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1st
FEB

Virgin Media to offer free calls to Virgin mobile phones

Posted by James | Filed under tech

: Image via Wikipedia

This Is Money reports Virgin Media will become the first UK landline provider to offer free calls from Virgin home phones to Virgin mobiles to new and existing customers.

The service is due to be rolled out on April 1st and will be available on a variety of unlimited telephone service call packages, with prices ranging from £11.99 per month for free weekend calls to £19.94 per month for unlimited calls. Calls will be free for the first 60 minutes, after which callers will be required to hang up and redial in order to continue without being charged.

Graeme Oxby, executive director of mobile and telephony at Virgin Media told This Is Money:

“Our successful quadplay strategy has demonstrated customers are looking for exceptional value by bundling more services together, and this move to include free calls to mobiles with our home phone service underlines our commitment to ensure Virgin Media customers get the best deals possible.”

Tags: free calls, tech, Virgin Media, virgin mobile

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1st

Dr Pepper’s new ‘flash mob’ ad

Posted by James | Filed under branding

: Image via Wikipedia

Flash mob advertising once used to be fresh, innovative and fun. Now they’re just boring.

But that didn’t stop Dr Pepper from creating a flash mob advert for their new campaign, says Bitterwallet. – but unlike previous flash mob ads, Dr Pepper didn’t even stick to the rules!

A true flash mob is where dozens or even hundreds of strangers descend on a given location to carry out a pre-planned act, such as to sing a song or perform a dance routine. But Dr Pepper instead hired some singers and dancers and plonked them onto the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange to sing the Dr Pepper theme tune – badly – as traders looked on in bemusement.

Watch the advert and let us know what you think of it in the comments. After all, what’s the worst that could happen?

Tags: advertising, branding, dr pepper, flash mob

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27th
JAN

KKR buys Pets at Home chain

Posted by James | Filed under supermarkets

: Image by Dogfael via Flickr

Pet store chain Pets at Home has been bought by US Private Equity Firm KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) for a figure of £955 million which includes the firm’s debts. The brand becomes KKR’s third UK High Street acquisition – they also already have Boots and Toys R Us on their portfolio.

The buy-out provides a healthy profit for Pets at Home’s owners Bridgepoint who paid £230 for the chain in 2005.

KKR fended off rival bits from other private equity houses including Apax Partners, Bain and TPG, while Bridgepoint was also rumoured to be considering a stock market flotation.

Tags: buy-out, high street, pets at home, supermarkets

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22nd
JAN

Tesco launch first iPhone app

Posted by James | Filed under supermarkets, tech

: Image via Wikipedia

Tesco has launched its first iPhone application. The app, called the Tesco Store and Product Finder, helps users to find the location of their nearest UK Tesco store (including Express and Extra stores). But, says Nick Lansley of Tesco the app also allows users to find any grocery product in that store by describing its aisle and shelf.

Available on iTunes, the app is free and available worldwide although it only works for UK stores at the moment, and only with grocery products. Currently, non-food items are not supported by the app.

Does beer count as a grocery product? Not that the author of this piece for ShoutingInDigital requires an app to tell him where the beer aisle is! But, if this app sounds useful to you here’s how to get it!

Go to the computer you use to sync your iPhone/iPod Touch with iTunes, then click this link (or paste to your web browser): http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=330818669&mt=8, or
Start iTunes, go the the ‘iTunes Store’ and search for the word ‘Tesco’ in the top-right corner of the iTunes application, or
On your iPhone (or iPod Touch) start ‘App Store’, touch Search and search for ‘Tesco’. You’ll get “Tesco.com R&D Team” and “Tesco Finder” results – select either to reach the Tesco Finder application.

Tags: iphone app, retail, tesco

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21st
JAN

Which? condemns TV gold selling services

Posted by James | Filed under Uncategorized

: Image via Wikipedia

Every television ad break seems to feature them, and now they have been condemned by leading consumer group Which?

The ads in question are for companies who offer cash in return for gold jewellery, but Which? Claims these companies offer ‘shockingly bad value’.

These firms advertise themselves on TV with their main selling point being that customers can send old and unwanted gold jewellery and have it turned into cash.

Which? tested several gold buyers with three items of gold jewellery bought from the high street: a bracelet valued at £115, a £215 bangle and a £399 necklace. Buying four of each item, Which? sent them off to be valued as well as receiving quotes from three High Street pawnbrokers and jewelers.

One firm offered the lowest prices on each of the three items, with a grand total of £38.57 being offered. Another firm told Which? that the £399 bracelet wasn’t gold at all, and wanted to charge £10.95 just to return it.

On average, the TV gold buyers offered around 6% of the retail price for gold. High Street stores paid around 25%. The figures prompted Which? to condemn the providers and urged customers to avoid them.

On the research, one firm commented that the cost between gold retail prices and the prices obtained for smelted gold couldn’t be compared accurately as retail gold can be subject to markup of up to 300% and that they only advertised for old or broken jewellery.

Tags: consumer, gold, sell gold, which?

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19th
JAN

GAME announce new Nintendo DSi available for pre-order

Posted by James | Filed under tech

: Image via Wikipedia

GAME have announced the new Nintendo DSi XL is available for pre-order. The console is due to hit UK shelves from 5th March 2010.

The console, which will be available in two colours – wine red and dark brown – will feature two 4.2-inch viewing screens – making them larger than those on the original DSi. The advantages of having larger screens include larger game graphics, while making it easier to watch and use.

The new console will feature all the features and functionality of the original DSi, and will come pre-loaded with some of Nintendo’s top DS software, including ‘A Little Bit of… Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training: Arts Edition’, Dictionary 6 in 1 with Camera Function and the Nintendo DSi Browser, which enables easy access to the Internet from anywhere with a Wi-Fi connection.

Tags: dsi, game, games consoles, nintendo

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19th

Freeview TV viewers face digital TV blackout

Posted by James | Filed under tech

: Image via Wikipedia

Millions of families around the UK who use Freeview set-top boxes to receive digital TV face being blacked-out unless they stump up £170 on new equipment. Even those whose HD-ready TVs already have built-in Freeview receivers are likely to be affected.

A report in the Daily Mail online claims the cost to upgrade equipment in order to receive new channels from the BBC and other broadcasters could run to more than £170. The BBC, along with other broadcasters are set to launch a number of new, free HD channels ahead of the World Cup this summer.

However, millions of TV viewers’ equipment won’t be able to receive these new channels and have been told they will need to upgrade their equipment. Already some 20 million digital TV set-top boxes and 8 million TV sets equipped with Freeview decoders have been bought in the past five years and viewers face the prospect of having to fork out again as many will not be compatible with the new HD-transmissions.

HD transmissions allow for greater clarity and picture detail, particularly in fast-moving broadcasts, such as sports.

Critics have already rounded on both the Freeview organisation and the BBC for failing to supply adequate warnings to customers, or alerting to them to the issues.

Barry Fox, a technology industry expert told the Daily Mail:

“If you bought a TV in the run-up to Christmas it will be described as HD-ready and it will probably have Freeview built-in. Similarly, if you have bought a digital set-top box it will be compatible with current Freeview services.

“But to watch Freeview HD, you will need either a completely new TV, which has a built-in HD receiver, or a new box that will receive the HD signals.”

HD channels are currently only available to Sky or Virgin Media customers and will remain unaffected, but for everyone else they face the prospect of having to buy new equipment or not being able to view the new channels when they become available.

New Freeview HD equipment is expected to be available from next month, but manufacturers and retailers are seemingly playing on customers’ ignorance by continuing to sell equipment to customers who are unaware their equipment will not work with Freeview HD channels.

Tags: Arts, Arts and Entertainment, BBC, Broadcasters, Freeview, Set-top box, tech, Television, Virgin Media

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14th
JAN

Shopping gets you fit, says Debenhams

Posted by James | Filed under news

: Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Good news for ladies who enjoy their shopping – it can get you fit! Yes, retail therapy is the latest in a long line of fitness fads which it is claimed can fight the flab, and many women are already taking advantage of burning a few calories by pounding the streets in search of bargains.

While shedding the folding pounds, women are also shedding the fatty pounds by burning around 385 calories each week with no exercise other than a visit to the shops.

A report in OK! Magazine cited a test conducted by Debenhams which tested ten shoppers (five men, five women) armed with pedometers, and also surveyed 2,000 female shoppers in order to gain an insight into understanding the health benefits of shopping.

Debenhams found that the average women covers a distance of around 2.96 miles whenever they go to the shops, compared to the average man’s 1.5 miles. Over the course of a year, women would walk the equivalent distance of a jaunt between London and Hull.

It was also found that women also spend much longer browsing, with an average of 2.5 hours compared to mens’ mere 50 minutes.

Shoutingindigital can, however, confirm that the additional distance travelled by women is actually that distance between the first and last shops women visited. The additional distance covered can be attributed to when women decide to go back to the first shop to buy the item they saw there in the first place.

Tags: Debenhams, keep fit, shopping, weight loss

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12th
JAN

Get a free driving lesson with ASDA

Posted by James | Filed under supermarkets

: Image via Wikipedia

Supermarket ASDA are offering new drivers the chance to get a free driving lesson. Their ASDA magazine are offering a free one-hour driving lesson with a qualified driving instructor, and also a discount worth up to 15% off further lessons.

The offer expires on 30th June 2010 and is available to anyone holding a provisional driving license who is not currently under professional driving tuition.

Further details can be found in the January issue of the ASDA magazine, which can be found online – there is a voucher on page 93. Copies of the magazine can be collected instore, while lessons can be booked by visiting Pro Driving or by calling 0208 144 1499. Full terms and conditions for the offer can also be found on the Pro Driving website.

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12th

Tesco announce strong Christmas sales growth

Posted by James | Filed under supermarkets

: Image via Wikipedia

Tesco has announced its strongest Christmas performance for three years, the retailer has announced.

According to a report in Talking Retail, the supermarket giant posted like-for-like sales growth of 4.9% excluding VAT and petrol, with its Double Clubcard points scheme contributing 0.7% of the sales growth in the six-week period to January 9th in the UK market.

The chain also saw strong sales of its Finest range, and sold 35% more bottles of Champagne than in 2008. Non-food performance also saw continued growth with improved like-for-like sales, driven by particularly good growth in clothing, electricals and toys.

Tesco’s sales growth also continued into their online operations with both food and non-food posting a combined growth of nearly 20% in the six-weeks while Tesco Direct saw sales growth increase by more than 50% with strong performance in toys, TV games and entertainment,

In the international sphere, Tesco saw a combined 4.1% increase from its Asia, Europe and US operations at constant exchange rates, and 2.5% at actual exchange rates.

Tags: christmas, sales, supermarkets, tesco

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