A few of my favourite things

As an IT consultant, I'm sometimes asked which sites are my favourites - well here are just a couple.

The worlds smartest web browser - www.irider.com

IT news and information - www.theregister.co.uk, www.zdnet.co.uk, www.silicon.com and www.theinquirer.co.uk

General news, http://news.bbc.co.uk, www.timesonline.co.uk, www.cnn.com
www.private-eye.co.uk and www.theonion.com for a different view of the world
www.snopes.com - the place to check out urban legends

Gadgets - www.redferret.net and www.engadget.com

Music - www.pinkfloyd.co.uk - the best band on the planet (IMHO)

and many more news, IT and other links at www.andypoulton.com/links.htm

Top Blogs

Matt Cutts (Google expert and Gadgets) www.mattcutts.com
Danny Sulivan (search engine maestro) http://daggle.com
Jeremy Zawodny (Yahoo search) - http://jeremy.zawodny.com

And I can't leave without recommending www.virus-safe.info if you are vexed by viruses, flummoxed by firewalls or sickened by spyware

Of course, I'd love to hear your favourite sites as well.

Tara for now

Exploding Dell batteries

Hmmmm.....Dell recall 4.1m batteries . Scenes similar to the one on the right are not unfamiliar sites to users of certain Dell laptops. It would appear that the high tech Lithium Ion batteries manufactured by Sony that have been supplied with these laptops may have a manufacturing problem. This problem causes the batteries to run ever hotter until eventually they burst in to flames.

However, the key to this story is that the batteries have been made by Sony and that the problem appears to be down to tiny shards of metal left in the battery during the manufacturing process. These shards eventually cause the battery to short-circuit and then thermal runaway and fire is the only outcome.

So.......Who else uses Lithium Ion batteries manufactured by Sony? Apple for one, Lenova for another and Sony of course. But does this problem ONLY affect laptop batteries or could any Lithium Ion batter manufactured by Sony be a potential problem. Blimey, I've loads of Lithium Ion rechargeable batteries, I use them in my digital camera, in my MP3 player, in kids games around the house, I'm sure many others have many more in use - maybe in fire detectors (now how tragic would that be if the device designed to detect fires were to catch fire itself).

With all these potential explosive devices in everyday objects who needs liquid explosives to bring down planes?

The Big Blue IKEA Bag

In a recent news article, I noticed that Tesco are now "giving" 1 Green Club Card point for every bag that you re-use when you do your weekly grocery shop.

They hope to reduce plastic bag usage by 25% over the next two years. To help their customers get over this shock, they are also recommending their 10p "Bag for Life" as a Great replacement. I think the theory is that you buy these "Bags for Life" and when they break then Tesco will give you a replacement - although I'm not sure how they define "Life".

However, I now think there is a better alternative.

We recently moved house and my wife suggested that we bought a number of the Ikea Big Blue Bags on a recent visit to our local store. For those of you unfamiliar with them, they cost 25p each and are about as deep as a standard carrier bag but are a lot longer, Ikea say they will take five times as much as a standard bag. Well, let me tell you - she was spot on, they were really useful during the move for carrying all manner of things, soft furnishings, duvets, bedding, towels, the list is almost endless. They have a popper to keep them closed and short and long handles to make carrying them as easy as possible. Great value for 25p.

I have recently learned that Ikea are also looking to significantly reduce the number of disposable carrier bags. They have started charging 5 p per bag, with this increasing to 10p per bag later in 2006. This is a great incentive to migrate to something more eco friendly.

Although I haven't tried using the Big blue Bag for my grocery shopping yet, and won't benefit because I don't shop at Tesco, I do think that it will make a great way to bring the shopping home and must remember to put the bags in the car next time I head off to Asda.

So let's hear it for the Big Blue Ikea Bag.