Dirk

Facebook throws users a piece of eight

September 26, 2008 on 3:52 pm by Dirk | In News | Comment on this post

Handily combining two of my recent blog posts about Facebook and International Talk Like a Pirate Day respectively I discovered on the evening of 25th September that although I may be marooned in the scurvy depths of ‘New’ Facebook, I can feel at least slightly better about my plight by altering my settings so that instead of bog-standard and boring English my Facebook experience is now brought to me in the glorious High Definition English(Pirate) language version, as shown in this picture in glorious colour.

Yes, it’s the same ‘New’ Facebook that has caused al the controversy, but it has amusingly translated all the regularly used links and phrases into Pirate Speak, so rather than friends you have “Me Hearties”, “Bottle o’ Messages”instead of inbox, etc…
The only question is how long before we are inundated with different language variations in the settings menu? I can actually envisage a Trekkie sat in their bedroom translating Facebook into Klingon as I type this…


UPDATE: Apparently between my switching my profile and making this post Facebook have seen fit to remove the English(Pirate) option from the language settings. No doubt aside from the people with pitchforks and torches already hating the nerw layout they will now be besieged by pirates and buccaneers who will no longer be able to understand the site!

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Dirk

A Pox upon your houses!

September 24, 2008 on 4:08 pm by Dirk | In News | 1 Comment

I don’t know about any of you reading this, but when I was younger it seemed to be the in thing amongst parents that if children came down with a disease like mumps, or Chicken Pox there was a sudden rush of all the healthy children to play with the poor afflicted child while they were still good and contagious, a sort of ‘Pox Party’ if you will. For the less innocent youth of today this is no longer a viable tactic, see the Chickenpox episode of South Park for the possible repercussions of such a tactic. The solution has been presented in the form of the Poxteddy.

The idea is that the cuddly toy will, over a length of time, expose children to a biologically engineered version of a virus in order build up the childs immunity to the disease. All very well in theory one would suppose, however thinking ethically is it preferable to knowingly expose a child to something that could make them very ill? This is of course without mentioning the hornets nest that would be introducing publicly available genetically altered viruses….

My personal opinion? This is a bit creepy, at least when playing with another infected child makes them ill, the child concerned will learn not to trust anyone, especially their parents.

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Dirk

Avast ye Land Lubbers!

September 19, 2008 on 3:24 pm by Dirk | In News | Comment on this post

Arriving at my desk this morning I was informed that today is in fact, not merely 19th September, not merely a Friday (cause enough for celebration surely!?), today is also International Talk Like A Pirate Day. Far from Pirates being the thieving, smelly, and somewhat questionable individuals we have been led to believe, they are (or were?) actually chivalrous gents, misunderstood due to common mistranslations of the vocabulary they use. Honest……

This being the case I have stuck a USB Owl to my shoulder, rolled up my trousers, adopted a squint and my best piratey accent for the day, even going so far as to insist on having Skull and Crossbone Icecubes in all my drinks.

Unfortunately by about midday everyone had stopped talking to me after I had referred to them as “scurvy dogs”, “Bilge Rats”, and a few other choice piratey expressions. I’ve also discovered Pirate style chat-up-lines are best avoided, unless of course you are looking for a reason to wear an eye-patch.

The moral of the story is that although Talk Like A Pirate day should be great fun, make sure everyone is else is willing to join in first. Now where’s the wench with me grog?

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Dirk

Office, Desk, and USB Gadgets galore

September 19, 2008 on 2:07 pm by Dirk | In News | Comment on this post

Gadgets.co.uk are proud to present the latest in our range of USB and computer accessories.


First up is the B-Flex USB Laptop Speaker. Small, portable, giving an impressive volume and sound quality, along with no trailing wires to get tangled, and powering straight from your USB port this is perfect for audio on the go. No complicated set-up or installation required, just plug it in.


Next is the insanely cute Bubblehead Webcam. Personable, and posable the little fella is the most fun of all the webcams we’ve seen for a long time. Also pretty in pink to appeal to all the girlies out there, we’re pretty sure that if you give one of these a home you’ll find yourself chatting away to it in no time!


Finally, if it’s possible, allow me turn up up the cuteness another notch as I introduce these cuddly Animal Screen Wipes. Whether you have a standard monitor, a fancy flat panel LCD Monitor, or want something to keep that monster Television you just invested in bright, sparkling, and dust free these little guys will polish a treat with their chamois tummies, even leaving behind a zesty lemon fragrance as they go.

Of course these and lots of other great gift ideas are available in our special Office Desk and USB section.

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Dirk

Print Your Own Toast

September 12, 2008 on 2:30 pm by Dirk | In News | Comment on this post

We at Gadgets Towers have been enjoying our choice of Marmite jam and peanut butter, though not always all together, on toast emblazoned with “I Love You” thanks to our I Love You Toaster for some time. We find that it peps morale around the place, after all if you feel wanted and loved you are happier in your work correct?

Metaphorically strolling around the various blogs and forums I frequent today I stumbled across this concept design from the Electrolux sponsored Design Lab Competition 2008.

Not only is this a USB powered toaster (let’s face it, it really is just a matter of time surely) it will also emblazon your chosen design onto your toasted bread. I can just see it with hotel and roadside cafe logo’s on, breakfast times in any company run canteen. Cheap branding with no left over waste, except maybe the crusts. Could we be seeing a boom in bread sales, with outsized loafs being used as an alternative to paper?

Maybe I’m pushing it a bit far here, and maybe it is a bit of a stretch to think that you could toast a piece of bread in under 10 minutes using only USB power, but if this is in our future I’ll have my morning memo with Marmite please!

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Dirk

We Don’t Like Change!

September 12, 2008 on 1:10 pm by Dirk | In News | Comment on this post

We don’t like change!!

Or at least that’s what effectively just over 1,000,000 Facebook users are saying (though maybe not in a comedic way with a regional accent) with regards to the sites impending new design. For the last seven weeks the new design has been accessible alongside the ‘traditional’ design, allowing users to switch between the two (or not) as they wish.

Unfortunately, for some, this new design is set to become permanent with no switch back to the old page layout any day. This has caused uproar amongst users with several groups being set-up to petition against the new look site, this being the one with most members, which has also been featured in a BBC story about the topic.

I myself have been using the new design permanently since I noticed it in an attempt to get used to it, and must say there are some things about the new design that I much prefer. For example I used to hate trawling through all the application boxes on someone’s page to write a message on their wall. My home PC isn’t the fastest and it was really struggling with some of the people who seemed to have added every application under the sun, by separating various details into different tabs the new design appears to have solved this particular issue. On the other hand there are some people who don’t like this feature, seemingly feeling that the myriad arrangement of boxes on their page gives them their personality.

After looking through a lot of these groups and reading umpteen posts on the group forums I can’t help but feel that although there are some concerns that the designers would do well to take note of, as well some relevant and genuine constructive criticism, unfortunately there seem to be a lot of people who ‘hate’ the new design just because it is different. At the end of the day with over 100,000,000 users if the worst case scenario as far as the owners are concerned came to pass, and a whopping 1% of their user base boycotted the site it wouldn’t be the end of the world for them.

On the other hand maybe they could take a look at our stunning new site design at Gadgets.co.uk, that we have received plenty of positive feedback about from our customers, and find some inspiration?

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Dirk

The End Of The World Is Nigh!

September 9, 2008 on 1:09 pm by Dirk | In News | 1 Comment

Or so says the rather scruffy fella, who looks as if he could do with being introduced to some water and a bar of soap, parading around the local vicinity of Gadgets Towers with the title of todays blog emblazoned across his sandwich board. Apparently he’s not the only one worried that life, the world, and indeed maybe even the universe as we know it is not long for this, err, world.



The Large Hadron Collider


An upcoming experiment which it is hoped will tell us a lot about the creation of the universe is attracting the attention of scientists who, were they characters in a Mary Shelley novel, would no doubt be descending upon the European Nuclear Research Centre (CERN) in Geneva waving their flaming torches and pitchforks in a rather threatening manner. Being mildly more civilised and based in the real world they have instead lodged a lawsuit at the European Court for Human Rights
against the 20 countries, including the UK, that fund the project. They are worried that the experimental atom smashing will result in the creation of tiny Black Holes which will grow in size exponentially eventually swallowing the Earth, with a worst case scenario being that the earth could be sucked inside out within four years of a mini black hole forming.


Many scientists consider this to verge on scaremongering and consider the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) to be perfectly safe. Stephen Hawking for one has spoken out on BBC Radio 4 in defence of the scheduled experiments and the massive benefits they will bring to mankind in the long term.


I for one am of the opinion that those against the turning on of the LHC probably don’t believe it’s actually dangerous, but in the event they should be proved right they can turn around one last time to say “I told you so!”

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Dirk

Stick Insects – The Next Generation

September 5, 2008 on 4:02 pm by Dirk | In News | Comment on this post

Yep that’s right, our very own Gadgets Towers Stick Insects have fully matured and started to lay eggs.


Our three surviving insects Salma, Sandra, and Sienna, named after Salma Hayek, Sandra Bullock, and Sienna Miller respectively, have laid over 20 eggs between them so far, ensuring that Gadgets Towers shall remain an insect populated zone in the future.


We’ve all really anjoyed having the sticks around the office since they hatched in May, they are certainly a talking point for any visitors, and have kept us entertained. We’ve all learnt a bit about them during their tenure here. While not expecting all the eggs to hatch, the sheer amount could leave us with a possible habitation problem, so we are currently looking into solutions for possibly rehousing at least some of them in the longer term.


Ridiculously easy to care for, and endlessly fascinating you can get your own Stick Insect Kit from Gadgets.co.uk. If Stick Insects aren’t your thing we also have kits for Butterflies and Ladybirds too.

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