Steve Litchfield

This foxed me for ages. And I'm hoping that relating the tale will help someone else. We have a Ford CMax (2015), but the same systems apply for the Ford Focus, on which the CMax is based. We bought it in 2018 and the auto-stop-start system worked fine for a couple of years. As a reminder, this auto-stops the engine when stationary in traffic and when the handbrake is on (and gear in neutral, obviously). Then, when you engage a gear and release the handbrake, the engine is auto-started and you're off. A nice fuel-saving measure, in theory. Alas, around 2020, the auto-stop-start system ceased to work. The green 'A' above was greyed out and with no explanation. Research online pointed to this system not working in very cold or hot weather, or when the engine's not warmed up enough, or if you have all the lights and wipers on. Sensible reasons. But not applicable in our case - it remained a mystery. There was a clue in that 'low battery state' was also listed,

There, I said it, I don’t use any streaming music service. Unlike, it seems the majority of people, certainly from younger generations. But I thought it would be interesting to delve into the main reason why I’m errr… different! I think I’ve mentioned this a few times in the past, for example on my podcast Chewing Gum For The Ears (which I bet you didn’t know about!), but it’s a necessary caveat to my music experiences. Roughly half the music I like listening to is custom or obscure in some way. Most is from the 1970s and is either too niche for the likes of Spotify or has been customised or remixed by me in some way. To give an example, when I ask specifically for Hawkwind, with Lemmy on bass and lead vocals, playing ‘The Watcher’ live, I do actually want my personally remixed version of their 1999 Party Chicago gig from 1974, rather than about 10 other versions that Spotify or Amazon Music might select. Streaming services are fine for generic music and pop and so on, where people

The titular question is one we debate often on podcasts and the like. The most obvious answer is 'Yes', of course. Any smartphone made in the last five years will be waterproof, can run anything you care to throw at it, its screen will still be fine, the cameras eminently good enough for what most of us 'snap', and so on. So for uncle Joe and cousin Betty, and probably for you, the reader, tech plateaued some time ago. With the likes of the iPhone X onwards, the Pixel 5 onwards, the Samsung S10 onwards, even if some niche security updates have now stopped, they still run up to date apps and have updated middleware - they'll do the job for everyone. And with the tech from such flagships rippling down to mid-priced phones and even really budget options,  even examples from those worlds in the last few years are now perfectly useable and long-lived. (True, in most case, you'll need a case these days, but that's a given.) Making for a short blog post. But talk t

The use case here isn't universal, but it is quite common. There are tracks ripped from old vinyl, or available as 'extras' from various sources, and which haven't been attended to by a professional publisher already. You know, those 'Unreleased demo 2' tracks on band Y's latest re-release of a 1975 classic. They all add value to the re-release, but no one has taken the time to actually improve the quality. Well not until now. Using the tools that we have in 2024, it's possible to take tracks apart to a degree and then put them back together in a way that presents the vocals and instruments more clearly. So, where there was originally a mono-ish, muddy mix, probably a capture of a cassette copy of a rehearsal, or similar, we can now have a much clearer, wider stereo version that sounds as if it was recorded in 1995 rather than 1975. Well maybe. Perhaps nearer 1985 in some cases! But better, that's the point. Begging the question 'How do I do thi

Hawkwind's seminal 1977 album Quark, Strangeness and Charm remains one of my favourites, but as I've previously discussed in these days of digital music, it's possible to curate your own 'version' of anything.  And with that in mind, I've been 'fiddling' with my digital bits and bytes to create my own 'best' album. Culled from the remaster of the actual album, from live bits and out-takes, as you'll see. I'd call it 'definitive', except I keep fiddling further, so it's always being changed in some small way. Happily, the original album, especially in super-clear remastered (by Steven Wilson) form, is so good that there's not quite as much needing doing as on some other albums by this or any other band. Side 1, in particular, is editing to perfection. The 11 minute 'take one' 'Spirit of the Age' was stripped back to verses 2 and 3, 'Damnation Alley' is complete and perfect in itself, and 'Fable

I realise that this is a cliche, but I have to rant just a little. I completely understand the point of a holiday. The derivation of the word is from 'holy day', i.e. a day when you don't work and relax instead. At which point I also understand that staying home and not going into work (for example) is also a nice 'holiday'. As is, presumably, if you have no responsibilities and unlimited budget, where you could travel around and enjoying yourself enormously. But.  In between these two stress-free extremes is what most of us understand as a holiday, and it's a hundred times more stressful . There are three factors and I rant and rail at each one when someone starts enquiring after your holiday plans, past or future, and coos "Well, that's nice for you". No, it's usually (mainly) not nice. And I'll explain why. 1. Arrangements For starters, there are 'arrangements' to be made. Nothing to do with getting to your holiday or what to do

Folding phones have been very exciting to me as a geek, goodness knows I’ve owned or reviewed enough of them, but the physicist in me has always been sceptical. Glass isn’t supposed to bend and fold, and as for the intricate hinges, the less moving parts in a consumer device, the better. My friend Shane Craig’s latest video sheds light on the way manufacturers are not standing fully behind the tech, leaving you and I in the lurch. If the folding glass breaks and there are no signs of external impact (i.e. a drop) then it's always the fault of the tech, its inherent physical design and fragility .  So for manufacturers to turn round and say 'Oh, no, broken screens aren't covered under our warranty' is utterly ridiculous. They were the ones who invested millions into developing products using folding glass and they need to follow through with the usual warranties and support. If only so that the customer won't dismiss the brand when choosing the next device, whether

If there’s one search that I hear about once a month from various people, it’s how to get flagship performance and features at a price that’s not extortionate and a size that's not extravagant. In 2024 we now have flagship phones that are £1000, £1200, £1400, and more, for the folding variety and, if I may suggest, it’s all getting a little silly. Not least because after paying all that money, you’re also stuck with a phone that’s over-large and heavy, cumbersome in day to day life. Why can’t we have most of those flagship internals in a phone body that’s a regular size and a price to match? Well… there are options. The 'correct' size for a smartphone, I contend. No monstrosities, please. Oh, and aim for £800 max! Certainly on the iPhone side, you can’t argue with the performance and imaging in the regular ‘base’ iPhone, the 15 at £800 . It’s not cheap, but it’s terrific quality hardware and software and it’s significantly the right side of a grand. But it you're leanin

...So we're listening to a podcast and an advert comes on - each show will have its own cadence, and you'll know roughly how long the ad spot is. If you're looking at your smart device then you'll tap the '+30s' button the right number of times, if you're out walking or similar then you'll ask your voice assistant to 'Fast forward 3 minutes', as appropriate. ...So you're watching YouTube and the pre-roll ads start up, you watch that 'skip' or 'next' button eagerly, either once or twice, and then you're into your video. ...So you're browsing the web and come across a page with content you want to read. If you're smart then you've got an ad-blocker installed, if you're not then you're still only concentrating on the content you wanted. ...So you're watching Netflix or Amazon Prime or (heaven forbid) Now TV and a batch of ads come on before your show: 'Programme resume in 1 min 18s' or whatever

A while ago, I revelled in the process of digital remastering old 1970s music , enjoying it crystal clear in 2024. And the album I used as an example was  Steve Swindells  (wiki link) and Fresh Blood, along with a smattering of links (also included here). This is such an obscure release that, especially in remastered form, I thought it deserved further treatment in the form of an actual review. Albeit 44 years after release! Being a huge  1970s Hawkwind  fan, I was aware of Steve as a member of the band from 1978-1979, and particularly his use of Hawkwind's  Simon King  (of whom I'm possibly the biggest fan on the planet) and Huw Lloyd-Langton (for whose web site I was webmaster for a decade circa 2010) as backing musicians for his own (second) solo album  Fresh Blood . Also playing on the album was Van de Graaf Generator's Nic Potter. Steve was hailed as 'the next Springsteen' in some quarters, thanks to his lyrical prowess - all the songs are lyric heavy - and son