This will be my final post on my theme of back to school. Quite a few of you will be starting back at school on Tuesday, 2nd September. It always strikes me as odd that school terms start on random days after the summer holidays. Tuesday is not so bad, but I remember school starting on a Friday…. I mean… why?

Anyway, if your children, or you, are going to secondary school next week, you’ll be studying chemistry. Exciting stuff.
An important part of chemistry is the periodic table of elements. I remember having great difficulty remembering even the basic of this. That’s where the Periodic Table Mug comes in. You’ll never be stuck for that elusive atomic mass number again! You can even use it to drink your favourite hot beverage from too.

It’s a bit of a tongue in cheek item really, but I love it. You can study chemistry whilst dunking your favourite biscuit in your tea. The Periodic Table Mug is a must for any science fan, it won’t make you the next Einstein, but it might help you along the way. And at less than £6, it’s a fun little gift to give.

And another thing… it’s dishwasher safe too, so no chance of the elements dropping off after you wash it.

What does every good student require to get them up in the morning? Yes, that’s right, an alarm clock. And what better way to start your day than with the Wesco Star Wars R2D2 Projection Alarm Clock. This alarm clock will not only tell the time on its LCD display, but will project it on to your wall too. How cool is that. This is a must have gadget for any Star Wars fan. The Wesco Star Wars R2D2 Projection Alarm Clock is £19.99, which is a fantastic price for such a novel way of waking up in the mornings.
R2-D2 has got to be one of the most loved characters from the Star Wars films, and now you can have the loveable robot to wake you up in the mornings.

Sure there are other alarm clocks out there, but are they as much fun as the Wesco Star Wars R2D2 Projection Alarm Clock? There may be other projection alarm clocks, but they’re not R2-D2 are they.

This is still continuing with my theme of back to school, because we’ll all have to start getting up early again soon. Obviously getting up early will be much easier with the Wesco Star Wars R2D2 Projection Alarm Clock projecting the time on to your wall or ceiling. It might even bring a smile to your face.

Is the force strong enough in you young jedi to get up and get ready for school on time?

Continuing with my theme of back to school, an essential piece of equipment that every student needs in secondary school is a calculator. The Casio Scientific Calculator is by far one of the best valued scientific calculators available. With a price tag that’s just shy of £11.50 you can’t really go wrong. I like bringing gadgets and equipment that I think are good value for money to your attention. Hopefully I’m succeeding in this task.

The Casio Scientific Calculator has a whole host of functions that you’d expect from a scientific calculator, plus more! In total it has 300 functions, which is a lot. It has true algebraic logic, standard deviation, sin/cos/tan, hyperbolics, polar/rectangular conversions, linear regression, permutation and combination, brackets, random numbers, square, factorial, angle units (DEG/RAD/GRA), fractions… the list goes on…

What I like about this calculator is that it has it’s own hard case that slides over the buttons and screen, making it ideal for the busy student who just throws things into their bag… it gives great protection, and piece of mind for you. Another great thing about the Casio Scientific Calculator is the dual power functionality, it has both battery and solar power which makes it exceptional value for money. You won’t be replacing the battery every couple of months with this one.

Students really do need a calculator for school, college or university because maths plays a big part in all three institutions. So why not go for one that you know will perform well and has an attractive price tag. Come September, the Casio Scientific Calculator will be in my arsenal.

Well it’s nearly time for the kids to go back to school and that means that they’ll need new supplies. I’m going to write a few posts this week about back to school. My first post is about Staedtler Colouring Pens. I’ll be buying these pens for myself and I don’t usually recommend things that I’m not 100% confident about. I’ve had Staedtler Colouring Pens before and they’ve never let me down.

The Staedtler Colouring Pens come in packs of 10, so that means that you have a choice of 10 vibrant colours. Being water based is also a bonus as they’ll wash out of your childrens’ clothes quite easily. Being Staedtler, you know that you’re buying good quality pens and these colouring pens are no different. They come in an attractive box which also acts as a stand when you’re using them. You can even leave the cap off for several days before they’ll begin to dry up. Which is good for busy students.

The Staedtler Colouring Pens have a triangular shape to them which makes them a joy to use over a long period of time. Also having pressure resistant tips is a great bonus if you’re a bit heavy handed like myself.

I can’t praise these pens enough, the Staedtler Colouring Pens are essential for any serious student to have. Forget the rest, these really are top of the class.

This one is especially for all you chocaholics out there. The Chococlock is a clock, but with a difference. Every hour this lovely gadget will deliver a scrumpteous chocolate treat. It’s definately a gadget for the serious chocoholic. The Chococlock will even tell the time, but there’s a sting in it’s tail… you only have 30 seconds to get your hands on your chocolate treat. Obviously if you can’t wait an hour to get some chocolate the Chococlock has a “cheat” button, which will allow you to get a treat whenever you wish.

The Chococlock holds 30 pieces of delicious chocolate treats. Which is more than enough isn’t it? Coming in at under £20 it’s not only a chocolate treat, but a treat on the pocket too. The chocoholic in your life will love you forever for getting them this gadget.

I love chocolate and having to wait an hour for a treat helps me with my diet. But for some reason my finger keeps slipping on to the “cheat” button and a piece of chocolate magically appears, which is obviously a shame to waste. The only complaint I have about the Chococlock is that it’s pink. Pink doesn’t really appeal to me, but I’m sure you girlies will love it.

So what are you wating for… get the Chococlock today.

This is a fun little gadget that will cause you to spend hours and hours playing with it. The Electronic Bubble Wrap is a real time waster of a gadget. It has no practical use at all, which is what makes is a real joy to own.

Be prepared to become confused as you lose track of time clicking away on the Electronic Bubble Wrap, because it’s what will happen.

£6 isn’t going to break the bank either and it would make a great stocking filler for the man of the house. I know I’m mentioning Christmas already, but it’s never to early to start stocking up on the little gifts. It helps to spread the cost. If I’m being honest with you, I start getting gifts together in January. It’s the best time to get those stocking fillers. Cards and wrapping paper are also best bought in the January sales, but I’ll write about that closer to the time.

The Electronic Bubble Wrap is one of those gadgets that will annoy the heck out of you and you won’t understand why. Which is why I love it so much.
Everyone should own one of these, it’s great for passing the time whilst travelling on the bus or train.

I’m not going to write about any gadget in particular today. Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you’ve heard about the credit crunch that’s sweeping the country, infact it’s sweeping the globe. The cost of everything is going up; fuel, food and energy. Everyday essential items are becoming more and more costly.

That’s why the PriceGrabber website is becoming an essential first stop for consumers. PriceGrabber does all the hard work of finding the cheapest prices for you, giving you control over your money once again.
You no longer have to scour the internet looking at all the different websites that stock the item you want to buy, PriceGrabber has done it for you. Just put the name of the gadget you want to buy in the search box and within seconds you’ll get a list of all the stockists and their prices at a glance.

Not only do they list the stockists and prices, they also display the postage and packaging costs, if there are any, giving you an instant, easy to read and informed choice. Consumers like you and me need PriceGrabber. There’s no two ways about it, everybody has to tighten their belts, but with PriceGrabber you don’t have to miss out on the items that you really want.

PriceGrabber has changed the way I shop online for the better and I hope that they have helped you do the same. You should set it as your homepage now!

A gadget for the kitchen today. and boy what a joy it is. It’s the Ainsley Harriott Professional Slow Cooker.

Slow cookers are excellent gadgets to have in the kitchen. They make preparing a meal for the family easy, or at least easier. Just put all the ingredients in to the cooker in the morning, turn on and leave. When you come home you’ll have a delicious meal.
What’s good about the Ainsley Harriott Professional Slow Cooker is that it is simple to use. It has a large 3 litre capacity and it is ideal for casseroles, curries, stews, soups and even joints of meat.

Another thing I use my slow cooker for is making rice pudding. I’ve never had much joy in making this in the oven, but with a slow cooker even I can make great tasting rice pudding.

If you’ve never used a slow cooker before, then now id the perfect time to buy one. The Ainsley Harriott Professional Slow Cooker is less than £25, at that price you can hardly call it breaking the bank. You’ll seriously wonder how you ever managed without one. If you have a large family to feed and struggle to prepare a meal when you get home from work, or have simply not had the time then you need a slow cooker. Meals can prepared the night before and in the morning, simply turn on the slow cooker.

I think it’s always a wise move to buy good protection for your most expensive gadgets. Especially if that gadget happens to be an iPod touch. It’s not a gadget that you buy and put in the corner of the room or place neatly on your desk. If you’re like me, you’re constantly picking it up, putting it in your pocket and putting it back down again. As you may or may not know, the iPod touch has a metal body - it’s shiny and scratch free when you take it out of the box. I’d like for mine to stay that way.

So how do you protect it? Well, my suggestion would be for you to buy a silicone sleeve case for it. The one I’d go for on PriceGrabber is the Belkin iPod Touch Silicone SLVE and, at less than £10 you can’t go wrong.
Under ten pounds to protect a prized piece of technology isn’t much. You’ll be glad you did. Once that metal casing starts to get scratched there’s not much you can do to restore it. OK, it might make the iPod touch a bit thicker, but it’s going to protect it really well from knocks, bumps and heaven forbid, a drop. It’s made of tough silicone, so it has a bit of give in it. Enough to protect the iPod from an accidental dropping.

So my advice to you if you’re planning on buying an iPod touch for yourself or as a gift. Buy the Belkin iPod Touch Silicone SLVE sleeve too. You’ll be glad you did.

I’m going to take time out from blogging about gadgets because I’d like to bring Twitter to your attention. I discovered this website some time ago from Leanda Ryan who’s a graphic designer based in Manchester.

The tagline for Twitter is “What are you doing?” and that’s it. You have 140 characters and it’s no coincidence that it’s the same amount of characters that you can fit into one text message, because you can send “Tweets” via text. Twitter is a micro-blogging site where thousands of people post about what they’re doing throughout the day. But in my opinion it’s more than just people blogging. It’s a social networking site too and I have made many friends through it. You can follow me on Twitter by following this link. I personally follow quite a few designers and web developers, not to mention a whole host of fellow gadget nerds. It’s a list that’s growing on a daily basis. I dare say that I’m hooked on the site and not a day goes past when I don’t visit.

If I was to mention a gadget that tied in with Twitter it would have to be the iPod Touch. I have an application on mine that allows me to post to Twitter, it’s called Twinkle and you can get it from the iTunes app store.

Twitter is the next big thing in the evolution of the internet and I won’t be surprised that we’ll see a whole host of copycat sites popping up.

I look forward to greeting you as a friend.