The Fingerbobs Tower

This is the 42-storey Strada Tower, which is currently being built next to the Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre. As part of its unique design, it is going to have three large fans on the roof, presumably as some sort of energy saving measure. Unfortunately, no-one seems to have noticed that the fans, when combined with the sloping roof design, cause the top of the building to take on the appearance of 'Fingerbobs', the 1970s childrens tv icon. Also, being 42 storeys high, it is not exactly a discreet building, and can be seen from miles away, its two giant mouse ears, eyes and teeth peering out across London (looking presumably for some giant 42 storey-tall piece of cheese?)

Now I'm all for innovative design, and I love 30 St Mary Axe (the Gherkin to you, Peel) but really, how did this get missed? Or is it deliberate because it is really the new not-so-secret headquarters of Dangermouse? or the mice from Bagpuss who have retired and gone into property development? Whatever the answer, it makes me chuckle to think London's famous skyline now sports a giant rodent-topped building alongside the London Eye and St Pauls..

Windows Updates that kill your display..Great!

Yep, thrilled to report that Microsoft have managed to release an update that crashes my display every single time the auto-update function attempts to install it. So now the auto-update function is turned off. This means when something I *do* need to stop a windows exploit hacking my machine comes along, that *won't* get installed and my system will no doubt die horribly whilst offering me some cheap Viagra. How idiotic is that?

Mind you, I shouldn't be surprised I guess. Let's face it, Windows has never been what you'd call a friendly operating system that invites you in for a cup of tea and a biscuit whilst it does something useful. It's more like a description I recently heard being applied to a certain nation's foreign policy: kiss my **** or I'll smash your face in.

BTW, if you think I'm kidding, try googling "windows update display crash". Returns? 792,000. And the energy used to run that search probably took half the polar caps with it. Microsoft may as well just burn some peat and tyres in their HQ's car park all day and release a slightly better update process. It'd be easier on the environment in the long run.

Roll on Chrome OS machines. Maybe.

Not a proper Christmas without Big Trak

Yes yes I know, where have I been? Here..there..you know how it is. Anyway, in the words of Agent Smith, I wanted to share with you a revelation that I've had. It's about Christmas. This year was not very Christmassy for me personally. Not because it wasn't all cold and snowy, or lacked Slade being played to death on VH1 or anything, mind. Nope, all the usual things were all present and correct: family, children, time off work, chocolate, etc. and so forth. This got me thinking about what was missing and I can now reveal after a solid 32 minutes of consideration that it was...Big Trak.

For those of you who haven't the faintest idea what I'm on about, Big Trak was a six wheel programmable tank which looked like a paraplegic battlestar but which was the must have toy circa 1980 or so. Absolutely every boy my age wanted one, and whilst they were distinctly limited program-wise, they were real kudos acquisitions, provided you didn't send it one length too far and over the top of the staircase.

Nowadays, there are no must have toys for boys of this calibre. Sure, you get the presents coming out that everyone are told they want like those go-go hamster things but (a) those are girls toys so they don't count or they are (b) just rehashes of old ideas (like that Thunderbirds rush about 10 years ago). Nothing like Big Trak, or Star Bird, or even a Star Wars AT-AT. There's so much choice now for cameras, laptops, televisions, ipods...there's nothing really..'special' as such. Big Trak was perhaps one of the last of those kinds of toys? I dunno. Even 'Simon', that four colour follow-the-sequence game was lusted over on the 'bring your toys to school' days we used to have. Those and 'Game and Watch'es..Ah happy days. You know what I mean though. These days it's all a bit 'meh' when it comes to gifts. Not much about that's really off the wall yet immediately desirable.

Now I'm not saying Big Trak changed my life, but it made that Christmas a memorable one, as did a few other things of that nature in other years. That sense of really really really really really ***REALLY*** wanting something and seeing that Santa had come good, even if his handwriting on the gift tag was suspiciously familiar.

Now does the wish for that feeling ever go away just because we grow-up? I think not. It just gets applied on a rather more modest scale to things like...dishwashers..and toasters.

So listen up Hasbro and others: get producing something insanely cool, indispensibly 'must have', and in the words of the immortal Glen Campbell (almost) give me back that old Big Trak feeling. Then maybe we'll get Christmas back for grown-ups!