I travelled into London today to Olympia to the Storage Expo ’07. Basically, it’s a computer show sort of thing, with lots of big (and small) companies hawking their wares. This show had a particular emphasis on data storage, backup and archiving. There’s various other similar shows; I’ve been to Infosec a few times, which is focused on security issues.
Travelling to and from was fairly uneventful. I had a good toddle around and stared at the stuff on display. I was a little disappointed though, because I didn’t come away with armfuls of freebees like I usually do. Two pens, a pile of marketing bumph, a folding box thingy, and a wind-up torch.
The torch intrigued me the most. It was the ‘prize’ for filling in a form on the BT stand and signing your life away – I think I also have the chance to win a camera. Anyway, I had a look at the torch just now. It’s a tiny thing, with two LEDs on the front, and a windup handle to generate power. A great idea! I already have something similar which I bought for 99p from the Morrisons petrol station some time ago. This is a lot smaller, so I was hoping it could be of use.
Sadly, this isn’t the case. After quite a lot of winding, I got a matter of seconds of light out of the thing! So I tried winding it for a bit longer – a minute or so – and it seems the gears have given up! So, I took it apart and had a look. The tiny gears inside are made of some incredibly soft, flimsy plastic. The teeth are all there, only folded over and squashed into all sorts of shapes. Basically, it’s now useless!
I took a pen with me (still not sure why) and at some point managed to lose it. I think it was when I took my coat off as I arrived at Olympia. I got a nice new pen though, so I’ve at least replaced it. It’s only a pen, I know – but it was a nice pen.