I’m interested to see if anyone else gives this a try. I tried it out on Casino Splendido (not with real money of course (yet?) ). My tactics were to triple the bet each time to see if I could up the winnings quicker. This did work until i raised the initial bet to 50. I then discovered that when using the instant play at least, on that particular site there was a bet limit of 200. This obviously meant that I couldn’t keep tripling the bet. The system definitely seems to work as long as you don’t get too greedy or impatient and come across this problem. Keep the initial bet low or make sure there is no bet limit and it seems like you cant lose. Or is that just what they want you to think?

- eekins (itching to play for real)

That’s the claim of Datawind, manufacturers of the Pocketsurfer2.

Pocketsurfer2 is a handheld device that delivers the full power and original graphic intensity of the internet rapidly and wirelessly to the palm of your hand. The PocketSurfer 2 has its own in-built GPRS antenna and SIM card which means it can connect itself straight to the mobile network to get you online immediately, you don’t need any other bits and pieces at all, just get it out of the box and go! You are not dependent on WIFI access and no Bluetooth connection with a mobile phone is needed either.

The PocketSurfer2 allows you to browse the web in its original HTML layout, with full graphics, Java support and other complex web functionality on a 640 x 240 colour widescreen display. An integrated mouse pointer and a full format, backlit QWERTY keyboard must make it one of the most usable hand-held web device around. The rich user experience of the PocketSurfer2 offers a real alternative to consumers tired of the limited functionality, unfamiliar content and small screens on mobile phones or Smartphone’s.

It doesn’t hang about either, with page-load times of under seven seconds over GPRS thanks to over GPRS thanks to Datawind’s compression technology, you’ll be flying around the web just as you would at your desk. Comparative devices regularly take up to two minutes to download similar web pages.

The Pocketsurfer has 5 hours battery life for active usage, and 5 days standby, so you can actively manage your time surfing the net while you are on the road. It has a built in-high performance antenna, so it will pick up signal strength whilst you are an receiveable areas.

It also has a transreflective backlit display, which you allow you to use the Pocketsurfer later on at night, whether you are using whilst travelling home on the train at night or just at home in the evening.

For the first year you receive 20 hours per month usage free of charge so you can use it out-of-the-box for 12 months without paying a penny and to use it for the next year will cost as little as £40! For users that need more usage you can upgrade to an unlimited usage plan for £5.99 per month.

DataWind’s free-usage model eliminates the complexity of purchasing mobile web devices by eliminating lengthy contractual payments, activation fees and credit checks. With the PocketSurfer2, you pay for the device not the usage. The PocketSurfer2 can be activated by the user right out of the box and is ready to use shortly thereafter. Best of all, for the average user, there are no monthly fees. Free usage for the PocketSurfer2 is available everywhere your mobile phone works.

So if you want to keep yourself up to date with all the latest news, emails and social networking sites then try it out for yourself, it will keep yourself occupied on the way home from your daily commute or if you are out and about and you can’t bear to be away from it at all, the Pocketsurfer opens the door to the World Wide Web for you!

The Datawind PocketSurfer2 – Portable Internet Device is available at Amazon for a price of £173.98 which considering this includes 20 hours per month usage could offer mobile internet users a worthwhile saving.

Tech Spec:

Quad Band GPRS 850/900/1800/1900 Mhz

Internal high performance antenna

Transreflective backlit display

Mini USB charging port

Mouse pointer

Full Qwerty backlit display

Rechargeable Lithium Polymer battery

Weight – 174g

5 Hours active usage – 5 days standby

Size – 152 x 75 x 15mm

GPS location information

Ability to load web pages in under 7 seconds

The auction was just for this single property and was held in a village pub. It was quite interesting to listen to the conversation the people behind us were having. They definitely seemed to be professionals and made up of at least one builder and an architect. The auction started off at what seemed to me (as a newbie) a mediocre pace then slowing to smaller increments if not pace then picking up to similar increments as it had started. It ended with one of the professionals behind us jumping in at the end and winning the auction for £190,000.

From their conversations afterwards it turns out the winner would have gone to £200k and that they actually thought it would have flown past £200k. This is obviously quite a bit higher than my £160k but one of these professionals did say that they had four properties close to where this one at auction was that they could not sell. So maybe my £160,000 was closer to the mark after all. We can but hope I am getting to know what I am doing, in my mind if not yet in practice.

- Eekins

All we are hearing about in the media is about the current house price to earnings ratio in regard to affordability which I have heard as being 1:9 and in 1990 around the time of the property crash this was around 1:5. This is being reported in a way that suggests we are now in for a property crash and that the current market is not sustainable etc etc. Whilst I feel that prices may be heading for a downturn or at least a levelling off my opinion is that a big part of the reason is the lack of confidence in the market that the media is fueling. I see the way they are reporting the figures as being mis-representative as they are not taking in to account the current interest rates.

Surely the way to calculate affordability is by looking at the amount of your monthly outgoings. The ratio of house prices to earnings is by itself largely irrelevant. What really matters is how much the mortgage is actually going to cost you. Although we have had recent rises in interest rates this has come after a period of all time lows. During the property “crash” of the late 80’s, early 90’s interest rates were in the region of 14% which meant the cost of borrowing was a lot higher than it is today.

The following graph shows the percentage of income that is spent on mortgage payments for first time buyers since 1980.

We can see that interest rates were 15% in 1980 as well as 1989-1990 around the time of the crash. Average property prices went up over 40% between 87 and 89. It was the fact that interest rates were high combined with the rise in property prices that caused the percentage of income spent on the mortgage to be so much higher than previously. This is a true picture of affordability and it is not surprising that people not being able to afford their mortgage payments results in large numbers of repossessions, a lack of confidence and a downturn in prices.

The following graph shows the percentage of income spent on interest payments on credit cards, unsecured borrowing and mortgage payments for all households with a mortgage since 1990.

Again we can see that in 1990 the amount of income that was taken up by mortgage payments was at a much higher percentage than it has been recently. If you follow the trend from around 1994 you can see that the affordability level is around where it should be expected.

Going back to the first time buyer graph, if you take a trend line from a period of 1980-1989 the mortgage payments were running steadily at around 25% of income. If you take a new trend line from around 1993-2004 the percentage is around 19% and only now are we getting back up to around 25%. The reason that mortgage payments seem high at the moment is simply that we have had it so good for the last few years. If you look at the peak around 1990 you will see that the percentage topped 35% before triggering the “crash”.

Taking all this in to account my opinion is that the market is running at a “true affordability ratio” in line with what was historically considered to be acceptable. I am therefore confident that current house prices and interest rates do not warrant a “crash” and that one of the biggest threats to property prices is currently the media.

To finish with a thought – if you had owned a property before the ‘89/’90 crash and was able to ride out the storm and still owned that property today, how much money would you have made?

- Eekins

We are pledging to plant a tree for every new paid advert taken out on our website, so businesses can now reduce their carbon footprint while promoting themselves in a green and effective way. Plus, we are also committed to considerably reducing our own carbon emissions.

Localnightsout.com has two objectives – we want our users to have constant access to the best information for all their leisure and entertainment needs. If they need concert tickets, limousine hire or a hotel room in their local area, our website is the one-stop-shop. But we also care about the environment. That’s why we’ve worked hard to implement a whole range of initiatives, which means we are already carbon growth neutral.

The first issue we had to address was the amount of carbon produced by hosting and managing our website. We realised that a typical web server can generate over 2 tonnes of carbon per year, so we looked for effective ways to significantly reduce this amount.

The solution was to join a shared server with 92 other companies. This means that the 2 tonnes of CO2 produced by the server is spilt between each of the companies, reducing their annual production to only 0.022 tonnes per year.

As well as lowering the carbon emissions of our website, we have taken into account a number of other factors when offsetting our carbon footprint, including lighting and air-conditioning in the data centres. In assessing every factor that could contribute to running the company, we have offset a significantly higher carbon footprint of 4.5 tonnes. By setting a higher target we are confident of covering all aspects of our website hosting and more.

So how did we go about actually offsetting the CO2 we produce? We began by making a donation to Blue Ventures Carbon Offset (BVCO), a not-for-profit carbon offsetting programme.

We wanted to donate to a really proactive company and see the results of our contributions. BVCO’s open expeditions mean that anyone can see the offset in action, and because they are verified by an independent body we can be certain our donations are going towards combating climate change.

In addition to offsetting the CO2 produced by the hosting of the website, Localnightsout.com also pledge to plant a tree in a British woodland or forest for every new paid display taken out on Localnightsout.com. All customers are issued with a certificate confirming the planting.

For this we have chosen Growaforest, a not-for-profit company aimed at improving the state of our planet, to undertake the planting of our customers’ trees. Growaforest is run by volunteers, using every penny generated to plant native trees and make the forests available for everyone to enjoy.

What is perhaps most surprising is that the cost of all these initiatives doesn’t impact on customers’ budgets. The carbon offsetting steps we are taking don’t simply benefit our own company’s carbon footprint, but also those of every company that takes out an ad with us.

What all this means is that rather than just being carbon growth neutral we can actually make a positive impact on the environment and climate change by being carbon growth negative.

I went down with a friend of mine in his Caterham R300 which meant leaving at 6:30am on Sunday morning to get down to his dad’s house near Dartford where I would leave the car and squeeze the gear into the R300. It’s a good job I know how to travel light what with two people, two sets off luggage for 3 days and two crash helmets. Most of the gear fitted in the small “boot” area leaving a small rucksack each which went on the floor under our legs up front.

Although I have been in the R300 a few times at track days and for a short trip on the road this was to be the first time I had been on a long trip in one. Although quite loud I have to say I didn’t find it uncomfortable at all and would gladly take one on a much longer trip ( south of France for example). This could definitely be done as long as crash helmets were not needed.

After a meal out on Sunday night we were up again at 7:30 to head down to the track. A good time was had by all and there were no incidents. I had some passenger rides in various cars and also spent some time taking photos. Monday night was out for another organised meal which is a great night out and gives everyone an opportunity to talk together about the days antics. After alot to drink it was back to the accommodation which for many was the infamous Loubarre B&B run by the eccentric but very friendly owner.

My room mate and I had gone to the supermarket at lunch time and stocked up the fridge with beers. This led to most people staying there piling in to our 3 bed gite for more banter and drinks.

After getting to bed at about 2am we had to get up again at 8:15 for breakfast before setting off to get back for the ferry. So after 3 late nights and 3 early mornings it was back to Blighty. This trip is organised every 6 months or so and if you are in to track days in any way it is definitely worth the effort. The consequences of me going along in the R300 instead of taking my own car is that I now want to get a Caterham even more. I just need to earn the pennies now……

-Eekins