Last year an estimated £4bn was spent on unwanted presents - the equivalent of £92 per person.  At Gadgetspeak we've seen a worrying trend of products that just won't make people happy this Christmas.  One thing we've noticed  is just how difficult it is to judge a product from it's packaging and advertising and yet this is exactly what many of you will be doing.

We're on a mission to make sure that you get totally unbiased views, so you can make the right choice.  I'll never forget the DVD game my daughter argued so heavily for one year that she spent her own pocket money on it.  It was heavily promoted on TV and piggybacked the success of another popular product. I have never seen such a disappointed little girl, the product was truly dreadful.  I tried to get her money back by saying this game was not worth the money, but because there was nothing physically wrong - we couldn't.  My daughter learnt a very valuable lesson not to trust advertising that day.

A couple of years on, and here at Gadgetspeak we will often get that same experience.  A product that is too difficult to use or just doesn't meet it's promises, like the electronic game whose only electronic bit is a recorded voice to announce the rounds of the game.  Others are just plainly badly made - look great on the packet and fall apart on opening.  Sometimes these products come from well  known brands.  In particular gadgets are sold on the back of marketing success of television characters or programmes.  There's nothing wrong with this as long as the product is great.

Take these simple steps to help make your Christmas Presents wanted presents:

• make sure you know someone who already has the product and ask their opinion
• check gadget review sites like Gadgetspeak
• check the user ratings on selling sites like Amazon
• find a shop where you can take the product out and physically play with it.

Every product that you see here on Gadgetspeak has been taken out of it's packaging and thoroughly played with by real people.  We read the manuals, test the products, and then put together our views good and bad for you to read.

As much as two thirds of your Christmas presents could end up unwanted - that's just money down the drain. Make sure you take these simple steps for a great Christmas day.

Here's an interesting promotional video we received recently - what to do with a spare fire-hose!

In this case the intrepid fire-crew aim the high pressure hose at an LCD screen and let loose. This tough little beast takes the full impact of the best the hose can deliver unscathed!

Of course - there is a more practical application for these screens than just letting the fire brigade have a little extra practice!

With the smoking ban now firmly in place in the UK very many pubs and other venues are keen to keep hold of their clients - smokers included. One of the most common attractions of course being major sporting events, and with the Olympics once more firmly on the horizon these screens provide an ideal solution : large site LCD screens that are resistant to the best the UK weather can through at them!

Of course, whether there are enough hardened smokers out there that are as weather resistant as these screens is yet to be determined! Great for summer showers though - not sure about an English winter!

They are available in a range of sizes between 26" and 55". If you want to know more then take a look at their web-site : http://www.aquivo.co.uk 

Hi,

My name is Andrew Taylor and I must admit, I think this website is tremendously interesting to someone such as myself.

Although I am sixty-seven years of age, I just love playing with "toys" and, since I descovered eBay, am even making a little money. Buying low, and, through my wordiong of the auction, selling high. I buy a gadget, play with it for a month or two, and then sell it on, to another big baby :-)

My wife is also a lot happier.

I used to be an IT Journalist so am reasonably technically minded, but prefer to write in simple laymens terms. I also used to be the editor of Connectivity so some of the older amongst you may remember me.

I will write reviews of between an A4 page to 3 A4 pages, and will use the blog for shorter descriptions and any new gear I see around.

I don't mind publishing my email if people want to wrote to me and, although I have excellent anti-spam facilities, I don't tempt providence so my address is andrew (dot) taylor (at) veritasparty (dot) com.

I hope to be back often.

Andrew Taylor.

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We're off to The Best of Stuff show this weekend where we're promised the chance to play with this long-awaited and much hyped product. Maybe we'll see you there?

With Sony having to delay European shipments until after the 2006  Christmas season coupled with the Nintindo Wii launch on 8th December I imagine Sony will be eager to persuade potential customers to wait, and that the wait will be worth it! Pop along to the show in London and take a look for yourselves, and then come back to GadgetSpeak and tell us what you think!