Two recent conversations about movies have made me realise there’s a key component of the digital rental process that is missing and would make life so much better. At the moment, on Apple in particular, you can buy a film for a high price initially that drops the longer a film has been in the world. Or you can rent a film for a slightly lower price but only keep it for a certain amount of time.

Somehow, I managed to miss the fact that Amazon launched their new Wardrobe service for Prime members a few weeks ago. Instead, it only popped up when shopping for something else, but it was very quickly apparent this was something I wanted to try. Shopping is not one of the most fun experiences for me, particularly for clothes or shoes or anything like that, so whatever can make that easier, quicker, just less hassle, then I’m on board.

It’s that time of year, when offices start going a bit crazy with decorations, Christmas lunches, office parties and goodness knows what else. A trend I have noticed is the Christmas jumper competition, and whilst your snowmen and santas are all well and good, I’ve found a couple of Christmas jumpers that might be slightly more fun to wear. There are loads of good Star Wars ones out there. “I find your lack of cheer disturbing,” is a good one, but I’ve picked the Yoda one, because you know, Yoda knows best.

A while back I wrote about the Amazon Dash buttons and how my initial tests left me frustrated and underwhelmed. I’ve recently started using them again and although a couple of the issues are still there, I’m now converted. It was this year’s Prime Day that kickstarted me into using them again, as some of the buttons were on offer. I picked up a couple that I’d been in two minds about and since then, I’ve started using them properly.

It’s about time for the (sometimes) annual collection of novelty mugs, and this time I’ve got a selection of five that feature top secret ninjas, a bit of computer geekery, and of course, a panda. Let’s start there in fact. This panda hug mug is adorable, although it’s disappointing the hug is being given to the biscuits you are just about to eat, rather than yourself. As with many mugs like this, I worry about putting chocolate biscuits right next to the hot beverage.

I’ve been obsessed with novelty mugs for many years, and occasionally have taken time out to blog about some of my favourites. In fact, I’m surprised to find that I’ve written five posts before, and that it seemed to be an annual event up until 2013. Given that it’s been a couple of years since I had a look at what’s available on the hot drink container market, I figured it was time to break out the mug post again, so here goes.

Amazon’s continuing efforts to deliver consumables to your door before you’ve even realised you need them has seen a rapid expansion in the UK recently. Their Pantry service launched a few moons ago, their Fresh option has been gradually creeping across London presumably with desires to go further, and just a few week’s ago, the Amazon Dash buttons were launched. If you’ve not heard of them, the idea is simply that you set up a small device with a button so that when you press it, specific goods come to your door.

Every now and again, I like to peruse the world of mugs. When I started this, I was barely drinking hot beverages and didn’t need much in the way of mugs. My tea consumption has sky-rocketed of late, and this week, when I found my Piglet mug, I figured it was time for a look at what was new. As a bit of a change, I decided to look at Etsy, where things get a bit more creative.

I have to buy a new coat. A riveting start to any story, I know, but this is a big deal. I haven’t bought a new coat in… well, six years. I have been wearing the precious Honda Dreamfields waterproof that we were given at Silverstone in 2007, and it’s served me very well. I went through one period where I thought I had better get a new outer garment back in 2010.

Every now and then, I take a quick look at what is available in the novelty mug market. I don’t know why I started doing this, as I didn’t really indulge in hot drinks when I posted the first one. Since then, I do boil the kettle more often, but I haven’t actually bought any of these novelties as yet. I wonder if there’s one I might purchase in this batch.