Zombies, Run! No Shaun of The Dead

How seriously boring is getting fit? In my opinion it really should be fun and there is no way I'm a gym bunny. Now, this is the case for a few reasons and not just pure, unadulterated laziness.

I have asthma, which doesn't bode well for jumping about daft in shorts and a t shirt while using an inhaler, hell, if the proverbial psycho was after me with a machete, I'd have to stand and fight. Super hero I ain't.

The second reason for not being a gym bunny, is time. If I had time and the lungs to run about daft with my inhaler on a string round my neck, you would notice that I'm way to old for those kind of shenanigans anyway. I mean really!

So, in order to try to motivate myself I thought I'd buy 'Zombies, Run' from the App Store for my iPhone.

That means that there must be something about this app that makes me think it'll get me off my arse and do something to keep me fit?

The way i see it is, well, apart from the obvious, like anything bad happening to my loved ones, the idea of zombies scares the crap out of me. Plain and simple, the idea of them scares the bejeezus out of me.

You can negotiate with a person, you can try to reason with them, but not with a zombie. They just want to eat you and nothing short of being a good shot to their head is going to stop that happening. Jeez, you have to read 'Feed' by Mira Grant or 'World War Z' and you'll see exactly where I'm coming from.

So, yeah, this app covers both, who cool is that? Like a computer game you can outrun zombies in a post apocalyptic outpost/camp type place to get supplies to the other survivors but it combines a fitness element too. You see you actually have to run, walk or cycle, depending on your fitness level in order to get the supplies like ammunition, batteries, medicine and spare parts. (By the way, I'll ignore any comments of pink tents and 'carry on' films).

But this app isn't just running and a computer game with no integration, no! All the blurb about the game/fitness app suggests that it will encourage gamers to increase their fitness or provide runners/cyclists a more fun way to train.

You want to know if I bought it don't you? Well I did, after all the proof of the pudding and all that.....

I'll let you know how I go when I'm being chased by zombies and that is the important bit, cause there is no point in spending a fiver if the thing is worse than useless.

I came, I saw, I conquered, iPad, iPhone

So, yesterday I read that my fabulous iPad and iPhone had been built in China. Ok, that's nothing really new to me, as many things are made in China or the far east these days.

What appears to get some people's back up it that these 'luxury' items are made with huge profit margins.....ok is that not what business is all about?

Apparently no, these items, an many others I hasten to add are made very cheaply by kids who are working 12+ hour days in factories where the gates are manned by gun carrying guards.

Now, 'the Business Insider' (don't mock me, I sometimes read stuff like that!!) says that this is outrageous.

There is a distinct lack of employers actually giving a shit about their workforce.... Big massive note here - I may get on my high horse about the same being the case in the UK also. Anyhow, i am digressing way more than I should be on a blog written on my prized iPad.

Anyway the story goes that Foxconn is one of the companies that makes iPhones & iPads. They have a huge massive sized company that employs around 430,000 which is an awful lot of people, especially when you consider that the population of my home town is about 18,000. Around 4% of these workers are around 12 year old according to sources named by 'business insider'.

One of these workers maintains that a standard shift is 12 hours long, however it is more common for 14-16 hour says. Workers meantime stay in dormitories in a 12x12 room with about 15 beds. They use Hexane to clean the screens of iPhones which is a neuro-toxin, how lovely eh?

If you ask for payment for overtime you're so not likely to get any more money! No, you are much more likely to be out on a blacklist of troublemakers.

Though interestingly enough some people still maintain that this new style near slavery type of employment is still better than working on rice fields.

Im probably now, considered middle aged and can still remember stories of kids leaving school at 14 to start work. Stories of life down the pits and working in conditions that were not only dangerous but hazardous to your future health also.

Maybe production has moved to the far east because the western world has decided that they are unwilling to work in such conditions. Maybe moving work to the far east is saving jobs here in the western world. I say that because with the the relative price of these goods being so low, we as consumers would be unable to afford them if made in our countries.

Is, it wrong to complement foreign workers on their perfectionism, they are after all churning out quality goods and I for one can honestly say that my iPad and iPhone are some of the best products I own.

I remember long long ago when doing economics and sociology that the work ethic of the Chinese and Japanese was far superior than ours. Im going back to the old bit 'Protestant work ethic' etc. are we now too embarrassed to put in extra effort to our jobs?

Maybe the western world should have some new role models where we are encouraged to work harder, work smarter and move forward (think I'm maybe quoting some Toyota kaisen theories now). We seem too obsessed with what we get out of it now, what in it for us? Maybe peace of mind that when work ends you know you have done a good days work.

I'm not for one minute condoning the crappy treatment of employees, but large corporations should remember that their biggest asset is their workforce.


Here is a clip from Daily Show host Jon Stewart on Foxconn:

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How May I Help You? - Yeah, I'm Siri-ous

So, I got the Iphone 4S a week ago now and I will admit that I am still finding my feet a bit with all the technology it has.

I love it; don’t get me wrong I think it’s an awesome bit of kit, although I am very incredibly paranoid about harming it. Not as in considering taking a hammer to it or anything, more along the lines of my normal mobile phone mishaps, you know the sort, the ones that involve spillages, being dropped and being left in pockets along with receipts, sweet wrappers and snotty hankies.

What is confusing me is Siri, Apple’s idea of Jarvis in Iron Man so to speak.


What an amazingly superb idea! Some gadget thing that you tell what to do and it does it. Until you go to use it and you don’t know what to say. In fancy language that will be some voice activation system that can look up stuff on the internet, take notes, set up reminders and calendar dates for you. Siri is like having a mini Dr Reid from Criminal Minds in your pocket, which I think is very cool indeed.

Seriously, though I have sat for 20 minutes not knowing what to say to a mobile phone. Ridiculous isn’t it?

What did freak me out was when I was reading stuff about Siri being a sassy sounding female……. Eh no! My Siri is a guy. So the story goes in the US and Australia Siri is a girly and the UK has a dude.

I am so not sexist at all and quite honestly don’t mind who takes notes, reminders etc as long as they get them right. Jon Briggs who has done all kinds of voice over work from ‘The Weakest Link’ to Porsche’s Sat Nav system is the voice our Siri.

The bad thing is that Siri in the UK sometimes doesn’t quite understand what you’re asking, and gives the response ‘Sorry Lynn, I can only look for businesses in the United States, and when you’re using US English’

The good news is that this is an early form of voice activation and Apple is continuing to develop it.

Personally I can’t wait for one that sounds like Melanie Sykes. Id love her to tell me that I should ‘put a scarf on ‘cause it’ll be cold out’

Prost v Senna? No its BlackBerry v iPhone

After the BlackBerry Blackout of October I fell out with by beloved BB. I was disgusted, how very dare BB have a fault with their network which meant that I had lost touch with the world.

I had no email, no twitter and no facebook for 3 days; I mean really, how would anyone expect a woman to get through the day?

I am fully aware that there are many things wrong with that statement, like for one; do I not have a life? Or do I only have one that revolves around interaction via the written word?

Secondly, it’s not really as if it was a major hassle, I mean my poor BB got called some not very nice names, indeed the sort of words that would make a squaddie blush. It was only 3 days service missed from email, twitter and facebook in the time Ive had the phone, which is approximately 18 months or so. My little curve has been dunked in Cola, dropped in snow, kicked accidentally across a room and succumbed to the powers of a demolition expert of a 7yr old.

It is still in one piece, but I still felt let down and betrayed RIM.

As it is now approaching phone upgrade time Ive got the big decision to make, should I keep a hold of a phone that I like or go for the unknown iPhone contender?

I think the Blackberry RIM v iPhone rivalry is along the same lines as Ferrari v McLaren, Senna v Prost, you have to be in one camp or the other, you can’t (and won’t) dare have a foot in each camp. It just isn’t the done thing.

So I asked peoples opinions, iPhone 4S or BlackBerry Torch? It was that simple. I called Orange my network provider (see, I can be posh sometimes) and discussed it all with a lovely lady called Alison.

In short, FBF’s (facebook friends) say iPhone is the one to go for where as my twitfam (Twitter followers) are much more divided. Alison from Orange suggested that I try the iPhone and if I don’t like it I can easily return it within 14 days.

So, I’m finally buying into the whole ‘I’ thing, they have sold me a lifestyle choice full of hopes, dreams and aspirations and I’ve been reeled right in, all willingly.

Pfft, next Ill be owning an Audi……..oops got that.