You’ll remember those old movies from the 40s and 50s where technology of the future is paraded on screen for the credulous to guffaw at while small children think that some of these developments might actually be possible. Well, we can make video calls on devices that are small enough to put in our pockets from just about anywhere in the world, we have regular space flight and George Orwell got it pretty much spot on in terms of our every move being monitored by The Authorities.

We were promised robots who would do our bidding, clean our houses while cooking meals and doing our 9-to-5 for us at the same time. What ever happened to them? Oh and those little self propelled vacuum cleaners don’t count!

With Facebook and Skype meaningful long distance relationships can be properly maintained, one or two letters a week have been supplanted with instant messaging and video calls and some guy in Japan developing an interactive kissbot so you can even smooch your loved ones over thousands of miles. How sweet, I think…

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If you’re a UK resident, then you’ll be no stranger to the dark, cold conditions that permeate throughout the winter months (and often even the summer months). During these darker periods, the lack of sunshine has been proven to cause the levels of the chemical serotonin (the so-called ‘feel good’ chemical) in the brain to dip, resulting in a feeling of depression often referred to as the ‘Winter blues’.

So how can you beat these Winter blues? What steps can you take to help you feel better during the colder, darker months? According to Put Pork On Your Fork, you can help beat the blues by eating what they refer to as ‘mood boosting’ foods (including pork, spinach, chilli, mango, bananas, walnuts, salmon, pineapple, chocolate and avocado).

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We’ve all been in the position where we’ve been taken in by a beautiful spot in the country, and want to have a weekend or a week break there – only to find it is hours away in the car. When this happens, you have to be ready to pick up the best albums in your house, load them onto your ipod and enjoy the journey.

But, what are the best albums to listen to? Are there certain picks that are better suited for travelling through the country? For example, The XX are more of a band to listen to in and around the city. Here we will have a look at a few to help you on your way when your en-route to one of the many Sykes Cottages around the United Kingdom.

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What lessons can you learn from skin care magazines to boost social media promotional system?

We will critically look at the crash courses under this topic, because, social media education is the key to being productive.

If you want to know how social media works, you need to learn consistently. The answer you’re looking for might not be present within your niche, or it could be very difficult to get your hands on the right substance. But by researching and metric testing, there would be an overflow of ideas to improve your social media returns on investment.

1.    Choose Your Offer Carefully

Skin care magazines know how to target the right audience.

Some offers will perform well in one social media network and fail woefully in another. That’s where testing come in. You need to know the type of marketing offers which suits your audience.

Social media users are selective. If Twitter is your promotional system, then you need to understand what your followers are currently interested in, and work towards fulfilling them.

It begins with knowledge of your niche, the intensity of the problem they face and how desperate they need answers. Is someone looking for ways to tan his skin? That’s a quick point to capitalize on.

Twitter is like a quick-release network. Choose your marketing offers carefully. It’s vital to your success.

2.    Focus On Proven Marketing Formats

“You shouldn’t reinvent the wheel!”

Over the years, several skin care magazines have been made commercial and the popularity of these information products are booming. But what’s the secret to their huge readership and patronage? Their marketing formats have been proven for years.

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Those who make movies for a living know that there are different motives behind their movies.

Of course they want to make lots of money, but some also make films that will get the audience to place themselves in a situation and question themselves how they would handle it.

So as I journeyed to the movie theater over the weekend to see the new Liam Neeson (plays the character John Ottway) offering The Grey, I was curious to think about how I would deal with such unforgiving circumstances should I ever be placed in them.

For those who are not aware of the film or are waiting to view it, the basic plot revolves around a plane crash in the Alaskan wilderness that claims the lives of a number of Ottway’s co-workers who are members of an oil crew.

Surviving the horrific plane crash for Ottway is all the more intriguing given the fact that he comes close to committing suicide early on in the movie, only to be deterred by hearing the howl of a nearby wolf. In the opening moments of the movie, Ottway is seen picking off a wolf with his rifle, given the fact the wolves have become a nuisance to his company’s oil producing efforts.

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It’s just possible that you haven’t noticed but we’re in the first few days which could last at least until the end of the week, probably longer.

What Could Happen If Your Pipes Burst

The elderly and infirm should get their winter warmth allowance which means that they’ll be ok, the young and spritely will be fine too, we’ll turn the heating up a notch, put an extra pair of sock on and see it through but we should all remember to take some precautions against the cold around the house.

Protecting your house against the winter isn’t just about lagging the loft and double glazing the windows. Frost and other effects of the cold can do terrible damage to your home and property, precautions are often simple yet effective and certainly cheaper than the cost of repairs once the damage is done.

During particularly cold spells pipes can freeze, this will lead to burst pipes once the weather warms up a little. The cost of repairing the pipes is not unsubstantial, the cost or repairing and replacing damaged belongings and fixing water damage after a flood is going to be considerably more. It’s particularly important if you’re going to go away from home while the weather is at its worst. Should a pip burst while you’re away the cost of repairing damage caused by flooding could run into thousands of pounds.

Leave A Light On, And A Little Heat Too

If you are leaving home, no matter for a few days or even weeks you should leave the heating on low. This will pipes from freezing and therefore minimise the risk of pipework inside the home from splitting. If you’re leaving for an extended period it might be wiser to drain the entire central heating system and leave it switched off.

Leaving interior doors open can help prevent pipes from bursting as they allow warm air from the sunny side of the house to circulate around. Leaving the doors to the cupboard under the sink will help prevent the pipes bursting there; this is where the pipes are at their coldest, having just left the out doors and running up against the inside of an exterior wall.

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Both 2010 and 2011 saw some major developments in the mobile industry, with extremely sophisticated and multi-functional smartphones the norm in the current market (at least in Europe and the US). But what does this year hold for the mobile industry? What kind of developments can we expect in 2012?

It seems I’m not the only one asking these kind of questions, as mobile TV streaming and encoding specialists Gorillabox producing the following infographic with some great information on the subject:

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