Martin Dupras

The other day I came home to find a brand new copy of the Yellow Pages phone book. Wrapped in plastic no less.

When’s the last time you used one? Personally, I don’t remember using one this century.

I understand that some people may want it, but most of us probably don’t. Now, with daily reminders about reducing waste and recycling packaging, it strikes me that there is a double standard here.

In the UK, the population is about 60 million. If we estimate from that there are say, 20 million homes, that is a lot of unwanted bulky paper wasted, and that’s not counting the plastic it came wrapped in.

The point is that, just like junk mail, it is not requested and often not wanted and it adds to our waste. Now that some city councils are imposing fines for having more rubbish than a given quota, I find it even more insulting that we are then lumbered with that extra rubbish.

They’re hand-delivered too, which means you can’t just “return to sender.”

So why do we tolerate this?

I saw this poster on my office building today. Really wish I could go. Likely to be an ace gig.

When I was a kid, supermarkets used paper bags. With all the fuss about plastic carrier bags now, why are supermarkets not reverting to brown paper bags? They’re tough, big and recyclable. So why not?

One month in and I still love my new iPhone 3G. The interface and the integration of services is great. For instance, if you have the address for a contact in your address book, clicking on the address opens it in google maps.

Beats my old Sony W950i by a very long shot.

iTunes, however, still sucks big time. I’m used to it by now, and I’ve managed to discover the settings that need to be changed for it to stop deleting my tracks. Apple: sort it out.

However, there are a few things I’ve discovered that make life with iTunes easier.

PhoneView allows you to see the files on the iPhone and download back the tracks that iTunes in its stupidity has deleted from the computer.

GimmeSomeTunes automatically downloads lyrics for tracks playing in iTunes.

The headphones that come with the iPhone were really bad. I mean baaaad. And because I have small ears, they didn’t fit properly and hurt my ears.

Solution:

-  the Monster Cable headphone adapter for iPhone. £15 well worth it. That takes care of the microphone portion and allows you to connect:

- a nice pair of Ultimate Ears Triple.Fi 10 Pro in-ear monitors. Very expensive, but worth every last penny. The sound quality is stunning. It’s like a pair or studio monitors in your ears. Well maybe not, but close. And they don’t fall out of my ears either, which is good.