Tablets for Christmas

So Christmas is appearing in all the shop windows and the children are busy putting together their letters for Father Christmas. Lots of mummies have been asking me about which Tablet they should recommend to Father Christmas for their children. I haven’t tried out all the tablets so don’t feel I am in a position to recommend a particular one however I am happy to share my thoughts and some links to professional review sites.

I have a Kindle Touch and love it, I overheard a conversation in the library the other day between the librarian and a customer where the lady taking out the book said that she wouldn’t use a Kindle it just wasn’t the same. 8 months ago I would have joined in and agreed but I am a convert, all my books in one place, fits into my handbag, has a digital bookmark that doesn’t fall out, stays charged for weeks and I can download a new book in seconds. I tend to read in bed at night and I would like a backlit screen to avoid the light being on when my husband is trying to sleep so am looking at covers with built in LED lights. I have two iPods which we all use for games, Facebook, surfing the internet and music. My phone is a Samsung Galaxy S3 which is a little larger than an iPod but smaller than a tablet and I love that now having got use to its size. For working at home I use a Dell X1 which is a netbook sized laptop or our 24″ Dell Inspiron all in one touch PC. I am not gadget mad but I like tech that adds value! We have lights at home and at work that come on as you enter a room and turn off if there is no movement in a room after a certain length of time, a great example of useful tech. We also have a Wii that falls into the useless tech pile in our house, not sure why we haven’t got into it but as a family we prefer hand-held devices for playing games. I love the tablet PC devices and absolutely see the appeal as such looked into which one we could add to our repertoire of tech.

As with any technological purchase I now make the starting point was “Why do I want one, what do I want to do with it and how much do I want to spend?” hmmmm the genuine answer at this point was “I just do, allsorts and as little as possible”. Following a few days of pondering my list was as follows:-

1. Reading books

2. Reading the news

3. Online Research

4. Facebook for myself and the business

5. Playing games

6. Educational Apps for the Children

7. Organisational Apps

8. Music

9. Blogging (at least keeping notes ready for writing blogs on my PC)

10. Watching Films – I’m not sure I would do but it may be handy on long journeys for the children or when they need to come to work with me in the holidays.

The sites I used to check out the tablets were the following and I would urge you to read the reviews for yourself as I did.

http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/tablets

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/tablet-pcs/191/

http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/ipad-and-tablets/

http://www.trustedreviews.com/tablets

Next action was to go and hang around in PC World for an hour playing with them all and trying them out. I wouldn’t recommend taking children along for this exercise although I did get the eldest to open our website on each of the laptops:-)

My conclusions

I decided that a 7″ would be the size of tablet I would go for due to price and also portability (it fits into my handbag) and for the children this is a great size for their hands.

The Kindle Fire HD is too much a gateway to Amazon and won’t give me the freedom to shop elsewhere that I like easily. The reports on usability aren’t very positive.

The Google Nexus 7″ all the reviews are great and google play is my first stop for apps so no issues there. Google and Asus have launched the Nexus at a price to knock the Kindle Fire off the top spot. You can go for an 8 or 16GB depending on your budget but there is no way to increase storage so if you want to store photos or lots of films could present an issue.

Apple Mini I can’t bring myself to sell my soul to Apple so I’m afraid it didn’t get a look in however lovely it looks and however much people rave about it. If you have already gone down the Apple route though this is a great bit of kit and someone I know uses their Mini more than their IPad now.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 7″ – Processor wise this is not the quickest tablet on the market you get access to Samsung apps and also Google Play  so plenty of choice available, it has a micro SD slot which means you can expand the memory. I like this as I can copy films, music and files via a card reader on my main pc and have access to the content on my tablet easily. Slightly more expensive than the Kindle and Nexus unless you get it on special offer for me this is the one I would opt for.

In terms of parental controls I cannot comment on the Kindle but for the others there are a range of applocker apps that you can download. I have one on my phone and it gives me the ability to password protect apps on the phone. This means the children cannot access Google Play, Samsung Apps, Texting, EMail, Facebook, Twitter or the Internet without me having to unlock it for them. I can hand over my phone with complete peace of mind since downloading the app and it was free. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.domobile.applock&hl=en

All that said once I had done my research and decided on a Samsung Galaxy Tab I also decided that for me, more tech wouldn’t improve our life and that I would put my £190 towards having a beautiful hexagonal table top I have converted to a kitchen table that the whole family can sit around and play board games or just chat:-)

Mobile Phones

I confess to being a mobile phone fan, not fanatical need to have the latest phone one I just adore anything with buttons. When I was little I wanted to work in the Post Office because of the buttons. I love serving people in the shop because I get to use the scanner and the till and when I do the accounts I relish the opportunity to key lots of numbers into the calculator.

I started my relationships with mobiles with a Nokia 8210 banana phone it was brilliant! I looked so cool sliding the cover down to reveal the keys and it was tiny, compared to my dads brick at the time.

Then I got a real job where one of the perks was that you had a company phone so I got to carry around 2 mobiles, my second one being the Nokia 6110. With this phone you got the game Snake which was ridiculously addictive given the simplicity of it. Not the prettiest phone but incredibly resilient and the battery lasted forever.

At this time everyone had a Nokia and we all had the same ringtone http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yq0EmbY3XyI&noredirect=1 which had entire carriage of people on a train reaching into their pockets and briefcases at the same time excited to be getting a call whilst on the move.

As I worked for the Bank of Scotland at this time I had a new phone every few years they were always a standard business Nokia,a my favourite was the 6210. It was a great size, did what it said on the tin and looked very professional. During this time at the bank I clearly recall sitting in a meeting with Vodafone where all the people around the table where senior manangers discussing where we thought mobile phone technology may end up with the emergence of 3G. I can honestly say that never were a bunch of bright people so incredibly wrong. We could not perceive why people would need internet access on the move and why on earth would they want a large device mobility was the key surely!  No career for me in the futures market following that prediction.

Once I left the bank I was back into the choose your own phone world again, by now in 2007 there was a lot more choice and a lot more functionality. My first phone in my not so professional stay at home mummy world was the Sony Ericsson W810 which was not only a phone but you could receive your e-mail, listen to music on it, play games (I had 3 children by now and no time so I can’t remember what they were), take photos , with a phone, HOW COOL!! My dad had this phone after me as his Nokia went swimming in the pond and has only just replaced it last month. I tried to get it back when my Blackberry went for  a final skid across the car park but he refused and fobbed me off with his unboxed Nokia 5800 (not a bad entry level smartphone). Probably up there with my Nokia banana phone for the favourite phone of all time entry.

At this point I entered the world of Blackberry with BES installed on the server we were ready to take on the world. I have had a Pearl, Curve with the old style track ball that works, Curve with the new style track pad that I can’t make work at all and Simon had the torch.

I have had no objection to the Blackberries particularily but also I have not really gelled with any of them to the point of not wondering what I should have next.

During my Blackberry era I did have a brief stint with the iPhone 3 which I enjoyed until I left it on a cafe table momentarily during which time it left the building with it’s new owner. I can’t say that this encounter made me crave another particularily.

So we come to last month when we started looking around as our contract was coming to an end. We had managed to avoid the pitfall of a mid term upgrade so were starting fresh.

Choices choices choices…………….one revelation was that I am not so excited about mobiles as I was, maybe my button pressing desires are being satisfied elsewhere? For me it came down to price and functionality and I fear I may have opted for the latest trend without thinking of the practicalities of everyday life.

Yes, I have the largest phone in the world after years of technology getting smaller I have the brick that is the Samsung Galaxy S3. It is actually a mini tablet pretending to be a phone. The pictures it takes are brilliant, angry birds in HD on a big screen… can’t fault it, I can add Simon and Marks diaries so that I know where they are and when, the kids can watch films on a screen that is clearer than our telly. I can have my entire music collection on it and I can social network to my hearts delight. I could probably blog on it, however, none of this, for me, takes away from the fact that I feel slightly ridiculous holding it up to my ear to use it as a phone. On the plus side you would never be able to e-mail or text when driving as it is a two handed activity. It is very safe though in it’s very smart purple Otterbox Commuter Case.

Samsung Galaxy S3 with Purple Otterbox

I have set a reminder for 3 months time to re-read this blog and see whether I have changed my mind and fallen in love or whether I am crossing off the days of our 24 month  contract. (Sue Harding)

New Shop Stock

We have now introduced a range of products which are in some way related to computers or tech and each week we will have a look at one of them here on the blog.

This week we will be looking at the iCube.

iCube toy

So first things first the price – only £3.95 cheaper than amazon and ebay!

It is similar to the Rubiks cube but instead of getting all the same icons on each side you have to get one of each of the 9 icons onto each side. I could never do the rubiks cube and having product tested for quite some time I also can confirm that the iCube currently has me beaten:-( I will be product testing some more and will let you know if I have any more success.

It would make a great stocking filler and is suitable for all ages.

If you are were a rubiks whizz and fancy your chances pop in and have a go all successful iCubists will be featured on our facebook page.

Autumn Opening Times

Well the summer is a distant memory the children are back at school and normality has resumed. Big thanks to Jake Jones who spent his summer holiday working with us and we look forward to working with him in the future.

Our opening times for the forseeable future will be:

Monday - Thursday 8.30am till 5pm

Friday 9am – 5pm

Saturday by prior arrangement call 01745 817654 to book

If you happen to find the door locked there is normally one of the engineers upstairs in the office and they will come down to the shop if you ring the bell marked CITS.

As we offer business support and are committed to reaching certain SLAs (Service Level Agreements) there may be times when the office is unmanned for periods as the engineers are all onsite. We can be reached on 01745 817654 at all times so please give us a ring if necessary.

Summer Opening Times 2012

If you close your eyes and sit in front of a roaring fire and think of July you may believe me when I say that summer is here.

We are pleased to announce that Jake, who spent a week with us on work experience from Ysgol Brynhyfryd in Ruthin, will be helping us out over the summer covering Sues absence whilst she looks after the children.

The shop will be staffed during the following times:-

Tuesday 9am – 2.30pm

Wednesday 9am – 2.30pm

Thursday 9am – 2.30pm

Friday 9am – 2.30pm

Outside these hours there is normally one of the engineers upstairs in the office and they will come down to the shop if you ring the bell marked CITS.

As we offer business support and are committed to reaching certain SLAs (Service Level Agreements) there may be times when the office is unmanned for periods as the engineers are all onsite. We can be reached on 01745 817654 at all times so please give us a ring if necessary.

Producing a basic spreadsheet in Excel 2007

Click on the View tab on the toolbar. Click Page layout this will change the view to a single page view and enable you to add a heading easily.

Add Headings to your columns as required by clicking on a cell and then typing

Insert the data into the relevant cells by clicking into a cell and typing

Where you have data such as a date or a range of sequential numbers it is possible to auto fill the data. Click on the cell with the initial data then click on the small square in the bottom right of the cell border and drag either down or across to auto-fill the adjacent cells. Once you have auto-filled you can click on the arrow showing on the box bottom right of the list and change the auto-fill settings.

Inserting basic calculations into cells

Click onto the cell where you would like the answer to the calculation to appear and click Autosum on the Toolbar.

Excel will automatically select a group of cells to apply an addition to you can change this selection as follows.

For additions – Click onto the first cell then holding the Ctrl key down on the keyboard click on the remaining cells you wish to add once you have selected all the cells required press enter. You can double click into the cell with the total in and amend the selection by adding additional cells on, for additions you can use the + key or a comma

For divisions – Click autosum select the first cell as you did for additions then type / before selecting the second cell click return once completed

For multiplications – Click autosum select the first cell as you did for additions then type * before selecting the subsequent cell/s click return once completed

For subtraction – Click autosum select the first cell as you did for additions then type –before selecting the subsequent cell/s click return once completed

You can view the sum in any cell by clicking on the cell and looking just below the toolbar at the formula bar you can also make calculation amendments here.

Data sorting

You may wish to sort your data in a particular order once it has been entered to do this click on the Data tab.

From here you can select the type of sorting you would like to do and which column/rows you wish to sort

In our example we are going to sort by customer number (column B) from Lowest to Highest.

First we highlight all the data in our table by holding the Ctrl key down and typing A. Then click on on the toolbar. A dialogue box will then open giving you options for your data sort.

We have elected to sort by Customer on Values with Smallest to Largest then click OK and the sort will be applied to your data.

If you wish to only sort a single column you can click on the top of the required column to highlight the entire column. If you require an entire row click on the number next to the required row.

Formatting your spreadsheet

Under the home tab on the toolbar you can add formatting to each cell or the entire spreadsheet.

To add borders – highlight the cells you wish to have the same borders click on  this will give you a list of options click on the option you require and those borders selected will be applied to all the highlighted cells.

To remove borders click on and choose no borders.

To change the font – highlight the cells you wish to have the same borders click on

Click on the arrow next to Calibri and select the font you require from the drop down list. You can change the size of the font by clicking next to the 11 and selecting the font size required or using the A buttons the large one will increase by 1 font size on each click and the small one will reduce by 1 font size on each click.

Change the colour of the text – Highlight the cells you wish to change the colour of the text in and click on the arrow from here select the colour you wish to apply.

Change the colour of the cell – Highlight the cells you wish to change the colour of and click on the arrow  from here select the colour you wish to apply.

Resizing rows and columns

To make the columns and rows all the correct size for the largest data that they hold click on the top left of the sheet to select all or use Ctrl and A

Using your mouse scroll over the line between two of the column numbers until the pointer looks like then double click using the left mouse key. To adjust the rows hover between two of the row numbers.

You can change individual columns and rows by hover between the row numbers and then left clicking and dragging to the size required.

Tip – To insert a tick into a cell change the font to Windings 2 and type capital P in the cell.

Stop Think Click

As the mother of 4 children under 10 I am starting to see changes in the way that they use the internet, my eldest son is 10 and confidently uses the internet to research for homework or to play games and has done for years, he has never shown any interest in talking to others online although he does sign up for newsletters from his favourite suppliers. I am now very well versed in the new Corgi range and various Landrover sites keep me upto date with the world of off road racing, all pretty harmless.

My daughter is 8 and has discovered Moshi Monsters which is a great site with a user friendly interface and a place where she can chat to her friends. Her typing is improving which is excellent and the games all have an educational slant, what is not to like?

Hmmmm, I was surprised to find that I don’t like her chatting to her friends online and would prefer she rang them for a chat, it fits into the same category for me as her wanting to wear heels and makeup she is just too young. I decided to give it a chance after all this is the new communication method and I felt more than a little hypocritical given I am an active facebook user. Within a couple of weeks she was unfriending someone when I asked why she said that they swore and she didn’t like it, I was very proud. After more discussion I discovered that she didn’t know them anyway they had asked her to be their friend. This is in my kitchen right under my nose I felt my mother halo slipping and growing dimmer as we spoke.

This all got me thinking that maybe there was something I could do to help so I contacted Denbigh High School and we had a meeting with the head, myself and the police liason officer. We have worked collaberatlively to put together an information sheet for parents of teens outlining the activities that children get up to, the risks associated with these activities and what they can do to mitigate these risks with a list of resources available to help them with this challenge. The new year 7 pupils parents received their copy of the leaflet at their introductory evening last night. Many thanks to Mr Molloy and PC Chris for letting me get involved.

PC Chris Davis with new Yr 7 pupil

The more I have looked into what can and is happening online and via mobile phone the more concerned I became, this is the new world and our children are embracing it we are going to need to get clued up and help them to get through this the same way our parents helped us with the challenges our childhood brought.

It’s not all bad though after all our parents had to invest in the entire Encyclopedia Britannica to help us with our homework we have up to date information and images at our fingertips. If you would like a copy of the information sheet in pdf form please complete the form below.

Name(required)

Email(required)

Comment(required)

Sign up to Newsletter Yes

No