Posts filed under 'Technology'
According to recent research by swiftcover.com; over five years Britain has resigned £500 million pounds worth of electrical gadgets to the bin.
Overall since 2006, the British public have spent £1.5 billion pounds on over 300 million gadgets. This works out to an average of six per person, demonstrating the explosion in mobile and handheld technology over the last decade.
With devices being continually upgraded in increasingly short periods; the rate at which phones, mp3 players, televisions and other gadgets get disregarded has dramatically increased. 35 per cent of all gadgets bought in the past five years are no longer being used by the original owner.
The final resting place for 60 percent of gadgets is completely unknown but figures suggest they don’t all end up in the bottom of drawers or in shoeboxes under the bed. 19 percent of brits say they recycle their gadgets while 21 percent say they give their gadgets to friends and family.
There is also a noticeably different approach to unwanted gadgets between men and women. 40 percent of woman hand down or recycle their gadgets while 31 percent of men preferred to sell or discard their gadgets.
All this points to gadgets becoming entrenched in day to day life, but they are increasingly expensive.
Worryingly 29 percent of people who have bought a gadget in the last five years assume their gadgets are covered by contents insurance; which can be the case but not always. This leaves gadget enthusiasts exposed to huge financial costs should they lose or damage their gadgets.
August 5th, 2011
swiftcover.com has teamed up with absolute radio to bring you this fantastic competition. And it’s easy to enter. All you have to do is complete the Best of 2010 music quiz by clicking here and you could stand the chance to win. The prizes which are up for grabs include an Apple iPad, two iPod Nanos and two iPod shuffles. So if you are a music lover why not enter and see how much you can remember from the past year.
Visit swiftcover.com’s Facebook page to keep up to date with the latest competitions.
December 13th, 2010
These days our lives are rich with data downloaded from the internet. No longer is your home overrun with a CD’s, DVD and paperbacks but instead all stored on various gadgets including laptops, computers and mobile phones.
Research done by swiftcover.com has discovered that 42% percent of all digital content in the UK is uninsured. Spending an average of £453 each on gadgets and downloads, there a huge £300 million worth of music, video and video games that goes uninsured each year.
James Barclay, home underwriting manager at swiftcover.com, said: “It’s staggering that we take downloading content for granted these days without a second thought for its monetary worth. Clearly it’s important to recognise how much gadgets such as PCs, laptops and MP3s are worth however people should not ignore digital assets such as music, videos or even e-books, as they often have a substantial value.”
With all this digital content now being downloaded and stored on PCs, Laptops and Mobile phones, it would be beneficial for anybody spending a lot of time and money on downloads to think about insuring their digital content. Even though some download sites may let you re-download a certain amount of content, the cost of replacing your entire collection could prove to be an unnecessary expense.
With swiftcover.com home insurance you get £500 cover free for your digital downloads.
November 18th, 2010
People lying about their claims history when buying insurance costs up to £1 million each year in lost premiums, and many of those who lie will go on and attempt to make fraudulent claims. The unfairness of it all is that law abiding drivers are the ones who end up paying higher premiums to subsidise people who lie.
But swiftcover.com is now using a new system which will automatically check the claims history of motor insurance applicants. The system will be able to compare the claims disclosed with a database holding the details of 22 million drivers, so if the amount of claims disclosed does not match the details on the database then they will be asked to check that their application is correct.
Steve Gaywood, swiftcover.com’s Counter Fraud and Compliance Manager, explained
“It is not fair that safe, law-abiding drivers should pay higher premiums to subsidise people who lie about their previous claims to get cheaper insurance. swiftcover.com’s new check will help us identify people that have not fully disclosed their claims history and ensure that they are charged the appropriate price for their insurance.”
This new system will help keep insurance costs lower for drivers who are open and truthful about their claims history.
October 4th, 2010
These days you can save time and make life easier by using the latest technologies such as the internet. According to swiftcover.com seven out of ten people are now doing their banking and setting up their insurance online, whilst four out of ten people are doing their shopping via the internet. However there are still those things which people find a waste of time.
According to car insurer swiftcover.com these are the UK’s biggest wastes of time:
• 29% of people said commuting to and from work
• 26% of people said telephone sales callers
• 25% said doing chores or the housework
• 23% said long queues in shops were the biggest waste of time
• 16% said doing paperwork, i.e. banking, filling out forms etc
• 14% cited slow drivers as the biggest waste of time
Tina Shortle, marketing director for swiftcover.com, said:
We live in a fast-paced world where we want things to happen immediately and demand instant gratification, which is why the growth of online retailing has been so quick – the internet is fast, simple and convenient, letting us decide what we want to buy and when we want to buy it.
August 4th, 2010
More than 6 years has passed since the ban of using mobile phones whilst driving and if caught using a mobile phone you could have to pay a fine of up to £60 and get three penalty points, but this doesn’t seem to be stopping the distraction of mobile phones. A recent survey by Autoglass found:
More than half of drivers say that texting whilst driving is the biggest distraction for motorists.
71% admit that it is easy to become distracted at the wheel.
2 out of 10 people admit they have had an accident or momentarily lost focus while on the road.
Other distractions which made it on the list were eating and drinking, singing along to the radio, checking hair and make up, sneezing, lighting a cigarette and staring at an accident.
For tips on how to minimize distractions at the wheel visit
www.autoglassnews.co.uk
June 21st, 2010
The festival season is underway and as everyone knows the weather is always unpredictable, so when packing for a festival it’s always important to remember to pack your wellies.
This summer your wellington boots will not only keep you dry but will also charge your mobile phone. A new kind of wellies have been created and will be able to charge your phone as you dance, they have a power generating sole that coverts heat from your feet into electrical current. Mobile phone company, Orange will launch the eco-friendly wellies at the Glastonbury Festival in Somerset later this month. Charging a mobile phone is always difficult to do at festivals but this won’t have to be a worry anymore, and the new wellies will just give everyone a good excuse to dance more!
Click here to see swiftcover.com’s festival survival tips. 
June 18th, 2010
The Apple iPad has finally launched in the UK after a long wait for gadget lovers. Eager customers started queuing outside apple stores yesterday afternoon, waiting throughout the night to ensure they got their hands on the gadget. The doors of many stores opened at 8:00 this morning, creating much excitement amongst the crowds. Some customers, however, could have an even longer wait after iPad suppliers warned that there are a limited number of iPads available and this limited supply could last until September. The iPad will cost up to £699 in the UK for a top of the range version. There are 3500 applications available to buy or download for free, including the popular app called Stuck, you can also download videos, books, newspapers and music on the go.
May 28th, 2010
A new technology of hands free tweeting has been developed for Ford cars. The system has already been fitted in Ford Fiesta cars in America, and will be fitted into Ford Focus cars in the UK from next year. The system will be able to read twitter updates out load while you are driving so you won’t need to take your hands of the wheel and your eyes can stay on the road.
Future developments of the system will include voice recognition where the driver will be able to add tweets by saying them out load. The system will also include the ability to read text messages out loud while you’re driving, and you will be able to control your MP3 player using voice commands. Hopefully this will encourage motorists to avoid using their mobile phones while driving.
May 11th, 2010
Have you seen the new iPhone application called STUCK? It’s a new app where you can tell friends, family or the entire world where and why you are stuck. Whether you are stuck in traffic, have a song stuck in your head or even if you are stuck in love, you can share your situation with everyone.
The iphone application, which was launched by swiftcover.com, can be downloaded for free on your iPhone or iPod touch. You can also join the stuck facebook group to share your stuck experiences, the group has over 49,000 fans and is growing every day.
Stuck is available on the app store or alternatively you can access it from your iTunes software.
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/stuck/id351658914?
February 16th, 2010
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