After my rant about my T-Mobile Broadband last week I felt I had to share this new research by Broadband Expert with you.

Firstly to show you that I wasn't just moaning, and secondly to show that companies are seemingly telling us a few porkies with their mobile broadband advertising.

The survey by the comparison site found that UK mobile broadband providers are delivering services "far lower than advertised".

Almost three and a half thousand broadband connections were tested over a five month period. Over this period the survey found that users only recorded an average download speed of 1.1Mbs, which is far less than our mobile broadband companies promise us.

Rob Webber, Broadband Expert's commercial director, explained how they did the tests.
"These are tests performed by users on the Broadband Expert website. They select their internet service provider, their promised connection speed, and the sort of connection they have.

"As a result, some providers got tested more than others and we did not have enough data on British Telecom or Virgin Mobile to give a valid result," he said.

I know I've said it before but I would love to hear if you've had any problems with these pesky dongles, maybe then we can start getting companies to wake up to the fact that their advertising standards need some serious thinking about.

What makes a blogging platform cool and another less cool? Posterous has stolen my heart - for its simplicity and ease of use - but not everyone is so impressed by ravishingly efficient content management. Some people have other criteria when assessing blogging sites or social networks - like, are they cool?

Tumblr is really cool apparently. Several people on Twitter and IRL have told me so, and somehow I know it is when I look at it. This one for example. But why?

Fashionistas are always making comments like 'bat-winged jackets are really cool' and then inventing spurious reasons about sleeve-trends and how bat-wings/retro-tailoring/apricot leather captures the zeitgeist as proof for their statements.

I just decided, for one post at least, we'd do the same with blogging platforms. Of course this opens up definition-busting broader questions like 'what is cool anyway?' I don't know, but let's shove that aside and make a few lists about stuff I do know.

Follow on after the jump

Genevieve picks up on a handbag with a difference...

While I'm not a celebrity, I am familiar with people taking photographs of me on nights out, not looking my best and in compromising situations. Instead of Paparazzi, I have click-happy friends. So this prototype handbag looks rather tempting. Coined the "Anti-Paparazzi handbag", it detects camera flashes and emits a powerful strobe to dazzle the photographer.

Whilst it's just a prototype at the moment, it seems like a good idea, but has anyone seen a picture of the bag? Does anyone know what it looks like? There will probably be an artist's impression "8" long, satin finish and had a menacing look about it" is what I imagine the eye witness report will sound like. It could be hideous and you'd be carrying around a really ugly handbag if no one was snapping you.

Also, what happens to it if it gets caught in the headlight of a car? Does it then go dazzling innocent motorists?

The more I think about it, the more I see holes in the idea. Still, at least knicker-less celebrities can use the bag to cover their parts as they're getting into cars. Then impressionable teens can read the gossip magazines and say "I knew it, the sun really does shine out of their bums".

By Genevieve Sibayan
AHProjects [via BoingBoing]

Last week we did a piece on 5 reasons why Twitter will kill blogging... and got a big reaction.

As one commentator sweetly pointed out, Shiny Shiny is in fact a blog so we do have a vested interest in defending them. Others said that Twitter is link dependent, so actually drives traffic to blogs. Several people pointed out that blogs can be great and that sometimes people want to read content that is longer than 140 characters.

From a reader's point of view, then: Twitter one-liners supplement but don't replace the more satisfying content on blogs and it could make it easier to find them. So it's probably fair to say that Twitter helps strong blogs get stronger.

But for the bloggers themselves? Will they still have the motivation to post a web-log about their daily lives/pet rattlesnake/bedroom antics when Twitter and Facebook are easier and quicker?

We delve into the motivation behind blogs after the jump..

Now Photoshop has long since been the favourite programme for those who like to try their hand at image editing, but credit crunch times means you can't always justify forking out £70 odd quid just to remove red-eye. Sure, if you're job revolves around editing images you're going to want to buy this (plus Quark/ InDesign etc), but if you're one of the masses who just need a good imaging programme for cheap what do you do?

I've compiled 4 great Photoshop looky likeys for you to try- and they're all free! Two are online, two are downloadable, it;s up to you to pick which one best suits your needs.

Number 1: Sumo Paint

This is the first free Photoshop style programme I worked with, and it still holds a special place in my heart. OK it doesn't do everything you want, so if you're really into editing collages and fine tuning and framing pics this may be a bit too basic, but it sure beats your basic Paint round the head, cuts it into little pieces and issues of it at four secret locations. You get a floating toolbox, huge colour palette. Loads of brush editing tools and you can even upload images from your desktop or a URL. You do need to be online to use it though- which also means you'll have it wherever you go, and not tied to one computer.

So you're thinking of buying an HDTV? Congratulations, you'll be entering the world of hi resolution imagery, and getting a picture so sharp it will make you want to start attacking your old TV with your fingernails .

But what should you buy? With three main technologies on the market, you're entering a confusing world of LCD, Plasma and OLED, not to mention pixel ratios, bezel size, and of course... price. Well we aim to clear up the confusion, and we're going to use short little words to explain all those baffling terms.

It seems everyone has a blog nowadays, from your postman to your mum (eek!) but what really makes one stand out whilst other fade into oblivion? Having a great design definitely helps, as well as making sure you've laid out your site efficiently, but I tend to think the real success of a blog is in the content- and the commenters.

Feedback is an essential part of web 2.0 as that's what really makes the blog format stand out, but why some posts gets loads of comments and others get none remains a mystery. Sure, if the topic is very controversial you know you're provoking a debate, but what about the majority of stuff that falls into the middle ground? Ever felt a little bit green when your friend skins up her site with a stylish new template, or you see a semi-identikit post get 100 comments to your none? What you're suffering from is Blog Envy.

Guitar Hero has been around since 2005, letting frustrated rockers and wannabe popstars strum out to their hearts content with the plastic shaped peripheral. Rock Band joined in the fun with a drum kit, and there are mic options for wannabe warblers. Up till now, these options were pretty much all you got, even though people are getting quite excited about the forthcoming DJ Hero game. Still, I can't help feel that the dancers are missing out. OK, at 26 I may be to old to ever entertain hopes of achieving Dirty Dancing style moves, but with the popularity of shows such as Strictly Come Dancing and So you Think You can Dance, I reckon Activision are missing a trick here.

Way back in January we were uber excited about the news of a new addition to the Sony walkman family, the brand spanking X Series walkman. It was debuted at CES,
and we learnt all about how it combined useful wireless capabilities with a gorgeous looking 3 inch OLED screen. That dream has just become a reality as the X series is available to purchase from today.

But how does this lovely looking MP3 player match up to the likes of the iPod Touch, arguably its biggest competitor? Will the OLED screen be enough to position this player at the top of the tree, or will it be fisticuffs at dawn? Read on to find out....

Technology has long been used to aid and enhance our life. At its highest (and yes I do mean most expensive) form there are tools available to cater for your every whim - you can have a robotic maid, automatic dishwashers and computers that wake you up with a personalized hello and back massage tailored to your needs... There are also toilets that analyze your waste matter and suggest what type of nutrients you're lacking..if you must go that far!

Computers have shifted from being lumbering behemoths to super sleek devices which continually keep shrinking and the word netbook is now all the rage. Everything is slimmer sleeker, and shinier nowadays, but how does this actually affect you?

In this current climate, no one is spending much dough. And as much as you'd love a shiny new iPhone it doesn't seem feasible tying yourself into a pricey 24 month contract. You've probably started looking at other cheaper options, and that's when we get to the world of budget touchscreens. I was very impressed with the wallet friendly LG Cookie last year, and the orange Vegas has stepped up to the block as a plucky new budget contender. But which phone will win out in the specs war? Read on to find out!

Round 1: Screen Size

Vegas- 2.4 inch touchscreen
LG Cookie -3 inch touchscreen and included stylus

Winner: The Cookie, as with screen size, bigger is ALWAYS better.

It wasn't so long ago I told you about the Raymond Chandler novel being turned into a computer game. It's a common trend to create a game off the back of successful book/movie mashups, but for every creation that's an astounding success there are those that flop heavier than Oprah in a fat suit. There's no perfect key to creating a winning game, but I think it would be great if companies started using some lesser known books for plot inspiration. Here's my guide to the top ten fantasy books that deserve to get the multi-player treatment- and I'm only including those that HAVEN'T ever had this, before you start moaning that I didn't mention Neil Gaiman's Coraline or Pratchett's Discworld.

CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO START THE GALLERY

It seems pretty much everyone has a blog nowadays but if you're one of the shrinking number that has never quite got to grips with web 2.0, I'm here to simplify this process for you. It doesn't have to be baffling talk of mySQL and server accounts, I'm going to break down the tools you need to create a site online in five easy steps.

First it's a good idea to plan the kind of site you'd like to create. Do you want a site that's a personal blog, where you just update it occasionally with images and ramblings on topics of your choice? Or would you rather have a professional looking site which will act as an online portfolio to show off your talents? Then there's creating a commercial site which allows you to sell products with PayPal buttons, and there's also the option of creating a website for a company. If you're opting for the most basic option, you'll most likely want to stay within a small budget, whilst if you anticipate heavy traffic to the site, it's worth splashing out a bit more.

What is the world coming to? First a Twitter shaped change to the curriculum has been proposed, that would see primary school children learning how to use the microblogging tool; and now it has been publicly revealed Birmingham University is to offer an MA course covering blogging and social networking. Apparently, the course is "not for freaks or IT geeks" (by freaks do they mean: 'a person or animal on exhibition as an example of a strange deviation from nature; monster' coz' that's what the dictionary says) well that's what the guy who put the course together thinks. Good god, have we not realised how fickle the internet is yet? There's a very very strong possibility this course will be rendered obsolete after a year or two.

The futile course will cover what people can do on Facebook and Twitter and how they can be utilised for communication and marketing purposes. It's been revealed there has been "significant interest in the course already" and why wouldn't there be? Who wouldn't opt to take easy street if it means achieving an MA qualification at the end of it? I know a bunch of students who would jump at the opportunity.

MySpace's plummet to the bottom of the social networks list was almost inevitable wasn't it? I mean, it sure has been trailing behind in visitor numbers for quite some time now, not to mention that Facebook overtook it in the popularity stakes AGES ago. And now that microblogging phenomenon Twitter has been thrown into the social networking mix and Bebo has seen in a growth in users, MySpace has been pushed even further to the back of the class. Since its launch five years ago, MySpace has seen some good times, some great times and even some punch the air high five fantastic times, but is now suffering severely in the popularity department and is losing key staff in these tough economic times. There's even speculation an exodus is to follow.

It must be a sad time for MySpace staff and founders. The site that was once synonymous with the term social network has ultimately been left out in the cold and is now half the size of its rival. Users who would once take a bullet for their favourite social network, have now migrated to the more popular sites - that includes a lot of the musical folk too (who said the internet was a fickle place?). Just to give you an example of how bad things really are, MySpace had 124 million monthly uniques last month; Facebook in contrast received 276 million unique visitors, giving it a traffic increase of %16.6. To put it further into perspective, the sites were about neck and neck around June last year. I'm sure I don't need to tell you, MySpace has taken a serious blow.

When I was at primary school we only had one computer, which we took turns with in ten minute increments. High school was a little better as it featured a bank of computers hooked up to the intranet, but though we may have become proficient-ish at Word and Excel, using the net was still something you had to discover at home.

Kids of today may have it easy in the fact that they're connected to the net 24/7 and the world of social media is seen as a natural progression rather than a baffling new world of terms to learn. But do they really need to study Twitter and Facebook etiquette during school hours? Former Oftsed chief Jim Rose thinks this is just what kids need to be doing, and whilst it may make them sit up and pay attention, is it really sensible to school them in this?

I'm not convinced...