Tim HJ

I have a Dell Studio XPS laptop that is a little over two years old and (as far as I can tell) doesn't have a USB 3.0 port. What it DOES have is an eSATA port and two regular USB 2.0 ports.

I plan to do some fairly heavy-duty video capture over the next few weeks (ripping about 50 x 60-minute Mini-DV tapes to disk, then editing them using either Adobe Premiere or Nero) and want to buy an external hard drive to store the content. Data transfer will be a key issue for me, and I wonder what my best option might be? Should I buy a USB 3.0 drive and also a USB 3.0 ExpressCard?

This may be a dumb question, but are the wireless network dongles sold by manufacturers to allow their TVs to connect to the internet (e.g. Sony UWABR100AEP) any different from regular wireless dongles (e.g. Belkin Wireless G USB Network Adapter Network adapter)?

I have one of the latter from a few years ago and want to know if it is going to be able to do the same job as one of the manufacturer's own devices. Is it a case of "a dongle is a dongle is a dongle" or are the TV ones somehow different?

Thanks!

I need a button for my email signature that links to my LinkedIn profile - but I DO NOT want to use one of the ones that LinkedIn itself provides. This is because they all have lots of unnecessary text on them - like "View my profile on LinkedIn" - and as a result are very ugly and obtrusive.

All I want is a square button with the 'in' logo on it that will be uniform in style with other buttons for Twitter and (ideally) my blog page. But whenever I Google for this, I just end up being directed to the LinkedIn 'help' pages.

Suggestions?

Thanks

Tim

I have a Canon Speedlite EX that I bought to use with my old EOS 50 (film camera - NOT digital).

I am wondering, is this flash in any way compatible with the modern EOS digital cameras?

A Thai recipe I want to make calls for a one-inch piece of palm sugar - but my local stores only sell the ingredient in a granulated form.

Can any talented Thai chefs out there give me some rough guidance as to the amount of granulated palm sugar I should use to equate to a one-inch piece?

Someone showed me today a picture of one of those 'arm barrier' style security gates, blocking a road - but not connected to any fences or anything, so that cars would just drive around it on either side. The picture was taken from high above so you could easily see the wheel tracks of all the cars that had just avoided going through the barrier.

I have tried Googling for this with any number of combinations of keywords, but can't find it. Any suggestions? Obviously the 'message' of the photo is that it doesn't matter how good your control is, it's useless if people can just sidestep it - so I guess it's the kind of photo that might turn up on a management / business website.

Any suggestions gratefully received!

Can anyone recommend a nice simple, entry-level online Fantasy league system that I could use with some friends of mine? I’ve been getting steadily more engrossed in baseball over the last few years but, as a Brit, I’m still a relative beginner and of course don’t have access to the level of information that’s available in the US. Certainly I haven’t the bandwidth to be tinkering with my team on a daily basis.

Any suggestions? It needs to be online and it needs to be pretty simple to use!

Thanks

Tim

About a year ago I visited Ironbridge in Shropshire and bought some collar stiffeners, made of bone, in a sort of gift shop there. It was the kind of place that sells old-fashioned things like traditional one-handed shears for pruning hedges. I think that it was located on Tontine Hill or perhaps The Wharfage. But no matter how hard I search on Yell.com, Google etc, I cannot find it.

Anyone know the shop I mean? I am anxious to find out as I have lost one of the collar stiffeners and have not seen them on sale anywhere else - but I live about 200 miles away from Ironbridge!

Thanks

Tim

About a year ago I visited Ironbridge in Shropshire and bought some collar stiffeners, made of bone, in a sort of gift shop there. It was the kind of place that sells old-fashioned things like traditional one-handed shears for pruning hedges. I think that it was located on Tontine Hill or perhaps The Wharfage. But no matter how hard I search on Yell.com, Google etc, I cannot find it.

Anyone know the shop I mean? I am anxious to find out as I have lost one of the collar stiffeners and have not seen them on sale anywhere else - but I live about 200 miles away from Ironbridge!

Thanks

Tim

I need some regular formal shirts - just for day to day wear. Have been having shirts made for me for a number of years because the high street brands used to go up to an 18.5 inch collar if you were lucky - and I have been taking a 19 inch collar for years!

Now I understand that the likes of T.M.Lewin, Thomas Pink etc have extended their ranges and I wonder, of all of those high street brands, which is most likely to have a good range to suit a 'Big & Tall' type of rugby-playing chap?

I need extra length in sleeve and body but also I don't want anything that is a slim fit because......well, let's not go there!

Any suggestions which brand I should try?

Back in 1983 the BBC broadcast a series of profiles of 'Guitar Greats' presented by Alexis Korner. The opening of the Ry Cooder episode was a jaunty little piece of country blues that I have loved ever since - but I have no idea what it was! And the cassette tapes I made of the series have long since been lost.

Then just as I thought about trying again to work out what the song was I discovered that - shock horror - the BBC had JUST BROADCAST THE SERIES AGAIN AND I HAD MISSED IT! Literally, they featured the Ry Cooder programme at the end of September - possibly for the first time in more than 25 years - and I missed it.

Does anyone have a recording of the programme or know what that track is called? The BBC have been unable to help on occasions when I have asked their advice.

Thanks!

Tim

I need to buy some wheelie-bin sized 100% cornstarch (i.e. compostable) bin liners. Does anyone have any suggestions as to where I can buy them? Do any of the major supermarkets or DIY stores sell them, for example?

For about five or six years I have run an annual charity quiz night for parents at my kids' school. I get a lot of pleasure out of making sure the questions are quirky, fun or thought provoking, and I take pride in setting them myself - but over the years, my personal stock of trivia has begun to run out - so I figured, why not seek inspiration from the Yahoo! Answers community!

There are six main rounds, as follows:

Entertainment

Sport & Leisure

In The News

Art & Literature

Music (usually song introductions, which I play over the PA)

Pot Luck

In addition, I have picture rounds at the beginning, which hang on posters around the room. I have done things like famous paintings, images taken from Google Earth, stills from Disney movies etc.

Anyone got any really good quiz questions I might include this year? Or suggestions for Picture Round categories?

Thanks in advance!

For about five or six years I have run an annual charity quiz night for parents at my kids' school. I get a lot of pleasure out of making sure the questions are quirky, fun or thought provoking, and I take pride in setting them myself - but over the years, my personal stock of trivia has begun to run out - so I figured, why not seek inspiration from the Yahoo! Answers community!

There are six main rounds, as follows:

Entertainment

Sport & Leisure

In The News

Art & Literature

Music (usually song introductions, which I play over the PA)

Pot Luck

In addition, I have picture rounds at the beginning, which hang on posters around the room. I have done things like famous paintings, images taken from Google Earth, stills from Disney movies etc.

Anyone got any really good quiz questions I might include this year? Or suggestions for Picture Round categories?

Thanks in advance!

A client wishes to hold a drinks reception at an event, which needs to take place at about 3pm. They have suggested calling it a "cocktail" reception, but I feel this is too early for such an event.

Instinct tells me that one would not normally serve cocktails as such until at least 6.00 or 6.30 - and that they would be better off positioning this as a plain old drinks reception, with wine as the main alcoholic drink available.

Any experts on social etiquette who can advise on acceptable timing for a "cocktail" reception?

Thanks!

I am a bit fed up with the fact that in just about every family movie that has been released over the last few years, someone seemingly has to say "It's showtime!" at the point when they get serious about resolving the problem / getting the bad guys / whatever else they have to do.

I've always assumed that this must be some sort of American cultural reference. Like, it's a well-known catchphrase from a long-running TV show from the 1970s, or something like that.

Anyone help me to track down the origin of the phrase?

My son has mentioned a plasticine-like product that has been advertised on kids' TV in the UK. He says it's available from Argos, although they cannot work out what it is. Apparently it is designed to help kids make stop motion / claymation movies. I want to buy it for him as a surprise but cannot work out what it is!

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

I am in the UK and later in the year will be visiting somewhere very hot indeed. I have tried various cheap miniature personal 'fan' gizmos and gadgets that run on AA batteries, and they always seem to break after about five minutes' use.

Has anyone got such a thing that is really powerful and reliable? If so, where did you buy it?

Cheers

Tim

I'll be spending a weekend in Tampa during spring training. The Grapefruit League won't have started yet, and I wondered if anyone knows whether there's anything to do at the stadium before the pre-season games begin?

I am a Yankee nut from the UK and keen to feed my baseball craving while in Tampa. Any suggestions?

I currently have a Dell Latitude D830, which I plan to replace in a few months' time. Ideally, I would like to replace it with a laptop that is capable of driving a Panasonic 1080p plasma screen as an external display (although NOT NECESSARILY for full HD signal; it will be used to screen streaming video) and generally to be used as a desktop replacement.

Dell have advised me that the best laptop for the job (at least in the current range) would be the Studio XPS but because they market this principally as a consumer / multmedia PC, rather than a business machine, I am concerned that it may not be suitable for my needs.

I am not at all concerned about guaranteed upgrade roadmaps, easy networking and other features designed to appeal to large companies with complicated IT 'estates' that need to be managed. I am effectively a standalone user. But I *do* want something that is robust enough to be lugged around the world without breaking, and that is going to last me for three years.

I don't use any specialised applications - just heavy-duty PowerPoint, Excel and stuff like that. Plus Nero video and audio editing.

(By the way, although I am not planning to need the ability to access a full HD signal, the HDMI interface of the Studio XPS does appeal from an ease-of-use perspective).