First Class Rail Travel

It's an unfortunate truth that not all first class rail services are created equal. In fact, it would be fair to say that standards vary enormously depending on the operating company, veering from "slightly better than standard class" all the way up to "really very good indeed". Given this disparity, how can all these services be classed as "First Class"?

The first problem is that, as far as I can tell, there doesn't appear to be a standard definition of a First Class rail service. This means that train operators are free to call any carriage "First Class" if it represents even the smallest improvement over the quality of their standard service (which can itself vary hugely between trains, routes, operators, distance travelled and so on). Even something as fundamental as seat size isn't a good indicator; some services have First Class seats which, on other services run by the same operator, would be used for the standard class service.

What this means is that passengers cannot really tell, when they buy their "first class" tickets, what sort of service they're going to receive from a train operating company and they therefore cannot make informed decisions about the class of ticket they should buy. This leads to confusion, disappointment and not inconsiderable annoyance when you turn up and find that, rather than the luxurious throne you were expecting, you have instead purchased a cramped little seat in a noisy carriage.

Let me list for you the things that I think should form part of a first class rail service:

• Seats - all seats should be wide (no more than three across the width of a standard UK carriage), comfortable and well-padded. Power points should be provided at every seat so that phones and laptops can be charged (vital for business travellers or those of us with an iPhone or other power-hungry device). Windows should have blinds.
• Wifi - First class rail services should offer a decent wifi service for the duration of the journey. Such service should be free (or included in the price of the ticket), fast, reliable and secure.
• At seat trolley service - Wandering the carriages in search of sustenance is an acceptable compromise if you're slumming it in the cheap seats but there really should be an at-seat service in the first class carriages. On longer journeys, this should include a full table service and good quality meals with decent wines.
• Complimentary food and drink - If the service offers only sandwiches and coffee then these should be free (or, again, included in the ticket price). Virgin do this on some of their services and it makes a huge difference to the quality of the journey.

If a train operator can provide all these things then they should be able to call their service as "First Class". If not, or if they provide these things only at certain times or on certain routes, they should use a lesser moniker, like "Second Class", and charge a lower price.

Kickstarter Recommendations

For anyone who likes gadgets, Kickstarter is simply brilliant. Not only does it feed our addiction to techno-porn (details below), it also allows us to contribute to a company’s product launch, helping to bring to market some fantastic ideas that might otherwise have failed to find the backing they needed. Here are a few of my recent favourites.

If you don’t have an iPhone you probably won’t be interested in an iPhone dock. If you do have an iPhone, the dock you want is the Elevation Dock, the first Kickstarter project to reach $1m. The promotional video for the Elevation Dock is simply brilliant - it’s worth watching even if you’ve absolutely no intention of buying a dock.

The Torch-bicycle Helmet looks like it could be the most interesting bike helmet on the market, featuring built-in forward (white) and rear-facing (red) LED lamps. It’s main benefits are that it makes its wearer more noticeable at night (and gives them a stare that Medusa herself might envy), which should reduce the chances of them being crushed by an unobservant driver.

In a similar vein, the Blink/Steady bike light aims to make the bike itself more visible. If the ability, granted by the Torch-bicycle Helmet, to blind drivers by merely gazing in their general direction isn’t sufficient, along comes a zero-effort, theft-resistant bike light. If I still had a bike (some toe-rag pinched it last year) I’d be looking for one of these to help keep me safe.

Great though the Blink/Steady light undoubtedly is, the revolights (shipping in June 2012) are even better. Combine the revolights with the Torch helmet and you’ve got an unbeatable set of night-time cycling kit. Watch the video - these lights are simply brilliant.

Back to the iPhone (or smart phones in general), and here’s a cheap solution for video and hands-free camera work, the Slingshot. For a mere $14 you can grab one of these neat phone mounts and seriously improve your shooting experience.

The promotional shots might be cheesy (or simply in bad taste) but the ZenTrek backpacks look like they might be worth trying. Unfortunately, their website is so awful that it’s impossible to find out what their products can actually do (what they can charge, for example) so although the idea is appealing I can’t really recommend the product.

My final mention goes to the astonishing Pebble smart watch, Kickstarter’s biggest ever project with a record-breaking $10,176,751. A Bluetooth-enabled watch with an e-paper display, the Pebble links to your smart phone and does heaps of useful stuff in a really elegant and beautiful package. Watch the video for the full story then settle down for a few months to wait for the initial post-Kickstarter shipment (they’ve sold rather more than they’d expected).

And that’s it. Techno porn, as promised. Jump in, search around and find something to back. You never know, it might be great.

Predicting Apple

Predicting the details of Apple's product releases is fairly easy if you stick to broad generalisations: we can be fairly sure that the new iPhone (expected in the autumn) will be faster, about the same size and weight, have better wireless connectivity, an improved camera and about the same battery life. We're also likely to see, thanks to iOS 6 (previewing at WWDC?), improvements to key software elements, including Apple's stock applications, APIs and integration with 3rd-party systems. Improvements in all these areas would probably keep the iPhone ahead of the competition.

How can we be (reasonably) sure of this? Apple is secretive and doesnt discuss future releases but their general philosophy of incremental improvement is well known and can be used to make broad-brush predictions.

It's more difficult to spot the new things, the unexpected leaps into the unknown, like Siri or deep Twitter integration or the completely new chassis of the iPhone 4. Once we move beyond the incremental improvements we proceed by guesswork, guided only by Apple's patents and the unhelpful "intelligence" of various sources "close to Apple" or their manufacturing partners.

There are, however, a few rumours that we can probably discount:


Larger screen - the trend in Android devices has been toward ever larger screens with some "phones" now reaching a thumb-destroying five inches. The iPhone has had a 3.5" screen since launch and there are good ergonomic and product differentiation reasons for expecting this to continue.


More storage - it's normal for successive generations of computers to feature ever larger storage systems but in a mobile device with limited battery capacity this isn't always helpful. The fact that the new iPad, which arguably has a much greater need for storage capacity, has a top limit of 64Gb suggests the iPhone isn't likely to jump to 128Gb.


Quad-core processor - the iPhone 4S is already very fast. Adding extra cores might make it faster but it would also burn battery more quickly. Maybe next year.


Liquid metal chassis - sounds fantastic and I think it will happen at some point but probably not this year.


NFC - I'd love to see NFC in an iPhone so that I could dump my credit and Oyster cards but, based on nothing at all, I don't think it'll happen this year.
So what, apart from the incremental improvements mentioned above, do I predict for the next iPhone/iOS combination?

• Siri will be improved and extended, possibly with a third-party developer API and (more likely) access to many more databases (particularly outside the US where coverage is relatively poor).
• Enhanced gestures and interactions to simplify tasks that Siri can't handle.
• New mapping and navigation features, probably with reduced emphasis on Google Maps.
• Widgets and other improvements to the home and lock screens.
• Deeper integration with iCloud, Facebook, iPad and, hopefully, Mountain Lion.

Every previous prediction I've made about Apple's products has been wrong and I confidently expect to be wrong again. Check back after WWDC for an update.

The Agonies of Choosing a Laptop Bag

My quest to find the perfect laptop bag may never end, mostly because I can’t quite convince myself that the bags I’ve found will really meet my requirements, which are:

• Capacity - I need to to carry a 13" MacBook Air, an iPad and various minor accessories like chargers, headphones, phone, passport, notebooks and pens. 
• Traveling - I do a reasonable amount of traveling so the bags needs to be suitable for use on planes, trains and buses, as well as offering good protection from the inevitable violence and stress of everyday commuting. 
• Style - all bags are not created equal. I want one that will not look out of place in the office, in an airport departure lounge and, ideally, tucked out of the way in a smart bar (not because I frequent smart bars, of course, it's just useful short-hand for general non-geek acceptability). I’m planning to use it for several years, so it has to be tough. 
• Features - as well as holding all my stuff, I want a secure, easily fastened bag that can be worn for cycling, walking or jogging. A decent shoulder strap, secure phone pocket, good padding and a tough, waterproof outer layer are all essential. 

Unfortunately, that rules out leather bags like the Waterfield Muzetto or the Copper River Mission because they aren't waterproof, don't have enough padding and can't be secured for jogging or cycling (I generalise but the rule seems to hold across, stylish though many leather bags undoubtedly are). I have to reject cotton and other natural fibres for similar reasons (or because they're too flimsy for long-term use) so my options are limited to artificial materials.

This actually helps quite a lot. Through extensive web searches I have identified three candidates:

• Tom Bihn’s Ristretto for 13” MacBook Air, US $155 including the Absolute shoulder strap. 
• Timbuk2’s D-Lux Laptop Messenger, US $129 plus custom options. 
• Crumpler’s Moderate Embarrassment, AUD $175. 

These bags all do basically the same job, their manufacturers are, as far as I can tell, similarly reputable and I’d probably be happy with any of them. Unfortunately, that’s not the whole story; not all bags are equally obtainable.

Crumpler, who have several shops in London, including one I pass on my way to work, don’t make things easy. I should be able to stroll into their shop and buy (or order) any bag on their website but they don’t appear to sell the Moderate Embarrassment in the UK and they won’t ship one from Australia. They’re out.

Tom Bihn will ship to the UK but the Ristretto is back-ordered till mid-June and I’m impatient; I don’t think I want to wait that long.

So that leaves Timbuk2, whose bags are stocked by Evans Cycles (I pass at least two of their shops each day). The bag looks great, seems to have the features I need and, best of all, I should be able to handle one before I buy. Decision made.