Your guide to shopping at http://eB.AM

The SD Association (those that make the memory card) has now put in the the specification 802.11n Wi-Fi – known as the “Wireless LAN SD” standard.

This means cards that you put in eg. your camera can connect directly to your computer over the WLan.

There’s already some products out there such as Eye-Fi but the standard will ensure that everything works together properly.

…and so we’ve created a dedicated page for these devices at WLanSD.com

Comment your best deals or experiences there.

January Sales

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas.

Whilst most people are hitting the real world shops (oddly this is always a quiet time for our site!) there a still quite a few bargains to be had.

Now will be a great time to pick up an Android 2.3 tablet – It may not be the best OS anymore but it will do what most people need.
It looks like sales numbers of these weren’t quite as expected and they’re now being heavily discounted.

You can use the domain TabletUnder300.com and comment with the facebook comments there if you’ve found deals yourself, or try out these direct links:

Android 2.3 Tablets: http://tabletunder300.com/android%202.3

Lenovo: http://tabletunder300.com/lenovo (they seem to be selling off cheap right now!)

I’ll be back in the new year with more detail, but right now I’m off to play Rabbids – Just attached a Nyko Zoom so I can play in my London flat without moving furniture. I’ll do a full review later, but so far I don’t seem to be having problems many have had (I think from not reading the instructions!)

Hope you have a Happy New Year and oh, in the Hoff/Halford click-off, Hasselhoff won  145 to 131 :)

Daily Mash Book

You may have to be British and have also read the Daily Mail (which is actually a good newspaper, except for some really oddly sensationalist pieces from time to time) to get this but it’s just had me rolling with laughter.

So added to the Editor’s Picks rotation today is:

The New Daily Mash  Book: http://eb.am/095666623X

Should be able to get delivery just in time for Christmas if you rush!

This!


It looks amazing, doesn’t it?

The “Xbox 360 Wireless Speed Wheel” designed for Forza Motorsport 4 but works with all games.

With funky green lights and a price that’s no more than a standard controller, it’s going on my wishlist now!

Friday Fun

Here’s a bit of Friday fun for you, no Shopping required!

 Backwards.u.is

Just put in your Link and make it go all wonky!

We’re getting into the Christmas spirit this afternoon with our favourite cheesy Christmas albums on the virtual decks.

I’ve chosen ‘Halford III – Winter Songs’ From Judas Priest‘s Rob Halford to bring a slightly metally flavour to our yuletide cheer.

With classic christmas song such as What Child is This? (you know, the one sung to Greensleeves, the ‘on hold’ music favourite), the even-better-than-cartman’s oh Holy Night and Oh Come All Ye Faithful. But also some more of a 80′s metal feel you’d expect – Perfect for this time of year!

Unfortunately, what we also have in the mix is:

The Night Before Christmas by David Hasselhoff

This really is as bad as you’d expect… the best-worst Christmas album you’ll find I think.
14 tracks of top notch cheese, he’s even thought of his German fans with the final track Stille Nacht (Silent night auf Deutsch)

… So which is best?

They’re both appearing randomly as the Editor’s picks on eB.AM so we’ll find out at the end of the month!

TouchFire iPad Keyboard

Well that’s spooky…

Just the other day when I was looking into the e-readers I was thinking ‘they’ should make a silicone keyboard type thing that sits on top of your tablet screen.
Today I notice someone had tweeted me a link to one.

It was probably a spammer, mind, but I think it’s worth checking out:

TouchFire: The Screen-Top Keyboard for iPad 

Although the name would suggest it’s more suited to the Kindle Fire really!

I’ll post a tweet if I spot it to buy anywhere!

Happy Birthday BBC Micro

If you were ever at or visited a British school in the 80s, you would have come across one of these:

A man in a brown pull over & tie! :)

…and the computer in front of him, the BBC Micro which turns 30 today.

Built by Acorn who now produce the ARM chip in many mobile phones, who were based in Cambridge along with the other great computer maker of the time Sinclair who made the Spectrum which got bought out by Amstrad run by Alan Sugar (Alan Michael Sugar TRADing geddit?) of The Apprentice UK fame.

Well after that bit of brief history as a bit of fun I thought I’d do a comparison with what we have now.
The equivalent to home computers I would say is tablets. Unfortunately I don’t know of many that are made in Britain any more (although check out the RaspberryPI which is designed here) so I’m just going to choose from anywhere.

80s: BBC Master

Today: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

Direct: http://eb.am/N0bbX6Sb7
Search: http://eb.am/Samsung+Galaxy+Tab+10.1

The pricey but worth it one.
You might have thought I’d've gone for the ipad, but the BBC was never meant to be a closed system – it was expandable and customisable with high connectivity.

80s: Sinclair Spectrum
 

Today:  AndyPad Pro

Direct: http://eb.am/B05KK9GPK
Search: http://eb.am/AndyPad
More Info: http://AndyPad.co.uk

Cheap and cheerful: Does everything you need, looks a bit plastic-y, great for games and less than half the price of some tabs.

80s: Commodore Vic20

Today: Kindle Fire


Direct: http://eb.am/N0elw4ycy
Search: http://eb.am/Kindle+Fire
The cheapy from America for the odd kids. I suspect the successor to the kindle fire will be the one that really sets the market alive just like the C64 did.

If you think I’m wrong, or have more to offer, please comment below!

Stuck for a present for your Pop?

What Dad wouldn’t like a nice pair of socks.

Check out our new Men’s Socks page at MenSock.com

Have a bit more cash to spend?

How about a Tablet PC? :- TabletUnder300.com

You can use the facebook comments on each page to show us the best deals you’ve found – or tweet the terms to appear in the right column.

Black Friday, Cyber Monday

So today is the Americans amongst you go out and buy Stuff.. and lots of it.

Amazon, as always have lot of great deals for around this time and have even started doing it in the UK too where sales are usually reserved until after Xmas.

So as CyberMonday is coming up, shall we look at a bit of tech?

The hottest thing this year has to be the Kindle Fire

With it’s convenient 7inch display and dirt-cheap price tag  it looks set to change the tablet market just as the iPad had done.
..I won’t be getting one though. Yes, Amazon might not be the big evil, but it’s still a walled garden and so doesn’t get around that problem. That said, it would make a great present for mum!

What is of interest to me at the moment is the e-reader scene.
Whilst I only read books at a rate of 1 a year – the idea of immersing myself in someone else’s fantasy for a long period of time doesn’t appeal -  the idea of something portable with huge battery life and e-ink screen on which I can do basic web browsing sounds ideal.
This aspect seems to get overlooked in most reviews, with people complaining that it won’t be good enough to “consume media” as the refresh is too slow and there’s no colour.
Sounds like the people who buy colour inkjets to print their CV containing a photo of themselves when a mono laser is what’s needed.

So the main choices are:

Amazon Kindle Keyboard $139 (with sponsored screensaver)

Kobo Touch eBook Reader $159

Sony PRS-T1  $129

On the face of it they all look pretty similar with WiFi and 6 inch e-ink screens – The Kindle having a keyboard and optional 3G, whereas the others are touchscreen only.

The newer kindles are also touchscreen only, but the Kindle Keyboard would be the obvious choice for non-book activities.
Unfortunately it appears that the browser is weak and the keyboard hard to use. And whilst email is possible it has to go through Amazon who charge for it… fair enough if they’re paying for the 3G though.
It also has issues opening some formats, it tying you into using Amazon stuff some more.

The Kobo looks interesting as it has a good browser which isn’t hidden away.  It is Linux based and can be easily hacked to permit FTP uploads – Sound like just the thing for uploading recipes for the kitchen or the manual for working on the car.

BUT.. the PRS-T1 can do that too, is cheaper and also has audio playback.
It’s based on Android and apparently can also be hacked to get to the underlying OS which seems to make it ideal for those wanting an e-book reader not for books!

Of course hacking stuff will probably break the warranty but that’s your risk.

So it looks like I’ll be getting the Sony and I’ll report back here when I do!

Happy Shopping.

Percy @ ShopBuyCheap

Footnote:
In researching this article I noticed that the international EAN number for many items on Amazon are set to 0012345678912 and hence many items on eB.AM will have been linking to the wrong item for a while – It’s now set to ignore that number and normal service had been resumed, apologies for any inconvenience!

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