Gadgets Blog: Unusual Gift Ideas

Gadgets, gifts and novelties for all ages

Gone but not forgotten

July 31, 2009 on 12:44 pm by Mandy | In News | 1 Comment

Today is usually fun Friday for everyone at Gadgets tower, the office is normally buzzing with gossip about what we’ll be doing at the weekend. Everyone dresses down, the biscuits are brought out and its naughty food for all at lunch time.

However this Friday doesn’t quite have that same buzz, as you’ll read in tomorrow’s official post, this weekend is the anniversary of the death of one of our directors, Jules Nicholson. To be honest I can’t believe it’s been a year, it only seems like yesterday that Jules was in the office full of excitement over the latest gadgets to arrive at his desk. He had a passion for gadgets which was infectious and everyone loved to see what bizarre items he had found next.

Although I’ve only worked for Gadgets for a couple of years I’d known Jules as a friend for many years, back from the early days when Gadgets was just starting up. In fact it’s Jules I have to thank for working for Gadgets as it was him that approached me and offered me my position, I said yes and the rest as they say is history.

Knowing Jules he wouldn’t want to us be sad on this day so to celebrate in true Jules style, the office is full of sweets, the chocolate fountain is flowing, fizzy pop is on tap and we’ve even managed to find a Darth Vader Duck to join us! (You need to have worked for Gadgets to understand the duck quote.)

Rest in peace Jules, I know you’ll be in a happier place now.

Soggy Summer

July 30, 2009 on 4:05 pm by Dirk | In News | 1 Comment

It would appear the Third Ashes Test is to become the latest victim of the “Sodden Summer” forecast that has now replaced the long range “BBQ Summer” forecast we were presented with by the Met Office earlier in the year. I am secretly hoping myself that it won’t be quite as bad as they are suggesting, mainly because I have a few BBQ’s lined up, as well as visits to Reading and Sonisphere Festivals before the end of the month! Still at least the downbeat weather seems to be at least partially distracting folks from talking about Swine Flu…

One person not letting the soggy summer get him down was this chap who, using a modified vacuum cleaner, and some self built apparatus scaled the outside of the BBC building in White City as part of the upcoming Bang Goes The Theory series being shown on BBC1 which started on Monday. Not quite as portable as Spider Man type super Powers, but handy none the less.

Here’s keeping my fingers crossed that it’s not too wet over the weekend!

Strange News Stories For A Tuesday

July 28, 2009 on 1:42 pm by Clare | In News | 3 Comments

Hey guys!

Although it’s only Tuesday and a lot of the working week is still yet to come I am determined to keep looking on the bright side today. So I thought I’d share with you some of the bizzare news I’ve come across this morning.

It has been announced that Micheal Jacksons hair is to be made into precious gems. Although I am all for marking the legacy of the superstar, I do feel this is slightly strange not to mention grotesque! Only in America ey!

Some other strange news today I found which tickled me was about poor Alex Schwarz from Germany. In order to save her ear which was unfortunately bitten off, the decision was taken to have a small pocket opened on her bottom which the removed ear piece was to be placed inside for safe keeping until the rest of her ear had healed and the lobe can be stitched back on. I’m sure she’ll be the ‘butt’ of every joke for a while poor thing

That’s it for the bizarre stories for now. Before I leave, I must just alert you to the fact that its the end of the Gadgets Summer Sale. There have been some new additions, and some savings are still to be snapped up, but be quick as its ends on Friday.

As for me i will see you Friday!
xx

Do You Love Lego Enough?

July 27, 2009 on 4:07 pm by Dirk | In News | 1 Comment

Now I like Lego, I’d go so far as to say that messing around building various things out the little bricks was one of my favourite past-times when I was younger. I bet in fact that there are a fair few people out there who would say they love Lego. The question is, do you love Lego enough to live in a house made entirely from Lego? Well that’s just what James May is going to do as part of his “James May’s Toy Stories” series for the BBC.

3 million bricks have already been delivered to the site in Surrey where the 2 storey house is set to be built, they are hoping to be able to have a fully working Lego toilet, and shower in the life size house. If you fancy designing your own Lego kit when not try downloading the Lego Digital Designer. Once you have finished designing your Lego model you can even place an order and get the parts and instructions sent to you!

See what your pet sees

July 24, 2009 on 1:34 pm by Clare | In What are we doing? | 14 Comments

Happy Friday everyone!

Its here again and I hope you all have something great planned for the weekend.

This week at Gadgets it’s been fun and games in the office. We had a delivery of the new Nintendo game and Watch Keychains. We were all brought back to our childhood as soon as we started to play, eyes on the game and everything else is nodded at and dismissed. All you can hear is bleeps and buzzes from our busy thumbs tapping away on the keys. Of course Dirk (our little whiz kid) beat everyones best scores but that was to be expected! The games then made us reminisce on all the game shows we used to love such as The Crystal Maze and Catchphrase….”its good.. but its not the one” Ha!

On Wednesday I was appointed to update the Gadgets.co.uk Facebook page. From this week on our Facebook page will have regular updates and status alerts, you can all now be in the know as soon as anything happens. For those of you who aren’t a Facebook fan of Gadgets.co.uk get involved and become part of the family!

Thursday came and not a lot was going on in the office apart from the usual work…. Mandy filled us all in on her “Come dine with me” night with her flatmates. For those of you who don’t know about this cooking programme, (long story short) 4-5 contestants have to host a dinner party and the other guests mark it. The show is hilarious with it’s very funny commentary along the way. Mandy was a guest this week but soon enough it will be her turn to be the host. I’m sure she’ll share all when the time comes, could be an interesting read!

And so Friday is here and today its a photographing day for me. I’ll be in the studio taking some shots of the new products we have for you. Talking of pictures we’ve had a great new product arrive this week that I can’t wait to be seen tested out. The new Pets Eye Camera. As a cat owner I constantly wonder what my little kitties are up to, with this ingenious gadgets I need not wonder. Have a nose on the site for more information and you to could see through your pets eyes… anyway enough of the sales pitch I’ll see you next week.

Enjoy your weekend xx

Rabbit Rescue!

July 22, 2009 on 3:45 pm by Clare | In What are we doing? | 1 Comment

Hi everyone…

Ok so slight delay with plan B, it’s now Wednesday we’re all half way there through the working week, but due to unforeseen circumstances the results for our Food Face Plate Challenge are not in now till Friday! (tut tut Just cant get the staff lol) so watch out for that coming up this week.

As it is already half way through the week I am already looking forward to the weekend as I’m sure you all are too. Today I was heart warmed by reading in the paper of a rescue mission.

As an animal lover I love to see everyone doing their bit including the rich and famous (Say no to Fur!). I’m glad to see Leona Lewis is a follower. She was doing her usual shopping (as you do when you’re minted in LA) when she came across a homeless person who had a rabbit on a lead. When Leona asked him what he was going to do with it he replied “Probably eat it..” The pop star soon came to the rabbits rescue and bought it from the man for $100 to then let it free in her garden! Ahhhh

So on that cheery note I will see you all on Friday for our Food Face results!

Enjoy your week! xx

40 Years Ago There Was This Minor Event….

July 21, 2009 on 3:55 pm by Dirk | In News | 1 Comment

Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of one of mankind’s greatest accomplishments. Apollo 11 took the first men to set foot on the moon, and the pictures below were beamed back to a worldwide TV audience. What have we done since that has been quite as monumental? I’m not saying we haven’t made progress, after all we have more technology crammed into a mobile phone than the Astronauts had in the Lunar Module, but to use the words of Mr Armstrong, when since has mankind ever taken a similar ‘giant leap’?

It would be remiss of me at this point not to mention all the conspiracy theorists out there who think this was all just a big fake, and was actually recorded in a Hollywood film studio somewhere. I’m not sure myself, but it’s certainly nice to think that we have been ‘out there’ and set foot on a planetary body other than our own.

Plan B

July 17, 2009 on 3:49 pm by Clare | In What are we doing? | 2 Comments

Welcome to another fun Friday everyone.

This week at Gadgets Towers everyone has had a great week. Monday was buzzing with work as we were glad to see you’ve all been enjoying the Gadgets sale that’s still on. For those of you who haven’t yet, get stuck in as some great savings are to be had!

Tuesday and it was time for the discussion on what we could use for our food face plates on Friday (we were all excited about the idea of Fridays task!). Lots of brainstorming went on and we eventually decided, as it was lunch time it would be appropriate to use lunch time snacks. Yum non of that healthy fruit stuff, cocktail sausages and mini quiche coming our way…I do like gadget tasks that lead to me being fed!

As for Wednesday after work I finally went to see Bruno like I mentioned I would last week. Unlike what you’ve heard, this film is not that funny in my opinion, more grotesque and crude, if you like that kinda thing go for it you will love it! Think I may have been better off waiting to go and see Harry Potter.

Thursday and a delivery of the new gadgets arrived here at the Towers and all of us had great fun in trying them out. Some stylish woven handbags for me and Mandy to have a look at. The football Cocktail Shaker was also among the batch. This made me conclude that as we’re “testing” the food face plates we should also be fair and “test” the shaker with a few cocktails??? So I’ll add that to the list of Gadgets tasks to be coming shortly.

Friday’s here and the food plates are ready….however a slight snag has arisen, and no one can actually think of snacky food to use, so on to Plan B! (there should always be a plan B!) The gadgets task is to be taken home and the rules are simple!:

1) Only use food! No improvisational drawings on the plate.

2) You have to use the food as if you would eat it..e.g: no whipped cream with sausages as you wouldn’t eat that unless you were not normal! (Just to be sure there is no foul play, photographic evidence of your chosen dinner must be provided!)

3) No Cheating! Keep to your own ideas. This is not “Who wants To Be A Millionaire” so no phoning a friend, and no looking for ideas on the box. And finally….

4) A photo of the final face will need to be taken with no editing or photo shopping! Genuine photos only!

That leaves me to say…May the best plate win!

That’s the end of this Gadgets busy week.

Have a good weekend everyone! xx

P.S. Just in case you were thinking we were left to starve a consolation task of eating donuts and cookies has left Gadgets.co.uk having a very happy Friday!

Where Does Your Rubbish Go?

July 16, 2009 on 3:42 pm by Dirk | In News | 1 Comment

With being ever greener remaining an important priority for all of us, researchers are set to track around 3,00 piece of rubbish to show their final destinations, and how they end up there. Rubbish, given it’s not particularly ‘glamorous’ image we don’t want to see where our rubbish goes, and as such its transit is fairly invisible, and do you know where it goes once your bin is collected? I’m guessing that even if you do initially, in the majority of cases two or three steps down the line you don’t.

Thus the point of this particular study is to draw the average person’s attention to not only the route that your rubbish takes from bin to landfill or wherever its final destination may be, but also show how much of our resources and energy are expended merely moving it about from place to place. The problem with rubbish, as well as it being made virtually invisible once collected from our bins is that, understandably, as soon as we throw it away we sever any connection we may have had with it, and it’s forgotten about, out of sight out of mind and all that.

The researchers at MIT are hoping that tracking rubbish will hopefully have a significantly positive effect on waste disposal and management. Carlo Ratti, a member of the project said “Think about a future where thanks to smart tags we will not have waste anymore, everything will be traceable.” The full article can be found here on the BBC website.

We here at Gadgets Towers have just had some new recent additions to our Eco Gifts section, so why not check out our new recycled bags, mirrors, and bowls? Just click on the pictures below to go to the appropriate page.

Beware The Future!

July 16, 2009 on 8:49 am by Dirk | In What we are liking | 1 Comment

The future is doubtless home to some very, very cool gadgets, so cool in fact that I’d wager some of them haven’t even been imagined in Sci-Fi yet. But what happens when due to careless time travellers some of these futuristic gadgets and gizmos are left here in the modern day?

Thankfully if you look in the right places there are educational videos to advise the correct course of action, as well as demonstrating some of the possible outcomes should you stumble across such an item. The video below shows what not to do if you should be lucky(?) enough to discover a watch that allows travel at Hyperspeed.

Entries and comments feeds. Valid XHTML and CSS. ^Top^