Category: Features
With all of us spending more time indoors, one of our first solutions to break up the day is TV. However, as I quickly found out, there’s a lot of places where you can watch your favourite show. Not only that, but you’ll find that some series are …
We recently mentioned the Joe Wicks daily workouts which are keeping us all active. With schools mostly shut down and kids stuck in the house, his daily PE lessons have been part of the morning routine for many. His YouTube channel, as you can see from the numbers, …
We earlier stated that BT Sport and Sky Sports wouldn’t let you pause your subscription despite the distinct lack of sports right now. The reason, of course, is the coronavirus pandemic, which has stopped our lives in many ways. Sky Sports, just a day after we ran that …
I’ve been loyal to Sky TV for a number of years now, but their behaviour over the last 12 months has left a really bad taste in my mouth. My recent “leaving Sky” feature has detailed a lot of this – including the regular price-hikes and poor or …
We’ve covered a number of free keep-fit ideas over the last few days including repairing an old exercise bike, taking part in free daily PE lessons and online keep-fit videos. Today it’s another one, and again it’s courtesy of my local gym. The people who make the equipment …
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 – …
I’m properly annoyed with the amount of companies profiteering out of the coronavirus crisis. I’d like to see far more companies doing their bit. Audible has stepped forward with a good gift for the kids – free streamed audio books. Their website states that.. For as long as …
As I write this in the UK, we’re still allowed to go outside provided we pay attention to social distancing. This, however, can be tricky in a packed supermarket or train. At the weekend, instead of driving to the local Morrisons, we walked the 8 mile return trip. …
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. …
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 …
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 …
We’ve started our “Home Active” feature as a way to keep you mentally and physically strong through these very strange times. Stuck at home, or limited on what you can do outside of home, we’re looking at the options that are available. Today this one comes courtesy of …
After a raft of criticism, Sky appear to have changed their tune slightly. Before, despite not being able to deliver the expected live football, golf, rugby and other sports events, they were refusing to refund those who had paid the additional Sky Sports subscription. This, though, is something …
We’re certainly living in very strange times at the moment. As most of Europe enters a prolonged lock-down period, internet usage has shot through the roof. Indeed, Vodafone got in touch with us to state that their network has seen a 50% rise in usage. This strange and …
Recently I’ve written about Sky subscription prices and leaving Sky. What has also popped up though is that fact that those paying for the rather expensive Sports packages aren’t getting the sport they were promised. The reason, as you may know, is the fact that lots of tournaments, …
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 …
With the coronavirus closing leisure activities, restaurants, pubs, coffee-shops and cinemas; we’re all spending a lot more time at home. So, with TV, radio and the internet our connection to the outside world, Sky have bit of good news for us. I actually decided to cancel Sky TV …
Just a few short days ago I doubt we knew quite how life-changing this situation would be. The coronavirus outbreak has become a massive health and economic emergency across the globe. Now, today, we’re coming to terms with the hard realisation that nothing will be the same for …
Just recently I received yet another increase to the cost of our Sky TV subscription. Within the space of a year we’d seen our subscription increase four or five times so I cancelled Sky. Then, after the cancellation went through, Sky got in touch to offer a far …
Over the last few days, my article about leaving Sky and rejoining again has been looked at more than the front page. My plan was to cancel and go with Freesat, supplementing it with various streaming services, but I rejoined because Sky did me a deal after I …
This was meant to be a feature about how I cancelled Sky TV and instead switched to Freesat. Why? Well, the truth is that even the “slightly hidden” Freesat from Sky website states that there’s over 240 channels available for free. Yes, 240+ channels for nothing. So why …
The task seemed simple. Sort the box room out and make it into a place where my son could do his gaming and his homework. The requirements seemed easy enough, but doing it “without any cables showing” and a minimalistic finish? Well, that was a bit of a …
On Monday Ofcom published the results of 5G testing which proved that radiation levels in the UK were at “tiny fractions” of safe limits. However, this testing comes against a backdrop of conspiracy theories, critical stories on click-driven newspaper websites and totally unsubstantiated claims on Facebook. The latter is …
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, …
Some 9 years ago I performed a test of radio streaming over the internet. I was fed up with the slim choice of very “samey” FM radio station so, with the aid of some cabling (or a smartphone FM transmitter) I fed the audio output of my smartphone …
There’s quite a few geeky things that interest me still. Making music is one. Today it’s so much easier to make a track and you can get it out to eardrums throughout the world in seconds. However, back in 1998 things were decidedly different. Fatboy Slim released his …
This project has been rumbling on for months now. You can read all about the various stages either below or get the story in our review section. Basically, it started when my wife showed me this picture and said, “Could we get something like that?”.. This started a …
Whilst browsing through my tweets I noticed this exchange between Phones Show producer Steve Litchfield and the Vodafone Twitter account. It relates to a Pay As You Go handset / SIM and the fact that it’s been unexpectedly disconnected… The disconnection of an apparently unused line might seem …
I’ve gotta admit, I’d love a Google Pixelbook. It’s got an Intel Core i7, either 8GB or 16GB of RAM (depending on the model), a big hard drive and a 12.3″ 2400×1600 (235ppi) panel. Trouble is, despite all my saving, I’m not getting close to affording one. Even …
It’s hard to believe that part one of this project was back in October, but hey – life gets in the way and other things have had to take priority. Our aim was to get this done by Christmas and we very nearly hit that date – just …
A couple of years ago I decided to bin Sky TV, bin my phone line rental and effectively remove most of my “broadcast” TV. The plan was to switch across to just an internet feed and nothing else. I then went ultra-geeky and changed our existing home phone …
I’ve covered the rather rubbish state of affairs with DAB (digital) radio here in the UK before. In an effort to reduce the “entry price” to stations and to increase the choice, you tend to get a lower bitrate audio stream, which is in mono quite a lot …
A little update on my weekend adventures then, and we’re now at the plastering stage. For those of you who haven’t caught up, check the previous updates in this feature. Basically I’m creating lots of holes in our house in order to put some HDMI, Ethernet, power and …
I’m probably talking to a fairly small subset of people here, but if you have an ultra-fast broadband connection this is for you. With rapid 5G home broadband and better fibre connections becoming available we all want the best internet speeds possible. Speedy Virgin Media or Virgin Media Business …
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 …
Smartphones and technology, as we’ve mentioned before, are stopping us talking to each other. My nephew looked at me in horror at the weekend after I told him that he’d have to actually talk to another human being in order to approve the Apple Pay connection to his …
Geez I’m old now. I mean, proper old. When I was at school, if our class was given an essay to write or a book to review, there was no easy way. No simple research option. No, you had to read the book, you had to go to …
You’ll see me writing about SIM only deals quite a bit here. My journey with SIM only started a few years ago, when I reached the end of my contract. I was, like many, fairly comfortable with renewing my contract after 24 months and getting a new phone. …
Today marks the start of a new method of changing networks. For all too long people here in the UK have had to call the infamous “Retentions Team”. They will try lots of things to keep hold of you as a customer. Sometimes this process has a good …
Remember my strange Shed Project? I wanted to make use of an old smartphone and thanks to a solar panel and some software, I created a web server which didn’t need external power, then lumped in an API so I could remotely control the camera and check on …
