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Win a Sony Ericsson LiveView
Top 5 most exclusive gadgets of 2010
10 last minute tech Christmas gifts
Advent Calendar day 24: Win laptop, Android tablets, gadget prizes and more!
Best Android apps of the month: December 2010
Best gadget adverts of 2010

Posted: 24 Dec 2010 09:01 AM PST

Want a third chance to win a Sony Ericsson LiveView? You got it! The pint sized gadget is a watch-sized micro display, which partners with an Android phone to put your messages, social networks and call alerts at your fingertips. You can wear it as a watch, clip it to your clothes, or attach it to your notepad to keep an eye on your social life while stuck in meetings.

We've got three Sony Ericsson LiveView devices left to give away. And all you have to do is answer the question below in the comments section! We'll pick one correct answer at random 24 hours later, and send them a Sony Ericsson LiveView. The next day, we’ll do it all again until we’ve run out of LiveViews, simple as that!

If you want to make sure you have your hands on a Sony Ericsson LiveView you can buy one direct from Sony Ericsson instead, and receive a 20% saving with our discount code. Just type SELV1 at the checkout.. Hurry up, stocks are limited!

To be in with a chance of winning, just answer the following question (hint: You can find the answer here).

What’s the weather forecast during our Sony Ericsson LiveView 10 second challenge?

Winner will be chosen on 25 December 2010, and details added here. Our usual terms and conditions apply.

Top 5 most exclusive gadgets of 2010

Posted: 24 Dec 2010 06:00 AM PST

If money is no object, or you’ve got deep pockets and a taste for gaudy gadgets that glitter, step rght up. Here’s our list of the best five exclusive gadgets from 2010.

1. Crystal Encrusted Galaxy Tab
As is the Tab wasn't already pricey enough, Harrods unveiled a crystal encrusted limited edition Samsung Galaxy Tab earlier in the year, caked in 5,700 Swarovski Bright Crystals, with each one stuck on by hand. This creates “the world's most exclusive tablet device”, meaning it will set you back £2,700. If you've got pockets deeper than the Grand Canyon, then you can get your hands on one from Micro Anvika at Harrods, and they’ll even do custom designs if you’ve got some artistic flair of your own.
£2,700 | Harrods

2. Diamond Rose iPhone 4
This is touted as “the world’s most expensive iPhone”, and is priced at £5m, The bezel is handmade from rose with approx 500 individual flawless diamonds which total over 100ct.The back panel is made of rose gold with 53 diamonds in the Apple logo. The home button is made from platinum, and has a 7.4ct pink diamond. Even the box is posh: it comes housed in a large lined chest, carved from a single block of pink granite.
£5m | Stuart Hughes

3. Leica M9 Titanium
There's only 500 of the special edition Titanium Leica M9 in existence, priced at £20k each. It's a gorgeous piece of equipment: sleek, cold metal, it's designed by legendary auto designer Walter de'Silva, chief designer of the Volkswagen Group. Leica sold every single one within a couple of months, but we got to take a peek at their showrooms recently. This is a cool hunk of metal: it’s scratch-resistant, with sapphire-crystal glass used to cover the screen, and Leica has even let de'Silva tweak its iconic red dot logo, which has “been restyled and is elaborately hand-engraved in pure resin, inlaid with white enamel, sealed with a clear varnish and then polished”.
£19,800 | Leica

4. Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 24ct Gold & Diamond Edition
There are only five gold and diamond Bang and Olufsen BeoSounds in existence. It takes seven months to manufacture, during which time the whole body is reformed with 32kg of solid 24ct gold, and decorated with 70 diamonds.
£1.2m | Stuart Hughes

5. Swarovski encrusted Kinect
If you’re looking for bling at a slightly more affordable price, but don’t want to make it yourself with stick ons from Claire’s Accessories, then take a peep at this Swarovski encrusted Kinect. Just watch it glitter in the QVC light. There's nothing changed from the original Kinect, apart form this one is encrusted with precious things, 5,000 of them to be exact.
£405 | DS

http://www.dsstyles.com/en/iphone-3g-3gs-cases/ds.crystals/crystal-gadgets/xbox-360-kinect-with-swarovski-elements.html?vmcchk=1

10 last minute tech Christmas gifts

Posted: 24 Dec 2010 04:01 AM PST

It's Christmas Eve, the shops are shut, and you really don't want to have to go down to the petrol station like last year, and anyway, your Dad has enough Magic Tree air fresheners to last him till 2050 after last Christmas. But never fear: here are 10 last minute techie gifts you can buy without even having to leave the house. No Sellotape required.

1. Spotify Premium subscriptions
Out of those of us that don't pay for Spotify Premium, there are few of us who wouldn't be really like to stop hearing the ad for the latest Jamiroquai album interrupting our lovingly crafted playlists. This is an easy win for any music lover.
£9.99 pcm | Spotify

2. Oxfam Unwrapped & Oxfam app donations
The original and best presents for do-gooders, and for any relative whose stock Christmas phrase is: "Oh you don't have to get me anything!" The most popular gift is currently chickens, so maybe lump for something a bit more original like a goat. If that seems like too much trouble, then get hold of the Ovi Oxfam donations app, and donate on their behalf to one of five projects Oxfam is working on.
£1 or more | Oxfam

3. Kickstarter funding
Just because you're making a donation, doesn’t mean you’ve only got farmyard animals to choose from. If the person you're buying for prefers nuclear fusion or zombie films to goats and chickens, then put some money towards a Kickstarter project on their behalf. It's likely that there'll be some incentives too, and you could be signing someone up for anything from a signed album to being an extra in a film.
£1 or more | Kickstarter

4. MP3 Mix Tapes on memory stick
Most of us have got spare USB sticks lying around these days, so turn one of yours into a USB MP3 mix tape, with a few of your favourite tracks and a fancy pants gift tag, this looks like you really put some thought into it.
£free | Your house

5. Buy a domain name
Buying an avid blogger a proper domain name is one of the best presents you can get, and should only cost a couple of quid for the year. Then come Christmas day, you can have fun sitting around trying to set it all up to mirror the existing site…
Around £2.99 per year | 123-reg

6. Gift an app
The Apple App store lets you gift an app to someone else. All you need is the recipients email address, and you can bob over an email containing that person's much needed dose of Angry Birds, Hipstamatic or our favourite new iPhone game that’ll keep them quiet (and terrified) until the new year: Papa Sangre.
£free | Apple

7. 12 month Xbox Live subscription
If you head over to eBay you can bag a 12 month subscription to Xbox Live for about £30. There's no postage either, as most sellers will ping the code into your inbox instantly, for you to present to the receiver in the most imaginative way you can muster in the five minutes before the present opening starts.
£30 ish | Ebay

8. Kindle eBook
We're expecting lots of people to be receiving Kindles this Christmas. If you've left it too late for someone who's getting one, or who has one already, then show you're on the ball, and give an Amazon Kindle eBook gift card, and send it via Facebook or email.
£1-5,000 | Amazon Kindle Store

9. Lovefilm subscription
Head over to Lovefilm, and if you've got an existing account you can also gift a subscription, starting from £15 for three months of two DVDs per month, going all the way up to a 12 month unlimited subscription at £128.
£15-£128 | Lovefilm

10. Origami iPhone stand
We've all seen this before, but it's such a good last minute effort that we'll have to show you again. Watch the video below.
£5-100 | Your wallet

Did we solve your last minute Christmas woes?

Advent Calendar day 24: Win laptop, Android tablets, gadget prizes and more!

Posted: 24 Dec 2010 02:10 AM PST

Happy Christmas Eve to you! We’ve begun the festive wind-down here, but the Electricpig Advent Calendar is still dishing out prizes! There are Advent laptops, Android tablets, gaming PCs, digital photo frames and PC accessories to be won!

Today we’re asking for Christmas traditions. All you have to do is log in using your Facebook ID (that’s really important, without it we can’t reliably contact you, or check you’re based in the UK) and tell us one in the comments section will win! Once we have a winner, we’ll reveal the prize they’ve scooped.

Each day we’ve got a mystery prize up for grabs thanks to the generous people at PC World. It could be a speaker system, a digital photo frame, a keyboard and mouse set, an Advent Amico tablet, Advent laptop or computer, or even a newly-released Advent Vega tablet.

What’re you waiting for? Scroll down, log in using your Facebook account and get commenting!

We have a winner!

Congratulations Natalie Hendry! Your tasty answer just won you a brand new Advent Vega android tablet! But don’t despair if you didn’t bag a prize yet. Tomorrow is Christmas day, and the last day of the Electricpig Advent Calendar, so there’s still one more chance to win!

Check out more Advent products at www.pcworld.co.uk, and remember to come back tomorrow for another chance to win: we’ll offer up a fresh prize each day between 9am and 12 noon! Our usual terms and conditions apply.

Best Android apps of the month: December 2010

Posted: 24 Dec 2010 01:45 AM PST

We thought we'd give you a timely reminder of the best Android Apps available during the month of December, as the year draws to a messy, snow-bound conclusion. Armed with this topper selection of pocket-sized smart phone bliss, you'll find that the usual monotony of the family Christmas meal simply glides by, and the typically painful observance of the Queen's Speech will be nothing more than a mild inconvenience.

As always, before you go gleefully tugging on your Christmas cracker, make sure you've got the Barcode Scanner application downloaded and ready to go. You can then scan the QR Codes shown below and zip directly to the relevant page of the Android Market.

Angry Birds Seasons (Free)
Rovio's mobile marvel is easily one of the most popular Android apps of the 2010 and this Christmas-themed edition is equally as sought-after.

In keeping with the tone of the holiday season, Angry Birds Seasons features 25 different challenges, each of which is unlocked – advent calendar-style – as the days roll by.

Of course with the big day almost upon us the vast majority of the levels are available to play right away if you’ve not already downloaded it, which is sort of like scoffing the entire contents of your chocolate-filled calendar all in one go. Yum!

Google Reader (Free)
Another one of the best Android apps of the month has been a first party one: Google's excellent Reader program. It syncs with your Google Reader RSS feed account and delivers reports of unread posts from all of your favourite sites.

Many of these can be viewed within the app itself, which saves you having to visit each site individually to absorb the info.

With this app on your phone, you'll have no trouble whatsoever sitting through Grandad's “amusing” story about the time he burnt the Christmas Pudding (you know, the one he's told every year, for the past 25 years). Just keep your head down, look at the screen and occasionally nod and chuckle, and he won't notice you're sifting through your Electricpig updates rather than actually listening.

Waitrose Christmas (Free)
As much as it goes against the insubordinate, left-wing rebel within us, we can't help but be drawn in by the middle-class charms of Waitrose's unique seasonal application.

You might assume this is merely an online shopping portal with a bit of tinsel draped over it, but you'd be very wrong. Operating like a virtual magazine, Waitrose Christmas features an interactive advent calendar, a turkey timer app (so you don't burn the bird on the big day) and several much-loved Christmas recipes. What's more, it's more polished than one of the baubles on your tree.

Windows Phone Android (£1.90)
Let's say for a moment you're a little sick of your Android phone (perhaps you’ve been saddled with an Acer Stream) but you're locked into a lengthy contract and can't jump ship just yet, so treating yourself to a new-fangled handset this holiday season isn't on the agenda.

One solution is to download Windows Phone Android. As the name oh-so-subtly suggests, this clever home screen replacement makes your Google phone act and operate like Microsoft's much-hyped mobile OS.

Although the tiles aren't currently animated (tapping them simply fires up the relevant application), the look is incredibly authentic, and your buddies down the pub will be none the wiser. For the asking price, this is pretty much the cheapest way to get that 'new phone' feeling this Christmas.

Brothers in Arms 2: Global Front HD (£3)
No matter who you're spending Christmas with, it's almost inevitable that you're going to have to endure some telly you don't want to watch.

Be it Diamonds are Forever (which you've seen for the millionth time, and all those views have occurred on a Christmas day, bizarrely) or the festive edition of Eastenders, there's no denying that you need some top-notch Android-based gaming action to relive yourself during these testing times.

Epic gaming experiences don't come much bigger than Brothers in Arms 2: Global Front, which is one of the best blasters outside of Call of Duty: Black Ops. You'll discover high-resolution graphics, explosive set-pieces and a gripping plot – all of which make Sean Connery's spy craft look tame in comparison.

The only word of warning we'd give is that like the vast majority of Gameloft's titles, Brothers in Arms 2 isn't available on the Android Market. You'll need to point your phone's browser in the direction of the company's dedicated store.

Best gadget adverts of 2010

Posted: 24 Dec 2010 01:00 AM PST

2010 has been another vintage year for tech and gadget adverts. We’ve seen everything from imaginary phones to non-existent controllers. Here’s what we think are the best gadget adverts of 2010

Windows Phone 7 – ‘Really?’

We aren’t entirely convinced that saying your phone is easy to ignore is going to be quite the marketing masterstroke Microsoft thinks it is, but this is a still a cracking ad that may just cause you to take a good long look at yourself and the way you (over) use your gadgets.

Mozilla – ‘Seabird Concept Phone’

An odd one, this. An advert for a phone that does not – and probably will never – exist. Despite this, it is probably the ad that most made us drool this year.

Bing.com – ‘Clutch bag’

This ad for Microsoft’s very own search engine Bing perfectly captures what it is like being in a public place with someone who has recently started using a mobile web device – i.e. bloody annoying.

Microsoft – ‘You are the controller’

We actually felt a bit let down by the tiny bit of game footage that pops up near the end of the ad for Kinect as it almost seems to ruin the brilliant concept. Just focusing the camera on the players shows exactly what the motion sensing system does – it makes you the controller.

Apple – ‘Facetime’

Any of the above ads could flog a gadget to people like us, but this rather heart warming ad from Apple managed to flog the iPhone 4 to Nans. That’s class.