Does printer ink really cost more than champagne?

Yes. I hate to break it to you folks, but those little plastic cartridges that you are constantly replacing do cost more than champagne. In fact, they cost more money than lots of luxury items, including Smirnoff Vodka, Dom Perignon, Petrol and even Chanel No. 5.

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How often do you go to use your printer, only to be greeted by an 'ink running low' reminder and  little twinkling lights? If you're anything like me (and I don't actually print that much stuff off these days), you'll be fed up of shelling out for printer ink.

This rather awesome infographic (at the bottom of the post) proves just how expensive printer ink is. When we print reams and reams of paper in the office or at home, we don't think just how much money we could be wasting.

Would you buy an expensive bottle of fizz and pour it all down the drain? I didn't think so. So, why do we not do more to prevent using so much printer ink?

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Many of us spend hours searching on the internet for ways to save money, whether it's knocking a few quid off our annual energy bills or finding a cheaper car insurance quote. Yet, when it comes to one of the most expensive liquids we buy, we don't bat an eyelid?

The average UK household spends around £200 on printer ink cartridges. Whoa. I'll give you a minute to absorb that information and put it into perspective.

We could very well be splashing out more cash on ink than other household bills, including our road tax and TV licence!

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So, now we know just how much we might be spending on printer ink, is there a reason why it's so expensive? Well, yes there is. This type of ink and the cartridge costs a small fortune to manufacture, so it's very difficult to pass it on to the consumer at a cheap price.

However, the prices we regularly see in the shops and on the web are most definitely inflated. If you're already outraged, you might want to stop read now.

The cost of ink cartridges has also soared over the past ten years, partly because the amount of ink inside the cartridges has reduced. HP's most popular ink cartridge in 2004 was the HP45, which contained 42mls and cost around twenty quid. These days, we're paying £13 for just 5ml of ink from the current best seller.

How does that 650% price increase sound? Painful, I'm sure.

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Is Kindle still king of the e-readers?

As a bit of tech queen, I’m all up for embracing developments in technology. However, one thing I refuse to do is start reading on my smartphone. I’ll probably have to eat my words in a couple of years, but I just don’t want to.

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When I’m reading I like to go into my own world, some place far away from the constant buzz of Facebook updates and calls. So, why on earth would I want to read a book on my phone? Yes, I know I can turn it on silent, but the temptation of checking emails is still staring me right in the face.

So, with that in mind, I’m putting up a fight for the eReader. As such, I was quite interested in knowing more about Kobo’s latest attack on the Kindle.

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite

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The Kindle Paperwhite was unveiled last year, the first device to offer readers an illuminated paper-like display. That was a fair few months ago now and actually around the same time as the launch of the Kobo Glo, which didn’t put up much of a fight.

Having had to argue with my other half over leaving a reading light on, I personally thought the introduction of a back light was a little too late. However, the idea excited me. No more hiding under bed covers with a torch!

Kindle has managed to dominate the e-reader market for many years and has fought off challenges from the likes of Kobo. However, even I’m not convinced that it can compete with the new Kobo Aura HD, the self-proclaimed ‘Porsche of eReaders’.

Kobo Aura HD

If you’re in the market for a new eReader and are thinking about giving Kobo a chance, take a look at this comparison between the Aura HD and the Kindle Paperwhite.

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Design

The Aura HD weighs in at 240g and measures 11.7mm thick, so it’s nowhere near as light and slimline as the Paperwhite (213g, 9.1mm), but does that matter? Well, both use the touchscreen as the main means of navigation, but Kindle pinches it for me.

Screen & Light

Seeing as both of these eReaders have illuminated backlights, this is an important part of the review. Kobo has given the Aura HD a 6.8 inch Pearl E-ink touchscreen, with 1440x1080 resolution, 265 dpi and ClarityScreen+. Whereas, despite Kindle improving over previous versions, it just can’t compete with the Aura HD this time.

Other Features

Of course, with tech advancing, these eReaders aren’t just about reading books. There are several other features available on both.

The Aura HD includes the ability to track reading statistics and highlight passages with Reading Life (all of which can be shared on Facebook). There’s also a couple of games, Chess and Sudoku, if you fancy a break. The Kindle has a few more gizmos to keep me busy; WhisperSync on Voice, which allows me to listen to an audiobook as well, Time to Read and X-Ray.

So, while they both have different features, they’re equally as good as one another.

Battery & Storage 

When the Paperwhite was released, Amazon claimed that it could stay charged for up to two months, so Kobo matched it. In terms of storage, the Kindle has 2GB internal storage, but offers free storage over Amazon Cloud. The Kobo Aura HD has boosted on board memory at 4GB and expandable memory of up to 32GB.

Again, this is too close to call so a draw it is.

Books

I’m sorry Kobo lovers, but Amazon wipes the floor of Kobo in this area. The Kindle Store has 1.5 million books, with 300,000 of them exclusive to Kindle. There is also the ability to borrow books for absolutely nothing if you sign up to Amazon Prime. The Kobo does have access to around 3 million books, but they’re just not as good.

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Price

It’s a bargain basement £109 for the Wi-Fi model of the Kindle Paperwhite and £169 for 3G, whereas the Kobo Aura HD retails at £139.99 (don’t forget there’s no 3G option).

Is Windows 8 To Blame For Falling PC Sales?

Remember the good old days when PCs were king? That was before we had a smartphone in our pocket and tablet in our bag. Well, it seems that traditional computers are on their way out as first quarter shipments are down by 14%, according to research firm, IDC.

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Although the PC market has been on the decline – for obvious reasons – this represents the biggest fall in over twenty years of records. It also marked a serious problem for HP, which saw a drop of 24%.

What more, the unprecedented fall is being (at least partially) blamed on Microsoft's latest operating system, Windows 8. Microsoft hasn't been having the best of times recently and this latest blow could see the end of the desktop computer.

So, do we actually have anything to worry about or is the latest dip sales being completely over-hyped? Well, to give you an idea, Samsung alone sold around 70 million smartphones during the first quarter of the year, whereas a total of 76 million PCs were sold in the same period.

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The growth of tablets, smartphones and other mobile devices is largely to blame for the decline of the PC market, so why the shift to Windows 8?

We know that the Windows 8 tablets, particularly Surface, haven't been selling well, but Microsoft is yet to release any concrete figures. The OS was designed to give PCs a boost, but with an emphasis on mobility, rather than traditional computing, it seems to have gone the other way.

In fact, even after its release, many businesses chose to install Windows 7, rather than the latest OS. A troubling sign for anyone, surely? Microsoft should really have seen it coming though... who wants to use a PC without a Start menu?

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So, although it's rather harsh to blame the entire downfall on Windows 8, it definitely hasn't helped.

Will Ouya Mean The End Of The Xbox?

You’ve heard of Nintendo Wii, the Xbox and PlayStation… but now there’s a new guy in town. The big three have dominated the market for quite some time, but the Ouya is a new and, more importantly, cheap games console running on the Android operating system.

Gamers and tech fans have been eagerly awaiting its release since raising millions of pounds on Kickstarter – thrashing the original $950,000 target.

Features

The Ouya will feature a Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core processor, 8GB internal storage, 1GB RAM and will also have various connectivity options, including WiFi, Bluetooth, HDMI and USB.

Do you think that the £99 Ouya could knock the Xbox and other game giants off the top spot? Would you consider buying one?

Where to get one

If you've only just heard about the revolutionary Ouya and weren't one of the original backers on the Kickstarter, you'll be pleased to hear that the console will be shipped to retailers in the UK, including Amazon and GAME from the first week of June.

Benefits

• Try before you buy on games
• Cheap hardware (console & controllers)
• Great for developers
• Over 100 titles available upon launch, including Final Fantasy III and Pinball Arcade
• Recognisable UI (Android 4.0)

Have I converted you to a new way of gaming? If so, you could get up to £40 when trading in your PSP and even get a £5 bonus with Gadgets 4 Everyone coupon codes.

If you aren’t sold by the Ouya and would still prefer to stick to the games you know and love, how could you cut the cost? Well, free money off vouchers would be a good place to start.

You can save up to 85% off selected games using GAME voucher codes UK or by taking advantage of 50% off selected Xbox products with free UK coupons for Microsoft.

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The Ouya is a completely new way to game. If you like what you see on your phone, but wish it could work on the big screen, it's probably perfect for you. However, I doubt we will see the immense graphics of the Xbox or PlayStation any time soon.