Speed is subjective. As evidenced by the continuing ‘lag’ effect experienced on multi-core, multi-gHz smartphones, making an experience feel fast is not just a technical challenge. It also goes beyond the design of the individual experience and into wider questions about service architecture. At a time when much of the Western world is on holiday, Touchnote is providing an example of how to speed up a common activity: sending postcards. The service allows users to snap a photo on their phone and then print and mail it as a physical postcard almost anywhere in the world. It does this much faster than sending a postcard the traditional way by employed a distributed printing and posting architecture. Not only that, it is also free to use during August – I recommend you try it out…fast.