Archive for December, 2011

Merry Christmas!

Friday, December 23rd, 2011

It’s Christmas Eve Eve! Just two sleeps left! We hope that Father Christmas brings you everything you asked for. I mean the yacht and the Californian mansion may have been a little ambitious but leave an extra large glass of sherry out for the old man and you never know…

We’ll be off Christmassing for a few days now but I’ll be back with you next Wednesday when our sales begin. If you’ve bought or received a gift from us this year, there’s nothing we like better than seeing your bleary-eyed, toussle-haired, wrapping-paper-strewn-across-the-room photos from Christmas morning. And remember, if you upload your photo or write a review on any of our products and you could be in with the chance of winning £50! Just visit the relevant product page to get uploading.

All that’s left for us is to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas

10 Fantastic Fun iDevice Gadgets for Xmas

Tuesday, December 20th, 2011

With Christmas just around the corner, Apple fanboys and fangirls begin the search for the ultimate iPod Touch gadgets to add to their Christmas list. For both the seasoned and beginning Apple gadget geek, this can be a daunting task. The list of available third-party iPod gadgets is virtually endless, as hardware designers, mobile web developers and inventors all over the world craft the latest in iPod Touch gadgets. As a general rule, iPod gadgets and accessories should accomplish three things: They should be easy to use and functional, they should be well designed (pleasing to the eye), and they should be fun to use. Here is a list to help you navigate the best in iPod Touch gadgets this holiday season.

1. Moshi Moshi MM03 Bluetooth Handset.

Moshi Moshi MM03 Bluetooth Handset

Moshi Moshi MM03

This is the premier blue tooth handset for the iPhone. The Moshi Moshi head set has a very clean and stylish design. Advanced 2.11 technology and a noise reduction system means that you will have clean and hiss free chat as well if you know someone that always has the best and want to treat them this is this professional handset for them.


2. Moshi Moshi Pop Phone Handset

Moshi Moshi Pop Phone Handset

Moshi Moshi Pop Handset

Moshi Moshi also does these fantastic fun Pop Phone Handsets for the home environment they come in a number of funky fun colours that are sure to brighten up you home and give you a great handset to natter away to your family and friends on. The beauty is you can chat away and use your contacts and calendar with ease perfect for organising your social life.


3. CrystalDock

Crystal Dock

Crystal Dock

If you’re looking for an elegant and classy-looking iPod gadget, go for the CrystalDock designed by CalypsoCrystal. These iPod docks are made from real crystal, and come in your choice of four different colors. These would make your gleaming iPod Touch White look the business.


4. FabShell iPod Case

FabShell iPod Case

FabShell iPod Case

For all the cool gadgets available for the iPod Touch, few can take the place of a fashionable, sleek-looking and durable case to protect your device from damage. Fortunately, the FabShell Burton Case fits the bill. These fashionable cases come in three different design styles: Gingham, Plaid and Hydrant Big Stripe Fade.


5. Phone Friendly Lug Bean Bags

Lug Bean Bag

Lug Bean Bag

These are some pure comfort for your cherished iPhone they are ergonomically designed and will prevent any possible damage causing bumping to your device. They make sure that your phone is held in peace and harmony. The Lug Bean Bag comes in fab bright colours to blend in with your high tech power house environment or homely setting.


6. Stowaway Hard Shell Credit Card Case

Stowaway Hard Shell Credit Card Case

Stowaway Case

This credit card and cash holder designed by Incipio, is both large enough to hold your cash, credit cards and business cards, and your iPod Touch or iPhone 4S smartphone. If you’re worried about the card holder damaging your iPod, the case itself is made from impact-resistant polycarbonate material.


7. App Toyz Wheel

App Toyz Wheel

App Toyz Wheel

For all your speed freakz out there the Toyz Wheel will get your much more absorbed in the game action. Whether you are cruising through New York in Driver or hitting a chicane in F1 then this will give you the realistic experience that you need. The wheel works with all apps that use the accelerometer, which is 90% of driving games a perfect Xmas bargain for a petrol head.


8. Sound Bomb Portable MP3 Speaker

Sound Bomb Portable MP3 Speaker

Sound Bomb Speaker

For when you need to bring the PARTY to where you are going what a fantastically creative device with the speakers being the sides on the bomb and the red lead being the fuse. This Sound Bomb Speaker is fantastically LOUD! And delivers clean and clear audio for a long time as the rechargeable battery inside is charged via the USB.


9. Jambox Wireless Speaker

Jambox Wireless Speaker

Jambox Wireless Speaker

The Jawbone JAMBOX is a wireless speaker designed and developed by the folks over at AppAdvice. This wireless speaker lets you play your music loud without having to connect to an iPod dock, or without the use speaker wire or audio adapters.


10. Woogie 2

Woogie 2

Woogie 2

The Woogle 2 is an updated version of the original iPod Touch plushie cover. It is a soft toy-like cover that has four legs. The Woogle comes in all sorts of colors, but perhaps the most popular colors are pink and blue. The Woogle 2 is a perfect gift to help your child or child relative enjoy and explore the iPod touch.


About the Author: Daniel Fenu is a graphic designer, and writer based in the UK. Loves all things Apple.

Win a £50 Sleigh-Load of Gifts!

Wednesday, December 14th, 2011

  Christmas Competition Banner

It’s almost Christmas! The time of goodwill and giving. In the spirit of the festive season, we’ve got an extra special gift to give away.

We’re giving you the chance to fill your stockings with £50 worth of gifts and Gadgets. All you have to do is visit our competition page and answer the question correctly to be in with the chance of winning our £50 Christmas voucher. The question relates to one of our favourite Christmas stories; Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”. Simply tell us the name of Ebeneezer Scrooge’s deceased business partner who haunts him on Christmas eve.

Also, don’t forget that if there’s last-minute Christmas shopping to be done, you’ll find some great ideas in our Christmas Presents, Stocking Fillers, Secret Santa and Festive Deals categories. Order soon to receive your gifts in time for Christmas!

Loquax Competitions
ThePrizeFinder – UK Competitions
Free Competitions
UKWins Competitions
UK Competitions

The Evolution of the App

Monday, December 12th, 2011

Since the likes of Angry Birds and Doodle Jump first came out, the iPhone App has become a huge part of modern life. For years, they’ve only really featured on the screens of our iPhones, but now they’re branching out into full-blown peripherals that change your phone into a sophisticated and hugely entertaining toy…

First off, we have the AppWheel, a relatively simple idea that does exactly what it says on the tin. There are countless driving games available for the iPhone, and the AppWheel adds a surprising amount of realism to the experience; you’ll be amazed how much of a difference turning a wheel makes when you compare it to just tilting your phone. It’s also designed to make sure you can press all the on-screen buttons without hassle, and for £9.95 is a great stocking filler for anyone with an iPhone.

Next, we come to the AppCopter, a truly incredible piece of kit that uses your iPhone as a controller to send a helicopter soaring through the clouds. You can use it with a standard on-screen D-pad, or for the more advanced pilot, nothing but the accelerometer and a steady hand to guide it safely through the skies.

Finally, my personal favourite. The AppBlaster is easily the most fun you can have with your iPhone, turning your whole house into a battlefield as you defend it from alien invaders. It’s the world’s first ever shoot-em-app, and the Alien Attack is pretty close to perfection. The trigger to touch screen technology is seamless, and for less than £20 I defy you to find a more entertaining game anywhere on the market.

So there we have it: three absolutely cracking gadgets for anyone with an iPhone.

Like it! Review and competition: Disco Mug and Diva Washing-up Brush

Friday, December 9th, 2011

 Gadgets Like It!

Hello again gadgeteers. I’m back from me ‘olidays, thanks to Mandy and Murray for filling in on the competition for a couple of weeks. It’s Friday again and it’s time to announce the winner of this week’s Like It! competition. Congratulations goes to Andy Craig who will get to choose one of our mini Music Monsters as an early Christmas present. And that also means that it’s time to give away some more cool stuff!

This week we have a seriously funky double disco prize to give away. Not only will you be sipping tea like it’s the seventies from our totally copacetic disco ball mug, but when you come to wash up, you can also get down with our disco diva washing up brush. Ahh yeaahh. We’re giving you the chance to win them both. All you have to do is put on a pair of flares and demonstrate that you can headspin for more than 30 seconds. Or alternatively just head over to our Facebook competition page and enter your details for the chance to win! (Needless to say, please don’t really attempt a 30 second headspin.)

Disco MugDiva Sponge

Styled as a disco ball, the mug provides a generously sized cup of tea for that one night of the week when you aren’t out blaming it on the boogie. The disco diva herself sports a super-absorbant afro which is just right for getting in the nooks and crannies of the washing up.

Disco is starting to see a little bit of a resurgence recently with current focus on masters of falsetto The Beegees as the nation decides their favourite Beegees song of all time for an ITV programme later in December. We’re going with ‘You should be dancing’ as our vote. Let us know what you’d pick while you’re over on our Facebook page entering the competition.

Loquax Competitions
ThePrizeFinder – UK Competitions
Free Competitions
UKWins Competitions
UK Competitions

Best Christmas Songs Ever!

Wednesday, December 7th, 2011

You may have noticed that Christmas is just around the corner. Not least because you’ll have begun to be bombarded with Christmas music from all angles. You’ll hear it in every shop and cafe, not to mention all over the TV and radio. We love a bit of Christmas music, the only problem is that there’s no accounting for taste and there are usually a few clangers amongst the Christmas classics. I mean does Steeleye Span’s Gaudete really capture the spirit of the festive season?

That’s why we three bloggers come bearing gifts of our ‘Best Christmas Songs Ever!’. 5 Songs each compiled into the ultimate classic Christmas playlist (well in our opinion anyway.) If you’re a Spotify user you can just click here to listen to the playlist. For everyone else, here’s the list:

Everyone likes a bit of Bing at Christmas

Everyone likes a bit of Bing at Christmas

  1. Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree – Brenda Lee
  2. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) – Darlene Love
  3. It’s the Most wonderful Time of the Year – Andy Williams
  4. It’s Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas – Perry Como
  5. I saw Mommy Kidding Santa Claus – The Ronettes
  6. Feliz Navidad – Jose Feliciano
  7. Jingle Bell Rock – Bobby Helms
  8. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – Frank Sinatra
  9. Thankful Heart – Michael Caine and The Muppets
  10. The Christmas Song – Nat King Cole
  11. Silver Bells – Doris Day
  12. Do They Know It’s Christmas – Band Aid
  13. Let it Snow, let is snow, let it snow – Dean Martin
  14. White Christmas – Bing Crosby
  15. Fairytale of New York – The Pogues

We’ve been playing our playlist today through one of our mini Music Monster speakers which we’re giving away in our Like it! competition. We hope you enjoy it and we encourage you to put it on loudly wherever you are. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Time, Mistletoe and Wine.

Monday, December 5th, 2011

It’s the moooost wonderful tiiiiiime of the yeeeeeeear! There’ll be much parties for hosting, marshmallows for toasting and caroling out in the snooooow!

In case you hadn’t gathered, here at Gadget HQ we’re pretty excited about the fact that it’s NEARLY CHRISTMAS! Much of Friday was spent decorating our office and putting up the tree, which I think you’ll agree looks pretty nifty (if I do say so myself). We’ve all been discussing our favourite Christmas songs, there are chocolates and presents under the tree and, most importantly, we’ve got advent calendars.

Sam and I have the ever-fantastic Cadbury’s Make-A-Wish calendars, but in an almost Dickensian tale of seasonal sadness, Mandy was left calendar-less. I knew what I had to do, so I hitched Sam to the Gadget Sleigh and rode off into the winter’s night to secure her the most fantastic, most amazing Captain America advent calendar you ever did see. I don’t want to exaggerate or blow my own trumpet, but I think it’s probably safe to say that I single handedly saved Christmas.

We’ve also been buying presents for our loved ones, and I’ve scored some real bargains from our very own website. I can’t tell you who I’ve got them for in case they read this, but I’m dead pleased with my Camper Van Egg Cups. They’re one of our most popular items and I can see why after getting them; they’re absolutely cracking (egg pun intended).

Our final Christmassy note is that we’ve opened up a new category on the site for Secret Santa ideas, great gifts for under a tenner that are guaranteed to put a festive smile on your friends faces.

Like it! Review and competition: Music Monsters

Friday, December 2nd, 2011

Gadgets Like It!

Hello! Sam’s holiday is coming to an end, but since he’s still not back it’s my turn to encourage you all to Like It! It’s Friday again and the weekend is drawing near. Last week we gave you the chance to win some amazingly appropriate Facebook style Like Tea and Coffee Mugs and we’re pleased to tag F Drinkwell as the winner. Congratulations!

Once again, we’ve got a super cool gadget to give away and this week we’ve got something that sounds better than it looks. And we mean that in a good way! Take a look at the competition page.

Music Monsters

These seriously cool little critters arrived a few weeks back and a little green one with a big mouth ended up on my desk. Obviously they’re pretty cool looking little dudes but being a bit of a sound quality afficianado (a fussy twit) I expected very little from a speaker of that size.

I was however, pleasantly surprised when from the music monster’s tiny gob came more than enough volume and an excellent clarity of sound. Clearly as they’re only little, they won’t provide the bass response of your home stereo, but they also don’t distort and buzz like a regular travel speaker. This means you can actually listen to your tunes and understand what they’re singing. Well unless you’re listening to thrash metal, in which case no-one understands what they’re singing. Not even the singers.

If you’re interested in listening to some music while you’re on the go, these Music Monsters would be great to take on holiday, to the park or beach and they look snazzy too. If you’d like to win one of these little guys, just like us on Facebook and enter your details on the competition page for the chance to win. The winner even gets to choose from Big Mouth, Skully, Caveman or Kung Fu.

Loquax Competitions
ThePrizeFinder – UK Competitions
Free Competitions
UKWins Competitions
UK Competitions