Within weeks of buying my car, a four-year old 2015 Volkswagen Polo 1.2 TSI SE 5d DSG, I discovered that I would occasionally be presented with an error message while driving stating “Error: Workshop! Only leave vehicle in position P.”
Although most of the time the audible tone and error message would disappear within five to ten seconds, it was disconcerting all the same, and a distraction while driving. For a long time I’ve been a “Do Not Disturb While Driving” convert, making use of iOS’s ability to silence notifications while I’m in the car. An alert that beeps and lights up your dashboard with a warning light is dangerous in its own right. If my car incorrectly thinks it’s in the workshop, or my gear shift should be somewhere else, that’s dangerous too.
Like any good millennial, I googled the error message and quickly found forum posts from other VW owners who’d seen the same message. The consensus was that it was caused by a faulty gear selector, and since it’s a known manufacturing fault, the forum posts informed me VW have a service bulletin out and their technicians should be able to identify and rectify the problem swiftly. Knowing I had one year’s warranty included with my purchase, I booked my car into the VW garage I’d bought the car from, who after a couple of hours told me they couldn’t find anything wrong. They said to see if it happens again and bring it back if it did. They left me their standard complimentary biscuit and I was sent on my way. Surprised by this, but trusting Volkswagen (and enjoying my sugar fix), I went away hoping the error, which had only occurred two or three times, would go away by itself.
Skip forward a few months and the error had reoccurred, and I’d also seen estimates that the cost of a new gear selector could run into the thousands. The error had kept happening every few weeks. At the same time I’d noticed my coolant kept dropping down below it’s expected level: I had a slow leak in my cooling system. When I booked this in to get fixed under warranty, I asked them to look at the “workshop!” error too. Again, they found nothing, but did replace my cooling system, over a thousand pounds worth of repairs. Surprising for a car that was only four years old, I was grateful for the warranty and another complimentary biscuit.
A month or two later, the message starting appearing more frequently. I booked it in again, keen to get it resolved before my one year warranty expired (even though as a manufacturing fault, VW should really cover it anyway). This time I told the them there were many forum posts stating it was probably the gear selector, and showed them a video I’d taken of the error (this was difficult to do without breaking the law, but thankfully on at least one occasion the error remained until I was parked off the road and able to take a photo).
After a having the car for a few hours, I was the told the error could be fixed by a software update to my infotainment system, and that as software isn’t covered under warranty I’d have to pay a £110 diagnostic fee. Even after explaining the forum posts saying it’s the gear selector, they insisted it was a software problem. Not happy about having to pay to fix a fault, I insisted I shouldn’t have to pay. The garage wouldn’t budge, stating that the warranty only covers mechanical and electrical faults. Even when I explained that software is powered by electricity and so is technically electrical, they refused to waive the fee. In the end I had to phone Volkswagen HQ, and after expressing my frustration and disappointment in Volkswagen in no uncertain terms, they were able to convince the garage to let me off the fee as a “goodwill gesture”.
While doubtful the software update would resolve the problem, I gave the technicals who work for Volkswagen the benefit of the doubt and hoped they had finally fixed this annoying and dangerous error message. I also got a another biscuit.
About a week after this, the alert showed again. In fact, it now started showing up more frequently. Sometimes multiple times in one journey, and sometimes not disappearing until I stopped the car and restarted the engine. I phoned Volkswagen again, this time in full “angry consumer” mode and, exacerbated by their inability to fix an issue that a simple web search returns a solution for.
For the fourth time, I dropped my car off. They had preordered a replacement gear selector this time, and so I was quietly confident it would be fixed. About six hours after handing over my car, I received a phone call informing that they had indeed found it was the gear selector and there was even a technical bulletin about this very fault. Thankfully there was no difference of opinion with warranty cover. 10 months into my 12 month warranty, I was reassured.
This was two days ago. I’ve not seen the message since. My fingers are crossed that this will indeed fix it, but after this experience, in all honesty, I’m not holding my breath. I think they’ve given up with the biscuits now. It’s disappointing but probably better for my health considering how many times I’ve had to go back.
If you experience this error, don’t give up. Mine got worse over time, so get it fixed- no matter how many times they push you away with free confectionary. It’s the gear selector!
When Apple first announced the AirPods there was a lot of hyperbole in the media about them being Apple’s next big ‘wearable’ device. For a company that famously said that speeds an feeds did not matter, there was a of emphasis on the fact these headphones contained a “W1” chip that could do all sorts of smarts other headphones could not. I use Bluetooth headphones extensively: at work I have a pair of over-the-ear noice cancelling headphones that double up as a headset for making calls. They are excellent at both cancelling the noise around me so I can’t hear it when listening to music, and also at removing external noise so other people can’t hear me when I’m phoning them. I also use a different pair for running - they are average sound quality, but they are sweat proof and let in external noise making them safe for road-running. Both these headsets have an onboard chip: The big ones I use in the office are able to tell me if I start speaking and my microphone is muted, alleviating the frustration of sharing your greatest idea on a conference call and wondering why nobody even acknowledged you. The sports pair aren’t as sophisticated but can tell me how much battery life I have left, telling me there is some smarts going on inside the headphones. So having ‘smarts’ inside a pair of headphones is nothing new. I’m sure they could come up with a brand name for their silicone chips to, but to me, the W1 in the AirPods is meaningless in of itself. So what makes the AirPods better than any other headphones? It’s the integration between hardware and software - Apple’s usual strength. In this case not only the integration between hardware and software on the AirPods themselves, but also between the AirPods’ software and the iOS device they’re paired to. My biggest frustration with existing Bluetooth headphones is that they stay connected to my phone when I’m not wearing them. How many times have I tried to use Siri, and realised after 3 attempts that it’s not working because I’ve left my Bluetooth headphones on and they’re still connected but in my gym bag. AirPods solve this beautifully. The other big problem with Bluetooth that AirPods solve is pairing. Recent Bluetooth headphones are not difficult to pair: there’s no passcode (it was always 0000 anyway so it seemed pointless) it’s just a case of putting the headset into ‘pair mode’ and then choosing it from the Bluetooth menu. Unless you’ve paired it with another device since you last used it with the one you’re trying to use it with now, in which case you need to un-pair and re-pair. Usually you need to see a few error message before you realise this is the case. This of course means if you want to use them with that other device again you’ll need to repeat the process. Not a big hardship, but a small piece of friction that meant I rarely bothered to use my headphones with other devices. AirPods make switching devices as simple as selecting ‘Marc’s AirPods’ from a menu. No pairing, no need to remember about which device I used last. It’s not quite as magic as I had hoped for - it doesn’t just know I’m using an iPad now and so switch automatically, but hey you can’ have everything. So overall I am impressed with my third set of Bluetooth headphones. The AirPods won’t replace my headset at work for calls, because I need noise cancelling at work. I will use them for running, walking and working out however. They are especially good around the house while doing chores etc. Their frictionless nature means I’ll use them whenever I would have just use the phone’s external speaker before. The quality of phone calls is surprisingly low, making me think Apple’s switching to a different Bluetooth profile or something. Hopefully this will be fixed in a firmware update. Some other random thoughts: - Siri is pretty unreliable, it’s generally not worth the hassle. In the rare case that it understands what I meant, the phone will often respond by displaying an answer on the screen, defeating the point of using the headset. - They seem very secure in the ears. - They look silly, but so did white earbuds when they first came out. - i sometimes feel a bit self-conscious when wearing them, especially if I’m on a train wearing an Apple Watch and reading on an iPad. I feel like I’m in an Apple advertisement (though I’m not good looking enough to actually be in one). - It seems weird that if I go for a run with my Apple Watch, and my iPhone, and use Siri on the AirPods, I can’t start a workout using AirPods because they’re connected to the phone. This says more about Siri’s inconsistencies than the AirPods. - Opening the case near an iPhone causes a menu to show on the phone with details about the AirPods’ battery life. It doesn’t do this on iPads and Macs, presumably because it needs NFC, which they don’t have, but I’m not sure.
Ever since I was convinced to buy an iPad 4 years ago, I’ve been a massive fan and predicted they would eventually replace laptops for most consumers. Just as not everyone needs a truck, not everyone needs a laptop right? It turns out however, that iPad sales are falling. This is more likely a combination of people having much larger phones, iPads being reliable and not needing replacing, lack of innovation (today’s fifth generation iPad does the same as a second generation, only faster), and the fact that the vast majority of consumers don’t need anything more powerful than a phone. It saddens me that despite the Internet being a place where anyone can publish anything at very low cost (or for free in many cases), most people use it to consume TV and post frivolous Facebook updates that don’t require much more than a mobile phone - but that’s another topic altogether. At the other end of the scale you have business and professional users, who tend to use laptops because they offer much more power. Processing power isn’t as far off as you might think, the power difference is now in the software. Take for example a simple task I needed to achieve last week - downloading an MP3 from a web site (legit I might add! It was to accompany a course I was taking) and add it to my iTunes Match Library so it would be available on all of my devices. This is easy to do on a Mac or Windows laptop, but impossible on an iPad. That’s ridiculous. The other software issue that holds back these devices is the transient nature of applications. At any time your application might get terminated due to lack of memory. This rarely results in any loss of work, as developers usually code with this in min (until iOS 4, this happened overtime you left an app). Not many developers both to restore the state of an application (as they are suppose to), and even when they do having to wait for it to load again is painful. So the answer is no, an iPad can’t replace a laptop at the moment. I would like to see Apple push forward with this vision. Why not have a simplified version of Xcode for the iPad? It could be a great way to introduce people to programming (and could feature the Playground function introduced last year). The built in applications should be updated to support ‘Open In’ so I can open that MP3 file in the Music app, for example. For many users, nothing will beat a dual screen setup with a mouse and keyboard - but I can’t help thinking that 90% of my non-work computing needs could be done on an iPad if the software were better.
Update: 31/5/2015
I’ve been using an external keyboard with my iPad a lot recently, so hardware wise it’s more on par with a laptop. Here’s what I miss most from a full blown Windows/Mac laptop:
The ability to have more than one document open within a single app. Some apps such as Mail support having mutipe drafts open at once, but all the apps I use most frequently such as Microsft Word, Pages and Excel can only open one document at a time. It takes about 30 seconds to close a document and to load another, which just slows me down.
Lack of keyboard shortcuts - such as being able to press ‘Enter’ to send a message, or CTRL + Enter to send an email. Also being able to switch between documents / apps using the keyboard would help too.
Applications getting unloaded from memory. Or rather lazy developers not bothering to reload the state of an app when it gets reloaded. Again, like with the document switching - it gets in the way when you return to a presentation and find the app has gone back to the open screen.
These days, we all carry cameras in our pockets. We can capture and record any event with very little effort and at a moment’s notice. Not surprisingly, a backlash has occurred. (From experience, anything that’s easy and rewarding enough for mass adoption is eventually frowned upon by early adopters.)
People are now criticised for filming events instead of ‘being in the moment’. Kate Bush even banned cameras from her much-hyped comeback shows. Amongst all groups of friends, there’s always the inevitable member who photographs and videos the goings-on (that’s usually me), and while they might seem annoying now, in 20 years’ time, when you want to look back, you’ll be glad for their amateur documentaries.
Having recently discovered some videos of my family that were taken in the early '90s (when I was five!), I am firmly of the opinion that it’s our duty to make sure future generations have the opportunity to see such material. Seeing your parents and grandparents as young people really changed my view of them, strangely putting my own life into perspective. While I’m sure future generations won’t care to see a Kate Bush concert that will undoubtedly end up being available to buy anyway, seeing their mum, dad, or uncle dancing, smiling, and enjoying the event would be fascinating.
So, lose your cool and get that camera out. Take that photo. You’ll be glad you did.
Last month Microsoft released Outlook for iPad (based on Acompli, an app it previously purchased). Since the company I work for uses Exchange 2013, I was able to take advantage of this and try it out. The interface is a breath of fresh air for anyone like me who is stuck using Outlook 2013’s confusing and dated interface. My favourite feature is the ‘Focused’ inbox, which automatically shows you messages deemed important. Newsletters, alerts and other noise are quietly hidden away so you only see emails from real people. The ‘Other’ inbox is only a swipe away, and the focused view is just that—a view—so it won’t affect your desktop email layout. This is surprisingly accurate and didn’t require much training. Replying to and managing email is pleasant, with the ability to swipe to archive or flag messages quickly.
Outside the corporate world, the app supports Outlook.com, Gmail and other well-known providers. I like to keep work and personal email separate, so I haven’t tried these yet.
Attachments
Another surprising feature of Outlook for iPad is the ability to connect to cloud services such as Dropbox and Google Drive[1]. A lot of network administrators will lose sleep over this, but ultimately it’s a step forward—especially for Office 365 users, who can access all their OneDrive for Business files and attach them to emails wherever they happen to be.
A weak point, however, is the lack of a system extension, so you can’t share a link from Safari to Outlook or send a document directly from Word for iPad. I’m sure this is on the way, but I do think it should have been included in the initial release.
Calendar
The calendar seems quite basic. It doesn’t do a great job of letting me see other invitees’ free/busy information (the main benefit of the desktop version of Outlook), but it’s serviceable for a version 1.0 release. It’s quite buggy; for example, I tried to update an appointment’s start and end times, but it just didn’t work. No crash, no error message—it simply did nothing. I’m sure Microsoft’s latest purchase, Sunrise, indicates that the company is putting some thought into its calendaring strategy, so major improvements should follow. I’m not sure about the unified-app approach—I’ve always wished Outlook on the PC were separate applications instead of one big conglomerate (especially since it’s still full of modal dialog boxes!). Separate apps seem especially fitting for iOS, and I can only assume it’s a branding decision to have one big ‘Outlook’ app on iOS.
Security concerns?
The first release had no security requirements at all, so if your system administrator mandated a passcode on your device, Outlook would ignore it. This has been resolved, though unfortunately it now requires you to set a system-wide PIN rather than just one for the app (as was the case with the previous OWA app). I liked that I could have laxer security on my personal device (for example, ‘ask me for a PIN after one hour’) while the app could be stricter (‘ask me for a PIN after five minutes’)—this worked in the old OWA app, but not anymore, which is a major disappointment. Some administrators might lament the fact that the app will store your emails on Amazon’s AWS servers (soon to be Azure, I would imagine), but this does allow the app to perform cloud processing that ultimately benefits users. The bigger concern, in my view, is that Microsoft released the app without warning or a way to block it, which surely upset organisations with established security practices (ISO et al).
Conclusion
Overall, Outlook for iPad cements the iPad as a tool for business and makes me think that one day many users will be able to use an iPad (or similar device) exclusively at work. It’s missing some key features at the moment (you can’t set your Out of Office), but I’m certain they will arrive in time. The bigger question is whether tablet devices will ever replace traditional PCs in the workplace. That’s probably the subject of a future post, but with Outlook, Office and the cloud it’s becoming an increasing possibility. I personally use Outlook for iPad as more of a sidekick device than a laptop replacement—my job involves traditional desktop software such as Visual Studio and macro-enabled spreadsheets. That said, for many enterprise users an iPad with a decent hardware keyboard is now a viable alternative, if only the screen were larger.
Great to see Microsoft embracing interoperability, in contrast to Google, which refuses to support Windows Phone. ↩︎
I was lucky enough to be bought an Xbox One for Christmas, so I thought I’d post some of my initial thoughts.
The games look amazing
I have one game (Forza 5) and at £50 a pop I will likely only have one game for many months to come. That said, together with the new controller that has vibration motors in each trigger (lets you feel feedback from the brakes), speeding around Circuit de la Sarthe has never felt so real. Whether it’s being blinded temporarily by the sun, or seeing a glimpse of the driver in the windscreen, it just feels so real.
The Interface is Confusing
While I wanted to love ‘Metro’ on the PC, after trying it for just over a month on my main development machine, I had to revert to using Start8 – it didn’t work out for me (loved it on the Surface RT, however) – so how does it stack up on the Xbox One? My view is that it could work, but the current execution isn’t great. On the main screen the positions of apps move about too often, so it’s impossible to remember where anything is. After a while I realised the tiles on the main screen amounted to a ‘recently used list’ the with exception of the left and right columns, which are fixed. There’s no visual differentiation, barley any visual hierarchy (the currently running app is the largest, everything else just looks like it was thrown in) and so it all gets rather confusing. To get to Settings for example, you have to go to ‘My Games & Apps’.
Apps for the sake of Apps
No device these days would be complete without an ‘App Store’ – however the Xbox One has taken this to extremes. For example, if you’re in a game and you get an achievement, in order to see the full details of that achievement you need to leave the current game and open another app (complete with an awful “splash screen” which makes the effect of leaving one app and going to another feel even slower), if the Xbox 360 could do this, surly the Xbox One should be able to? Another example of this was when browsing the video store, in order to view ‘TV Deals’ I had to install the Xbox Video app. It seems a bit ridiculous that this isn’t just built in.
Kinect is impressive if still work in progress
Having Kinect recognise you and automatically log you in is very clever. The speech recognition however is limited. Unlike Siri on an iPhone you need to keep to a precise syntax, and it’s not very forgiving. Say to Siri “Hello my friend, could please turn on the Bluetooth thingamajig” and it will turn on the Bluetooth radio. Ask your Xbox to “switch off” rather than “turn off” and it does nothing. I really hope this gets improved. That said it is still very useful, especially the “record that” function that lets you record the last 30 seconds of gameplay and share it online. I can’t imagine using the Xbox One without the Kinect plugged in, it just feels like work in progress still. I don’t have any Kinect games, so I can’t comment on how good it is for games, which I guess is its main purpose after all.
Everything is fast and fluid, it multitasks like a dream
The Xbox 360 despite being able to render Skyrim at a decent frame-rate was seemingly unable to load a simple system menu without a few seconds delay. Game updates would block the entire interface and it just felt very sluggish, The Xbox One however always feels snappy. Even mid game I was able to press the ‘home button’ and get straight back to the Start Screen, compete with a smooth transition and sound effect. Subsequently opening an app such as Skype or Internet Explorer was very quick. I was also able to install a demo from the store and keep playing. I hope it doesn’t slow down over time, but this fluidity will do a lot to tempt me to use the Xbox One rather than the Apple TV or Virgin TiVo box to access Netflix or rent movies etc
The best is yet to come
I hope (and predict) Microsoft will keep updating the Xbox One as they did with the 360. I’ve only used it for a couple of days so far and you can only fairly judge a a games console after many months of usage. Overall I’m very pleased with it, and look forward to more exciting releases.
I bought my Samsung laptop well over a year ago, and it came running Windows 7. Despite having the most awful keyboard I have ever used, I’ve stuck with it because the Core i5 is pretty decent, and it’s got plenty of storage for all my music and I’m not going to shell out for a new laptop until this one gives up the ghost.
One of the interesting features that Samsung included was a piece of software called ‘Easy Settings’ which allowed me to configure the battery to never charge above 80%, supposedly lengthening the life of the battery. I turned this on (since my laptop is plugged in 99% of the time) and forgot all about it. A few months later I installed Windows 8 and found that Easy Settings no longer worked. When I tried to install it I got this message:
Loosing 20% of your battery capacity might be fine around the house, but sometimes I do like to take my laptop out and so I really wanted to be able to configure this. Even forcing Windows to install meant the app would run but wouldn’t display correctly function at all, I guess Microsoft blocked it for a reason.
Install Version 2.1
It turns out Samsung do offer a version of this tool for Windows 8, they just don’t make it easy to find. Version 2.1 works perfectly fine on NP300E5A model. Before I could change any power management settings, I had to update my laptop’s firmware however. The link to the download was hidden away on this Windows 8 update page, so check your model is listed before performing any firmware updates!
One nice addition if the ability to turn your laptop into a wireless Access Point (yes, Macs have had this feature for years I know, and it’s very useful).
I decided to upgrade my Kindle Keyboard to the new Kindle Paperwhite. I wouldn’t usually replace a device so soon (just two years after buying it), but my girlfriend was thinking of getting the basic £69 Kindle. I used that as an excuse to let her have my old one so I could try out the new model with the built-in light.
My first impression is that the lighted screen is beautiful to read from, and it makes it easy to read in complete darkness. That’s the real benefit here. Whether in bed at night or outside in the sun, the screen looks great. You may read reviews complaining about some unevenness in the lighting along the bottom of the screen. Yes, I noticed that, but it’s really not an issue, since that part of the display only shows progress information, not the book’s text.
Unfortunately, the touch screen is a major step backwards for page turning. Instead of two large buttons on each side of the device for backwards and forwards, there’s an invisible grid on the screen: tap on the far left to go back, tap in the middle or right to go forwards, and tap at the top to bring up the menu. It feels clumsy and keeps this device from being the perfect reading tool. The touch screen does make the virtual keyboard easy to use, so buying books is much simpler. However, I spend about 0.0001% of my time on the Kindle inputting text, so I’d be happy to do without that. I often find myself losing my place in a book because I’ve gone forwards instead of back by mistake.
So I’m mixed about this one. A great screen, but missing physical buttons. I guess Amazon needs to save something to tempt people into upgrading again next year 😉
Despite my earlier post, there are times when it’s wise to put a case on your tablet. On the beach, for example. Suncream and iPads really don’t mix, and putting an unprotected device into a bag with suncream will end in disaster (I know from experience). So I thought I would try Apple’s Smart Case, the version of the Smart Cover that fully encloses the entire device. It’s not cheap, but being an Apple product you generally get top-quality goods, and it can also be engraved at no extra charge.
Upon receiving the case, I was mightily disappointed. For a start, it feels very cheap. It’s not very sturdy: with the Smart Cover you can stand the iPad up and use it as a picture frame or to watch a film. The Smart Case apparently supports this function, but the iPad seems very precarious in this position; any slight nudge of the table would send it crashing to the floor. The Smart Case also adds an enormous bezel around the screen, making the iPad’s display seem small. It also seems to trap a lot of dust on the screen, and it doesn’t wipe the screen clean when you open and close it as the cover does. Speaking of opening it, it’s not obvious which side to open it from, and once you have discovered that you will need long nails to release the magnetic closure.
On the plus side, it does protect the iPad well, even the back. However, I can’t recommend this product for day-to-day use, and given how poor it is, it seems excessive to shell out for it on occasional trips to places such as the seaside. I’m not sure what has happened at Apple; it’s certainly not up to their usual standards (but it’s still at their usual prices). I have now reverted to using a Smart Cover and it’s like I have a brand-new iPad.
On my holidays this year I’ve noticed a large number of people donning iPads. In the pub, on the train, on the ferry and even sat on the beach. Like it was intended to do, the iPad is finding its way into places no one would ever imaged a laptop would. One thing did strike me though, and that is how nearly every iPad I’ve seen out and about is parcelled up in a protective case (one person who sat opposite to me proceed to get their iPad out of one case, only for it to be inside another).
Yes, I get that these things aren’t cheap, but they’re also not as fragile as most people think. Why pay all that money for iconic design if you’re not going to ever see it? This is exactly the thinking behind the Smart Cover, which protects the screen while not in use without sacrificing the slimness and design.
