Some people, when they get fed up, will go shopping. Shopping is a kind of therapy. Not buying. Ideally, they don’t buy they just shop. Well some buy, but in the knowledge that they can return the stuff later — so they are still technically just shopping. Marketers have noticed this, and as a result there are TV channels devoted entirely…
A voice controlled toaster. Optically triggered floss dispenser. A catflap powered by network services. These are the sort of innovations visionary technological entrepreneurs feel we will need and, more importantly, be prepared to buy. Entrepreneurs. The very word suggests they get in the damn’ way, and many of their gadgets are precisely the sort of thing new-age declutterers advice us…
I vaguely remember visiting a toyshop as a child and seeing a twinkle-trousered man on some sort of pedestal, wielding a yoyo. A simple toy, designed to be easy to get the hang of for novices, and yet open to more athletic manipulations by toyshop ambassadors who showed what spectacular feats may be possible with a little practice. It unwinds…