Praise suppliers who have bothered to put operating manuals on their websites

Thanks for the interesting comments (rather too many to discuss here!) concerning suppliers' websites. It would seem that you're much more satisfied with the ease of getting to information now than a few years back, which is good. Several readers responded to praise their suppliers who have bothered to put such relatively mundane things as operating manuals on their websites, especially those who've bothered to go back and publish information on older (and even obsolete) systems in their range.
One reader recounted how he was sent out to install some equipment in the Middle East in December 2003, and had to integrate it with an older system from a manufacturer he wasn't familiar with. He had a tight deadline to meet to be able to make it back home to his family for Christmas. He desperately needed some unexpected technical information on the older equipment, but even if he'd been able to find the right person to speak to at the manufacturer, it would be night-time in their part of the world, so the chances of requesting something to be emailed or faxed over were zero. But more in hope than expectation, he went to the manufacturer's website, and there were all the wiring details he needed, freely available.
I asked if he'd bothered to show his appreciation later to the manufacturer with the helpful website, and he said he'd done more than that. Two months later, back in the UK, he got that company's distributor to visit and is now a regular customer of its products. This wasn't some philanthropic gesture: he reckoned that support like that could well be a lifesaver again in the future. I do like happy endings.

Manufacturers' websites have become more simplified, which is great

Using manufacturers' websites every day, we tend not to notice steady changes - a bit like when Auntie Flo says: "hasn't your little boy grown since I last saw him six months ago?" and you realise that actually, yes, he has shot up. I suspect websites are improving, although it's difficult to go back in time and get an overall impression of what we had to contend with, say, five years ago. That said, with the help of the Wayback Machine - you can have great fun looking at individual websites over the ages.
Last time I asked for your opinions on the suppliers' sites you have to use on a daily basis was a couple of years ago. Then, the response was overwhelming: lose the introductory animations and get us to the data sheets more quickly. Just the dreaded words "skip intro" have always been enough to send many of you scurrying off to another website; I remember one reader succinctly saying: "those two words immediately say to me 'style over substance' and give me a poor impression of the company before I've even looked at what they have to offer".
Manufacturers got the message, and websites have become progressively more simplified, which is great (although perversely, with fewer people on slow internet connections, all the showy stuff has become less of a problem). The main driver behind this improvement has, however, not just been "listening to the customer". Every website is becoming increasingly dependent on being listed properly in search engines, and if your website isn't clearly and simply structured, the search engines won't like it. The search engines have become consumer champions, in many ways.
So, what do you think? I'm guessing that almost everyone is using the web more than they were two or three years ago, but is it improving? What about the sites you have to go to (e.g those of your existing suppliers) for ongoing information? Is too much effort being put in to make sites appeal to casual web surfers, at the expense of their customer-service function?
And "if every manufacturer's website could be like this one", which would you nominate?

How to assess how environmentally (un)friendly a vehicle is

From this autumn, anyone buying a new car in the UK will be able to assess how environmentally (un)friendly a vehicle is through a new system of colour-coded labels announced by the Department for Transport today. You'll have seen the same sort of scheme used in refrigerators and other white goods, although in my local showroom almost everything seems to have an "A" on the front, which I'm not sure is testament to widespread good design or poor standard-setting.
I think the new vehicle scheme will have a major impact on automotive design, especially if the UK is only one of many countries adopting something similar. The public understands simple coding systems like this. But it's important it's marketed well, and that the lowest "F" grade doesn't simply become associated with stupidly-oversized cars, and therefore become a "badge of honour" for certain sections of the population. Whilst a lot of customers will take notice of the coding (which also details how much motorists can expect to pay in fuel bills in a typical year), for others, the DfT will have to make it "cool" to have an "A"-rated vehicle.
If the government really wants to tackle the environmental problems caused by road vehicles, however, it needs to look more closely at supporting manufacturing-related initiatives. Making a car causes more environmental impact than running one does.

The first "drop-and-charge" devices "before the end of the year"

Living in a self-proclaimed "high-tech university city" like Cambridge, as I do, fascinating technology crops up everywhere. Go out for a meal in the evening and the chances are you'll be eavesdropping on folks at the next table discussing some new project which will change the world (or sink without trace, even if it seemed like a good idea at the time). Standing outside school the other afternoon waiting to pick up our toddlers, one of the Mums was telling me all about the revolutionary display technology soon to be brought to market by the company she and her husband run.
Even though all this is taken for granted, I like the look of Splashpower, another Cambridge development project which is close to hitting the big time. With the rechargeable battery finally becoming ubiquitous in mobile entertainment and communications devices, we all need a standard charger rather than loads of "docks" and loose cables on our desks. But Splashpower hopes to go one step further and eliminate the cabling altogether, using the same inductive charging technology most commonly associated with electric toothbrushes. Just drop all your rechargeable devices on a "charging pad" and you're done.
My colleagues on Electronicstalk covered this a couple of years ago, as you'd expect, but they tell me news has been thin on the ground since then. However, the product is now a lot further down the road, so it inevitably comes into our area of product design.
According to a report in New Scientist, there should be the first "drop-and-charge" devices "before the end of the year". I can't wait to hear more. And I want one (as well as gadgets with compatible batteries, naturally).