Make a movie in your lunch break

Note to the world's morons: you don't have to make your characters swear, however tempting it may be. Have you any idea how difficult it has been trying to find an example of a movie this side of the language acceptability threshold?

Anyway, this site is fun (for about an hour). You can make a movie just by typing the script into the box. There are other tools to animate your movie and then you can post it on Youtube.

For another fine spending-free way to pass a lunch break from This is Not Work check out:

>> Xtranormal movie maker

Related

Phil Scott's top 10 movies about money

HMV is doing £2.99 DVDs including free delivery

If you ever needed confirmation that the DVD as a format is on its last legs then check out the latest batch being dolled at by HMV for less than 3 quid. There's even a few decent ones in the selection. Best bit: delivery is included in the price.  

HMV £2.99 DVDs

Related

Can HMV survive vs illegal downloads?

 

Emma Thompson as Nanny McPhee, one of the films on offer at HMV.

 

How to get your name on your Facebook URL

Calling all people with unusual names who haven't switched your Facebook URL to one bearing your name... you can still do it here:

Facebook/username

The system was launched in the summer, says Woman Entrepreneur, so many of the more common names have been taken but if you're lucky you can change yours from the generic:

www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=000000000

to a

www.facebook.com/yournamehere

Related

• Jobhunters turning to Facebook
• When Facebook handed user's details to private firms
• Should I let my boss be my Facebook friend?
• Facebook users face dearer insurance
• The number of visitors to Facebook fall by 5%

... more

 

 

Restaurant discounts for people who can't be bothered hunting down voucher codes

Now that online discount vouchers and voucher codes have completely removed the spontaneity and fun of going out for meals, buying stuff or doing anything that involves money, one positive from the phenomenon is the implied acknowledgement that if you don't have a voucher you're being ripped off.

So what to do.

Best is to relax, buy what you want, eat when and where you want and take the extra cost on the chin. Mostly the discounts seem derisory anyway.

If you really must chase discounts then here's a card worth checking out. While paying in advance for money-off is a backwards way of managing your finances, the Gourmet Society card is a way of knowing where you can save money in advance without having to trawl the plethora of voucher sites before deciding where to dine.

With 3,000 restaurants on its books, it's particularly useful for discovering new places that otherwise might be off your radar and if you're a regular at Pizza Express it's a no-brainer because you'll always get one main course thrown into the mix for free. And even better, you don't need to book in advance.

The card normally costs £53.50 a year but we have a special offer of £33.50 for 14 months. You'll also find discounts on hotels. Check out:

>> Gourmet Society special discount offer

 

How to make money from your T-shirt designs

Good news: you can upload your designs to zazzle.co.uk and earn money every time someone buys a T-shirt or mug with your scribble on it. Not so good news: the site boasts more than 22 billion products to choose from. That's quite a lot of competition by anybody's standards.

Still, it's a fun site and worth a look one lunch time.

Zazzle.co.uk

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Swishing - swapping your old clothes online - is all the rage

Free online spell checker for people who can't spell but insist on posting comments on websites

Earlier this week when the boss of Tesco announced that his company employs lots of thick people (at ironically about the same time it was revealed that Tesco plans to build a school), there was further irony to be had in witnessing how many spelling mistakes had slipped into the comments made by readers on both sides of the argument. It doesn't have to bee liek thiss.

If you use Firefox as your browser there is a built-in spell checker.

Or if, like most people, you use Internet Explorer then you should download this little spelling tool, which you can enable when you want to post an opinion without fear of your words moron blah.

Get ieSpell here

Related

Read more about what Tesco is up to (the good and the bad) 

 

How the porn on Twitter can help you improve the chances of your business website or blog getting looked at

 

Isn't it astonishing how much porn there is on Twitter? OK I know it's everywhere but Twitter's the latest thing.

Click on the day's 'Trending Topics' such as Halloween and you'll be greeted with endless lists of 'tweets' from innocent people mucking about with their 140 characters but look closer and you'll see a list often peppered with invitations to meet webcam owners in various states of undress and other related bedroom offshoots.

Astonishing? Well, no it isn't astonishing at all.

Like it or loath it, here is a business sector with a firm grasp of how to promote itself in the online Wild West. You have to admire the tenacity and ingenuity. And businesses that claim ruination at the hands of the online 'revolution' should be learning from them.

What is truly astonishing is just how many businesses still have no online presence whatsoever. How many decrepit local shops don't bother to create a website or a blog and get it indexed on Google before whinging that the future's out the get them? Guys, if you're not on Google you don't exist. Not any more. We've moved on.

If the oldest profession is on the hi-tech ball there really is no excuse for traditional ones such as butchers, bakers or shoe shops to shy away from cyberspace. Your customers are just as likely to begin a real-world shopping trip with a search on Google as they are with an online one. Get over it. Get online.

If you believe the stats, porn and social networks such as Twitter and Facebook are rather more popular than sorry little High Street businesses with old-school non-micro chips on their shoulders. Maybe, just maybe, it's because the pornographers and the geeks are making an effort.

Look. If you really don't know where to start you could dip your toes into the digital with an off-the-shelf blog package like the one used to power this one.

And then spend your lunch break reading these two useful pieces on how to maintain a site worth visiting and then a bit on how to promote it.

>> The BBC's 15 Web principals

>> 20 ways to share a great blog post

And if you're business is worth saving read this.

>> Guide: How to lure investors to your business ideas

(I should perhaps add that this rant is in response to another local business complaining that the internet is killing their business while not doing anything about it.)

Wembley ice rink tickets now on sale

I like the look of this. 

And tickets are now on sale - £36 for a family or £65 with a tour of Wembley on top, which may sound a lot because it is. But I think we should all try to encourage more large-scale fun stuff like this.

>> Find out more.

>> Tickets

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Read this: Just how much trouble is Iceland really in

Wickes half-price bathroom sale

We all know that before becoming a popular DIY store, Wickes (then known as Wicksy) was a character in the London Mayor's propaganda vehicle  EastEnders played by an old-school village policeman who had a number one single. (Isn't it great with this internet how you can make facts true by simply linking some of the the words to pages of reference?)  

But did you know that Wickes, the shop, has just announced a 50% off its bathrooms promotion? You can 'bathe in Victorian elegance' for a mere £500, down from £1,000 among other offers.  

What I particularly like about Wickes, the shop, is that it offers an installation service that comes with a two-year guarantee on the workmanship.

>> Check out the Wickes autumn sale

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This man collects toilets, read his story

Home renovations: hot tub vs basement

Compare your low-cost loan options for new bathrooms

 

Chelsea FC VIP tickets more than half-price | Stranglers tour

One of the downsides of living in London, apart from public transport in rush hour, is Chelsea Football Club. You either love 'Chowseee!!!' or you hate them. And I don't feel the love.

But if you are a fan then you can watch your beloved club from one of the posh seats with a three-course meal, half-time snacks and a team list thrown in for £99 a pop. A hundred quid for a game of football?! you may ask. But normal price is more than £200.

>> Be quick: Chelsea ticket offer from Travelzoo

Now a non sequitur for non fans. Why not check out the Stranglers latest tour. And check out the Keith Floyd tribute by drummer Jet Black on the way. The telly chef was a big Stranglers fan and their music was the soundtrack to his TV shows.

>> Stranglers tickets on sale 10am today

'Many people tell you that they're your friends' - how prophetic all those pre-Facebook years ago (PS> Yeah, I know Hugh Cornwall hasn't been the frontman for near on 20 years.)

Drop this Readability button into your browser menu bar and never struggle to read Web pages again

Three clicks and one drag of the mouse and this fantastic little tool will provide you with an easy-to-read version of the article on the page. It's brilliant. Have a go...

>> Readability - 'the tool that makes reading the Web more enjoyable'