My summer holiday, filled with sun, sand, sea, swims, lots of blue sky and lazing about, was terrific. Technology largely took a back seat, which is how it should be. But there were three pieces of digital gadgetry that had significant impact.
On the drive north to Taipa in Doubtless
Bay the iTrip worked a treat. The digital throwing device that clips on to one's iPod and literally throws one's thousands of iPod stored songs through the air to a selected frequency on the car radio to play through the stereo speakers is outstanding magic.
We had found the audio quality a bit scratchy in the city, but once we hit the open road and escaped the clamouring interference rife in the city air, the sounds became crystal clear and pure.
Unfortunately one couldn't always say the same about the musical tastes of a 15-year-old girl. Highlights however were Presidents of The USA's Peaches. Sample lyrics: "Movin' to the country I'm gonna eat a lot of peaches/Peaches come from a can they were put there by a man." And the insidiously infectious Numa Numa. Sample lyrics: "Maya hee, maya hoo, maya ho, maya ha ha."
If you're not familiar with this internet phenomenon that began in December 2004 when 19-year-old American Gary Brolsma lip-synched the Moldovan Romanian pop song Dragostea Din Tei by O-Zone energetically on his webcam, you can learn about it at Wikipedia. Avoid if you don't want an inane tune stuck in your head for days.
Of course no one watches TV on their holidays - mainly because there's nothing worth watching. Except perhaps Rescue Me, Six Feet Under, 24 and maybe The Alice. Our lack of TV watching was greatly enhanced by the My Sky box.
At $599 it seems hideously expensive, but this digital video recorder really does change the way you view television. The cleverness of the device is not the box itself, which can hold up to 60 hours of TV on its storage drive.
The real smarts are in the software - the on-screen electronic programming guide that lets one scroll through TV listings for all the channels and simply click on your choice to record. Better still - press the "series link" button and it will automatically record that programme every week. Never miss a 24 episode again.
In truth the electronic programming guide is a bit dumb. It isn't a real-time guide - so that when programmes run late, you can still miss the cliff-hanger ending on your recording.
Poor show Sky - surely an intelligent programming guide would automatically adjust when TV programmes get out of synch with the advertised times?
There are also a few other annoying things about My Sky: "1" on the remote isn't Channel 1 and the default channel when you turn on the TV is Sky's Preview, which at times seems to conflict with recordings.
But these are a small price to pay for My Sky's biggest benefit - no more ads. Hit the 30 times fast forward button and skip through the ad break in a flash.
This might explain why TVNZ, TV3, Prime and other free-to-air broadcasters aren't rushing to collaborate on their own electronic programming guide to work on the wide range of digital video recorders available. Don't they know the customer is always right?
The third piece of technology nearly ruined our break. It was a digital photo sent to us by one Bertha Carver, a customer services officer at the North Shore City Council who clearly doesn't have enough to do. Somewhat creepily, Bertha has been patrolling our street and taking photos of, believe it or not, "overhanging vegetation".
The street is in an uproar, not just because Bertha seems to want all branches below 2.5m hacked down, but also because many of the council trees on the street don't comply with the ruling. Worse still, the roots of council trees - a rather unprepossessing gum - have erupted through the footpath making traversing the public way hazardous at the best of times and downright impossible for a mobility scooter.
It is true that my plumbago has put on a growth spurt of late - but it's really not blocking the way and its flowers look so nice at the moment. And the 25-year-old puka does have a branch a little below 2.5 metres - but it too isn't doing anything to prevent the "safe use of the public footpath". In fact the overhanging branch, as with many others in the street, is really quite pleasant.
Perhaps Bertha needs a holiday. Or maybe she's just one of those people who really shouldn't be allowed to use a digital camera.
<EM>Chris Barton:</EM> Summer provides no escape from technology
My summer holiday, filled with sun, sand, sea, swims, lots of blue sky and lazing about, was terrific. Technology largely took a back seat, which is how it should be. But there were three pieces of digital gadgetry that had significant impact.
On the drive north to Taipa in Doubtless
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