Tag: home

Flexispot BS8 Flexi-Chair Ergonomic Office Chair – Review

A good office chair is a vital staple for a good and comfortable work-from-home setup. it is also something that most people will scrimp on when they are setting up their home office, I should know as I was one of them! I was making do with a …

Commonly overlooked supplies and equipment you need for a home office

If you’ve been working from home amid the pandemic over the past few months, you’ve probably come to realise the importance of having a designated workspace. There’s only so much you can take of the kids running around and shouting in the background while you’re trying to make …

Looking for a new broadband provider? Try Three.

If you, like me, live in an area where even fibre broadband (aka FTTC) isn’t that fast – there are alternatives. I ended up going with Virgin Media Business and, in the process, binned the rental of my landline. However, with 5G on the horizon and the traditional …

The new normal has been forced upon us, but it’s here to stay.

With a second coronavirus spike now sliding into view, the idea of “going back to the office” is fading into the background. Remote working is rapidly becoming the “new normal” and the idea of cramming ourselves onto public transport in order to spend time in an expensive office …

Working from home still? Get the sounds of the office

Sitting at home can be a solitary affair. The enforced coronavirus lockdown has led to many working from home and many companies have no plans for that to change any time soon. Many previously saw home working as an ideal solution to the stresses and strains of commuting, …

H&M and Urbanista collaborate on audio goodness

If you’re in the market for a Bluetooth speaker, the guys at Urbanista have teamed up with H&M HOME to create a limited-edition Bluetooth speaker. The Sydney speaker is £34.90 but, if you hang around on the site, you’ll get a 10% discount code to make it a bit cheaper. …

Working from home could last for a lot longer

Good morning lockdown crew. Hope you’re well. Yesterday, and for the first time in a while, I found myself in a couple of local shops. There’s a mixture of coronavirus changes, with the local Co-op implementing a “one way only” and “one in, one out” system and keeping …

Home Active – DJ Mixes and videos to keep you moving

OK, you’re trapped at home but, in order to keep fit and healthy, we’re bringing a selection things to keep you mentally and physically strong during the COVID-19 crisis. We might be on lockdown but we can keep things moving hopefully. I’ve just finished off my daily P.E. …

Home Active – Improve your IT skills

Pluralsight, which is a great online IT learning platform, is now offering all their courses for free during April. It’s a great opportunity to learn some additional skills during the lockdown. Head to this page and you’ll get a whole month of their IT videos and training. There’s …

Home Active – Carol Vorderman offers her services for free

The Maths Factor was set up by Carol Vorderman a decade ago, and – for about £2 per week – you get a website which will help unlock every child’s confidence in maths. The maths tutoring site is for 4-11 year olds. It follows a 5-step philosophy – …

Home Active – Daily PE lessons

We covered some free fitness lessons just recently but, if you want to keep a schedule going, Joe Wicks has setup a live daily workout on his YouTube channel. As I type there’s nearly a million viewers watching his daily 9AM workout, which he’s broadcasting from his home. …

Home Active – Lessons online

With schools closed down and kids spending more time in the house, parents will all have the same concerns. First, we’ve already hit the point where kids simply can’t go to each other’s homes. We’re also at the point where kids are sat all day playing on a …

Home Active – Church and cathedral services online

During the cornavirus crisis, we’re continuing with our mission to keep you mentally and physically fit. At times like this, many will look to religion to cope. However, with the UK government advising against “social gatherings”, it’s going to become more difficult to run these. So, it’s good …

Home Active – Carpool Mixing and Raving

As part of our quest to keep everyone in a good mood during the coronavirus closures, we’re doing everything we can to keep you healthy, happy and sane. We’re calling it “Home Active” and, although we can’t pretend to fix everything, we’ll hopefully make the time pass a …

How easy is working from home if you don’t have an IT guy?

With a growing emphasis on working from home at the moment, there’s an obvious concern that many just simply can’t do that. As an example, if you work in a supermarket, a coffee shop or a pub; working from home just isn’t really possible. For big IT firms, …

Find your local mobile mast – 2020 Edition

Update – We’ve recently posted an additional update to this story here. Many years ago, mobile networks gave the location of their masts to Ofcom. That was back in 2011 though, and after a bit they ditched it. Mobile companies didn’t have to map the location of masts, …

How the home of 2020 looked in 1989

This has been doing the rounds on social media and I think it’s worth a mention here. Back in 1989 (yes, 31 years ago), some predictions were made by BBC technology show, “Tomorrow’s World”. The video is below, so have a look and we’ll go through each point …

Home Office / Gaming Room Project – Part 1

Let me tell you a story. My son has long wanted a “gaming room”. We’ve pushed back on this but, now he’s at high school, we’ve started to convert our spare room. He also needs it because we made the decision to stop any gadgets, PS4’s or phones …

When a VPN isn’t enough

A VPN is something that we’ve written about numerous times here. They’re great and they will anonymise your browsing whilst also changing your location and getting around and location restrictions which may have been applied by streaming providers. However, if you’re using a VPN to access things like …

Three 5G goes live in London today

It’s a brave new world for UK network, Three. They’ve gone from having the smallest amount of spectrum to the most thanks to their plentiful 5G allowance. It means that they can deliver “true 5G” thanks to 100MHz of contiguous spectrum. This will, according to the network, support …

Vodafone UK launches the 5G GigaCube

Imagine if you found a home broadband provider who could offer you super-fast internet speeds for £30. Sounds good? For that you get 100GB of data to use and there’s no line rental or TV and calls package. No engineer, no waiting. This, then, is what Vodafone have …

Ezviz CTQ6C Wireless Security Camera – Review

Have a look at most UK homes and there is normally an alarm box situated at the front with the blinking LED. Let’s be honest though, how many of us actually go and investigate if the alarm starts blaring? Truth be told, not many. “Well my alarm sends …

Pixel 3a available at EE with free Google Home Hub

OK, so Carphone Warehouse are giving you a free laptop if you buy the Pixel 3a. What about EE? Well, anyone buying either the Pixel 3a or Pixel 3a XL on an EE handset plan before May 23rd will get a free Google Home Hub. That’s worth £119. …

Unlimited data on the 4G Home Router from Three

Remember the £20 per month deal on Three that we mentioned just recently? Well, if you’re in an area that struggles to get traditional fixed-line broadband, you might want to check out the Three 4G home router. Right now, this deal is on and, I have to say, …

Make a successful home business with this 2019 idea list

If you’re looking for a secondary job, want to make money online, or you want to do something part time, it’s now perhaps easier than ever. The guy that fixes and services my bike for example. He has a van. He has a mobile phone and a load of …

Making your home a smarter home

Remember the old Apple commercials that came out to promote the release of the first iPhones? The slogan was, “There’s an app for that!” Nowadays, if you have your own home, there truly is an app for nearly everything you could want or need. Today I decided to …

YI Dome Camera, now reduced

This is a 720p IP camera with a wide-angled lens and has night vision. It’s ideal for seeing to your home if you’re away for Christmas – you can setup activity alerts and setup certain positions so that you can quickly switch. A two-way audio system also means …

Caller ID now free

Not too long ago, if you wanted the phone number of the caller to be displayed on your home phone, you’d have to pay some mad fee. It was, when you think about it, a little unfair. Mobile networks have been providing the caller’s number since, ever, but …

Random strange shed project. Day 3

A man’s shed should never be questioned. My “man den” was originally supposed to be the garage, but that’s filled with all manner of stuff and I struggle to even walk through it at times. Apparently we “need” everything in there, even though I don’t know what half …

Your insulation could be killing your mobile signal

A few years ago we had cavity wall insulation put into the walls. It makes sense really – keeping the heat in during the winter and ensuring that your home is nice and cool during the summer months. I know lately, with the UK going through a prolonged …

Just £10 for a Chromecast when you buy a Google Home Mini

Want to get a diddy little smart speaker which you can talk to ? One where you say, “OK Google, what’s the weather going turned be like today?”, and it’ll tell you? Get a Google Home Mini. It’s £49 and it’ll give you personalized help throughout your day. …

Nokia announce 7 Plus availability

Nokia have just announced that their latest flagship, the 7 Plus, will go on sale in May with a free Google Home Mini. Announced recently, the Nokia 7 Plus is a device many will be interested in. It comes with and impressive screen and dual 12 megapixel Carl …

Going away for Christmas? Pawbo – The pet camera and more

The people at Pawbo have sent us a mail about their interactive camera technology. It’s to keep an eye on your cat or dog while you’re not home, and via your smartphone you can see how they’re doing. The pet camera is accessed via the Android / iOS …

The Google Store Black Friday deals

Here in a dark, cold Britain, we live for deals. If we can safe a bit of money on a Christmas gift and then get a bit angry because the various delivery companies insist on delivering this just when we’re on the loo, we will. Google have made …

Is your home WiFi a bit pants? Your smartphone can help!

If you read my epic explanation about how cable broadband works then you may have noticed that, like a lot of people, my phone, the internet router and the TV is all in the corner of the house. In the “old days” the smiley BT engineer would instead …

Home on the range: a range of Google Homes

Earlier on, we covered what we think was the most important part of this year’s Google hardware 2017 event – the new Pixel 2 and Pixel 2XL. Next up, we’re covering Mountain View’s home hardware kit – namely, the Google Home range. This Home range wasn’t so much …