Tweeter Bird

Posts

Showing posts from December, 2019

Get big savings on a Nest Cam and a Nest Hub in the John Lewis January Sales

There's a lot to like about the Google Nest series of devices: they're polished, they're reliable, and they can all be controlled via a chat with Google Assistant on your phone or on your smart speaker. Now you've got even more of a reason to go Google with your next smart home purchase, because John Lewis is knocking £59 off the price of a Nest Cam Outdoor and a Nest Hub when you buy them both together – if you're looking for a bargain in the January Sales , this could be the one. The Nest Cam Outdoor will keep a careful eye on your property, enabling you to view a live feed and get motion detection alerts on your phone at any time, wherever you are in the world. The Nest Hub (previously known as the Home Hub), meanwhile, is a compact 7-inch smart display that brings you all the magic of Google Assistant and a screen – you can watch YouTube videos, control your other smart home devices, get weather reports, and much more besides. We'd...

Predicting workplace stress using technology

Stress is a common problem in the workplace, but better business strategies and employee-friendly workflows can ensure productivity is maintained while employees are less stressed. 1. How real an issue is workplace stress today? Dr. Eco de Geus: Stress is not just a buzzword in the workplace. According to the World Health Organisation, stress is “the health epidemic of the 21st Century,” with stress-related health conditions forming a major public health burden and topping the dialogue of global health and public sector leaders. Modern life brings many stresses – from macro-economic, environmental and safety concerns, to everyday financial, career, caregiving, relationship, and health worries. Add to this the impact of our fast-paced 24-hour global cycle, the pressure to be ‘always-on’ for work in an increasingly connected society, long time periods in front of business PCs , and the need to balance work with other life demands, and y...

Sonos One equals its lowest ever price in this January sales bargain

Spending some extended time at home at Christmas can get you dreaming of bolstering your wireless speaker system – and now is a great time to do just that, with the Sonos One speaker dropping to its lowest price on Amazon. This Alexa-enabled smart speaker fell to £148 for a short time during this year's Black Friday sales – and now it's equalled that price during the Boxing Day sales. (Not in the UK? Scroll down for the best Sonos One deals where you are). That's a generous saving of 25% on its usual price and it'll be wise to act quickly, as the offer only lasted for a few days during Black Friday. The Sonos One is currently our favourite smart speaker, thanks to its combination of Sonos' great sound quality and voice control smarts from the likes of Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri. Rather than digging into the app to change tunes, this means you can just talk to Spotify and ask for it to skip tracks or play a particular song. Today...

Calling the shots: the 12 most exciting cameras of the decade

It's fair to say the camera world has changed a bit in the last decade. Back in 2010, our idea of a cameraphone was the Nokia N8 and drones were still military aircraft. So which photographic trailblazers have got us the most excited in the last ten years? It's a tough choice that had be narrowed down from a longlist of dozens of contenders, but after a fiery debate we've narrowed them down to this list. Whether they stood out for their design, innovative features or all-round performance, these are the 12 that really rattled our shutters, sharpened our snaps or generally inspired us to reach for questionable photographic hyperbole. The great camera evolution (2010-2020) Before we head into the list, it's worth looking at exactly where we've come from since 2010. At the start of the decade, we still relied on compact cameras for our everyday snaps, while getting excited about features like 3D video and inbuilt projectors (yes, really), which have...

Enco Free truly-wireless earphone is Oppo's affordable Apple Airpods look-alike

Oppo Enco Free is the company's first truly wireless earphones, which strikingly resembles Apple's AirPods with a slight twist. The Enco Free comes with two silicone ear-tips options-- in-ear for a comfortable fit and semi-in-ear for more breathability. Oppo's true-wireless earphones feature 13.4mm dynamic drivers with a frequency response ranging between 16Hz-20KHz. The Enco Free supports Bluetooth 5.0 that enables simultaneous binaural transmission to the left and right units. Oppo claims that the Enco Free has a very minimal latency, not exceeding 120ms. Each Enco Free earphone weighs 4.6 grams, and the entire weight of the device with the charging case comes out to be 48.2 grams. The case sports an LED indicator and a pairing button on the right side. The earphones are also IPX4 certified, making it resistant to sweat and dust. So, users can use these pair of wireless earphones during workout sessions just as easily and carefree. Oppo says that the Enco Free c...

Suck up a £75 saving on this Dyson V8 Animal Extra vacuum in this fantastic deal

Well this deal definitely doesn't suck. John Lewis is offering £75 off this Dyson V8 Animal Extra Cordless Vacuum Cleaner as part of its Boxing Day Sales . That means you can pick up this powerful, cordless vaccum cleaner for under £300. (Not in the UK? Scroll down for the best Dyson V8 Animal Cordless Vacuum Cleaner prices in your region.) Looking for Dyson's other offerings? Check out the cheapest Dyson sales, offers and deals for vacuum cleaners for December 2019. Shop more Boxing Day sales from John Lewis Not in the UK? Here are the best prices for the Dyson V8 Animal Cordless Vacuum Cleaner in your region:

How to watch Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special 2019: stream from UK or abroad

Missing Strictly Come Dancing? Us too, and the winners for 2019 may been crowned but that doesn't mean we still can't have a Christmas ball. That's right...Strictly is waltzing back on our screens with a Christmas Special! That means a full hour of foxtrots, jives and many more spectacular dances. Make sure you keep reading as we tell you how to watch the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special 2019 online - no matter where you are in the world. Get your dancing shoes on or pyjamas (it will be Christmas after all) and get ready for what's set to be a incredible fun and festive Strictly show. Fans will be treated to performances by some familiar former contestants, including Gemma Atkinson, Joe Sugg and Mark Wright. With the former duo performing alongside their real-life partners, But that's not all! Strictly has confirmed that the Good Morning Britain presenter Richard Arnold will also be performing, dressed as none other than The Grinch - he will be d...

Best website builders for portfolios of 2020

Creating a new website is a lot easier than it used to be – rather than learning HTML and CSS, you can just click and drag with your mouse and have something very professional-looking on the internet in minutes. The wealth of website builders means you've got a great selection of tools to choose from, but it can be difficult to pick out the best from a crowd of so many. To help you narrow down your choice, we've picked five website makers that are particularly well-suited to portfolio work and offer a good balance of price points and features. The best free website builder of 2020 The best website hosting services for 2020 All of these site builders offer simple ways of customizing your pages once they're online, so you can regularly change the look of your work, and make sure your talents are always being well promoted on the web. Weebly Weebly was first set up with the intention of making it easy to set up a portfolio of work online, and those origins sta...

Best way to drive growth during economic downturn is to adopt digitalisation

Even though private businesses in the Middle East see digitalisation as a competitive advantage, the levels of investment and implementation are still far from being advanced when compared to European counterparts and there is much work to be done. According to a survey conducted by research consultancy PwC on 200 private businesses across nine countries in the Middle East, only half of the leaders’ project revenue growth over the next 12 months while 18% expects declines as there is concern about the general business climate. Peter Englisch, PwC EMEA Entrepreneurial and Private Business Leader, said that the cautious mood in the Middle East echoes the global sentiment that the pace of economic activity has been weak. “Many note clear evidence of a global slowdown in 2019, which looks set to continue, driven largely by declining growth in China and uncertainty caused by the US-China trade war – and trade friction between the US and India and Mexico too,” he...

Best OnePlus phones: these are the top new or older OnePlus handsets

There are lots of reasons to want the best OnePlus phone – the company is quickly becoming one of the most popular smartphone makers on the planet, with a community of committed fans, and that's because of the quality of the phones it puts out. OnePlus may have only celebrated its sixth birthday in December 2019, but in that time it has made several phones that have sat in our list of the best smartphones , with its 2019 lineup of phones being particularly impressive. OnePlus typically puts out two ranges of phones each year. There's the basic numbered series towards the beginning of the year, then the T phones at the end – the latter tends to be a slightly improved version of the former for each year, with the real tech boosts coming to the main series, but that's not always the case. That might change in 2020 though, as the company has already confirmed it has got a mystery concept phone in the works. So if you're in the market for a new OnePlus p...

Mario Kart Tour’s multiplayer beta has started

Around 3 months after Mario Kart Tour first sped onto smartphones , Nintendo is finally starting some multiplayer beta testing. First reported by Siliconera , the PvP beta is now running and will be available until December 27 2019. It is not, however, available for all players. At the moment, the beta test can only be accessed by players who have a subscription to the game’s £4.99/$4.99 Gold Pass, which offers some in-game items, badges and a 200cc mode. And beta access, apparently. On your marks... The Gold Pass does have a two-week free trial period and those on a trial period also have access to the beta, so you could always sign up for that to try the beta out for yourself. If you decide it's not for you, just remember to cancel the subscription when you're done to avoid any unwanted charges. As this is a beta test, Nintendo warns participants that not everything will be working perfectly; there is a risk of crashing (the game, not your kart...

Here's why you shouldn't stream the new Star Wars film online

Film fans eager to catch the final piece of the Star Wars saga have been warned not to try and watch the film online and fall victim to cybercrime scams. With the new Star Wars film hitting cinemas around the world this week, many fans may be tempted to skip the queues and watch in the comfort of their own homes, but security experts have uncovered multiple fake online streaming sites that promise to show the new film. However anyone unlucky enough to sign up to these sites may see their card details stolen and sold on by criminals looking to target victims online. How to watch the Star Wars movies in order Use the force The warning comes from security firm Kaspersky , which says it has already found over 30 fraudulent websites and social media profiles disguised as official movie accounts that promise to show free copies of the new film. "These websites collect unwary users’ credit card data, under the pretense of necessary registration on the portal," the company...

PS5 release date, specs, news and rumors for Sony’s PlayStation 5

Sony's next-generation PlayStation console is the PS5 (PlayStation 5) and it's landing at the end of 2020. In early 2019, we heard from Mark Cerny , the chief architect on Sony's next console, that the company is working on the successor to the PS4 Slim and PS4 Pro . While he didn't share the official name or release date at the time, Cerny did shed some light on a few choice details about what we could expect from its hardware. We found out that the PS5 will still play discs, for one – but as to the exact hardware specifications, and how it will link up with Sony and Microsoft's plans for game streaming , we've remained largely in the dark. However, in recent months, Sony has been drip-feeding us juicy titbits such as an official PS5 release window, name and a few key details about features. In addition, we've had some surprising leaks, in the form of a Sony-registered patent that seems to show off the PS5's general shape, button...

Amazon last minute Christmas deals feature big cuts to iPhones, TVs and more

Fretting about what to buy? The Amazon Last Minute Christmas Deals event is live right now, and it's got some brilliant last-minute deals that cut the prices of a range of gadgets and gifts, and most will be delivered before Christmas day, though you'll need to order soon. Amazon has cut the price of loads of its own Alexa devices, such as the Amazon Echo, and there have also been a huge range of price cuts to TVs, laptops, audio equipment and a whole lot more. We've also found some brilliant deals on Apple's iPhone XS range. These don't usually get big discounts, but in the run up to Christmas, they've got £300 knocked off their price tags. That's a huge saving, and these Christmas deals probably won't last long. So, if you're still doing your Christmas shopping, read on for our picks of the best Amazon Christmas Deals that are currently live. These deals are live until December 22, though some of them are lightning deals, which means...