billybudd

My advice would be to sack off contract phones and be a bit canny with PAYG. Some tremendous deals out there for top end smart phones like: HTC Evo 3D for £207 delivered to any Asda - it's unlocked and ready to go. LG Optimus 2X 196 delivered at The Order. Unlocked. Or if you fancy something different: Nokia Lumina 710 for £150. W7 (Locked to Voda but easily unlocked). Then you just need a sim card. 3 is doing an amazing deal: 600 Mins, 3000 texts, 1GB Data on a 12 month SIM ONLY deal for £12/month but you get £80 odd cashback from Top Cashback which means it works out at £5.01 per month!!!

You can unlock it for free here. You have a choice of two unlocking services. I have sent the giffgaff link because it allows you to search for all types of phones not just Blackberrys - thought other folk might find it useful if they wanted to see if/how their phone can be unlocked. Unlock BlackBerry Bold 2 | How to unlock your phone | giffgaff unlockapedia

If you want a decent smartphone but don't want to pay a monthly contract (like me!), have a butchers at Carphone Warehouse. They are knocking out the Nexus S for £199 and the Nokia N8 for £199, both sim free. Winter clearance Stick in a £10 per month giffgaff sim (250 mins, unlimited texts and unlimited data plus free giffgaff-giffgaff calls) and you're laughing. Unlimited Mobile Browsing With giffgaff goodybags | giffgaff.com Yes, there are quicker phones out there but only if you pay silly money on PAYG or get tied into a 18-24 month contract.

Get O2 to unlock your iPhone - they sent me a text message for this and I think it was free. Then get a free giffgaff PAYG sim card and whack it in. For £10 a month you get 250 mins, unlimited text, unlimited internet and free calls and texts to other GiffGaffers. There is no fair use policy and users seem happy with it - but you can't tether. Google it - I can't post web links yet.

HTC Wildfire is a great phone, now £129 on PAYG Vodafone at Woolies. £100 off! HTC Wildfire Mobile Phone | Woolworths.co.uk

HTC Wildfire is a great phone, now £129 on PAYG Vodafone at Woolies. £100 off! HTC Wildfire Mobile Phone | Woolworths.co.uk

http://www.marksandspencer.com/Sony-.../dp/B003G5TSAE M&S also mustard. Doing the TV for £299 (discount shows at checkout) with 5 year guarantee for today only. Amazing deal. Don't forget 3.03% cashback at TopCashback.com! Works out just over £9. Still, better in your pocket than theirs!

It's a good spec for a good price. Also have a look at hotukdeals.com. (I can't post weblinks yet) It's a deal posting website where folk mention where and when they've seen a good deal and other folk give it heat if it's a good spot. You can search up the computers tab or search by laptop. There's a loads of deals posted there, quite a few under £300 - saves you the leg work. Don't forget some of these deals will get you cashback via Quidco or TopCashBack.

I love this forum. You're right, it is just a computer. I have one that is white, one that is red. I like the white one because it's easy to use and the battery lasts a long time. I like the red one because it means I can use Publisher. If pushed, I like the white one better. If someone asked should I buy a white one or a red one, my suggestion would be a white one. But you're right, it is only a computer.

Gotta say I don't understand all the anti Apple stuff. Yes I have a MacBook but I'm typing this on a Dell Inspiron i3 laptop so I can look at it from both sides. For £1,000, I'd be looking for a MacBook. Apple's UK website has refurbed kit on there and you get a full 12 month warranty. You usually get a decent amount off. It changes day by day so always worth a peek. Google it - I can't post links yet. I got my Mac that way and it arrived in perfect nick. The whole fanboy thing is annoying I agree but I like my Mac just because..., well because it's a Mac. While you do pay top dollar for them, there are some small kick backs: Apple's own version of Office (iWorks) is about £50 or so - loads cheaper than MS Office. O/S upgrades are cheap - Snow Leopard is £22 on Amazon. While I don't condone software theft, Mac's O/S doesn't have serial numbers. Battery life on them is pretty good - my old MacBook still gets 3-4 hours from a full charge. Just a personal preference and like I say I also have a Windows laptop for other stuff, mainly MS Publisher.

It may well be all academic anyway. I'm no accountant, but maybe someone on here knows the maths better than I do. If our debts are bigger than our income, does that make us trading while insolvent? Can we trade while insolvent? (Coro mentioned we are unofficially in administration.) If we do go into administration next season, the administrator will be duty bound to realise the best price of any assets to creditors ie the sale of Gerrard and Torres and probably quite a few others. So while it will get rid of G&H as owners, it will mean selling a fair chunk of the first team. There's lots of ifs and buts in there and like I say, I'm no accountant, but they could be off one way or the other.

If you're heart is set on a Mac but your head says they are pricey (and they are) have a look at Apple's UK refurb store. Just Googe it - I can't post links yet. All the kit comes with 12 months Apple warranty. The savings can be pretty decent but depends. There's iPods on there as well. I got a 13" Mac book from there 3 years ago and it's great. I'd never buy a PC again.

I disagree. I wouldn't pay anyone to design a website - do it yourself using Weebly or Webeden or WordPress. It's really easy and if your even a little bit creative, it will look good. You have to have their names in your domain but I think you can pay a fee to WordPress to have it removed in you go with them. Depending on what your doing, traditional websites are a bit old hat and static ie you rely on people to click on your site. I work in PR and having something to say or highlighting the latest views on something is an easy way to promote business by using WordPres or blogspot. I started my own business three years ago after leaving a well paid job that I hated. My biggest advice to you would be spend as little as you can setting up the business - that way you get to keep more as profit for yourself. Sounds obvious but you'll be amazed at the number of people who blow money on a fancy office, website, stationery etc in the first year (me included!) I don't know what you're planning on doing, but my top tips are: 1) Go and see your local Chamber of Commerce and talk through your idea. They'll act as a good sounding board plus most have FREE money to help you get started - my local one gives £1,000. 2) Work from home if you can - no extra rent, rates, power and water bills to pay. 3) If you need an office address to give the impression you're bigger than you are, get a virtual office. You'll get an address, landline phone number and a receptionist to answer the phone in your business name (the call then gets forwarded to your phone/mobile). They cost around £50 a month. Then if you need to meet clients, do it in a hotel lobby over coffee. 4) Become a Limited Company - that way if you get sued, it's the business that gets sued and not you. Plus some companies won't deal with you if you're not a Ltd company. You can do it on-line for £40-ish. Pick anyname you want as long as it's not already registered at Companies House and there's no danger of another company accusing you of "passing them off". 5) Voluntarily register for VAT. I think the VAT threshold is £64,000 or there abouts - now most companies in their first year may not make those kind of sales but you can register voluntarily. Again, makes you look like a bigger company than you actually are. Also there are some VAT schemes that allow you to charge full rate VAT (17.5%) but get to keep some of this, as long as your turnover doesn't hit £250k in any year, something like that. It's legal, not a loophole but an accountant or business advisor will know more. Er, that's it. Sorry for the mammoth post. Just a few things to think about - your CoC or Business Link will have all the latest info. Good luck!

Have a look at Morgan Computers. They specilalise in end of line or refurbished stock. They've got loads of Acer netbooks on at the mo as as well as Dell, Sony, Toshiba laptops etc The Acers are 'as new, factory refurbs" and are really good value - £129 to £160 incl VAT, depending on spec, some run on Linux but there's also XP as well. Think you can wipe the HDD and stick on another OS. I can't post weblinks yet but Google Morgan Computers and it will pop up. I have bought stuff from there before with no probs.

Looks like it's just come down £5 as well. It's now £293.99. The shop, if anyone is interested, is called Kamera in St Helens. It's been there since I was a kid, which is a long time ago. I can't post links yet but just Google best cameras st helens and it will come up. Delivery on cameras and video cameras is free to the UK.

I've just taken the plunge into the world of DSLR and bought a Sony A230 with 18-55 lens. My local camera shop in St Helens is knocking it out at £298 with a 3 year guarantee, a free case and mini desk tripod. Thought it was a decent deal. Only bought it because it gets good reviews, is one of the cheapest entry level DSLRs and there's loads of Minolta lenses on eBay that will fit it. It takes SD cards and I got a 4GB SDHC card from Morrisons for £5! Anyone else got an A230?

I had an iPhone on O2 and the tarrif included unlimited data and that's what it was. I never had a extra bill on top of the line rental because of using the net, email, youtube, lastfm etc. Some months I'd hammer it, others I wouldn't. It was a pretty good deal data wise. I think the only thing they charge on top for is tethering but I'm sure someone has already worked out how to use the iPhone as mobile broadband and without paying more!

There's another clue in that article as to why Portsmouth have been shafted. How can a tiny south west club employ 600 people? 600 people? You could run a massive factory with that workforce. It doesn't matter if they are employed directly or indirectly - you still have to cough up wages. One of West Ham's Davids said the other week that when they went through the Hammer's books they came across a player liaison officer whose job it was to drive around some of the first team!!! Talk about a non-job. It makes me shudder to think how many people we employ?

Yes, the PS3 does upscale DVDs very well, especially cartoon films like Kung Fu Panda. But just check out the opening scenes on Dark Knight on blu ray - it looks stunning. The bit where Lucius lands in Hong Kong and it pans out to the harbour is amazing as well. It is well worth buying for those scenes alone - I think Zavvi is selling it for around the £7 mark on BD.

John Lewis is also knocking the Arcade out for £99.99, price matching Argos. You'd have no worries with JL if there ever was a problem. Plus it hasn't got any evil shareholders, so a bonus all round!

I had a similar problem with a TV in my mum's conservatory. It was driving me mad until I took the aerial connector off and found one tiny strand of the copper braid was touching the copper core and that was enough to mess up some of the TV channels. Worth a look. One quick point - have you tried your telly in the TV socket downstairs which you know works to check the telly is ok?

I've haven't got a Pro but I have got a 13" MacBook and it's brilliant. You'll never use a PC again! I got mine from Apple's refurb store - just Google it. I think they might be customer returns or something like that but they come with 12 months' Apple warranty. I couldn't see what was supposed to be "wrong" with mine - it looked brand new with all the bits and bobs. I got 33% off so it's worth a look.

I've got a PS3 and it's great. But I gotta say, if I was buying now, I'd go for an XBox 360. It's cheaper - HMV is knocking out the Arcade for £114. You'll get Quidco on that as well, so it will be a bit cheaper. The PS3 is way overpriced for me, yes it's wireless, yes it's blu-ray, yes it's free to play on-line, but it's around the £250 mark and if you get a games bundle, it's mostly around the £300. Ouch! The XBox has most of the games the PS3 has and some of its own exclusives which are really good - Forza 3 for example. Ignore anyone who says either machine has the 'best graphics' - they're both excellent machines, it's just one is massively cheaper than the other. If do you get a XBox 360, make sure it's got a Jasper motherboard. These are the latest boards which apparently have a better survival rate for RROD. You can tell if it's Jasper because the sticker on the machine will say something like 12.1A. You can see this through the XBox packaging or ask the sales fella to confirm it's a Jasper board. Microsoft gives 3 years warranty on new machines for RROD. Sony won't even admit YLOD is a problem and asks for for over £100 to fix it!

For me personally, boycotting the S*n only goes so far. I refuse point blank to have anything to do with it or any of its sister publications - so no Times, no Sunday Times, no NOTW, no Sky subscription and no watching Sky Sports News. Part of it has to do with the fact that I don't buy the S*n anyway, so boycotting it doesn't make a difference to News International because they haven't lost revenue because of my decision and haven't been impacted by my disgust at them for their insulting and degrading coverage. I don't feel my voice is heard by just boycotting the S*n. The other part of it is that Rupert Murdoch has too much media control in this country (I suppose I should also stop watching ITV, though he has now been forced to sell his stake) Other fans will make their own mind up, if you buy the Times or subscribe to Sky, it doesn't make you a bad fan. If G&H had other UK interests, we would boycott them I'm sure, to make sure our point was heard. And personally for me, it's the same thing with all Murdoch media.

I already have. I share a season ticket with a lad and sold my other half to him for this season and I'm not really sure if I will go back. It's not really anything to do with the Yanks, nor Rafa (though I was getting fed up with him generally) - I don't know what it is, but I'm not bothered anymore. It could be the wages, it could be the whole Sky messing around kick off times, it could be all of these things. The frightening thing is that it's all happened relatively quickly. One day, I'm at Anfield, the next day I'd rather play Guitar Hero. If we lose, I'm like, 'oh well'. In the past, it would spoil my weekend but not anymore. I feel like I've lost my footy mojo and it feels strangely ok.