Archive for the ‘Random Stuff’ Category

Ironing is more fun when you do it on the motorway

Monday, April 18th, 2011

Many of you will agree that ironing isn’t one of the most exciting things to do. But some wacky people in the East Midlands (UK) discovered, back in 1997, that if you do your ironing in an unusual location and call it extreme then it becomes all that more fun. We’re not convinced you’d leave with perfectly ironed collars and crease-free trousers though.

Today we saw one EI (extreme ironer) make the headlines as he planted board on ground and placed iron to shirt in the middle of the M1 (one of the UK’s busiest motorways). For those of you unaware, the M1 has been causing havoc in recent days as it has been shut due to a fire, so the mystery ironer was playing safe all along. So the question is, does that actually class as extreme ironing?

extreme ironing

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National Cupcake Week

Tuesday, September 14th, 2010

Flipping heck, us Brits know how to theme a week, don’t we?! Whoever had the idea of having a National Cupcake week clearly has some kind of higher intelligence than ours, but at least we’re prepared with some rather nice Cupcake-y products. In fact, just this week we launched a new Giant Cupcake Pan for you to make oversized cupcakes with, and there’s always our trusty Teacup Cakes if you’ve got someone important coming round for tea.

If you’re looking for inspiration for making your own cupcakes to celebrate this most tasty of festivals, then look no further than the winner of the 2010 Cupcake Champion competition (honestly, who thought of this? It’s amazing!). David Bennett, who previously worked in several Michelin-starred restaurants, obviously values the humble cupcake high enough to craft a sumptuous-sounding Mango & Passion Fruit cupcake that won him the coveted title. There’s a list of the finalists and their cupcake creations at this link – some of them are literally insane. Mojito cupcake, anyone?

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Commuting ain't so bad…

Tuesday, September 7th, 2010

It may have been a pain getting in to work what with schools back and the tube strike, but it was a beautiful morning to commute for our Creative Director:

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Good thing he’s always got his camera with him, eh?

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Posted in Cool Stuff, Driving Stuff, IWOOT Stuff, Nice Stuff, Random Stuff | 4 Comments »

Firemen Called to EllaWoot's Barbecue

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

So… a nice family BBQ was plotted for Bank Holiday Monday. My brother, sister and I would cook and then my Mum and Stepdad would come round and eat. It clouded over so I, Ella ‘I feel the cold’ Williamson, suggested we cook everything in the oven and then my brother and sister were going to finish it off on the BBQ so our parents would never know we hadn’t been slaving over hot coal all day. We were all feeling lazy so we decided to pop the mini BBQ on the windowsill. It was pretty smoky so we had all the windows open, but were generally feeling pretty smug about our genius plan.

The doorbell went minutes later and we buzzed our guests up assuming it was the parentals. Imagine our horror when not one, not two, but three firemen in full regalia walked into my brother’s flat and extinguish our BBQ. The neighbours must have been alarmed by the smoke and called the Fire Brigade. We were mortified. The firemen (thankfully) didn’t have any other fires on that afternoon so found the whole thing quite amusing. They even stayed for a photo shoot:

Eeeyyy!

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Posted in Food Stuff, Funny Stuff, Nice Stuff, Random Stuff | 2 Comments »

Mario Kart Street Graffiti

Friday, August 27th, 2010

Mario Kart is officially the funnest thing ever (except working at IWOOT, obviously), so we’re always on the lookout for developments in the world of banana skins, green shells and reckless driving. A recent news bulletin shows perhaps the most mysterious incident of Mario Kart invading real life – a cycle path in Portland, Oregon has had some interesting graffiti drawn on it:

Thankfully, the banana skins don’t cause you to spin out and fall off Rainbow Road. While we’re on the subject, there are some seriously dangerous Mario Kart enthusiasts out there too:

Don’t try this at home, obviously.

Via Cnet.

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Has Japan made a pact with our future galactic overlords?

Thursday, August 26th, 2010


Chris from Customer Services has done us a blog about Japanese robots. Obviously. Over to you, Chris…

“Everybody knows that robots are cool. It’s the name of the game here at IWOOT – gadgets that make you go “whoa!”. Every little human child has wished for a robot friend to smite our foes, be a best mate or just do our maths for us. These wishes come from our influences. Who has seen Rocky IV and not wanted Balboa to be giving that bug eyed robot to them rather than his boozed up, freeloading, brother in law? Or watched Johnny 5 wasted in a life of servitude building mini-mes (procreation metaphor methinks) under the guise of ‘helping a friend’? Don’t we all just want him to laser gun his Guttenberg master with a “kiss my robot ass Mahoney!”?

What is the problem with Japan then? Why are they not building the robots of our fantasies? (Fembots!…) They seem to be hell-bent on providing us with robots of an increasingly horrifying nature.

Behold the work of inventor Hiroki Kunimura:

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This bundle of terror is Yotaro, a robot constructed by Dr Kunimura to aid in Japan’s population problem. You see, what you don’t get told in re-runs of Akira and in the narrative of Tokyo Drift is that Japan has real issues with its population in that, much like giant Pandas, they just won’t make babies.

Yotaro, according to Hiroki, is designed to “trigger human emotions so humans will want to have their own baby”. First issue: why is he referring to humans as if he has never seen one outside a lab? Second issue: Yotaro feeds, cries, gurgles and leaks like we are told real babies do and has gone down a storm with the robot-making communities of Japan, many declaring that they felt new emotions rising up in them after making contact with Yotaro (dread and despair, presumably).

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Interestingly Kunimura has said that the baby crisis was not in the front of his mind when he developed Yotaro. What was he developing this bed ridden hell-globe for?!”

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BBC Computers used to teach Computing A-Level

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010

Crikey we’re nostalgic, aren’t we? If it wasn’t enough for us to ceremonially mark the birthday of Windows 95 yesterday, we’ve now gone all gooey over BBC Computers. When I was but a lad of primary school age, these alien pieces of technology (we were an Amstrad family) seemed unwieldy, almost scary – but get a game of Tanks going and suddenly the fear subsides. Ah, the healing power of armed combat…

Even with their relatively basic (quite literally BASIC, in fact) operating functions, it seemed an unassailable piece of kit, to be bettered only by alien technology or the arrival of Buck Rogers in an IT lesson. While you’re playing Granny’s Garden, the thought of there being any sort of more advanced computing intellect seems like the idle dream of an impossible optimist.

It’s heartening, then, to learn that some students have turned to the trusty old relic for insight into how modern computers work:

Via the BBC, logically enough.

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Posted in Brainy Stuff, Cool Stuff, Found on the Interwebs Stuff, Funny Stuff, Geek Stuff, Nice Stuff, Random Stuff | 3 Comments »

Happy Birthday Windows 95!

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

Anyone who’s old enough to have owned computer in 1995 will fondly remember the revolutionary design of Windows 95, which celebrates its 15th birthday today. Of course, the fact that its colour scheme looks like a thunderingly dull matte explosion at B&Q only means that our eyes have become more discerning over the years.

I remember when my secondary school finally upgraded to Windows 95, which included this new-fangled thing known as The Internet. It was rubbish. You’d walk in there, list of ‘Web Sites’ on a post-it note, type one in and sit there for the whole lunch hour while the BBC front page loaded up. Still, it’s nice to reminisce, so why not have a look/listen to all the start-up sounds from Windows operating systems over the years:

Amazing! Via Techradar.

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Megapixels – the new crime fighters?

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

Anyone who watches CSI knows that they often miraculously use technology to zoom in a gazillion times into a low-res image taken from a street traffic camera, or have some super-futuristic version of photoshop that allows you to clean up a thumbnail and print it billboard size. Truth is, if you are or have a pixel-pusher watching in the near vicinity, you immediately hear them sigh in frustration. You can’t cheat the inverse proportional truths behind resolution and size. Believe me, we have all cheated and, much like the magic wand tool, the results are more often than not disastrous and quite ugly.

With all of this in mind, it’s wonderful to read a story where a family camera’s wealth of megapixels actually helped fight crime. The Myers family were taking a family self-portrait, and accidentally snapped the dude stealing their stuff.

“We were taking pictures outside the Capitol building and I wanted to get a timed shot of the whole family all dressed up. So I put my bag down, placed the camera on a wall, got everyone to line up, set the timer for ten seconds, and jumped into the photo. I took a quick look at the image and liked it.

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We then started to walk away when I realized my bag was missing. I went inside the building to see if someone had turned it in, but no luck. I ran outside and circled the building, but still no luck.I then realized that I might have caught the thief on camera and I checked the shot again. When I saw the guy with his hand in my bag, I ran back inside and found the Capitol Police.

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They were amazing. They immediately sent out a description of the thief using the photo I took. In a few minutes, one officer had found him still in the area. The thief had dumped some things from the bag in a nearby trash can—the flash for my camera, a small backpack of kids toys, a bag of cables, extra SD cards, my mini tripod—but still in my bag were my wallet with cash, credit cards, hotel keys, rental car keys, and my iPad.The Police recovered everything and hauled the guy off to jail.”

Sweet!

Source – Gizmodo

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Posted in Cool Stuff, Found on the Interwebs Stuff, Nice Stuff, Random Stuff | 1 Comment »

Creme Egg in a Microwave, anyone?

Thursday, August 5th, 2010

We put a Creme Egg in the Microwave. Does this post need to say much else?

Obviously, we implore you not to try this at home. We are trained professionals with very poor-quality camera phones.

Blimey! Who knew the goo would come out so weirdly?! Anyway, you might be wondering exactly why we thought this was a good idea. The only thing I can put it down to is the combination of nervous terror and bizarre eating habits (see the picture at the top) that seems to be currently affecting JennaWoot. Poor lass. Still, at least we got to put a Creme Egg in a microwave, eh?

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Posted in Food Stuff, Funny Stuff, Random Stuff | 1 Comment »