Tag: technology

Guest Post: 7 Reasons To Buy A Television Bed

TV beds are a relatively new innovation that combines two of our favourite things; bed and television. With that in mind, it’s quite surprising that no one thought of moulding the two things together before.

Although more popular in the United States, they are an innovation that is quickly taking the bedrooms of the UK by gentle storm. So, without further rambling, here are seven reasons to buy a television bed!

1. Toe Saving Technology! One curse of the allotted television/bed separation is the cold, lost and search mission that you must undertake every night in order to turn the television off. Never before have so many toes fallen stubbed to misplaced bedroom items and unforeseen furniture. Now, thanks to tv beds from the TV Beds Centre, you can simply turn the television off via a soft button next to the bed wherein the television folds sleekly away into the recesses of your bed.

2. No more intrusive wires! Thanks to shelves found within the sides of many television beds, you can now store your Xbox, Playstation and DVD player underneath the bed and out of sight as you never again have to fiddle with all the medusa-esque wires that dominate so many bedrooms.

3. Two For The Price Of One. If you’re moving house, the great news is that you don’t have to worry about buying a television and a bed to go in your room as some television beds come with a television already installed! Not a bad thing to no longer worry about!

4. No more nails! That’s exactly right, if you’re like any regular man who simply cannot fathom the easiest of DIY procedures then you no longer have to worry about IKEA cupboards or television stands.

5. A Man’s ~~Home~~ Bed Is His Castle. If you want to be really lazy, then you will take pride in knowing that you can endure a whole film marathon (LOTR anyone?) without ever having to get out of bed. Anyone who enjoys a good hangover will know that lying in bed all day watching mind numbing programmes is truly the best way to recover.

6. The iBed? If you think the television beds of today are great, then just think about what they shall be like tomorrow. Maybe then they shall look after all our needs (microwave tv bed?) so that we never have to move anywhere on a weekend. The lifestyle in Wall-E never looked that bad anyway…

7. Build a base. We’ve all done it; thanks to the large foot and head boards, they would make perfect walls for you to drape your bedding over. Even if you find that you are a tad old to do that these days, television beds do come in child sizes too!

September 24, 2012
Guest Post: 7 Reasons Why Your Business Needs Data Centre Services

Plant pots. Staplers. A door. All very useful things for a business to have, we admit. But what every organisation really needs is a data centre. Don’t look at us like that! As if we’re mad. Possibly even a bit geeky. We’re not. Really! We’re just people who like looking out for others. So think of us as superheroes if you like. Cool ones without the lycra.

So a data centre – this is the jargon-y bit – is a facility which houses computers. And these computers contain all of the information of a company. Interesting so far, isn’t it? Logic would have it therefore than large companies have large data centres full of thousands of computers all doing computery things 24 hours a day. And luckily for us, logic is correct in this case. Large companies do have large data centres. And with large data centres comes great responsibility. And the necessity for Buckingham Palace style security. And sophisticated cooling systems – not easy when there’s a hose-pipe ban in place. And back-up systems in case of outage. All of these things mean that data centres can be extremely expensive to set up and run. So, why then, does your business need data centre services? Here are the answers.

 1. Spiralling costs. Downwards. No, we’re not contradicting ourselves here. Not at all. You see, you could do it yourself. You could invest in 900 Commodore 64s, 45 computer nerds with their own soldering irons and a couple of former nightclub bouncers to handle your security. Then, when it all goes wrong, you could bring in the data centre service providers. Or, you could skip straight past the local boot-fair and just have the pros do it in the first place. By using a data centre service, you eliminate the need for large investments in facilities, equipment, security and energy. A survey in Sourcingmag.com, reported that 44 per cent of businesses outsource their data centre services for this very reason. And quite frankly, if it says it on Sourcingmag.com, then why are we even thinking about it?

 2. “So, you know about USB ports I take it?” That’s just one of the questions you may find yourself asking IT experts if you decide to hire specialists yourself. And that’s a bit like asking a cow if it knows it’s eating grass. Pointless, as neither will bother replying. By using data centre services, you can leverage the IT expertise of experienced data centre staff without having to hire your own specialised team. Or looking on Google for interview questions.

 3. There’s no such thing as a handyman. The days when everyone in the business knew how to do everything have gone. By outsourcing your data centre services, you can free up your staff to focus on internal business operations, not work out if they can fry an egg on a server. Data centre staff are experienced in the business. Let them take care of day to day maintenance issues while your staff focus on your bottom line.

 4. Tick Tock. Yes, there’s also the time issue. By outsourcing, you can also speed up the time it takes to complete data centre projects. Doing such projects internally can take years. Let’s be honest, most workers take half-an-hour to make a cup of tea. What are they going to be like faced with something that sizzles and bangs when you add sugar to it? Outsourcing can get the job done properly within months.

 5. The man who knew too much. Data centre managers often have to manage a number of data centres whose primary focus is delivering data centre services. Which basically means they know their stuff. And more. They will baffle you with words long and short, but at the end of the day they’ll have the expertise to deliver a top service while applying industry best practices to their operations. Which is much more preferable to putting Mike in charge. Yes, he’s the one who tried to fry an egg and sprinkled sugar in the sockets.

 6. Grow today. Not tomorrow. Assuming your business isn’t ‘Bob’s Burgers’ on the A27, the chances are you’ll be looking to grow and transform. By outsourcing data centre services, you free up internal resources to focus entirely on the critical process. And if you are from ‘Bob’s Burgers’, well you’ll just have to be content in the knowledge that the only thing growing is your customers’ waistband.

 7. Customers! Without them, you’re going no where. The last thing you want is to have to cancel a business meeting because everything your company has ever done is being slowly deleted from your server after Mike – yes, him again – got superglue down the sides of the Ctrl-Alt-Del keys. By outsourcing your data centre services, you free up employees to focus on customer retention and business operations. And that’s the way it should be.

July 18, 2012
Guest Post: 7 Reasons Why Your Granny Will Always Prefer Offline Bingo

We all love our Grannies, it brightens up our day by just seeing them: well, most of the time they do. It is kind of a stereotypical view to say that only old people play bingo, but this is a misconception with online bingo; however, offline bingo is defiantly more popular amongst the older generation. Below are seven reasons why your Granny can be found chilling at her local bingo hall.

1. Technology. The latest technology/gadgets and the older generation simply do not mix. Usually if your grandma has a mobile phone it will look like the following:

As long as it makes and receives calls then that is all that is required. To play online bingo you will need not only an internet connect but a PC and knowing how to operate the PC and the online functionality of flash software. All of which is a pain unless you grew up with your eyeballs glued to a PC monitor.

2. Good Old Banter. Your Granny loves to talk…well, mine does. I can never shut her up, lol (bless her). What would be more fitting than a game that revolves around talking? Offline bingo is extremely social, so granny can chin wag to all her friends for a couple of hours. We tend to be at out lowest when we feel alone, a few hours of socialising is just what the doctor order to keep your grandma happy as Larry.

3. It Gets Her Out Of The House. As you get older you tend not to go out of the house as much, especially if your partner is no longer with you. Travelling to your local bingo club once a week is something you look forward to. Just logging on a computer in your home still makes you feel isolated.

4. It Makes Her Day. We all love to win, even if the price is nothing spectacular. Usually at bingo clubs the prizes are around the respectable £25 per house jackpot that are defiantly worth the 5p/25p a ticket. If she wins you grandchildren are the ones that usually benefit, so keep routing for her.

5. She Is Down With The Kids. Grannies are cool, end off. They love to do cool things and they love to be in with the trend. Millions of UK people and people from all around the world love to play offline and online bingo, the gambling sport is huge.

6. Not As It Once Was. As you get older your hearing and sight are not as good as they once were. This does not make it any better with a tiny monitor and speakers. At your local bingo club the bingo callers have voices that wish you had a remote control handy and the tickets are easy to see.

7. Using The Bus Pass. In the UK, when you get to a certain age you qualify for a free bus pass that entitles you to ride on bus for free (unsure if the US issue them). Visiting her local bingo hall gives her a reason to use her bus pass. Well, if it costs you nothing to get there…why not?

Next time you ask your Grandma: “Grandma, why do you play bingo all the time, you never win?” Think to yourself, it is not always about the winning.

December 28, 2011
7 Reasons Sepp Blatter Must Go (Now)

Today, Sepp Blatter will be re-elected as FIFA President. That is all kinds of wrong. As this video aptly demonstrates.

June 1, 2011
Guest Post: 7 Reasons Japan Is Awesome

We’ve published posts telling us the USA is great, we’ve ignore posts telling us France is great and we already know Great Britain is great, so what’s missing? Ah, yes. Japan. Home of the most annoying game ever invented. I never owned a tamagotchi, but it felt like I had a vested interest in the company given the amount I knew about them at school. Girls you see. They liked to talk about them. And I didn’t have the heart to walk off. Thankfully, Japan have done some good stuff too. As Maria Rainier now explains.

Maria Rainier

Everyone knows Japan is crazy. The reasons why Japanese people are crazy is exactly why they’re awesome. Crazy awesome. I mean, who else has come up with female androids, steakhouses with Mexican cooks, Karate Kid, and Jackie Chan, right?

1. Cute. They are the only people on earth who can regularly make poop look cute. Mr. Hanky the Christmas Poo does not qualify, Mr. Parker, Mr. Stone. He leaves unsanitary racing stripes wherever he goes and makes a terribly ugly cell phone accessory. Rhinestones look so much more kawaii on unko.

2. Humour. Their game shows are not only extravagant wastes of money that could probably fund a super smart cancer research team if only their scientists weren’t too busy riding elephant-sized bouncy balls and falling into mud pits, but more importantly, none of the humor is lost in translation. No matter who’s talking, there’s still a guy getting hit in the face with a giant foam log, and that’s funny.

3. Resolute. No one takes a punch like Japan, the only country that’s taken not one but two atomic bombs to the face and said, “Oh, so sorry. Would you like to send over a scientific team to study the damage and not help out the 250,000 women, babies, and old geezers who inexplicably survived your atrocity, and then try to justify it 60+ years later by saying we would have killed more of you had you not done it, even if your planned invasion wasn’t going to happen for two months?” Nah, it’s all good, ya’ll.

4. Sushi. They have convinced the West that eating raw fish eggs and octopus suckers is not only healthy and tasty, but sophisticated, especially if you know how to use a pair of chopsticks. They’re laughing their asses off right now, eating their steak and potatoes with a knife and fork.

5. They Will Rule The World One Day. While Naruto and animated school girl porn are distracting Westerners and turning them into malnourished, nerdy, basement-dwelling virgins, the Japanese are busy with their next invention: an invisible army of flying life-sized Gundam with nuclear capabilities. The Pokemon franchise was a total Japan takeover of the western world foiled by Trey Parker and Matt Stone in their groundbreaking investigative journalistic endeavor, “Chinpokomon.”

6. Vendor. They are the gods of vending machines: hot soup, hot coffee, and panties once worn by hot school girls for your pervy businessman pleasure.

7. Ninjas. And samurai. Mr. Miyagi. Ichi the Killer. Those guys.

Maria Rainier is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident blogger at First in Education and performs research surrounding online degrees. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.

February 12, 2011
Guest Post: 7 Reasons I Don’t Want a Kindle

It’s Saturday, and the 7 Reasons team are taking a well-deserved day off, but fear not: In charge of the 7 Reasons sofa today is Roger Williams; a Manchester-based writer, lyricist and owner of a full and luxuriant ginger beard. Here are seven reasons that he doesn’t want a Kindle.

1. Fahrenheit 451. The primary definition of Kindle in my whopping great Collins English Dictionary (a tome so weighty and downright bookish that while it would be impossible to swallow, it would be entirely feasible to use it to, say, smash a Kindle to smithereens) is ‘to set alight or start to burn.’ Mmm. You don’t need the Enigma machine to decode the sub-conscious desires of the Satanic device’s inventors here. They clearly want us to burn books. That’s right 7 Reasons readers. Biblioclasm! Libricide! Buying a Kindle is tantamount to supporting the book incinerating activities of the Spanish conquistadors, the worst McCarthyite zealots, the Nazis and the Dove World Outreach Centre church in Florida.

2. If it ain’t broke don’t e-fix it. Books are the perfect marriage of function and form. They have a quality of soul which an electronic device could never match. The volumes you gather as you travel through life are a story in themselves. The spine creases of the well-thumbed volume; the stain left by the coffee you spilt when you first saw her; the enthusiastic underlinings of well-loved sections and the page corner-foldings of inspiration; the sheer sentimental, colourful, characterful accumulation of books. You can’t furnish a room with a Kindle. Unless it’s a room for a hamster. That hates books.

3. Books smell good (musty second hand bookshops in Holmfirth don’t count.) I’ve never smelt a Kindle but I imagine it would smell of evil.

4. Books have done the job perfectly well for hundreds of years. The more complicated you make something the more likely it is that something will go wrong. At no point in the annals of history (beautifully preserved because they’ve been written down, on paper) has anyone ever complained “This book has crashed” or “I wish this book would go faster.” No one has ever advised you to turn a malfunctioning novel off and on again.

You can still read a book that’s hundreds of years old. You can’t watch videos from the early 1990s. The written word is timeless, but technology moves so fast that by the time you’re two thirds of the way through A Suitable Boy your Kindle will be in museum for obsolete things. Being bullied by a Sinclair C5.

5. There’s a physicality to books, a reassuring heft, a presence, whereas Kindles by comparison are…spineless. Books are transferable. How many times do you read something you love then lend it to a friend you know is going to share your enthusiasm? There’s no room for that in Kindleland. You either have to loan out your Kindle, and all that it contains, or they have to buy the f-ing e-book themselves.

6. Bathing. I admit this isn’t really an issue for me because I’m male and therefore genetically unable to multitask, but word is you can’t read a Kindle in the bath. I plagiarised this point from a letter written to The Guardian by a woman. I wasn’t doing anything else at the time. She was probably cooking a three-course meal and reading the paper when she wrote it.

7. And alright, I admit it, I woke up one morning and realised I was a Luddite.

Now…I’ve heard a rumour they’ve just installed one of those new weaving machines at a mill along the turnpike road in Bolton. Anyone want to come and help me smash it up before the idea catches on?

November 13, 2010