Regardless of your sexual orientation, there are many ways on how you can meet a man through the Craigslist service.

The best way is to load up the Craigslist website and access the city closest to you. From there, you should head to the personals section. Depending on your own interests, you should click the “men seeking men” or the “women seeking men” link. After that is done, accept the warning agreement and start to read through the personal advertisements (typical Craigslist actions here).

The most important thing to remember is that not every post is authentic. Many of these posts are automated messages trying to get you to join a service. If you notice one of these posts, you should ignore it and report it to the Craigs list service for it to be removed. Threads with pictures may not be authentic as most users wish to not share their pictures to such a wide audience of random people.

Once you have contacted the person that you would like to meet up with, the rest is up to you. It is very important to gain some type of relationship with the individual before you agree to meet them as the meeting could be a trap. While this is very uncommon, there is a small possibility that some individual may want to exploit you. Using common sense is the best way to prevent these issues, of course.

An iPod dock with hidden talents

While some people know that an iPod can quite easily be hooked up to an audio system using a single cable, the player can also be quickly added to a hi-fi using a docking station.

The ASD-3W is such a docking station but it goes one step further, allowing complete control of the contents of the iPod using a television screen and the supplied remote control.

You are able to browse the entire music and video collection on the iPod from the comfort of an armchair and play it all back in full-screen, surround sound glory on a home cinema system.

The dock’s Wifi capability adds several useful features. It makes it possible to browse and play music from a PC in another room. Once we had selected our wireless network connection from the on-screen menu we had access to internet radio stations and podcasts from around the world, all logically and effectively organised by country, type and genre. If you don’t have a wireless network, the dock can also be connected to the internet using a standard network cable.

The ASD-3W is substantially chunkier than the standard Apple iPod dock and is circular in shape with a built-in remote control slot, all of which point to its extra features. The glossy black or white plastic finish lends it a premium feel and matches the iPod well. As we would expect from a high-end audio manufacturer such as Denon, the supplied cables are gold-plated to improve sound quality.

We were not disappointed with any aspect of the dock’s performance. Browsing and accessing a vast iPod music library of over 5,500 tracks posed it no difficulty. The device’s menus were instantly responsive and the small, logically designed remote control allows access to every function with ease. Sound quality from most of the internet radio stations we tried was excellent - comparable to a strong FM signal with a notable absence of the long pauses usually associated with internet broadcasts.

The ASD-3W is an accomplished, complete way to fully integrate an iPod into a home audio setup, and its extra features are genuinely useful, making it worth the asking price.

YouTube has become one of the most popular websites on the internet. Being used by millions of users per day, certain establishments are attempting to stop their users from accessing the video website. From government computers (schools, libraries, et cetera) to employment based internet, access to YouTube is starting to be denied. With this being said, there are ways as to how you can access YouTube even with the site is blocked.

The preferred way to access YouTube on a restricted server is by using a YouTube proxy. While this method of unblocking YouTube is not the safest, it is the easiest and fastest. The only required step is to find a YouTube unblocking site via Google, access the website, and type in the YouTube address. In less than a minute, you have gained access to YouTube. The main side effect to this method is that sometimes the videos are prone to not loading. This is an issue you will have to deal with if you decide to stick with this method.

There are other methods, such as proxy software, browser settings, et cetera that you can use, but these methods are easier to detect on computer networks. These methods also require you to change settings on your computer, which may not be ideal for some environments.

Losing weight is all about eating the right kinds of foods and not by depriving your self of it. There are reasons why a person goes overweight and the main reason for it is because of eating too much of the wrong kinds of foods. How to lose weight effectively means eating the right kinds of foods with the right amount of servings as well. With Smart for Life’s smart cookie program or the cookie diet it is advisable for anyone who yearn for losing weight to eat several high protein and small serving meals per day, about six times per day, this is to ensure that your body will get all the nutrients it deserve and also control the amount of food getting in your body. Smart for Life smart cookie program teaches individuals to reprogram their eating habit and turn it into a healthy one, thus eliminating improper junk food consumption and replacing them with the right way of diet that will make it possible for them to easily lose weight. Remember with Smart for Life’s the cookie diet living a healthy life can be very easy and losing weight will come in naturally and therefore gives more color to your life.

The chief executive of General Motors told delegates at the Consumer Electronics Show that driverless cars will be a reality in a decade or less.

Rick Wagoner, delivering the first CES keynote by an automotive producer, said that advances in the automatic control of vehicles are bearing fruit, and unveiled a prototype Chevy Tahoe being developed by his company.

“The future of the auto is bright and increasingly electronic. Autonomous driving means that someday you could do your email, eat breakfast, do your makeup and watch a video while commuting to work,” he said.

“In other words, you could do all the things you do now while commuting to work but do them safely.”

General Motors plans to test driverless cars by 2015 and have them in production by 2018.

The company has been heavily involved in the move towards automatic cars, and provided the winning entry in this year’s Darpa Urban Challenge.

The cars of the future will also communicate with each other, according to Wagoner, so that if one has to break sharply the cars will behind slow down automatically.

General Motors is also introducing Stolen Vehicle Slowdown, a system that automatically shuts down the engine of a stolen car in an effort to cut the 30,000 high-speed pursuits that take place on America’s roads every year.

Wagoner also unveiled the Chevy Provoq, a concept car that uses a hydrogen fuel cell, a solar cell roof and lithium batteries for power. It can reach 0-60 in 8.5 seconds and run for 300 miles on a tank of hydrogen.

Aztech’s V500-DS is a Dect cordless phone that works with both landlines and the Skype internet phone calling service.

The box contains the phone, a pair of AAA batteries and the dock, which acts as a charger and a hub for the various connections (it connects to both the phone socket and your broadband router as well as the mains).

As soon as we plugged everything in the phone started charging automatically, and before long we were able to make both Skype and normal calls. Logging into our Skype account was simple, as was the process of making calls.

The handset isn’t particularly ergonomic, but it looks good and it’s perfectly comfortable to use. The buttons feel a bit like cheap plastic but it’s fairly solidly built nonetheless. Call quality was slightly disappointing over both Skype and the BT network - our calls tended to suffer from generally poor quality and the sound dropped out momentarily more than once.

Oddly, it worked much better when we used the phone’s built-in speaker, which is satisfyingly loud. Battery life is good, with around eight hours of talk time, but the phone’s sound quality is what lets it down.

An Australian PC retailer has come up with a novel way of supporting the ‘alternative’ software movement.

Tekfix Computing Solutions is offering a discount on products purchased online using Firefox rather than Internet Explorer.

The firm has the backing of Google and the Mozilla Foundation to switch internet users to the open source browser.

“We are looking to give people an opportunity to get away from the built-in browser that comes with Windows,” said Tony Schirmer, marketing manager at Tekfix.

“In my experience Mozilla has provided more security and a better overall experience when browsing the internet. We want to reward people who take the next step and try the browser for themselves.”

A five per cent discount is available when Firefox is detected on the coupon code entry, leaving all other shoppers with the full fee.

The move follows a similar effort by Google, which introduced paid referrals into its AdSense system, allowing any AdSense publisher to earn money from referring users to Firefox provided it contains the Google Toolbar.

The non-profit Mozilla Foundation has recently released the second Firefox 3 beta for testing.

Netscape Navigator, one of the first web browsers has finally been dropped by AOL. 

Security patches and active support for the current version, Netscape 9, will only continue until 1 February this year. After this date AOL will urge users to adopt Firefox, developed by its not-for-profit offshoot, the Mozilla Foundation

The formal announcement from AOL which came at the end of December ends the years of struggle by AOL to regain the market share lost by Netscape to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browsers.

However, Netscape, which was once used by over 80 per cent of internet users, failed to regain the ground it lost and its share was down to 0.6 per cent in December 2007, compared to the 77 per cent Internet Explorer boasts.

In a formal statement on the official Netscape blog, AOL said: “While internal groups within AOL have invested a great deal of time and energy in attempting to revive Netscape Navigator, these efforts have not been successful in gaining market share from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.

“Recently, support for the Netscape browser has been limited to a handful of engineers tasked with creating a skinned version of Firefox with a few extensions. Given AOL’s current business focus and the success the Mozilla Foundation has had in developing critically acclaimed products, we feel it’s the right time to end development of Netscape-branded browsers, hand the reins fully to Mozilla and encourage Netscape users to adopt Firefox.”

Mozilla’s Firefox web browser currently has around 16 per cent of the market share. Security patches for Navigator 9 and all previous versions will come to an end on 1 February along with active product support.

The Netscape.com portal will still be available, and the browser may still used and downloaded indefinitely. Nostalgia buffs can also give Firefox a Netscape look.

Trevor Baylis created the first wind-up radio 16 years ago for use in areas where mains electricity was intermittent or non-existent.

Since then the inventor has applied the same technology, consisting of a wind-up generator and a rechargeable battery, to other appliances, this music and video player being the latest.

The EMP-MX71 has a high-grip, rubberised surface and the trademark winding handle on the back.

Winding it steadily for 60 seconds gave over 30 minutes of music, and the battery can also be charged from a USB socket for up to 20 hours’ playing time. A selection of connection cables are provided so that you can charge a mobile phone from the device and it has a small, bright torch built into the top.

The media player itself has an adequate 4.6cm screen, but it’s not as bright and clear as some of its rivals. It plays a range of formats including MP3 and WMA as well as MP4 video. A software converter is provided for videos. An SD card slot in the side can be used to boost the player’s 2GB of memory.

Audio can be recorded using the EMP-MX71’s internal microphone or by connecting the supplied line-in cable to an audio source. There’s also an FM radio, which uses the headphone cable as an aerial. The headphones themselves have an unusual design, but are both comfortable and produce better-than-average sound.

Sound quality in general is good with noticeable bass. If you could use a source of portable power and need a well-configured media player, this is the ideal combination gadget.

Swiss watchmakers Oris are revolutionising the wrists of F1 speedsters and deep-sea divers alike.

Since 1904, Oris have traditionally produced mechanical-only watches, so gorgeous in their complexity that the distinctive clear-case back holds as much allure as the beautifully-crafted faces. The luxury timepieces from this year’s collection exude the same class associated with the company throughout their century-long history.

With just 2,000 available worldwide, the Carlos Coste Chronograph Limited Edition is a pearl at the bottom of the ocean. Oris is the official sponsor of word record holding free-diver Carlos Coste and this signature piece is water resistant to 1000m. It features orange detailing (the last colour in the spectrum visible in deep water), and a helium valve essential to withstand deep-sea pressures.

The new TT3 Chronograph has been about the only thing able to keep time with the red-hot F1 scene lately. As the official watch sponsor of the Williams F1 team, it’s Oris’ latest top-notch Motor Sport piece. With a design inspired by the car it features a titanium casing as used on the engine, a carbon fibre dial and a flexible, durable rubber strap - a la the tyres. It’s also water resistant to 100m, plenty enough to cope with the odd post-race champagne dousing.

The sleek Artelier Skeleton is the first in the classic Artelier collection to showcase a skeleton design, showcasing the distinctive eye-catching Oris mechanics transparently through the face and back. Add into the mix the exquisite Louis XIV decorative engraving and the silver patterned dial ring and you have a combination of sexy aesthetics more interesting to look at than the time itself.

Within four main families; Motor Sport, Diving, Aviation and Culture, every Oris timepiece features a distinctive red rotor and a clear case back making visible the complex mechanics of the timepieces

Adobe has implemented support for high-definition video in the latest version of its Flash player.

Flash 9 Moviestar supports the H.264 encoding standard used in HD video formats, allowing sites to stream HD video via the Flash plug-in.

The update could boost the presence of HD video on the web. Adobe claims that Flash is installed on 99 per cent of internet-enabled PCs worldwide, and the format is used by such sites as YouTube, MySpace and the BBC.

To boost support for the new format, Adobe has announced updates to the Flash Media Server software used to serve the streaming Flash videos.

The $995 Flash Media Streaming Server 3 is aimed at smaller firms, allowing site owners to stream video in the new HD format.

It supports Adobe’s Flash Lite mobile players, and Adobe Integrated Runtime which allows users to access rich internet applications offline.

By offering a lower-priced server package, the company hopes to extend the reach of streaming video.

High-end users will be offered the $4,500 Flash Media Interactive Server 3 which includes support for the new formats as well as bundled software and support for rights-management and access control software.

The new version of the Flash player is currently available for Mac, Linux and Windows. Both Flash Media Server packages are slated for release in January.

Internet telephony services will have to offer access the UK’s emergency services from September 2008, Ofcom has ruled.

The decision was made after Ofcom research found that just over three-quarters of VoIP users who cannot access emergency numbers, thought they could, or were unsure.

Ofcom said this could be dangerous in an emergency as people could waste vital time trying to make calls via online services before realising they were unable to.

The ruling will apply to both “VoIP out” providers, which allow users to make calls to normal phone numbers but not receive them, and to “Two-way VoIP” providers, which allow users to make and receive calls to and from normal phone numbers.

Services that only allow users to call international numbers and Click to Call services, where users can only call a pre-selected number or limited set of numbers, are excluded.

Welcoming the move, Kerry Ritz, UK managing director of internet telephony provider Vonage, told Computeractive: “We have been working closely with Ofcom with this issue and fully support the initiative.

“The 2008 deadline should also give providers plenty of time to put these requirements into their services. By implementing emergency calls we can push this technology further into the mainstream.”