Tuesday, 14 August 2012
An Innocent Predicament
I'm always on the search for healthy options for lunch but I find some of the premade options available in the shop around the corner, whilst delicious, far from good for me! It those handy little traffic light displays on the labling that put me off the prepacked sandwiches full of staurated fat, sugar and salt - and quite rightly so. I think this is a great step forward in informing people about what is really inside their food.
So when I discovered Innocent VegPots for lunch I was over the moon - 3 of my 5 a day in one handy healthy pot. Hurrah! But wait a minute.... Where's the Nutritional information? I know I get 3 portions of veg in the pot - it says so on the card sleeve but what about the rest, the hidden stuff that those unhealthy sandwiches now warn me about in bright red wedges?
I went on a bit of a GDA hunt before I brought my lunch today. It wasn't on the top of the pack, or the sides. Perhaps....
Yup, BINGO! Right on the bottom.
And look at that! Not only do these pots of veggie goodness taste fab but they are pretty good for you too. I've seen prepacked salads on offer with more sugar, salt and fat than these bad boys.
So Mr Innocent, please can you put some GDA traffic lights in a more prominent place on your packaging? It really helps us pick our lunches.
Wednesday, 16 May 2012
The pain of being unproductive
Many sufferers of chronic pain are visibly healthy looking on the outside and their struggles are not immediately visible. Take migraineurs. You can't see a headache and many people are very adept at managing their day with just a headache. But migraines are not just headaches. Migraines are made up of many painful symptoms including photo, audio and touch sensitivity as the nervous system becomes hypersensitive, nausea, vertigo and so forth. For a migraineur having to manage this painful onslaught, the additional pain of feeling like half a person for some sufferers can be very difficult indeed.
I'm a very driven person. I like process and routine and I love to be active and achieve in life. But when a migraine attack comes I can lose days. And I hate it. Curled up in bed in the dark with no tv or radio and wearing sunglasses with the lights off is as painful to deal with as the screaming pain wracking my body. I want to be at work contributing like everyone else, I want to go run my Brownie unit but what I don't want is to have to lie as still as possible in silence all day. For me it is the most frustrating thing in the world. I let people down as a result. Perhaps this is why on my good days I overcompensate on being productive!
I'm lucky that my family, friends, colleagues and current work understand but not everyone with a chronic pain condition is as lucky. I'd love to hear your experiences as its good to share. Good and bad we can all help and learn from each other to recognise that whilst we often have unproductive days we have good days too where we achieve so much. From as simple as making our kids smile or laugh to gaining an award or qualification or just a well done and thank you for a great piece of work.
Thursday, 15 March 2012
Barbie's midlife crisis?
Tuesday, 22 November 2011
And the animals went in two by two..
Smelling like Christmas - Mincemeat Flapjacks
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
Why should Apple be like a traditional music label?
This week The Who guitarist Pete Townshend branded Apple a ‘digital vampire’ akin to ‘Nothern Rock’ in the banking industry. His reasoning by that Apple should act like a traditional music label rather than a music distributor. Amid some amusing quotes, quite possibly taken out of context by the newspapers, such as “...just because iTunes exists in the wild west internet land of Facebook and Twitter..” which made Mr Townshend appear a little behind on youth culture and technology I feel that the musician still rather missed the point if iTunes and Apple.
iTunes isn’t a music label. The iTunes Store is just that, a store. It distributes music in a digital format to play through iTunes on a PC or Mac, or on one of Apple’s portable music devices (iPod, iPhone, iPad...). When Townshend said that iTunes was a "fantastic piece of software" but offered only distribution and royalties to the singers and bands whose work it sold he kinda hit the nail on the head. iTunes is a music distributor – not a music label. Apple sells digital products, including music, and such radical diversification into managing artists.... well it may dilute Apple’s core values and product offering.
But, I do like the idea of Apple setting up some sort of music foundation with support and grants and advice for ‘undiscovered talent’ and who knows maybe that’s in their business plan, After all, Steve Jobs kinda understood about developing and support talent and knew that music was something that brings us together in community.
Let’s not forget though all the smaller artists who have benefitted by having their music used in Apple ads or featured in keynote addresses. What about @songadaymann Jonathan Mann who’s ‘iPhone4’ song opened the antenna-gate press conference and propelled him to internet stardom? You don’t have to turn yourself into a ‘traditional’ music label to support new talent.
It’ll be interesting to see how iTunes develops over the next few years with Tim Cook now at the helm of the good ship Apple. There’s loads of avenues they could go down but I kinda like it just as the place I can buy all sorts of music without complications.
Thursday, 29 September 2011
My Kindle’s on Fire...
With Apple already working on the 3rd iteration of its iPad, the device that finally made tablet devices cool and mainstream, the rest of the industry finally caught up in 2011. We’ve had the Samsung Galaxy Tablet, the Blackberry Playbook, the Acer Iconia Tab (pronounced “t -ar-b” apparently) and now Amazon has launched its colour ebook reader – the Kindle Fire.
In a keynote address to rival the polish of Apple, Amazon CEO and 37 Signals Advisor Jeff Bezos proudly walked the stage with the new device in hand. Yes it runs on the Android OS, yes it is light and yes, at first glance the price point is very attractive at £130 – for a colour screen ebook reader.
But that’s what it is. It’s still really just an ebook reader in a very competitive tablet market.
With a small 7” IPS display screen the device is small compared to the larger 10” screens favoured by other manufactures. It may have kept the price point low, and at that size the Kindle Fire certainly slips comfortably into a handbag but for me personally, it’s too small and why would I want two devices?
Yes. Two devices. I already have two mobile phones which is a pain to cart around during a working week so why would I want to cart around an ebook reader AND a tablet device? I can get my digital magazines, music and books all on my tablet with the added benefit of my email, my files, the internet and bespoke apps and games.
And if I were to buy a Kindle, why would I buy the new one for £130? In a move that may or may not affect Fire sales, Amazon has announced it will slash the prices of its black and white ebook readers. Picking up one of those for £89 or less is more attractive than the Fire when I already have the added extra functionality of colour screen, music and movies/TV shows AND MORE on my tablet and mobile phone.
Maybe it’s just me and I don’t get the Kindle. I’d like to get up close to one when they ship in the UK to see what the fuss is about but I really feel that there’s anything really new or innovative to set the Fire apart from everything else out there.
Prove me wrong Amazon – please.