I think that’s normal for any job though; the further you move up the ladder, the less you get to do what you actually, you know, want to do. Though I must say, I’m really enjoying the creative process of working to briefs, and the adrenaline rush of helping pull off ideas. Not to mention meeting new people, especially if it involves visiting offices as stunning as Ogilvy’s Canary Wharf branch, which I saw yesterday.

As a technology journalist, you’d think I really love gadgets. And I do! When they work properly, anyway. But over the last several years, I’ve become so concerned of my place in the chain, as an enabler for people who don’t really need to waste a tonne of money upgrading. Not to mention the effect of my job on this fine planet we live on — I’m racked with guilt about the landfill issue. Plus, seeing another effing tablet every week really makes you resent the process of churn. So when I see tech that impresses me, it’s like a sledgehammer to my esophagus.

Anyway! I’m digressing. What I wanted to write about was how enthused I felt after a meeting at Ogilvy yesterday, to check out their new digital labs. It’s very rare where I see tech I haven’t seen / heard of before, but Nicole and Will have done a great job of curating some impressive technologies around mind-control; augmented reality and the like; all of which other arms of the advertising agency are using in their Mad Men-style creative briefs.

The best thing though? Their office. These two pics I surreptitiously shot while my colleague was putting his jacket on only show the downstairs lobby, but oh, how I wish I could’ve shot some upstairs on their actual floor. I’m such a sucker for Ercol and Eames.

Anyhoo, here are some images that caught my eye last week. Just three more weeks left until 2012! *sighs*

*Green and monochrome, via Lily via Jennifer Hagler via Pennyweight via One Little Nest*

*Yellow birdy, via Yansku via Nulka via Deborah Moir via Seventy Tree*

*Sky mug, via Hello Neest*

*Pink sofa, via Cloud Berry Terrier via sandra juto via Colorful Homes*

*Snowy wrapping via Present & Correct via DesignSponge*

*Lemon, lime and mustard, via Barbara Groen via Decor8*

*Natural colour, via Patricia via Giopiane Wish Flowers via Colorful Homes*

*Wear Color, via Scott Laytart via The Clothes Horse*

*Shadowed faces, via Ledansla*

*Wood and pink, via Dwell via Interiors Porn*

*Tweed and heritage, via Emsedge*

Last week was all pretty overwhelming: it started with the Stylist magazine-sponsored charity auction for my friend Laura who was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s cancer a couple of months back. People really dug into her pockets for her; it was utterly overwhelming to witness.

The rest of the week was spent getting ready for/getting over the readers’ launch party for my site Gizmodo UK, which went live late-September. There was a mammoth amount of organisation involved, which tested my wits at times, but thankfully it was a huge success and the readers seemed to dig it. And the 100 or so who turned up were all really lovely! Thank god I didn’t faint while doing my speech too, which was my biggest fear.

Thursday night Jim and I went out for dinner with Laura and her boyfriend Rich, where we heard the now-infamous voicemail Paul Danan left for her. Amazing. It is rather funny seeing celebrities — some of those with looser ties to the word, such as Danan — supporting her and wishing her well. And then Friday, Jim and I jumped on the train to York for a long weekend spent shivering in the intense cold and saying “shall we just go back to Betty’s?”

This weekly account of what I’ve been up to, along with some of the best images I’ve seen on my web-travels, is three days late and a dollar short, but here’s hoping you spot something that inspires you:

*Purple ‘n plum, via Eckersley Garden Architecture via  Desire to Inspire via Colorful Homes*

*Playschool house, via Leontjew via Ignant via Bumbumbum via Colorful Homes*

*Rainbow diamonds, via Etsy*

*Wall-lean, via Streetfsn via Wear Color*

*Blue and chocolate, via All the Pretty Birds via Miss Moss via Wear Color*

*Purple jewel, via A Pencil Full of Lead*

*Purple eye, via Alabasta via Design Sponge*

*Ice worktop, via Wedowood via Wallnut via Design Attractor*

*Leather and fish, via Boligmagasinet via Emma’s Designblogg*

*Shelves, via Weekday Calendar via Design Attractor*

*Shelves and stool, via Analog Dialog via Design Attractor*

*Black and grey, via Emma’s Designblogg*

*Cat and chickens, via La Casita de Wendy via Fine Little Day*

So last week I started my new job — I’m back at Future Publishing, where I’m launching and editing a UK version of the American site I’ve spent the past 20 months working on, Gizmodo. Everything felt very familiar yet completely different (I worked there for 18 months a couple of years ago), but it’s great being back amongst old friends.

El husbando took me for a celebratory dinner to one of our favourites (the gilt-covered St Pancras Grand, which looks out over the Eurostar terminal — it’s rather romantic, especially for ol’ trainspotter Jim). The rest of the week disappeared before my very eyes, in a fluster and flap of meetings, briefings, interviews and…well, not much else. I did have a successful Sunday, between the Domestic Sluttery workshop and Mulberry’s LFW party, so that was a nice cherry on top.

*Follow my Tumblr and Pinterest here for real-time bookmarks! Or, you know, don’t ;)*

Anyway, if you don’t follow me on Twitter, you may’ve missed that I had some exciting job news today. I’m re-joining Future Publishing (after leaving at the tail-end of ’09 to join the US Gizmodo), to launch a UK version of Gizmodo. It will be a dedicated UK site that’ll take a feed of some of the more relevant content, balanced out with a heavy dose of localised content about UK networks, services and the like. Plus all the usual off-topic japes and shenanigans you’ve come to expect from Gizmodo.

While I’m still on holiday for another week or so, I’m really excited about pulling my sleeves up and getting started properly. This has been a long time coming — double, no triple the length of time you have in your mind! — and has been extremely difficult to keep quiet. While I already owe about 99.9 trillion people an email, I’m looking forward to the challenge – hopefully my marriage/friendships/blog won’t suffer too much under the weight of the launch!

And pyjamas, while I’ve enjoyed working inside of you for the past 20 months, I’m actually looking forward to swapping my “lady of leisure” lifestyle for the corporate world, believe it or not.

If I haven’t stolen enough of your time yet, we’ve had some nice media coverage about the partnership between Future and Gawker Media, which you can read about on these fine sites:

- The Guardian
- MediaWeek
- PaidContent
-TechRadar
- MCV
- PPA
- The Drum
- GamesIndustry

…and of course, on Gizmodo.

*Gold star if you can guess the warblers of those classics.

Plus, I found some pretty cute pictures this past week, if I do say so myself:

*Bike and frills, via Bluepool Road*

*Horizon, via Joeri Bosma via Colossal via DudeCraft*

*Peeling kitchen, via Hus & Hem via From Scandinavia With Love*

*Hello, via Oh Dier via Lovely Clusters*

*Mustard on fairy floss, via Cali Vintage via Wearcolor*

*Beautiful day, via Oh, Hello Friend*

*Test cards, via Oh, Hello Friend*

*Chook, via Krysten Hayes via My Owl Barn*

Should probably explain my relief at not waking up in a tent in Essex — we were invited to spend the weekend at V festival’s Louder Lounge, which we’ve enjoyed the past four years now. But this year the thought of staying the whole weekend and camping really didn’t appeal, so we only did a daytrip. It was great fun — those guys really know how to put on a good vip experience.

Backtracking a bit, we had dinner with Clare and Salome on Wednesday, and on Thursday I caught up with Laura and Petah for tapas and cocktails. I was still feeling quite under the weather from a recent illness, but it was nice to be spontaneous for a change. And then Friday was my last day at Gizmodo! I miss those guys like crazy already, but am really excited about my next challenge.

If you’re at a loose end tomorrow (Thursday 30th June), come along and watch/cheer/heckle* me as I talk on the ubiquitous yet wildly exciting topic of BLOGGING, in aid of International Social Media Day (yes, really.)

Part of Mashable’s global exercise, the two hour-long free event is being held at Lomography’s Shoreditch store, from 6.30 to 8.30. There’ll be free drinks, a chance to network with other bloggers/digital people, and the opportunity to hear other speakers gasbag about their chosen digital subjects. Not to mention eye up Lomography’s wonderful cameras. If you’d like to come, please do RSVP here.

*Please don’t heckle. I’m nervous enough as is.

*Image Credit: Voyons Voir via Ffffound via Photojojo*

…Or as I like to refer to him, the “internationally-recognized poster-child of British men.” If you haven’t caught up on how Grant bugged a phone-tapper embroiled in the scandal of 2005, check out his interview on the New Statesman, or my brief run-down of the events on Gizmodo.

Hey, look Ma! I’ve only gone and done a spot of freelance work for The Telegraph, writing 900 words on the substance graphene (and interviewing one of the Russian scientists who won the Nobel prize for physics, after notable work in this field); a list of aspirational robots; and another 900-odd words on 3D printers.

These all appeared in the paper as well as online, in a three-part series sponsored by Ford, The Future Sessions.

More recently, I particularly enjoyed being one of The Telegraph‘s “experts” for a wide selection of readers’ questions on food, culture, travel and wine. It was refreshing to write about something other than technology for a change, and to be able to put my local knowledge and offbeat tips to good use. The aim was to provide “off the beaten track” tips, and hopefully the readers were informed as well as entertained.

Here’s a round-up of some of the questions I answered (I’ll keep adding links once the Q&As get uploaded):

Food

• Halloumi cheese recipes
• London pubs with cats
• How to make ginger beer
• Restaurant review apps
• Spice rack essentials
• Best veg box delivery services
• Prepared meal delivery services
• Simple omega 3 recipe
• Sunday roasts for every day of the week
• Best food blogs
• How to cook with polenta
• Recipes to eat with dogs
• Decent Mexican restaurants
• Vegetarian desserts
• Bath restaurants
• Skewering vegetables
• Eating out while on Weight Watchers
• How to use truffle oil
• What to do with leftover dips
• London’s best pop-up restaurants
• Posh breakfasts for the morning after

Travel

• Maldives or Mauritius for a honeymoon?
• Cheap ‘n cheery accommodation in New York
• Non-touristy San Francisco adventures
• Berlin nightlife
• Heathrow terminal 5 power sockets
• Non-tacky Las Vegas hotels
• Californian camping
• Tokyo otaku adventures
• How to get a free upgrade when flying
• Photographing nature in and around London
• Best travel gadgets
• Holidaying in Western Australia
• Lille sightseeing

Wine

• Best iPhone apps for wine
• Where to buy wedding champagne
• What to do with leftover wine

Jim and Kate also answered a bunch of questions too, you can see Jim extolling our local fish & chip shop Olley’s here, and Kate’s tips on creating the perfect sponge here.

More Q&As can be viewed at The Telegraph, here.

Three women out of 20 (four, if you count my black MacBook in front) in a random slice of CES isn’t necessarily a bad thing

I’ve got a million things to do tonight (still haven’t changed out of my sweaty gym clothes, come to think of it), but I just wanted to write a brief something on a blog post by Vikki Chowney, which I saw RTed on Twitter.

I’ve always been hesitant to wade into the debate about women in technology – not least because I think it’s a non-issue. There are also some pretty disgusting, vocal women constantly harping on about it, turning it into an issue, which makes actual women working in technology even less inclined to get involved in the discussion. And further distances tech-hopefuls from entering the industry, for fear of them.

Anyway, to get back to Vikki’s post – I’ve never met her, but what she wrote about the topic is exactly what I’ve been thinking for some time now. To paraphrase:

“Well, it’s taken me a long time to work that out (for most of which I felt guilty for not being more supportive). First and foremost, I never liked the idea of separating the sexes – one rule for one, another for the other. When you’re trying to promote the notion of equality, dividing people into two groups only enhances the notion that they should be treated differently. If you take men out of the picture, you could be taking the best talent out of the equation. You might be at the top of your game, but only in part.”

Sure, I can see more women may be needed in the tech industry. But that’s the way the buttered toast falls. The issue of more men needed in teaching is far greater in need of addressing, I think. There’s no point ensuring every tech company has 50 per cent women, if more knowledgeable and experienced men are missing out on employment. That’s not fair on either side.

“Looking at women in tech here, there’s a distinct split. There are those who play on what’s perceived to be typically female traits – giggly, happy-go-lucky excitement – and those who strive to rebel against this, sometimes to the point of being sensationalist. I don’t disagree with either approach; I just don’t fit into either group.”

I’ve met both sides, which is one reason why I don’t frequent press events as much as I used to. The latter group of women exist in every industry I’m sure, but when some of them are banging on about women needing to support each other more, then actually doing the exact opposite themselves, actually makes them look like right fools. I don’t think they realise how damaging they’re being to themselves, and others.

The former group is perhaps the less dangerous – indeed, they’re far less acidic – but still manage to damage the reputation of women within the industry.

I’d prefer to just stay out of it, and like Vikki, get on with what I’m doing. If you take your eyes off the game and glance around at what everyone else is doing, then you’re just going to get more burnt out and exasperated, sooner.

Next month marks five years of me writing online professionally, with about four of those years within the tech industry. I’d like to think that the above notion has put me on good stead for the years ahead, but after this last paragraph I’m going to go back to putting my head in the sand when it comes to women within the tech industry. Especially before I venture into the whole “working online or running a website doesn’t mean you work in technology” pit of frustration.

Now, to change out of these gym clothes and get back to addressing these bloody wedding invitations that have been blocking out every evening of the past week.