Anyone familiar with manufacturing knows that slight variations in the process leads to occasional products that do not meet the planned standard. Many companies use the parts per million measure for quantification. For reasons of economy samples are taken from the factory and checked which means that, invariably, others slip through to the customer. These are normally resolved under warranty or guarantee.

The solution is to improve the ‘quality’ throughout the manufacturing process.

This brings me to Apple and the bad press that the iPhone 4 is getting. A week ago I read that Apple had sold 1.7 million handsets. Against this figure some people have reported issues with reception that could be related to manufacturing faults (although not according to Apple who seem to point to incorrect reporting of signal strength). Only Apple knows the extent of these issues based on customer complaints but, what might be only a few cases, have spread like wildfire across the Internet.

If 0.5% of handsets produced had faults that would equate to 8,500 potential returns. That’s a lot of potential Internet traffic. It is also a success rate of 99.5% which is pretty good by any standard.

I have colleagues with the iPhone 4 who cannot produce the signal loss issue and I have enough experience of Apple products to know that they work damn hard to produce the best hardware and software they can. I just can’t believe that this is a design issue. Apple’s design and development is the best in the world.

I await the coming software update that should better report the real signal strength available and, when I purchase the white version, will let you know if I get any problems myself.

I for one will join the digital elite and buy the new Apple iPad when it becomes available in a matter of weeks.

Why? – I think it is the ultimate lounge computer. I can leave it docked on the coffee table and use it whilst relaxing in my designer chair.

I hope to read Wallpaper and Monocle magazines on the iPad along with the odd graphic novel.

Whilst I watch LUXE.TV on SKY HD I can research destinations, tag and buy music, and manage my social calendar.

I will follow the blogs looking into the future and download and read Science Fiction books from the iBooks store.

I will browse the web sites of high end furniture stores and read reviews of top restaurants.

Above all else I will revel in the fact that I can do the above without the usual digital clutter and poor ergonomics of a Windows Netbook.

There is something about the Fossil watches designed by Philipe Starck. The latest to catch my attention is the PH5030 model, known as the Palindrome Too.

Palindrome means a word or phrase that reads the same backward as forward. In respect of this watch it is symmetrical about the centreline.

This watch has two dials side by side in a minimal design. These dials sit behind an amber glass and the wrist band is in a grey resin.

Setting and operation is simplicity itself. Each dial has a separate crown and because there are hours and minutes only it is simply a case of moving the crown out, setting the time, and pushing the crown back in.

I have one dial set to UK time and one set to the USA east coast.

Of note is also the unusual packaging that the watch comes in. It has a hole in the middle and the watch band wraps around this.

I think this watch looks retro futuristic with its twin white dials sat behind the amber face.