So what does Sphere It offer you, our discerning and (let’s be honest here) rather good-looking reader? In short, Sphere It completes a rather clever semantic analysis concerning the text of each post and then presents a list of related reading from other sites that may prove of interest to you. Not only that, but it does all this in real time – impressive stuff indeed (and so impressive that TFTS joins the ranks of sites as elevated as Time.com in employing it).

If you would like to add a Sphere It bookmarklet to your browser you can do so by following this link.
In the meantime I hope you find this extra functionality to be of interest to you and I would like to thank those behind Sphere It not only for responding to us so very quickly, but for their kind comments concerning Thoughts from the Sidelines (and the resulting warm fuzzy moment that in incurred).

As far as gadget and technology sites are concerned we may not be anywhere near up there with the big hitters, but we’re certainly on the map and it’s all good (we work extremely hard on this site, so feedback such as this really means something).

I would like to thanks all those that took part and especially those who took time out to offer a little feedback about Thoughts from the Sidelines – your thoughts are much appreciated.

As you know we are genuinely always interested to hear from you if you have ideas as to how we can improve the site and, with that in mind, please do feel free to get in touch via the contact page as it’s always nice to hear something back from visitors to this site.

Anyway, I’m going off on a tangent here, let’s get back to the prize winner who was selected randomly as…(insert drum roll here)…Mike (who posted a comment on 11/01/07).

Well done Mike! I will be popping you an email shortly so that I can gain your details which will enable me to post the Picco Z to you (I’m sure your love it).
For those that haven’t won the good news is that we’ll be running another competition in the near future so stay tuned. And, if you simply can’t live without one of these great gadgets – and who could blame you as ours spends most of its life airborne – you can get one (listed as being the ‘PicoZ’) via this site for a mere $39.95.

Of special mention, I would like to thank Worm of Wormbrain fame for his interest in TFTS and for his friendship and ceaseless motivation (you’re a star), Rose DesRochers of Today’s Woman.net for her continued interest in this site and for her insightful guidance (as well as the odd telling off – hey, I respond to a bit of discipline, what can I say? lol) and, last but by no means least, Invader Stu of the wonderful Invading Holland and Claudia from the insightful C-Writing for their flow of comments that have always served as a great motivation when the chips have been down.

I will endeavor to have a drink and toast each and every one of you (so if you never hear from me again, you’ll know that it’s down to alcohol poisoning).

Happy Christmas to you all!

Subsequent to our initial posting concerning the Picoo Z, which can be read here, the one up for grabs is already boxed up here at TFTS towers and ready for dispatch, all you have to do to stand a chance of winning this great gadget is to leave a comment at the bottom of this post detailing what you think about Thoughts from the Sidelines, a sort of mini review if you like – it really is as simple as that.

The competition is open until 31 January 2007 at which point a random comment from this post will be chosen, the author of which will receive their very own Picoo Z free with thanks from us at TFTS.

Please note that whilst you do not have to be signed in as a member of the site to post a comment, you will need to ensure that you provide a valid email address so that, should you be chosen as the winner, we can contact you so as to arrange delivery of your free Picoo Z.

We look forward to your feedback and wish you the best of luck!

Conditions: Please note that spam entries will not be considered for the prize – and will be zapped at server level as always – and that multiple entries by the same individual will also be excluded from the final draw. In the event that the random winner proves to be non-contactable, another winner will be chosen at random from the pool of entries. The editor’s decision is final.

We at TFTS do not receive any profit in any shape or form from linking to sites or featuring any given product but when we receive prompt, efficient and personalised service as outstanding as this from a vendor then I sincerely think it is worth a heads up on this site and, for that reason, I cannot recommend Fabstuff.net enough (though I cannot state what the product in question is as it’s a Christmas present).

You can link to Fabstuff.net via this link.

So I would like to sincerely thank all those that have stopped by this site and in particular the visitor from Chicago, Illinois who became today’s 1000th reader at 21:58 GMT.

You can view the video after the jump, however, I would like to stress that, though screams can be heard in the distance as our rocket explodes, no children or animals were hurt during this exercise. That said, the resulting explosion came as rather a shock to us as well.

A little background. Every year on fireworks night we launch a few, rather modest fireworks from our little garden and, every year, we have found ourselves to be completely outdone by a neighbour close by. This year we decided that we would up the ante a little – well, okay, rather a lot actually – and so, with no expense spared, we purchased by far the largest rocket we have ever clapped our eyes on.

The Rocket, primmed for launching. As an idea of
scale, I could barely fit my hand around the launching pole
- and I have big hands.

With its main body coming in at a little bigger than a 2 litre drinks bottle, and its launching tube being constructed from reinforced plastic, we knew that it would serve its intended purpose with great aplomb. What we didn’t expect is that it would light up the entire sky in a blast that sent shockwaves for miles around.

Needless to say, we now have a lawn which basically consists of an almighty scorch mark and little else.

You can see the TFTS Monster rocket/cruise missile in action in the video provided below. To experience what it was like in actuality (and it certainly came as a shock to us) I would suggest double clicking on the video to go full screen and cranking the sound up high.

[etv]

Naturally, it goes without question that we would like to take this opportunity to apologise to everyone within a 5 mile radius of the resulting airburst and assure them that coach transportation and flasks of hot tea will be laid on this time next year for those wishing to remain out of the blast radius of TFTS Monster Rocket Mk.II.

You can link to Rocketboom directly to view their latest Quicktime news roundup via this link or, if you wish to link directly to the suicide coke robot post, you can do so by clicking here.

I would like to thank Rocketboom and Joanne most sincerely for their interest in Thoughts from the Sidelines. (I think a beer is in order).