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Rugby World Cup, the Highest Trending Topic of the Year in Ireland’s 2019 Google ‘Year in Search’ Results

Jon
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Rugby World Cup, the Highest Trending Topic of the Year in Ireland’s 2019 Google ‘Year in Search’ Results

Another year is coming to a close and the annual Google Year in Search Results have been released, providing a telling snapshot of what caught Ireland’s interests throughout 2019. As ever, sport, weather and celebrity deaths continue to occupy the top spots with The Rugby World Cup topping the overall results for 2019. Probably unsurprising given the nations high hopes going into the competition and even though we didn’t go all the way, the competition still topped the list as people Google searched the highlights from the matches from the pool games right through to the final to watch winning South African captain Siya Kolisi giving a heart provoking speech.

A New Ireland Emerging?

If you have seen the recent Netflix phenomenon The Game Changers, then it will come as no surprise that the Top 10 recipe searches for 2019 show a big movement towards a Vegan diet, with keto, plant-based, salmon, smoothie and The Happy Pear recipes all featuring in the list. Google Search for healthy recipes show the public interest in whole foods and similar is only growing with every single recipe in the Top 10 this year being health-focused with not a chocolate cake insight. As more and more celebrities both here and abroad, encompassing everyone from Blindboy Boatclub to Lionel Messi embracing plant-based diets, this is a trend we can only see going one direction in 2020.

In other news 2019 was possibly one of the most chaotic years in National, European and global politics with Brexit being possibly one of the hot topics of the year. Google Search Trends for 2019 show terms like, What is the backstop?, What is Brexit? and Boris Johnson ranking in the Top 10 of their respective lists. It seems we are still unsure exactly what is going on with Brexit for the second year in a row with ‘What is the backstop?’ topping the what is list, rising from third place in 2018 and ‘How to vote?’ coming runner up behind the always important question ‘How to boil an egg?’ in the ‘How to’ list.

Have you heard of the social media platform taking Millennial’s by storm? You’d be forgiven if you didn’t, a large proportion of the country turned to Google to answer the question ‘What is Tik Tok?’ and whether they should be keeping up with the trends and creating their own short-form mobile videos. Other great mysteries of life Irish people were looking for answers for in 2019 include ‘how to solve a rubix cube?’ at number five,  ‘how to stop snoring?’ at number 7 and ‘how to get rid of spots?’ at number 10.

This year was a bumper year in Irish sports and a stinker for politics, but it’s not Trump or Boris who top the most searched People’ list in 2019, with golf star Shane Lowry topping the list following his win at The Open Championship in July 2019, becoming the fifth ever Irishman to win the tournament. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was the most searched for politician in Ireland in a year which saw him take over from Teresa May as leader of the United Kingdom. Ireland also clearly loves a good celeb scandal… football WAG, Rebekah Vardy makes rounds of the Top 10 most searched for people in 2019 off the back of the Coleen Rooney “Wagatha Christie” incident in September. And sure would it be a Google Search Top 10 without The Kardashians, as they continued to keep people guessing with ‘How to pronounce Psalm?’ trending in the wake of Kim and Kayne welcoming their third child.

Check out the 2019 Google ‘Year in Search’ Results below:

[table id=1 /]

Amazon Echo Show 5 Review: Great Value Echo Device

Marty
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Amazon Echo Show 5 Review: Great Value Echo Device

My gaff is awash with smart assistants. I could never choose between Google or Amazon assistants so I’ve ended up with loads of each. Some stand out as being better than others and some are simply perfect in certain scenarios. The Amazon Echo Show 5 has proven to be an absolute winner in my kitchen. Here’s why I love it so much.

Calling my mum

A couple of years ago, Amazon had a poignantly timed advert for their new Echo Spot. It demonstrated the importance of keeping connected with family and how Amazon Echo devices make this quite simple and straight forward. For lots of reasons I was moved by the ad and so I bought an Echo Spot for me and my mum. The Echo “Drop In” function means there’s no need for my mum to interact with her Echo Spot at all. I simply say I was to drop in and the job’s a good un.

The Echo Spot fit my bedroom perfectly as an alarm clock which left me calling from my phone the whole time instead. That’s until I got my Echo Show 5. As I mentioned, this thing suits the kitchen perfectly so when I’m cooking or washing up, I can have a quick chat with my mum.

echo show 5
Having a quick call with my mum

Once your finished video calling, the Echo Show 5 also has a physical camera cover to ensure no accidental drop-ins catch you off guard.

Getting your cook on

I love a bit of tech in the kitchen. Lately, I’ve been testing out Meater, which incidentally integrates with Amazon Alexa, and also the Drop Smart Scales. I’m definitely adding the Amazon Echo Show 5 to this list of great gadgets for the kitchen. I found myself using the Show 5 for two main reasons in the kitchen.

First of all, asking Alexa to recommend a recipe is quite fun. Your kitchen assistant will then walk you through your recipe and all going well, you’ll have a great non-burned dinner.

Also helping with the limitation of burning in the kitchen is setting timers on your Echo Show 4. Sure, this is technically overkill given any Alexa-powered device will do this, but the screen does offer one distinct advantage. I could set a longer 45-minute timer for something like a tray of chicken and then another time for 20-minutes reminding me to put on the potatoes. You can even name the times and glance at them thanks to the Echo Show 5’s 5-inch screen.

Some TV in the kitchen

When I got my Echo Spot, I was impressed that, while really annoying, you could actually watch Amazon Prime Video on the round screen. Much more practical is the rectangular 5-inch screen of the Echo Show 5. The sound from the device is also quite good which means that you can simply ask Alexa to “Play the latest episodes of The Boys on Prime Video”. Great if you’ve just touched raw chicken and can’t use your hands!

Now, while it’s sound and all, you can’t play Netflix on your Amazon Echo 5. The same can be said for YouTube. Unfortunately, tech companies not getting along leads to this poor experience for users. While on the negatives, I do have to point out the resolution of the screen isn’t anything massively impressive to write home about.

The Verdict: It’s a great value device

Could the screen be better? Yes.

Could the sound be crisper? Of course.

But the Echo Show 5 embodies something very special in the world of gadgets for me. It’s a gateway gadget. Much like the DJI Mavic Mini is a great value drone, the Amazon Echo 5 is a brilliantly priced Echo device and the most logical first if you’re interested in having a screen. It’ll never blow your mind, but it will show you how useful an Echo device with a screen can be.

echo show 5 in the kitchen

The Amazon Echo Show 5 is one of these Amazon products which varies greatly in price. Right now it’s on sale and you can pick one up for €60, give or take a euro or two for the exchange rate.

 

 

DJI Mavic Mini Review: A Somewhat Affordable Gateway Drone

Marty
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0
DJI Mavic Mini Review: A Somewhat Affordable Gateway Drone

Last week I finally ticked something off my tech bucket list. Well, actually two things.

  1. Fly a drone
  2. Buy a drone

These two things went nice and hand in hand because of the new DJI Mavic Mini being very fairly priced. Wintery weather took a brief break last week and quick as a flash, I was out in Sandymount to take my maiden flight with my shiny new drone.

Meet the DJI Mavic Mini

dji mavic mini

The DJI Mavic Mini is a remarkable piece of kit. Weighing in a 249 grams, the Mavic Mini is a deliberately light drone with the U.S. market firmly in its sights. The giveaway here is that drones from 250 grams and up must be registered in The States. Ireland is in a bit more of a grey area when it comes to drones given that EU directives are forthcoming which should align with the U.S. 250 gram rule. However, if you want to fly above 15 meters in Ireland, you’ll need to register your Mavic Mini with the Irish Aviation Authority.

Now, that little detail aside, let’s start looking at what you really need to know about having fun with the Mavic Mini.

Get flying for just €399

I thought to buy a quality DJI drone for just €400 was going to be a few years away, but here we are. DJI has kept some features locked away for their higher-spec drones, but the Mavic Mini doesn’t disappoint anywhere. Starting off, the price is a winner. There are two options with a base model setting you back €399 and the Fly More Combo costing €499. The latter is a no brainer if you can stretch I beg you to do so. You’ll get extra batteries and props that you’ll almost certainly need down the line. The extra batteries alone turn one trip out flying from being a 30-minute burst to an hour and a half expedition.

For the record, you’ll be able to fly over 500 meters into the sky with a theoretical range of 4 kilometres. I wasn’t going to be testing any of these numbers during my first flight but after seeing some other pilots on YouTube, that 4 kilometres is very ambitious. Regardless, Irish laws dictate that you shouldn’t be flying that far anyway.

It’s so damn easy to fly

I’m not going to lie. I was a little nervous taking flight for the first time. I was out in Sandymount with the amazing Poolbeg stacks in the background. The tide was out and I had the whole beach to myself, more or less. Still, I was a little scared to actually kick the drone off. I downloaded a checklist app to run through making sure everything was good to go and off my little Mavic Mini went.

To start, the drone hovers at about 1.5 meters above the ground while the controller, with your smartphone as a screen, started to bring me through basic flight training.

A few minutes later and the app finished up informing me I was good to go on my own. Straight away, there was a childishness that overcame me. I wanted to go higher and faster, all the time being a little too anxious to fly out over the water. So there’s my first tip. Have your first flight over solid ground and give yourself loads of space.

Lots of tech built-in

Don’t let the tiny size of this drone deceive you.

dji mavic mini size

The last point about the Mavic Mini being remarkably easy to fly largely comes down to the amount of tech that’s built-in. When you start your flight, the app updates your home point. That means if your battery starts to die in the drone or you lose contact, it can still fly back to where your flight started.

Of all the tech built-in, DJI excels in the video side of things.

Mavic Mini video shooting

Without being able to shoot video, your drone would be pretty useless. The Mavic Mini has a gimble built-in offering incredibly stable shots even in windy conditions. While 4K video is reserved for high-end models, the Mavic Mini’s 2k shooting doesn’t disappoint at all. Actually, rather than going on about it, here’s the footage I shot during my first hour or so flying my Mavic Mini.

This is cut together from one run on the beach with my three batteries. I was trying to recharge my first dead battery with a power bank but it just wasn’t fast enough, unfortunately.

Beyond stable shots that look great, the Mavic Mini also has Quick Shot modes built-in. Shots like the “dronie” will fly backwards into the sky while keeping you as the focus. “Rocket” mode is similar where the drone goes straight up rapidly while “circle” keeps the focus on you while spinning around you.

Limitations of the DJI Mavic Mini

As much as I enjoyed the Mavic Mini, there are some limitations from the get-go. First of all, it’s not IP-rated, so if you feel rain you’re going to need to land and get your drone covered as soon as possible.

If it’s windy, you’ll get windy warnings. Due to the weight of the drone, I was getting strong wind warnings once I hit 20 meters. You can fly through it, but I just didn’t have the confidence on my first flight. Also, here’s a great tip that I happened to pick up from YouTube before I took to the skies. Pay attention to the mode your drone is in. Position focuses on GPS steadiness, cinematic focuses on smooth video while sport is all about speed and power. I found my drone struggling to get back through the wind during my flight while in cinematic mode. I popped it into the sport and it whizzed back without further struggle.

Is DJI Care worth it?

DJI also offers an insurance programme for the Mavic Mini. I think it cost me €35 to cover the Mavic Mini and that means if it smashes into a wall or crashes in water, I’ll get my Mavic Mini repaired or replaced for a small fee. It’s important to point out that you can only avail of this if you still have your broken drone so you’ll still need to be wary over water.

The other thing to remember is that if you want DJI Care you can only get it 48 hours after activating your drone for the first time.

DJI Mavic Mini: The Verdict

Short and sweet is this review. For me, that’s very deliberate. I’ve said all there is to say. The DJI Mavic Mini isn’t just a great drone for beginners, but it’s a great drone in general. I has so much fun on my first flight without any previous experience or anyone there to hold my hand that I can hand on heart recommend this to anyone and everyone into photography, flying or gadgets in general.

One catch is that this is looking like the must-have Christmas present of 2019. When I say “this” I mean the Fly More combo too. I picked up mine in Harvey Norman and even though the shop was crazy busy I got some great service so head on over to your local Harvey Norman and get flying. I know I normally shout about Amazon.co.uk but DJI regulate the prices of these drones pretty heavily so this is one of those times you should try shop local when you can.

 

Electric Scooter Rider in Ireland Given Five Penalty Points and €300 Fine

Marty
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0
Electric Scooter Rider in Ireland Given Five Penalty Points and €300 Fine

It’s safe to say there have been some mad headlines in 2019. Most recently, the approval of the white water rafting facility in the IFSC has been greeted with anger. People are tired of seeing projects like this quickly being approved quickly while transport cycling infrastructure projects like the Liffey Cycle Route are being pushed out to 2024. I’m quite annoyed to say I’m adding another ridiculous headline to the pile as one of the State’s first court cases which saw an electric scooter rider up before a judge took place today. The result? The electric scooter rider was given five penalty points and a €300 fine.

Electric scooters and the law in Ireland

I’ve written in the past about electric scooters and the law in Ireland. Much of what I’ve said in that article was based upon a complete lack of legal precedent and guidelines from the Road Safety Authority of Ireland which has since been updated because it was misleading. However, without legal precedent, it was unfair for me to comment further.

An Garda Siochana have taken a stance that electric scooters do not fall into any grey area. They’re illegal on Irish roads because they are a mechanically propelled vehicle which you cannot insure within the State. Again, until today I would have argued that this was a grey area given the original guidance issued by the RSA combined with the Government’s apparent start to work towards legalising these handy ways of negotiating congested cities.

Unfortunately, electric scooter riders today around the country have taken a massive blow as the first case of an electric scooter whose scooter was seized for driving uninsured has been through the courts. I’ve spoken with the rider asked me not to name them in this article.

Scooter rider gets fine and penalty points in Ireland

Earlier this year, the scooter rider had been pulled over by a member of Garda Traffic who seized the riders scooter and requested they produce proof of insurance. I was actually stopped myself and told to go about my business, despite apparently breaking the exact same law as the defendant I spoke with today.

While I was sent on my way, the other scooter rider had their scooter seized and they were sent into the Irish Court system to await their fate. Today, a judge handed down the ruling that the scooter rider was indeed considered to be driving a mechanically propelled vehicle uninsured and as a result, handed five penalty points and a €300 fine.

The judge said that regardless of many electric scooters including the one in question requiring a push start from a person, the scooter remains a mechanically propelled vehicle. According to the defendant I spoke with, the judge showed no interest in the RSA’s previously misleading information which was also shared online and with me personally by An Garda Siochana, the fact Road Traffic Laws date back to 1961 or that the Government is currently re-evaluating the road traffic laws because of electric scooters.

Instead, the judge handed down the five penalty points and €300 fine.

Verdict on the Verdict

You won’t get any middle of the road journalism from me on this topic. I’m fuming. I, myself, am an electric scooter rider. It’s my main mode of transport in Dublin City, a city which is being suffocated by the sheer volume of cars and the fumes that they generate. Our public transport is creaking under the weight of an entire city needing to get around. Electric scooters and other modern modes of transport could really go a long way towards taking cars off of our roads and relieving some of the pressure on our public transport systems.

But no. Instead, this green and efficient mode of transport is being demonised and the people who opt for it are being put in front of judges to be treated like criminals. There’s a certain logic that fails to click here for me.

To put this into context, this would be the same number of penalty points given to a motorist found to be driving on roads without insurance. Taking a Kia C’eed as an example which weighs 1920kgs, a scooter rider with a scooter weighing 197% less is deemed worthy of the same number of penalty points – the scooter weighing just 12.5kgs.

Technically irrelevant, I feel this point goes some way towards showing why treating an electric scooter the same as a car is massively ridiculous. While government and lawmakers should be bending over backwards to encourage a clearly popular mode of transport, instead resistance at all costs seems to be the order of the day. A more relevant context might be comparing to the recent law introduced to protect cyclists. A recent law introduced to protect cyclists would lead to motorists being given a €120 fine and three penalty points for overtaking a cyclists to closely.

In my experience, cyclists are generally happy to share their lanes with scooters and want to see more scooters and fewer cars.

What happens next?

I’m not sure where we go from here. The defendant I spoke with has a right to appeal so fingers crossed they do and it’s a success. I wouldn’t hold my breath for Shane Ross to get the finger out and actually have the Department of Transport act upon both the report into electric scooters and the public consultation.

Both, to my knowledge, are somewhat favourable towards practical legislation being applied but I have no faith in Government to do anything logical any more. If you want me to go full tinfoil hat, I also feel like this heavy-handed approach to scooters is to try to stem the tide of Christmas purchases. Gardai have been out on the streets with renewed eagerness to seize the scourge that is electric scooters from our streets.

For me, the greatest shame is that this has set a legal precedent I can no longer ignore. The scooter is going to have to be parked up until something changes. I really do hope that something does indeed change, but now only time will tell. Why am I parking the scooter? Motor insurance premiums in Ireland are already also an item making headlines over the past few years. Five points would make my insurance premium go through the roof so I simply can’t risk it. For the record, here’s a video from back when the grey area was greyer and I tried to get electric scooter insurance.

What do you think of that yourself? Let us know in the comments below.

 

Ember Review: Do You Need A Smart Temperature Controling Travel Mug

Marty
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Ember Review: Do You Need A Smart Temperature Controling Travel Mug

There are quite a few gadgets on the market which bring the world “notions” to mind. None have made the term spring into mind quite like the Ember Travel Mug. I’ve been testing one out that Ember sent over and while a little pricy, I’m sold on it being very good indeed.

What is the Ember Travel Mug?

In short, the Ember Travel Mug is a travel mug for coffee and tea. It’ll do that most basic task rather well. The real beauty of the Ember comes from the fact it can also detect the heat of your beverage and keep it at the perfect heat for about three hours.

ember coffee by the river

Traditional travel mugs are generally either just made of simple materials or have some kind of material to retain as much heat as possible. The Ember has smarts inside to actually heat your drink and to keep your drink at the perfect temperature. It’s not about heat retention, but heat regulation and this is the feature I nerded out about most.

What’s the perfect temperature for your drink?

I’m a cappuccino man. I’m not a coffee nerd, but I enjoy a decent cuppa joe. I like knowing a nice bean has been roasted and served to me at the right temperature. The Ember Travel Mug means I can pop into the local coffee shop, order my cappuccino and have my mug actually hold the drink at the right optimal temperature. For this drink, the mug keeps my coffee at 56.5 degrees. You can easily change this in the app or directly on the cup itself and it can reach temperatures from 48.9°C to 62.8°C.

Does the Ember Travel Mug work?

This is nice and simple. Yes. The Ember Travel Mug is amazing at doing exactly what it says on the tin. The perfect example was the day I forgot about my coffee for about an hour after buying it. Thanks to my Ember the coffee was still at the perfect temperature.

There are also some additional benefits with a coffee cup like this. One of my favourite things is that there’s no more burning the mouth off myself when coffee is served too hot. I don’t even think about drinking my coffee until the Ember app tells me it’s at the perfect temperature. I can either trust the app or adjust the temperature regulation myself on the mug.

Another feature I like is rather simple. The lid. The lid promises to be leakproof and lets you drink from every side. The simple things in life make me happy.

While the Ember Travel Mug does have a battery built-in, it also comes with a special charging “saucer”. That means I can pop the Ember onto a spot of my desk where it’ll charge away keeping my coffee warm for even longer.

The downsides of Ember

As much as I love my Ember, it’s not perfect. First of all, when I grab a coffee from the local coffee shop, they nearly always fill it up too high. That’s because the Ember itself isn’t the biggest coffee mug in the world, holding 355ml. I don’t drink Starbucks, but that’s a Tall coffee in Starbucks language. The design of the lid means that you need to leave a lot of space at the top, something baristas seem to have a problem with. As a result, I’ve got to take one or two mouthfuls of scalding coffee to make space.

a full cup of coffee

Let’s be honest though. That’s not exactly Ember’s problem.

A far more pressing barrier to you going out and buying one of these right now is the price. I reviewed the first Ember, which you can buy directly from Apple Ireland for €170. It’s also available from Amazon.co.uk where you’ll also find the newer Ember Travel Mug 2. The newer mug seems to have changed how you manually adjust the temperature with little other changes so if you’re in the market for something like this or want to gift it to the coffee fan in your life, the first version is more than adequate. Yes, it’s very pricey but this is a very new technology. Early adopters always pay a tax.

Ember Travel Mug: The Verdict

It’s a unique product and I love it. Will many see the value with such a price tag? I’d wager not. It’s really cool (pardon the pun) and it works fantastically well but it’s peak notions with that pricetag. I do have to stress that I really love mine and it’s actually got me back into drinking coffee.

While it might not be for everyone, it’s probably the perfect gift for someone and possibly yourself.

YouTube Rewind 2019!

Jon
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YouTube Rewind 2019!

After a bit of abuse this year YouTube decided to take a brand new approach with this years mashup video. Instead of their usual clip, YouTube created montage of the biggest moments and milestones from around the world on YouTube. Funnily enough it comes of the back of last years YouTube Rewind being their most-disliked video ever! Kevin Allocca, head of culture and trends at YouTube had this to say:

“We heard a lot of feedback that the video last year didn’t reflect people’s experience on YouTube. Rewind has always been a moment to celebrate the big things that happened on YouTube and document the end of the year. People feel a real sense of ownership of what they create on the platform.”

This year YouTube Rewind goes about highlighting a range of categories like most viewed creator, most liked overall video, dance video, beauty video, most viewed games, top new creators of the year and of course most watched music videos. You may notice that these categories are really prioritizing the native YouTubers rather than celebs. Well that’s because Rewind 2018 got 17million dislikes vs 2million likes and it was accused of being tone deaf to the YouTube community, highlighting the likes of Trevor Noah over Pewdiepie, despite having more viewers. It was so bad they actually reference and accept their 2018 in the into of this years YouTube Rewind. Anyway give it a gander and let us know what you think.

SVP Go Contactless for Donations

Jon
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SVP Go Contactless for Donations

In just a few short years, how we pay for goods and services have changed dramatically. We all know it, really how often are people carrying cash let alone loose change these days? More and more people, like me use mobile payments. It’s really convenient until you think about how charities are losing out on the donation of till-side loose change.

Think about it, when you buy stuff in the shop you’d happily throw the loose 5-10-20cent into the bucket. But that’s now a thing of the past. In the not so distant past though the church began trialing contactless payments for donations.

They did this because dodging charity boxes has become easier in modern times and charities are loosing thousands worth of donations. Well, thankfully and more desevingly than the church, St Vincent de Paul (SVP) are set to become the 1st Irish charity to introduce digital collection boxes. These e-buckets called CollecTin were developed by SumUp and Visa and are basic enough electronic card readers which will allow donors to contribute with their debit or credit cards if they have no cash. Boom, no excuse to not toss that change to a good cause during holiday season. Plus i’m almost certain the theory is you miss a euro less when you don’t see it- hence tap and go with you good cause.

Image result for svp tap to donate

In a recent interview, the head of SVP fundraising Nichola Mullen had this to say:

 

‘We’re starting with 80 buckets and it’s a strategic roll-out to facilitate donors in every way.’

Using these e-buckets is also really simple, just choose the amount you want to donate on the card reader, tap and go. That’s it. SVP hope this new technology will remove barriers and encourage people to donate without the issues that may have prevented them in the past. Oh and before we forget, the card reader sits inside the bucket, so it will still act as a normal collection point but needs to be charged up on occasion.

There are other ways to donate!

Image result for change donations

Change donations is an Irish donations service and the modern answer to popping your twenty cent change from your grocery shop into the charity box beside the till. Say you buy a few bits and bobs worth €19.60. Back in the day, you’d get two twenty cent pieces back and you might have been tempted to pop them into the charity box for a worthy cause. These micro-donations generally make little or no impact on your own pocket, but with thousands of them taking place around Ireland daily, they added up to a significant bit of cash for charities.

Today, you’re much more likely to tap your card and pay the exact amount for your transaction. Sure enough, you’re back up forty cents, but you likely won’t even notice that few cents. Charities, on the other hand, do miss the thousands of these transactions taking place daily and this is the gap Change Donations is trying to close.

Change Donations is a service where you connect your bank account and your bank card. The Change Donations service then looks at your card transactions, rounds up to the nearest euro and donates your digital loose change to a charity of your choice.

Effectively, it’s the exact same as donating the loose change that the shop keeper would have handed back to you.

Essentially here’s the deal, right now we know Ireland has it’s issues with homelessness and poverty, with these two options alone there are ways and means to donate to worthy charities without needing a pocketful of coin on the high street. Seems as its December why not try one of these nifty tech solutions while doing a good deed for those in need or If you wish to donate, visit www.svp.ie/donate or call 01 8848200.

Trending on Twitter: Is the Queen Dead?

Marty
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Trending on Twitter: Is the Queen Dead?

Tonight you may have noticed that The Queen is trending on Twitter. Every couple of months, David Attenborough trends on Twitter and I have a minor heart attack myself. It’s usually a new documentary or something but there’s always that brief moment I fear the worst.

Tonight, when I saw “The Queen” trending, my first thought was the royal Netflix series, The Crown, but this trend really is about the Queen. But is there any truth to it? Is the Queen really dead? Most likely not. Here’s what we know.

Where have rumours of the Queen’s death come from?

Ok, so first of all you’re probably wondering why Goosed.ie is writing about this at all. Simply, this is a fascinating insight into social media, fake news and how to construct the perfect lie to go viral. It may also be true but I’m assuming it’s not.

Talk of the Queen’s demise has been sparked by a screenshot from a WhatsApp group. Honestly, there’s not much more to it.

In this group, Gibbo has forwarded a message he’s apparently received from a member of the Queen’s guard. They’ve all been informed to ready themselves for the duties that come with a Royal funeral.

But is there any truth to it?

Picking apart the screenshot

I need to start this with a caveat which explains this could very well be the truth and we’ll only find out tomorrow if it is. But here’s my opinion as to why it’s not true.

To start, this is just a screenshot from a WhatsApp group. It could be anyone. The lads nicknames might not lend much to their credibility but the fact the group’s icon is a penis certainly kills off the last bit of trust I’m going to afford these lads.

Also, I’ve had a quick look online and couldn’t find any record of news of the Queen Mother’s death being suppressed, though admittedly I’m writing and researching this on the fly on my mobile.

Regardless, for me it seems a perfect construct. There’s the apparent credibility of who this third party source is. There’s a gap to finding out the truth – tomorrow at 9.30am. There’s apparently more credibility added by the knowledge of procedures upon the Queen’s death.

However, I look at all of this and see the perfect bit of fake news. In fact, the process of what happens next it’s fairly public knowledge. It’s called “Operation London Bridge” and it outlines what everyone will do when Queen Elizabeth dies.

Now, I could be totally wrong but should this all transpire to be fake news, this screenshot should be studied. It’s got everything to make a story go viral.

Update: The rumours are not true

According to a well-informed Royal insider, this is all nonsense and should be ignored. I’m going to go with this because he seems more reliable than Gibbo.

Deskmate: A Brilliant Cheap Standup Desk For Working From Home

Marty
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0
Deskmate: A Brilliant Cheap Standup Desk For Working From Home

Working from home is great. Well, it’s great if you have space at home to work from. Sometimes I work from home. I live in a one-bed apartment, so do the maths on the space that I have. In a previous life, I worked in an office with standup desks and I loved them. That left me looking for a logical solution. How could I fit a standing desk into my tiny one-bed apartment? The solution, as it turns out, is called Deskmate.

What is Deskmate?

Well, as you might have guessed, Deskmate is a standup desk. The difference between this and a standing desk that you might get somewhere like Ikea is price and convenience.

I’ll keep with that Ikea example. If I had a dedicated home office, I wouldn’t hesitate for one second to pick up an Ikea stand up desk. They’re probably some of the best value ones on the market. But I don’t have that space. I needed a solution that could, ideally, fold away to nothing when I didn’t need it and be popped onto the dinner table when I needed a workspace.

Deskmate is a cardboard standup desk converter. That means you use this on top of a normal desk or, in my case, on top of the dinner table at home. This gives me a perfect workspace in my apartment, something I was missing badly.

Here’s my exact setup at home. Mandatory glass of beer to boot.

deskmate cheap standing desk alternative

I was shocked at how good my Deskmate was and here’s why.

Benefits of Deskmate

There were plenty of positives with my standing desk alternative. Here’s are my favourite points.

It’s a Folding Standing Desk

As I mentioned, I’m beyond being tight one space. In my head, I envisioned a standing desk which I could fold away behind the couch or something. I do a lot of video work in the apartment too so that’s why I have a pop up green screen. Convenience is one of the most important things to me. I wanted the same from my standing desk.

Because the Deskmate is made from cardboard, it’s not only super-light but it’s also foldable. It’s actually not just foldable. It’s foldable down to a tiny depth of 3cm. That means I can fold it away and hide it behind the couch.

It’s The Perfect Size

It’s all well and good being tiny when folded away, but I need the desk to be pretty spacious when I’m using it. If you’ve got a pretty tidy keyboard, there’s nothing to worry about here. If I was to place a bet, I would imagine all product testing of the Deskmate has been done with Apple products. I use an Apple laptop, a 15-inch Macbook Pro with an Apple Magic Keyboard and Logitech MX Master mouse. I’ve got plenty of space, largely because the Apple keyboard is tiny. Some larger keyboards might struggle but if this is your setup you’re laughing.

If you’re using a bigger keyboard, drop me a line in the comments below and I’ll try give you an idea of what to expect. Here’s another setup I tested with a keyboard which has a Numpad. This doesn’t work as it means there’s no space for your mouse. Unless you’re a hardcore, keys-only coder.

deskmate keyboard test

Improved Posture and Productivity. And It’s Cheap.

I’ve always felt super productive at a standing desk. I’ve no idea what it is but it feels great. Maybe this is silly, but I’ve even felt myself working up a bit of a sweat just from standing while I work. And that brings me onto an important point. The Deskmate is great because you can use it with your normal desk which, of course, means you can just revert to sitting down. Standing all the time isn’t a great idea either so Deskmate gives you a handy alternative. Unless you have a massive monitor or big Mac which probably shouldn’t be moved that much.

Most importantly for your wallet, the Deskmate is a really cheap alternative to fixed desks and electronic tabletop standing desk converters. If you want to dip your toe into the world of standing while you work, you can buy the Deskmate for just £29.90. At the time of writing that works out as €35.

Shopping Tips: How To Find The Best Black Friday Deals

Marty
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Shopping Tips: How To Find The Best Black Friday Deals

Where the bloody hell has November gone. We’re staring down the barrel of Black Friday with Christmas just around the corner. It’s been a rollercoaster year but don’t let that all distract you. This is the time of the year where you can all to often part with money a little easier that you should as we all get caught up in the sales furore. With Black Friday being spread across longer sales periods than ever before, how can you make sure you’re able to find the best Black Friday Deals?

Black Friday Shopping Tips

To get the ball rolling, here are some of my favourite Black Friday shopping tips.

Always Check PriceSpy.ie

Retailers can get very creative around Black Friday and Christmas. And sometimes, they get a little too creative with their pricing. It’s not unheard of to see retailers inflating prices or the discount amounts to make their propositions to you look all the sweeter. I’ve called our CeX in the past for their terrible pricing, but they’re just expensive. Other retailers are far closer to conning the consumer during these greedy periods.

With this in mind, I always recommend that you give PriceSpy.ie a quick look before you make a purchase. PriceSpy.ie scrapes as many websites as possible to get product pricing from a wide range of retailers. It’s not always perfect but it will give you an idea of some other places you could pick up that gadget you want to buy at a similar price – maybe even cheaper. I’d check nearly any gadget purchase I make before handing over the cash.

PriceSpy.ie has even set up a Black Friday price tracker for you. How handy is that?

Be Ruthless? – Shopping in the UK

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I do want as many people as possible to support Irish businesses. Next week, I’m buying myself a shiny new drone and I’m buying it from an Irish-based retailer. Why? Well, the price is all the same to me so I may as well support a retailer who employs people in Ireland.

That’s not always the case. Sometimes I can’t get products in Ireland and then other times shopping on a website like Amazon.co.uk is just much cheaper. We’ve carried out our own research which shows 32% of people in Ireland have shopped on Amazon.co.uk in the past twelve months and PriceSpy.ie often highlights Amazon.co.uk as the best spot to make a purchase. I do need to emphasise that shopping with the world’s biggest online retailer can itself is a bit of a minefield. That’s why I’ve already put together the ultimate guide to shopping on Amazon.co.uk in Ireland.

Do You Really Need It?

I bought a drill during the last Black Friday sale on Amazon. It was a great deal. I’ve never used that drill. Learn from my mistakes.

The Best Black Friday Deals So Far

Ok, so Black Friday isn’t until November 29th but still, there’s a load of retailers in Ireland and, of course, Amazon.co.uk who’ve launched into Black Friday sale mode. Here are some of the best deals I’ve spotted so far.

Amazon Echo Devices

As you might expect, there’s no shortage of discounts on Amazon Echo devices. I love the Echo Show 5-inch and the Amazon Firestick to name but two products with massive savings on them for the next week or so.

Pop on over to Amazon and check out the full range of Black Friday deals. It might be worth checking back a few times too as they do add more bits and pieces as the week goes on.

Harvey Norman Tablets and More

Sorry, I’m keeping it vague again but that’s because I’ve no idea what you’re in the market for. With that in mind, if you’re after a telly, phone, headphones, fridge, washing machine, laptop or even a mattress, it might be worth popping over to Harvey Norman. Every year, they take Black Friday very seriously going so far as to promise they’ll match the price of any competitor.

Three’s Black Tag Sale

Like I said earlier, retailers are going all-in on Black Friday making the sale much more than just a day. Three running a Black Tag sale across bill pay phones, prepay phones and accessories. If you’re not sure what to buy they even have an automated chatbot to help you find what you’re looking for. One of the best deals I’ve spotted is the iPhone 8 on bill pay. You can pick that up for €29 on their €45 per month plan.

Vodafone Broadband Offer

Thinking of switching broadband provider? Black Friday might be the time to do it if you want to nab yourself a pretty cool gadget at the same time. Right now, if you sign up online you’ll get their broadband for €25 per month for the first 6 months along with a free Google Home Hub. It’s a 12-month contract with the second 6 months being €40 per month.

I’ll be monitoring my inbox for the rest of the week for the latest offers that appear on the market as different retailers wake up. So do check back here for updates. I’ve also contributed to a Sunday Times article to try keep your Black Friday shopping on the straight and narrow.

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