not meant for human consumption - at least not initially.
No, the idea is startlingly simple. What Holographium wants you to do is move the flashing sequence in front of a camera with an open shutter.
The long exposure captures the animation as it move across the cameras field of view, spelling out the phrase you first keyed into the app.
My Robonova doesn't get out much these days. It's a time thing, see. If you're as time poor as me, you don't waste the precious little you do have on fiddling around with little humanoid robots.
Granted, like a good book, video game or movie, programming up your own 'droid can both be rewarding and a black hole for time. That's not a good analogy, really. Black holes make time stand still... anyhoo, you get the idea. It's an interesting hobby but vastly time consuming which is why I suppose I haven't written about it before.
Robonova, if you haven't met him before is a low-ish cost bipedal robot constructed out of servos, an aluminium frame and a micro-controller board to drive the servos.
Programming is done via a PC using the supplied Robo-Basic programming tool.
Now, out of the box, Robonova doesn't do very much, other than the stock moves supplied with the software. These moves are varied enough to give you an idea of what the little chap is capable of, but there are no sensors or AI out of the box like you might find in, for example, Robosapien.
But there's a wealth of information in the online robotics community if one cares to seek it out, and one of my future aims is to equip Robo with some sensors to facilitate some autonomy.
One task I was particularly keen to see was Robonova tackling some stairs. There are few videos on youtube showing this and those that are there are a little underwhelming. But credit is due to the roboteers involved for at least trying.
Which moves me on to the inspiration for my own set of moves: Honda's Asimo.
Here's one example of Asimo 'doing stairs'.
Now, despite costing probably millions of dollars, I can't help the feeling that, like Robonova, Asimo isn't just being asked to 'go up stairs', but rather he's been meticulously programmed to climb and descend the no doubt carefully designed staircase.
So, taking my cue from Asimo, I set about getting Robonova to 'do' a set of simple 18mm fibreboard 'stairs'. The result is below:
Something has been bugging me for a while. Ever since I upgraded our old iMac to OS X 10.4 (Tiger), I've always been surprised, or rather, caught out, by the speed at which it boots.
At the same time, I've been impressed by the time it takes Windows 7 to boot to the desktop, on fairly modest hardware. Good work, Microsoft. This in contrast to a Vista laptop at work which seems to take an eternity to settle down after switching on from cold.
So, in the interests of Science (and geekdom), I undertook to prove, once and for all, that we haven't really moved forward in the last ten years.
Of course, I'm not suggesting that a 10 year old iMac with a hockey puck mouse is better than a relatively new (if cheap) laptop. That would be madness.
But you have to admit, it's not too shabby either.
Crazes. There don't seem to be that many going around these days. In this super-connected era, there isn't one single product that every child must own. The new Buzz Lightyear is just, well, meh, even with a whole new movie to star in. Who cares if the fully poseable action figure has over 50 phrases? Mine (circa 1995) has three. And is just as poseable.
But anyway, I have to trawl all the way back to 1980 to find a real craze. Call it a global phenomenon. I'm talking cube. Rubik's Cube. The one single object that can identify a decade. Ok, that and the Motorola 8000X.
But I'm not talking about technology today, I'm talking puzzles.
Back in the day, I felt a need to know how to 'do' the cube. There were no computers to help solve it. No Youtube videos show you how. No robotic Lego contraptions to actually twist the cube for you. No. You either had the Krell machine-enhanced brain of Morbius (er, but not The Brain of Morbius) and worked it out for yourself, or, like me, you bought one of the umpteen books published on the subject. Or you just took it to bits to reassemble correctly. Or peeled the stickers off.
Needless to say, I learnt 'the moves'. Ok, after 30 years of cube I can't quite remember all the shortcuts, but enough to solve a standard cube in a couple of minutes or so.
Now, I still have my original cube from 1980. I keep it in my desk drawer at work. Now and again I'll whip it out, scramble it, then solve it. Just for the sheer heck of it. It's the one on the left, pictured below. Paradoxically, it's not even an original Ideal Toys Rubik Cube, but one of the many many rip offs. A clone.
So it was with a mixture of surprise, delight and a modicum of fear, that I stumbled on Puzl.co.uk, an online store almost completely devoted to puzzles of a twisty nature.
Let's just say that there is a bewildering assortment of cube like puzzles, in an equally bewildering assortment of geometries and configurations. Almost all unsolvable, probably, by my learnt by rote methods. Or any method, for that matter.
So with a little trepidation, and tempted by the unique engineering, I ordered up a 5x3x3 cube, shown below.
As you can clearly see, this cube differs from the norm by having an extra plane of cubies (look, I don't know what the terminology of the little cubes is - cubies, cubits, cubelets?) that rotate independently from the others. The pleasing aspect of this puzzle, is that when scrambled, it looks like a work of art.
I'm not kidding. Look at the picture. Is it Bauhaus? Mondrian? Cubism?
Another surprise is the fluidity of movement of the faces. This is a really well engineered item. Helped by the precise moulding of each cubeling, lubricated and sprung just right, the result is a smooth, tactile objet.
With a little sleight of hand, it's possible for me to make this cube look scrambled, yet solve it as normal for muchos kudos.
But then it's just as easy to fuck it up completely.
Just got an iPad? Got an empty wallet? Wondering what to do with that Struxx robot you bought last year and left, forgotten, under the bed in the spare room?
Have no fear, mygadgetlife has the answer!*
Ok, I admit it, I had a... let's call it a nerdgasm, because let's face it - anyone with an iPad soon finds out that the device spends a lot of its time on its back when not being supported by hands or lap. Not much use for the fancy pants photo frame mode let alone the video playback mode.
Oh sure, you can prop up your iPad or couple it with Velcro, or you can just buy a stand. Have you seen the prices for some of the stands?
With that in mind, I sought a DIY solution and ended up discounting Lego, down to lack of confidence in its structural integrity. Fine for an iPod touch, but not for the iPad.
Then I remembered Struxx, the alternative construction toy.
What you'll need is shown below.
For the spars, you'll need 3 x 14 length, 2 x 12 and an 8.
Start by fitting a ball-socket to each of the spars. It helps if both sockets are in the same orientation at each end of the spar.
Next, form a triangle with vertices of 3 x size 14 spars, with 3 x 3-way ball joints. Angle the ball joints about 45 degrees so that the axis is pointed inwards.
Position the triangle so that the shortest side faces you. This is the front. Clip the two size 12 spars to the left and right ball joints, then clip a 8 spar to the back.
Position the triangle so that the point faces away from you. Clip a further two 12 spars to the left and right ball joints, then clip a 8 spar to the back corner.
Bring all the spars together and join them with a further 3 way ball joint.
Take the 75 degree angle joints and fit a single ball joint to each. Fit the angle joints to the inner left and right axis of the 3 way ball joints so that they poke out of the frame. These are what the iPad will rest on.
Take the 2 way ball joint and fit it to the axis of the top 3 way ball joint. To this fit the parts with the vinyl tips that were the robot's fingers. Angle the fingers slightly up and out to provide a suitable angle for you iPad.
You're just about ready, but first even up the frame a bit, make sure your angles are symmetrical and that the thing lies evenly on a flat surface.
There you have it, an iPad stand made out of Struxx.
*of course, it goes without saying, but build and use this at your own risk!
Ok, so I kinda cut down on the gadgets for this year's Spring holiday to Wales, insofar as only packing my Sony HCR-5E camcorder, Panasonic Lumix G1 and a Nintendo DS.
And the Tom Tom for directions, my Android powered phone, and our iPod Touch.
And the Belkin Tunebase FM car transmitter for the iPod. And our Macbook Pro.
Oh and the 3G dongle for internet access. And my Gerber multi-tool for those times we get lost in the woods.
And of course not forgetting the all the chargers and cables for the above.
Quite honestly, I don't know how we managed to get by that week.
Those outside the UK will probably never have heard the term 'Dixons' to describe a chain of electronics retailers - and sadly, never will, because the Dixons we all know and love has been rebranded to Currys.digital. Whatever.
The important part is that the Dixons name lives on in airports up and down the country. The last time I was in one it was called Dixons Tax Free. As the name implied many of the goods were on offer sans the Value Added Tax we in Britain pay for mostly all goods. Sadly, it too has succumbed to rebranding and has now become Dixons Travel. I fear it has something to do with not quite offering the same VAT free prices.
Anyway, there was a slight saving to be made by purchasing an iPad in the airport, so I waited, oohhh, at least a week after the UK launch before making use of a handy business trip to facilitate said saving.
As soon as I got though security, I proceeded straight to the tech store, narrowly avoiding the bar.
There were at least four staff, all seemingly preoccupied with their own duties.
I hesitate. Unlike the Dixons at, say, Luton airport, the purpleshirted staff here were positively sanguine towards the new, easy prey that had just walked in.
They have an iPad on display. It is being probed by some bearded traveller with a backpack. (Readers please note: By this time, I have already spent some quality time with an iPad at Apple's Regent St store. With 500 other people.)
I've been the shop for quite a number of seconds with nary a glance from a member of staff, except from a bloke I initially think is security and therefore ignore. Later, I realise he's a blackshirt from another tech store located deeper within the bowels of the terminal's retail space.
To my right are the laptops, to my left the cameras. Ignoring both I head manfully to the back of the store hoping, on the way, to be accosted by an eager staffer. I reach my destination unmolested.
Here, there appears to be about 10 feet of rack space devoted entirely to iPod cases. I bloody hate iPod cases. Nevertheless I casually pretend to be interested in the hope of an approach of a member of staff. Imagine their surprise, I chortle to myself, when instead of a cheap(ish) iPod accessory, I ask if they have any iPads in stock!
The staff ignore me. They seem to be preoccupied by replenishing the already full shelves.
Slightly annoyed at the staffs' lack of attentiveness, I wander out of the store to check the departure board. I have 45 minutes.
I hesitate, still not utterly convinced of the financial realities of actually purchasing an iPad. It's a lot of wonga, my brain tells my heart.
The moment of doubt passes and I once again amble into the store.
You'd think that sales floor staff in electronics stores, especially ones located in airports, would be trained to look out for yo-yo doubters like myself and be ready to pounce at this obvious sign of weakness.
I begin to wonder if my loitering hasn't triggered some semi-sentient security system somewhere, and that an armed Tactical Response Team is on its way to take me down. I wait. Nothing happens. Now I start handling 'the goods', a tactic that never fails to draw purpleshirt attention.
Well, I say 'handling', but down to fear of setting off the hypersensitive alarms, it's more a stroking of expensive kit. For some reason, I'm looking at a Canon EOS 5DMkII with a serious looking lens. The lens too, has a little alarm umbilical that means I'm twice as likely to set the ruddy alarm off..
I put the camera down, gently, and reassuringly see an older member of staff near the iPod docks. I stroll over, confident that his obvious seniority will enable him to process my request with utmost efficiency. On my way, I'm momentarily distracted by an Alienware laptop, it's neon lit keyboard beckoning to be touched. Strong of will, I ignore these glittering temptations and proceed past the Toshibas.
To my bewilderment the senior sales chap has disappeared!
Unnerved by this development, I now pretend to be interested in iPod docks. Apart from that oversized rugby ball of tech, the B&W Zeppelin, they're all rubbish. Still no interest from the staff, whose numbers have dwindled to three. Surely, I think, there are rules governing the number of staff present in the store at any one time. I mean, what if a huddle of wealthy Japanese tourists were to shuffle in? They [the store] would be swamped, unable to cope... I dismiss the idea quickly - Japanese tourists are unlikely to bring back Japanese goods from Britain, to Japan. That'd be like me flying to Tokyo to buy a bottle of Glenfiddich.
Having worryingly lost track of time, I head back to the departure board. 35 minutes to go. Phew. I decide to ponder the purchase over lunch, and head to Pret for a Super Club and a cappuccino.
The coffee is hot. I mean really hot. 20 minutes later I'm quaffing back the last of the foamy goodness, and having possibly quite definitely made my mind up over the iPad, make my way back to the store.
There are 15 minutes until my flight is due to be called. As I double check the departure board to make sure I'm looking at the right flight, the banner changes to green. Goto Gate 88.
Sod it. I march into the store, right up to a sales assistant who is checking, on the computer, that the shelves are indeed full.
He is startled by my sudden appearance. I do not mince my words. "iPads," I say, "Got any in stock?"
"Uhh, yes." he replies, moving swiftly to where the demo unit is perched. He unlocks the undercounter storage. His cupboard of iPad boxes is full, save for the one he'd extracted for me. It looked a lot like a game of Tetris that was about to end.
At the till, I have a frisson of fear that my credit card will be rejected. It is not and I leave the store much poorer than when I entered.
I rush to the aforementioned Gate. Come my precious, I think to myself, bag in hand, let us board the winged stallion and travel to the Northern territories, for the ceremony known as the "Unboxing".
Nissan’s Leaf will be one of the first mass produced fully electric vehicles to be introduced to UK roads.
Last week, I had the privilege of taking one of the prototypes for a short test drive, as part of Nissan’s rather low key efforts to raise awareness of this new model.
With the Leaf, Nissan are attempting to bring to market a battery powered car in the shape of a regular family sized hatchback. And, to an extent, they’ve largely succeeded.
Of course, the usual caveats of EVs persist - limited range and (at the time of writing) poor recharging infrastructure.
However if, like me, you drive a 20-25 mile commute and have a garage within which to charge the vehicle, then the Leaf starts to become a serious proposition. Fuel is relatively cheap and is free of the duty levied on petrol and diesel. Being a zero emission vehicle, it attracts zero Vehicle Excise Duty - or road tax to you and me. There are fewer complicated oily bits to go wrong, so servicing should be cheaper.
As a result, the Leaf should be a cheap car to run. And, unlike the Tesla Roadster, the Leaf is approaching affordable, even if it is expensive for the size of car it is. Entry to the EV club was never going to be cheap for early adopters. The same was probably true for ICE automobiles until the Model T arrived.
Back to the Nissan event. The roadshow, if you could call it that, was held at 2 locations; the 02 Arena in London, and at the Centre for Life, Newcastle Upon Tyne. As the car is planned to be built at Nissan's Sunderland plant, Newcastle was the obvious choice for this demo.
Having driven down from Glasgow, and not knowing what to expect, we were a little underwhelmed to find a couple of small Nissan tents and a small exhibition trailer parked up in the courtyard that forms the campus of the Centre for Life.
That said, the Nissan staff were helpful and I quickly got signed onto the test drive list. The car was still being charged (unceremoniously left in a corner, near a power outlet), so we decided to come back after lunch.
Under one tent sat the 'static' Leaf showcar. Cordoned off, this was strictly hands off, because apparently they only have two - a left hand drive model and a right hand drive model. Present was one Nissan gentleman sporting white cotton gloves who was good enough to open the rear hatch and doors so that we great unwashed could get a better look at the interior.
Whilst the cream insides of the prototype might not be very family friendly, the blue tinged dash and controls looked very Star Trek. Whether this makes it to the production model remains to be seen.
Overall, we liked the look of the Leaf. The slightly bulbous look is deliberate - apparently it makes it look like an eco car - and I'd agree. And because it looks unique (as opposed to fitting the electric gubbins in, say, a Micra or Note), it's sure to leave it's eco mark wherever you leave it.
It was time for my test run. Turns out the test vehicle was actually a Nissan Versa, a production car available in the US, and thus a left hand drive. It had been modified to accommodate the electrics and drive train of what will be the production Leaf.
The first lap was with the Nissan test driver at the wheel. Let me tell you, this car can shift. And it does it silently.
Within the limits of the tiny track, the vehicles' performance was surprising to say the least.
My turn, now, to drive Nissan's only working model.
As I slid behind the wheel I found the controls were exactly like an automatic, and as my current car is a CVT equipped Nissan, I was right at home.
Still, I forgot to put my foot on the brake before engaging Drive, so nothing happened initially. (The CVT has a mechanical interlock - the gearshift won't move unless the the footbrake is depressed. Not so on the fly-by-wire Leaf.)
Underway, the car was surprisingly smooth. Nissan have obviously put a lot of work into making the drivetrain respond in a similar way to that of a petrol car and dipping the accelerator provided a pleasing burst of power.
The car does all this silently, of course. There is legislation being introduced to make EVs emit a sound to alert pedestrians of their presence. If not, I imagine the death toll in local supermarket car parks to be quite high.
So, test drive complete, the serious question of would I actually buy one quickly came up. I certainly fit the profile of a low-mileage commuter, and as we're a two car family, we always have a fossil fuel car for those long trips up and down the country. So yes, if the price is right, the Leaf seems a viable proposition.
Prices are to be announced in for the UK at the end of May 2010, so watch this space.
