karl101

I suppose you could get one of those mini-ovens (like they have in 80's bedsits) from Currys, wire it into the mains from a lamp post in the Peace Gardens, while its warming up get the kitchen tools from John Lewis. Back in the Peace Gardens, assemble your pasty as per the recipe, wait until cooked. Eat. You'll probably need to extend your lunch break slightly. K.

The Proper Pasty Company not really a small business, they have nine shops plus six franchises. Although, curiously, none in Cornwall. http://www.properpasty.co.uk/pasty-shops/ Why not pop into the co-op next door and get the ingredients to make your own? http://www.properpasty.co.uk/pasty-recipe-proper-pasty-ingredients/ K.

The councillor's not trying very hard, there are meeting rooms in Upperthorpe Library as well as one in the tower blocks. Which councillor was it? K.

Because the people who live in the area are not the target market for an event live this. Especially those who live in the estates closest to the Ponderosa, I've seen this at the almost annual Peace in the Park event. K.

Interesting that the Tramlines people haven't bothered consulting with any of the local residents. A very large, ticket only event that excludes almost all that live in Upperthorpe and Netherthorpe and brings no benefits to the area (no shops sell alcohol apart from Tesco). K.

I used a solenoid to make the water drops and a phototransistor/laser combo to detect the drops as they go past. These are connected to an Arduino and some home-built electronics to control the camera and flash. K. An Arduino: http://arduino.cc/en/Guide/Introduction

Been messing with drops of water. This is what you get when two drips meet. K

looks a bit like madness to me, but google found this: K.

Will your streaming player take an analogue audio in and convert it to digital for streaming? The conversion will probably introduce a delay, and this will cause lip-sync problems. There is this Video Sender on eBay, no idea what its like, its probably rubbish: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5-8G-200m-STB-AV-Wireless-Audio-Video-Sender-Transmitter-Receiver-W-IR-Extender/281432408552?rt=nc K.

http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/crime/police-arrest-two-over-sheffield-gunshot-murder-1-7021607 "Detectives are trying to find a red Mitsubishi Shogun car seen in the area of Derek Dooley Way around the time of the attack." So that Red Mitsubishi Shogun the police recovered from the Ponderosa was a different one? Or is this traditional Star reporting? K.

I've got a Joby Sling, its quite good, reasonably comfortable with a heavy DSLR even after a few hours. Its possibly the most complicated camera strap on the market today. Having the camera on the hip can cause switches on the camera be knocked if there are any in the way, keeping it at waist level avoids this. I was going to say have a look at the Pap Strap, but they appear to of gone out of business. K.

I wasn't recommending the Belkin, just using it as an example and I suspect that's one of the cheaper ones, as you can see here: http://www.scan.co.uk/shop/computer-hardware/all/cameras/network-ip-cameras You could try a Raspberry PI £28 + Pi Cam £20 = £48 Pi: http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/bespoke/bespoke7.jsp?bespokepage=cpc/en_CC/makerspace/RPi_ModelBplus.html&CMP=HP_RPi Camera: http://cpc.farnell.com/raspberry-pi/rpi-camera-board/raspberry-pi-camera-board-5mp/dp/SC13023 You would have to set it up from scratch yourself, which could be interesting, if a little time consuming. K.

The cameras most at risk are those that connect directly to the internet, for example: http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing-accessories/networking/networking/home-security-automation/belkin-f7d7602uk-networking-wireless-home-security-camera-21362719-pdt.html#cat-0 as these are designed to be viewed when you are away from home, they can take incoming calls (to use a telephone analogy). You connect to the camera from outside. By keeping the default password a hacker can easily operate the camera. The camera in your laptop is setup differently, its normally used for you to connect to, outgoing calls only, there is no incoming call capability. However if your laptop has been compromised, by, say, a virus, then that camera can be seen from outside. Black electricians tape guarantees no pictures, but not the sound. Not that you should be paranoid or anything... K.

A story about this has appeared in The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/the-northerner/2014/oct/23/sheffield-devonshire-quarter-petition-development from the article: "Murray claims the redevelopment will look almost identical to the current building”. So it'll be a building in the style of a Victorian row of shops but without any of the authenticity, builders nowadays cannot build a Victorian building, they just end up with some unconvincing mockery. If these people are going to kill off some high quality small businesses for yet another coffee shop and 'local' supermarket, they could at least do it with some high quality architecture, for a change. K.

I signed up for the phone/adsl package before they turned the whole thing into this shipwreck of their own making. As I went and got mobile broadband and hadn't lost my landline phone I figured it'd be easier to wait rather than run around finding a new ISP who'll only ever be able to provide the same miserable speed as Origin. Yes, Origin are being extraordinarily rubbish, I won't be recommending them to anyone ever again ever (terms and conditions apply), but having put up with loads of 'communication' companies over the years, BT, Virgin, EE, etc. I've found them to be all consistently useless. Origin's name is mud at the moment, I suppose they have six months to a year to get their act together, or they'll go bust. I'll be keeping the Three mobile broadband dongle handy. K.

Just got a letter from BT saying another service provider is taking over my line. This seems to be Origin's method of telling me that I'll be on their ADSL by the end of the month. Nice of them to keep me informed. Woo Hoo, cruising the B road of the Information Super-highway, they say I'll be getting a maximum speed of 6Mbps. I'm imagining something more in the stuck behind a tractor range. Having to deal with the cancellations department at Three for the mobile broadband has come sooner than expected. K.

Tried ringing Origin today, 26 August. Start 09:15 no answer by 10:00 so gave up. After listening to the annoying music for the 45 minutes, they look to have bought the "Upbeat Music for Failing Companies" CD. The song about being "optimistic while eyes shut" says so much. K.

Hello This may be useful for someone who, like me, has been let down by Origin. I've written this how-to for getting a 3G/4G dongle connected to a wired network. I've written it for the ZTE MF823 dongle as supplied by Three and using a Raspberry Pi computer, although any new-ish PC with USB ports should do with Linux Mint or Debian installed. http://www.g7smy.co.uk/?p=505 It shouldn't be too difficult to add in a Wi-Fi dongle too, but I don't have one of those as I'm using a separate router with Wifi to deal with that. Hope it helps. K.

I'm more concerned about how much energy is being wasted in the name of saving us energy/money. Yes 10p a year is a small amount of cash, but an energy meter being 'sold' on the basis that you can use it to save energy, while it has been designed to waste energy with an unnecessary screen illumination is wrong to me. You wouldn't buy a mobile phone with a battery life of half an hour because the screen was lit all the time. K.

Hello The council are replacing the meters they use for district heating and local heating. These are pay-as-you-go smart meters that have a fancy display with graphs and stuff, it has a mobile phone inside that shows how much credit you have paid for and reports back in a not at all sinister way to the council how you have been using your heating. The council are touting this as some kind of saving you money by managing your energy through the medium of graphs nonsense. I don't have a problem with these meters, but the display is permanently lit in a pointless and irritating way, which left me wondering, how much does that cost? On Farnell's web site I found a similar screen, same size and colour and the data sheet gives the current required for the LED illumination as 30mA. So, to work out how much it costs just to keep the screen light on: Electric Unit Price: 13.10p/kWh Number of hours in a year: 8776 Amps x Volts = Watts 0.03A x 3V = 0.09W (Watts x Hours) / 1000 = kWh Consumption (0.09W x 8766 hours) / 1000 = 0.789kWh Unit Price x Consumption = Cost 13.10p x 0.789kWh = £0.10 Ten Pence a year just to keep the light on! and the council are having 6023 of these installed around the city. 6023 x £0.10p = £602.30 To conclude, the council is spending over £600 a year of other peoples money just to keep the lights illuminated on a meter that's stuck away in a cupboard and will only get looked at occasionally to check how much credit is left. For a smart meter, isn't that a bit dumb? K.

Sheffield - City on the Move Filmed last year..... K.

My experience with 4G over a the past couple of days so is that it's OK, very quick with 33.53Mb/s Down, 18.47Mb/s Up on http://www.speedtest.net/ but it has a tendency to fail when large downloads (500Mb +) are being made, the dongle seems to loose its IP address. I'm also getting worried that the monthly 5GB allowance I have isn't enough to last a month, I've already used 2GB in the past 68 hours. Definitely a backup though, would rather have a fibre connection, or even be able to go back to slow ADSL. Still not had a connection date from Origin. K.

at the risk of sounding a bit AOL... "Avg Speed: 0Mbit" ..me, too!.. K.

you mean this from 12th August? http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2014/08/origin-broadband-fail-give-30-days-notice-digital-region-closure.html K.

Same for Sheffield Centre: "Exchange Name: SHEFFIELD Status: Exploring Solutions We’re keen to bring Superfast Fibre to your area and are exploring how best to achieve that. We may deliver it as part of our commercial programme, or by working in partnership with your local authority. At the moment you can’t order Superfast Fibre. For more information visit the FAQ section." Although that looks like a long winded way of saying "we have no plans and we won't be upgrading, now stop whining and give us all your money." K.