Gadgets Gizmos Gossip

I’m a big fan of cooking in general, but I’m an even bigger fan of gadgets, particularly when they make my cooking either easier or a lot more fun. So with that in mind, here’s a short collection of 5 particularly cool or useful cooking gadgets:

The Floating Barbeque

If you’re lucky enough to have a swimming pool in your garden, or you’re planning a lake gathering, then you should seriously consider the floating barbeque. Utilising an extremely stable base and buoyant legs, the floating barbeque allows you to cook for yourself and your friends without ever having to get out of the water. Probably best not to use this one in the sea however, as I doubt hot coals and choppy waves are a particularly good combination!

UV Germ Eliminating Cutting Boards

We all use chopping boards to prepare food, whether it’s vegetables, fruit or meat, but if you’re only using one chopping board in the house you could find yourself at risk from cross-contamination (particularly when preparing raw meat). With the UV chopping board system, the risk of passing bacteria between food is dramatically reduced – the system comes with four different chopping boards (for meat, fish, fruit and veg) and uses an innovative UV light storage system that kills 99.9% of all germs and bacteria, making your kitchen a much safer place.

Boil Buoy

If you’re anything like me then you find waiting for a pot of water to boil extremely annoying (often resulting in walking away from the hob and returning to an pan that’s boiling over). With the Boil Buoy however, this problem is a thing of the past, as it uses an audio tone to alert you when the water is boiling and ready to use. Made of stainless steel, the Boil Buoy has a foam core and a weighted base, which allows it to float upright in the water and detect when it’s boiling, allowing you to concentrate on preparing other ingredients (or just go and watch TV until the water is boiling). It’s also food and water safe, meaning it won’t in any way affect the taste of your meal.

Digital BBQ Tongs

If you’re a fan of the BBQ, then you’ll probably love these tongs as much as I do. Not only do they work extremely well, but they’re fitted with sensors in the tong tips designed to measure the temperature of the meat, which is then shown on the LED display. The tongs even alert you with an audio tone that lets you know when the meat is at the ideal temperature, meaning you can avoid undercooked food and the potential of getting ill from eating food containing harmful bacteria.

MO:BEN Heated Lunchbox

I’m not sure if this one is in production or just a concept at this stage, but either way I want one. You store your food in the insulated bottom compartment, which is designed to keep it cool and fresh. Then instead of waiting in line for the microwave, you simply plug in the lunchbox and heat your food without having to take it out. It even comes with a special compartment for your cutlery, and is completely dishwasher safe – a great option for anyone who takes their food to work with them.

Post via Simon, who is currently working as a freelance chef with one of the top Brighton caterers – visit us if you’re looking for high quality catering in Brighton, London or Sussex!

As you might imagine we’re big fans of smartphones here at Gadgets Gizmos Gossip, with the majority of our team using their iPhone / Android phone to do everything from play games to publish blog posts. But it seems as though more and more of us are using our smartphones to make purchases online; a growing phenomenon highlighted by the Value Of Mobile Payments infographic, brought to us by Cashlog.

The infographic displays some phenomenal and fascinating statistics; particularly that mobile internet usage will exceed desktop usage by 2014.

The design also highlights some barriers to adoption when it comes to making purchases via mobile devices, with concerns over security being the most prominent.

If you’d like to repost this infographic on your own blog, feel free to do so, just please link back here or to the Cashlog website if you use it.

In the last decade, USB flash drives have become phenomenally popular all over the world, particularly when it comes to transporting data. It’s not hard to understand why, as USB flash drives are small, easy to transport and have very little in the way of moving parts than can be affected by dropping, scratches, dust, etc. In addition to this, modern USB drives can hold a considerable amount of data (up to around 300GB), making them a preferable alternative to external hard drives, CD’s and DVD’s (all of which are easily damaged).

However, whilst USB drives offer numerous benefits in terms of portability and reliability, they do have some drawbacks when it comes to transporting sensitive or personal data. USB drives are easily lost (due to their size and weight) and make a fairly easy target for thieves – something that’s particularly pertinent in the case of data that needs to be kept secure.

It’s for precisely this reason that secure USB technology has become extremely popular in the last year or so; offering people a more secure version of the standard USB flash drive.

One of the best examples of modern secure USB technology is the military grade Ironkey USB, which is available for public purchase from certain online suppliers. USB drives like the Ironkey offer a range of features designed to help protect your data and other sensitive files, these include:

Tough casing – the casing of secure USB drives is not only rugged and tamperproof, but is also waterproof, helping to protect your data from drops, spillages or even complete submersion in water.

High level cryptography - all data housed on the USB is encrypted, ensuring only you can access the data housed on the drive. In addition, they also boast high level authentication, making them extremely difficult to crack into.

Remote kill - almost all secure USB drives feature some kind of remote kill function, allowing you to remotely wipe the drive should it be lost or stolen.

Secure backup - many secure drives will feature an innovative back-up feature, meaning if you accidentally delete or overwrite sensitive data, you’ll be able to ‘step backwards’ to recover your data.

Secure browsers - this particular feature is aimed at those who need secure internet access wherever they are in the world (particularly useful for journalists and security personnel working in hostile environments). The browser application will allow you to go online without fear of your activity being viewed or accessed by others.