Delta Sky mag: MakerBot and Bamboo

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My November and December columns for Delta Sky Magazine in the US (click on the pic to read 'em).

Telegraph: AV technology for business

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From Minority Report-style touch tables to holographic keynote speeches, there are some weird tech innovations changing business right now...


Oh and it's the cover story for the supplement (on AV for business) - nice! You can read the supplement online too.


Mail on Sunday top 100 gadgets

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Some colourful spreads from last Sunday's Mail on Sunday Live Magazine - Top 100 Gadgets of the Year. My privilege to have written 20 of this year's top 100, alongside my fab freelance colleagues Simon Munk, Chris Haslam and Clare Newsome. Of course none of us get bylines because the celebs and staffers get all the glory...



Our green loft (and our family) in today's Evening Standard

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See today's ES Homes & Property pages for this piece about our eco-friendly loft conversion on a tight budget. And a rare family photo of the five of us! There's also more info at my E17eco blog specifically about the loft.

Evening Standard home cinema

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Still available for a few more minutes if you grab the last tube - otherwise you'll find it on the Evening Standard online in 26th Oct Homes & Property supplement. Giant posh tellies plus where to buy bargain ones.

Mail on Sunday vacuums test

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How sweet that they included a picture of me testing them!

My top 10 Christmas gifts and gadgets

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As presented my me at the Unwrapped event this morning - enjoy!

Don't worry, there's not supposed to be any sound - it just had a live soundtrack of me banging on about my favourite gifts, trying to steer a five-foot inflatable shark around the audience, etc.

Oh and the one product I talked about but forgot to include in this fab Prezi is the Fisher-Price Apptivity Case, priced £13.


Mail on Sunday aquariums

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Personally I think they thought of the headline first and then built a feature around it! (but I'm not grumbling - variety is the spice of life)

Mail on Sunday skinny laptops

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The MacBook Air and other skinny rivals tested by yours truly...

Mail on Sunday garden blowers test

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Don't be fooled by the Indian summer. Next week 1bn leaves are going to fall off the trees and land on *your* lawn. You need one of these babies...

Delta Sky mag: 3D glasses, Lady Gaga

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A couple more of my monthly US columns for Delta Sky Magazine (click on the pic to read 'em). This time top-notch 3D eyewear and Lady Gaga's debut product for Polaroid.

Sunday Mirror alarm clocks test

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As the nights draw in and the clocks prepare to fall back, here are some iPhone-friendly machines to rouse you gently from your dreams.

Livingetc radiators guide

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Just the right time of year to be considering one of these stylish numbers (and getting your BTUs right). Click on the pages to read 'em. Front-of-mag biog included for your amusement.






Evening Standard home helpers

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From robot vacuums to the iron that lets you press clothes in half the time...


Evening Standard garden gadgets

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From wood-fired designer hot tubs to a super-fast barbecue lighter, there's clever stuff for everyone in this piece - cover story for today's Evening Standard Homes & Property. (Click on the pic below to read it.)


Evening Standard on #riotcleanup

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I wrote this quick-turnaround piece yesterday for today's Evening Standard. And I'm rather proud of it - positive about people, positive about London, positive about social networking...
(as ever, click the cutting to read it up big)


Mail on Sunday portable barbecues

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From yesterday's Mail on Sunday Live magazine (click on the pic to read it up big). Want a charcoal barbecue that you can take anywhere? The Bodum was the one I didn't want to send back...

Google Chromebooks column in Delta Sky

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Another of my monthly US columns for the fab Delta Sky Magazine (click on the pic to read it). 'Tis from the May issue, sorry for the delay. You'll never guess why I had to wait for a PDF... apparently they ran out of voucher copies because Jay-Z fans (he's on the cover) stole the lot!

Evening Standard gadgets for men

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A nice full page in today's Homes & Property section: easy-to-use gadgets that let you take control of your home tech. (Click on the pic to read it up big.)

N.B. According to my research, women can also use these gadgets with some degree of success. It's just that H&P were doing a men's issue, hence the kit all being black and/or shiny...

Delta Sky magazine recent columns

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The June issue of Delta Sky Magazine just landed on my desk, inspiring me to upload three of my recent columns for them. Enjoy! (As ever, click on the pic to read the reviews.)

The winning Grand Designs feature

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If you'd like to read the award-winning feature, here you go - just click on the thumbnails to see each pic big enough to read. Enjoy!




Ooh, I won summat!

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Now that the hangover has finally receded, I'm proud to announce that on Friday I won "best technology feature" in the CEDIA Awards 2011. It is very shiny. And heavy. Here's a snap of it on our awards shelf (ahem) in the home office - alongside my Blackberry Women In Technology Award from 2006 and Simon Munk's two GMA awards.

Many thanks to the good people of CEDIA, the judges, the Grand Designs magazine team, my readers, my freelance colleagues (especially Chris Haslam), my family, etc. I'll stop now before I go all Gwyneth...

Update: there's a video of the awards on YouTube. See approx 1min 31 for my 3.5 seconds of fame. Sorry about the music!

Intelligent alarm clocks

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I've had a few listeners who heard my Radio 2 interview get in touch, asking about the alarm clock I mentioned. It always has the right time and even automatically resets the time when the clocks go forward or back.

There are in fact two options, as far as I'm aware. The first is a clock that gets its time 100% accurate using a radio signal from an atomic clock. Oregon Scientific are the leading brand for this.

The second is a DAB radio alarm clocks that takes its time from a signal sent out from radio stations. I can't say with 100% certainty whether all DAB alarm clocks do this, but the good ones do. Pure is the market leader in DAB radios and the one that I personally use is the Pure Chronos iDock Series II (pictured), which does an excellent job with DAB radio, music from iPod/iPhone or just a buzzer. The sound quality is excellent and if you forget to dock your iPhone it automatically switches to buzzer - very clever!

Should you put your laptop in the fridge?

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No, no, no, no, no
I never find the time to upload old clips of radio and TV interviews, but here's one from last week. I'm being interviewed by Simon Mayo on Radio 2 drivetime about women, gadgets and whether or not it's a good idea to put your laptop in the fridge.

(Spoiler: No!)

In truth, some people do end up sticking their laptops in the fridge to get jammed up hard drives working for a few mins just to pull the data off. But only as a last resort and only in a Ziploc (self-seal) bag!

BlackBerry PlayBook preview

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Sorry, there's just not enough time to catch up on all my clips from the Christmas period, but here's one that just landed on my desk - from the January issue of Delta Sky Magazine. (As ever, click on the pic to read the review.)