Plot Watch #3 – Herbs

June26

The Herbs and Salad trays are growing steadily in the greenhouse.

I’ve stuck 6 herbs into 2 trays and kept the ones that grow better with each other together. In the picture order below – Coriander, Mint and Basil in Tray 1 and Rosemary, Chives and Thyme in Tray 2. Coriander, Mint, Thyme and Chives have been the least fussy, Basil is just hanging in there and Rosemary hasn’t really taken off at all – so far.

Plot Watch #2 – First Harvest

June25

Today marked the first harvest of french beans – I have waited for them to be about 3.5-4 inches long before picking.

Courgettes are growing rapidly. Chilli peppers are also coming on strong with two plants providing about 20 fruits.

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Plot Watch #1 – Planting Out

June23

This series of blog posts is a helpful reminder of my first attempt at ‘growing your own’. What went right, what went wrong and what to try for next year.

To get you upto speed – I have grown everything from seed. Firstly in propagators which gave 108 plants, then moved everything to 3-inch pots. About a month ago I moved everything from the pots into the vegetable patch or growbags/bigger pots in the greenhouse. Spinach, radish, beetroot, carrots and potatoes went directly into the soil. Courgettes, pumpkin, french beans, broad beans, tomatoes, chillis and peppers are split between the veg patch and green house.

Everything has been flowering this last week – lets hope that makes for a good supply of fruit.

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iPhone 4 – Figuring which is the best UK deal

June18

After some considerable research on the iPhone tariffs, mac forums and UK carriers I have concluded which deal is best for my circumstances.

I am currently on the O2 Simplicity SIM (1month rolling) for £20, which includes 300 mins, unlimited texts and unlimited data. Picture messages are charged at 20p each. And 0845 calls are charged at 35p per minute.

This plan works for me but was only meant to be an interim solution until the new iPhone 4 was launched. However, with many providers (including O2 and Vodafone) putting caps on data allowance of 500mb and 1GB respectively you may end up paying extra for your data use each month. For example, I consider myself a heavy data user by streaming radio, using maps and surfing over 3G, often pegging over 1GB per month – not that it matters while I’m on a ‘unlimited data’ package.

So basically get one of these Simplicity deals before O2 replace them – I’d advise before 24th June 2010. O2 are offering my current Simplicity ‘iPhone’ SIM for £5 off each month if you sign for 12 months. So that’s 300mins, unlimited texts, unlimited data, all for £15 per month.

What more, if you’re new to O2 Simplicity, currently get £25 from Quidco. This changes from promotion to promotion – when I signed to Simplicity, O2 paid £70 Quidco for the pleasure.

Now the new iPhone uses MicroSIMs, it looks like O2 will swap your current SIM over (maybe for a fee), or alternativly you can cut your current one with a pair of sharp scissors or scalpel.

One more thing – once you sign to this you still need the new iPhone 4 – that’s the bad news – it’s £499.00 for the 16GB or £599 for the 32GB.

Now you have to just have to decide if it’s black or white??

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The Apple HTML5 Showcase

June8

‘The demos here show how the latest version of Apple’s Safari web browser, new Macs, and new Apple mobile devices all support the capabilities of HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. Not all browsers offer this support. But soon other modern browsers will take advantage of these same web standards — and the amazing things they enable web designers to do.’

Have a look around for yourself here

posted under Apple, Coding | No Comments »

Bring on the beach – my Willysphere Sand Shapers have just arrived – UPDATED

April7

How amazing are these sand shapers?! Our beach is not going to know what’s hit it this summer. Now I just need some warm weather! I bought mine from Jellyrivers for about £22

10% off til June 15th with “WISPWINE”


Fast Tube by Casper

***** UPDATE ******
With the weather at 16° yesterday, we had lunch at the beach and just had try out the Willyspheres!

Save on your iPhone tariff each month for O2 customers

March20

So my iPhone was out of contract as of last November, after having it for 18 months and paying £35 a month. Now I’m looking forward to upgrading to the new iPhone later this year.

After looking at the O2 website I see you can actually ‘upgrade’ your tariff to  the Simplicity SIM only deal with no renewed contract. This give you the same monthly minutes, same unlimited data and for £10 a month less. Not only that, but if you decided you don’t need those 600 minutes you can go for the even cheaper £20 a month (300 minutes/unlimited data) option. As mentioned above – the deal is contract-less and leaves you ready for an upgrade to the new iPhone later in the year.

Whats really annoying is that O2 are not automatically doing this for their existing customers – only the ones that notice the cheaper alternative. The experience has left a bad taste in my wallet and my loyalty to the brand is out the window. Spread the word and save some money.

o2savings

The Folding Plug wins award at the British Design Museum

March18

choi_u000plug_0

Our beloved British plug has had a rethink thanks to the South Korean student Min-Kyu Choi.

Personally I love the UK’s current bulky plug and plug sockets, they are safe, stable, constructed well and far superior to the flimsy US or European counterparts.

But not content with the bulky plug and inspired by Apple’s ultra-thin MacBook Air, Min-Kyu Choi designed the innovative Folding Plug and has just won the top prize in the Brit Insurance Designs of the Year Awards.

It’s certainly not a replacement to the British plug but a perfect companion for your mobile needs – well done Min-Kyu Choi.

Screen shot 2010-03-18 at 10.44.07

Tilt shift time lapse movie of New York

March12

sandpit

“The Sandpit” by Sam O’Hare is a wonderful time lapse photography stream using the titlt shift effect overlaid. Simple and beautiful.

Check it out on Vimeo.

Via CR Blog

Sellfridges

March8

selfridges

Very simple and funny – for free!

Who’d like to see the same principle working for Boots or Virgin Megastore perhaps?

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Chad in Frame

chadsayshello.com is the blog of
Chad Durham - an independent graphic designer (and director of Big Hello Design) working in London and now living on the south coast. Please contact me if you have a design project, a link suggestion or just want to say hello.

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