Has it really been 6 years since I last had vegetarian caviar? That's far too long! Sadly, the manufacturers of that particular brand have disappeared - so I was overjoyed when I discovered the UK-based Vegetarian Caviar Club. There are four flavours available, and jars cost between £6 and £7 plus postage. Let's get one thing out of the way first - I've never had real caviar. Not the h…
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I'm 16. My mate Pete has been humming "Achinta beyda beyda tatvaaaah" endlessly. I finally break and ask him what gibberish he's spouting. And thus I am introduced to Kula Shaker. It was the first CD I ever illicitly ripped to MP3. It was my reference album for any audio equipment purchase. Potential girlfriends were unfairly judged on their appreciation of its mystic tosh. I'm 36. My mate V…
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Earlier this year, I reviewed the Chipolo Bluetooth Tracker. It's a small fob which you can attach to your keys & bag, stuff in a wallet, or slip in a pocket. Push a button on your phone and, if the Chipolo is within 60 metres, it starts beeping loudly. Six months is a long time in technology, and Chipolo have just released the Chipolo Plus. They've sent me one for free to review. Set your…
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I've spent an entire year driving the BMW i3 Electric Car. This is a long-ish term review which is intended to reflect my experience with the car and the UK's charging infrastructure. I spent three days a week commuting between Slough and Oxford, on a mix of motorways and quieter streets. I drove all the way to Norwich and back, and made regular trips into London. The UK's charging…
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This is a sponsored post by LOPOO UK who've asked me to review their Oittm Bluetooth Realsound Speaker. Let's get one thing out of the way first, this is not the Amazon Echo! It's about the same size, shape, and design - but it has a very different purpose What's it for? This is a big Bluetooth speaker with integrated LEDs and microphone. At a basic level, you pair your phone with it and…
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It is time for me to have a clear out. I've got hundreds of books which I've replaced with eBook, CDs which I never listen to, and DVDs I'm ashamed to own. Selling them individually on eBay or Amazon sounds like a lot of hard work... That's where Zapper and MusicMagpie come in. Both offer the same basic service: Scan the item's barcode with the app. The app makes you a cash offer for your…
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We're entering a golden era for small-batch artisinal hardware. Anyone with an idea and a modicum of talent can build hardware and get it shipped around the world at a reasonable price. Enter "The ReSpeaker" - an open source alternative to Amazon's Echo. It promises ultimate hackability, speech recognition, and IoT control, wrapped in a cheap single-board design. ReSpeaker is an open…
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This is a sponsored post by LOPOO UK who've asked me to review their Oittm Bluetooth Headphones. There's a lot of technology packed in for £19.99. Bluetooth 4.1 - compatible with Android and iPhone. cVc noise cancellation - for improved call quality. A physically tiny 70 mAh battery - good for around 3-6 hours of use. I found it fully charged in around 2 hours. Flat cable …
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This is a sponsored post - from the good folk at GearBest. Introducing the Onda V96. A 3G tablet for around £60. Hardware It's a pretty solid set of specs. The 9.6 inch IPS Screen runs at 1280*800. Colours are clear from all angles, skin tones are well reproduced. The screen is bright - if anything a little too bright on its dimmest setting. There's 5 point multi-touch - so you can use …
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A couple of months ago I was giving a talk in Romania - the organisers had set up a technology expo showing off some great local start-ups. One which caught my eye was TinTag. Terence Eden is on Mastodon@edentTintag is pretty clever. BLE beacon but has built in Qi recharging. Very useful. thetintag.com#DevTalks pic.x.com/sjizdew274❤️ 3💬 2🔁 010:29 - Wed 11 May 2016 I've previously reviewed the…
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I like to go on holiday in order to read books. After last year's post a few people expressed surprise that I hadn't included many female authors. I felt compelled to rectify that, so I decided to read only female authors this holiday. I only had 7 days, and did quite a lot of sight-seeing, so there's only 6 entries here. Will try for a more relaxing holiday next year! First up, "Station…
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Parking in London is a pain in the arse. As I drive an electric car, I'm spared the cost of the Congestion Charge, but I still have to stalk the back-streets looking for an available parking bay - or pay through the nose for an NCP space and hope I can squeeze in between the concrete pillars. That's where London-based startup Vallie comes in. On-demand car parking in London for £5/hour - with a …
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