Wednesday 1 April 2015

Ecomania - good or bad?..

We are all familiar with the drive for efficiency in the world of kitchen appliances and whether you
agree with the EU dictating the size of light bulb you can use it is worth noting that big is not always necessarily better and an efficient product could save you a load of money in the long run.





When our pressure washer died last month Mrs Todd set about finding a replacement and began by doing an on-line search. Having been linked onto a catalogue site promising a host of different products she began making a simple comparison using the quoted power values of the different machines. This figure was presented clearly for all machines and as such you might suppose that it was a good measure of the performance of the washer.

In reality though picking the high power model could just mean higher running costs. We pay our electricity bills in units or kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity used and a 2000w machine will use 2kWh of electricity every sixty minutes where a 1000w machine will only use 1kWh. But, in simple terms, if the lower powered machine is twice as efficient as the more powerful version it will do the job in the same time but only cost you half as much to do it.

The bottom line is that it is important whatever appliance you are buying to make sure you compare the right parameters. For the pressure washer it was a combination of the cubic meters of water it could move and the pressure it worked at, for a vacuum it would be the real world air wattage and for a light bulb the lumens (or brightness) it gave out.


Don’t just assume because a manufacturer or retailer quotes some figures at you that these are what you need – always ask about the efficiency of the product and that way the savings should follow.

Sunday 1 March 2015

Spring is in the air..

Spring is in the air and York’s famous daffodils should be making an appearance to cheer us all out of our winter slumber but all the extra sunshine can have an unwanted effect at home as it exposes your house to a brutal cleanliness examination.


Not unsurprisingly this leads us to carry out the traditional “spring clean” and this desire to tidy is as strong as ever with vacuum cleaner sales soaring at this time of year. So is it time to think about a new cleaner? Here’s your options:




1) The traditional vacuum falls into two categories, upright and cylinder with bagged or bagless options of each type available. Choose an upright for larger areas or a cylinder for smaller rooms with more legs to clean around.

The Bosch Athlete battery powered cleaner
          
   
      2)  If your after something lightweight the cordless vac has finally come of age as improvements in batteries and motor efficiency have led to machines that finally take some of the back work out of cleaning. You can get full sized versions to replace your existing mains powered cleaner or compact versions for spot or car cleaning.






      3) Finally for the time poor you really need to think about a robocleaner! There are more options than ever and prices are comparable to a decent upright vacuum. 

      The machine will do the cleaning while you are out, planning a path around your furniture, plants and pets to leave a clean carpet or solid floor. It will even return to it’s base to recharge leaving you with more time to enjoy the flowers!

Wednesday 14 January 2015

Vegas baby yeah... my roundup of the Consumer Electronics Show 2015

The one wheel in action - like riding a bike...

Fans of the Back to the Future films will be very pleased to hear that we are a step closer to emulating Marty’s hover boarding antics. The “One Wheel” had show goers entranced with its hidden hub motor and self-balancing deck making moving around at up to 12mph almost child’s play. Though we are unlikely to see commuters wobbling around on these any time soon due to the legal restrictions in the UK they may appeal to skate board enthusiasts or anyone with a fond memory of Marty, Biff and friends.

iFit booth
wearable electronic devices are set to be big in 2015

4K UHD the resolution revolution has begun


Other technical feats on show included a raft of wearable technology. These products are likely to be huge this year and will include smart watches, bracelets and glasses. Notably Sony’s SmartEyeglass Attach will rival Google’s Glass product and will clip to your normal glasses and feature a small integrated screen to keep you up to date with happenings on your smart phone. Siemens were demonstrating their latest smart hearing aid designs that promise to adapt automatically to different situations and interact with IOs and Android devices.


Finally I was pleased to read about the birth of a new partnership called the UHD Alliance that sees TV industry big hitters like Sony, Samsung and Panasonic join forces with studios like Disney and Warner Bros and content providers like Netflix. Together they aim to standardise the content, delivery and terminology of 4K Ultra High Definition. This is great news for consumers as it will not only make the whole format easier to understand but should streamline the roll out of superbly detailed 4K content to feed the latest raft of LED televisions.