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Affordable tablets that come with keyboards
I have a rather pricy Surface (great birthday present), but I don’t want to spend that much on a tablet for the kids.
So when I heard about Venturer tablets coming in at less than £150, I got a little excited. But when I heard that they were survived undamaged in a drop test, I got more excited. There were tested alongside the Surface 3, Lenovo and Asus devices at heights of 0.7m and 1.2m in a factory drop test which involves dropping the same device on at least 6 different sides and corners. The only tablets that passed at 1.2M were the Venturer ones. Let’s just say we’re a clumsy family, so maybe a good solution for us!
So I had to find out more. The BravoWin and EliteWin are both a tablet and …
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Unlimited chat abroad without WiFi with ChatSim
How many times have you been on holiday and wanted to message or send pictures to your loved ones while out, but had to wait until you find WiFi to do so? Or worse – how often have you come home to an outrageous bill from your network provider for the roaming charges your kids racked up on holiday? Well, those days are over thanks to ChatSim, the world’s first ‘instant messaging mobile operator’. People can send unlimited messages and emojis for free on their chat apps as soon as they land, so you can be sure the children won’t moan that there’s no WiFi to message their mates – they can just get cracking!
It’s £8 for the SIM, and another £8 for the unlimited messages and emojis for a year, which is …
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Best smart thermostat for energy savings – a UK comparison
2016 means green in our house. We have a hybrid car and just fitted solar panels. While it’s great to save the environment, we also like to save money too.
I have been looking into and have tried a couple of smart thermostats recently, and liked the ability to control my heating remotely, so I decided to share my research with you in this list.
I have researched Netatmo, Nest, momit and tado (pronounced tardough). All four systems are more intelligent than traditional thermostats, as they allow you to control your heating remotely via an app on your smartphone or tablet.
I looked into several criteria that I wanted in a thermostat and then ranked the devices per criteria. It’s not scientific, but it may help you make a decision.
Compatibility
These products are developed …
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£20 voucher for returning your EE Power Bar charger
You may remember the great Power Bar rush last year, when EE gave all its customer a portable charger. Well there were a few rogue chargers that overheated, but now the company is being cautious as they pose a safety risk and recalling ALL of its Power Bars and giving you a £20 voucher instead.
What do you need to do?
EE published a web page on 16 December explaining that it is recalling all of its Power Bars after it was discovered that they aren’t safe. “We’re recalling all EE Power Bars,” EE says on its website. “This is just a precaution, but we want to make sure all our customers are safe.”
They are taking the action as “we are aware of a very small number of further incidents where Power Bars …
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How do smart thermostats save you money?
You are no doubt turning up your thermostat as the cold snap has well and truly kicked in. Wouldn’t it be great if you had an intelligent thermostat that could control temperature for you, works with an app that allows you to set a monthly energy budget, and looks good too?
There are a range of new clever thermostats, from Google’s Nest, to German company’s tado, Netatmo and more. But I think I found a thermostat that offers the same functionality, but isn’t as expensive as the rivals, since it’s at least £50 cheaper!
Spanish energy company momit has some affordable and stylish thermostats for energy conscious consumers who want an intelligent device to control household temperature and save money.
Let’s look at their flagship product – the momit Home Thermostat has an attractive display …
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Are you getting a fair deal on your energy bills?
You’ve probably heard about smart meters being introduced to all households by 2020…well that’s the target anyway.
I heard about Loop Energy Saver monitors today and they claim to offer a credible alternative to the smart meter programme, enabling consumers to monitor both gas and electricity usage in real-time and therefore keep track of energy spend immediately. Currently less than 5% of British households have a smart meter and most households won’t have them until 2020.
The company behind the Loop Energy Saver monitors claim that they differ from other energy monitoring products by:
- Simultaneously monitoring both gas and electricity usage in real-time
- Offering impartial information about energy tariffs via weekly emails alerting consumers to the best deals on the market
- Making it easy to switch either directly to another energy provider or via comparison
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New Aldi Specialbuys kitchen range
What’s Aldi got cooking for us in this Thursday’s Specialbuy? Well it’s a new kitchen range including everything from Spice Grinders and Soup Makers, to Deep Fat Fryers and Slow Cookers. It’s in stores on 22nd October, whilst stocks last.
If you are a coffee lover, Aldi’s retro inspired Espresso Maker (£59.99) may appeal. Available in gunmetal grey, pearl and red, the espresso maker is easy to use and features a built-in steam nozzle for frothing milk to creamy perfection. It could make a very nice gift along with Aldi’s Coffee Glasses (£2.99 – two pack), available in three tasteful designs.
This coffee or Spice Grinder (£12.99) is ideal for grinding nuts, spices or coffee. Again, the colour options are great for a coordinated kitchen as it’s available in red, gunmeatal, pearl and stainless steel.…
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Smart wireless bathroom scales from Beets Blu
For years I’ve had some quite swanky John Lewis scales that tell you all sorts of useful info like weight, fat ratio, BMI, but frankly I only focused on the weight.
After I tried the Beets Blu key finder, I have now discovered the Beets Blu new wireless Smart Scale.
Now these scales are sleek and a little bit fancy dare I say. They provide all the info that my John Lewis scales provide, BUT you can link them to your phone and track your progress (or lack of it!).
The Smart Scale measures and tracks your weight, body fat percentage, water level and muscle mass using Bluetooth technology to upload the results to your phone. We (three adults) all love it, and have started to track our progress. It’s amazing, and simple – you …
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Never lose your keys again
Last year my son lost his school bag for a whole week and I decided that I needed to find something to tag his property with so that we could track it and ensure his books never got lost again! I pre-ordered a Tile, but after several months I still had not received it, so a tracking device slipped my mind. Anyway, I recently lost some keys so I looked around and bought a BeetsBlu PagerTag.
The PagerTag is a slim, small and simple device that I put onto my keyring and then from my phone, I startup an app, my PaperTag makes a sound and I can find my keys. No more hunting for them frantically and no more borrowing keys!
It is compatible with most major smartphones including iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, …
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Fitbit on offer at Tesco
I have one of these Fitbits and use it to track my fitness. It was a gift and it cost over £70 so I had to share this fantastic offer from Tesco for a Fitbit Flex Wireless Activity and Sleep tracking wristband for £55. This is part of the Tesco’s Big Bank Holiday which ends on Tuesday.
I use a special app that is linked to the Fitbit and can see how many steps I have taken, distance travelled, how well I sleep and more.
I aim to do 10,000 steps per day and can see my progress. It has a light bar which shows four lights when I am at my target and it buzzes when I have reached my target – yay. The Fitbit is waterproof so I wear it when swimming and …
