OK, so, firstly, kettlebells are good fun, and seem to give a good workout if done properly: this, however, is not a review about kettlebells generically, but this one in particular. given that this fits the basic bill (handle + heavy bit) it's good enough to raise a sweat... The York Bell is, undeniably good value, and Amazon, as so often, tops the value stakes as usual.

The downside of vinyl weights is the relatively large size compared to cast iron weights. The 16 kg bell is about the size of a size 4 football, with a handle on it. this makes it cumbersome, a bit nerve-wracking to swing in close spaces (like between one's legs!) and hard(er) to store, compared to the metal equivalent. furthermore, as noted elsewhere, the handle is badly finished, with a plastic ridge along the inside. this is a surefire hand-shredder, unless you already have the kind of gnarled, calloused, hands that went out of fashion with the scythe. mine now resemble my cats' paws, padded and lightly cracked. a metal handle will wear a little too, but much less than this. at times is is sore enough to make the exercise unpleasant. i knwo one could wear gloves, by why should it be necessary?

this is one of those malware programmes that seems to detect, on first use, a whole raft of new malware that previously went undiscovered. this, one might think, would be a good thing, but in this case the detections are in a near-virgin install of windows 7 which was running as smooth as butter, and which had been clean as a whistle according to McAfee.

So, question is, did mcafee fail to find the malware, or does this programme puff its chest by "detecting that which is not there"

the proof of the pudding is in that, running the removal tool, Adaware then deletes all restore points, two pieces of bone fide freeware, slows my pc down to a crawl, and causes a failure on restart. removal of adaware, and all returns to normal. the question then (if indeed i was affected with invisible malware) is whether i would be better off with the malware, or adaware. overall, i would prefer the former, but i rather feel there was, in fact, nothing there to be concerned about.

a second caveat. this is a full malware suite, not an add on spyware programme. it can't run at the same time as another malware suite, as a dedicated spyware programme (note that pctools' spyware doctor can do this, as can superantispyware et al.) if you try this., it will disable the other malware programme, and crash the computer.

on top of this, the front end is clunky, terminology quaintly unhelpful, and altogether user unfriendly. for example, the "registration" code doesn't make it clear whether the "0"'s are zeros or "ohs". a simple oblique through the zero would make it clear. it is a minor thing, but symptomatic of the poorly considered approach to the whole package, that just adds to the irritations.

I'd go for the PC tools suite, or stick with one of the old favourites.

This is written as a series of anecdotes or vignettes relating to each of the wines considered. each is short (perfect lavatorial reading) and carries all of the Hoggart wit that guardian readers will know well. the approach does veer close to a drinkers digest, or a reader designed to make one appear terribly well drunk in just one evening, but this is forgivable given the informal and gentle approach, rather wandering through wines in a pathetic sympathy to the topic.

What does grate is the rather patronising habit of emphasising key clauses in bold type. Why a grown up book needs to follow this type of magazine/textbook argot is beyond me, and does rather spoil the gentle flow

so far, THIS has failed to detect anything not already swept up by Mcafee, and seems significantly to slow my system down, so, I'm afraid, it's a nogo. On the plus side, the user interface is good, and the other webroot software good and getting my endorsement, so i'm not guilty about this review!

This is perhaps the most joyous thing I've held since I sadly put aside my OM4, and ends a long stretch of missed photos and heavy lifting caused by the real world compromises of a dSLR.

The picture quality is pretty good, but not a patch even on my decrepit EOS 300D, and miles from the kind of vibrant, low noise, images that even my 40D produces. And the lens, well, an f2.0 is nice, but with a sensor this tiny (and yes, it is still tiny, even if bigger than in most toy cameras) the DoF is still massive (and the f2.0 is only available at the widest end anyway, so no lovely creamy portrait backgrounds on offer here). Anyone thinking this is a dSLR, or even close, will be disappointed.

High ISO is OK, but nothing near exceptional. At 800 (which seems the likeliest setting in drab light if left to auto ISO) noise is visible at even moderate print sizes, and makes large (say anything over 8x6 in) prints noticeably messy. Canon's raw processing software tends towards overdone noise reduction at the cost of detail, and is a grisly programme to use in any event. The colours are off when using lightroom, so there's no real alternative than this, for now. Things may hopefully improve when DxO get their act together in Jan 2010. ISO 400 is very useable, however, and means that flash can be off most of the time.

The Image Stabilisation is very nicely set up. about half of hand held shots at 1/8s are crisp at the long end of the zoom. this means that, in practice, with the decent 400 ISO, this can be used in real life with ease.

The real joy, however, is the ergonomics of this camera. having a lens-ring for aperture was the norm with MF SLRs, but for some reason went out of style with AF lenses, in favour of thumb-operated controls. having one back reminds me why i enjoyed using my olympus so much, the ring also gives a nice extra support to hold, and is gully programmeable. combined with a second dial to the rear, falling perfectly under the right thumb, this becomes the most ergonomically perfect camera i've held in some time. OK, so a slight grip on the right front might be nice too, but then this does indeed fit into a jeans pocket and this might be compromised by a grip. maybe an aftermarket modification will solve this; similar devices are available for the G-series canons.

this hopefully marks the start of a common sense approach from Canon, away from a pixel racing, perpetually shrinking, touch screeny, pointless and irritating gadgety product line to a range of product that actually work well, and are truly easy to use.

post script: DxO software is a beaut... makes a massive improvement to usability and colour rendition.

these are heavy metal disks drilled and grooved, perfectly fitted to the RX8, and (and this is the real selling point if you're an RX8 driver) THEY DON'T RUST! no more squeaky, rusty, brakes after every rain shower, just nice, shiny metal. mine came with a black coating that wears off with initial bedding in, leaving the grooves and drillings (which are not full thickness, for reasons explained on the EBC website) highlighted in black. If appearances matter, this does add a sporty something to the wheels.

The disks are now 15K miles in, used with EBC redstuff pads (also reviewed...), are wearing evenly (albeit imperceptibly, no scratches or grooves. EBC claim this flat wear is a feature of grooved disks, and who am i to argue.

breaking is great, progressive and solid. I'm particularly impressed wit wet-weater performance, where the braking seems just as solid as in the dry. there's a low rumble under heavy stopping, which i put down to the disks' groves resonating, not the pads. i quite like the sound, but it is certainly louder than stock. offsetting this, the lack of squeaking wet and dry. i know which i find more annoying.

on top of this, cheaper than OEM. if these disks wer out before the car (and no signs of it yet) then I'll replace them with the same thing, no question.

these are heavy metal disks drilled and grooved, perfectly fitted to the RX8, and (and this is the real selling point if you're an RX8 driver) THEY DON'T RUST! no more squeaky, rusty, brakes after every rain shower, just nice, shiny metal. mine came with a black coating that wears off with initial bedding in, leaving the grooves and drillings (which are not full thickness, for reasons explained on the EBC website) highlighted in black. If appearances matter, this does add a sporty something to the wheels.

The disks are now 15K miles in, used with EBC redstuff pads (also reviewed...), are wearing evenly (albeit imperceptibly, no scratches or grooves. EBC claim this flat wear is a feature of grooved disks, and who am i to argue.

breaking is great, progressive and solid. I'm particularly impressed wit wet-weater performance, where the braking seems just as solid as in the dry. there's a low rumble under heavy stopping, which i put down to the disks' groves resonating, not the pads. i quite like the sound, but it is certainly louder than stock. offsetting this, the lack of squeaking wet and dry. i know which i find more annoying.

on top of this, cheaper than OEM. if these disks wer out before the car (and no signs of it yet) then I'll replace them with the same thing, no question.

now 15K miles on these and still going strong, these are not short-lived race-only pads, but a proper everyday driving alternative to stock pads, and slightly cheaper. There's a little glint of red inside the calipers when fitted too, which is nice but discreet.

I had mine professionally installed, but my garage told me that the task was super simple, and the fit perfect. the pads have an abrasive coating when new, so they bed in quickly, and for everyday sensible driving are good to go from the off.

The stopping is excellent, combined with EBC disks the response is firm but progressive, for me, a tactile step up from oem. As to which are more effective, the jury is out. As yet I've never needed to go to the limit with my RX8's brakes. I've had one hairy moment on the A11 at, ahem, 70 mph, when i needed to slow to a stop in quick time, and couldn't go flat out braking because i would have had a rep-mobile up my exhaust. i stopped well short of a crash.

For more winding country driving the modulation is very welcome and reassuring. there's a pleasing sense of something in reserve that was less obvious with OEM pads (i also didn't tend to run the OEM's ragged, so I'm certain they would have been fine in any event, but the feel is less solid, imho)

how much of this is pads, and how much disks, is moot, but these won't disappoint, and will probably bring an occasional smile to your face.

now 15K miles on these and still going strong, these are not short-lived race-only pads, but a proper everyday driving alternative to stock pads, and slightly cheaper. There's a little glint of red inside the calipers when fitted too, which is nice but discreet.

I had mine professionally installed, but my garage told me that the task was super simple, and the fit perfect. the pads have an abrasive coating when new, so they bed in quickly, and for everyday sensible driving are good to go from the off.

The stopping is excellent, combined with EBC disks the response is firm but progressive, for me, a tactile step up from oem. As to which are more effective, the jury is out. As yet I've never needed to go to the limit with my RX8's brakes. I've had one hairy moment on the A11 at, ahem, 70 mph, when i needed to slow to a stop in quick time, and couldn't go flat out braking because i would have had a rep-mobile up my exhaust. i stopped well short of a crash.

For more winding country driving the modulation is very welcome and reassuring. there's a pleasing sense of something in reserve that was less obvious with OEM pads (i also didn't tend to run the OEM's ragged, so I'm certain they would have been fine in any event, but the feel is less solid, imho)

how much of this is pads, and how much disks, is moot, but these won't disappoint, and will probably bring an occasional smile to your face.

running win 7, MS office, and opera browser. this does a good job of tidying the machine with, as yet, no problems. the software works quickly, for example, performing shredding and disk cleanup significantly faster than McAfee's built in maintenence solution. the recently used cleaner is particularly useful, and works well for MS office in particular.

the browser tools seem a little blunt, and the options to selectively clean up seem not to make any difference, for example the software insists on deleting all firefox cookies every time used, which is a pain for daily surfing, and doesn't easily turn off. there are options for selectively preserving cookies, but only for internet explorer and netscape users. there is no integration at all with opera, for me a major bugbear, since this is my preferred software.

not a bad bit of software all in all, but not yet perfect.