Robot Operator

Creating your own home bar is a really fun thing to do, and is also the perfect home improvement for people who enjoy entertaining and like the odd drink in the evenings themselves as well. Obviously the dream scenario is to have a dedicated bar area somewhere is you house or in a covered area of the garden if you live somewhere with warm weather. If you are able to do this then congratulations – you are living the dream! But if not then you can still put together a great home bar with just a little bit of counter space in your kitchen or dining area and a few top gadgets. Here is my pick of the top must have bits of tech for anyone looking to put together their own home bar:

1) An Authentic Beer Tap: A nice cold beer is by far and away the most popular drink around, and it is so much nicer to have a proper draught glass of the good stuff than just pouring it from a bottle. If you have the space you can try to get yourself a full car style tap system, but you can also get a compact self contained system which will cool your beer to the perfect drinking temperature as well as drawing a draught beer from a keg. T-Fal make a good one called the ‘Beertender’; see the resource box for more info.

2) A Wine Cooler: If beer is number one in the popularity ratings, then wine is definitely number two. You can just stick your white wine in the fridge to cool it, but if you want the best then a wine cooler unit will give you your favorite drink at precisely the right drinking temperature.

3) A Juicer: Beer and wine are fine for most days, but sometimes it is nice to be able to mix yourself a cocktail too. Using fresh fruit and a juicing machine lets you make absolutely delicious and refreshing drinks, and its brilliant fun experimenting with new recipes.

4) An Electric Win Bottle Opener: Why do it yourself when you can get a gadget to do it for you?

5) Vacuum Bottle Sealer: For a proper home bar you want a good selection of bottles. The only problem with this is that the larger the selection you have, then the longer you tend to end up keeping open bottles for. Keep them as fresh as the day you first opened them with a vacuum sealing gadget.

By: Dean Walsh

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If you are one of those new urban professionals who have yet to feel very comfortable with technology – technophobia as it is called – take comfort in the fact that you are not alone in your fear of all things techie like electronics for the urban professionals. A published study reveals that majority of new company employees might be technophobes in varying degrees.

Disadvantages of Technophobia

However, you have to let go of your fears at some point, preferably sooner than you want, because technophobia exacts a toll on your personal and professional life:

- Your quality of life will be affected. Imagine having to avoid technology when you have to live and work with electronics for the urban professionals! Unless, of course you work in an Amish community, there is simply no easy way of escaping technology nowadays.

- You will have panic and anxiety attacks that adversely affect your personal and professional relationships. Remember the fictional Wesley Gibson of the movie “Wanted”? If you are in his shoes, you would be apologizing too much, too!

- The symptoms of panic attacks – rapid and short breaths, irregular heartbeat, nausea and sweating – are no walk in the park. Would you really want to be all sweaty and shaking when you need to present a composed appearance in front of potential customers? Definitely not!

As much as you can, you have to find ways to get over your technophobia to climb the ladder of success in the corporate world. Where else would Bill Gates be if he had your technophobia?

To Die-For Gadgets

With these electronics for the urban professionals, you will discover that there is nothing to fear but fear itself (with many thanks to Franklin D. Roosevelt). You will love these gadgets for the way they make your life easier and lovelier, advantages that you overlooked because of your fear of technology.

You simply must have these electronics for the urban professionals in your professional and personal arsenal:

- Apple iPods and only Apple iPods. These are the most popular and most saleable portable media players and for good reason, too! These gadgets are easy to use with its user-friendly interface (sometimes called the Nokia of portable media players for said feature), wide array of compatible accessories, compact size, attractive color displays and designs, and reasonable prices.

You can choose from among many varieties to serve your equally many needs and budgets- the iPod classic, the iPod Touch, the iPod Nano, the iPod Shuffle, and the iPhone. (Thank the high heavens boom boxes are a thing of your past)

- Digital cameras for the shutterbugs. Nowadays, carrying around a digital camera is not a sign of being another greenhorn tourist. You can use these electronics for the urban professionals when going to the project site to document construction progress, to the client presentation for press releases, and to your casual dates for posterity.

With digital cameras in tow, you can even be a corporate spy! Remember how spies in movies used their digital cameras to photograph documents? Well, you can do that, too, except that you will probably be very nervous about doing espionage that you would probably capture the image of the coffee cup stains! Then again, practice makes perfect, doesn’t it?

- For the ultimate electronics for the urban professionals, laptops cannot be beat for its function, form and fashion. You can carry your files around with you without lugging a heavy briefcase stuffed with paper; you can pack your laptop in a slim case hereby bidding adieu to the bulky bags of yesterday; and you will be ultra-fashionable with the latest laptop in front of you.

When you have all three of these electronics for the urban professionals, you can consider yourself fully covered in all techie bases. You now have various means of communication, entertainment and information packed in three sleek and stylish packages that fit right into the slimmest of bags. It makes you wish that you never had technophobia!

As a last word, when shopping for electronics for the urban professionals, always choose what you believe is best for your needs. Do not go for a gadget just because your friends have it, your neighbors flaunt it, and your co-workers praised it to high heavens. You have to decide for yourself because that is what being an urban professional is – individualistic and fearless!

By: Roddy Jones

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