feeling listless

Technology One of the most annoying adverts early last year featured a strange man in wierd suit patronising people who have yet to use a computer into buying an 'Amstrad Emailer'. Other then the ability to accept emails and internet access, the main selling point on the advert seemed to be that you would be able to play 'exciting ZX Spectrum games' (on a mono screen -- yes pixel clashes are a thing of the past). On the whole it looked like a sad piece of work, and for £99.99, seriously poor value for money. Now Amstrad have reduced the price by half:

"The e-m@iler is included in Amstrad's Amserve division, which is 89.8 per cent owned by Amstrad and 10.2 per cent by Dixons. The group's telephone partner is Thus. In September Amstrad reported a fall into the red after losses mounted at the e-m@iler business. The business had problems getting the machine to shops in time for Christmas 2001."

Well there were plenty in Dixons this year but the one I saw had dust gathering on it. I don't actually have anything against the idea -- the chance for people who haven't got a PC to collect emails and look at the web. What I do object to is the repackaging of obsolete technology for the purpose. Yes, it is very cheap, but having tried one of these things, I found the functionality confusing and the web access very slow, and very mid-90s. I would hate to think that this is some people's only exposure that thing which makes this weblog possible.