Sony has just announced the WF-C700N earbuds, which promise to offer a comfortable and stable fit while delivering immersive sound quality and noise canceling. These earbuds are ideal for those who want to switch to truly wireless earbuds without compromising on comfort and quality.
Sony WF-C700N
Sony has designed the WF-C700N by using extensive ear shape data collected since 1982, as well as evaluations of various ear sensitivities. The earbuds feature a shape that perfectly matches the human ear, coupled with an ergonomic surface design for a stable fit, enabling users to listen for longer without needing to take a break.
The charging case for the earbuds is small and easy to carry around in a pocket or bag, making it portable and convenient. Additionally, it has a geometrically patterned texture for a stylish and luxurious look and feel. The WF-C700N comes in black, white, lavender, and sage green, providing users with options to choose from that suit their style and preferences.
The WF-C700N earbuds offer noise canceling and an Ambient Sound Mode, which allows users to stay connected to their natural surroundings while enjoying their music. The Adaptive Sound Control feature automatically adjusts the ambient sound settings based on the user’s location and activity.
The earbuds also feature DSEE (Digital Sound Enhancement Engine) and a 5mm driver unit, which deliver high-quality sound with powerful bass and clear vocals, despite the earbuds’ small size. Users can also customize their music to fit their taste with the EQ settings on the Sony | Headphones Connect app.
The WF-C700N also offers a long-lasting battery life of up to 15 hours, IPX4 water resistance, and a Multipoint connection, which enables the earbuds to pair with two Bluetooth devices at the same time. Additionally, the earbuds feature Wind Noise Reduction Structure, ensuring clear call quality, even on windy days.
Sony WH-1000XM5
Sony is also offering its WH-1000XM5 wireless headphones in a new stylish Midnight Blue color, which delivers industry-leading noise cancellation and superior sound quality. The company has designed the WF-C700N and the WH-1000XM5 Midnight Blue with sustainability in mind, with zero plastic included in the packaging material for both models.
Sony WH-1000XM5
The WF-C700N will be available from April 2023, priced at approximately €119, while the WH-1000XM5 Midnight Blue will also be available from April 2023, priced at approximately €399.
This time last year, I started brewing my own beer. Real beer, not just brewing beer in a game. After years of lockdown and getting a taste for craft beer, I wanted to make my own. There was one stage of the brewing process I just thought was inefficient; gravity readings. Naturally, I assumed there was some technology out there to help. That’s when I found the Tilt Hydrometer. Tilt was good enough to send over a hydrometer for me to test and here’s what I thought of it.
What Are Gravity Readings When Home Brewing Beer?
Before we get into the devil of the detail, I wanted to explain gravity readings. More so, I wanted to explain why I thought they were terribly inefficient.
In homebrewing, a gravity reading is taken before fermentation begins and again at the end of fermentation. By comparing the two readings, a homebrewer can determine the alcohol content of the beer, as well as monitor the progress of fermentation. There’s lots of science at play here, but I just check the gravity numbers versus what I was targeting in my recipe.
The beginner, and widely accepted most reliable, way to check gravity is with a hydrometer. It does this by floating in the liquid and measuring how much it sinks, which is directly related to the liquid’s density. But this means every time you want to test a sample, you have to take 100ml of beer and chuck it away. On brew day, depending on when you take a sample, you might also need to wait for it to cool down to room temp.
This led me toward a refractometer. Instead of 100ml of beer being wasted, a refractometer needs but a few drops of beer to give you the same measurement. However, it comes with its own problems given readings can be affected by the presence of alcohol, which can lead to inaccurate measurements of the specific gravity and potential alcohol content of the beer. Additionally, calculations must be adjusted to account for the effects of alcohol, which can be complicated and require special software or charts.
So far, we have wasted beer, wasted time, and wasted effort. All of this is bad news when you’re a guy who loves wasting money.
Enter the Tilt Hydrometer.
What is the Tilt Hydrometer?
A Tilt Hydrometer is a digital device that measures the specific gravity of beer or other fermented beverages during the fermentation process. It floats in the fermenting beer and transmits real-time gravity readings and temperature data to a mobile device or computer. The Tilt allows homebrewers (and commercial brewers) to monitor and track the progress of fermentation without the need to manually take gravity readings.
My Tilt Hydrometer getting ready for brew day. Note this is in the case that you’ll need to take off
Tilt Hydrometer Review
Well, that’s what it says on the label at least. But does it ring true?
Data is the Highlight of the Tilt Hydrometer
One of the big plusses with the Tilt Hydrometer is the data it gives you. I synced mine to my Brewfather App and then got this beautiful wealth of data live-streamed over the two weeks my beer fermented.
Screenshot from a stout I brewed recently.
There are two really important values here. I’ve already talked about gravity. This is crucial to know when you’re beer is ready to package. But if, like me, you’re using bottles, packaging early can be a disaster. Namely, because if the yeast is still working, reducing gravity, after the beer is bottled, you can end up with a bottle rocket.
Using the Tilt means I can see that the beer has settled on gravity for days, without needing to measure twice, wasting two samples in doing so.
The other important piece of data is the temperature. Depending on the yeast you use and the style you’re brewing, the yeast will require a specific temperature. I don’t have much temperature control, as you can see. At the same time, I can see the temperature never went wildly high or low. If it did, I could take some emergency steps to cool my fermenter, like wrapping it in a cold towel.
Using the Tilt
Using the Tilt, initially, was really easy. There’s a caveat coming in the next section, but I want to stick to the positives first.
The Tilt itself is delivered ready to rock and roll. Simply open the outer tube that the Tilt comes in (it has a Tilt sticker – don’t open the Tilt itself), and pop it into water. Once floating, it immediately activates and can be synced to your phone using the Tilt App or local network connection.
Once everything is up and running and you can see the Tilt in your app, it’s time for some Star San or similar no-rinse cleaner. You want the Tilt to be as clean as anything you use as part of your cold-side brewing. Leave it in contact with your sanitiser for a few minutes and pop it into your fermenter when ready.
While it takes some techie confidence to get it up and running, all of this went really smoothly for me. That was until I left the house and took my phone with me.
Lots of Tilt Data Until…
It was a bit of a duh moment. The Tilt’s data feed was completely dependent on my phone being connected to it directly via Bluetooth. There are workarounds. For example, this is a great use of an old Android smartphone if you have one lying in a drawer. You can use this as a Tilt Repeater. The Tilt website has lots of info on how to do this, but it wasn’t the route I took. I took another route that Tilt recommends; building the Tilt Pi.
Tilt Pi
This is a relatively cost-effective solution if you don’t have an old phone lying around. It’s also less power-hungry than using a phone. For this solution, you’ll need a Raspberry Pi computer loaded with Tilt software. I can hear quite a few of you already tutting and saying this isn’t going to work. It really does. It works well, and wasn’t all that hard to work out, to be honest. It’ll even work if you have several batches at once and several Tilt Hydrometers.
This is the world of open source and it’s fun! It removes the range restrictions of Bluetooth and, most importantly, lets you check on your beer’s progress when at work or on the bus.
Accurate-ish
The Tilt was fairly accurate. Maybe I was less sensitive to accuracy being bang on for a few reasons. I’m new to brewing, I’m not always nerding out over hitting my numbers perfectly. It didn’t do me too much harm so far either. I’ve enjoyed all my beers and even won an All Ireland medal for a Black IPA I did; I was more shocked than anyone given it was the fourth beer I’ve ever brewed – the second with my Tilt.
I do have to admit, that the Tilt usually is a few points off my refractometer and old-fashioned hydrometer. The funny thing is that it doesn’t really matter all that much. What I need the Tilt to check is when fermentation is done. That’s two days with the same gravity reading. It nails this one job.
The creators of Tilt admit themselves it’s not perfect on the website, stating it will be accurate to +/0.002 within a total range of 0.990 to 1.120 for gravity readings and +/-0.5°C for temperature. I’ve seen it go a little beyond these limits for gravity, but not by much. It also balanced out over time and didn’t have much, if any, impact on my beer.
I did have one issue brewing one of my beers where foam got onto the Tilt and the readings went haywire. I moved the fermenter a small bit and this fixed it.
Now, does it replace traditional methods of measuring gravity? Not completely, though I’m sure it could depending on your approach. I like to have lots of data and cross-check my data too. For this, I still need a refractometer to hand during the brewing process. Yes, you can bung it into the fermenter and take a reading before you pitch, but through your brew day, you’ll probably want some other readings. I could continue without a hydrometer though which I just see as being a waste of good beer.
Tilt Hydrometer: The Verdict
It’s not the cheapest thing on the planet and is only available, as far as I can see, in the US. This adds a few layers of problems for us Irish, EU and UK Brewers in terms of customs and delivery charges. The Tilt alone will set you back €125. I highly recommend a Raspberry Pi too. This makes the whole experience much better and more consistent.
Simply put, every brew I do now will have a Tilt Hydrometer in it. Now, I didn’t have to buy it, fair enough. But I’d almost certainly buy another digital hydrometer if this one broke.
Sure, you probably don’t “need” a Tilt, but you also don’t “need” to brew your own beer.
Marty – Goosed.ie
For me, this is the perfect marriage of two things I adore; technology and home-brewing beer. There’s a strange hobbyist cross-section here. Sure, you probably don’t “need” a Tilt, but you also don’t “need” to brew your own beer.
I got my hands on PSVR 2 recently. I’m a good man for excuses and I’ve already started to say things like, “sure why go to the gym, I’ve got the PSVR 2” and “I need the TV to work out”. It’s a perfect bridge between my love for tech and hatred for exercise, coming together to help me live longer. So, I thought I’d put together a list of the best PSVR 2 games that’ll raise your heart rate enough to be classed as a workout.
Pistol Whip
Pistol Whip is by no means a PSVR 2 exclusive. The game first launched in 2019 and is available across most VR platforms, including the Oculus Quest 2. It is, however, one of the launch titles for PSVR 2 and also the first game that made me realise just how much of a workout virtual reality can be. I was out of breath, sweating and left with a sore core for a few days after my first time playing.
Pistol Whip is a simple shooter concept, not too unlike Time Crisis for those of you who remember the days of the G-Con Gun. You take centre stage, moving through a world where you have to both shoot the bad guys and dodge their bullets. All the time you’re focusing on this, you’ll also have to dodge walls and duck under obstacles to stay alive.
While the shooting can vary from easy to tough based on your settings, dodging will always require a fair level of physical exercise. This is where the bulk of the workout can be found. You score points based on the accuracy of your shooting, but also the rhythm of your kills. The result is a shooting game giving you a workout while remaining really fun. I found myself bopping to a beat while blasting the baddies, not even realising I was out of breath until the end of a level.
There are a lot of settings in Pistol Whip for you to customise your difficulty levels. This is good because you can focus on getting more of a workout versus it just being a game. I love dual wielding while disabling barrier collisions, but you’ll find the settings that suit you best. You can even turn the targets into non-human shapes if you’re not into the killing.
I love this game so much that when my controller died, I had to go watch John Wick to scratch the gun-toting itch.
Beat Sabre
Unfortunately, Beat Sabre isn’t ready yet for PSVR 2, but it absolutely will be launching soon. It’s such a good inclusion on this list, I decided to get it in already despite not being available yet.
Beat Sabre, puts two “Star Wars-esque” light sabres into your hands. Your mission then becomes to slash your way through boxes in the correct orientation while side-stepping walls to keep your level flowing. Similar to Pistol Whip, your score in Beat Sabre benefits from your rhythm.
You can play along to the rhythm of the included games or invest in some of your favourite artists.
I’ve not played this on PSVR 2 yet, but I have played it on my Oculus Quest 2. It’s one of the must-have VR titles, especially if you’re looking for a game that combines fun and exercise. Some day you’ll be as good as Naysy…maybe.
Les Mills Bodycombat
A bit more on the nose, this one. Les Mills is a four-time Olympian from New Zealand. He started out by opening a gym back in 1968. Flash forward to 2023 and at the ripe age of 88 his name leads the only dedicated fitness titles for the PSVR 2 launch.
Bodycombat is a great title for beginners or more advanced, fitter, people, looking to break a big sweat. There’s lots of boxing and moving, but now thanks to PSVR 2, there are also knee strikes to encourage more movement. It gives you 50 different workouts taking place in 9 different locations and is probably one of the best Beat Sabre alternatives to keep you sweating until that gets ported over to PSVR 2. The focus in Bodycombat is closer to combining traditional workouts like boxercise and real on-screen coaches with one of the most addictive things in virtual workouts; gamification.
As you compete, your score is going up against other real-world people working out. That’s enough to motivate a lot of people like me who don’t normally like working out, but can be quite competitive.
I’m not going to give you a price here because they change the whole time, but here’s one other great thing to note. The game is a once-off payment, not a stupid monthly subscription.
ness
Creed: Rise to Glory
If Bodycombat is a bit too much like going to the gym, Creed: Rise to Glory might be more of a game with a workout than working out in a game. A long time ago, I took up kickboxing. I was a lot younger and a lot fitter. I really learned the meaning of “fighting fit” when sparring. If you’re fit enough to throw and block a punch, you’re pretty dam
Creed: Rise to Glore lets you step into the shoes of Adonis Creed from the Rocky franchise. Naturally, you’ll fight against opponents in the ring and that’s going to take some energy. Firstly, this is a boxing game that requires you to use your entire body to throw punches, block, and dodge attacks.
The game’s training mode allows you to practice your moves and get a better understanding of the game’s mechanics. This can be a great way to warm up before jumping into the main game or to focus on specific skills you want to improve.
There’s an important term in tech. Disruption. It basically means someone comes in and turns the market on its head. Finance is a great area for disruption. Think of savings accounts. An Irish bank will offer you a paltry 0.03% interest on a savings account while Trade Republic offers 2%. That’s disruption and it’s good for consumers like you.
You can’t discuss disruption in finance without Revolut. Known as a neo-bank, Revolut has been a genuine thorn in the side of traditional Irish banks with two million customers signed up in Ireland. From the convenience of splitting bills to savings on holiday bookings, Revolut offers a digital experience no traditional Irish bank can match. But now, they’er shifting their focus to another industry in desperate need of disruption. Car insurance
Revolut Car Insurance
From today, existing customers can join the waitlist for Revolut Car Insurance in the Revolut App. The neo-bank says their car insurance product will be focused on flexible and transparent pricing. Drivers will also have the option of opting in to Smart Driving. This will further reduce pricing by up to 25% based on better driving behaviour; an insurance concept that’s been around the Irish market for some time. Sometimes referred to as black box car insurance, this works by installing a small device in your car that tracks driving style.
This use of real-world driving data means Revolut can map pricing directly to your driving style. The result is a premium that you actually deserve. It’s been a long time since drivers in Ireland got one of those.
Owing to this marriage of technology and value, Revolut says its car insurance will be up to 30% cheaper than other providers when compared to 5 other insurers in the Irish market.
Flexible Payments
Along with value, Revolut’s app promises to be another highlight for prospective car insurance customers. This will be the first app-based car insurance journey in Ireland with the entire on-boarding happening digitally. Within 5 minutes, customers will have a quotation. On top of that, you’ll be able to pay monthly or annually. The real winner here is that you won’t be punished with interest rates if you opt for monthly payments as is often the standard with traditional Irish insurance providers.
Waitlist Competition
If you’re a driver looking to save some money, Revolut Car Insurance might sound appetising. To pique your interest even more, existing Revolut customers that sign up to the waitlist in the Revolut app by 13th April 2023 and buy a policy from Revolut by 30th May 2024 will get a chance to win €2,500. Revolut will carry out the draw in June, deposting the prize directly into the winners account, obviously!
Have you watched that new Luther film on Netflix yet? It’s pretty average. Awful in comparison to the original episodes of the show. There’s one part where they get from Dover to Norway in a matter of moments. It’s ridiculous. As unrealistic as that part, and many others were, the film also featured the hacking of devices in people’s homes. The bad guy would use Amazon Echo devices, these are the actually named devices in the show, to eavesdrop on people to get their secrets and blackmail them. Now, that part seems increasingly prophetic. Today, Amazon is at the center of a claimed ransomware attack targeting their Ring Home Security business.
Similar to other ransomware collectives, ALPHV doesn’t simply encrypt a victim’s files but also operates a website where it exposes and pressures its targets to pay up. If the victims refuse to comply, ALPHV warns them of a potential public release of their stolen data. What sets ALPHV apart is its “Collections” section on its website, which is more user-friendly than the equivalent sections on other hacker groups’ sites.
Included in Vice’s reporting is a worrying internal post from Amazon’s internal Slack channel saying “do not discuss anything about this. The right security teams are engaged”. While that might indicate there’s no smoke without fire, Amazon’s official line right now is that there are “no indications that Ring has experienced a ransomware event”.
It remains unclear what exactly, if anything, has been compromised. But we’ll keep you posted as soon as we know more.
Last year’s GamerFest was a beast of a party in Dublin’s RDS. Lots of pent-up desire for in-person events meant the public was raring to go. Later this year, on May 27th and 28th, GamerFest returns. This time, they’re coming back with an F1 team driving them. The second most successful Formula One team of all time, Williams, will be joining GamerFest 2023.
Esports is “having a moment”, or has been for a few years now. So, it’s going to be very exciting to many F1 and racing sim fans to know Williams will be attending GamerFest 2023. You can expect them to bring some of their top toys too. At the event, you’ll be able to get hands-on with five Williams Esports sim racing rigs.
There’ll be a Fastest Lap Challenge taking place across the weekend along with Williams Esports Irish driver Daire McCormack in attendance, showing you how it’s done.
Could this be your big moment? Your “bringing your boots to the game just-in-case moment?”.
Director of Esports at Williams Racing, Steven English, believes so, saying “maybe we’ll even identify some top Irish sim racing prospects in the process”.
GamerFest is a weekend celebration of gaming that includes the latest games, VR tech, esports and career exploration, as well as a host of special guests including top Twitch and YouTube creators. With 5,000 visitors in attendance, there is something for every gamer.
I forgot just how hard these old Resident Evil games were. I remember being a bit too young when Resident Evil 2 came out, but I was allowed to play it. I couldn’t grasp the concept of not spraying ammunition into zombies, something that made my time with Resi short-lived in my youth. Older, maybe wiser, the modern Resident Evil, The Village, was more to my taste. But today, the demo for Resident Evil 4’s remake launched, and all my memories of being awful at games came rushing back.
What is Resident Evil 4: Chainsaw Demo?
The Chainsaw Demo is the name given to the demo for the Resident Evil 4 remake. It’s dropped today and features unlimited gameplay. That means no time limit and enjoy this run-through to your heart’s content. Enjoy is a strong word perhaps.
In this demo, you return as Leon from Resident Evil 2. Your goal, I guess, is to clear the infected village and the demo’s eponymous saw-wielding mega-monster, intent on cutting you into wee bits.
I can already sense that I’m being too negative, so I need to stop and say the demo is beautiful. This is a total rebuild, not just a remaster. I’ll get into my run though in one second, but first. You can expect the Resident Evil Remake to launch on March 24th on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4 and PC through Steam.
But now, to my experience.
Resident Evil 4 Remake: First Opinions
I’m going to say my first mistake was playing this on PC. I’m eager to give my graphics card a run-out when I can. But this demo is very much controller-focused and not designed for a mouse and keyboard. It works and all, but from the get-go, you’re choosing controller layouts and it’s all controller based.
The aiming is quite tough when using the mouse to control your view. Again, some tinkering in the settings might well solve this, but that was my first experience.
But, going back to the graphics. The game is beautiful. I maxed out as much as I could and got to enjoy a game that looks as clean as any title I’ve seen to date. As I said, this isn’t a remaster, it’s a rebuild, though the PC version does very much look like a console port. Even if that is the case, the Hunter’s Lodge could take you an hour alone to explore. If you’re brave enough to soak in the horrific ambiance.
Beyond that, the memories of my previous failures did come rushing back. This is a classic Resi game where you shouldn’t shoot unless you absolutely have to. You collect and craft different items to make more medical and ammunition usable, but ultimately, you’re better off running and dodging than engaging.
Still, there’s enough in this demo to whet even my appetite. Maybe this is the classic Resi game that gets me into the classics and away from the apparently more forgiving modern versions of the game.
As I’ve already mentioned, the full version of the game will launch on March 24th on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4 and PC through Steam. My early opinion is, play on console or with a controller on PC.
I am a KBC customer looking for a new banking home. I’m one of the minority that gets the monthly money into Revolut. But I still felt I would have to get a traditional bank. But Revolut is moving quickly to close the gap and steal away fleeing customers like me from AIB, Bank of Ireland and Permanent TSB. A few months back, Revolut launched loans and today they’ve announced credit cards.
Revolut Credit Cards
Revolut has confirmed that credit cards will be available to Irish customers in the coming months. When signing up, they will have 0% purchase and balance transfer introduction rates to help spread costs of any big purchases, as well as low day-to-day APR thereafter. There are no over-limit fees and no returned payment fees.
There is no interest for the first three months as long as the user makes monthly minimum payments. After that, the APR is spicy enough at 17.99%. You can weigh that up against the rest of the market using the Bonker.ie credit card comparison engine.
The Revolut Credit Card will also reward users with 1% cashback on purchases for the first three months (up to €30) and an unlimited 0.1% thereafter. Customers who have a Metal account can enjoy an additional 0.1% cashback, 1% cashback outside of the EU (including transactions made with any merchant outside the EU). Metal customers will also receive a metal credit card.
The current credit limits are between €500 to €10,000, but you will get your own limit as decided by Revolut’s credit assessment.
When signing up for a Revolut Credit Card you can immediately add the card to Apple or Google Pay while waiting for the physical card to be delivered.
Why Get a Credit Card?
First of all, Goosed.ie is a tech site, not a financial advice site. Get proper financial advice!
If you don’t need a credit card, my tip would be don’t get one. The interest rates are a killer and can grow out of control fairly quickly. I do have a credit card because every now and then I need to rent a car. Some rental companies still refuse to accept debit cards.
Revolut offering credit cards isn’t a deal breaker for customers that don’t already have credit cards. It is for customers who need a credit card. This is a massive step and one which will genuinely leave me with little or no reason to require a traditional bank. At least until I want to get a mortgage.
You can sign up for Revolut Credit Cards in the Hub section of the app. It’s not available for everyone just yet, but you can apply for the waitlist.
It’s been a weird weak to be an entertainment reviewer (my side gig to tech reviews). Hogwarts Legacy and Clarkson’s Farm 2 launched. I know people will call me woke, but I don’t really care. J.K Rowling has ruined her own legacy with transphobic stances. Jeremy Clarkson deserves every little bit of cancelling he got for his article over Meghan Markle too. But still, I found myself checking both of these out these week, and enjoying both. This is the Clarkson’s Farm review.
What is Clarkson’s Farm?
Jeremy Clarkson is well known for his motoring shows over the years. But when he signed up to create Clarkson’s Farm on Amazon Prime, few could have known just how good it would be. From years of scripted television, Clarkson’s Farm has come across oddly authentic. The show offers an amazing view into the life of a farmer, even if that is with the lens of a media personality laid on top.
Jeremy Clarkson with his Irish wife Lisa Hogan
The beauty of this series is that it’s not just about Clarkson. It’s as much about the people at Diddly Squat that make the farm work and the wider farming industry.
What’s Clarkson’s Farm Season 2 About?
I loved the first series of Clarkson’s Farm, so I was looking forward to the second. It’s quite a wait too given you need to wait for crops to grow and animals to grow.
This second season pits Clarkson against the local council as he tries to start a restaurant. His plan is to get into cattle and serve mainly produce from his and surrounding farms.
To be quite honest, this second season is even more compelling than the first. You’ll feel genuine frustration for Clarkson’s efforts coming up against red tape. What the show does brilliantly is steer away from Clarkson himself and instead focus on the fact that farmers around the UK and indeed the world are often left facing the same nonsense.
Clarkson meeting with fellow farmers who are feeling the pinch as he offers up an idea
During one council meeting, Clarkson is labelled a “media personality” as the council sloppily states he doesn’t even need to make an income from the farm. But then we meet the other local farmers who, in a post-Brexit and world where Russia has invaded Ukraine, desperately need to diversify their income streams.
It’s tough watching. Every time you reach into the fridge for a steak or a few sausages that you’ve bought as cheap as possible, these farmers have felt the pinch.
Clarkson’s Farm 2 is funny, educational and nearly emotional at times. It’s a definite watch recommendation, and it could be one of Clarkson’s last.
Clarkson’s Article Attacking Meghan Markle
I can’t ignore the comment section underneath Jeremy Clarkson’s Instagram posts. You’ll regularly find comments saying the “snowflakes” are trying to “cancel” Clarkson.
Jeremy Clarkson wrote horrendous things about Meghan Markle. Those horrendous words have a real impact reaching far beyond their literal interpretation, which is bad enough anyway. It was a lazy column for which he has apologised. Still, he has sown the seeds himself for a season of bad harvest which could see Amazon pull the plug on all agreements for future seasons. Not that long ago, Clarkson had played as guessing game as to whether or not a second season would happen.
But to those who believe anyone but Clarkson himself is to blame for the situation he finds himself in; give over. I still find his childish discussion points on cyclists to be infuriating in this new season. He deliberately pokes fun at vegetarians and vegans. Jeremy Clarkson is a contrary man who happens to be quite funny and sometimes even rather likeable.
Clarkson’s Farm: The Verdict
Clarkson’s Farm is a good watch. I’m not in favour of telling people what they should and shouldn’t watch. However, you should know the facts about who you’re supporting when you watch a show like this. Indeed, the show itself will show there are more sides to Clarkson than an old 50p piece. While he’s idiotic in many things he says, he shows a much softer side watching calving before genuinely hilarious impromptu oneliners about the crews’ alarm clocks early in the morning.
Still, the series is proving to be very educational and I would imagine farmers around the UK will be cheering on Clarkson for lending his voice to the problems they face. It’s just a shame his contributing to the problems of other people while doing it.
I’ve recently built a gaming PC. It was a dream of mine for a long long time. I found myself in the fortunate position of having the money to finally do it. And it is my money I spent. There was no ads and no sponsorship. With the exception of a monitor, keyboard and mouse, I had to buy everything. I had very limited knowledge, but access to a friend who knew a lot. And I had Google. What could go wrong?
Buying Tech in Ireland is Tough
Ireland offers a relatively small market for companies to make money in. Gaming PCs are already a niche enough industry already in the bigger context of consumer electronics. If you plan to build a gaming PC, this is going to big your biggest barrier. I needed help. I wanted to go into a shop for advice.
But I couldn’t.
Even if you shop online in Ireland, getting the latest technology is difficult. I’d waited so long to build a gaming PC, I wanted some of the best tech. And it can’t be got here in Ireland.
I’ve had to learn a lot about new PC part specs. Honestly, before this build I didn’t know what DDR5 was. I didn’t know that a motherboard was called a mobo. I was such a noob, I didn’t know about team green (Nvidia) and team red (AMD). Years ago, I did buy an ATI Rage graphics card, and just a while ago I put two and two together.
So after researching my parts and adding them all to PC Parts Picker, I set off to try and source them. My GPU had just launched and couldn’t be got in Ireland. Instead, I had to buy my heftily overpriced GPU from the UK. Shopping through the EU or the UK opens up a world of choice.
The unfortunate truth is, I wanted to spend money here in Ireland, but had to look abroad. Not one part of my gaming rig was bought here in Ireland. It kills me to say that. I started researching parts in the EU, namely Germany. But eventually, I found Jeff Bezos offered nearly everything at the best price. This made me sad. But onward.
Be Careful Who You Shop With
Shopping with Amazon.co.uk is sound. They have shipping to Ireland sorted. You’ll pay a small deposit up front that will cover some costs and you’ll get a refund where it’s owed after a few weeks.
Now, it can be a very different story when you shop with a UK retailer that has no Irish business.
I did some digging and found that computer parts are exempt from customs import charges when shopping in the UK. Great.
The best place to get my motherboard, SSD and processor was in the UK but I thought I had it all worked out. Until I paid both UK VAT and Irish VAT. I’ve been left with a substantial extra cost and a hope I can get some refunds from His Majesty over there. I had to use a virtual UK shipping address which further complicates things.
Learn from my mistakes. Try to shop in the EU or with a UK shop that also has Irish registration. It’ll likely cost more up front, but you’ll avoid hidden costs throughout the build.
Beyond these two mini disasters, the PC still got built. It’s running, it’s been benchmarked and I’m gaming. This article is the first of a few I’ll probably write as I learn what the bloody hell I’m actually doing. For example, here’s the latest in the series where I realised I never bought speakers for my gaming PC! But for now, I just wanted to tell people that they shouldn’t feel bad for shopping abroad. If you’re clever, cleverer than me, you’ll save some money and get the best price.
