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  • Mole and eMon – the forgotten support software at Boots

    Mole and eMon – the forgotten support software at Boots

    Back in the early/mid-1990s I’d been working on the IT (then IS) Help Desk at Boots the Chemist, supporting store’s POS (Point of Sale) systems. After a few years, my existing development chops were recognised and I was moved away to a more technical support team, where I would be helping to create support tools, as well as make fixed and minor enhancements to the POS system.

    My manager was very supportive of us all and allowed us to find our own path, in terms of what we’d spend our time doing. In my case, as the only person in the team with direct experience of working on the Help Desk, I wanted to do what I could to assist them.

    So I wrote Mole.

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  • Should we all be using online wish lists for gifting?

    Should we all be using online wish lists for gifting?

    [It is estimated] that $35 billion is being thrown away, around the world, in the form of poorly chosen Christmas gifts

    BBC’s 50 Things That Made The Modern Economy – Santa Claus, December 17th 2018

    For a number of years now, I’ve asked people buying me birthday and Christmas gifts to use my online wish list and I’ve converted a lot of them to doing the same.

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  • Cleaning a PS4 Pro: Visit to a Weird Planet Revisited

    Cleaning a PS4 Pro: Visit to a Weird Planet Revisited

    Back in 2021 I detailed how I cleaned out the PS4 Pro that I’d bought uses and, seemingly, had nothing more than a damp cloth rubbed over it.

    14 months later, in 2023, I had to do it again. It seems that replacing thermal paste and pads only has a limited life.

    It’s now 3 years later and, recently, I haven’t been playing it anywhere near as much. But I’ve started again and am playing Call of Duty – a game that really pushes the PS4 Pro’s capabilities and will set the fan spinning quite easily. And, once again, it was sounding like a Harrier Jump Jet.

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  • ITT Memories

    ITT Memories

    When I first got my Commodore 64 in the early 1980s, I was given a succession of cheap, second hand TVs to attach it to, before being bought a more reasonable sized Hitachi TV…

    One of the earlier ones that doesn’t leave my memory is the ITT, which is pictured at the top of this post. The one in the picture is the 26″ ITT TV CC782 – I’m not sure if this is the exact one that I had, but it looks to be.

    It sat on top of the dining room table, with my C64 perched directly in front. A lovely teak surround made it look much larger than it actually was.

    It had 2 distinct features, which is why, even today, I remember it.

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  • Review: Dyson HushJet Mini Cool fan

    Review: Dyson HushJet Mini Cool fan

    I love Dyson products. I love the founder less, but there’s no denying their products are well thought out and built. My Dyson cordless cleaner is the best vacuum cleaner I’ve ever owned.

    So when they announced a handheld cooling fan, that was something I was certainly interested in. How could they re-think the simple portable fan?

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