Tag: MP3

Guest Post: 7 Reasons Why Gadgets Can Kill You

Today we welcome Danny Ashton to the 7 Reasons sofa. Danny is a self-confessed gadget fanatic who writes about Android Tablets at his blog. So who better then to tell us that gadgets are going to kill us? Exactly. No one. Once you’ve read today’s post do head over to Danny’s blog or feel free to chat to him about gadgets over email.

If you’re a gadget freak, you may want to watch out, because your gadgets can sometimes get you into serious trouble. I hope you enjoy reading this fun list of dangerous gadgets, just as long as you don’t read it on your new tablet PC whilst trying to cross the road…

1. United Nuclear Magnets. If you want powerful magnets, then what you need is a United Nuclear Magnet. These aren’t your average flimsy fridge magnets. No, these are so strong they can actually break your arm or crush your hand. Their website even states that they cannot be shipped by air because they will interfere with the aircraft’s navigational equipment. Ideal if you enjoy squashing things. Just make sure it’s not your own head.

2. Wicked Strong Laser Pointers. Made in China, these hand-held lasers are so powerful they can light a match from 10 feet away. It’s not quite clear what these lasers have been invented for, but rest assured they are certainly not toys for playing Star Wars with your little brother.

3. Ball-bearing Boot Travel Suits. This bizarre form of transport involves not just wearing special boots, but an entire suit. By looking at the picture (above), it appears the suit comes with a weird face mask which looks like some kind of modern version of a fencing mask. The main body of the suit resembles a black and white version of what the Pet Shop Boys were wearing in the video to their 1993 hit Go West. And as for the boots, don’t even get me started! Ball-bearing boots? Ball-bearing boots??? Boots with ball-bearings on the bottom of them? WHY???

4. Tunnel Taxis. Okay, so this one is perhaps a bit big to really be called a gadget because it’s actually a type of vehicle. Another Chinese invention, it consists of a large bus with a gap down the middle of it to enable cyclists to ride through. This is all very well if the bus is stationary and the cyclist just quickly rides through and out the other side. But what happens if some crazy cyclist tries to cycle through it while it’s moving, and then the bus driver decides to change lanes. Maybe all the roads in China are straight? I don’t know I’ve never been there.

5. Cell Phones. Although the jury still seems to be out on the whole “cell phones give you cancer” issue, they can still get you into all kinds of trouble, including:

Accidentally texting “right now, I’m thinking about your lovely soft thighs” to your brother instead of your girlfriend.

Walking head-first into a lamp-post while posting “I just ate a sandwich” to your Facebook page.

Falling into a ditch whilst laughing at a video someone sent you of a cat playing the piano. Yes, we’ve all done it. Don’t pretend it hasn’t happened to you.

6. MP3 Players. Although great for whiling away dull hours in traffic jams on public transport, MP3 players can indeed also be a hazard. I mean, it’s all very well you doing some freaky dancing to The Birdie Song as you walk down the street, but if you don’t see that the fat guy in a diaper from Jackass has just come round the corner being chased by Wee Man, you could end up squashed.

7. Satellite Navigation Systems. Satellite navigation systems are fine if they take you step-by-step along the quickest route from San Francisco to Los Angeles; but it’s no good if that’s the same day it decides it’s going to have a short circuit and cause you to end up on the edge of Area 51, having accidentally just driven over the sign which says “DO NOT ENTER” and also probably something about trespassers will be abducted by aliens or whatever. Or if you live in the UK, you might end up in field, surrounded by angry cows. Either way, it’s not good.

September 3, 2011
7 Reasons That We Shouldn’t Make A Podcast

Well, here it is. You didn’t know that you’d been waiting for it, but it’s here anyway: It’s the 7 Reasons podcast. To play it, simply press the play button on the player or, if you want to download it, follow this link, then right-click and select the “save as” option. After all, who wouldn’t want a miniature 7 Reasons team to carry around with them and be in their ears? No one, that’s who. Probably.

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Our podcast’s also available from iTunes.

May 23, 2010
7 Reasons The Cassette Is Better Than The CD

1. CD Case Design Flaw: Part A. Whichever genius designed the CD case was/is not a genius. A genius would not have made the breadth of the case so bloody tiny that the name of the artist/album is impossible to see unless you have your nose pressed up against it. The breadth of the cassette case was ideal. Perfectly readable from a sensible distance and far less risk of adding a plastic splinter to your face.

2. CD Case Design Flaw: Part B. One for the environmentalists among you. The CD case uses three parts. The cassette case uses two. It isn’t difficult to work out where Global Warming came from is it?

3. Double-sided. When you bought an album on tape, you were in fact getting two mini albums. And A-side and a B-side. Musicians actually took this into account when putting the track listing together. And it made a huge difference. Oasis’ Definitely Maybe and What’s The Story (Morning Glory?) were both released on tape. Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants was not. Coincidence?

4. Sturdiness. A cassette is to a hammer what a HobNob is a to a cup of tea. The CD is a rich tea finger. Pathetic.

5. Write Protection Override. In the good old days when cassettes appeared on every shelf in Our Price, you could go to bed on a Sunday night happy in the knowledge that you wouldn’t ever have to set foot in that store. That is because you’d just used a bit of masking tape on your father’s copy of Born In The USA and recorded that week’s Top 20 over it.

6. Manual Rewind. Sticking your little finger into a cassette and giving it a turn one way or the other made you feel in control of your music collection. Sticking your little finger through the middle of a CD and spinning it makes you look like a prick. And you’ll get a knuckle cut.

7. Labeling. It was so easy to write on a cassette. Usually it came with specially designed labels anyway. All you had to do was get out the biro. With a CD though, you need a special pen. Does a special pen come with a blank CD? Does it hell. You have to go and find a branch of bloody Hobby Craft. And of course that is miles away. On an industrial estate. Next to a Wickes and Charlies Car Wash and a burger van.

February 23, 2010