I was 31 floors up in Centre Point on Tuesday to witness Sharp’s new line of televisions which, for the first time in tele history, is rocking a fourth, yellow, sub pixel joining its red, green, and blue buddies. Sharp is waiting before joining the possible ‘fad’ of 3D and is instead looking to make large screen TV’s more economical (40% less power used compared with other LCD’s), brighter, ’sharp’er and with a larger pallet. “The revolutionary new four colour technology enables billions of colours to be displayed, providing brighter video gaming, clearer sports viewing and sharper action enjoyment”, says the company. Sharp actually played around with introducing white and cyan pixels but the yellow pixels had the best...

Can you help a reader looking for a tree to symbolise fun and a free spirit?I have had the following question from reader Amanda:I have a terminal illness and am funeral planning. I want to leave a tree as a memorial and would like one whose name suggests free spirit, fun etc. Also I'd like to leave room for a second one for when my husband joins me.The question has left me scratching my head. I am certainly struggling to think of any names, so turned instead to symbolic meanings. However, those species that are considered memorial trees tend to have fairly heavy and morose symbolism attached, often based on Victorian symbolism, and that lot weren't exactly known for their love of fun and their open-mindedness. The nearest I found was juniper, which is associated with St Juniper, the...

Twitter and nofollow is the topic of this week’s Twitter column: While even Google who has introduced, along with other search engines, the nofollow attribute to combat spam a few years ago does not propagate the use of it anymore, Twitter went nofollow big time just recently. What does this mean? Twitter distrusts everything you say. Not only outgoing links get the so called link condom so that search engines ignore them. No, now also internal links from your tweets on Twitter get wasted. This means that even when you address us with @seoptimise we don’t get the Google juice due. While you might argue that you don’t tweet to get links or for the SEO of it this means that everything you say gets treated like spam. Andy Beard, a well known figure in the SEO industry,...

When Dell grabbed Alienware for itself four years ago three key execs decided to say thanks, but no thanks. Instead they formed ‘Origin‘ and went about building things the way Alienware originally did and created the Eon18 laptop. The Eon18 has a distinct Alienwareness about it and, as you’d expect, this lappy is quite the customisable puter. It comes with an 18.4″ full HD widescreen, dual Nvidia GeForce GTX 280M GPUs, 7.1 high-def audio, and up to three 250GB SSDs. It bounces with a Core 2 Extreme Quad QX9300 at the mo but on the otherside of this weekend it’ll be rocking a Core i7. Ok, so there’s bigger, more hardcore portable gamers out there but the fact that customisation includes whatever colour and design you want for the lid as well as being...

Whether it's savoury or sweet, there's nothing quite like a proper, old-fashioned British steamed pud to banish the February bluesFebruary is a tricky one. Or a total bastard, if you're less inclined to euphemism. It has none of the rash, new year optimism of January, and it feels a long, long way from spring. And I'm quite sure that little rhyme they taught us as kids is wrong. Surely it should be, "30 days hath September, April, June and November. All the rest have 31, save February, which has 828." Still, here's a cheering thought: at least it's not a leap year.Short of escaping to a tropical ­island – after all, that's as good a way as any to handle this gloomy month – we may as well resign ­ourselves to the inevitability of its chilly,...

  Photo: Chitting seed potatoes I never in my craziest dreams thought I’d be writing this post. As my fingers fly across the keyboard it’s sleeting outside.  I’ve planted some Swift (First Early potatoes) in a potato bag in the greenhouse. If all goes well they should produce a crop by the end of March. This is not a moment of Cottage Smallholder madness, I found the advice on the Harrod Hoticultural site. John Harrison has written a series of great monthly grow your own articles for this site.  He is the author of Vegetable Growing Month by Month and also writes the comprehensive site Allotment Growing with his wife Jan. The bubble wrap insulation inside the greenhouse is working a treat. Even when snow lies thick on the ground I only need to provide a small amount of...

Just seen that the forecast is for heavy snow around here tomorrow afternoon.   Timed to perfection to interfere with our weekly (I wish!) rubbish collection.  I honestly can’t remember when our trash was last collected – is it two weeks? Three weeks?  Is it longer than three weeks or does it just feel like it? Ideally we sould stop getting snow, but I would settle for it blocking our road after thursdays instead of before thursdays for a change.  Visitors round here commented on how big our snow drifts were – but really it was just piles of bin bags with a layer of snow on...

LG have released details of a new 19 inch flexible epaper that measures 0.3mm in thickness and weighs just 130 grams. The e-paper measures a little smaller than an A3 sheet of paper and was created by putting a layer of TFT on to metal foil rather than glass substrate. By using foil instead of glass it allows a certain amount of flexibility. CTO and executive VP of LG Display, In Jae Chung said: Our development of the world’s largest flexible display has opened up a new market in the next-generation display sector of e-paper. There are currently no details regarding the availability of the flexible e-paper although for now it will probably be just proof of concept that it can actually be built. I doubt we will see mass production any time soon though. Via: Gizmo Watch LG 19 Inch...

Just before Christmas I saw a huge bag of English pears on offer in the supermarket. I snapped them up eagerly, thinking that they would make a delicious crumble, and some breakfasts and a few snacks when they ripened.When they ripened that is. So the pears gazed at our candle lit suppers, watched the blackbirds and their berries, felt the cold windowsill and the steamy window, got splashed with a little washing up water and saw the black night sky lit up with New Year fireworks. Every day I gave them a little squeeze and then chose an apple for my breakfast instead, not quite ripe enough yet, but soon, soon. Crumble seemed too humble for the festive season and so it passed by without a drop of pear juice moistening our lips.On our return from a few days in Devon I found that the pears...

Sony and Panasonic are propsing that the already massive Blu-Ray’s are going to getting a bit bigger. Instead of being normal disc size, they’re going to be the size of dinner plates!…oh look a tumble weed…well I thought it was funny anyway! Anyway, Blu-Ray discs currently hold 25GB of data on a single layer disc and the new improvements would see the storage size increase up to 33.4GB which will be an increase of around 33%. Your Blu-Ray players will require a firmware update to play them but most of the players, and the PS3 are all able to link to the Internet so this shouldn’t be a problem. But why the upgrade? Will this allow for better quality images to be played? Stop bringing out 2 disc sets and sticking everything onto 1 disc? From what I’ve...

(A repost from 2006 - Grigson always insisted on receipt rather than recipe) About 1 lb cooked turkey breast One leg and thigh of the turkey, preferably undercooked and pink. Instead of the turkey, a boiled or roasted chicken (with the brown meat a little underdone) or a brace of stewed or roasted pheasants can be used. Devil sauce 1 rounded tablespoon Dijon mustard 1 rounded tablespoon mango or peach chutney 1 tablespoon Worcester sauce, or half a tablespoon anchovy essence A quarter-tablespoon Cayenne pepper Salt 2 tablespoons corn oil Pulled sauce 3 oz butter 6 oz double cream Lemon juice Salt, pepper Chopped parsley This recipe is from Jane Grigson's 'English Food'. One of the most delicious dishes of eighteenth century cooking, indeed one of the best of all...

Winter is officially here. Boy is it getting cold outside! It’s probably getting a little bit chilly in your house as well. How can you go ahead and warm up without facing an energy bill that is sky high? Take a look at these ten ways that are guaranteed to make you warmer without costing you a lot of money this winter: Cuddle up under the blankets with someone you love. The number one best way to stay warm at home is to enjoy the body heat of your loved ones. Sleep in with your spouse. Let the kids climb into bed with you to watch a movie in the evening. Snuggle up under the blankets and hold each other close. This doesn’t cost anything and it can even save you money if it means that you aren’t heating up the whole house all day and night. Move into just a few rooms of...

Written by Jonathan Harvey, directed by Stuart DavidsCarla is still receiving the silent treatment from everyone after last episode's shocking revelation. Carla pleads with Hayley, even telling her how Jimmy and Tony tried to kill her. After some help from Roy, Carla finally gets Hayley's sympathies. Hayley calls a meeting - er, Dreeting (drinks and meeting) to convince the other factory girls that it's worth giving Carla another chance. They later find Carla drinking alone in the dark factory and tell Carla that they're dropping the silent treatment, which puts a smile on her heavily made up, teary face.Michelle's still angry about Carla, and even more so when she realizes that the police can't do anything about her. Michelle is sobbing at home alone, when Ben comes home. He tries...

  Photo: Snow in December 2009 We woke to snow. I knew immediately I saw the light streaming into my bedroom. Snow light has a vibrance and intensity that’s not even matched by the sunniest day. I carried Dr Quito down the stairs and paused at the little window so he could see the snow but elderly Min Pin eyesight is not very sharp and when I opened the back door he halted on the doorstep to survey the new white world. The snow was so light and soft that even the tiniest twig supported two inches of snow flakes. I like the crunch and creak underfoot of freshly fallen snow. In fact I love looking at snow in the cottage garden – it makes everything look so pretty and defines the hedges which are the structure of the garden here. When I reached the kitchen garden the fleece had blown...

Staying in an extremely cold country with plenty of snow, and not having a garage to park your car away from the elements? Chances are your windshield will be covered with a layer of snow or ice the next morning. Instead of scraping it off in the bitter cold while cursing your luck on your geographical location, why not check out what the Electric Windshield De-Icer can do for you? It melts both frost and ice away in a jiffy, allowing you to see out of every window for safer driving. Gone are the days of manual scraping with the $24.95 Electric Windshield De-Icer – just plug it into your car’s cigarette outlet and glide it across the windshield. It comes with a retractable handle and a 14″ cord for extra reach, while an integrated light and squeegee offers a streak-free...

Further details have been released about the future of junior club competitions under the Player Pathway proposals. The document contained no mention about the National Cup, or RFUW's views on junior leagues, but correspondence between several club managers and Twickenham reveal much more information about what is planned - plus the shock news that the changes will start this season!The National Cup has seemed an untouchable part of the calendar for some time, despite being of little or no interest to most real clubs, not least because it has so often featured teams apparently created for the sole purpose of entering the competition (shall we say). It has remained a fixture in the calendar, even when more popular events being discontinued through "lack of interest". But now RFUW say that...

A former leading theologian, in a book entitled Oh, Come On All Ye Faithful, Be Serious, has claimed he had to leave the Christian religion because he became too embarrassed about the nonsense they sing in Christmas carols. In the book, he writes: As most people know, the whole story of the nativity has more to do with the plot of a soap opera than with events in the Middle-East a couple of centuries ago. Most of the nativity tale itself was nicked wholesale from the Roman cult of Mithras, while the rest was made up to fit in with what the Old Testament prophets had said, in order to make Jesus appear to be the Messiah they had prophesised. So, if you celebrate Christmas because you think that Jesus seemed like a pretty decent sort of bloke, you have to realise that the...

Winter warmerChop 500g of back bacon and place in a lightly oiled lasagne dish or Pyrex roaster, put this in the oven and turn it on to 180° C. Peel and slice to varying thickness 1Kg of Maris Piper or similar potatoes and bring them to the boil in a saucepan of water, meanwhile slice and soften 1 large leek. When the potatoes  have been simmering for 5 minutes, drain them and leave them to steam. Gently warm 600ml of double cream in a saucepan and drop in 500g of ricotta cheese and season well;  as this slowly melts (don't worry if this isn't a perfect process, some of the cheese being left un-melted is fine) wizz up 150g of breadcrumbs, 150g of grated mature cheddar and 5g grated parmesan. Pull the dish of bacon from the oven and pour off any excess water (if there is too...

Check out this innovative Galaxy Dress designed by  Francesca Rosella and Ryan Genz. Using the smallest flatest  full-colour LED’s available which are only 2mm x 2mm square. The control circuits are also extra thin and everything is hand embroidered on to a layer of silk. Instead of using one large battery to power all the LEDs in the Galaxy Dress the designers have using loads of iPod batteries. Which give the glowing dress a 30min glow life before a recharge is needed. So make your entrance and exit fast. Areas without LEDs are finished with  4000 hand-applied Swarovski crystals. Via Gadget Lab This is a post from Geeky Gadgets, who bring you the latest cool Gadgets.24,000 LED Galaxy Dress Related posts:Geeky Cakes – The Super Mario Galaxy CakeGeeky...

With more and more people taking up the green initiative, there is hope for the next generation just yet. After all, the idea of driving around in an electric car is appealing, with the engine being super quiet while knowing that you’ve done your bit not to enlarge the hole in the ozone layer by too much. Solar power is another aspect that more companies are looking into right now, but the conversion efficiency isn’t exactly up to snuff. i.Tech Dynamic aims to change things a little bit in the world of gadgets with its SolarCharger 906. Yes, you’ve guessed it – the SolarCharger 906 will rely on the sun’s rays to keep its internal batteries going and juiced up, but that doesn’t mean you can’t plug it into a power outlet when you need some rapid...

The news that St. Elizabeth's Psychiatric Hospital in DC is to become the HQ for the US Department of Homeland Security adds another layer of mystique to the monumental structure. Whereas old asylums are almost a cliche of the Urbex movement, the new multi-million dollar DHS HQ will effectively turn the building into an enormous no-go area (or as the Washington Post headline, 'As the Feds Take Over, St. E's Moves Further Into Shadow'). Fine photograph (if real) of the former staff members at Unremitting Failure. It's obviously a tough place for urban exploration (although some shots taken on official tours are around), but the shuttered exterior is epically grim, and pretty much perfect for a Homeland Security HQ without a single architectural intervention.London Brownfield Sites, an...

Farmers told to stop ploughing land to protect soil “Precision farming” is already widely used by the traditional “barley barons” who in recent years have invested in machines that do not churn up the earth. Instead the equipment merely turns over the top layer and new seed is planted on soil that includes stubble from the previous crop. Ministers want the technique to become standard practice. The Soil Association, which champions organic farming, criticised the Government’s plan... One of the main purposes of ploughing is bury weed seeds, if you don't bury them you need to spray them off. Organic farming demands ploughing, an interesting clash of...

That is the finding – or at least one of the findings – from a report by the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) on "climate change".The IPPR has been conducting a series of "workshops", focus groups and other types of malarkey and found out that, when the subject is brought up, many "participants" expressed a weariness and fatigue about the subject. Many of the workshops became notably less animated following the introduction of climate change as a topic for discussion. Some found the issue very boring. Others dismissed it as "faddy" and "trendy".It would have been nice to bring you more but the report turned out to be rather boring as well – incredibly so. Relying on a much shorter summary in The Guardian therefore, we get a much stiffer message. The general public are...

Fresh from the clogged tubes of teh intarwubs… Infinite goods and artificial scarcity – the Replicator analogy You could have as many tomatoes as you wanted, they’d always be perfect and delicious, and they’d always be free. This would put tomato farmers out of business. But these tomato farmers could likely start growing something else instead. And what happens to the rest of the economy? Pizza and pasta restaurants suddenly find that a major ingredient in many of their dishes just became free. Now, for the same dish, they can charge less, or buy higher quality ingredients, or make more profit. And if you’re a really talented cook specializing in tomatoes? Your skills are now in very high demand. And there is still a demand for the people who bring...

So what if there are no US orchestras at this year's Proms ? Listen to London's own Philharmonia Orchestra, They've long been one of the best in this country. Now under Esa-Pekka Salonen they're entering an even more glowing phase. Having heard their amazing Gurrelieder and astute Mahler I was prepared for excellence but this Prom 43 produced some of the finest playing all season, despite much strong competition.It was misleading that the thread was "dance" because this wasn't raucous, crowd-pleasing noise. Dance, particularly ballet, isn't necessarily pound, pound, pound. Ravels Mother Goose La Mère de L’oye, often gets straightforward graphic treatment, as if all it needs is "making the pictures". Salonen and the Philharmonia caught the spirit of fantasy that transforms the...

With a bumper crop of courgettes on his hands, Nigel Slater conjures up a winning trio of cake and bake recipes using one of his favourite home-grown foodsThe back steps that lead from the kitchen to the garden have come a long way in the past decade. They were narrow and treacherous when I moved in, and I soon made them much wider and longer with some old stone slabs someone had buried at the bottom of the garden. The idea was to make them capacious enough to hold pots of herbs and vegetables that would be close enough to the kitchen to reach out and grab a handful while I was cooking. Now that the veg patch is full to bursting with two bean tepees and rows of cabbages, the steps have recently come into their own. Right now this extra space is home to strawberry plants (Florence,...

My friend Helene from Countryside Connection and Once Upon A Pine has sent me a wonderful recipe for blueberry baked french toast as she knows that I have a glut of eggs and the recipe takes 8 eggs, just need 10 mouths to feed! Hi Sara Thought of a perfect egg recipe for you. This never fails to delight and surprise which is why I felt it best to explain. It is perfect during the holidays or other special occasions as it allows the cook to be with family and guests instead of in the kitchen all morning. The added bonus is that it is very similar to an English Bread Pudding and can easily be used as a dessert without making any changes.   Warmest regards always   Heléne Blueberry Baked French Toast This versatile recipe is perfect for a group breakfast/brunch or to serve as a...

You see that picture of the devil picking his nose? Believe it or not, it was not constructed by human hands. I’m not saying that it was made with the hands of Angels and Demons, because hopefully they would make something better than that. No, it was made on Shapeways 3D fabrication service which allows “stainless steel printing”. Of course, 3D printers are really nothing new. This is the first time one has been created that uses stainless steel instead of plastic. It manages to print metal objects layer upon layer, provided the proper shape is given with an 3D modeling program like CAD or CAM. There is a lot of possibilities here. No more running to the hardware store to get screws, for example. I will digress with a personal example. When I was in...

This guest post, by Duncan Stephen of DoctorVee and Scottish Roundup fame, provides some interesting thoughts on national identity and his preferred constitutional model: a federal UK. I TAP OUT the first draft of this article on the train, travelling from my home town of Kirkcaldy for a trip to Oxford. I have to confess that this is the furthest afield I have been for a substantial period of time. I'm not an adventurous sort of person, so I probably haven't travelled further than about 90 minutes from home for about ten years. An interesting opportunity came up at late notice, so how convenient it was for me to be able to simply hop on the train."So what?", you may say, and you'd be right. It's no big deal. No one seriously pretends that the break-up of the Union would cause any...

Jason Santa Maria, AKA Stan, is the man. Here’s here at An Event Apart in Boston to talk about Thinking Small. He’s my warm-up man. He begin in the 1980s; Christmas day in the Santa Maria household—Jason gets Castle Greyskull. One Christmas, his parents played a cruel joke on him. Instead of getting him toys, they got him books. But these books were better than regular books. They were choose-your-own-adventure books; classics like You Are A Shark and War With the Evil Power Master. The best part is that they are interactive. Of course you cheat. You go back and see what would have happened if you had made a different decision. Let’s look at the decisions we make when we are building website. Jason will show us seven small decisions that change the outcome of a...