Extractor Fan Review

I just bought a new bathroom extractor fan. Finding an independent review of the marketplace to allow me to select a good one has proved very interesting and quite difficult. I have struggled to find anything on the Internet. There are a wide range of manufacturers and many different product features but no decent review website for consumers to pick products. I ended up buying a Vent-Axia (despite being 3 times the price of its competitor) because it has a Royal Warrant which suggested that they made good machines.

Not even Which magazine has done a review. Really surprising.

The level and kinds in innovation in the domestic extractor fan area make it quite interesing, new low noise levels, lower energy consumption, slimmer designs. There is a lot going on....

Sustainable Tropical House Design

I've just been to Ghana, an up and coming country in West Africa. As part of its development people of course want better housing. And it is coming quickly, I noticed however that people are building US style McMansions. These buildings require huge amounts of air conditioning to make them remotely livable due to the high humidity and local temperatures. I was surprised how few people were designing buildings more in keeping with local conditions and thereby reducing the energy bills from the 24-7 use of air conditioning. Judging by the number of electricity cuts I experienced while I was there a reduction in energy output would not go amiss....

Jean Prouve's Tropical House Design from the 50's might be a good pointer.

Belkin USB Network Hub

I love it and hate it.

I have all the peripherals and Western Digital Box hidden under the stairs using a powerline adapter. But its sooo slow ! It takes 2hrs to transfer a 3GB file and that is with no wifi in the chain.

I wish they would make a faster one.

It's a great innovation but too slow.

A call for online innovation

Today I tried to send a fax to Paypal. Why I hear you ask did you have to send a fax to Paypal, a poster child of the internet.

Well apparently their account verification systems require a fax to verify certain personal details. Scanning and emailing the required document is not enough ?? Paypal strike again.

Well, I don't have a fax machine so I thought there are lots of email to fax services online so I'll use one of those. Well the concept of Pay as you go email to fax does exist from my quick hunt around the web. If I wanted to buy 100 faxes for $40 then no problem. Send one fax for $1, a problem.

Why is no one offering pay as you go fax to email ?

My solution to nokia battery life issues

I now have a Nokia 6120 which I bought for £50, I've upgraded from an e61. This has pretty much all the features I need HSDPA, Email, web access, VOIP and music through bluetooth. Not bad for £50. The battery life though when I 'm using web, music, bluetooth at the same time is about 4hrs..... Not enough to last a day.
It is not enough to justify the extra £300 to buy an unlocked N95. So I bought an external charger and 2, yes two more batteries.

At least I don't need Wifi because of my amazing 1GB data allowance for only £5 a month with 3.

I now have one battery on permanent charging on rotation and my battery life problems have gone away. Not ideal but I can't see the battery life improving anytime soon with the way the services keep getting added. I love to get a phone wih GPS but that would be crazy with the power drain that it would add to the phone.

Bluetooth headsets return to normal

As one of those people who resisted looking like I was calling down an airstrike by having one of those large lumps stuck on my ear. I was glad to see a new range of bluetooth clips are on the rise. These devices eg Sony Ericsson's HBH DH-200 mean the earbuds look normal and allow you to control your phone as well if you use it to listen to music as I do. I just switched from the e61 to Nokia 6120, which has amazing features and if you can live without inbuild gps and a bit screen is as good as the N78 or any of their ilk !

I'd love to know whose idea it was to stick all the electronics of a bluetooth headset in the earpiece rather than attached as a clip on. I think on ear "bugs" will die out pretty quickly now.

Adios !

3D Digital Camera

I want one ! It seems the next logical step. The processing power is here. Maybe its the technology to view them that is the problem. I am sure they could charge $1000 for one and start making some money in the business again.

I'm watching stereovision.com in hope....