Just a quick one today. You may have noticed that when you leave comments on the site, it automatically generates a funny geometric pattern to serve as your avatar. They look a bit rubbish, like a digital hippy has tried to recreate the willow pattern in wicker. You may also have noticed that when I or another blogger leaves a message, it displays a lovely picture of us instead. How do we do it? Do we know something that you don’t? Are we part of a secret society of techno geekery with online powers far in excess of your own?

Yes. Yes, we are. Deal with it.

But also head on over to gravatar.com and sign up for an account. The site automatically links your email address to an avatar image of your choice which can then be accessed by any blog, forum or page that is gravatar compliant (like this one). The results is a consistent digital presence over multiple sites. And in the end isn’t that what we’re all searching for?

That and a self-cleaning waffle maker.