We noticed (because we're *always* on ship watch) that the Christmas advert for Google's Nexus 7 tablet features a father away from home on a ship, communicating with his family for the holidays.

With seafarer communication being something of a hot topic this year (particularly as we learnt how much seafarers have to pay to communicate with loved ones back home), it seemed like an interesting choice on the part of Google.

Hats off to them however for acknowledging shipping – a largely ignored industry – during a period of great commercial gain; and for recognising that not everyone has the cut-and-paste perfect family Christmas that most ads would lead us to believe…

Where next, we wonder, for our industry to make an appearance?