OFT agrees 'rip off' surcharges are unfair

Great news today, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has agreed with Which?'s surcharges super complaint. We comply already and always have done! No hidden charges. No nonsense.

We've said hidden charges are annoying to online shoppers for a long time now, so it's great to see some action at last!

Cavendish Elithorn, senior director of the OFT's Goods and Consumer Group, explained that 'people are frustrated about being asked to pay for paying.'

He added 'consumers find it harder to shop around and find the best deal if they have to invest time and effort in discovering surcharges. This also weakens competition between retailers which is bad news for the UK economy.'

Which? use the budget airlines as examples, but online IT retail has plenty offenders too. The price you see is the price you pay on our sites. We look forward to transparent prices from others soon.

Once Again, More Brands Added This Month

It's that time of month again for me to spread the word on the latest brands to hit the MoreFrom sites. If you read my last blog, you will know we now have over 100,000 different products listed and we're still adding more.

As a proud owner of an iPhone and various iPod's, I'm pleased to report we now have many more 'i' Accessories for you to sink your teeth into. Personally, Griffin is my favourite brand when it comes to protective cases and there's now a large variety of these in 'MoreIPods'. They are not too expensive, look very smart and do the job. Griffin are well know in this area, although if you're shopping for a iPhone case with a bright and funky design, then take a look at Cygnett. Also in addition to these are XtreamMac, who produce iPhone cases and cables.

There is one particular accessory that excited me, the 'Griffin Slap' for the iPod Nano 6th Gen. It's a really clever product that enables you to strap a Nano to your wrist and avoids the hassle of removing it from your pocket to skip a track or change the volume. They come in a number of vibrant colours, and can turn your Nano into a watch when the display is set to the lock screen. Will this product be enough to put H.Samuel out of business? I don't know, although I do know I want one!









We've also added more software brands. Roxio produce some really useful format conversion kits, which enable you to convert various files and DVD's to iTunes and other portable device files - many of these are available for download also.

Like always thank you for reading, and if you have any questions or wish to highlight any brands you feel we should stock, please leave a comment below and I'll see what I can do about it. More brands coming soon.

A Round Up Of This Weeks Tech News

This week has already seen some very interesting goings on in the technology world. Nokia are in financial trouble, and rumours about Twitter's latest developments are making the rounds. However, in amongst the media frenzy lies some very cool and some quite pointless gadgets. Here are my favourites;


GoFlex Satellite Mobile Wireless StorageThis GoFlex Wireless storage device allows you to store and stream movies, music and images to up to three WiFi devices at the same time. Targeted at Tablet users, families who entertain their kids as they travel and people on the go, it is light weight, has a USB port and can be easily charged in the car. Sounds great, but is anyone else wondering what happens if you have more than three kids that all want to hook up to phones, iPads and laptops? Someone's bound to come across this issue at some point surely?


Folding Electric ScooterThe race is on in the motoring industry to see who can develop the fastest and most reliable electric vehicle. Not quite leading the way, but sneaking up from behind is this Folding Electric Scooter from Lit Motors. Not only is it carbon friendly and folds down to half its size, it is also suitable for carrying a large box or in this case a person. They hope to release this in the US later on this year, so if we are to see it in the UK, at a guess I wouldn't expect to see it on the shelves until early on next year.


Asus Padfone

Over the past few weeks I have been both excited and saddened by the Bento Book by Rene Woo-Ram Lee. Excited because it is such a genius concept, but saddened by the fact that at present it remains just that, a concept. So, imagine my amazement when I cam across the Asus Padfone, which is beyond just a normal Tablet, it is a Tablet and a Smartphone combined. Yes, really - the Smartphone simply slots into the back of the Tablet like a cassette and will all run off the latest version of Android - even better.


My only issue with both of these concepts, if I'm honest, is what happens when the phone rings? Think about it. Do you use the Tablet as a phone, or take it out and lose where you are at. This aside, I still wouldn't mind giving one of these a try, preferably the Bento Book, but until then the Padfone will have to do.


Pointless TechnologyBringing a whole knew meaning to the term "you snooze, you lose", this pointless gadget shreds your hard earned cash as you catch a few extra zzzzz's in the morning. I can categorically say that this is one gadget I would not like to test out. Who in their right mind would chose willingly to shred their money, seriously?

Review: Asus Eee PC Seashell Netbook by Karim Rashid

Last week I was lucky enough to get my hands on not one, but two Asus Eee PC Seashell netbooks to play around with and review for you.






At first glance, it is hard to know what to think of these two tiny netbooks. Both wrapped in a 'wave-imitating' plastic, I can 'sea' how they came up with the name (see what I did there?). Though nice to the touch, I do wonder if wrapping a laptop in 'touch and feel' plastic is a tad juvenile, arguably this could be Asus' target market of course. I have to say, the matt-brown netbook reminds me ever so slightly of a chocolate bar, enough to make my tummy rumble. The pink one could easily be mistaken for an Essex handbag, if I'm honest. 



Opening up the Asus Seashell, I was pleased to see one or two shiny pearls hiding inside. For example, blatantly taking some inspiration from Apple, it has a multi-touch trackpad which allows you to scroll and zoom in and out easily. Considering they are only small gadgets and not the easiest to type on, I was glad to find that the keys are raised and well spaced, again taking inspiration from Apple MacBooks. This makes typing on such a small gadget bearable.





However, as I switched on the netbooks, the Seashell sank a little in my opinion. The 10.1 inch screen is a tad clunky and the resolution is ok for a standard netbook, but nothing spectacular. It's not all bad news though, a play around makes it clear that, whilst these are no office computers, they are well designed and targeted at younger audiences.



The 'Eee Dock' at the top of the desktop, with 'Eee Amuse', 'Eee Sharing' and 'Eee Xperience' are clearly aimed at the under 20's, with games and entertainment taking president over setting out documents and day-to-day usability. Again the colours and textures (and we all know how I feel about pink gadgets), are more suited to style conscious teen girls, than anyone else.



If you were to ask me whether or not I would buy one of these for myself, I would say hell no. However, if you were to ask me whether or not I would buy or recommend one of these for a younger relative, or a girly, pink obsessed friend - then the answer is yes. 



As for Karim Rashid, I'm a little bemused as to why a man who designs chairs as beautiful as this for Magis, created a wavy, sea inspired netbook range for Asus?