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 Jan 22

The New NEFF CircoSteam oven is certainly looking like a healthy option in the kitchen!

We all cook with steam on the hob, usually in great towers - but steam cooking in an oven is really going to change the way we prepare healthy food!  I have only just found someone who owns one and it’s the first time I had heard of them!

The appliance is basically a compact oven - like a combination microwave if you like - that offers to steam your food without all the steam escaping around your kitchen!

Why Steam?
It is well known through the world of healthy eating and weight loss, that steamed food is better for you in terms of the nutrients it keeps and the lack of other ingredients like cooking oil needed to help cook it.

Baking, roasting and frying usually include some preparation with fats or oils which are absorbed by the food, as well as being heated so high and sometimes for a considerable time that they dry out and or become soaked in fatty materials.

Boiling is seen as a cooking practice that removes or destroys valuable vitamins and minerals from the food.  The food is thrown around the pan under a lot of pressure and reduces many fleshy ingredients to a mush - think of over-cooked sprouts!

And all these alternatives can result in the food you are cooking being completely destroyed if cooked too long - either burnt to a crisp or reduced to a slush.

Benefits Of A Steam Oven:
Well, not so with a steam oven.  None of the above is true at all with steam cooking and the list that follows highlights the benefits:

• Nutrients remain in the food during cooking
• The food retains all of it’s moisture during cooking
• You don’t need fats or oils to cook with steam
• You can’t burn your food when steam cooking
• You can’t turn food into a mush when steam cooking
• You can never overcook food you are cooking with steam

There are also further advantages of a steam oven over the regular stack of pans and commercial steamers:

• Steam cookers retain all the steam inside themselves rather than filling your kitchen
• These combination cookers take up no more space on your counter - it’s built in to your microwave ’space’
• The huge internal size allows more food to be steamed at the same time - so the whole meal could be steamed rather than just the vegetables.
• There are about 50 pre-programmed settings for everything you are likely to cook - so it’s so easy to use.

So, if you are considering a new small oven or combination microwave - then take a look at this alternative.  And just so you know - it received an A rating for energy use - so can reduce your energy bills while you reduce your waistline too!

posted by admin on Jan 11

I don’t think there is one in large scale use - so why not?

I was just thinking about how we all ‘have’ to have large electrical delivered these days.  You can’t just walk into a store and wheel out a huge wall-mounted widescreen TV these days - or your American style ice-making tall fridge-freezer anymore - it all has to be delivered.

As does anything you order online - and this is really an expanding market, so why haven’t these large electrical companies come up with a re-usable tough outer casing to deliver these things to us in rather then acres and acres or cardboard?

Existing Packaging:
Now, we all know that a new fridge, oven or TV come packaged in so much outer packaging that it takes hours to get all the parts out and all the waste materials disposed of - I mean the box my new upright fridge freezer came with so much rubbish, that it had to be disposed of at the local amenity site rather than with normal waste - so another road journey was needed.

And I am well aware that such items need a certain amount of packaging to make a safe journey from the depot to your home - but what if this could be replaced by a better - more inclusive - delivery service.

For example, rather than all the polystyrene and plastic currently being used - what if it was just protected from dust in the warehouse - and a stronger outer casing used only for actual delivery.

That way, when you order a new washing machine, they slip your lightly packaged machine into the new outer casing and ship that off to your home as normal.  The delivery drivers would then move this whole package into your home, remove the outer casing and leave you with a perfectly working electrical - but without the usual piles of cardboard and plastic.

They wheel away the empty outer back to the delivery lorry, where it folds in half and stacks with the other empty cases, ready to be used again tomorrow for another washing machine.

New Packaging:
I know that all white goods and TVs are different shapes and sizes but these new cases are slightly adjustable on the inside so you only need 5 or 6 outer sizes - I mean single ovens, washers, driers and fitted fridges and freezers are all roughly the same shape aren’t they? 

Fasteners and supports inside could be moved up or down for a snug fit and then set back to standard when stored.  And they would store well as they are the same shape at the back and front - so storing in a ‘nest’ would be easy.

Being made of recycled and recyclable materials, they would be eco friendly; being modern technology, they would be unbelievably light - yet strong; and being re-usable and easy to store, they could save manufacturers and delivery firms a whole lot of money.

I know that there are a few small scale deliveries in reusable cartons - so why not scale it up?

posted by admin on Feb 15

News Flash!!!!

The Kindle 2 has finally made it into the shelves!!

Get hold of your slimline Kindle 2 for as little as $359 on pre-order with Amazon.  You can get books onto your gadget within 60 seconds from purchase - without the need for a pc as intermediary!  Amazon also pays for the wireless connectivity - so no bills for receiving new books either…..

It has an improved display and longer battery life than it’s earlier version so you can read all weekend without having to recharge!  And it holds more books - making using it much more worth while on longer trips.

Choose from over 230,000 books, magazines, newspapers and blogs to download online - and the price of each download is getting cheaper….

So, what are you waiting for?  Get your Kindle 2 now!!!!

posted by admin on Jan 25

I have just found out about a great piece of free software that reduces the amount of blank sheets of paper that are churned out of my printer every week.

You know the one’s I’m talking about - the final sheet that only has the URL address and the date on it.  No one wants it and no-one needs it, but it always seems to print itself off for you.  I reuse mine for less important printing, but it has still cost me energy to produce and wasted ink that I would rather have saved.

This new software does it for you.  It identifies the pages about to be printed that probably don’t need to be and you can eliminate them. 

I can’t believe someone hasn’t thought of it sooner, and although I would nag everyone in the office to check the print preview for every created document before printing, but printing from the Internet was a little more tricky and does waste paper - and my time and money!  It also really annoys me.

Their Website:
There is plenty of information on the GreenPrint site to make sure that you are aware of the software and how much you could save - and of course the basic World Edition is completely free - so you know you can try it for nothing and make some great savings. 

They have a counter displayed on their site saying that currently they have saved:

• Nearly 4 and a half million pages
• Just over 3 million lbs of CO2 
• And over 500 trees!!! (Although I’m not sure what trees or how big they were?)

As I was on this page - another 5lbs of CO2 were saved and 20 more pages!!!

Not only can they keep track of what their software has saved, you can also track your individual or company savings - showing your saved paper in terms of real money! 

The Software:
Their software is compatible with Windows 2000, XP and Vista (32 bit only) - although a Mac version is on the cards (see site for details).

It also needs a 1GHZ+ processor and a 256MB+ ram (check your Control Panel for details of your PC).  Finally there is a piece of software that downloads automatically.

There are more advanced program options, and they offer 2 other packages at a cost that offer certain features to benefit larger or more time conscious businesses rather than just home users.  This include advertisement-free information and faster loading times amongst other incentives.

The Company:
GreenPrint are aiming to save over 100 million trees and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 300 million tonnes with their software - and of course to save all of us dependants the frustration of dealing with those darn blank pages!

They offer many logo’s, email signatures and even a ‘tell a friend’ button at the bottom of their pages to help pass on their message and to help the world achieve these savings.

In Addition:
As well as interesting facts on office paper waste and usage, it also offers a ‘green shop’ for office related products as well as companies that offer recycling, recycled products and even advice for planting your own trees!!

Click here to view more details about their paid packages and other products.