Well, first we found out that those helpful folks over at Nintendo were helping people to stop smoking. Now we hear that they’re helping Japanese students with their English too. A teacher at the Tokyo Academy for Girls has introduced the Nintendo DS into English lessons to help students concentrate.
The DS helps the students with their writing, listening and vocabulary but they are under strict instruction that all the machines must be handed in at the end of the lesson and no other games, apart from the English aid, are to be used.
Despite the lack of fun games, the students do seem to be enjoying the new method of teaching and they’ve even commented that they’re finding the lessons more interesting and engaging.
This is still a trial at the moment but what with all these new ways we’re discovering that consoles can help people (the Wii fit helping people to lose weight, the DS helping people to quit smoking etc.), who knows where the possibilities will end.
If you’re in two minds over whether to get a DS or not, try reading the Nintendo DS reviews first.
"but the sides were the worst ….. like they were made out of disposable paper.. like those disposable knickers" King-Size Quilted Mattress Protector
"frankly disturbing object which, apparently is meant to be solar powered but yet has an electric cable attached to it which could reach to the end of our town" Garden Gnome
Following on from our dodgy designs story last week, I came across more catastrophes in the MP3 department. The poor people that purchased a 2GB Matsui MAT120 definitely had a few negative things to say about their purchase.
From a massive 248 shoppers reviews on Reevoo, this MP3 player only receives an overall score of 5.3/10. Complaints seem to focus on the fact that the player deletes all of your songs on its own, its terrible battery life and how long the player actually lasted without breaking. Not good news here.
Although it seemed like a bargain – you can pick one up for around £25 - Paul from York pretty much sums up everybody else’s experience when he says “Doesn’t last more than a month. Bought 2 of these both did the same thing, after a month the memory goes, and you are unable to switch it on… You get what you pay for in the end”.
And just when I thought this was a one-off, I came across the 6GB Logik HDD60. This may have a higher score of 5.7/10 from 51 shoppers who bought it but it also had its fair share of negative comments. The biggest problems seemed to be that it’s pretty useless when you try to put music onto it – not great for an MP3 player - and that the battery life is also useless.
So if you want a MP3 player that works this summer, here’s two ways to save you some money. If you want to find a quality MP3 player, make sure you read MP3 reviews first so that you can avoid the problems these poor shoppers had. At the moment, the top MP3 player is the 7GB Sony Walkman NWZA818. It has 49 reviews and a rating of 9.1/10.
Following on from our dodgy designs story last week, I came across more catastrophes in the MP3 department. The poor people that purchased a 2GB Matsui MAT120 definitely had a few negative things to say about their purchase.
From a massive 248 shoppers reviews on Reevoo, this MP3 player only receives an overall score of 5.3/10. Complaints seem to focus on the fact that the player deletes all of your songs on its own, its terrible battery life and how long the player actually lasted without breaking. Not good news here.
Although it seemed like a bargain – you can pick one up for around £25 - Paul from York pretty much sums up everybody else’s experience when he says “Doesn’t last more than a month. Bought 2 of these both did the same thing, after a month the memory goes, and you are unable to switch it on… You get what you pay for in the end”.
And just when I thought this was a one-off, I came across the 6GB Logik HDD60. This may have a higher score of 5.7/10 from 51 shoppers who bought it but it also had its fair share of negative comments. The biggest problems seemed to be that it’s pretty useless when you try to put music onto it – not great for an MP3 player - and that the battery life is also useless.
So if you want a MP3 player that works this summer, here’s two ways to save you some money. If you want to find a quality MP3 player, make sure you read MP3 reviews first so that you can avoid the problems these poor shoppers had. At the moment, the top MP3 player is the 7GB Sony Walkman NWZA818. It has 49 reviews and a rating of 9.1/10.
Following on from our dodgy designs story last week, I came across more catastrophes in the MP3 department. The poor people that purchased a 2GB Matsui MAT120 definitely had a few negative things to say about their purchase.
From a massive 248 shoppers reviews on Reevoo, this MP3 player only receives an overall score of 5.3/10. Complaints seem to focus on the fact that the player deletes all of your songs on its own, its terrible battery life and how long the player actually lasted without breaking. Not good news here.
Although it seemed like a bargain – you can pick one up for around £25 - Paul from York pretty much sums up everybody else’s experience when he says “Doesn’t last more than a month. Bought 2 of these both did the same thing, after a month the memory goes, and you are unable to switch it on… You get what you pay for in the end”.
And just when I thought this was a one-off, I came across the 6GB Logik HDD60. This may have a higher score of 5.7/10 from 51 shoppers who bought it but it also had its fair share of negative comments. The biggest problems seemed to be that it’s pretty useless when you try to put music onto it – not great for an MP3 player - and that the battery life is also useless.
So if you want a MP3 player that works this summer, here’s two wasy to save you some money. If you want to find a quality MP3 player, make sure you read MP3 reviews first so that you can avoid the problems these poor shoppers had. At the moment, the top MP3 player is the 7GB Sony Walkman NWZA818. It has 49 reviews and a rating of 9.1/10.
This week’s Green Piece sees three handy gadgets that will save you money on heating, electricity and batteries and will help the environment too.
First up is the wind-up remote control. It spells the end for those awkward sized batteries that nobody ever stocks and for that crucial moment when you go to use your remote and discover that the aforementioned batteries have run out.
According to WRAP, around 600 million UK household batteries (22,000 tonnes) – the equivalent weight of 110 Jumbo Jets – are sent to landfill unnecessarily every year, so this remote is definitely something to take seriously. It needs 30 ‘winds’ which will then last for seven days, which is pretty good going. It’s £24.95 but if you think about how many batteries you would go through, it’s not so bad.
The next product is something you can use in every room in your house to save you money on heating. It’s called a Radiator Booster and was once on Dragon’s Den. It sits on top of your radiators and takes all of the heat that gets released at the back of the radiator and uses clever fans to redirect it back into your room. It means that your house gets heated faster and that the heating can be switched off sooner.
At the moment, they’re £14.99 over at Nigel’s Eco Store and best of all, running costs are only about 30p a year.
Last is the waterproof torch that is charged up by shaking it. You shake it on down for 45 seconds and then you get five whole minutes of light…it does seem like a lot of work for five minutes but I guess it’s all part of the fun…and the energy saving, of course.
If you’re into science, the torch works with the help of a magnet. As you shake the torch, the magnet moves back and forth and generates an electric current. This current is then held in a holding cell so that you can still use the torch even if you haven’t wiggled it for a while. It’s a bargain at £5.99 and it has some good reviews too.
So there we have it, three great ways to help the environment and your wallets, especially useful now that energy costs are on the rise.
If you’ve succumbed to the iPod craze you’re either blissfully happy living in the land of the follower or you’re trying desperately to make it that little bit different to so that you can feel better about copying millions of other like-minded shoppers. There are plenty of things you can do to set you and your iPod apart from the crowd. We’re going to start off looking at iPod docks (but for those of you that don’t have an iPod, most of these will still work wonders on the other MP3 players out there too).
iPod docks are a necessity in any self-respecting trendsetter’s pad but how can you make yours unique? Well the guys over at the Japan Trend Shop have one idea (see above). The Zumreed Drop Speaker looks different and can be transported anywhere, including the bathroom as your iPod is tucked up nice and safe in the acrylic container. These come from overseas and are priced at $79 but they deliver to the UK. There’s a pretty good exchange rate at the moment so you could pick yourself up a bargain.
You may think I’ve gone slightly crazy with this next dock but I’m not the only one. They’re continually sold out so you have to get in there quick (may be something to do with the fact that they’re only £12.99 and they have some pretty good reviews). They’re called iPals and they’re an interesting way to house your iPod or any other MP3 player. They’ve got two speakers in their ‘ears’ which can be bent and rotated for maximum listening pleasure and they come in different colours and patterns.
If those two are a little too ‘out there’ for you, how about the stylish JBL Radial dock? It’s sleek and classy and has a stereo mini jack connection so that you can listen to most other MP3 players too. It’s £169.99 at the moment.
If retro’s your thing, maybe this iPod alarm clock that plays your favourite tunes to get you out of bed will interest you? It charges your iPod while you’re asleep and saves you from unwanted morning crooners. At £39.99, I think that’s a bargain.
At the opposite end of the scale, this next dock comes in at $1299.99! But it is a dock with a difference. The Miuro Robot can either hold your iPod inside it or just transfer everything from iTunes. It’s remote-controlled so you can press a button on the remote and your Miuro Robot will find you and bring all of your music with it . You can also control it with a joystick – much more fun. You may have already heard of it but if not, here’s a video so that you can see it in action. These guys also ship worldwide, should you be interested…
In today’s what to buy, we’re looking at home offices. Whether you work from home or you just need an office at home, there’s no need to spend a fortune on some decent kit.
We’ve looked at laptops and desktop computers, shredders and fax machines and a lot more to help you furnish your office.
Let’s start off with computers. For those of you who prefer laptops, we’ve picked out the 15 inch Hewlett Packard 530. It’s got an 80GB hard drive, an Intel Celeron M 520 1.6 GHz processor and a DVD re-writer. You can pick one up for £267.97 with an increased 120GB hard drive. A bargain, I’m sure you’ll agree.
If you’re more of a desktop computer fan, you can try the Compaq SR5219. This has a 250GB hard drive, a AMD Athlon 64 X2 Processor and a DVD rewriter. It also comes with a 17inch Tft monitor and is around £360. It has some good reveiws too. Comments in the reviews include "Everything is spot on" and "very easy to set up, nice touch sensitive keyboard, looks smart".
You’ll be needing a desk to house your bargains. Why not try the Dakota Workstation. It’s simple but stylish and most importantly, it’ll only set you back £20.
For a printer, we’ve gone for the £75 Epson Stylus DX8400. It doubles up as a scanner/copier so you can save some more money there. We’ve also gone for an Epson because you tend to get cheaper ink cartridges, so there’s the potential for long-term money saving. One shopper left this review "the product give me exactly what I was wanting at the right price".
You can’t do much without the net these days so if you’ve been unfortunate enough to get an internet provider who doesn’t supply you with a router, you can get the 54 Mbps Belkin F5D7231UK4 for £44. It’s got a stonking 200 meter wireless range so you can work in the house or even in the garden (unless you live in a mansion/palace, in which case, I’d checkout your distances before you embark on any ’off-piste’ activities).
They’re not used much these days but if you do need a fax machine, the Brother T104 is £67.
So there we go, under £500 if you go with a laptop and just over £500 if you chose a desktop computer, although there may be other elements there that you don’t need.
Reviews for all of the items can be found on Reevoo, along with lots of other reviews from shoppers.
In today’s what to buy, we’re looking at home offices. Whether you work from home or you just need an office at home, there’s no need to spend a fortune on some decent kit.
We’ve looked at laptops and desktop computers, shredders and fax machines and a lot more to help you furnish your office.
Let’s start off with computers. For those of you who prefer laptops, we’ve picked out the 15 inch Hewlett Packard 530. It’s got an 80GB hard drive, an Intel Celeron M 520 1.6 GHz processor and a DVD re-writer. You can pick one up for £267.97 with an increased 120GB hard drive. A bargain, I’m sure you’ll agree.
If you’re more of a desktop computer fan, you can try the Compaq SR5219. This has a 250GB hard drive, a AMD Athlon 64 X2 Processor and a DVD rewriter. It also comes with a 17inch Tft monitor and is around £360. It has some good reveiws too. Comments in the reviews include “Everything is spot on” and “very easy to set up, nice touch sensitive keyboard, looks smart”.
You’ll be needing a desk to house your bargains. Why not try the Dakota Workstation. It’s simple but stylish and most importantly, it’ll only set you back £20.
For a printer, we’ve gone for the £75 Epson Stylus DX8400. It doubles up as a scanner/copier so you can save some more money there. We’ve also gone for an Epson because you tend to get cheaper ink cartridges, so there’s the potential for long-term money saving. One shopper left this review “the product give me exactly what I was wanting at the right price”.
You can’t do much without the net these days so if you’ve been unfortunate enough to get an internet provider who doesn’t supply you with a router, you can get the 54 Mbps Belkin F5D7231UK4 for £44. It’s got a stonking 200 meter wireless range so you can work in the house or even in the garden (unless you live in a mansion/palace, in which case, I’d checkout your distances before you embark on any ’off-piste’ activities).
They’re not used much these days but if you do need a fax machine, the Brother T104 is £67.
So there we go, under £500 if you go with a laptop and just over £500 if you chose a desktop computer, although there may be other elements there that you don’t need.
Reviews for all of the items can be found on Reevoo, along with lots of other reviews from shoppers.
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