" The idea that Bill Gates has appeared like a knight in shining armour to lead all customers out of a mire of technological chaos, neatly ignores the fact that it was he who, by peddling second-rate technology, led them into it in the first place." - Douglas Adams.Getting a technology news website made in this modern era has been like trying to grill a steak by having a succession of people coming into the room and breathing on it.
The late, great Douglas Adams once said this about making movies, but it works in this context too. This website has been a long time in the making, but we've launched now and we have every confidence that it's going to be the kind of site that all you guys want to read and share with your friends.
This blog will focus mainly on the topic of portable technology. So I'll be keeping an eye out for all interesting, amusing and relevant stories relating to pocket tech; phones, MP3 players, gadgets etc, with a remit to go off-topic whenever necessary.
The news section is more focused on providing informative articles; so this blog is more about entertainment and opinion. And of course, if you guys see something cool out there on the web or in the news, please do write in.
Of course I'm very happy to be here, but working at tech.co.uk is not my first choice of vocation. When I learned that English writer Douglas Adams had spent many years wishing he could have 'been' Python legend John Cleese, I was stunned. Because throughout my teens I actually wanted to be Douglas Adams, and only after extensive counselling did I finally let go of my dreams and admit that the job was taken.
The writings of Douglas Adams have been an inspiration to me. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; Dirk Gently; Last Chance to See; Dr. Who; The Meaning of Liff etc. All these works represent brilliant wit, beautiful writing and an unparalleled and unrivalled, brutish and insightful view of life, the universe and everything else.
Many people are surprised when they hear that Adams was actually the first man in Britain to buy an Apple Mac, and always had a lot to say on the subject of technology. He wrote an advert for Apple once which said: 'Macintosh - We might not get everything right, but at least we knew the century was going to end'. Bit of a dig there at the panic surrounding Windows 98 and the 'millennium bug' scare.
He also said, "The Macintosh may only have 10 per cent of the market, but it is clearly the top 10 per cent". He was the first Apple fanboy in Britiain! And yet I still look up to him... amazing.
Other devastatingly accurate Douglas Adamsisms include, "We are stuck with technology when what we really want is just stuff that works," and also, "technology is a word that describes something that doesn't work yet".
Those people who bought Thomson Sky HD boxes, HDMI 1.0 HDTVs or scratchable mark one iPod nanos might have a quick chuckle at that one - or a scowl.
Douglas Adams looked at the world in a way that many of us wish we could, but can't. He saw things, and only when he pointed them out to us did we realise how ridiculous they were.
It was a comment by Adams that first pointed out to me that the 'world wide web' is probably the only phrase in existence whose shortened form - 'www' - takes three times longer to say than what it's short for!
As a new news site, we're bound to have a few hiccups along the way. And if we do have some teething problems, we hope you'll forgive us and still come back next time. We'll get into a rhythm soon enough. And we've got plenty of fantastic features that we'll add to the site very soon.
A learning experience is one of those things that says, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that.' And I bet you can guess whose words of wisdom I'm stealing there.
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Go back to Rungsberry HOME
Or try these other entries...
Savethe children: kill webspeak for good!
MP3sare great, just give them a chance!
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