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Read this before you shop in CeX

Marty
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Read this before you shop in CeX

We all have some sort of electronics knocking around the home gathering dust, so every now and then you might be tempted to swing into CeX – the Computer Exchange, but are CeX good value? A recent trip to a Dublin CeX store prompted me to dig a little deeper.

The Computer Exchange (CeX)

CeX is a UK based company, founded in 1992 and eventually coming to Ireland in April 2011. CeX  provides a service where customers can visit store to exchange electronic devices for cash or store credit These items are then assessed and resold by CeX. The model has proven extremely popular, with the first Irish store achieving €1.3 million in sales in the first year and a further 24 branches opening since nationwide. Sounds like everyone wins right?

CeX Trust Pilot

The general perception around CeX is that it provides very good value. Consumer reviews website Trust Pilot states the retail exchange specialists have earned an 8 out of 10 star rating, supplied by customers of the store. A quick read through the comments left by customers does indeed suggest the vast majority of shoppers enjoy a good experience with CeX. One question remains however. Is CeX good value?

Is CeX good value

What sparked our digging was a recent trip to a North-Dublin CeX store. Remarkably, we spotted a second-hand first generation Google Chromecast on sale for €35. Chromecast has risen in popularity recently, particularly for gifting and it retails for €39 brand new. CeX offers an older Google Chromecast for €35 and the latest Google Chromecast for €42. Needless to say, this spot peaked my interest, so I delved a little deeper.

Is CeX good value? – Apple Watch with strap

Apple Store Online – €449

CeX – €375

CeX Apple WatchOne of the most sought after pieces of jewellery doubles up as a piece of tech. The Apple Watch can already be found in CeX cabinets from the average user who gets tired of wearables after a few months. If you were to shop on the official Apple website now, you would pick up an Apple Watch for €449.

CeX offer the same Apple Watch for €340. This is literally just the watch, with the strap setting you back another €35. So, if you’re looking to pick up an Apple Watch  Series 2, you’ll save yourself €75 versus buying directly from Apple. On the flip side, if you’re trading one in, CeX will offer you €210 for it. They’ll then resell it, making a nice little profit of €130.

Is CeX good value? – Xbox One 500GB and Halo 5

GameStop – €349.99

CeX – €360.00

CeX Xbox 360 unboxedGameStop prove to be cheaper with the Halo 5 and Xbox One 500GB console brand new for about a tenner less than CeX. What’s worse is that the Xbox you buy second hand from CeX doesn’t even come in a box. For the privilege of a cardboard box you’ll pay €335 for the same 500GB console.

Is CeX good value? – Kindle Touch

Argos – €69

CeX – €75

We’ll admit right off the bat that this is a special offer in Argos that will get you a new Kindle for €6 less than a second-hand one in CeX,  but they are still flogging these second hand items for a 45% markup.

Is CeX good value? – GTA V (pre-owned) – Xbox 360

GameStop – €29.99

CeX – €18.00

We had to dig pretty deep, but second hand gaming seems reasonable in CeX. You can pick up old Xbox 360 games at a fraction of the cost GameStop will charge you. Both are pre-owned here and note you can pick this up new in Argos for just over €30.

Is CeX good value? – Smartphones

Apple iPhone 5S – Sim free

Apple Store Online – €519

CeX – €430

Vodafone Smart Ultra

Vodafone – €169.99

CeX – €140.00

Generally speaking you are saving when purchasing handsets, though remember they are second hand. What’s surprising with handsets is the trade in value. Apple gear retains value very well, hence the two year old 5S’s price on the Apple site. With that in mind, CeX will give you €184 cash or €258 store credit for you iPhone 5s. That’s a profit margin of 57% and 40% respectively.

The verdict

CeX appears to be a mine field of sorts, scattered with some good deals and some awful traps to make huge money. While second hand phones may be good value, there are a large number of items you would be better off shopping elsewhere for either to save money, or get an brand new item for a small sum more.

One important thing to note in the CeX terms and conditions is that should an item become faulty, you are unlikely to receive a full refund with store credit being a preferred peace maker.

Have you shopped with CeX? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Capture moments like it’s 1985 – VHS Camcorder

Marty
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Capture moments like it’s 1985 – VHS Camcorder

Brilliantly low quality video and cheesy throwbacks ahead as we test out Rarevision’s VHS Camcorder app on iOS.

It’s funny that in a world where innovation is key, every now and then a few steps backwards is thoroughly enjoyable. Retro gaming has proven popular with successful Kickstarters such as Mini EMU and Starforce PI. However, if you really want to dive into nostalgia, what’s better than capturing magical family moments in a You’ve Been Framed handheld camera style? In a world that’s become obsessed with capturing the highest quality using the smallest devices, the team at Rarevision have developed an app to capture low quality VHS style moments.

Retro VHS Camcorder GIFVHS Camcorder does what it is designed to do amazingly well. The final video is extremely convincing with grainy tracking effects at the bottom of the video, low colour quality and poor audio quality capture too. I admit, it’s funny writing this description as an example of how well the app works. The detail they have gone into while creating the VHS Camcorder app is second to none as even the slow zoom in and out controls mimic those of a 1985 handheld camera. Nostalgia reigns supreme with additional features including the ability to select today’s date or a custom date along with centred titles for your videos being an option.

We took to the streets of Dublin to capture some retro footage to demonstrate how convincing the app is. The full video of the semi-naked escape artist is available on our YouTube channel, while below we sent Funky Ska Rock band The FitzaFrenic back in time.

You can download Rarevision’s VHS Camcorder now for €3.99 from the App Store and start capturing retro moments.

There is currently no Android version and similar apps on Android at the moment don’t create the same effect to anywhere near the quality that Rarevision have achieved. Follow our social feeds for updates on an Android app if it arrives.

Google – Awaken the Force Within

Marty
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Google – Awaken the Force Within

Indeed, the world has gone Star Wars mad to the point where everyone needs a Chrome extension to block movie spoilers. Google are involved in one of the coolest features to emerge from the blockbuster movie release that is Star Wars: The Force Awakens, as they have created an interactive mini game called Awaken the Force Within.

Google are known for creating brilliant interactive experiences on an unnecessarily shoestring budget considering the epic size of the company. In the past, Google challenged convention though the creation of Google Cardboard, an uber-affordable alternative to Oculus.  Given the wave of Star Wars madness that’s rushing across the planet, it’s no surprise that Google are at it again by bringing users an interactive experience with devices you’re likely to already have.

Google Awaken the Force WithinGoogle – Awaken the Force Within utilises your Android smart phone and laptop without requiring a download on either. Once you navigate to the Awaken the Force Within website on your laptop, you must choose which side you want to fight on with your Google apps following your decision. Next you’ll be presented with a link to visit on your Android device. When discovering this, I started to get excited at the thought of where this might be going and it didn’t disappoint.

The next prompt asks you hold your handset like a lightsaber and calibrate it to your laptop. From there on your phone is your lightsaber as you battle your way through Stormtroopers, blocking and reversing their lazer fire and engaging in weapon to weapon combat as well. All of the lightsaber movements below are as a result of moving my smartphone. Sure there is a bit of lag and it’s not perfect, but the concept is brilliant and so simple to get up and running with. So enough of the reading, go on and give it a go!

iKydz – Control Internet Access in your Home

Marty
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iKydz – Control Internet Access in your Home

Kids are getting devices from a younger age with every passing year which yields great benefits as they learn skills that will last them a lifetime. With these benefits comes inherent dangers of the online world. New Irish Kickstarter campaign iKydz is a must have device for all parents with children accessing the internet in the home.

iKydz Box ModemThe modern home is likely to have internet access in every single room, meaning it’s difficult to know if your child has really gone to sleep or is lying in bed browsing the internet. New Irish Kickstarter, iKydz, is an amazing simple solution to controlling your child’s access to the internet without being overly intrusive. iKydz is a two part concept comprising of a “black box” which very simply plugs into your modem and an app which you download to your either your Android or Apple device.

iKydz AppYour smartphone then becomes the home’s internet control centre which can allow and deny internet access to individual devices. Access can be controlled either manually or on a schedule and is not limited to just tablets and phones. Laptops and games consoles are also included, meaning you can limit online gaming to the weekend or ensure only Microsoft Word is being used on the laptop for that assignment that’s due.

iKydz is a practical tool that all parents will surely appreciate. You can set bedtime settings based on different children, meaning their internet access is regulated at different times including different times on the weekend. Special mealtime settings ensure you won’t be looking at that strange glow generated by a smart device’s screen on your child’s face during dinner. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, you can block certain content which you deem unsuitable for your child, whether it be they to young for social media sites or stemming their interest in adult and gambling sites.

While we do not want to reduce the importance of maintaining an important and open dialog with your child regarding their internet usage, iKydz is a priceless tool to ensure your child enjoys a safe online experience without feeling their parents are invading their privacy.

We can’t imagine a home being without these devices in the future and you can now back iKydz on Kickstarter. The device starts at €79 for early adopters who will receive the device in June 2016.

New drone regulations come into force

Marty
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New drone regulations come into force

Pardon the pun, but when tech takes off it can be hard to hold it back, with drones being a prime example. Drones have become increasingly popular in the past year with them being used for a wide range of things including herding sheep! It’s estimated that Ireland is home to over four thousand drones. With all their rise in popularity, it was only a matter of time until the Irish Aviation Authority would start paying attention to these devices, as they have now passed new rulings on drone ownership.

The new laws will apply to drones weighing over 1kg and are in place from today. The goal of these laws is not to ruin the fun, but instead to ensure operators of larger drones are properly educated. The rules are a good idea and clearly are not out to spoil the fun as under 16s can operate drones under supervision of a registered guardian.

Registration is only €5 with even this being waived until February 2016 to get early adopters in the doors for free.

New year, new me. Broke and still unhealthy

Jon
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New year, new me. Broke and still unhealthy

How long did your New Years resolution last in the past? A month? A week? Maybe a day? Well maybe we should just stop this merry dance and admit the important thing is your New Years resolution simply didn’t last. You may have read recently that we’re trying to help you kick your snooze button, but some wiley old coot is tackling a much more traditional problem – smoking.

quitbit-lighter-2-thumb-620x364-82022Quitbit is a Kickstarter project that is primed and ready to takeover the…ahem, January. Quitbit have managed to begin shipping on the 24th of November with the New Year deadline well and truly in mind. Essentially, Quitbit is a lighter designed to help one quit smoking. Yep, you read that correctly, a lighter to stop you smoking. Granted, at €100 you probably won’t have the money left for the pack of smokes anyway.

The Quitbit is in the most basic sense a smart lighter which contains a headed coil requiring a charge about once a week. The device itself tracks every cigarette you smoke, syncing to your smartphone. You can then view all your smoking habits in graphs and minute detail and let’s be honest, who doesn’t love a good graph? The really smart bits have yet to come.

Quitbit GifIf you can imagine that last time you wanted a cigarette but you only had one left, I bet you waited an age to smoke it. Well what if your super expensive lighter only had one more spark up left in it? You can set limits on your Quitbit and once you’ve reached your daily quote, there’s no more fire for you. Being marketing geniuses, the makers of Quitbit have also highlighted that if you were to just reduce your smoking by one cigarette a day, you’ll slowly but surely be covering the cost of the lighter.

Then again, if you use the lighter long enough to cover the cost, you probably aren’t really quitting and you could have bought a really nice Zippo lighter. Still, looks cool though.

Ireland’s 2015 Google Trends

Marty
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Ireland’s 2015 Google Trends

It’s one of your favourite times of the year. It’s Christmas and we also get to look at the 2015 Google Trends for Ireland. A deep dive into the Irish psyche and really get to know all of you people out there.

How to…

How to get rid of a Hickey fastThe how two section provides some laughs with “how to shift” making the top list last year. The Irish have become a little more sensual with “how to get rid of hickeys fast” making it into eight position on this years searches.

The people of Ireland came to terms with the new Snapchat features and landing the perfect pancake. People we’re also searching “how to eat a pomelo” which suggests Lidl or Aldi possibly stocked these at some stage throughout the year. “How to bleed a radiator” is another interesting one to make its way into the listings, though it’s not joined by a query on how to buy the little key things.

What is…

Google can truly give an insight into the knowledge people crave. With the rise of ISIS there as been a matching rise in people seeking to learn more about the Islamic State stemming from various terrorist attacks. Attacks such as those seen in Paris earlier in 2015 targeting Charlie Hebdo. These attacks led to #JeSuisCharlie trending on Twitter and the trend becoming the second highest search in the category.

House being released onto Netflix almost certain had some influence on third spot as the public simply need to know “what is lupus”.

When is…

We get time off so of course we want to know when Easter 2015 is. Going on earlier searches, it’s no surprise that the public count the days down to Pancake Tuesday, taking second spot in this search category, with the Late Late Toy Show being another major event on the annual calendar. Will Thanksgiving be the next American trend to make the trip to Ireland? A rising interest in the American holiday suggests that it just might.

Music Acts

Ed Sheeran and Adele top the music chart, which if were not for the tragic events in Paris, may not have considered a surprise entry for the Eagles of Death Metal. The Californian band played the Bataclan music venue which was subject to a terror attack in November, prompting many to look into the rock group.

Sport

He may have only enjoyed 7 minutes and 4 seconds of fighting, but Conor McGregor is just a phenomenon in the ring and in today’s pop culture. Everyone want’s a piece of him as he’s the highest searched sports person and second highest person in general to emerge from Google’s 2015 trends. The legendary All Black, Jonah Lomu comes in second with Ronda Rousey taking third despite here recent shock loss to Holly Holm.

Really all we’re doing here is picking some of the bits from the Google Trends site that we found interesting, but it’s really worth a quick glance yourself. You’ll probably find it more entertaining that you might think and you’ll see a lot of people search the stuff you’re after too!

App of the Week: Laundrie

Marty
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App of the Week: Laundrie

There’s two things I really love in life. Websites that implement a witty domain name and not having to iron shirts. It’s little surprise that Laundrie (or www.laundr.ie) grabs our app of the week title. We’ve test driven these dry cleaners to see what it’s all about.

What’s the big idea?

Ordering a takeaway is a pain, so we have Marvin.ie and Justeat. Getting a taxi can be a bother so we have Hailo and Uber. Washing and ironing shirts is horrible and we’re really bad at it, so now we have Laundrie. Laundrie launched in June 2015 as founder Evan Gray was sick of missing the opening hours of laundrettes. Laundrie runs “till late” and offers turnaround for your laundry  in 48 hours, picked up and delivered at a location that suits you.

How does it work?

Laundrie AppWith beautiful simplicity. Once you download the app, which is currently limited to iOS, you can select between dry clean, wash and dry or popular which is a mix of the two previous groups. Basically, everything your local dry cleaner offers is on show here. Dry clean covers anything up to wedding dresses while wash and iron covers the shirts and the likes which should be popular with the Monday to Friday crowd.

We’d love to write up a couple of thousand words on the service, but it’s really simple. You pick out the garments you want cleaned, add them into your wash basket (a novel alternative to the cart). Once you’ve selected your pickup and delivery location and time you just wait for one of the helpful Laundrie team to come collect your items. They then bring it to a partner laundrette who’ll do the dirty work.

Is it a good service?

The shirts were taken from the office on time and brought back perfectly cleaned and pressed, also on time. The feeling of having everything done so easily and five shirts ready to go for the week ahead is a magic feeling. Also got myself a branded Laundrie bag to make things a little easier the next time I use the service. It was all as described and punctual which is a pivitol element of these on demand services. If you’re expecting your items to be collected at 12pm and they call at 3pm, you won’t be using them again. Thankfully this isn’t a problem with Laundrie.

Is it good value?

Laundrie 2For the service you’re getting it’s very good value. You’ll always have some people who argue “but sure isn’t cleaning them yourself cheaper” but that’s not who this is really for. You might be useless at ironing or maybe this is just the one part of your week to detest. The Laundrie service might be just for you once a month or so as a special treat. The fact you can arrange pick up and delivery to anywhere is extremely convenient. Also everyone will think your super posh when your laundrette is standing in reception waiting for you.

More is less in a way, as when you order over €20 you don’t pay any shipping costs – saving you €5 (why pay for shopping when you could just get an extra two shirts for €6?

Can I try Laundrie  on the cheap with a promo code?

Sure isn’t that the only reason you’re reading. Yes there is.

Once you are in Dublin and have access to an iOS device, you can head on over and try out the service. You’ll get a tenner off using LAUNDRIE as a coupon in the checkout. To put that in context for you, you can get five shirts and a pair of trousers sorted for €10 instead of €20. It’s worth a punt in our opinion.

Avoid Star Wars spoilers you must

Marty
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Avoid Star Wars spoilers you must

Remember when yer man Darren was killed off in Love Hate and Ireland erupted into a steaming pile of hatred between those who saw the finale and those who didn’t? We’re facing into another fragile time for spoilers as Star Wars: The Force Awakens is set to hit the eyes of cinema goers shortly. We urge you to use the force and block all mentions of Star Wars to keep the experience pure for yourself with this cracking Chrome extension.

The Irish premier of Star Wars: The Force Awakens is set to take place on December 17th, with the Spire in Dublin set to become a record breaking sized light saber.

Force Block is an effective Google Chrome extension designed to block out every single mention of Star Wars. The extension adopts a complex method which not only scans pages for live mentions, but also checks to see if the domain has been known to speak about Star Wars in the past.

Upon reaching a website that’s a known Star Wars discusser, you’ll be greeted with a Star Wars related warning and the option to go ahead. Go ahead and try visiting the Goos3D homepage after you install the Chrome extension. The people of the internet are truly looking out for the important things these days.

Also here’s a baby using the force.

use-the-force-baby

Do you like the snooze button? – Barcode Alarm Clock

Marty
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Do you like the snooze button? – Barcode Alarm Clock

You’re amongst friends here and we know you’ve been a little slow to get out of bed as the weather deteriorates. That evil snooze button entices you to just another ten minutes. Well banish the snooze button from your life with this ingenious app – the Barcode Alarm Clock.

Barcode Alarm Clock

The Barcode Alarm Clock requires the user to get out of bed and scan a barcode in the house to stop the alarm ringing.

Nutella is a perfectly acceptable breakfast item on the continent.

The Barcode Alarm Clock requires the user to get out of bed and scan a barcode in the house to stop the alarm ringing. The obvious one here is something like toothpaste or your favourite cereal. The latter perhaps making a little more sense as many may change toothpaste brands depending on the monthly shop.

While this is certainly an annoying idea, it’s hard to see how it won’t work, or at least will work until your other half throws out your empty cereal box. All I need now is a location based app that shouts insults at me unless I go to the gym.

The Barcode Alarm Clock is exclusively available now from the App Store for iOS, though Morning Routine is a great looking similar app on Android.

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