I’m a big fan of LED-backlit displays. Not only they produce crisp, even-lit displays on both laptop displays and desktop monitors, but they take less power so they make laptop batteries last longer. Rob Galbraith compares four different laptop displays to determine how the LED-backlit screens have evolved over time.

At first glance, it seems that Palm is behind the eight ball when it comes to fighting it out with Apple regarding the new Palm Pre and it’s iPhone-like interface. Engadget has a great in-depth article that reveals that this doesn’t seem to be the case. Where Palm does seem to violate a specific patent that Apple has, the iPhone seems to infringe on several, not just one, patents that Palm holds.

Starting April 30, TD is going to be charging their customers for having a line-of-credit not using them. I’ve always had a line-of-credit available to me so I can use it in an emergency. It’s nice to have an available credit line that uses reasonable rates – especially compared to credit cards.

While I’m no fan of the current government efforts to stimulate the economy – their complaints about banks tightening up credit to consumers seem very valid when you see tactics like this. What incentive do you have to have a credit line available to you? Instead you have to close the account to waive the fee, only to reapply for it when you need it – and in an emergency that could be very difficult to do.

Having been a big fan of TD Bank in the past, this makes me doubt I will keep all my accounts there. The true test will be if all the other banks follow them with the fee, leaving Canadian banking customers all out in the cold.

Tonight I got the chance to cook for a friend. She wasn’t very specific in what she wanted so I combined a recipe that I got off of Guy Fieri from Food Network. He placed a nice skirt steak on a 4-herb chimichurri. Instead, I used a sirloin steak, also cut on the bias, and served on top salsa verde – a variation of traditional sasla verde and his 4-herb chimichurri. The picture isn’t the best since i put the steak on a bed of salsa verde, but I’ve been experimenting with the D90 and the picture came out really well. Here’s the recipe:

• sirloin steak
• lemon juice
• garlic
• cilantro
• congac
• salt and pepper
• olive oil

1. Marinate the steak in lemon juice, chopped garlic and cilantro, salt and pepper lightly oiled with olive oil.
2. Get the grill pan on medium high heat and sear both sides for 1 minute. Finish cooking in the oven until desired doneness is reached (I prefer rare for this).

• salt and pepper
• olive oil
• basil
• parsley
• oregano
• garlic
• green onion
• capers

1. Roughly chop all ingredients except olive oil. Add to food processor and pulse quickly while drizzling olive oil until it’s smooth but still has some rough consistency.
2. Serve on top of steak after slicing it on the bias.

My version of beef stew is an variation of Alton Brown’s recipe from Good Eats. It involves seperately roasting the stew meat low-and-slow in the oven before adding it to the stew. This accomplishes a few things – makes the stew meat extremely tender and keeps the vegetables in the stew from being all mushy.

• tomato paste
• canadian rye
• Worcestershire sauce
• paprika
• dried herbs, any combination of thyme, oregano and rosemary
• stewing beef, bought from the grocery store
• kosher salt
• large yellow onion, thinly sliced
• carrots chopped
• celery chopped
• red potatoes, unpeeled and diced small
• Freshly ground black pepper
• chopped fresh parsley leaves

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the tomato paste, rye, Worcestershire sauce, paprika and dried herbs. Set aside.Season the stewing beef with kosher salt. Place a large grill pan over medium-high heat and sear the meat until browned on all sides. Once browned, remove the meat to the bowl with the paste and toss to coat. Transfer to a large piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil and seal tightly. Place the package into a metal pan and put into a cold oven on the middle rack. Set the oven to 350 degrees F and cook for 2 hours.

In a large saucier heat some butter on medium heat. Add the onion with salt and stir to separate the onions into rings. Allow to cook for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the potatoes along with a pinch of black pepper and stir to combine. Next, add the liquid from the meat and stir. Cover tightly and decrease the heat to low so that no heat is escaping the lid. Cook for 30 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender.

Once the potatoes are tender, uncover and set the meat atop the vegetables. Add carrots and celery and continue to cook for 10 minutes. Serve sprinkled with the parsley.

On display in Tokyo is a Nikon D3 cut perfectly in half, as if someone used a laser or something. Check out all the photos at Tokyobling Blog.

Most of the Toronto media has already covered the availability of email alerts about TTC service. The signup page is available on their website. I got the first alert after signing up earlier this week. Here’s what they look like:

from		My TTC <TTC@myttce-alerts.com>
reply-to	11002-1322TTC@myttce-alerts.com
to		xxxxxxxxxxxx
date		Thu, Jan 15, 2009 at 10:37 PM
subject		TTC Service Alert [Yonge-University-Spadina Subway Line]
mailed-by	myttce-alerts.com

A section of the Yonge-University-Spadina Subway service is currently shut
down from Eglinton Station to Bloor Station. Shuttle buses are in service.

Last updated Jan 15, 2009 10:37 PM

Sent: 1/15/09 10:37 PM

It’s hard to tell from this email if it was sent timely, but as more people use this service, I bet they get it figured out quite quickly.

Martiniboys just published their Essential Restaurants list and they have mentioned quite a few that are getting a lot of attention in the other press. Their list covers all the cities that MBO does, but here are the Toronto highlights:

Pizzeria Libretto
Table 17
Mildred’s Temple Kitchen
Nota Bene
Forte
Grace
Harbord Room
Madeline’s

The “Awesomebar” is a “smart dropdown” that Mozilla put in the most recent major revision in Firefox. It allows you to type a site by name and it will automatically look for that phrase in your history, favorites, etc. and find it for you.

The problem is, if the URL’s on your site change, the first selection comes up will most likely be the wrong selection. This is because the Awesomebar sorts your drop down list by the most frequently used URL.

To delete an entry from Awesomebar, simply highlight it with your mouse (but don’t click on it) and press the delete key. It’s a nice way to keep Awesomebar up-to-date.

When people ask me if they should get a variable or fixed-rate mortgage, they’re usually suprised that I always recommend variable. Many people think that getting a fixed mortgage is the way to prevent their payments from increasing when interest rates go up.

However, almost all banks offer a fixed payment, variable rate mortgage. This means that as interest rates change, the amount of money that goes to equity vs. interest will change, but it keeps your monthly payment the same.

It’s a very simple solution so that mortgage owners can benefit from lower rates – variable rate mortgages are almost always cheaper in the long run.