Tag: technology

  • Out of This World! The Amateur’s Guide to Making Your Own Satellite

    What could you do with $10,000? Take a trip around the world? Refit the kitchen or replace the ageing car? Perhaps you would invest it in stocks and shares? But what would you say to building and launching your very own satellite? Forget paying to have a star named after you: Technology is now smaller…

  • Myth-Busting: 3 Facebook facts you thought were true (but aren’t)!

    We are loving our time here in California: It’s a place famous for movies, sandy beaches and huge citrus fruits! We clearly like to keep good company, because Barak Obama has been visiting San Francisco at the same time as us. I somehow don’t think that El Presidente’s visit to the West Coast has been…

  • “Did You Pack Your Own Bags?” and other pointless airport security questions…

    We’re off on our holidays, but (groan) we are stuck in the airport because our plane has been delayed – again! The reward for hours of waiting for security and immigration checks is… even more waiting! It’s been a bit like queueing to get on a ride at DisneyLand: The line deceptively curves and bends…

  • Geek-Gadget of the Week: The SmartPen!

    Writing, just who does that anymore? With so much work being done on computers these days, the poor old pen has pretty much been consigned to the stationary drawer. Technology is now so portable that we can stay ‘connected’ in every conceivable situation: laptops for coffee-shop working, iPads and PDAs while commuting, and Smartphones when…

  • Breaking News: Bomb Threat to Trowbridge, Wiltshire!

    Trowbridge doesn’t seem like a likely target for terrorists. But yesterday, the centre of the town became ‘locked down’ as bomb disposal squads investigated a ‘suspect bag’. I like the place, but a lot of people don’t. It’s the official county town of Wiltshire, a beautiful and historic region, yet Charles Moore from The Spectator described Trowbridge as…

  • Obama Meets The Robots: But Could They Save the World?

    Last week, US President Barak Obama was seen in Japan hanging out with robots! He took a break from the APEC Summit to be given a guided tour of some of the world’s newest robots. Sadly, what he saw was pretty embarrassing:  A talking female robot that had all the sophistication of a 1970s B-Movie, an irritating robotic ‘pet’ seal and…