If you’re a tech junky like me, you doubtlessly like to include gadgets in every aspect of your life – even your downtime. The good news is that there are plenty of fun ways to inject tech into your hobbies; be it sports, photography or simply reading a book.
Winston Churchill was known as a great many things -- UK Prime Minister, writer, orator. What you might not know is that he was also a painter. He didn't take up the hobby until he was in his 40s, but it became such an integral part of him that he even wrote a book about it -- Painting as a Pastime. It details his love affair with the craft and how greatly it enriched his life.
Whether you want to rediscover an old pastime or take up a new one, here's why you should consider doing something creative. It's time to find yourself again and reignite your drive.
We all have goals. Some might be career orientated, others may involve learning a new hobby or reigniting an old one.
It can sometimes be hard to achieve them. Maybe you're too busy ("Down time? What's that?") or find it difficult to get started. Perhaps motivation becomes a problem after you get started.
The excuses stop now -- you can find time if you really want something to happen. And we're here to help.
So you've wanted your own area to get creative for a long time. But you keep putting it off. You're busy, tired, there's just not enough time in the day.
Well the long weekend is coming and it's time to do something for yourself. It isn't going to be as hard as you think it is, and we're here to help.
The brain may not be a muscle, but it can make or break your workouts. If you struggle with motivation or are just getting back into a regular routine, you should be exercising it to your advantage. Here's some tips on tricking your brain into working for you.
Christmas is coming and small businesses in the retail sector will be sending their goods out to customers over this period. Officeworks has brought out a cheap 500g pre-paid satchel offering for businesses that need to send smaller items. The office supplies retailer did this after conducting research on the postage habits of small businesses. Here's what you need to know.
There are plenty of incentives baked into the tax code for business and individuals -- to both assist with the day-to-day and invest in new gear. While it may not always make sense to claim a deduction, doing so can be a big help if you need some new tech.
The gap is closing between flash drives and portable hard drives, but for now, the latter still wins most of the time when it comes to price and capacity -- especially if you can find a good deal on one. Take Officeworks, which is currently selling Toshiba USB 3.0 1TB drives for $69, while the 2TB versions are $119.
You can never have enough USB thumb drives, unless of course you have a problem with hoarding and you're drowning in portable storage devices. For everyone who doesn't fit this description, Officeworks is currently offering 16GB Cruzer Force flash drives for five bucks each.
Are you thinking about storage? Well, you are now -- and that's a good thing. If you pop into Officeworks, you'll find the retailer is selling external Western Digital drives for cheaper than usual, with an ultra-portable 2TB model going for $83.30 and the more desk-bound 3TB disk coming in at $90.30.
We've seen several iTunes cards deals of varying value and length in the past few days. Here's another: 20 per cent off all cards at Officeworks.
Bargain sites are useful for highlighting specials, but don't readily identify the pricing history for a given item. Shopping tracker site Mild Surprise runs twice-daily price checks on items for sale online at JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman and Officeworks, and highlights goods that have seen the biggest price changes.
Officeworks has begun selling a selection of iPad models. For bargain hunters, that's useful for two reasons: some prices are lower than Apple, and the Officeworks Officeworks price match policy means if any other store offers a bargain, you can get it from Officeworks for that price less 5 per cent.
One of the few worthwhile deals in the Click Frenzy debacle was the BigPond Music offer of 50 per cent off all albums. If you're more an iTunes/single track purchaser or you missed ou, there are a couple of notable iTunes card discounts this week as well.
Solid state drives are coming down in price, but it's hard to beat magnetic media when it comes to bang for your buck. SSDs are also not the best for backup purposes, where their limited write cycles and high cost make them poor substitutes for good old HDDs. If you're in the market for an external backup drive, Officeworks might have what you're looking for.
If you want the iOS experience without the iPhone expense, the 8GB iPod Touch is going cheap right now. Both Dick Smith and Officeworks have it for $169, well down on Apple's $219 price.
There's just been a rush on online purchases of chairs at Officeworks, where a listing error meant many models were priced at under $10. All the discount chairs are now listed as "out of stock", but
Not the cheapest iTunes deal ever but not to be sneezed at: Officeworks has 20 per cent off $20, $30 and $50 cards. You can order online, but need to spend more than $55 for free delivery. McDonald's aside, free public Wi-Fi is still rare in Australia compared to other countries, so new options are welcome. Officeworks is now offering free Wi-Fi access in all its stores, which if nothing else gives you a potential way to look up cheaper options and then ask the staff to match the price.
