How to open a bottle of wine without a corkscrew
November 4, 2009 01:56 
Leave a comment » November 4, 2009 01:56 Leave a comment » 
The Great Boot Race
November 3, 2009 17:52 Leave a comment » 64-bit versions of Windows 7, Vista, Ubuntu 9.04 and 9.10 fight it out for the fastest boot time on identical hardware.
Photo Fakeout Hotel Reviews Compare Promotional Images to Reality
November 1, 2009 05:00 Leave a comment » 
Online hotel review service Oyster features a Photo Fakeout category in their blog that gives a reality check to hotel reviews, pitting a hotel’s promotional images with actual photographs.
The only disappointing thing about Oyster’s Photo Fakeouts is that there aren’t more of them—and that this isn’t the dedicated feature of any site we can find. Popular travel planning and review site TripAdvisor allows for user-submitted photo uploads, which are nice, and I’ve sometimes had good luck searching Flickr for the name of hotels, but it’d be great to see something like these Photo Fakeouts in an easily searchable database.
As weblog Of Zen and Computer points out, it’s worth noting that pictures can be manipulated to look bad in much the same way as they can to look good. That said, sometimes the difference is clear and egregious, and it’s nice to get a reality check before you book.
If you’ve got your own methods for searching out the reality of your hotel before you book, let’s hear your tips in the comments.
Universal phone charger approved
November 1, 2009 04:42 Leave a comment » 
A new mobile phone charger that will work with any handset has been approved by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nations body.
Industry body the GSMA says that 51,000 tonnes of redundant chargers are generated each year.
Currently most chargers are product or brand specific, so people tend to change them when they upgrade to a new phone.
However, the new energy-efficient chargers can be kept for much longer.
The GSMA also estimates that they will reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by 13.6m tonnes.
“This is a significant step in reducing the environmental impact of mobile charging,” said Malcolm Johnson, director of ITU’s Telecommunication Standardisation Bureau.
“Universal chargers are a common-sense solution that I look forward to seeing in other areas.”
The charger has a micro-USB port at the connecting end, using similar technology to digital cameras.
It is not compulsory for manufacturers to adopt the new chargers but the ITU says that some have already signed up to it.
“We are planning to launch the universal charger internationally during the first half of 2010,” Aldo Liguori, spokesperson for Sony Ericsson told the BBC.
“We will roll it out with new products as they launch.”
[ VIA ]
