Komplett Weekly Offers 30/06/2008

Ah, my favourite day of the week. Well, not really. But I do like looking through Komplett's deals!

Sony HDR-SR10E, 40 GB HDD recorder

€ 706.00
-4%

My €0.02
Don't know much about this except that it costs £500 on amazon and €584 on purelygadgets.co.uk which are both, by my calculations, less than €700.

Garmin Nuvi 255T Europe GPS

€ 199.00
-10%

My €0.02
€178 from pixmania so much of a muchness. Not an impulse buy by any means.

Nintendo DS Lite, Turquoise Edition

€ 154.00
-9%

My €0.02
Didn't I see a new range of colours released for about €135 recently? I think I did.

Philips Aurea 42" LCD-TV 42PFL9900D-- Now with free Acer notebook!! --

€ 3,511.01
-11%

My €0.02
...what?? Oh, it's an Ambilight model. Now that ludicrous price makes sense.

[iBood] Samsung 32Inch HD Ready LCD TV

Damn you again, iBood! If you're on the lookout for a 32" tv, here is one for €499, a good name brand and €12.50 shipping. Can't say fairer than that really. Hell, buy two!

If you're already looking at Samsung's range and are mystified by the names take a look here. The LE32A450 is a Series 4 so it's a good performer, just not packed with the high-end features like 1080p or the new glossy screens.

HD-DVD, picking the corpse clean

HD-DVD gets a bad rap. It was unable to beat blu-ray, blu-ray's much maligned copy protection, the PS3, the Xbox didn't want it, Microsoft were closely associated with it... the list goes on. And now it's on the way out, a fate it richly deserves. But hold on, as evidenced by the budget price of the Xbox HD-DVD add-on, there are a few bargains to be had. It is still a HD format with all the fancy bells and whistles that go with it, and now the prices are on a par with regular DVD! So for a modest investment in a player you can pick up HD titles at rock bottom prices from the following:

• Asda Entertainment from GBP £4.93 (free shipping)
• Play.com from GBP £4.99 (free shipping)
• Ezydvd from GBP £4.39
• DVD Crave from GBP £4.39

XE.com Universal Currency Converter

Memory, fast

I'm well aware that I already have a few entries about places to buy memory. Still, no harm in knowing your options right? So check out MemoryC some time. They have a bad habit of showing the VAT-free prices more prominently but they do have some good deals from time to time. Their shipping starts at €5 (including VAT, thankfully) and is incredibly fast - 2 days for small items usually.

A life in Oz

Not a practical update but I was more than amused by this guys effort to sell his life. Whatever about his reasons for doing it, he has some pretty neat stuff in there. The Jetski is a bit over the top but, hey, why not? The Spa looks great but just wouldn't work here. The home entertainment system being visible from the back garden is a nice touch. And at the current price of AU$315,100 it's a complete steal. Shipping might be a problem though...

Komplett Weekly Offers 23/06/2008

It's Komplett day again!

Corsair TWIN2X 6400 DDR2, 4096MB CL5,Kit w/two matched CM2X2048-6400 Dimm's

€ 70.00

-10%

My €0.02
Not bad. They were trounced by dabs on prices last week, now the favour has been returned.

Western Digital Elements500GB USB2.0

€ 66.01

-10%

My €0.02
Yet another 500GB drive... you know the drill. It's cheap, next week it will be cheaper blah blah blah. I see 1TB drives are coming in at €130 now too.

Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-W170 Black, 10MP5x opt.zoom

€ 230.00

-4%

My €0.02
Hmm, don't know this model. Dabs have it at €245, Pixmanis at €235 and Expansys, as usual, can't count and think it's worth €269.

Intel Core™ 2 Duo E7200 2,53GHz,Socket, LGA775, 3MB, 1066MHz, Boxed w/fa

€ 105.00

-12%

My €0.02
Ok, it's cheap but so what? All processors are stupidly fast these days. Get a graphics card instead if you want a boost.

Replacing your internet connection with 3G

Many of the mobile network operators in Ireland provide high-speed internet over 3G. It's popularity stems from the fact that not everyone can get broadband through phoneline, cable or fixed wireless. With the offerings from Vodafone, O2 and 3 you can get reasonably fast internet at a flat rate price in a form that is as mobile your, well, mobile. As well as being more widely available, it has the added benefit of not requiring line rental. In fact, 3's offering is less than eircom's line rental alone. They all use the same HSDPA technology and the only differentiating factor is the network. Here's a quick guide:

3
Price: €19.99 pm
Setup: €49.99
Cap: 10GB
Contract: 12 month

O2
Price: €30 pm (€15 for first 3 months)
Setup: €39
Cap: 10GB
Contract: 12 month

Vodafone
Price: €29.99 pm (€14.99 for first 3 months)
Setup: €39
Cap: 10GB
Contract: 12 month

All contracts are for monthly bill pay. There are Pay As You Go variants available, but they are more expensive.

These bundles will get you the most basic USB modem available from each network. This is fine if you are only using a single PC. But what if you want to share the connection? Like with a game console, other PC's or internet radio? The hackers among us could build their own wireless linux router from an old PC and free software. But for sheer convenience, a 3G wireless router cannot be beaten.

O2 sell a router as part of a business product. For what it is, the price is insane.

Linksys make a router that works with the apparently defunct Vodafone PCMICIA card. Pricey and limited.

There are more on the market, but my favourite is the Dovado UMR.

At €85 excluding VAT plus €25 in flat rate shipping, this is a great little router that works with lots of different USB modems for less than €135. It comes with the correct settings for each network, so setup is a breeze.

So even if you are stuck in a broadband black hole, don't despair. A cost effective solution is within reach, and while it may not be as smooth an experience as it's pricier cousin DSL, it is certainly nothing to be sniffed at.

[Special Offer] USB speakerphone, iBood

A Logitech QuickCall USB Skype Speakerphone to be precise. Don't be fooled by the name, this will work with more than just skype. You can use it for almost any VOIP application, as well as a cheap desk speaker for iTunes, streaming TV or a whole range of other applications. Would suit a small or home office but not the boardroom. Very useful little thing and a steal at €9.99

[Special Offer]M2 from elara, 8GB for €45 collected

Got a new Sony Ericsson phone or camera or camera-phone or phone-camera? Does it take M2 memory sticks? Sandisk Memory Stick M2 8GB's are going for €44.77 including VAT at elara. A Pro duo adapter is thrown in for good measure. Not bad, if you happen to live near the M50 and need it in a hurry. And if you live near the M50, you are most likely always in a hurry. Usually to get away from the M50. BOOYAH!

Ahem.

Enjoy!

Ikea hacker

Hacking is a fun, inexpensive and infinitely flexible activity. It has a bad reputation due to people using it to describe bank robbers in the 80's and poor fact-checking by traditional media types. The principle behind hacking is that you take something and modify it or simply use it in such a way as to create something new and better. That's why I love to see things like the Ikea Hacker blog. Clever ways of getting the most out of your reasonably priced furniture. Go, and be inspired! I'm slightly embarrassed that I never thought of the solution in how to line your DVD's up perfectly on a deep shelf.

Just a message to the readers

No juicy deals or sage advice today, as usual, but just a few reminders for all you computer jockeys out there.

Feel free to leave a comment if you want to ask a question or just air your views. Registration is optional but does allow you to publicise your own blog or site and I will visit any site (within reason, no sick stuff!) at least once. I won't have access to your email directly.

A big hello to our recent influx of visitors from the continent. Sorry about voting "No" recently or... maybe it was a good thing? The two Eastern Europeans I've spoken with are annoyed that they did not get a vote and wanted to oppose it. Said it reminded them of the old Soviet way, and they don't care to go back to that.

We recently shot past 100 confirmed abso-positiv-alutely unique visitors. Woo-hoo! If you think you were visitor number 100, leave a message with some proof and I'll send you a present ;)

Oh, and what the heck: Xbox360 HD-DVD add-on in Peats for €9.99. HD-DVD is obsolete so it's not really a bargain. But the HD-DVD movies for €5 at ASDA are... so no link for them!

37. What a number!

Err... it just is right? Three and seven, that's as lucky as they get.

Actually I'm referring to the minimum recommended size in ye olde inches for a Full-HD TV. Yes, you just won't see the difference in a smaller telly, mostly because they are rare but also because you would need to sit about a foot away to notice the extra detail. Anyway! Let's have a look at what we can get:

Komplett.ie
Estimated shipping: €120
Samsung LE37M86BD €811.00
Samsung LE37A552 €911.01
Toshiba REGZA 37" LCD-TV 37XV505D €911.01
Philips 37PFL5603D/10 €991.00

Powercity.ie
Estimated shipping: ???
LG 37LF65 €735.95

Pixmania.ie
Estimated shipping: €43
LG 37LF65 €807.00
Toshiba37XV503DG €864.00
Samsung LE37A556 €879.00
Toshiba REGZA 2XV505DG €948.00
Samsung LE37A558 €954.00

Nothing special on luzerntech.com or technikdirekt.de at the moment. Just remember, prices are always coming down.

Komplett Weekly Offers 16/06/2008

It's Monday and that means it's komplett's weekly offer day! It's also an excuse for an easy update for me. But rather than just repost verbatim I'll throw in my own, hopefully insightful, take on the offer.

Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750GBUSB2.0/Firewire/eSATA

€ 137.00 -8%

My €0.02
Didn't I see a 500GB drive for €80 recently? You might want to hold off until it hits a better MegaByte to Money ratio.

Samsung BD-P1400 Blu-Ray Player

€ 279.50 -7%

My €0.02
Not much call for low end Blu-Ray players, especially at >€150. Buy a PS3 instead or wait for the price to fall. Give it 2 years and you'll be getting them free with your morning cereal (disclaimer: may not be free with cereal).

ASUS EEE 7" WVGA Green CM353 900MHz 4GB512MB Webcam Linux Incl. Carry Bag

€ 309.00 -11%

My €0.02
Unless you really want green, Dabs do these in white, black and pink for less than €300 each.

Sony DCR-DVD310E, DVD recorder

€ 299.00 -6%

My €0.02
Again, Dabs are slightly cheaper.

So, helpful? Crap? Let me know in the comments section. That means you too, safari users, the number of whom seems to be growing every day...

Quick on the draw

Being a smart consumer requires more than the ability to hold on to your wallet quite tightly. Obviously you want stuff, and have no qualms paying for good stuff, but don't want to ripped off by some obnoxious salesman who is fawning and sweating right in your face.

So let's take a look at iBood again. iBood do some great deals (and some no-so-great ones) but quite often the good deals are gone by the time you check the page, no matter how early you wake up. If you check the website you will see the time new items are posted at is midnight. What they don't tell you is that it is midnight in the Netherlands, i.e. eleven o'clock here. So as it is almost eleven now, let's see what they have:

Princess Crystal Line Hair Care Set with Swarovski-crystals

More Information »

Discuss this product »

€ 59,95

€ 19,95

Hmm. I'll pass on that. It's now 10:56pm so let's wait a few minutes.

...

So, who do you fancy? My money's on Spain.

Ok, it's 11:00pm. Let's see what's in:

New in Europe - iriver 8GB MP4 Player U15-L

More Information »

Discuss this product »

€ 169,95

€ 99,95

Ah! Much better. Not an iTouch for €150, but not bad either.

Useful links

I know what you're thinking. Friday night, quick and easy list, just wants to get to the pub. Well, they're still good!

• Citizens Information: Government advice about your rights
• Askaboutmoney.com: Advice forum
• IMRG: Online shopping accredation

And now, I have to see a man about a blackberry.

[Special Offer] 500GB MyBook Essential Edition, €80.01

The fancy looking, but extremely practical, Western Digital MyBook took a tumble in price this week. I picked up a Seagate FreeAgent myself a couple of months ago for €10 more and thought it was a great deal. If you need to add lots of space to your system and then carry it away, then this is for you. The downside? You need an extra power socket to use it. Shipping is €12.50, so a total of €92.51

This is a Komplett weekly offer so if you want to avail, do it by Sunday the 15th. Otherwise you can wait a few months for the price to drop. But hey, this is the best deal right now if you need to buy right now.

Come on, time to confess

Browser		% visits
Firefox		85.60%
Internet Explorer		11.20%
Safari		2.40%
Mozilla		0.80%

Mozilla I can chalk up to reporting error, but who is using Safari?

Surely you don't need any money saving tips, you rich ******!

eBay 103: Making your first bid

Part three already? How time flies... Let's see what you've learned.

You have:

• An ebay account
• A paypal account
• Money (hopefully)
  

You know how to:

• Find items you want
• Avoid scammers

You're all set to start bidding! The first step is to find the item you want to buy. Take your time. Read the description. Check out the seller. Is their score near or at 100%? How do they treat other customers? Look at their shipping rates. Check out what policies they have regarding insurance, returns and payments. Got any questions? Send them a friendly, polite message. Make sure you agree to all their terms.

And then you can click on one of the following, as available:

• Place Bid
• Buy it Now
• Make Offer

Which should be fairly self-explanatory. Just don't forget to factor in the shipping if you are making a bid!

Early adopters burned again: Jesus Phone MK2

Ow... sore head. But what a great weekend! Hope you guys had as much fun as I did!

Had to have an iPhone on launch day? Or thought you were getting a bargain when the price tumbled before Christmas? Well, somewhat surprisingly, Apple are going to sell the new iPhone 3G for pretty much what it costs to make. $199 for the 8GB model or the slightly more extravagant $299 for the 16GB model ($100 for 8GB of memory? Please. We know better). Considering that it has wifi, gps and hsdpa built in, that makes this a steal. And because this is a blog for smart consumers, I'm sure you won't have any trouble figuring out how to unlock it when the time comes.

Chances are you will need to import. Even though they say it will be available worldwide at the same price, they neglect to say whether it can be bought outside the US sans contract. Still this is your chance to visit that stupid Apple cube in New York. Yay.

And that is probably the last time you will see an Apple product mentioned in this blog. But who knows? Maybe they've turned over a new leaf, as it were.

Release date is July 11.
Make a note.

eBay 102: The good, the bad and the damn fugly

Following on from eBay 101, we're going to look at some of the things you might see on your travels to find that widget/gizmo/electric thingymajig of your dreams. Beautiful things. Things that can trip you up. Things that make you go "hmmm". Use the following lists to know what to look for and what to look out for.

The good

• Low price
• Well written product description
• Clearly stated shipping to Ireland policy
• Clearly stated returns policy
• Clearly stated insurance cost
• High feedback score
• High percentage of positive feedback (99%+)
• Selling in Euro
• Offer Credit Card sales (safer than PayPal but about to be blocked by eBay)
  
• Offer PayPal
  

The bad

• Description copy/pasted from manufacturers website
• Omits important details
• Poor English
• Does not respond to "Ask seller a question"
• Uses name like "honest123" or "safetrader89" (not real names... I think)
• Located in Hong Kong

The OMG STAY AWAY!!!

• Suspiciously low price for new item
• Low price but high shipping
• Says will ship to anywhere but no quote given
• Located in any African nation, Russia or China (unless reputable, but not many)
• Wants to use escrow service
• Wants to use bank transfer/Western Union/unfamiliar service
  

So when you find the right product, at the right price, from the right seller, you're set! If you are not sure, DO NOT BID. Always ask first, and even if you think a bargain is going to get away, let it. Better safe than sorry and there'll always be another one.

Google AdSense Account Status

This message was sent from a notification-only email address that does not
accept incoming email. Please do not reply to this message.
------------------------------

Hello Eoghan,

Thank you for your interest in Google AdSense. Unfortunately, after
reviewing your application, we're unable to accept you into Google AdSense
at this time.

We did not approve your application for the reasons listed below.

Issues:

- Page type

---------------------

Further detail:

Page type: We're unable to approve your AdSense application at this time
because we feel that your site does not comply with the Google webmaster
quality guidelines. More specifically, we believe that your site does not
add value or provide unique content. For a complete list of the webmaster
guidelines, please visit
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769 .

---------------------

Ouch.

I like the way they scream "DON'T REPLY TO US!!!!1!!!" and then insult me.

I visited their guidelines and guess what? It basically says don't copy content, dupe visitors or try to game the search engines. Well, all the content is original, my referral LINK (not plural) is well signposted and I don't think joining technorati counts as gaming the search engines. So really Google, what gives? I thought you were smarter than that. I don't appreciate being lumped in with the idiot spammers.

So, if you want to make money on your website, I won't be recommending Google adsense.

eBay 101: Getting started

This is a guide for the absolute eBay beginner. You have heard of eBay, maybe you even know someone who uses it but you have never dared to use it yourself or have the first idea about how to go about doing it. Well, read on and all that will change.

What is eBay?

eBay could be described as the worlds largest flea market, a global auction house, a bargain hunters paradise or a refuge for scammers. It is the largest online marketplace in terms of users and therefore it has the widest selection of goods on offer. Sellers offer everything from the brand new to the old and worn. If it's for sale, it's probably here.

What does it have on offer for me?

Ok, let's say you wanted to buy a shiny new HTC Diamond smartphone. First, open http://www.ebay.ie/ in a new tab or window. Next locate this bar:


...and type htc diamond as shown. Hit enter. I got 50 matches, how about you?

Notice the .ie at the end of the address. This means that it is eBay Ireland. What that means is that the site is optimised (in eBays opinion, not mine) for Irish sellers. Prices appear in euro, shipping defaults to "to Ireland", Irish eBay Shops are given priority and so on. This is useful but actually there is a problem: it cuts out a lot of people who are quite happy to sell to you at low prices! Try the other varients such as ebay.com and ebay.co.uk to find more deals. For example, ebay UK was showing 62 hits for me on the same search as above.

I see something I want. How do I buy things?

You need to sign up for an eBay account, have an email address, have a credit card and 99% of the time, a PayPal account.

That should keep you busy for now. If you want me to cover something in particular in the next installment, leave a comment and I'll do my best.

[Special Offer] A blast from the past (well, 2005)

I see expansys are doing some deals on portable PCs and "appliances". Some ok deals here, less popular PDAs and windows smartphones are marked down a bit, those awful OQOs and their diseased brethren are being wheeled out and... what's this? The Nokia 770? Wow, that takes me back. I didn't think these guys were still available! For those of you who don't know, the 770 was Nokia's first experiment into non-phones. Marketed as an "Internet Tablet", it was a linux powered, wifi connecting, touchscreen-ed, hackable and unfortunately slightly slow rectangular bundle of fun. It has since been succeeded by 3 better featured models, but for less than €80 this is one ace little toy! Great for weekend hackers and convergence freaks alike.

Watch satellite and terrestrial TV on your computer

Normally when you see a title like that, it is some sort of scam. Wait, come back! This is not a scam! What I'm talking about is hardware that adds a TV tuner to your home PC. Personally, I use an old co-ax tuner to watch and record both the standard terrestrial broadcasts (RTE1,RTE2,TV3,TG4) and satellite as fed from a skybox through a composite input (the yellow video wire). You could do away with the skybox completely by getting a 2 in 1 satellite/analogue tuner. At €79 it works out at the same price as a bottom-of-the-range Free To Air satellite box, but with the added benefits of picking up the Irish channels, being able to record and getting (and recording) HD broadcasts for free. In the future there is also the possibility of someone adding support for the Freesat EPG so you can't really lose especially if you have a PC pretty enough to sit under your TV.

Couponmaster

Hope you're all enjoying the great weather this holiday weekend! Here's a quick one: a site that allows you to check coupon codes for companies that ship to Ireland. More useful and relevant than, say, retailmenot.com. They also do pigsback-style printable vouchers.

http://www.couponmaster.ie/