3" display on the excellent EX-H10 12.1MP
With Christmas fast approaching the idea of sneaking in a little escape to a European City probably seems unlikely for a good number of us… However thanks to Casio and their EX-H10 Camera (personally voted my compact camera of choice for 2009 – review here) there’s quite an extraordinary little bonus to be had…
As of yesterday, with each purchase of the EX-H10 (RRP £280) Casio are throwing in a city break!
The details are below but there was no way I couldn’t bring this to your attention! This camera is worth it without any promotion but with the promotion, if you’re thinking of getting a compact digital camera for Christmas, you’d be mad not to get this one!
Pocket Casio’s new Exilim EX-H10 ‘superzoom’ and receive one nights stay and return flight (excl tax) in one of Europe’s most happening cities.
Choose from Paris, Rome, Nice, Berlin, Brussels and Milan to test out all the fantastic features of your new camera – and put your feet up after a day’s adventures in a fantastic 3-star-minimum hotel, recharging you ahead of your next day’s snapping. What better way to get to grips with your new state-of-the-art gadget?
Terms & Conditions:
Casio EX-H10 - My Compact Digital Camera 2009
- Destinations include: Paris, Rome, Nice, Berlin, Prague, Brussels and Milan
- All hotels: minimum three star rating
- Departure airports: London, Manchester / Liverpool, East Midlands / Birmingham or Edinburgh / Glasgow.
- Second passenger rate will be fixed at £149 (excl tax). This will include return flight and upgrade to double occupancy room.
- Additional nights can also be purchased upon request.
- Customers must state three preferred destinations and three months of travel on their application.
- Book through Concepts for Travel. Booking fee of £2.50 per passenger applies.
See in store for full Terms and Conditions ( all good camera stockists and directly at www.casioatcarnaby.co.uk )
In the process of reviewing gadgets I frequently find myself undertaking various actions that wouldn’t normally cross my mind.
Just five minutes ago I stood in the bathroom trying out Neutrogenas new and improved Wave system – drifting a surprisingly soft suddsie vibrating pink waterproof pore cleansing machine over my chops.
Last night I was wandering around in JMLs soon to be released Deluxe Snuggie – perfect for the laptop geek.
Eighteen months ago I would not have envisaged myself getting excited nor even draping myself in a blanket with sleeves and thinking it was a wicked idea!
However in becoming a gadget reviewer and trying these products out with the consumer perspective always in mind, has led to some interesting, annoying and darn right ridiculous situations. I seem to crash my computer more times in a month than most people would do in a decade as I install one device after another on it; I try out make-up products like they’re going out of fashion (and indeed they frequently do) and sit straight-faced, even somewhat solemnly as various members of the team discuss the pro’s and con’s of the latest adult toys they’ve reviewed…
Therein I got to wondering what daft situations others have encountered when they’ve purchased or tried a new gadget. Further, with Christmas banging on our credit card doors I thought I would combine the two ideas into one. Gathering together some pretty fabulous, untouched gadgets that we’ve been given I popped them altogether into one santa’s sack and realised I had a nice little collection of gifts to give away, valued at just over £100.
Dane Elec 2GB SurfBoard USB
The sack – which I shall happily post out anywhere across the UK – contains useful items like the super cool Kuta 2GB USB stick from Dane Elec. This gadget is perfect for sitting down with your Mum, post-Christmas lunch and sharing with her all your photo’s of the last year – carefully edited of course and excusing you from having to friend her on Facebook. In fact the Kuta is so cool for a USB stick design that I was rather loathe to give it up! You’ll comfortably be able to fit in excess of eight hundred 5MP photo’s on to the thing!
Nonetheless into the sack it has gone.
(TakTikTech review here)
I also popped in the brilliant Arriva Wireless iPod Shuffle headset. Almost unheard of
Arriva iPod Shuffle headset
over here, these headsets are taking America by storm. White in colour and wrapped up in a faux velvet pouch, if you don’t own an iPod Shuffle either get one or make this an excellent gift – particularly suitable for those that like undertaking sporting activities.
PI and I discovered it after PI spotted a man in Waitrose wearing one and we chased through various aisles to catch up with him and ask what it was. Not one of our more glamorous moments but very effective nonetheless and we stumbled on an excellent gadget that folds up small enough to fit in the palm of your hand comfortably.
(TakTikTech review here)
Saving you from "Bag Burn"
Of course, it wouldn’t be fair of us to send this sack out without also including a Yoke Shopper. The more we’ve used these the more fond of them we’ve become and with Christmas shopping looming (even if you’re only carting booze home – or is that just my team?) they are the perfect antidote to ‘bag burn‘ – that blastedly uncomfortable sensation of having your hands ripped open and fingers ripped off as you walk down the street with endless bags of shopping. I make a point now of not going shopping without one – it’s one of those little things that just makes life so much better.
(TakTikTech Review imminent – it rocks!)
There’s a few other nifty gadgets also in the sack to help you get through Christmas and I’d be delighted to send it to you.
However, the decision of quite who to send it out to can be a toughie – should I play pin the tail on the donkey with a phone book? It struck me however that I could invite people up until Friday 27th Nov to have a think about any daft gadget incidents they have had; post the stories either here or on my Facebook and the one that makes me laugh the most (or perhaps commiserate) I’ll send the sack to.
I quite like that idea – I get to give a little back!
We very much look forward to reading your gadget disasters! (and if it was just you being dumb, the more the merrier – we manage it every day! Or it that just me?)
… and look, that’s including 150 minutes talk-time a month… and hang on, a whole 250 texts a month too.
I iz geek and I wants a new top-of-the-range iPhone so I’ve been hanging out for the Orange iPhone launch, due 10th Nov – a week today. Yippee…. not, as it transpires.
Picking up the 32GB iPhone 3GS on their cheapest 18 month contract package works out something like this …
150 minutes a month?
If I call my partner every day from work, Monday – Friday only, we can speak for ohhh 7.5 minutes before I run out of credit.
Not to worry, I’ll send a text. I get 12 of those a day, Monday to Friday (too geeky to communicate on the weekends… or broke at this rate)
“Hi baby, how’s the hangover? Really hope you’re feeling better! Work’s cr@p. Boss is being an ar$e. Sophie wants to know if we want to go out tonight? Love you xx”
Bollocks. That’s two texts used. Ten left for my daily limit – if I only use my iPhone Monday to Friday.
Hang on though – I’ve got internet!
For free!
Uh no I haven’t – it’s subject to a fair usage policy of 750MB…
All this for £802.48 or basically £44+ a month
+ VAT
+ Insurance.
Still, no need to whinge. I can pay more and communicate for longer. Silly me.
For just shy of £1000 across 18 months, I should be able to get by…(plus that VAT at £150-ish – and insurance…)
For more on the amazing Orange launch of the iPhone range, feel free to see here
See you in Orange on 10th then? 
I guess it started some time ago when we reviewed the excellent Bye Bye Standby system on TakTikTech. This efficient and simple device appealed to my gadget mentality wonderfully – using one switch to control a multitude of devices all the way around the home (and saving you a small fortune in electricity at the same time!)… Perhaps I’ve always had a penchant for ‘remote control’ / wireless but as the years have passed and technology has leapt forward in leaps and bounds, the potential for this mentality and indeed lifestyle is gathering momentum.
Recently we also sent CB off to explore the newly launched PowerMat (which I’ve still to get my hands on personally) which enables you to drop your phone on to the mat and stroll off. Your phone will re-charge automatically. No more scrapping around by the bedside searching for that trailing wire – or if like me you need to charge a couple of phones and a bluetooth headset, scrapping around for a whole stack of tangled infuriations. Blah.
A good percentage of us have our computers, printers already running wirelessly throughout our property and even bounce photographs from our mobiles to these other devices via bluetooth.
My Jabra Halo system keeps me company completely wirelessly on both Skype and my mobiles as I stroll about making coffee and doing the washing up!
Meanwhile, Annalisa – our wonderfully blunt and super successful Italian reviewer – has just popped a “Drop ‘N’ Charge’ wi-fi XBox 360 / Wii remote system through its paces too.
The World is quietly going wi-fi, even in the home. Much of the above is of course relatively frivolous and non-essential except that many products are also eco-friendly which gives me great heart – but there’s a more serious side to all of this too.
Our security for homes is also going both wi-fi and remote. Now you can install webcams into each room and remotely view who is accessing your property and when. If your child is prone to sleep-walking or nightmares, in minutes you can set up a motion sensing tracking camera that lets you know when there’s a problem, is just a very simple but reassuring example.
Home broken in to? Pull up the program on your mobile phone and watch the action via a live feed from the webcams you’ve got dotted about the place. These systems have already helped numerous friends of mine combat crime.
Presently, much of the gadgetry required is billed fairly expensively but if DIY is your thing, you’d be amazed how much you can achieve, from scheduling your heating to turn on, security lights to come to life – and in some cases now, this technology control is available via your iPhone! Ten years ago wi-fi and remote control of your property remained firmly in the homes of the very real Mr Bill Gates and the charming James Bond of 007 fame but mark my words, the wi-fi home will soon become standard – and I’m rather looking forward to it.
*presses a single button, dimming the lights across the kitchen and lounge and strolls out the door*
I hate threats. I especially hate threats from people who fundamentally aren’t entitled to make them. It’s one of my buttons, shall we say – and once pushed, I’m not very good at sitting back and just taking it.
The matter is perhaps not instantly one that grabs your attention – but it should because it runs the risk of being the tip of the iceberg and if that be the case, it’s probably going to concern you sooner rather than later. However, to play fair, let me bring you completely up to speed and do so in a very simplified form – and from there you might just realise that it is something worth keeping an eye on.
Across this vast World of ours there is a subject being discussed in many halls that comes under the title of “illegal file-sharing“. In essence this means the sharing of files via the internet that are protected and should only come into your possession if you have legally purchased them, rather than you getting your mitts on it for free. All well and good, so far. A good percentage of the population would consider that fair and reasonable, as indeed we hope to live our lives – fairly and reasonably.
However, one Lord Mandelson, currently Secretary of State, has decided to implement some measures to halt illegal file-sharing – and it is these measures that I would like to bring to your speedy attention. I will endeavour to do so without swearing.
Firstly however may I remind you – and indeed Lord Mandelson himself – that one of the most valued tenets of this country is “Innocent until proven Guilty” (although I admit this is being erroded at frightening speed in a multitude of areas – but that’s a whole ‘nother rant) However, just hold “Innocent until proven guilty” in mind as you read through the following…
The proposed actions, endorsed by Lord Mandelson, are as follows: -
- The copyright owner (often referred to as “Rights Holder”) such as music companies etc, identify the the IP (Internet Protocol) address being used in the illegal file-sharing.
- The copywrite owner sends the IP address to the ISP (Internet Service Provider – eg, TalkTalk, Virgin Media etc) who then trace the IP address to the individual.
- It is then beholden for the ISP company to send warning letters to that IP address, that they should desist in their illegal activities.
- If the letters are ignored and the illegal file-sharing continues the ISP is then to disconnect the broadband service.
- Then and only then you can appeal if you feel you have been wrongly accused.
Now, at face value and little thought, this might not strike the layman as too much of a problem. Until you start to delve into the nitty-gritty of the fiasco.
Firstly, since when is the owner of the copywrite suddenly the law? Oh, hello Your Honour? Get real.
If this is going to be dealt with, let it be done so by the courts of the land, not the rightsowner. Think it’ll never happen – think you’ll never get a threatening letter straight from the copywriters lawyer? Think again – it’s already happening… see here for a little shocker (and there’s lots worse out there yet.)
Secondly, heard of a little word occasionally bandied about known as ‘hacking‘?
Thought so.
Have you any idea how easy it is to hack most connections? It’s frighteningly easy. The security on a majority of our connections is below basic at best. Worse, recent reports from TalkTalk show that some 40% of our Wi-Fi connections are insecure – and people don’t have a clue.
So, now we are faced with a situation where ISPs (your service provider) are being pressured to release your details to the copywrite owners (threatened with legal action if they don’t) or alternatively contact you directly and tell you to desist from a behavour (illegal file-sharing) that indeed you may have no knowledge is being undertaken using your system. Further, should you not desist, you can be disconnected and then have to appeal.
Uh, about that “innocent until proven guilty” … – did you spot it? No, neither did I.
I cannot abide being threatened; I cannot abide a lack of fair play or absence of justice and I certainly cannot abide being charged to be a part of this. Charged? yes. It is proposed that a new tax to be levied against us goes in part to enforcing all of the above.
Starting to understand in part why I am furious?
I am so furious about this that next week I am joining TalkTalk and some follow bloggers and journo’s who also have an interest in this fiasco to discuss further what can be down to stop this potential car-crash of ill-considered bureaucracy.
In the meantime, if you’d like a little further reading or indeed to register your own disgust, please feel free to check out the following link – and the links from there – spectacular (including a petition!)
One of the things that causes me the biggest upset with Christmas is the ruddy expense!
Previously I used to go all out for Christmas, spoiling friends and family – and then find myself battling through a couple of miserable months of debt in the New Year. Stupid but true and I certainly wasn’t alone in the practice. However as age and perhaps a little wisdom has crept up on me, I’ve put paid to such behaviour – but am still always casting my eyes about for opportunities to have fun whilst not causing my bank manager to have a fit.
VoucherHub - Have double the fun! Save money as you party!
Therein, I thought I’d give a well-deserved mention to the very easy to use www.voucherhub.co.uk
It does what it says and offers you a huge array of vouchers, allowing for discounts at all sorts of outlets – everything from TopShop, BodyShop right through to that lifesaver, Dominoes Pizzas In fact, that little list really doesn’t do them justice at all because if you have a little surf around on their incredibly simple website you’ll find retailers like T.M. Lewin (bit disappointed with their discount but if you have to shop there, you may as well save …) to Barratts shoes. Even Interflora and Firebox.com have got in on the game.
My advice would be to check these guys out before you make any purchase – think of it as akin to cleaning your teeth when you get up – check www.voucherhub.co.uk before you shop! (I emphasise “before you shop” as PI and I ate out at Strada last night … and guess what I’ve just seen … a 2-4-1 voucher. Do’ah!)
Sanex, looking after sensitive skin
I’ve got impossibly sensitive skin, the kind of skin which is always unhappy. So as the seasons changed and my skin kicked off again, I stomped into one of those Beauty Salon pharmacy’s for advice. After asking me about my clothing detergent and bullying me into buying vitamins (still unopened on my desk), the Pharmacist then asked which shower gel I was using, whilst inspecting various bottles on the shelf.
‘Sanex’ I said.
‘Oh’, he said, ‘that will do for now. When it runs out you can come back and get this’, showing me a bottle with a price that made me wince.
Sanex.
I’m aware it’s not a gadget, but a girls gotta wash right? With all the dashing around, trialling gadgets in all weathers, an enhanced awareness of what you’re doing to your body isn’t going to go amiss.
In my bathroom I currently have two types of Sanex – Intensive with Vitamin E and Moisturising with something called Derma Oils. Despite them both being quite lovely and inoffensive I do have a favourite, and that is purely down to smell. The Sanex Intensive in its big yellow bottle smells lovely, and seems to be much nicer on the skin.
Checking out this mysterious thing called Derma oils on the Sanex website, I was pleasantly surprised at how user-friendly it is. Against a bubbly, aqua blue background the easy-to-read menu gives you choice from skin type, to skin questions, to the products. Choosing ‘sensitive skin’, I was taken to a page with a load of skin care tips and mini questionnaires along the line of ‘Do labels irritate your skin?’ 48% of people said yes apparently.
The Products page is also interesting. With the Sanex range displayed on a white background, the drop down menu gives you the option of either searching for the benefit you want, or your skin type. Once you have chosen, the products fade into the background bar the ones you require. Clicking on my Sanex Moisturising I discovered it had a user rating of 4/5. Who does the rating? I have no idea, but there was a link to the Dermo Active 3 Complex. After a quick read I was still none the wiser about what it is, but at least I now know it has been approved by dermatologists.
All this is getting rather complicated, so in short; Do I like the product? Does it work? And would I buy it? The answers to that are, yes, yes and at £1.89 for a 250 bottle I can’t see any reason why not.
My skin has genuinely improved and my pharmacist can keep his over-priced recommendation.
Sanex Website here
Travel Powermat
I’m very definitely the computer geek on the TakTik Team and my usual role is the web manager who uploads the daily reviews for the team.
Hi! 
Alex doesn’t often let me out from behind my keyboard – there’s always far too much for me to be doing and when I do get out, she doesn’t generally let me go on my own 
So I was delighted when she asked if I’d like to take a solo trip on Thursday night. There has to be a catch, thought I… and this post is it!
The event on Thursday was one the team didn’t want to miss and Alex was a little disappointed when she realised it clashed with her evening with Dell (as discussed in Friday’s post), but for me it was a great opportunity to get out into the fresh air. Well I say fresh, it was Central London so that may be something of an exaggeration.
Anyway, the event in question was the launch of the Powermat (www.powermat.com), a really smart and effective wireless charging system.
I admit I was extremely impressed with what I saw. This is the sort of technology we’ve been expecting for years, and finally I got my hands on it!
As I sat sipping my cola (yep, last of the big drinkers me), the lovely Amy from Skywrite showed me all the ins and outs of the device.
The mat itself is about 30cm long, a little over 10cm wide, and is capable of charging 3 devices wirelessly, and an additional one on USB – all at the same time and from just one power socket.
Even better, unlike current phone chargers, it doesn’t draw any power when there’s nothing on it, and when each device is charged the mat stops pushing power into them.
Perfect - better for the planet; better for your pocket!
Powermat Battery Cover receiver
Add to the mat an adapter for each device you want to use with it… for Blackberrys, iPods & iPhones this is achieved by switching the regular battery cover for one with a Powermat receiver in, and for other phones there’s a Powercube, a small receiver with a very short cable, and 8 interchangeable tips for the likes of Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, plus a mini USB one. There’s also a charging cradle for Nintendo DS Lite & DSi devices available.
Oh, and if you’re a traveller, there’s also a portable version.
Folding down to a 3.5cm thick, 10cm square this mat is perfect for holiday and business travel. No more forgetting a crucial charger, and paying over the odds for a replacement while you’re away!
From a geek perspective, I was wowed, and from an eco perspective too. I hope, when I get around to trialling it fully I will remain as impressed as I was when I headed home on Thursday night. For now, based on what I witnessed, I’d certainly recommend people to go and investigate.
Powermat products will be available nationwide from 30th October 2009 from The Carphone Warehouse, Amazon & John Lewis
Quietly, with barely a rustle of breeze tickled papers, there’s been a change in my life and it’s a change that is still evolving. From just a decade ago when I seldom ever touched a computer to these days more often than not spending well in excess of 8+ hours before one screen or another, there’s another subtle shift, more acutely seen on my Facebook, Twitter and indeed my email responses…
I have found myself evolving into an internet nomad. Be it from some random suburban main street; a hillside on a Spanish island or indeed the ever faithful Starbucks, I roam and do my work. With a trusty Blackberry and a horribly oversized laptop (I still haven’t decided on which netbook to buy yet… probably because I don’t want a diddly thing but a great big, all-powerful kick-’em-up-the-arse monster laptop… that weighs nothing (think iMac Pro or the soon to be launched delicious Dell Adamo)) so I trundle about, seeking inspiration, knowledge and viewpoints to gather together for both the future of this blog, the website and indeed several other projects I have on the go.
My emails all too often now are signed off not with my in-your-face purple signature but instead end unglamorously with “sent from Blackberry mobile“
(The temptation to adjust that to “email sent from just left of Mars but south of Jupiter, next to colony of green men” frequently overwhelming. However I’ve made no adjustment, figuring the signature excuses format, grammatical and indeed all punctuation errors, yes? Buggered if I know what my excuse is normally.)
To many, it seems that this lifestyle is seen as quite something to aspire to. Free and roaming, absorbing and interactive, dashing from one event to the next, taking calls on the move, chucking endless notes into my Memo files, backing things up on encrypted USB sticks and trying not to spill coffee that’s too hot and scalds the tongue.
Twitter is frequently updated with random photographs of weird contradictions from my wimpy 2MP Curve 8900 camera, Facebook friends often think I’ve lost the plot with geeky updates and observations and on I still walk; bag, technology and book of the moment carefully packed away.
It seems however that I am far from being alone – whilst remaining insular and isolated. As this change has crept in to my day-to-day existence, so I start to see other familiar faces, eyes squinting before a glowing screen, tucked in some cramped corner in a near vacant stale coffee-house. Earphones in, occasional boom mic obvious, inevitable mobile phone, trailing wires and dongle all evidence of another internet nomad. Sometimes I even want to say “Hello” but the unseeing look, which I myself possess all too often, warns that intrusion would not be welcome; freakish even. What would we say to each other anyway?
Hey man, we should be friends – I use that OS too.
Instead I pop on to my Twitter and see what others, whom I know no better but feel a kindred warmth for, are blatting on about.
Finally, with hours that are seldom set or routine, I return to the place I rest my head. Most would call it home but these days I wonder if that idea is starting to change for many. With the ease of communication brought about by the internet, enhanced mobile facilities, video calling etc, if you’re without a loved one to wrap up with, what is home? Is it the place where the screaming noise of traffic is replaced with the screeching final spin of the washing machine; where you boil your own kettle rather than hand money over the counter for someone else to make your coffee…?
Or does it merely become a place to close your eyes and forget the screen for a little while, before the next task beckons, brought to your attention by Fugue in D Minor set to ascending on your Blackberry alarm..?
This blog post was sent from roughly Lat: 51.533409 Lon: -0.102310 and sadly not a little Green man or friends in sight, just one coffee drinking internet nomad.
Who says you can’t win them all? 
With a little know-how, it seems you can, especially with Twitter. A few days ago I blogged about my experiences in finding 3 Essential free app’s for Twitter – but that was just for the laptop.
Hmm.
What about my Blackberry?
Time for another mission into the realms of application uploads…
Photo upload via UberTwitter / TweetPhoto.com
I’ll save you from having to cruise through paragraphs of drama and disappointment and just bring you straight up to speed. For any Blackberry from the Curve 8900 onwards, www.ubertwitter.com is it!
However, word of warning: Before you pop across to their website, don’t expect much there – it sucks. Thankfully their application doesn’t. In fact it couldn’t be more of a contradiction.
It’s available for free upload via your Blackberry App’s page and the darn thing ROCKS!
Let me give you a few examples – which are sorely missing from UberTwitters own website.
Re-tweets & Replies
Firstly, when you’re following a heap of people it can be nigh impossible to keep track easily of when people re-tweet (RT) you. On UberTwitter however, when you scroll up through the hundreds and hundreds of updates, voila, all RT’s and indeed replies ( eg @TakTikBitch) are highlighted in yellow. You need never look pig-ignorant or rude ever again.
Direct / Private Messages (DM’s)
Another pain-in-the-posterior to keep track of when you’re out & about if you don’t have a decent application. As above however UberTwitter allow you the option of having Direct Messages (DM’s) pop up in your feed – this time highlighted in green. Ta muchly!
Photographs
I was searching for an application that not only allowed me a great overview of what was happening on my Twitter feed but through which I could also effortlessly upload any photographs I wanted to share, taken on my Blackberry. This function was not highlighted anywhere on UberTwitter but yippee, it’s there and it’s as simple as pressing your roller-ball, scrolling down to “Add Photograph” and ta-dah, it’s done. It is a little unsettling as nothing shows on your screen at that point, but you can always hit the roller-ball again and you’ll see “Remove Photograph” is also now highlighted, letting you know your photo is attached. The URL is automatically shortened for you via www.tweetphoto.com – a pretty nifty application in its own right.
There’s much more too: -
UberTwitter doesn’t just stop there, by far. They have also ensured that you can set up location tracking so people can see you approximate location (which of course, you can also disable!) However it’s handy if you also want to check out where your friends are.
The view for things like Trending Topics on Twitter is fabulous – crystal clear enabling you to effortlessly keep up to speed with everyones latest obsession
Re-Tweets (RT’s), Direct Messages (DM’s), Favouriting, Following, Unfollowing, even emailing a great Tweet to yourself is possible.
I still haven’t covered it all but I would prevail upon you, if having an exemplary Twitter application on your Blackberry is key to you, try out UberTwitter for free.
Uh, and while you’re at it, please as always feel free to keep in touch – http://twitter.com/TakTikBitch
