INFOMANIA.CO.UK

Microsoft is due to launch a new search engine, Bing,  on June 3. The launch may initially be restricted to the US, as Microsoft is taking time to sign up partner websites in each country. These partnerships may be both a strength and a weakness, as the quality of information could be good but perhaps from a limited range of sources.

Bing search appears to be designed to return a list of information and key websites, more like Ask.com than Google or the recently launched WoolframAlpha.

Bing appears to have been optimised for searches for  products or services. It appears that Microsoft is partnering with sites to provide links to products in online shops, a bit like Google Shopping, although the links may be to reviews rather than directly to products. Users will be able to earn cashback when buying from Bing’s commercial partners.

Travel ‘products’ also appear to be a target, with the Bing promotional video showing a predictive tool that will tell you when flights are likely to be at their cheapest (here’s our hint – avoid the school holidays).

Only time will tell whether Microsoft’s new search engine survives or, like Gong Show contestants of old, whether it suffers the ignominy of hearing that loud Bonnnggg!

admin News bing, engine, microsoft, search

Sometimes the error arises because one or more of the applications has a ‘memory leak’ bug. When this happens the program keeps reserving RAM but not releasing it when it is finished with it. Some version of Internet Explorer appear to have this problem and it is worth upgrading to the latest version.

You appear to need to keep at least 1.5 times your RAM size free on the disk to avoid problems. If you have 2Gb of RAM for example you would need at least 3Gb of free disk space. To further complicate matters, Windows seems on occasion to spuriously tell itself not to allocate any hard disk space to a page file.

Here is how to reset you page file setting and fix the problem:

• Make sure you have enough free disk space, as above
• Right click on My Computer and select ‘Properties’ (My computer may be found on your desktop or in Windows Explorer. To open windows Explorer press the Windows key and ‘E’ at the same time)
• Click on the ‘Advanced’ tab
• Click on the Performance ‘Settings’ button
• Click on the ‘Advanced’ tab
• Click on the Virtual memory ‘Change’ button
• If you have more than one hard drive make sure the C: drive is highlighted.
• The best option is to let Windows manage the amount of virtual memory, so click the System managed size’ option and click on the ‘Set’ button
• Finally click on the ‘OK’ button

admin Hints & tips error, file, low, memory, page, pagefile.sys, virtual, windows

Ever wondered what raisins, currants and sultanas were before they were dried out? The answer is simple:

• Raisins     = dried grapes
• Currants  = dried grapes
• Sultanas  = dried grapes

Of course it isn’t quite as simple as that or raisins, currants and sultanas would all look and taste the same. The differences are primarily due to the different varieties of grapes used to produce them.

• Raisins     = any dried white grapes
• Currants  = dried Black Corinth (also known as Zante)  grapes
• Sultanas  = dried white seedless grapes, originally from Turkey. Usually Thompson Seedless variety.

Sultanas may have been bleached to make them lighter in colour than raisins.

admin White papers currant, difference, grape, raisin, sultana

Updated 25 May 2009 

If you are considering buying a barbecue you will have noticed that they burn either solid fuel – charcoal – or gas. So what are the differences and why would you buy one in preference to the other?

That wonderful barbecue flavour
Some people believe that charcoal is what gives a barbecue that ’special’ barbecue flavour but in fact it does nothing of the sort. When charcoal burns it gives a steady heat and creates no particular smell. The delicious smoky barbecue flavour comes from fat dripping off the food and onto the hot charcoal. Or onto the hot metal or lava rocks in a gas barbecue…

Charcoal
Charcoal barbecues are cheaper than gas barbecues, for the simple reason that gas valves, taps and pipes cost money. They may also be a bit better for the environment – gas is a fossil fuel which releases greenhouse gases when it burns. Charcoal releases very similar gases when burnt but is not a fossil fuel – charcoal is made by heating wood in a sealed container so it carbonises instead of burning. When wood grows it absorbs greenhouse gases from the atmosphere so the manufacture and use of charcoal simply recycles greenhouse gases.

Disadvantages
There are two significant disadvantages to charcoal barbecues – the time it takes to get the charcoal burning steadily and the ash that has to be diposed of after the party is over. There are a number of ways to get charcoal burning properly. Most common is to use special lighter fluid or firelighters (the firelighters made for starting coal fires leaves a nasty chemical smell and taste). The charcoal needs to be made into small piles over the firelighters and, after setting fire to the firelighters, left until is is burning well and covered with a layer of grey ash. The coals can then be spread across the barbecue so cooking can begin. This process takes around 20-30 min.

A quicker way to get charcoal started is to use a charcoal ‘chimney’. This is a device like a large paint can with no bottom and a wire shelf 1/3 of the way up. The bottom of the ‘chimney’ is stuffed with newspaper, which is set alight, and the top filled with charcoal. There are lots of holes around the bottom, which allow air to enter. Hot air rises, so the flames from the burning paper rapidly heat the charcoal. The processtakesaround 10 min – much faster than using firelighters.

Gas
Gas barbecues typically come with two or three burners, although some have as many as five, perhaps including a side burner. Each burner has its own control knob so one part of the barbecue can be cooler than the others.  Not only that but auto-ingnition is a standard feature too except on the cheapest of models.  Virtually all gas barbecues have a hinged lid or hood, which provides a couple of significant benefits.:

•  Cooking is more consistent, particularly in breezy conditions
• The food is cooked in a smoky atmosphere, which gives it a great flavour

Many gas barbecues have a thermometer set into the lid, giving the cook a better idea of how fast the food is cooking and allowing the barbecue to be used as an oven. Upper-end models also have a glass panel set into the lid, allowing the cook to spot flare-ups when dripping fat catches fire and the food is at risk of burning. Unfortunately the windows are not quite as useful as they appear, as the glass  gets covered in a mixture of smoke and cooking fat which can be very difficult to shift.

Auto-ignition
Sometimes the ignition system is operated by the burner knobs and sometimes by a separate ignition button.Some gas barbecue ignition systems require batteries, others are piezo-electric. In the piezo-electric systems there is a piezo-electric crystal which generates a voltage when it is hit. The voltage is used to create a spark, which lights the gas. These system usually have a red ignition button that is quite stiff to operate. The button operates a small spring-loaded hammer which hits the crystal, generating  the spark.

Gas is very convenient to use. It is controllable and, once set up, a gas barbecue can go from cold to cooking in a few minutes. There is no need for firelighters and no messy ash to deal with. Gas is pretty cheap too – £15 of gas may last you a year or more if you are only a fine-weather barbecuer. On the other hand the bottles are very heavy and most suppliers charge a large deposit (around £30 for a 13kg bottle). FloGas used to supply gas in deposit-free bottles and their website currently says this for most bottles: ”No ‘Non returns’ charge applies to this cylinder”. Which might mean they still do!

For more information on gas barbecues see Barbecue gas – butane or propane?

bill Hints & tips barbecue, bbq, best, better, charcoal, gas

The new search engine, Wolfram Alpha went live today, although its 10,000 computing cores seem somewhat overwhelmed at trying to deal with the SlashDot effect of thousands of consecutive users trying it out for the first time.

There are now three different types of search engine:

• Contextual (eg Google) - finds web pages in which your search terms appear
• Informational (eg Ask) – finds web pages containing the facts you are looking for
• Knowledge (Wolfram Alpha) - compiles information in direct answer to your queries

The best way to illustrate the difference is to do a simple search, for example: Paris France

Google returns a link to a Google map of Paris and a series of links to web pages about Paris, primarily travel-related commercial sites

Ask.com returns links to a wider range of websites, including news stories about Paris, Wikipedia and BBC Weather. Jeeves himself offers some additional links to related searches, such as ‘History Paris’.

Wolfram Alpha has a completely different approach and responds with a range of information about Paris, including the population, a map of France showing where Paris is located, local time, current weather, height above sea level and a nearby larger city (London 213 miles). Another big difference is that results can be downloaded as a pdf file.

In conclusion Wolfram Alpha is no replacement for Google, but then it doesn’t claim to be. Rather it is a useful new addition to your options when searching for information. It is also rather good at evaluating mathematic equations – try entering 1/sin(x) and see the resulting plots and related information.

admin News alpha, knowledge, search, wolfram