Archive for April, 2009

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New Web Tool ‘Wolfram’ Could Be “As Important As Google”

Thursday, April 30th, 2009

A new web tool that “could be as important as Google” has been shown off to the public, as reported here by the BBC.

The aim of Wolfram is to directly answer questions rather than displaying a list of ‘relevant’ websites. For example if asked the question “Who was the president of Brazil in 1923?” Wolfram would answer “Artur da Silva Bernardes”.

As well as this, Wolfram will also feature other functions to solve complex mathematical equations, plot scientific figures, or chart natural events. The main advantage is that rather than being merely a ‘Search Engine’ as we are used to, Wolfram will be able to provide answers to direct questions. It works using a technique known as natural language processing, and will allow people to interact with computers in an instinctive way.

Wolfram is currently set to go live here, at some point in May.

Personally I see this as being a great tool for working alongside Google. Wolfram would be great for getting specific answers to specific questions without having to trawl through one or more websites to find the exact piece of information you are looking for. Google will still have its use as a search engine for anything that isn’t a direct question that requires a less specific answer.

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Congratulations!

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

Picking up on part of Clares’ post yesterday I would also like to congratulate all those who completed the London Marathon, more than 35,000, at the weekend. One of my friends actually did run, and although her time of 7 hours and 6 minutes wasn’t the fastest, she did finish. Possibly more importantly however she also beat Peter Andre and Katie Price/Jordan/whatever she is calling herself these days.

Although they may not still be wearing their medals you can tell a Marathon Hero on sight quite easily for at least the first few days after running, as shown in the video below.





On a slight side note I have entered the ballot for the run in 2010, I did enter for 2009, but unfortunately(?) wasn’t lucky enough to get through. Should you feel particularly daring you too can sign up in support of a worthy cause here.

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Mice, Pigs, and Spiders already! What A Week!

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

Hello everyone.

Welcome back to the working week.

I would first like to say well done to those of you who did the London Marathon at the weekend. I know for a fact I would never be able to finish the race in one piece, so congrats to those that did. I must mention a special well done to “Mucky Mouse” who is featured in today’s paper. He was rather embarrassingly snapped taking a little “fluid” break in his costume during the race in what he though was a secret alleyway…it made me chuckle first thing this morning!

Apart from trying to avoid Swine flu, so far this week the gadgets team has been testing a new product. The Spider Vac! As we say…the tables were turned, the hunter has now become the hunted as we search high and low for the crawly creatures. It makes a change from running away from them….well for Dirk anyway he he! I felt like I was a star In my own ghost busters movie, you just point and suck the little critter up! A must have for every house hold, see it in action in the video below.



As there’s a Bank holiday weekend coming up again.. yippee! I will of course be searching for ideas of what to do. Any suggestions are always welcome…

As for tonight it’s Tuesday and of course I will be reserving my seat for the new episode of shameless! Now that Hells Kitchen is over and my Sopranos box set is nearly finished, withdrawal symptoms are about to commence. So I’ve had to find a new focus for the evenings that stops me from living in the pub. It’s great to see Shameless is filling the socks at the moment. Its witty humor and brutal honesty to the insight of what seems to be like the guests on most of the Jeremy Kyle Shows. Which I now miss in the mornings because I’m working, It’s the perfect substitute!

Anyway have a good week everyone and see you Friday!

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Fun Friday, And It’s Even Sunny!

Friday, April 24th, 2009

Happy Fun Friday everyone.

Finally the week has come to an end. What with all the nice weather it seemed so much more exciting for the weekend to be drawing near! Lets just hope it stays nice for us all!

As for this week, Monday was buzzing. The Gadgets team took inspiration from the sunny weather and vowed to have a healthy week.

You may have noticed Tuesdays blog about keeping fit. The much loved biscuits were binned, and the carrot sticks were brought out. Cereal for breakfast and no more bacon butties. It’s been a week and I for one feel much livelier and more energetic (although I do miss my mid morning biscuits!)

Wednesday was the hottest day so far. It’s great to see that summer is nearly here. My walk to work was so much easier to achieve with the sun shining early, it gives me a good start to the day. I went to see the new Fast and Furious movie in the evening. I thought it was good, even though most people have criticised it. Now of course my opinion has nothing to do with having an hour and a half of Vin Diesel (cough cough). I’ve even included the trailer below for anyone else to ogle.




Thursday, for those of you who didn’t remember, was St Georges Day. At this point I would like to add I am in full support for this day to be a public holiday…(surprised?) The fact that the day is based on the famous story of Saint George and a fight with a dragon is irrelevant, not to mention the fact it is highly likely that old George ever actually visited England. But never mind this the day should be spent out of work remembering St George…. known throughout the world as the dragon-slaying patron saint of England. Who’s with me?

Today is dress down day and my comfy trainers are on, so it’s time for the Rock ‘n’ Hopper to be pumped up and put to the test. In connection to our healthy week this is also a really enjoyable form of exercise. I can’t tell you the fun the gadgets team have had with this toy today, with some minor injuries narrowly avoided. I dare say this will be a great toy that me and the girls will be playing in the park this weekend providing I can persuade the boss to let me have it!

Anyway enjoy your weekend everyone… have a good one xx

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Green Pizza Box

Thursday, April 23rd, 2009

If any of you are like me, you like pizza. If ever I can’t be bothered to cook I jump on the internet and order one of Italy’s best ever exports. A slight environmental dilemma raises itself at this point when it comes to disposing of the mountain of empty pizza boxes at the end of the week, you just think that maybe you should be getting a bit more use from these containers before dumping them in favour of a new one containing some piping hot cheesy goodness. Obviously someone out there has had the same concerns, but has done something about it and come up with the Green Box. The company that holds the patent, Eco Incorporated, say on their website that:

“The pizza box design has remained unchanged for the past thirty years. The box is too unwieldy to store uneaten pizza, takes up too much space in the trash can and is totally environmentally unfriendly. With the introduction of our revolutionary new environmentally friendly box manufactured from 100% recycled material, the ‘Green Box’, these issues have finally been addressed and overcome!”

The video below shows the Green Box in action, the lid tears off and splits into four ‘plates’, thus saving on the use of crockery and washing it up afterwards. Meanwhile two triangle shapes detach from the other side which then becomes a handy storage section for any leftovers, and could be perfect for transporting into work for lunch the next day.





I realise this is a promotional video which is designed to show the Green Box in action, but I am highly disturbed each time I see the guy put the half pizza straight into the fridge! Surely someone is going to want more than one slice?

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Instant Fold-away Balcony

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

With Spring here, and the past few days promising the (hopefully) long hot days of Summer ahead it’s surely time to think about lounging in the garden with a cold drink and some friends or maybe a just enjoying a good book in the sunshine? But what happens if you are stuck in a small flat with no garden, and the thoughtless architect has neglected a functional balcony, or one that sits on the wrong side of the building in the shade all day?

Thankfully some Dutch designers have the solution with the Bloomframe.





Shown being deployed in the video above, the Bloom Frame is basically a window that opens and folds out into a balcony. It might look and seem a bit silly, but I can’t help but feel this would give a definite futuristic look to any new buildings they were installed in as standard. The designers envisage the Bloomframe could be a particular boon to metropolitan dwellings where space is at a premium, and indeed every inhabitable inch counts.

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This week – Healthy Living

Tuesday, April 21st, 2009

Afternoon everyone.

Well it’s Tuesday again and the weekend has gone. Mine was great! Apart from my usual gym session and catching up on the Hollyoaks omnibus, I got to spend Sunday afternoon having lunch with the girls stuffing myself, while the boys sat in the pub drooling over the football.

Which brings me to the discussion of the week….Healthy living.

It came to my attention this morning that there has been a new study, yet again about climate change. Pollution has now been passed to the shoulders of the slightly larger general public. So called ‘experts’ at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine have said they believe that there is an extra one billion tonnes of CO2 a year due to the consumption of energy by over weight people. This is apparently due to the fact they are less likely to walk and instead use cars, also they order more food which evidently uses more energy to cook, produce, and transport.

Personally I am not such a great believer in the much talked about “Climate crisis”. My view is that its yet more ways to criticise the way in which we live not to mention the money from taxes wasted on experiments and researches like this one.

Anyway on a more positive note, I do think that any encouragement to become more healthy is great. Why not walk to work if possible? Spring is here and a casual walk to work sets you up for the day. Exercise is the means to positive thinking.

With so many fun ways to stay healthy what’s the excuse? There’s the Nintendo Wii, Gadgets towers is always discussing antics we’ve had on the Wii Fit with friends or on our own. Another example would be the day I had to play with our retro space hopper when it arrived. It was such a laugh, hopping about everywhere, and all the while I was exercising those leg muscles. (obviously I know this due to the ache next morning) So with that in mind everyone I encourage you this week to have some healthy fun and help stop climate change (apparently)!

Enjoy the sunshine guys!

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Roundup of the week from Gadgets.co.uk

Friday, April 17th, 2009

Welcome back to Fun Friday everyone…

The weekend is here and it’s time to see what’s been happening around here this week. Well of course Monday was a “work free” day and we were all thoroughly enjoying our time off from the grindstone!

Brief Cases BagsTuesday was a pleasant day back to work as my new makeup bags had arrived from the warehouse. I ordered two of our new Brief Cases Bags, one for my mum and one for me. We both have more make up bags than I care to count but I couldn’t resist adding to the count when I saw we were getting them in. Mum now thinks she’s cool as she shows off her retro green Pants at work (bless her).

Wednesday was very educational for the Gadgets team. The conversation turned to handwriting so we decided to “research” what our writing says about a few of us.

I found out that my (what I thought) cute circles on top of my “i” symbolizes that I am stuborn and fussy! I also write heavy handed which means I am healthy but forceful.

You’ll be curious to know that my fellow friend Dirk has hidden meanings behind his slanty text, it shows that he’s outgoing and open to other people’s ideas and experiences. Mandy however who never dots her “i” shows her forgetful memory.

Thursday was a photo day for me as I set off into the studio to have a hand at photographing our new gadgets including the fantastic cuddly animal Zoobies. Later that night I finally got to watch the new Hell’s Kitchen. Marco Pierre White’s headwear is definitely adding comedy value to the show this year. However I must admit no sooner than 20 minutes into the new series I sheepishly joined the rest of the nation by detesting the cringing “Shameless” actor Jody Latham. For those of you who have not seen the new show I would recommend the watch!

As for today the office seems quieter. Dirk has swanned off to Center Parcs (nice for some) to enjoy a long weekend. I’m sure you will all get to hear about it soon.

Speaking of parks, reading the paper on the way to work an article tickled my humour. It was about the increasing popularity of the Meerkats at London Zoo. This is all thanks to the advert for a comparison site that I’m sure you have all seen. No doubt just like me you have fallen in love with the company’s mascot “Aleksandr the Meerkat”. With his cute and cuddly face along with his adorable catch phrase “Simples!”. No wonder we are all flocking to see the real thing at London Zoo! I’m even thinking of adopting my own little meerkat .

It’s crazy how adverts are main topic of news so often… may I remind everyone of the Cadbury’s eyebrow raising children? Hmmm, not my idea of cute but whatever float your boat right?

Well that’s it from me. I’ll leave you on the note that… It’s “Simples”… Enjoy the weekend :)

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Magic, Special Effects, Or Just Smoke And Mirrors?

Thursday, April 16th, 2009

Came across what is surely a promotional video for the Samsung Omnia HD (i8910) mobile phone today. On first viewing I couldn’t tell how they had done this, although you can see there is something not quite right about it..

In their own words “This clip was shot on an I8910 HD phone, a new camera phone just released by Samsung with an 8 megapixel camera that can actually record and output video in HD format. It was shot in one take, with no post production or special effects of any kind. Everything you see here was done “in-camera”. Our challenge to you is to figure out how we did it. Hint: it’s worth watching in HD”

I needed a couple of viewings before I found the solution. One of the more interesting ideas put forward was that there is software on the handset that can be activated to utilise the secondary camera to replace the image of the phone phone in videos rendering it ‘invisible’. When you discover the real method it becomes obvious that this wasn’t what was used, but it is certainly an interesting idea….

How do you think they did it?

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Keep Watching The Skies

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

It seems to be a fairly regular occurrence at the moment that new military files are being declassified regarding UFO sightings, as in this article. Also apparently the number of UFO sightings doubled from 2007 to 2008, with various things being given as possible reasons. There is the fact that Dr Who and Torchwood are both filmed at studios in Wales, and it has been suggested these series may be responsible for people walking around looking at the skies more than they used to. The growing popularity of Sky Lanterns as an alternative to fireworks, just have a look at the video on our page and you’ll see the reasoning behind this, is cited as another possible reason for the increase in sightings.

However you explain the sightings however it doesn’t change the fact that an awful lot of people are fascinated by them. Obviously this is to different extents with some, such as myself, merely curious, or others who are certain of full blown conspiracy theories, and the other extreme of people who rubbish the whole thing.

Now, you are probably wondering why I’m talking about UFO’s and what that has to do with Gadgets exactly. Well the reason is this:

We were recently contacted by Richard Ellam, the artist responsible for the glow in the dark life-size Gray bust shown above. As everyone here at Gadgets Towers knows I’m the resident geek, and have something of a penchant for the X-Files they pushed it in my general direction.

These very cool looking sculptures are hand crafted using environmentally friendly materials and made to order. Yes, you did hear me right, you can have your very own life-size Gray sculpture. Available in a choice of glow in the dark colours you can find Richards page here which will give you further information and where you can place your order.

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