I wrote a story about Urbana chocolate maker Dan Schreiber late last year. Since then, he's continued to test his product and pursue selling his chocolate in the retail market. You can read all about his most recent efforts on his blog.

I got this press release too late to publish in the paper, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to post information about tonight's concert here. The News-Gazette's features department is talking about starting its own blog, and this sort of thing would be perfect to post there. I'm hoping that will happen soon.

Tim Eriksen in Concert

7 p.m. Thursday, February 11 (tonight)

Main Lounge of Allen Hall
1005 W. Gregory, Urbana
Free and open to the public

I first heard about Google Buzz yesterday. The timing seemed perfect, because I'm leading a discussion this weekend with The News-Gazette's Editor and Publisher John Foreman at a journalism conference about innovation. I'll probably talk about social media; I'm passionate about it. People are always wondering about "the next big thing," and I have a feeling this might be it.

I try to be pretty careful about making my home energy efficient. I've weatherstripped, insulated, caulked and replaced my incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescents as they burn out.

I was talking to Ameren Illinois Utilities spokesman Leigh Morris yesterday, and he told me that CFLs generally save consumers $5 per year per bulb. I told him that I replace my bulbs as they burn out, because throwing away perfectly good bulbs feels wasteful.

He quickly convinced me otherwise.

After serving as a judge for local food blog ChampaignTaste's secret food shame haiku contest, I have a cute anecdote to share.

Turns out the first-place winner, Allen, is married to the second-place winner, Cheri. The judges had no idea.

The blog's author, Lisa Morgan, e-mailed me about it this weekend. "They wrote to see about the prizes and told me the story," Morgan said.

Festival in Chicago will feature Pavement, Modest Mouse and is scheduled for July 16 through July 18.

What a great idea.

I stumbled across this design for zippable headphones through another blog.

The earbuds zip up and down, preventing tangling and breaking. They have a volume control in the zipper.

It's genius. I don't know about you, but my earbuds always end up tangled and knotted around my purse, or else firmly wound around something else.

This leads to two questions:

Newspaper headband, anyone? How about a newspaper rug, knit from newspaper yarn? Or a newspaper dress? Crafters have made them all.

A press release claims tech gadets make great  Valentine's Day gifts for women - if they're red, pink or "other fun, feminine colors."

We tend to get some interesting press releases at The News-Gazette, and I've seen a bunch aimed at Valentine's Day gifts.

But this one feels sort of insulting to me:

"Valentine's Day Gifts for 'Gadget Gals'

Designer Ping Wu, who lived in Urbana and has been on the newest season of "Project Runway," was eliminated on last night's episode.

(See more about the show here.)

But even though she's no longer in the running on the show, she'll still be featured in Sunday's News-Gazette. Here's what she had to say earlier this week (before her elimination ran) about winning: