Around 130,000 UK businesses now sell online, in a market representing about 2.5 percent of all household spending (over £18 billion a year in total). In the last five years, internet retail sales in the UK rose by over 350 percent, compared with growth of only 20 percent for all retail sales. In 2005, the […]

It is a 146$ Linux computer from China that does all the basic things most people need, like browsing (firefox), emailing (thunderbird), instant messaging (gaim), skype, word processing (chinese open office), audio/video playback (mplayer), e-learning, all through a very user-friendly very basic interface and is software upgradable. It has got 40GB, a 400mhz/800mhz VIA processor, […]

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Electrical power has changed our lives and given us phenomenal freedoms, from talking to people around the world, to going to the moon.
But do we know just how much power we are using when we switch things off or put them into standby mode?
Energy management consultant John Field says: “Electronic devices like TV […]

I couple days ago I received my new Hoover Windtunnel Powered Hand Tool (model # 40200013). We have a Hoover Fold Away vacuum, which is okay, but I want to upgrade to a Hoover Fusion. We have never bought a new filter for our vacuum, I just shake the dirt out of every once in a while. I think $30 for a small paper filter is overpriced, it’s not even a HEPA. The Fusion doesn’t need filter replacements, much like the more expensive Dyson vacuums.

The powered hand tool says on the package “for use with all Windtunnel uprights only!”. The Hoover website says it works with most of their vacuums, however. It comes with an adpater for their canister vacuums, which I don’t need.

The tool itself is 4.5″ wide, with a rotating brush with neon green bristles. The top is clear blue, and can be removed by pressing two buttons on each side. Inside is a small turbine which is connected to the brush with a notched belt. The turbine is geared to spin at a higher speed than the brush, giving the brush more torque.

The first time I tried using this tool, I was underwhelmed by the brush’s rotational speed. The next day I cleaned the filter, which made a huge improvement in the turbo tool’s speed. We have 5 cats and a dog, so needless to say we have a lot of fur around the house. I used the turbo tool to clean under our bed, the living room curtains, and our couch. It performed very well, and it inspired me to use it for 2-3 hours non stop.

The Hoover Powered Hand Tool is easily best vacuum attachment I’ve ever used. I bought it for about $15 from homeandbeyond.com. It is a wonderful addition to my Hoover vaccum cleaner. If you have a Hoover vaccum that accepts attachments, I highly recommend this tool.

People are turning to mobile phones for Internet use more quickly than they are adopting laptops for the same purpose in many parts of the world, according to a recent study of Internet trends.
Personal computers are still the most popular way to gain Internet access, but the rapid pace of mobile phone installation and the […]

A number of major brand owners are considering legal action after discovering that variants of their trademarks have been registered as .eu domain names and then offered for sale on eBay.
Times Online has discovered that domain names including Rowntrees.eu, Ask-Jeeves.eu and EuroDisneyParis.eu are on sale on the internet site for more than £20,000.
The listing on […]

Hewlett-Packard is opening a center to license its intellectual property to companies in Asia, part of an overall plan at HP to extract more revenue from its large patent portfolio.
The center, based in Singapore, will essentially make it easier for regional companies to learn about and license inventions from HP’s labs. HP has already licensed […]

Apple said last month that iTunes customers were buying about 1 million videos a week, and have downloaded more than 15 million of them since the moving-picture services started in October. Given that Apple has sold more than 1 billion songs, the potential for exponential growth is clear as TV and film executives learn to […]

Mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse is expected to announce the launch of a free broadband service later this week.
The company looks poised to provide free access for customers who sign up to its Talk Talk landline service.
A Carphone spokeswoman said that it could not comment on speculation but it did have plans to expand its […]

Playlist: Boot Camp and the iPod
Our companion sites, Macworld and MacCentral, have been full of news about Apple’s Boot Camp—the beta utility that allows an Intel Macintosh to run the Windows OS natively. But what does Boot Camp mean for those Mac-using iPod owners?
Potentially, more than you might think.
Granted, there’s a version of iTunes available […]