Latest Inventions

posted by admin on Mar 4

The National Trust are opening their doors to everyone - and for nothing!

Now, I know that this isn’t an ‘invention’ - but it is certainly something totally new.  Almost all of their sites are being opened to the public for the whole weekend for absolutely nothing - not a penny!

A lot of charities were hitting hard times with the past financial year, and I am sure that even the National Trust was starting to feel the effects in terms of donations and legacies - but their visitor numbers were up as many people stayed home rather than splash out on a trip abroad.

So, why offer a captive audience a free incentive to visit?

To be honest - who cares - lets all get out there and take advantage of some good old generosity and entertain the family!

I’m not suggesting that you give the charity back nothing for their efforts - and do bear in mind that most of the staff you will see on the sites including the ticket office, room stewards and restaurant staff are all volunteers.  They are giving up their free time for you to enjoy yours.

Make sure then that you are a bit hungry when you arrive so that you can take advantage of the tasty food offered, or you are a bit nosy and splash out on the property guidebook!

What Else Can You Do?

And, why not get in the mood yourself with some of your free time?  It doesn’t have to be with the National Trust, but there are thousands of charities and small business out there who are really having a tough time at the moment.

It could be your free time that stops them from going under - so why not think about that while you are watching repeats on the TV.  I mean, instead of watching some made-up characters on a soap opera set, you could be keeping a local business or small charity alive and helping them to do a great job of it.

Pick something close by if you don’t want to travel, or select something that is really close to your heart and you will instantly see the results - as well as in the long term.

Forget about just yourself for a moment - and let’s help inspire others…. 

posted by admin on Feb 16

There has been so much going on so far this year - and we are only in it by around 6 weeks!

So, let’s start with the question that is on everyone’s lips since the iPad was launched and the Kindle wanted to get bigger: so read Tabitha Mcivers article 25 Essential Free iPhone Apps to “Kindle-ize” Your iPhone to save you some money on upgrades if you can resist these new gadgets!

Shakira Dawn joins in the debate too with a great use for one of this years greatest releases: The Clinical iPad? 25 Ways Tablet PCs Are Used in Healthcare.

Another current topic in the news at the mo is related to social networking sites (and Facebook have changed their layout AGAIN) and here Aaliyah Williams gives us her opinion with her article titled: Google launches Buzz to take on Twitter and Facebook.

A comical article now from Big Cajun Man with a wishful article on a Financial Shock Collar!

Onto the future now with an interesting article by Will - who thinks that there is the potential for 3D Content & Programming On The Way - interesting, no?

A short one to finish with Ankesh highlighting a potential eco-phone: Sharp rolling out solar powered phone this month.

Happy Pancake Day!

posted by admin on Jan 25

There is a great new way to link up your work between your different hardware solutions! 

If you’re a techno-geek like me then you’ll no doubt have more than one computing device. Personally I use a laptop, desktop and a smartphone depending on where I am and what I’m doing.

But the use of multiple computing devices in this way can be a major inconvenience for one big reason. And that is file sharing.

The Current Problem: 
If I create a spreadsheet on my laptop while travelling, I don’t want to waste time emailing it from one computer to another, or saving it onto a memory stick and then manually copying it across to my other computer.

I just want to be able to create or edit a file on whichever device I happen to be using at the time, and then be able to access it from my other machines. So for example, if I am working on a presentation at the office and then want to move it onto my laptop so I can actually take it to my client, I don’t want to mess around. I just want it on my other computer. Without fuss.

And without fuss clearly means without wires or other gadgets. I don’t want to go to all the trouble of setting up a home network, convincing my computers to communicate with each other and so on. Not fun!

The Easy Solution?
So recently I was very pleased when a friend of mine introduced me to a fantastic new piece of software that does just this.

The software is called DropBox and comes with a variety of subscription models (including a free version for light users like me).

Essentially you install the DropBox software on all your computers and the software then creates a “worm hole” between all your devices. On the desktop screen of each piece of hardware you will see an item called “DropBox”. Simply drag a file into that folder and you will be able to access it securely from any of your other devices.

The software itself is password protected for your privacy and simply uses an internet connection to quickly and easily sync your files for you. I haven’t been this impressed with such a simple application in a long time.

Nice job, DropBox!

posted by admin on Jan 19

Biofuels hit hard criticism when they were competing with human crops, but things might change…..

People are starting to look at waste materials and invasive plants as potential sources of biofuel - rather than using what could have been food for humans.

With the world population soaring and food shortages the world over - it was time to move biofuels forward so to utilise a more sustainable and non-competitive source - and 2 such examples have recently been publicised.

Bracken:
This plant grows virtually everywhere.  Whether it’s in open fields, heathlands, moorlands and mountains.  It is also a worldwide genera and has the widest distribution of any other fern.

Nobody likes it growing on their land (apart from National Parks) as it is very dominant in the landscape and nothing really eats it either (as it is carcinogenic) - so it just spreads across a landscape stealing the light from any other young or low-lying plants.  And a it won’t let grass grow beneath it - the mountains sides and valleys can’t be used for grazing as there is nothing for the sheep or cattle to eat and farmers pay a lot of money to get it cut and removed from their land every year as it is.

It turns the land into a very green wasteland in terms of human needs - and at one time the British Government had an eradication program in place to deal with it’s excessive growth!

However, it is actually because it grows itself very well, and grows back every year - even if cut back when fully grown, it seems like the perfect crop to start working on for sustainable fuels.

The only problem is of course that it usually grows in places that are not easy to get to with modern farm machinery.

Old Yeast:
We all know that there is always going to be whisky in Scotland - so what can we do with all the natural waste materials?

As with the bracken - waste materials from whisky plants costs a lot of money to dispose of - so why not find a way to either use that waste, or find a way to sell it as a product.

Distillery waste (yeasty materials) will be fed into an anaerobic digester to create methane gas - a biogas.  The idea is that if all the distilleries in the area do this - they could power themselves without the need to draw on other energy sources from elsewhere. 

I know it isn’t going to power homes and other businesses - or the whole country, but if these large commercial buildings can fully power themselves using their own waste products, then less energy will have to be created from other sources and shipped or piped to them.

The Future:
Can you imagine if warehouses could generate their own energy from all the waste cardboard they get through, or supermarkets could create biogas from all the food they throw away being bio-digested. 

Even huge offices and sky-scrapers could be creating biogas from all the waste created by their workers - basically, they would be powering themselves!

New technologies are allowing smaller scale operations which were just not viable in the past - they just were not cost effective before we understood how our waste was affecting the environment.  But now companies have to be more environmentally responsible and to also pay to process and dispose of their own waste - they are starting to think about spending that money on alternative services - green services.

And, there must still be plenty of waste products that could be used for fuel or energy - just waiting to be discovered.  Certain things are always going to be needed by people - so why not use the left-overs constructively?

posted by admin on Jan 16

Happy New Year to all you readers - and here are some technological articles to inspire you in 2010.

First up, we have some extensive tips on using the Google Wave software by Herbert Anderson: 25 Tips for Students & Teachers Using Google Wave.

Sam Nash then leads with an interesting post on why we just accept the old as standard when we should be looking for the best instead - he gives his opinion on one of the alternative computer keyboards on the market: DAS Keyboard - The Successor to the IBM Model M Keyboard | Gadget News and Reviews.

A great review of the Samsung Corby Pro by Ankesh is up next with some great opinions and images: OG Review Samsung Corby Pro (GT-B5310), however the obligatory mobile apps post by Mary Jones this month, is about the 20 most useless ones that have been invented: The 20 Most Outrageous/Useless iPhone Apps!  Some are unbelievable…..

And to finish up, something fun: Jason Keller lists his Top 20 Online Games of 2010 and Ankesh gives us a quick glimpse at quite a neat looking gadget: ‘Printing Your Toast’ concept for the office geek.

See you next time!