Steam

This may shock you, particularly if you know me and we hang out, but I don't actually enjoy cleaning my kitchen floors. I don't know about you, but I am forever seeking ways to make the job easier. Add to that my recent forays into greener living, and the idea of tossing soapy water around the kitchen is even less appealing.

The HAAN Steam Cleaning Floor Sanitizer makes cleaning the kitchen floor a little easier--and a lot greener. It looks like an oversize Swiffer or a small vacuum cleaner. But fill the chamber with plain tap water and … Read more

We've been using steam to do our dirty work for a long time, but never before have I heard of steam being used in cleaning grills.

On the contrary, the only strategy I've heard of to clean off your grill in between barbecues is the ubiquitous grill brush, a long-handled gadget with coarse wire bristles that works something like a toothbrush for the grill surface. I have one of these, but I dread using it, because doing so means spending an afternoon buried in charred remains of last month's burgers.

But this grill brush promises to ease … Read more

Microwave ovens are overrated. Oh, sure, they can do some things really well, but for other tasks, they fall quite short. Personally, I like an appliance that is capable of doing more than softening butter and popping popcorn. (OK, I know that's an understatement, but bear with me.) Considering how manufacturers love to integrate several appliances into one (usually with toasters, it would seem), it should come as no surprise that the ubiquitous microwave oven is finally starting to diversify.

The Kalorik Steam Microwave Oven w/Real Convection certainly isn't the first combination appliance based upon quick-and-easy cooking, … Read more

Rafe and Molly take over the show today (because of travels by Tom and Natali) and, not surprisingly, geek out and argue a lot about things like FM radio transmitters. In the actual news, it's cell phone Monday with lots of talk about the spread of Android, the future of smartphone Internet apps, and the stupidity of illegally pirating a movie and reviewing it on Fox News. Oops.

MLB’s Web video puts everyone else to shame http://www.businessinsider.com/baseball-crushing-everyone-at-web-video-2009-4

T-Mobile to use Google software in devices for home … Read more

Meet the British Steam Car, which looks a bit like the love child of the Batmobile and an F-15 fighter jet. The goal for this sleek, modern-day automotive design is to break the 127 mph land speed record set by a Stanley Steamer in 1906.

The vehicle, which uses superheated steam as its driving force, this week passed a milestone with a run of better than 80 mph on a test track in England. Next month, the British Steam Car will be shipped from England to the U.S. The goal is to make the record attempt in a dry … Read more

If you enjoy (legally) downloading PC game content over the Internet, then you're most likely familiar with Valve Software's Steam, a platform for the delivery and management of PC games.

On Tuesday, Valve announced an upgrade to "Steamworks," a suite of publishing and development tools available to, well, publishers and developers for free.

The first of the new notable features include Custom Executable Generation (CEG) technology. According to Valve, CEG makes unique copies of games for each user, allowing them to access the application on multiple machines without install limits and without having to install root … Read more

We're all looking for ways to stretch our dollars these days. I don't know about your house, but a huge proportion of our budget goes to feeding our family of six. We buy wisely, shop sales, and use coupons, but I'm still always on the lookout for even more tips and tricks to keep my pantry well-stocked without emptying my wallet.

The Back to Basics 400A Steam Canner looks like it might make a nice addition to a budget-conscious kitchen. This $40 appliance makes the work of canning easier and faster, letting you preserve high-acid fruits and … Read more

A bat hitched a ride on the space shuttle Discovery and I think it's going to be a long long time till touchdown brings it down again. Of course, IBM apparently wants to buy Sun too. We also cover the hot new features in the latest software update for the Nokia 5800. Oh, and the iPhone too.

IBM to buy Sun? http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/19/technology/companies/19sun.html?partner=rss&emc=rss http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10198901-92.html

iPhone OS 3.0: What you need to … Read more

Valve's Steam software has a new feature for game publishers that lets them sell additional downloadable content, or DLC, from within their games.

To do this, it uses a new in-game purchasing system built off of the in-software Web browser. The first title to feature this is The Maw, which now includes two additional levels that can be purchased for $1.25 each, then played immediately. Previously, all add-on content was sold as a separate purchase from Steam's game store.

The new feature is available to all developers as part of Valve's Steamworks publishing platform. For games … Read more