In the last few days I have noticed that my Samsung Smart TV is no longer showing the All4 App when I look for it. I tried searching through the apps (although there doesn’t seem to be a search feature) and just couldn’t see it anywhere. Continue reading Samsung Smart TV Not Showing All4
Higher or Lower, or Play Your Cards Right, is a card game using a standard deck of cards, where you have to guess whether the next card is going to be higher or lower than the one you have just turned over.
You can play it with different numbers of cards but for the game that we set up for our summer fair, we decided to pay with 5 cards. We bought these A4 playing cards from Amazon UK. (You can also get jumbo playing cards in the US but I am not sure how popular this game is there!) Continue reading What are the Chances of Winning Higher or Lower with 5 Cards?
Recently we had an issue in our house where my son’s Kindle Fire was stuck on mute and I couldn’t get the volume back up whatever I tried. He, funnily enough was happy to watch his Fire with no volume! I guess it was better than nothing.
It is the kids Fire with the sturdy blue cover that it happened to but I guess maybe it could happen to other Fires too if they work the same way.
I dragged down the settings from the top and sure enough the mute button was on, so I tried dragging the volume slider and it dragged fine but still the mute button was on. I tried holding the mute button to turn it off but that also had no effect.
Even the volume buttons on the side of the Fire did not make any difference, the volume was still off.
I couldn’t figure out what my son had done to turn off the volume and I couldn’t find any answers online. I did find something talking about some settings that may have caused it but I couldn’t find what they were talking about.
Anyway, I found an answer (it is not ideal but it works so I guess it is an answer), and it was the age old answer where technology was concerned, a hard reboot. I turned the Fire off by holding down the power button until it asked if I wanted to turn it off and then turned it back on again by holding the button again and sure enough when I tried it again the volume was back on again.
I have had the problem of no sound on the Fire a couple of times now. I can only assume that my son presses something somewhere along the line to do this. It doesn’t seem to be a simple mute as this should then come back on again when you unmute it, but it doesn’t.
Oh well, at least there is a solution that will not drive me completely crazy!
Update: We now have a new Fire and the same thing happens with this too. Apparently there may be a certain app that causes this issue but I don’t know which one so that doesn’t really help! In any case the reboot does still work and the mute problem does not happen so much that this gets annoying.
So I have recently taken up swimming as a great form of exercise both to keep fit and also to keep my back flexible and stop my back pain. I am not a great swimmer but I can keep going for a bit doing breaststroke and although that is not as good as doing front crawl I’m sure the swimming helps as part of my exercise regime.
However, the more I swim and the more lengths I do, the slightly more boring the swimming gets so I decided to see if I could get a waterproof iPod or some kind of music device to help stop the boredom and keep me swimming for longer.
I am a big music fan and I find that it helps in the gym, particularly on the treadmill to make the time go quicker. However, my everyday iPod will was obviously not going to be any good for swimming and so I had a look for a waterproof iPod, as I wasn’t sure if there was one, and found that there was indeed such a thing.
Actually there are two options for getting music in your ears while you swim and one is to buy a custom waterproof iPod or MP3 player and the other is to buy a waterproof case for your existing iPod or MP3 player. There are companies that take standard iPod shuffles and waterproof them with a 2 year guarantee.
| Waterproof iPod Shuffle options | |
Obviously there are pros and cons to each and it is a personal decision as to which one will be better for you but I would suggest the following:
If you are a frequent swimmer then maybe a waterproof iPod would be better then you don’t need to keep taking your iPod out of the waterproof case and also you can load up some songs that are perfect for swimming to. You can also get hold of a smaller iPod shuffle that is easy to attach when you are in the pool.
Waterproof MP3s can also be used in snow and for other watersports and not only for swimming. In fact obviously you can use them whenever but they are designed to work in water so you might as well use them for that!
The iPod can be attached to your goggles and you will also need waterproof headphones or earbuds to go with it. A waterproof iPod can also be used just like a normal iPod.
If you just want to waterproof your iPod for going on holiday then think about getting a waterproof case, there are plenty available and the majority of these are cheaper than buying a waterproof ipod or MP3 player so you don’t have to shell out a lot of money.
You can also just get waterproof cases that will protect your iPhone or other smartphone for when you are at the pool or the beach so that your phone doesn’t get damaged by water.
However, if you are planning to swim with music then it is probably better to get something much smaller and easier to use than using your iPod or iPhone.
If you are looking for things to do with the kids in the summer holidays then one thing you may not have realised is that a lot of the cinemas have special screenings for kids (and their parents!) at really great prices this summer.
Often these screenings are in the mornings as this is a time when the cinemas are normally closed and also is a good time for younger children to venture out to the cinema.
Not all of the cinemas in the particular group show the same films to it is worth looking around to see what is on where.
Check out the information below for details for the larger companies:
Cineworld has 82 cinemas in the Uk and over 800 screens and they offer morning showings of child friendly films at around 10am during the summer holidays and selected weekends.
Their promotion is called Movies for Juniors and prices for a 2D film showing are £2.00 or £1.80 if you book in advance with a Cineworld account. 3D films cost £3.50 again with a 10% discount if you book online.
Odeon have over 120 cinemas in the UK and also have special movies in the summer holidays and weekends through their “Odeon Kids” scheme. These films are £2.50 for children and adults and can be (and are advised to be) booked online in advance as they prove pretty popular.
Vue has 85 multiplex cinemas in the UK and offer a similar scheme known as “Mini Mornings” which cost from £1.99 for 2D and £2.79 for 3D films at weekends and during summer holidays.
Not as big as some of the cinema chains but Empire have their “Empire Jnrs” movies for all the family every weekend. So these are not specifically for summer holidays but if you have an Empire cinema near you this could be good at weekends.
Ticket prices are not specified on the Empire website but said to be at ‘pocket money prices’ but when we tried to book a price of £1.75 per adult and child was quoted for the particular movie and location we chose.
So on a rainy day this may be a great option to keep the kids occupied for a few hours. Summer holidays can be an expensive time and although obviously this is not a free activity it is certainly a lot cheaper than normal screenings which are becoming out of reach for some parents on lower incomes.
