When I first heard that texting has officially overtaken email among the over-50s, I did a little victory dance. Not because I’m surprised that people our age can master technology (we absolutely can, thank you very much), but because it means we’ve collectively decided that life’s too short for “Dear …

Look, I get it. You’ve got this little cylinder sitting on your kitchen counter, and sometimes, just sometimes, it feels like it’s eavesdropping on your conversations. You mention needing new garden furniture, and suddenly your phone is showing you ads for patio sets. Coincidence? Maybe. Creepy? Absolutely. So let’s have …

The Little Cylinder That Could (And Now Really, Really Can) Remember when you first got a smart speaker and thought it was absolute magic? You’d ask it to play your favourite song or set a timer for the pasta, and you’d feel like you were living in a science fiction …

Hold On, Did You Just Say 100 Times Less Power? Yes. Yes, I did. And before you scroll away thinking this is some dry, technical article full of jargon that makes your eyes glaze over, stick with me for a moment. Because this story, this particular development in the world …

Your phone knows you’re getting sick. That’s both brilliant and slightly terrifying. Let me paint you a picture. It’s a Tuesday morning. You feel fine, more or less. Maybe a little tired, but who isn’t? You grab your phone off the nightstand, scroll through your emails, check the weather. Normal …

Your Pocket Computer Is Smarter Than You Think Let me tell you something. That rectangle you carry around in your pocket, the one you mostly use to check the weather and argue with strangers on Facebook, is one of the most sophisticated pieces of technology ever created by human hands. …

I had a simple idea: generate my own electricity. So I went looking for how to actually do it. That was my first mistake. It started, as these things usually do, with an energy bill. I live somewhere reasonably exposed to the wind. My bills are, like everyone else’s, unreasonably …

Let me paint you a picture. It’s 1985. You want to write a letter. You sit down at a typewriter, carefully hunt and peck your way through the alphabet, and if you make a mistake, you’re reaching for the Tipp-Ex. Then word processors arrived and suddenly everyone could write, edit, …

I’ll be honest with you. I’ve spent more time rewriting emails than I care to admit. You know the drill: you write something, read it back, cringe at how it sounds, delete half of it, rewrite it again, wonder if you’ve been too formal or not formal enough, and then …

Why Online Communities Matter More Than Ever When I first heard someone talking about “online communities UK” at a family gathering, I thought it sounded a bit sad. Why would anyone need to find friends on the internet when there’s a perfectly good pub down the road? But then 2020 …

When Robots Stole the Show (And Everyone’s Hearts) Let me paint you a picture. It’s the eve of Chinese New Year 2025. About a billion people, give or take, are gathered around their televisions for the Spring Festival Gala, which is essentially China’s version of the Royal Variety Performance, but …

Getting older doesn’t mean you need to pack up your life and move into a facility where someone rings a bell for dinner. I’ve watched my own parents navigate this territory, and I’ve seen friends wrestle with the question of whether Mum or Dad can really manage on their own …