Category archive: science fiction

If my iPod had GPS, it would adjust its volume and music genre according to where I am, the time of day and some manual settings.

It would detect one of my gym locations and switch to my sports playlists provided it was 7am or 1pm.

It would increase its volume if it lost reception, 9 times out of 10 it's in the tube and it's noisier.

It would switch to work-friendly music and low volume if I turned it on at my work location.

And once at home, RFID would detect if Dr B.'s iPod (both appliances would be tagged) was in the vicinity, in which case it would only play music both Dr B. and I like.

It would also create playlists on the fly mixing both my and Dr B.'s tracks and streaming them via Wi-Fi.

Then, if either desktop computer was on, it would detect it from the wireless network and stream music from them too.

And I could go on and on…

We have all the technology. We spend an unhealthy amount of time tagging and organising. It's about time it all came together.

Three days ago (April 5th) was Dr B.'s birthday and I made him a cake in the shape of a Dalek.

By coincidence a few days earlier I had come across a BBC Blue Peter Dalek cake recipe that was just perfect, as it involved no cooking. All you have to do is stick a couple of Swiss rolls together, make some chocolate butter icing and cover them, and then stick Maltesers, all sorts and liquorice strings on it.

I made the plunger with a birthday cake candle and a wine gum.

The eye was a birthyday cake candle holder.

It looked wonky and not very much like the "real" Dalek, 2005 redesign that inspired it, but it make Dr B. squeal with delight when he opened the fridge and saw my little surprise cake. I guess I managed to achieve the ultimate feat of making a Dalek look sweet.

When I sliced through the Dalek cake I felt I was avenging all the thousands of children that spent part of their childhood hiding behind sofas during the scariest Doctor Who episodes. I also felt my thighs expanding just by looking at the chocolate richness, but that's a different story, not entirely unrelated to the fact that I went running yesterday.

Dr B.'s Dalek birthday cake, originally uploaded by bitful.