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My iPhone SE is about three and a half years old and I'll keep it until it stops getting security updates or it packs up. Nice thing about Apple is they support their phones much longer than other companies.

How easy would it be to add some sort of hidden kill switch to a modern car? Have it break a connection to the fuel pump or something more accessible but still needed to drive the car away?

With a new electric-only Mini Cooper due to launch in a few months what does everyone think this will do to the second hand values of the older engine versions? Normally you'd expect older shape cars to drop in value but with no new engine powered cars rolling off the lines could prices rise?

Haven't built a plastic kit in many years but used to do it a fair bit, so here are a few tips:- Some model paints have different characteristics to others. Personally I liked Humbrol enamels for brush painting as the longer drying time meant it didn't start drying on the brush before the job...

I suffer from motion sickness from most first person view games. I first noticed this long ago in games like Doom, the head bobbing as the character walked around was mostly what did it for me as I recall. I was able to play the first Grand Prix game various flight sims without too much trouble...

I don't think you'll get a high enough strength joint just using glue, there is not enough surface area in the break for that. If you want a strong fix I would drill a matching hole through the centre of the break into each piece of plastic. Then glue a metal pin into one of the holes that is...

I think one reason Civ IV's AI seemed to work better was that the game used army stacks rather than individual units. It is a lot easier to programme an AI to build balanced stacks of units (infantry, archers, cav etc.) and send them to attack other stacks than to get it to move a bunch of...

It's good that there's another Civ game in development, I played IV to death and have played VI a fair bit. I actually like the districts in Civ VI, it forces you to plan ahead when placing your cities. What I don't like is that the military conquest option is so much more powerful than any...

I think I read that if your car is over 40 years old you can apply for a UK car tax exemption for classic cars and if you do get this car tax exemption it also counts for ULEZ exemption.

It's based on the EEC's car manufacturer emission specs which naturally get tighter over time. Currently you are exempt if your vehicle is at least:- Euro 3 for motorcycles, mopeds, motorised tricycles and quadricycles. Euro 4 for petrol cars, vans, minibuses and other specialist vehicles. Euro...

Barring a major political shift eventually the whole country will be EV only. Some sort of timetable of future (say the next five years) ULEZ car specs would be useful though for people contemplating buying a car. I'd be annoyed if I bought a Euro 4 car and in a few months they shifted the...

I live a mile or so outside the extended ULEZ zone and my old Mini is Euro 3 and so not exempt. Luckily I don't need to commute to work within the zone so I'll likely just keep the car and do my shopping outside the zone. One thing that puts me off getting a second hand Euro 4 car is not knowing...

The old one was a 165cm tall Bosch freezer, the new one is a work top sized Liebherr one. The energy ratings used to measure appliances have changed recently, under the old system the new freezer would have been A+++, under the new system it rated at D, all the other freezers at this size I...

I have just saved a big chunk of my energy bill by replacing my 15 year old freezer. This was making an annoying rattling sound which turned out to be worn fan bearings and as the fan was no longer available I looked into getting a new one. An energy-monitoring smart plug showed it was pulling...

Stephen Pacey does an excellent narration job with Joe Abercrombie's First Law books. He really brings the large cast of characters to life.

I had the same problem with my Noble chair, the base was just too hard and eventually it developed a couple of worn spots in the faux leather. So I bought a Milliard memory foam cushion from the rainforest. This is soft enough to improve comfort, has a breathable and removable cover and is big...

I really liked Joe Abercrombie's First Law books as well. The audio version I listened to has excellent narration by Stephen Pacey which really brings the characters to life. The last page turner I read though was "Project Hail Mary" by Andy Weir. He also wrote "The Martian" and this is similar...

It's not just cloudier, the UK's also further north of the equator than SA is south. I guess the other factor for break even timescales for solar panels is the relative cost of grid energy in the two countries, how does SA compare to the UK in that regard? Solar's not an option for me anyway due...

I think the original premise of 99% of people instantly dying is a bit silly frankly. Something like a giant asteroid that could cause that to happen even within a day would pretty much render the world uninhabitable anyway. Realistically the only thing that could quickly eliminate all but a...

Some UK model shops sell Tygon tubing. It is used as fuel line for petrol engines in large scale R/C cars and aircraft. Note they will likely also sell silicone tubing as fuel line for smaller methanol engines, so make sure they know exactly what you want.