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This book takes you through the process of designing connected devices from prototyping to launching. In doing so it considers prototyping embedded, physical and online devices, types of business model, techniques for writing code and ethical considerations. It's biggest drawback, of course, is that it was published twelve years ago. software, programming and technology have moved on since then. So, potentially worth reading for the principles, but perhaps not so much for the practical aspects.

Review: Designing the internet of things

August 30, 2026

This book takes you through the process of designing connected devices from prototyping to launching.

My first encounter with (a) online insanity and (b) a silly rule

August 29, 2026

A call to technical support that was only successful once I’d stretched the facts a bit.

I should have indexed stuff better, and paper updates

August 29, 2026

I have kept every single article I have ever written, but…

Presentation on a mobile phone, by Terry Freedman

Revisited: Actually, it IS about the technology (partly)

August 29, 2026

“It’s not about the technology” sounds logical, but in my experience it is certainly not the whole story.

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Quick look: (Un)educated: My Life as a Teacher, and Why You Should Never Become One

August 25, 2026

“Some of it is laugh-out loud funny, but some of it, about his reference being spiked, made me angry …”

A Heads-up: Hot Type: The Magnificent Machine that Gave Birth to Mass Media and Drove Mark Twain Mad

August 25, 2026

This is about the invention of linotype, and its consequences.

Are we in, or entering, a post-literate society?

August 25, 2026

I know that there are people who think that Tik-Tok videos and other (very) short-form content is a kind of literacy that’s on a par with reading, but I have my doubts.

Review: Amazing Worlds

August 25, 2026

A very good showcase for what can be achieved from a partnership between imagination and AI.

Review: The Batsford Book of Chess for Children New Edition: Beginner’s chess for kids

August 25, 2026

This book doesn’t have any education technology, but I think the game of chess is a worthwhile activity for kids for developing strategic thinking skills.

Review: Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds: Move to Global Collaboration One Step at a Time (Pearson Resources for 21st Century Learning)

August 25, 2026

The authors of this book, ran several projects which entailed collaboration between students in classrooms in different countries.

Quick look: Transforming behaviour in the classroom

August 25, 2026

There is plenty in this book to like, and it will provide you with more ideas and strategies than you may already be aware of. But …

Review: Understanding the digital world: What You Need to Know about Computers, the Internet, Privacy, and Security

August 25, 2026

Although the subject matter sounds as dry as dust, the author has managed to make it really interesting. Everything is described and explained in plain English.

Review: When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing

August 15, 2026

Hopefully, neither you nor I will ever find ourselves in court, undergoing a medical procedure, or taking an important exam.

Review: Finding Fibonacci: The Quest to Rediscover the Forgotten Mathematical Genius Who Changed the World

August 15, 2026

Finding Fibonacci is a memoir of the authors’ quest to find out about Fibonacci.

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Quick look: The Teachers' Standards in Primary Schools

August 14, 2026

This is very well set out. It takes each standard, and gives you ideas on how to achieve it, and what success in this context looks like.

Quick look: How Computer Games Help Children learn

August 14, 2026

When I was teaching Econnures I realised that I could have taught quite a chunk of the synabus if I'd been able to run Sim City on the school network.

Quick look: Reinventing Project-Based Learning

August 14, 2026

I can verify from first hand experience that PBL kept students highly engaged, and helped them to develop skills such as working with others and independent research.

Quick look: The Human Touch

August 14, 2026

Although this book is published by the BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, the focus is not on IT at all.

Quick look: Better Living through science

August 14, 2026

I have often thought that I would have been much more interested in science at school, and been much more successful at it, had the teachers taught us anything of practical value.

Cover of Tubes — Click the here to see this book on Amazon (affiliate link)

Quick look: Tubes: Behind the scenes at the internet

August 14, 2026

We are all so accustomed to using the internet, searching the world wide web — "going online" — that most of us most of the time probably do not stop to consider the question: yes, but where exactly is it?

Recent book reviews

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I submitted my review of this book to Teach Secondary magazine, an educational magazine in the UK. The first review below is what the magazine published. The second one is what I actually wrote! In substantive terms there is little difference between the two, but you may find it interesting to see what the editor altered.

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Is The computing Curriculum Too Masculine? Revisited 16 years later!

One of the apparently insoluble problems of the age is how do you encourage more girls to take up Computing? I think a lot can be done, and have done so myself, but I wonder how far a lot of the effort fails to get to the heart of the issue, which could be the curriculum itself, the way it is taught, or a combination of the two?

Book review: The best writing on mathematics, 2016

I think this could be an excellent resource for teachers of mathematics.