Category Archives: Technology

Why my new hearing aids make me cry

This state of the ark hearing aid from 100 years ago weighed in at over 3 pounds

This ‘state of the ark’ hearing aid from 100 years ago weighed in at over 3 pounds

There’s an interesting TED driven debate here examining the emotional effect of music.  It’s powerful stuff but unfortunately when you have lost more than half your natural hearing it’s quite difficult to relate to some of the comment and sentiment.

As my hearing has continued to decline in recent years I have lost more and more music. Pieces of classical music that I enjoyed 5, 10, even 15 years ago have increasingly lost their attraction.  They become unrecognisable as more and more layers of the music drop away and don’t sound anything like you remember them.

There reaches a point where pumping the sound into your ears at higher and higher volume removes all the subtleness of the music and the type of basic digital hearing aid provided by the NHS does not provide the quality of sound to compensate, making even the heaviest music sound harsh and uncomfortable.

For me, the net result is my musical tastes have retreated to mainly punk and heavy rock that I enjoyed in my youth where quality and subtlety of sound makes very little difference to the end result.

This week I took delivery of a set of new hearing technology the price of which equates to a sparkling new 500cc motorbike – hmmm…. The aids themselves are so small and light they hardly tip the scales at a miniscule 2 grammes each. This is at least 4 times lighter than my old aids and when you wear these things 16 hours a day, every gramme makes a difference. In terms of quality difference I’d say the sound produced by these high-tech little units is at least a factor of 10 better than standard NHS issue.

What then, set the tears rolling down my cheeks? Thinking how much 4 grammes of equipment can cost? Thinking how else that money could be spent? Continue reading →

TFM(&A) 2003 to 2013 – a big lesson in confusion marketing

“We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten”

confusedI’ve used this classic Bill Gates quote a number of times in this blog over the last 5 years and have certainly witnessed it playing out in technology developments I have been associated with during my career – from desktop publishing, to digital broadcasting, 3G mobile, web-based applications and consumer electronics.

Since entering the workplace in marketing roles in the 1980s, there is no doubt that the processes involved in marketing have evolved tremendously over the last 20 years but I find myself somewhat disappointed and disillusioned with what’s happened in the field of ‘Technology for Marketing’ over the last 10 years.

Things certainly seemed a lot more clear cut when the TFM show was in its ascendance back in 2003 and divided its proposition across marketing, customer service and sales domains. The irrational exhuberance of those heady dotcom days was passed and there was a much more serious focus on the tangible things technology could deliver to the sales, marketing and customer care agendas and processes.

10 years on we have an explosion of acronyms – not just amongst the exhibitors but from the exhibition organisers themselves – TFM&A, OA&A, IDMX and P&ME – err WTF? Continue reading →

5 Gold Rings – 2012 in review

 

On the fifth day of Christmas 2012, here are some thoughts on the last year …

My enduring memory of these last twelve months will be Danny Boyle’s awe-inspiring creativity with the Olympic rings at the London 2012 opening ceremony.

From the way the idyllic countryside scene was transformed to depict the Industrial Revolution and the hot metal seemingly flowed to form gigantic glowing rings which were then raised above the stadium and fused together was one of the most amazing theatrical displays I have ever seen. It set the tone for what I will always remember as a wonderful golden period for the British people during a back-drop of financial depression and tough times. Continue reading →

12.12.12 – The First Twelve Months of Webwiser

Well, this is (almost) the last time in my life that there will be any more interesting date combinations – with perhaps the exception of 02.02.2020 and 30.03.30 – but none so good as 11.11.11, 10.11.12 and 12.12.12. (oops – forgot 11.12.13 when I first wrote this)

So here, at 12:12:12 on 12.12.12 is a quick summary of the first 12 months of Webwiser, the venture I launched on 11.11.11 … (with apologies to the Twelve days of Christmas)

In the first month of Webwiser, the venture gave to me – some domain names for a small fee – www.webwiser.co.uk and www.webwiser.tv

In the second month of Webwiser, the venture gave to me – a business plan and something to talk about at the Christmas party

In the third month of Webwiser, the venture gave to me – sleepless nights and increasing anxiety

In the fourth month of Webwiser, the venture gave to me – some glimmers of hope and some excellent opportunities

In the fifth month of Webwiser, the venture gave to me – my first big contract and a real chance to make a difference to society

In the sixth month of Webwiser, the venture gave to me – a busy schedule and many meetings around Hampshire county

In the seventh month of Webwiser, the venture gave to me – two more clients and not much time to even take a pee

In the eighth month of Webwiser, the venture gave to me – a big new site launch and even bigger development plan to oversee

In the ninth month of Webwiser, the venture gave to me – another client and a return to web development for B2B

In the tenth month of Webwiser, the venture gave to me – some very varied weeks and a well needed break by the sea

In the eleventh month of Webwiser, the venture gave to me – a limited company incorporation number and a fellow director called Debbie

In the twelth month of Webwiser, the venture gave to me – a chance to rework the website and set a course for 2020!

Blast from the past

T minus 13 seconds …

I had a real surprise this week when communicating with an old school friend. He had some pictures I never even knew existed that were taken coming up to 30 years ago.

They are of a space shuttle model that I carved out of balsa wood, painted and then stuffed with parts of dismantled fireworks. It is then apparent from the photographs that we built a metal gantry out of Meccano to hold the shuttle in position and launched it from a friend’s back garden on Friday 12th November 1982 – (which incidentally was the day after the real shuttle programme’s first operational flight when Columbia carried four astronauts and deployed a satellite for the first time)

If I remember rightly, I had created a secondary fuse mechanism that would ignite after take-off which was then designed to blast open the payload doors and release a parachute to enable the shuttle to float back to the ground.

Continue reading →