In Praise of GPS

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It's strange how thought pop into your head. Sitting 10Km above the Atlantic Ocean catching up on Podcasts, I took to thinking about the technological advances of recent years. Lets face it there have been lots, many of which are wonderful (step forward the smart phone in particular), however for my money one stands apart as a game changer. Personal GPS Navigation. The personal navigation device (be it stand alone unit, smartphone etc) especially those with online traffic data are truly a life improving piece of kit. Do I need push email? No, it's nice to have but far from essential. Web & Social Media access in my pocket? Again, it's great and can be useful but I could live without it.

But, a box that sits in your car, tells you if a delay has occurred on your route and automatically directs you around it? That's Genius! A device that can take you to the door of a building that you've never visited before, and save you from hours sat in Traffic? That's what the future is supposed to be about.

Now if only in flight WiFi was more prolific I wouldn't have to wait till I land to post this!

PS Noise Cancelling headphones are also right up there, but that's a post for another time...

LTE in Tring!

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20121205-143933.jpg So, a couple of weeks back I decided to move from T-Mobile to EE. Although the initial roll out of 4G is limited at the minute, the cost was much the same, and I figured I'd spend a reasonable amount of time in areas with coverage.

The first opportunity to see LTE in action came last week, with a work trip to West Brom. As we drove up the M6 through Birmingham the LTE icon appeared, and firing up SpeedTest confirmed some pretty decent speeds.

A couple of days later I was in the Tescos in Tring (Tring it should be noted is not one of the 16 cities on EE's list!). Glancing at my phone, I noticed the three little letters sat where I would expect it to say 3G. SpeedTests confirmed an LTE connection! Having done some testing, there is LTE coverage between Cow Roast and the bottom half of Tring.

Whilst this is of limited use in itself (although I may do a speed comparison against Tesco's in store Wi-Fi), it does show that EE are expanding their LTE coverage outside the listed cities and bodes well for expansion in the new year. It will be interesting to watch...

Sounds That Can't Be Made

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The new Marillion Album "Sounds That Can't Be Made" has arrived and it is great. Easily their best work since "Marbles" back in 2003.

The album consists of 8 songs, several of which are long and far reaching in their scope. Stand out tracks for me include "Gaza", "Sounds That Can't Be Made", "Power" and "The Sky Above The Rain". The full track listing is as follows:

Gaza Sounds That Can't Be Made Pour My Love Power Montreal Invisible Ink Lucky Man The Sky Above The Rain

If you haven't listened to Marillion before or not for a long time I highly recommend checking this album out. The media stereotype the band based on their first four albums (with original front man, Fish), but in the 13 albums since Fish left the band has made a wide and varied range of music.

They also offer a free sampler CD which you can order from their Website, so go on, give them a try. More details at http://www.marillion.com/music.htm