We have finally retired our Kenwood Rapid Bake breadmaker after many years of frequent use. The bearing in our second replacement bread pan had disintegrated in the same way as the first and the whole machine was making such a racket that it was no longer possible to put it on overnight. After a whole ten minutes research we plumped for the Panasonic SD253 currently retailing for £80 on Amazon (a lot less than the Kenwood cost originally). From the two loaves we’ve had so far I’d rate the Panasonic pretty highly. We have a greater choice of loaf sizes than with the Kenwood and the paddle leaves less of a hole in the bread. Bake times seem to be longer than for the old machine but this isn’t a problem as we can once again leave the machine on overnight. Indeed, it’s so quiet you can sit next to it and barely know that it’s on. Just have to work out why the nut dispenser didn’t drop seeds in to the last loaf…
Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category
The good loaf
Sunday, August 13th, 2006Making space
Sunday, August 13th, 2006In anticipation of having to reduce the number of peripherals I tote round, set about clearing space on my primary hard disk to copy some essentials off the secondary disk. As on previous occasions, I found SpaceMonger to be an excellent tool in locating the disk hogs and had soon freed up around 30 gig. Hopefully the subsequent defrag will also help bring some life back to my increasingly sluggish laptop. While using VMWare last week I could no longer remember whether the disk light was meant to stay on permanently!
Broken Firefox update
Saturday, July 29th, 2006Firefox updated itself to version 1.5.0.5 on my work laptop yesterday at which point it would no longer connect to the web. It was only after half an hour of playing with the Check Point Integrity Flex desktop firewall today (which claimed that Firefox was allowed to connect to the internet) that I finally checked the “Changes Frequently” option, at which point Firefox sprang back in to life. Phew – just a few hours of being forced to use IE was more than enough!
PlusNet grief
Tuesday, July 18th, 2006I have used PlusNet as my ISP for nearly a year now and my disillusionment is now pretty much complete. At the time I moved over they came highly recommended and, unbelievably, their website is currently trumpeting that they were top of a customer satisfaction survey by uswitch.com.
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Nike+
Tuesday, July 18th, 2006Runner’s World has an article on a fascinating piece of kit that let’s you turn an iPod Nano in to a speed and distance monitor for running. The Nike+ consists of the usual footpod and then a wireless receiver that plugs in to the base of the Nano. As well as the usual capabilities to record data and then sync with a computer, the unique selling point of the Nike+ is that it can also tell you through your headphones how you’re doing. In theory you need to fork out the £65 for a pair of Nike+ shoes to hold the footpod but the Runner’s World articles suggests that attaching it to the laces does the job just as well. The really unbelievable part of this technology is the price – just £19. Fortunately I don’t have an iPod Nano otherwise the temptation would be there!
Camera purchase
Sunday, June 25th, 2006After months of indecision I finally purchased a Canon EOS 350D digital SLR today. Originally I had been toying with the idea of something like the Fuji S9500 but in the end decided that I’d like to have the extra flexibility that a digital SLR would provide. The next choice was between the Nikon D50 and the Canon. In the end I don’t think the decision was entirely rational.
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Widgets, links and spam
Wednesday, June 21st, 2006If there is anyone that actually visits this site then they have noticed that the right-hand column has changed a bit recently. This is as I’ve added WordPress Widgets to my template. The presence of a del.icio.us widget has encouraged me to sign up for an account there to store my links. I should probably also mention another Automattic project – Akismet – without which this site would have rapidly disappeared under the weight of spam comments. This saved me from the dilemma of whether or not to add captcha support to the blog with the associated accessibility issues.
SanDisk Ultra II SD Plus
Tuesday, June 20th, 2006I’ve bought a SanDisk Ultra II SD Plus for my compact camera. This memory card has a neat little trick up its sleeve in that, when folded in half, it reveals a USB adapter. This will firstly mean that I have to carry one less cable when travelling but also, unlike the camera, doesn’t require any special drivers making it easier to upload photos from an internet cafe. Only minor issue is likely to be PCs that have USB ports buried behind a plastic fascia as the the folded part of the card needs to sit flush with the machine. Download speeds seems pretty fast and there’s a nice blue light that emanates from the end of the card when plugged in to the USB port!
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