I’m always taking notes. I go to a meeting, and I’ll have a page or two of notes afterwards. When my phone rings, I reach for the Post-its before I reach for the handset. On the rare occasions when I remember to tidy my desk, I’ll find it covered in pieces of paper with my illegible scrawl on them. Notes, notes, notes. I’m pretty good at writing stuff down.

What I’m not very good at doing is organising those notes. I can never find what I need afterwards – sometimes it’s because a Post-it hasn’t stayed where I stuck it, or I threw away a piece of paper by accident, or I just can’t find the page in my notebook. And even if I do find the relevant note, sometimes I’ll discover that I didn’t write down a key point – usually because at the time I’ve thought “Oh, I’ll easily remember that, no need to write it down”…

I’ve tried using my iPad as a notebook, and whilst my stylus is very useful, it still doesn’t quite beat a pen and paper. And for quick notes – on the phone, for example – it’s just not practical to get the iPad out, so I still reach for the Post-its first.

Step forward Livescribe, and their Echo pen. The Livescribe Echo pen does three main things:

1. It records everything you write,
2. It records audio at the same time,
3. It plays back the audio that accompanied any of your notes.

In addition, everything you write/record can be synced back to your computer.

Before I go into further detail, there is one caveat – Livescribe pens require special paper. You can’t just write in a normal notebook, you have to use one of their special ones. On the plus side, they’re not expensive – at the time of writing, a pack of four A5 80-page notebooks costs less than £15, a pack of four A4 100-page notebooks is £17 and four flip notepads with a padded notepad cover is a tenner. They’re the main products – there are a few others, including a pack of six Post-it note pads for just under £15. And, should you need to, you can also print your own paper.

The reason you need to use special paper is because of how the pen works. The writing is done by a regular ballpoint nib; the clever bit is that there is a small camera behind the nib which tracks what you write by looking at a pattern of dots printed on each page. The pattern is very faint, and unique to each page in each notebook/pad within a pack.

So, with that out of the way, let’s take a look at each of the pen’s main features…

Record what you write

Thanks to the dot paper, the pen knows exactly what you’ve written on each page of each notebook. One very important thing to remember – and you do get used to it pretty quickly – is making sure that you turn the pen on before you start writing! You can alter the auto-off timeout on the pen to suit you – I’ve set mine to two hours. It does seem a bit strange having to “turn your pen on”, but it soon becomes second nature. You use the pen like normal – you don’t need to alter your writing style. The clever stuff happens when you sync your pen with your computer via a micro-USB cable. The pen is supplied with the “Livescribe desktop” (Mac and PC) app which copies everything from your pen to your computer, and from there you can then view digital copies of all your notes. Not only that, but all your notes are OCRed – turning your handwritten text into searchable documents! I was pretty sceptical about this at first, and thought it’d never be able to read my scruffy handwriting, but I’m constantly surprised at how well it works. The main thing I wanted was a way of searching my handwritten notes to find something I’d written days or weeks ago – and this works perfectly. So far I haven’t had any cases of it not being to read my handwriting, and I have the additional advantage of being able to review my notes even without having the actual notebook with me.

The pen can do more than just record what you write, though. You can use it as a calculator – write a sum on the paper and the answer will appear on the pen’s display (or use the printed scientific calculator for more advanced calculations). You can upload apps to the pen as well – including a pointless, but somehow cool, piano app. Draw a keyboard on the paper and then tap the keys to play a tune.

Record and playback audio

As if the ability to record your handwriting and search it wasn’t enough, you can also record audio at the same time. This is optional and only starts when you tap the “record” control printed on each page of your notebook, so there are no concerns about the pen recording when you don’t want it to. This is a great feature, as it means that if you’re in a meeting or presentation you no longer need to worry about writing detailed notes – you can write quick notes and then replay the audio to hear exactly what was said if you need more detail.

You don’t even need to replay the whole recording – simply tap a word you’ve written, and the pen will replay the audio from that point. And yes, you can plug in headphones to listen to the playback (plus the recordings are transferred to your computer along with your writing). The microphone is built in to the pen, and works great in a normal meeting/training room, but for larger rooms (uni auditoriums etc) you can buy a set of in-ear headphones that include microphones on each earbud which are apparently optimised for a larger room. I haven’t tried those so I have no idea how well they perform, but the built-in mic has been fine for me.

The amount you can record depends on two things – the recording quality and the amount of memory in your pen. The Echo is available in 2GB, 4 GB and 8GB sizes, each offering around two, four or eight hours recording time.

The pen

As you might imagine, a pen with all these features looks a little different to a normal pen. The obvious difference is that there’s an OLED display on the side, which displays information about the pen, current recording/playback time, battery level, date/time and output from any app you might be using. It also displays the pen’s settings menu. On the top of the pen you’ll find the micro-USB port and the headphone socket. The pen is a bit chunkier than most pens, but I haven’t found it uncomfortable or heavy in use. I can’t say for certain how long the battery lasts – I’d say I get a week or so out of a single charge. The OLED display lets you keep an eye on the charge level, and as it recharges via the micro-USB lead when it syncs, you can easily top it up when you upload your notes.

The software

The Livescribe Desktop software is easy to use. When you connect the pen, it transfers any new writing and audio over to your computer. Each notebook appears in the left-hand column of the app, and clicking on a notebook displays thumbnails of the pages on the right-hand side. A search box in the top right corner lets you search your notes – and as I said earlier, the accuracy with which it interprets my scrawl is pretty impressive. In the screen grab here, it’s picked up “Westgate” successfully.

The Desktop app is how you install apps onto the pen (downloadable from the Livescribe website) – again, a pretty straightforward process. Finally, you can upload your notes to various locations – Google Docs, email, Facebook(!!), the Livescribe cloud service, or the rather brilliant Evernote. For a limited period Livescribe are even offering a free 1-year Evernote Premium account when you buy an Echo pen.

The downsides

There are a couple of slight niggles I have with the pen. My main gripe is that the cap is a stunningly bad design. It’s tiny, and a really tight fit – so tight that I find I never fully close the cap, and always leave it slightly open to make it easier to remove. The really silly thing is that with a moment’s more thought, the cap could have been designed to fix the other problem with the pen’s design – there’s no clip, either. A larger cap, with a clip, would be a massive improvement.  The price is also a bit of a drawback – the 2GB tends to go for around £80, the 4GB for £110 and the 8GB for £140 – but with a year’s free Evernote Premium, it’s actually not too bad at the moment. I managed to get my 8GB one new off Ebay for the price of a 4GB, so keep an eye out – deals can be found. Oddly, the need for special paper doesn’t strike me as a negative – it’s only slightly more expensive and effectively does more than normal paper, and is available in a good selection of notebooks and pads (plus you can always print your own).

Final verdict

This is one of those rare gadgets that actually turns out to be better than I’d expected. I thought the handwriting recognition would need me to write clearly – it doesn’t. I thought the battery wouldn’t last long – it does. I thought the paper would be expensive, the pen heavy, and the software awkward to use. On all points, I was wrong. This is a great bit of kit, and really does work.

Rating: Get it!

After upgrading to iOS 5 on my iPhone, my previously perfect Bluetooth connection to my Fiesta suddenly stopped working properly. After about 15-20 minutes the connection would just stop – the phone still thought it was connected, but the stereo was no longer receiving any audio. In addition, before dropping the connection, the message “Bluetooth audio error reading device” would pop up on the radio’s display every time I used the track skip controls.

Fortunately, there’s a solution – Ford have posted an update on to their Ford Connectivity website here. It’s a DIY fix – download the ZIP file, unzip it and you’ll find a folder called “ford_audio_update”. Simply copy the files from that folder onto a USB stick (make sure it’s not put into another folder on the USB stick), and you’re ready to apply the update.

It’s a simple process but seems a bit flakey. The steps are:

1. Turn off the ignition.
2. Turn on the stereo.
3. Plug your USB stick into your stereo’s USB socket.
4. Turn on the ignition to position II (i.e. the position before you start the engine).
5. The update starts.

After applying the update (which takes about 20 minutes) you’ll find that not only does the Bluetooth connection to the iPhone work again, but track names are now displayed on the stereo’s display, and you can now use the Apple USB > Dock connector cable on it’s own (previously you needed a cable which also connected to the headphone socket).

The handset in the charging cradle

In my earlier Summer Infant Baby Zoom Digital Video Monitor review, I mentioned a few things that weren’t perfect. Since that model was released, Summer have come out with a new one – but is it an improvement?

On paper, it certainly seems so. You’ve still got the remote control camera, rechargeable handset and night vision – but now they’ve added talkback (your voice comes out of the camera to reassure/freak out your baby), a temperature display, a touchscreen, a battery base for the camera, a charging cradle for the handset and A/V out.

For the most part, it is indeed a decent upgrade from the previous model. The camera motor is much quieter than the old model; our baby doesn’t notice when we move the camera any more. In addition, the infrared LEDs are no longer visible when they’re working, so there’s no “glowing eye in the sky” looking down on  her when she’s trying to get to sleep. I’m not convinced by the addition of a battery pack for the camera – I suppose it might come in handy on holiday perhaps, but we’ve always found a power socket within reach (and the power lead on this camera is even longer than on the previous model).

The addition of a temperature display has proven very reassuring for my wife, and the ability to output the video to our TV’s Picture-In-Picture mode means she can always see what the baby’s up to while we’re watching a movie – heck, sometimes the baby monitor is more entertaining!

The touchscreen is more of a gimmick than a benefit – I guess it means there’s more space on the handset for a larger display, but since it’s the same resolution camera this just means the picture quality looks worse. There are buttons for volume on the top of the handset, so at least you have quick access to adjust the sound (unlike the previous model). The charging base for the handset is an improvement over the previous model too – plugging in a cable was hardly an inconvenience, but this is very easy to use.

The new camera

On the whole, like the earlier one, this is also a very good system – I wish the image quality was better, but that would mean a more expensive system (and probably poorer battery life) right now – in another year or two it should be possible. And you still get all the benefits of a video monitor – seeing what your little one gets up to when you’re not around is worth the price alone! Without these, we’d have had no idea of the weird sleeping positions our baby chooses during the night, nor would we have seen the “conversations” she has with her dummies and teddy bear – and we wouldn’t have seen the way cute way she looks towards her door when she’s woken up and can hear us moving around!

Rating: Get it!

We looked at quite a few baby monitors whilst waiting for our first child to arrive. Obviously there are ones that let you hear your baby – these are by far the most popular, as they’re the cheapest, but there are other options. You can get monitors that tell you if your baby hasn’t moved – they sound pretty good, especially in these days of heightened awareness of SIDS, but on looking into them further we found too many stories of false alarms causing more stress than the monitors alleviated. This somewhat defeats the point, if you ask me! I’m not saying they’re bad, and I know some parents have found them to be (literally) a life-saver, but we decided not to bother.

Instead, we looked into video-equipped monitors. There are quite a few to choose from – but surprisingly, there are only a few that offer what we considered to be “essential” features such as a digital wireless connection and remote control of the camera.

After looking around at all the options, we chose the Summer Infant Baby Zoom Digital Video Monitor for a number of reasons – I thought it’d be helpful to list them, and say whether it met our expectations or not:

The camera

It’s digital: This should mean it offers a stronger signal and is less prone to interference. Whilst the signal is strong, reaches out into the garden of a typical 3-bed semi, and doesn’t suffer from interference from other devices, it does have a side-effect of causing it’s own interference. Since the camera can be remotely controlled by the handset, there’s a two-way connection when the screen is turned on, and this interfered with our WiFi network at home (both operate on 2.4GHz). After some experimentation it seems the amount of interference may depend on the router used for the WiFi; Sky’s NetGear and Sagem routers were particularly affected, but Apple’s Airport Extreme was not. If you’re fortunate enough to have newer equipment which operates on 5GHz then you’ll also be fine. The interference is most pronounced when the handset is displaying the video feed from the camera; however even just receiving the audio would cause some disruption to WiFi (but not as much). The level of disruption varied from slowing the WiFi network speed (OK if you’re just surfing webpages as a 4Mb ADSL connection would still be faster, but ruins any streaming of video to an Apple TV or PS3) to completely disrupting it. You might feel that some WiFi disruption (which only happens when you’re using the handset, remember) is an acceptable price to pay for the peace of mind such a product delivers.

It has remote pan/tilt control of the camera: We felt this was important as we could foresee various times when a fixed field of view could be inconvenient. The remote control works wonderfully; there’s a joystick on the handset which you just push to move the camera. The camera rotates on the base, and tilts on the “legs”. It can point down at a reasonable angle, and can point straight up; you’ll probably find it best to wall-mount the camera to get the widest range of movement. The only drawback is that the camera’s motor is quite noisy; if the baby hasn’t quite gone to sleep and you move the camera, it can startle them. However, this has come in really handy, as we use sleeping bags rather than traditional blankets for our baby and she has a tendency to roam all around her cot during the night – being able to move the camera to see where she’s gone is very reassuring. And entertaining (more on this later). Speaking of the handset, it has both a built-in stand and a belt clip, so it’s very easy to keep it to hand whatever you’re doing. A button on top of the unit turns the video on or off; audio is always on, although you can turn it down if needed (and there’s a set of LEDs under the display that always flash when there’s noise from the camera).

The monitor

It has night vision: Pretty much a necessity for a baby video monitor! Not all have it, though. On here it works perfectly; it automatically activates when the light level drops too low and gives you a black & white picture. There is, as you might expect by now, a slight downside – the infrared LEDs that enable this are visible on the camera, so when the baby is lying in bed, s/he’s got a big red glowing eye staring right at them. I suspect Frodo’s parents may have used one of these too.

There are a few options we would have liked as well, but at the time of purchase no systems offered all of them – you can’t speak to the baby over the handset, there’s no A/V out (many TVs offer a Picture-In-Picture mode these days), and it doesn’t have a temperature display.

However, those – and the points above – are all minor compared to the benefit of this device overall. I can’t begin to describe the joy this has brought us over the past year or so – watching what our daughter gets up to she’s on her own has been wonderful! Of course, there’s the peace of mind of being able to see her breathing even when you can’t hear her, but seeing her “chatting” to her cuddle toys, playing with her toes, moving to the other end of her cot before returning to where we left her in the morning – none of this would have been possible without a video monitor. The picture quality is surprisingly good – not as good as watching a video on your smartphone, but better than I was expecting (and perfectly good enough to see a baby’s chest moving) – as is the audio. A fully-charged handset will last all night on just audio; using the video will shorten the battery life, but we plug it in overnight and only use it on battery during the day. The flashing lights mean you can turn the audio off completely and still be alerted (also handy if you’ve got guests).

Is this unit perfect? No, but it’s perfectly acceptable, and I definitely recommend it – although if you don’t mind spending a bit more, there’s a newer version which addresses some of the issues with this one.

Rating: Get it!

When you’ve got something as small as the iPad, it really doesn’t make any sense to lug it around in a rucksack designed for 17″ laptops – but until recently, that’s exactly what I’d been doing. However, thanks to those nice chaps over at GearZap.com, I’ve been trying out one of the growing range of smaller bags that are now available. This particular MacBook bag – the STM Scout Extra Small Laptop Bag – is designed to be a MacBook Air case, as it’s for laptops the size of the smallest MacBook Air (11 inch). Of course, this means it’s also ideal for an iPad.

Starting on the outside, the bag has a number of neat touches. The strap adjustment buckle is really easy to use, and the strap can be quickly lengthened or shortened as required (unlike most shoulder straps). There’s a chunky shoulder pad that makes sure the strap isn’t uncomfortable – it looks quite big in relation to the bag itself, but I’ve found it ideal on the London Underground. Quite often I’ll sling the bag from my side to my back or my front, and the large shoulder pad means there’s always enough padding to stop the strap being annoying. I suspect it’s more by chance than design that it works like that, but hey – I like it. The strap is attached to the bag with buckles that rotate 360 degrees – so the strap will always be quick to untwist. There’s also a small loop handle so you can pick the bag up by that instead of the strap, but it’s not really designed to be carried around all day by the loop – there’s no padding on it.

The bag itself is canvas on the outside, and after the recent summer weather we’ve had, I can confirm that it is indeed waterproof (well, rainproof). The material is supposed to be tough and hardwearing, and I can’t see any reason to doubt that. The seams look to be pretty strong and well done, I couldn’t find any fraying or holes, and there aren’t any fancy design flourishes to get caught and pulled off. I suspect this bag will be around long after I’ve upgraded to the iPad 5!

Before we look inside the bag, there are a couple more things to note on the outside. There’s a slip pocket on the back of the bag which runs the full width, and is ideal for a magazine or a Kindle – you can quickly whip it out when needed, and just as quickly stash it away when you get to your stop. There’s no closure on this pocket, but since it’ll be against your body most of the time I don’t think it matters (and I like being able to slip things in and out quickly).

The contents of the bag are protected by a large flap held down by a standard buckle clip. Since the clip is under the flap it’s not an easy target for pickpockets, and it’s very easy to pull the strap nice and tight to keep all your gear inside. Opening up the flap reveals the two smaller pockets on the front of the bag; they’re to perfect size for a power supply, mouse or sunglasses – or, in my case, a bag of M&S Caramels. One of the pockets has a few little loops for pens and so on – very handy, I keep my iPad stylus in there. Behind those pockets we have a zipped pocket which is quite thin – ideal for passports, iPods and the like, but nothing bulky – and behind that is a full-width pocket and the main laptop pocket. The full-width pocket is also large enough for a few magazines, and it’s also where the laptop-protecting flap tucks in. The actual laptop pockets is a well-padded section with a felt lining, and features a flap that folds over your laptop and is secured by Velcro (so your expensive device is double-protected from any rainstorms that suddenly pour down). If you’re packing an iPad or other tablet, you’ll find there’s plenty of space, so you’ll easily be able to fit your sleeve or smart cover or whatever in there as well. A MacBook Air in a Speck shell will also be fine.

Ok, so that’s the design bit out of the way – what’s it like to use? As much as I wanted a smaller bag, I was slightly worried that I wouldn’t be able to fit everything in. I needn’t have been – despite being small, this bag has quite a bit of space (I’m resisting saying “it’s a veritable TARDIS” but it ain’t easy). As well as the iPad, I can fit in an umbrella, Kindle, magazine, specs case, pens, sweets and a few other bits. There’s also enough space for any stuff I need to bring home from work – although to be fair, anything bigger than a large Dan Brown novel probably isn’t going to fit along with the other stuff. But anyway, for day-to-day use, it’s spot on. It’s barely noticeable with the strap adjusted to hold it comfortably against my back whilst walking along, and when I’m crammed into a Bakerloo line carriage it’s not in the way.

Verdict

At £44.95 this isn’t the cheapest bag you could buy, but I reckon it’s one of the best quality ones around, and worth the price. If you’re looking for something a bit bigger, check out the other STM bags.

Rating: Get it!
(What does this mean?)

Apple would like you to think that the Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad are perfect. They’re pretty nifty, I’ll give them that – but hardly worthy of the term “magic” (and don’t get me started on the “magical and revolutionary” tag they’ve slapped on the iPad). Perfection is a way off, though.

However, you can take your Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad one step closer to perfection with the aid of a pretty nifty bit of software called “Better Touch Tool”. I’ve been using it for a while now, so I thought it was about time I did a review of Better Touch Tool.

The reason why Apple’s trackpads (and Magic Mouse, which effectively is a trackpad and mouse combined) are so useful is that they’ve taken the humble laptop trackpad beyond the simple point’n'click capabilities of old, and made them a much more useful part of your computer. You can use one or two fingers on the mouse to scroll or navigate, or make use of up to four fingers on the trackpad to do things like rotate, zoom, navigate or launch Expose.

And that’s where the much-vaunted Apple User Experience starts to fall apart. Apple often make a big thing about wanting a consistent user experience – but why let you use up to four fingers on the trackpad, but only two on the mouse? It’s quite capable of registering four fingers, but they only let you use two – and not only that, but Apple will only let you do a couple of specific things. They don’t even keep it consistent – navigating forward/back is two fingers on the mouse, but three on the trackpad! So if you switch between using a laptop’s trackpad on the move, and then back to a mouse when at your desk, you have to remember two different ways of using them.

Here’s where Better Touch Tool steps in.

BTT lets you choose from a number of “gestures” and assign them to pretty much whatever you like. For example, I have my mouse and trackpad set to use “TipTap” gestures to switch between browser tabs - keeping my forefinger on the pad and tapping with my middle finger switches to the next tab, and holding my middle finger and tapping my forefinger switches to the previous tab. that’s not even an option with the Apple settings, but it’s incredibly useful. I have another one Apple don’t let you choose – a three-finger tap to open a link in a new tab. When you spend a lot of time in the browser, those two shortcuts come in handy all the time. I didn’t have to use those particular gestures for those actions – I could have chosen any of the others from the long list of options – tapping or swiping with up to four fingers, tapping in a particular corner, drawing a triangle, clicking, scrolling - pretty much every option you can think of is available.

However, BTT doesn’t stop there. You can also assign new keyboard shortcuts if you like working that way, all in the same app. And in a stroke of genius, the author has added the option to set application-specific settings. Heck, it’ll even work with a normal (not Magic) mouse.

And just in case you thought that was more than enough to be getting on with, BTT packs in some extra features which have also come in really handy. The main one I’ve found useful is the Windows 7-style “Window snapping”, where you can drag a window to the side of the screen and have it automatically snap to a specific size; but there are a few other options to do with task switching and window management. Again, the level to which you can customise these options is pretty impressive.

Oh, and there’s one final thing to mention – it’s free. But the author does accept donations, and I strongly suspect you’ll be hitting that “donate” button after a few weeks of using it; I’ve certainly done so.

Rating: get it!
(What does this mean?)

Ok, so after all the speculation, we finally know what the iPad 2 looks like. And, as pretty much everyone had predicted, it’s just a small improvement over the first iPad. But is it worth upgrading from the current iPad to the iPad 2?

Just to recap, the improvements over the current model are:

• Slightly thinner and lighter
• Better processor and graphics
• Front and rear cameras

There are two more cosmetic differences, but they’re not really worth including in that list – it will be available in white as well as black, and there’s a new Apple-designed cover. Certainly nothing to get excited about.

I’m not sure about the thinner design – the current model is hardly thick, and I’d have thought it would be better to stay the same thickness but have a larger battery. The iPad can last a pretty long time on a single charge, but if they’re positioning it as a viable reading device, then they’re nowhere near the battery life of a Kindle. The improved processors are an understandable change; the current model is no slouch, though, so at the moment there’s no urgent need for them. This may change when iOS 5 is released, though – certainly the iPhone has never performed well with a newer version than the one it was shipped with (just look at the complaints when iPhone 3GS owners upgraded to iOS 4). The improved graphics capabilities remain to be seen – but as I don’t see the iPad as a proper gaming device (I prefer the PSP with it’s physical controls over using a touchscreen) then I don’t think worth getting excited about.

That leaves us with the cameras as pretty much the main feature on the iPad 2. They could well be the deciding factor for some people - particularly those who use Skype or Facetime to video call friends and family. It works great on the iPhone 4, and my wife for one is eyeing the iPad 2 for this very reason.

So do I think it’s worth upgrading? In general, no; but I can think of two reasons which do make it worth the upgrade. First, if you make use of video calling, then it’s definitely worth it. The second reason is purely financial – you’ll get more if you sell your original iPad now than if you sell it in a year’s time.

What about the original iPad?

If you don’t have an iPad yet, now is the best time to buy one – the first model, that is. Apple have just dropped the price by £100, and the refurbished models are even cheaper – the cheapest iPad (16Gb WiFi) is now just £289. Considering that model was £429 when it was launched, that’s a £140 saving (and in my original post about the iPad I hoped the price would drop by £100-£150!).

Will I be upgrading to the iPad 2?

I really don’t see the need right now. The main reason I might upgrade – and I haven’t decided that I will, yet – is that the value of the current iPad will be higher this year than next year. And I think that’s the problem with the iPad 2 – as nice as it is, it’s just not exciting enough to make me really want it.

Update 28 March 2011: This review was written before the iPad 2 was released. Now it’s out, I can confirm that this dock works perfectly with the iPad 2 – and the Apple dock for the original iPad doesn’t fit the iPad 2 safely.

The iPad is a lovely bit of kit. It’s also pretty expensive. And with prices starting at £439, it’s a bit cheeky for Apple not to include a dock in the box – especially as they pitch the iPad as an ersatz photo frame, for which you need a dock to hold it up and keep it charged. Instead, Apple expect you to cough up £26 for the Apple dock. £26 doesn’t sound too bad, until you realise that you only get the dock for that price (no cable), and it most likely won’t be compatible with any future iPad models – you’ll need to by a new dock every time you upgrade.

An iPad dock. Yesterday.

Fortunately, there are now a few other options. I’m taking a look at this iPad dock from Gearzap.com, who sell a range of iPad docks and iPad accessories. It’s currently available for less than £16, which makes it over a tenner less than Apple’s offering. At that price, you’re probably thinking there must be a catch.

You’d be wrong. Here’s why…

What’s in the box

There’s no fancy packaging; the dock arrives in a plain white box, containing the dock and the frosted back plate. The dock has two immediately obvious advantages over the Apple one – there’s a USB cable hardwired into it, and it’s black. The Apple dock is, bizarrely, white; a very odd choice considering that the iPad itself is black. So not only does this dock match the iPad, it also matches the iPhone.

Using the dock

Before you use it for the first time, you clip the back plate into the base. That frosted back plate is actually pretty smart – not only does it provide support for your iPad, but if you turn it around, it also allows you to use the dock with an iPhone. The iPhone and iPad are two different thicknesses, but the frosted plate has a little ridge which provides support for either device, meaning that it’s twice as useful as the Apple dock (which is specifically moulded to the iPad’s shape and can’t be used with any other Apple device). Heck, it’ll even work with the iPod Touch and most of the Nanos.

Summary

I really, really wish this dock had been available when the iPad was launched; it’s so much better than the Apple one. It’s cheaper, it’s black, it comes complete with a USB cable, I won’t need to replace it if I upgrade my iPad, and I can use it with my iPhone as well. And to top it off, it has a blue LED to let you know it’s connected to your computer (don’t worry if you don’t like blue LEDs – it’s hidden when a device is docked). I’ve tried hard, but I can’t find anything wrong with this dock. Which means it’s really easy for me to finish with…

Rating: Get it!
(What does this mean?)

Take two docks into the shower? Not me. I just sync... and go.

Doesn't the iPad look better with a black dock?

A few years ago there was a fair bit of discussion about SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), otherwise known as the winter blues. Although I’ve never considered myself to be affected by it, lately I’ve noticed that I’ve been feeling a little more tired during the day. It’s most likely down to being a new parent with a baby in the house, but when this BzzCampaign hit my inbox, I thought I’d give it a go.

In case you haven’t seen these light therapy devices before, I’ll quickly summarise: apparently, during the shorter winter days, your body can get confused by the lack of daylight. Bright blue/white lights like this are supposed to trick the body into thinking it’s getting the amount of sunlight it’s expecting, thus preventing you from feeling tired when you shouldn’t. There’s more to it than that, but that’s how I understand it.

Blue light! Blue light!

What’s in the box?

The goLITE BLU arrives in a smart little box. Inside you’ll find the goLITE itself, a charger, a slip case, and a bunch of manuals. There’s also a nifty little stand tucked into the back of the device.

The goLITE itself is a small, simple unit. The front is dominated by the array of bright blue LEDs, below which is a small, backlit (blue, of course) LCD display with the clock, timer and touch-sensitive control buttons on it. Around the back is a recess where the stand is stored when not in use- it’s a short metal stick which is magnetically held in place to prop the unit up. On the right-hand side you’ll find the on/off button, and on the left is the charging socket.

Using the goLITE BLU

Somewhat unusually, and because of what the device is meant for, you have to wade through quite a bit of health and advice before you get to the part of the manual that tells you how to use the light – page 14, in fact. It’s worth having a look, though, or at least skimming it, as it contains some useful tips to help you get the most out of the device.You might as well have a read while it’s charging, which is also a good time to set the clock and perhaps time the light to come in first thing in the morning. Since the goLITE is intended to be a portable travel light, you can set it to wake you up with an alarm, an alarm and the light, or just the light – quite a useful option, and definitely the one I’d choose as I prefer waking up to the radio instead of some bleeping nuisance.

Using the device is simple – either set the alarm to turn it on, or press the on/off button on the side briefly. The LEDs light up, and stay lit for as long as you’ve set the timer. The default setting is for 15 minutes; if you need longer then you can just turn them on again after the time expires. If you need to, you can pause the timer and resume later, although the device will power down if it’s running on the battery and you don’t resume the session within five minutes. Speaking of the battery, I’ve found it lasts for around eight to ten 15 minute sessions at full brightness, which is more than the manual suggests.

The light has four brightness settings – it’s suggested that you start at the lowest and increase the level if you don’t feel a benefit after a few days. Even at the lowest setting it’s pretty bright; you’re not supposed to look directly at it, but have it off to the side. If you’re going to put it on your desk at work you might need to position it in such a way that it’s not distracting anyone sitting near you, especially if you put on the highest setting.

Results

I’ve been using the light first thing in the morning while I’m still in bed, and after a few weeks I’ve found that two 15-minute sessions at full brightness seem to be having an effect. Before using the light I was feeling a bit lethargic around lunchtime; now I’m feeling bright all day long. I’m not using it in exactly the recommended manner, though; instead of having it in front of me or just to the side as I’m sitting up, I have it on my bedside cabinet while I’m lying in bed. I’ve tried to ensure that I’m not varying any other parts of my routine which could have a similar effect, so although I can’t prove conclusively that it is the goLITE which is making me feel better, I’m going to assume it is doing what it’s supposed to.

Considering I was always somewhat sceptical that this sort of thing helps, I’d have to say that it does seem to do the job. However, with an RRP of £250, and the cheapest deal around being Amazon at approximately £165, I think it is incredibly over-priced. Philips do apparently offer a 30-day money back guarantee, but even so, it’s still going to cost you a heck of a lot – and I’m not convinced it’s worth it, especially when there are plenty of other options for £50-£100. Are bright blue LEDs really that expensive?

If the goLITE had been £50-£70 I’d rate it as a “Get it!” for anyone who thinks they could use a simple energy boost. As it stands, though, I have to finish this review with:

Rating: Worth a look
(What does this mean?)

Steam locomotives are cool. No two ways about it. I’ve always found them fascinating, and the fact they’re pretty much relegated to heritage lines these days means it’s not often you get to see one.

At least this train will run on schedule...

So when I came across this model the other day, I thought it was pretty nice; and normally, that’s where my interest would end. I see a model locomotive in Modelzone, I go “Oooh that’s nice” and then head off to the Apple store. Not this time though; this time I found myself buying it – because the Emerald Night isn’t just any model.

It’s a Lego model.

Seriously – click the image to see the bigger version, and you’ll be able to spot the individual bricks. From a short distance away you can’t tell it’s Lego, and it seems that when people discover it is made up of the famous plastic bricks, it becomes even more interesting. And that’s why I bought it – it’s the most realistic thing I’ve ever seen built out of Lego, and the cool/geek qualities of it really appealed to me.

What’s in the box
Since my wife bought me a Lego Mindstorms set for Christmas, I’ve bought a couple of Technic models to give me more parts to work with – they tend to come in big boxes, but the amount of Lego inside would fit in a box half to a quarter of the size. Not here – the Emerald Night’s box is packed full with pieces. Over 1000 of them, as it turns out. You get quite a few separate bags of pieces, most of which are numbered. The instructions come as two full-colour booklets, which are packed with a sheet of stickers in a separate bag.

Bricking it
It’s been over 25 years since I last built a Lego model – times sure have changed. The basic elements are still the same; flat pieces, bricks, Technic axles and beams all looked just as I remembered (and of course, the Technic elements are identical to the ones in the Mindstorms set). But there are also new bits – some small wedge-shaped pieces, smooth curved bricks, and bricks you can use to build sideways instead of just up and down. In fact, it’s pieces like these that help the locomotive hide its Lego origins, as they mean you don’t see any of the signature Lego studs – well, not unless you look really hard!

The building of the model took a few hours, spread over a number of nights. I was going to handle it the same way I handled the Mindstorms set, by sorting all the pieces into different types, but then I decided to just pile the bits together and treat it more like a jigsaw. Well, not all the pieces at once – the bags are numbered, so you only open the bags for each step of the build as you need them. Bags numbered 1 are the loco, 2 builds the tender, and 3 builds the carriage. I made use of my portable hobby worktop to hold the pieces  – it was perfect for the job, as the raised edges stopped any pieces rolling away, and made it easy to root around to find the bits I needed.

Although the model is apparently aimed at adults and not kids, the instructions are still pretty easy to follow – each step takes up about half a page, and you’re shown a summary of the pieces you need each time. It’s then a simple matter of checking the large picture on the page to see where the new bits go. I’d have preferred something a bit more challenging, but even so it was strangely enjoyable. I’d even go so far as to say calming; after a busy day at work building Infopath forms or configuring Drupal sites, it was nice to spend half an hour after dinner working on the build. As with the Mindstorms set, it was a similar experience to building my r/c models- the main difference here being that you’ve got a lot more flexibility in design. If I fancy modifying the tender, I can easily change it; with my B44 I can buy a new shell, but that’s it. Anyway, I digress; the build was enjoyable, and what was particularly cool was getting to the end of a stage and seeing how it fitted in to the bigger picture – a perfect example of this was towards the end, when you’re building the bogeys for the carriage. You use a couple of “handle” pieces on each side of each bogey – and when you attach the bogeys to the carriage, you suddenly realise they’re the little steps under the carriage doors that can be used to get in and out of the carriage when it’s not at a platform!

This is the age of the train

The end result
Once it’s all built (and stickers applied) the model looks great. I’m not as wowed by the carriage as I am by the engine and tender, but I think it works. I may well add a couple more carriages in the future. The only other part of the model I’m a little disappointed by is the use of light brown axles for the six small wheels on the engine (and the middle main wheels). I wish they’d been black. Apart from that, though, it’s a lovely model and I’m very impressed. It’s very reminiscent of the Flying Scotsman, actually, which is no bad thing. The attention to detail is very impressive; there’s even a door on the firebox inside the cab, with flames inside.

I’ll be adding a motor and lights to it soon, and might even get some track to display it on. Sadly my daughter is still too young to play with it, but once she’s old enough I’m sure we’ll have a track running round the lounge!

Rating: Get it!
(What does this mean?)

The train now arriving at platforms 7, 8, 9 and 10 is travelling sideways.