So, we’re already half-way through the month of March. Have you kept up with your New Year’s resolution in terms of working out? Or do you find it hard to peel your body off the couch the time you make it home and lay yourself on it?

Perhaps, you need a bit of a motivator. Fitness trackers are a great way to keep you on track with your goals or let you realise what your actual goals are. A week with a tracker and you’ll get to find out exactly how many steps you are walking, how many you should be, compare it to your eating habits and let you know how long it would take you to achieve the goal you want.

Ate an extra sweet at work? The tracker will show you that you can walk it off in a few minutes – like getting off the bus two stops earlier and walking home. Once you start tracking you can get creative with your walking or fitness habits.

So, here are the two trackers from EPSON we’re currently excited about.

PULSENSE PS-500

Unlike many other trackers out there PS-500 tracks your pulse and displays the most important information on the little screen.  You’ll instantly know if you’re overdoing it or not training enough.

Some of the features of the PS-500:

– Monitors and displays your heart rate
– Counts your steps
– Monitors your sleep patterns
– Transfers the data wirelessly to a dedicated app on your smartphone

PULSENSE PS-100

Don’t want the fancy version of the fitness tracker – here’s the light version of the display. It still measures your heart rate, counts your steps and tracks your sleep and you can analyse your data on the smartphone app.

You can upload and display your information on any smartphone, tablet or a computer and see how you’ve done during the day. The upload and synching to your phone is wireless so you can view your information anytime and anywhere and perhaps that can make you to take a decision to exercise more.

Still not convinced? Want to see these trackers in action? Come to our EPSON Customer day and take these trackers for a spin. See how you can track your fitness with a couple easy steps.

Both PS-500 and PS-100 are available in stock now.

When’s the last time you have printer a photograph? Well, we have 10 good reason for you to do so just about now. And if you need a printer that can print all of these in one go without emptying your pockets – you know where to look for one.

1. Make Polaroid-style coasters.

Ever wonder what you could do with your Instagram photos? This is just the perfect formate for these cute-as-a-button coasters! You can get a full tutorial on the original page here.

2. Create a beautiful family tree wall art

Isn’t this just such a beautiful idea for displaying family photos? You can print off the photos you like the most and you can find the wall stickers in most accessory or arts shops (or IKEA). And if you want to get extra creative – you can paint the tree on the wall yourself! More tree styles and the ideas in the link here.

3. Minimalist wall art

This is a very straight-forward minimal but neat and pretty idea. Once again – a great idea for your Instagram photos – not only because of the format but the filters and the content too will make this beautiful wall art.

4. Make a photo letter art

Now, if you’re really into your DIY you can make the letters shown above, however it might involve a bit of woodcarving. But fear not, if you don’t have a woodcarver in you can also make these letters in 2D or you can go even further and make these in 3D cardboard. Or if you’re really daring and on the lookout for something original for your next anniversary party you can combine all of these elements together.

5. Photos + clothes pegs + Christmas lights = magic

Christmas lights are not just for Christmas just as clothes pegs are not just for clothes. There are so many variations to these combinations: a rounded clothes peg picture display, framed display, display over your work desk – the possibilities are endless and all of them work beautifully.

 6. Stack your photos on beautiful textured photo blocks

This technique will not only help you display your photos in an original and beautiful way but it will also help to preserve them better. You can find the tutorial for these large photo blocks here or you can also make them smaller.

7. Print a huge picture tiled photo

It’s actually much easier to make this than it looks. You can be creative as on the picture above or create a beautiful family poster for your wall.

8. Transfer your photos to the canvas in a few easy steps

There are several great tutorials on how to achieve the real canvas looks for your photos and here’s just one of them. Create a beautiful and classy wall display for your office or room.

 9. Create a balloon chandelier for the special occasion

Beautiful idea for the Birthday bash, bridal shower or an anniversary.

10. Get creative with driftwood

Simple, beautiful and relaxing & so so easy to make.

How did you like these ideas? Did you know that with the Epson Expressions XP-225 printer you could have printed all of these at almost the same time it took you to scroll down this page? Our best-selling multi-function printer is now available at a special price of €69.99. You can also get some of the other supplies above from our shop, like the Epson glossy paper €14.99 or the Epson 4×6 paper for those Instagram prints for just €12.99. perfect to have handy if you’re looking for the last-minute gifts (in form of photos of course) or need to decorate for a party on a short  notice.

Are you currently using Google Chrome? We always recommend Google Chrome over any other browser for one simple reason – it’s quick. And it’s super handy too. However, there are little hacks to make your life easier and your search faster even if you’re already using this browser.

1. Control the Tabs. Use Ctrl+T to open a new tab or Ctrl+Shift+T to reopen recently closed tabs – great for those moments you close a tab accidentally.

2. Use the address bar. You can use the address bar to search for what you’re looking for on Google without typing the actual address. Need to jump to the address bar quickly? Use Ctrl+l and you’ll get to the address bar without using a mouse.

3. Zoom in and Zoom out the whole page using Ctrl++ or Ctrl+-. This is really handy if you need to read a smaller text or see the detailed picture, Ctrl+0 will return you to the normal page size.

 4. Open the link in a new tab using Ctrl+click combination. It’s so useful when you’re reading an article and want to check the link from the article later. Or if you want to read something on the page later.

5. Search for a specific word on the page. Now, this combination applies to any browser or page: just use Ctrl+F and a search panel will appear where you can enter what you’re looking for and find it instead of scanning the page for ages.

6. Use Chrome Incognito mode when you log into Facebook, Twitter or email from someone else’s computer. You can also use this mode to get your friends to use a browser on your computer. To open the Incognito mode simple click Ctrl+Shift+N. Incognito mode doesn’t keep your passwords or search history.

7. Use Google Chrome Address Bar instead of a calculator. Just try a simple calculation now. You can also use it as a translator by typing the word you want to translate and in which language (“I love you in German” for example). Or get an instant currency converter by typing the amount of currency you want to convert and to which currency you want to convert it to (“2300EUR to GBP” for example).

8. Delete your browsing history in swift. The Ctrl+ Shift+Delete combination will open a window that allows you to clear your Cookies, last visited pages, passwords and cache. You should delete your browsing history every now and then to free up the space on your computer (yes, these are saved as physical files) and for diagnostics.

9. Save a web page as a PDF or print it. Want to save the page for later or want to use it as an offline example? You can save it as PDF. Just click Ctrl+P and choose “Save as PDF” instead of a printer. Or just print it!

10. Make Chrome faster. Sometimes you can be stuck on one page or a page will not load for you properly. This could be due to many background processes in Chrome. To check what’s running in your browser, click on the options on the top-right corner, select “More Tasks” and then “Task Manager”. See anything on the list you don’t recognise? Select it and press “End Process”.

Is Google Chrome the only thing you ever use on your computer? You might consider getting a TOSHIBA Chromebook. What is it? TOSHIBA Chromebook is just like any other computer but it relies on the Operating System based on Chrome – yes your browser. All of the apps are run in the Cloud (ie via the Internet) – so you don’t really need to install any programs and all your information is always backed up automatically and is available everywhere (under the password protection off course).

TOSHIBA Chromebook currently in stock for €279 incl VAT.

Want to find out more about the Chromebook? Give us a call on 01 4930514.

By the third day of the Social Media Week you’d think that everything that had to be said about Social Media has been said twice and thrice already – but we’re really only in the middle. There are so many great and inspirational talks to attend and watch online, that you wish that the day had a couple more hours to it!

Today, I cycled over to Carlsberg HQ to watch a presentation by Peter Muhlmann from TrustPilot that could be summarised as “how to deal with reviews online”. If you want to see some short take-out points from it look for #smwtrust on Twitter for audience interaction. And here’s my summary from it:

Social Proof is Everywhere: Google Search > Browse Website > Price Comparison Sites + Company Reviews + Social Media > Checkout

According ot Muhlmann most of our purchases made offline are affected by the choises we make online. The most important source of opinion are usually our friends. And as any small business owner knows: word-of-mouth is the most powerful tool of bringing customers to your door. Online reviews are like digital word-of-mouth available to anyone. Anyone can use Google nowadays and everyone knows a good value in shopping around. So, it is important to have an active digital presence – but it is also great to have a good digital reputation. So, you Googled yourself and found bad reviews?

Bad reviews are not always a bad thing. Lack of bad reviews is actually what is more untrustworthy and a review page full of flattery could look fake to the customer. It’s teh way you deal with negative reviews that’s the key. So what do you so?

1. NEGATIVE REVIEWS. Apologize. Don’t make any excuses- the best thing is just to accept your mistake and learn how you could change from that. This is polite, and it also shows that you’re taking in feedback and adjusting your business and behaviour for the good of the customer. We all make mistakes and have bad days at work – we just need to apologize for those if they have affected others.

2. ANONYMOUS REVIEWS. Most of the time these are negative – but are they trustworthy? Would you rather trust a reviewer who has made a few reviews and has a photo, name and possibly a link to Favebook page or an anonymous reviewer who only commented once?

4. GOOD REVIEWS. Say “Thak You”. It is that simple. And not only to the people praising your services but also to your employees who have provided this great customer service and gave you good reviews online. Get your employees a cake. If you’re your own employee – get yourself a cake – you deserve it!

If you are looking for reviews on a particular product – here are some DOs and DON’Ts on how to collect the reviews

5. A LITTLE TRICK. If you have a Facebook “Like” button on your website you might change it to the little banner that displays photos of people who liked your page, together with the “Like” button. People trust faces. And if they see that other people like it too, especially if their friends are on the list – they will also “like” it!

The general vibe of the whole Social Media Week in Copenhagen seems to be revolving around “happyness at the workplace”. You can really see why Denmark is considered to be the “Happiest Country in the World” – it’s just people want to be happy throughout the whole day. And as noted in this talk too – we spend more time at work than socializing with our friends or doing, well, anything else. So, why not take enjoyment and pride from what you are doing and pass it onto customers? Great mood and good job will alwasy be appreciated well.

You can watch the full talk here: http://new.livestream.com/smwcopenhagen/events/1886304

I attended another event later that mose more related ot the personal interest of mine – music business. I don’t think it would be relative to this page to put some points from it down, but still there are good few things a small business could learn from it.

– enjoy your work (as before) and work for personal fulfillment rather than money. If you’re interested in the project you’re working on, or your job in general it is more fulfilling and would bring better results rather than you just chasing the profit.
– sometimes it’s better to allocate some work to other people. There are plenty of free resources for self-marketing and production but if you do it all by yourself it could take away from your creative process – and if it’s the essence of your business, why not appointing someone else to do these jobs for you? Especially if they know how to do it and do high-quality work?

If you are interested in this talk anyway, you could watch it here: http://new.livestream.com/smwcopenhagen/events/1886304

If you have any questions or comments I would like to hear them!

Regards

Alex @ MicroPro.ie

check out this product video on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtd1TEL-330&feature=plcp

Just in, this new TOSHIBA Satellite L830-10X comes in stylish white, weights under 2kg and comes with all the latest bells and whistles! The screen is a smaller 13.3″ compared to the standard 15.6″ screens on most laptops in range for students. This won’t block your view while in at the lecture, but also it’s big enough to watch videos in HD! L830-10X comes with an inbuild CD/DVD drive that reads and writes DVDs! All the latest connections like HDMI, USB3, WebCam and many more! Office Word and Exel package comes pre-installed for all the essays and planning!

Here’s some more about the specification:

TOSHIBA Sattelite L830-10X
Intel Core i3-2367M Processor
13.3″ TruBrite HD LED Screen
640GB Hard Drive
4GB DDR3 RAM
Wireless LAN/HDMI/USB 3.0
Bluetooth
DVD MultiDrive
WebCamera
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
Office 2010 Starter (Word/Exel)

Sounds like the best option for student in college? It is indeed! And just like any other TOSHIBA laptop in our stock it’s covered by TOSHIBA’s 1 Year International Warranty. We are an Authorised TOSHIBA Warranty Repair centre and we look after in-warranty and out-of-warranty repairs with a fast turn-around. Come into us even if you bought your TOSHIBA laptop somewhere else and are looking to get your laptop repaired!

For more information – contact MicroPro Computers!

It is small but it is mighty! This little TOSHIBA Satellite NB510-119 comes with Windows 7 Starter and Office Starter (Word/Excel). NB510-119 only weights 1.15kg which makes it perfect for travel and college. And with the harddrive capcity of 320GB you can save as much information as you could possibly want including movies, music and high-resultion pictures! netbooks usually don’t come with CD/DVD drives, but you’ll have USB connections, SD Card slot and teh newest Windows system that will allow you to download any software or install a printer on the laptop – just connect it to the Internet and you’ll be ready to go!

Here’s some specification for it:

TOSHIBA NB510-119 Netbook
Atom N2600 1.6GHz processor
10.1″ HD LED Screen
320GB Hard drive Storage
1GB DDR3 RAM
Wireless/LAN/HDMI
Web Camera
Windows 7 Starter
Office Word/Excel 2010 Starter

Like the rest of our great TOSHIBA laptops Netbook NB510-119 comes with a 1 Year warranty – back to our shop, as we are an Authorised TOSHIBA Warranty repair Centre! You can purchase an extended warranty that will extend the original warranty to another 2 years bringing it to 3 years of part & labour and peace of mind.

Got questions? Comments? Let us hear them!

This just in! A truly super special offer with this TOSHIBA Satellite C660-1J2 laptop with 8GB RAM and latest Intel i3 Processor for just €499.99 Euro! As the rest of our great TOSHIBA laptops this comes with Office Starter (Word & Excel) and a trial version of McAffee Anti-Virus. We do recommend to load a new AVG 2013 FREE Anti-Virus when you purchase the laptop, as many tend to forget to update the trial on time.

Interested in the rest of the specs? Here they are:

TOSHIBA Satellite C660-1J2
INTEL Core i3-380M Processor
15.6″ TruBrite HD LED Screen
320GB HArd Drive
8GB DDR3 RAM
Wireless LAN
DVD-RW
WebCamera
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
Office 2010 Starter (Word, Excel)

Like the rest of our great TOSHIBA laptops Satellite C660-1J2 comes with a 1 Year warranty – back to our shop, as we are an Authorised TOSHIBA Warranty repair Centre! You can purchase an extended warranty that will extend the original warranty to another 2 years bringing it to 3 years of part & labour and peace of mind.

Got questions? Comments? Let us hear them!

You’ll never have to hear ‘I don’t see your name on it’ again! With this nifty EPSON LW-300 label printer you can put your name on everything you own: school books, clothes, accessories, kitchenwear – the list is endless! perfect for school, shared household, business and the rest – organise your stuff with EPSON LW-300 Label printer!

For €24.99 this little printer is a real bargain – comes with a free carry case and a 3 Year Warranty!

TOSHIBA AT100-100 Tablet

TOSHIBA AT100-100 is a great little tablet with a lot of useful features. It’s Android based – which means that a lot of applications are free – like full Word and Exel applications that let you create files with photos and text and attach them to e-mails. If you’re a fast typer and cannot work with small on-screen keyboards – AT100-100 has a USB slot – so you can connect a standard keyboard to it for faster typing!

It comes with an inbuild 16GB memory – but there’s more! You can add an SD card (up to 32GB) to it for extra space – and the connection is seemless – so it can stay in the Tabet at all times – storing all your music, photos and video! Plus – you can always add a USB memory stick (also upt to 32GB) to further extend the capacity.

And, you can connect it straight to the TV using inbuild HDMI port and a common inexpensive HDMI cable!

All that at just €379.99! One of the cheapest tablets around – cheap tablet from a reputable brand!

Brilliant? We think it is!

Here’s some specification if you want the details:

TOSHIBA AT100-100 Tablet
NVidia Tegra 1.0 GHz Processor
10.1” TruBrite Screen
16GB storage
1GB RAM
Wireless/ Bluetooth
HDMI, USB, SD Slot
Web Camera
Anroid 3.1 (Honeycomb)
2 Year Warranty

We are an Authorised TOSHIBA Repair Centre and we are looking after all TOSHIBA device repairs in Dublin and Ireland! Even if you have purchased your TOSHIBA device from another place – you can still take it to us for a warranty repair. Give us a shout if you need any more information – or just pop into the shop and talk to us today!