Social networks are changing, what used to be a fun past time has now become a popular channel of communication and with increased bandwidth video offerings are becoming key. Facebook have teamed up with Skype and will soon have an icon that would allow users to have group video or a private video conversation all for free. With 750 million viewers this is a great platform to integrate into the social mix. The company is also changing the layout of their chat system so that users can decide the amount of people they want on chat so potentially the whole family could get involved from around the globe – or maybe all our customers at MadBid.com.
The extension of the communication channels have not gone unnoticed as Google has introduced their own social networking platform +circle project – with a video chat feature called ‘Hangout’ which has caused some controversy between the internet giants. With these extra add-ons MadBid.com’s popular auction product the new Dell Inspiron Duo Touchscreen would complement any social network user.
The new Dell Inspiron Duo Touchscreen can be used as a laptop or a notepad, both with a keyboard and touchscreen functions making it ideal for users on the go or in the comfort of their home. The last time we auctioned the Dell Inspiron Duo Touchscreen the ending price was an amazing bargain at £6.37! Allow yourself to enjoy Facebook’s free video chat service with this sought after stylish gadget. The notebook has been reviewed by Amazon users as ‘Innovative and well-made’ The auction will start 3pm on 22nd of July the RRP price is £449 but only the bids on the timer will show the end price. The Stuff have stated that it ‘has a “whoa” factor to it when you see it swivel’ so team it up with Facebook’s or Google’s new Video options and put it in action!
We have something brand new and exciting coming your way: the Scarlet Collection Voucher from Virgin Experience Days! With over a hundred different options to choose from, this might prove harder than it seems to choose just one activity. Ranging from Audi R8 Thrills to Ice Climbing, from Thai cookery courses to Poker lessons, the Scarlet Collection Voucher offers an exciting experience you’ll by dying to brag about to your friends. MadBid.com has selected a few favourites to share with you, but feel free to browse them all here!
1. Ice Climbing
Who wouldn’t like to learn how to go “Ice Climbing?” Set your sights high and the next thing you know you could be in Antarctica climbing glaciers. If you are an experienced mountaineer, or just interested in trying out a new challenge, ice climbing will provide you with that extra edge to a very “cool” sport. The concave is at a constant of -12°C and allows a real take on ice climbing.
It is a liberating experience when you are able to face your phobia of all things creepy crawly. “Face Your Phobia” will help you face your fears and handle the creatures of your nightmares (do not worry, it is under the supervision of friendly keepers). You could choose lizards, birds, non-venomous snakes and for those who can handle it; the tarantula. Imagine the incredible rush of adrenaline that you will get as you let a tarantula crawl down your arm!
3. For Your Eyes Only Photoshoot
Do you have a sexy sensual side that you would like to explore? Get ready to celebrate your curves or stunning figure with the “For Your Eyes Only Photoshoot”. Skin smoothing magazine quality photographs will show off your body with confidence and a gorgeous glow. The experience will leave you with a collection of portraits that even you will have trouble resisting yourself looking so sexy!
Sawasdee kha/krab! That’s how women and men greet in Thai; the local language of Thailand. Mr. MadBid loves Thai cuisine, as it is renowned for being fresh and full of natural flavour. Imagine learning from the master in the “Thai Cookery Course”. Afterwards you will be able to cook the delicious dishes using authentic Thai recipes. Som Tom is the delicious spicy green papaya salad that you will often find locals eating from street stalls, and you will have the opportunity to cook it in the comfort of your own home. Impress your family and friends with your newly born culinary skills!
5. Audi R8 Thrill
Envision yourself on a circuit in a race against the clock. You put the pedal to the metal and instantaneously, you’re in an amazing mechanical body, accelerating, your heart is racing and blood is pumping forcefully through your veins and you have never felt more alive. All this awaits you with the “Audi R8 Thrill” experience from Virgin Experience Days. As famous car racer Mario Andretti once said: “If everything seems under control, you’re just not going fast enough”.
These are just a few of the crazy adventures you can now bid on with Virgin Experience Days on MadBid.com, but hurry these vouchers are going as fast as the Audi R8 Thrill ride! These auctions are starting in the coming weeks.. Enjoy!
After 100 years of fine chocolate making, it seems that Thorntons, MadBid.com’s favourite chocolatiers are now closing up to 180 of their high street stores. Reading an online news piece left us somewhat bewildered: what happened in order for one of the U.K’s most popular chocolate brands to decide to close its doors on us?
In recession-recovery Britain, many household names and brands have gone under the chop as businesses struggle to generate the revenue they need to be able to keep afloat. This is not new news but old, serving as a reminder that we are still emerging from an economic crisis that has endured for much longer than anticipated. The closure of these shops is somewhat untimely: well-known clothing chain Jane Norman collapsed this week, while Oddbins recently suffered a loss of 52 shops and now Mothercare is the latest to be affected as it looks to close up to 110 of its stores.
Back in 2008, Woolworths was one of the first big High Street names to be hit by the recession, even after achieving a long successful track record as a retailer when it first opened its doors in Liverpool in 1909. JJB Sports, founded in 1971 by ex-footballer Dave Whelan narrowly avoided administration but has had to close stores. Now in the summer of 2011 as we prepare to take time off work and book last minute holidays, our beloved chocolate company is much more concerned about an economic meltdown than their chocolates melting in the heat.. Worse yet, the closure of its stores is predicted to set the business back £4.2m to £4.8m in sterling.
It may be unfortunate, but it is also far from surprising. Nowadays we are much more likely to favour comfort and convenience by staying within the confines of our homes than to make a trip to the shops, especially with the unpredictable British weather. Online shopping has become a huge market, which many brands have broken into in their attempts to ride the huge tidal wave that is E-commerce. Whether or not Thorntons are seeking to jump solely on this band wagon to pursue their business further is another matter, but the CEO of Thorntons reassures us of the following:
‘Our goal is to refocus the business across all channels and seek to deliver industry competitive returns over the next three to five years.’
Whatever the outcome MadBid will continue to source delicious chocolates for our customers to bid on for every occasion. And while we’re on the subject of delicious check out some of our Gourmet Voucher Restaurant Discount Cards going at amazing deals to treat yourself and a friend to dinner and desert out!
As if Facebook couldn’t be more renowned for its attempt to connect people across the globe, Mark Zuckerberg’s 2004 social networking phenomenon is now about to embark on its latest adventure, which if successful, MadBid.com reckons will revolutionise the social aspect of music sharing.
With the uprising of technology has come a huge surge in music sharing and downloading over the internet. Just look at Napster or Spotify, the biggest pioneers of music streaming. In a similar way, it appears that Facebook’s newest project is being launched in partnership with, the former, Spotify – one of the more notorious names in the online music business industry.
The new feature aims to provide a music dashboard or platform that lets you stream music, see what your friends are listening to and share your favourite tracks. When you log into your account, the music dashboard will display as an official bookmark on the site’s homepage as well as a separate tab on your profile, in which you can access and control the music you want to hear.
The music dashboard will not be tied to Spotify exclusively though, Facebook is looking to incorporate many more music streaming websites, which the music lovers among you may already be familiar with, such as: Pandora, Mog, Rdio, Last.fm, and Grooveshark amongst others. In Facebook’s attempt to create a similar service with similar functionality, the result may be a giant music library, which anyone and everyone can subscribe to.
Here’s a look at just a few of the features that will be included:
Music Notifications
Recommended Songs
Top Songs
Top Albums
Recent listens
This move will ensure that we are better connected than ever: now you will be able to see just what your friends are listening to and even light-heartedly mock them when you see them playing that Boyzone album they said they had thrown out years ago! In addition to this, Facebook’s music dashboard will help you to discover more genres and artists, making the world of music even more social and accessible than it is already.
Techno giant Apple might have brought the social to the music, but now the tables have turned and Facebook is bringing music to the social; a long-time dream its founders have sought to implement into its service. The result is a collaboration of two powerful social forces, both of which bring people together, making the world a more connected place. Keep your eyes and ears open for the potential release date of the music dashboard, which is to be announced after Facebook’s F8 conference in August.
Until then, you can visit MadBid.com for its range of Facebook and Apple friendly products, including our latest instalment, the New Apple TV which lets you stream photos and music from your PC as you please. Alternatively, there is our great range of stereo systems such as the new Samsung Home Theatre System so you can blast your music to the max!
It’s not every day you can get a brand new Mini One for almost 90% off the RRP, but it happens more often than you might expect on MadBid.com
On the way home from cricket training with his family, David from Essex noticed the Mini auction had ended. He couldn’t remember if he had left his auto bid on or not while he was out and just figured he had lost the auction.
When he later got home and found out he was the winner of a brand new Mini One for just £1,478.94, he ran straight to his wife to tell her the news. He had been bidding in secret, and as it turns out David doesn’t even have a licence! David calmly told his wife that he had won a Mini for her, and she took it as a joke. Unaware that her husband had been bidding in the auction, and having seen a Mini on the street earlier that day she’d commented “I would like that” in jest to her husband, she thought he was joking with her.
But it was no joke. After one year of participating in auctions on MadBid.com David can boast a few past wins, but even he was in shock over winning a new car. His bidding strategy for the auction was quite simple. After watching the auction for a while he thought he didn’t have a chance against some strong competitors, but then as he kept watching, he noticed some of the big bidders begin to withdraw and that’s when he stepped in and activated his auto bid.
David makes it look easy, but there is a lot of strategy that goes in to winning an auction. What advice does David have for new bidders? “Start out on the smaller auctions to build your confidence, and spend some time to learn the dynamics of the site and the strategies of your fellow bidders” said David.
David shows we are so MAD at MadBid.com that you don’t even need a licence to win a car! The brand new red Mini One David and his wife drove away in this month, is one of the 11 cars we have auctioned on the site since 2008. Cars are just one of the amazing prizes our users are winning. Click here to get amazing savings on all the latest gadgets including laptops, phones, camera, appliances, and even hard cash!
Sony is bringing gaming to life in their new portable gaming device the PSVita. PSVita is set to launch at the end of 2011 for £249 WiFi and £299 3G. MadBid.com are delighted to see several new built in features include front and rear camera, a microphone, front multi-touch screen and a rear multi-touch pad, motion sensors, a high definition 5 inch OLED display, and GPS location software.
The new features of the PSVita will bring handheld gaming to a new level with Augmented Reality (AR) Technology. Players will be able to interact like never before with new applications like “Near”, “Party”, and “Welcome Park”.
“Near” takes the PSVita ups social connectivity by allowing users to see what games others are playing nearby and gift virtual game related items through location-based gaming. By checking in at geographic locations players can share virtual content like character costumes, weapons, and treasures.
“Party” is an application available on the PSVita that allows users to text chat or voice chat not only while gaming online, but also while connected to the internet at any time. The PSVita will come in two models one with WiFi connectivity and a more expensive 3G model, which will be connected to the internet 24/7.
“Welcome Park” is a PSVita app designed to help players learn the new 3-dimension-like finger motions available on the device such as touch, grab, trace, push, and pull. With a touch screen on the front, a sensor pad on the back, dual analog sticks, and built in motion sensor, gyroscope, and accelerometer capabilities, the new PSVita brings hand held gaming to a new level of reality.
One of the most exciting features of the PSVita is its full backwards compatibility with all PlayStation Portable games. Check out the official video trailer from the E3 conference above to see some of the games that will be enhanced on the new device.
We at MadBid.com are excited about the launch of the PSVita and you can bet we will be one of the first to offer the product on our site when it comes out just in time for Xmas. Can’t wait till Christmas to get your gaming on? Check out some MAD deals on our site for gaming consoles like the Sony PS3 320GB that went for £5.82 or the Nintendo 3DS Console for just £1.17!
Every summer Hollywood churns out some action-packed blockbusters so we can cool off at the cinema and watch our favourite eye candy struggle to save the world from near disaster in two hours. This summer is no different with some big titles coming our way and the promise of wizards, mutants, robots, cowboys, aliens, classic comic book heroes, and those damn dirty apes! So these are MadBid’s must see movies of the summer:
X-Men: First Class (3 June )-
The fifth movie to come out of the Marvel comic series and the second spinoff origin movie X-Men: First Class, is a prequel to the core trilogy explaining the backstory of Xavier and Magneto and the founding of the mutant school for” gifted youngsters”. The film takes place in 1960’s America during the Cuban Missile Crisis and stars heart throb James McAvoy (Atonement, Wanted) as a young Xavier and Michael Fassbender (Inglorious Bastards, 300) as childhood friend and future nemesis Magneto. So if you have ever felt less than normal come out and join your mutant fans to see how it all started!
Green Lantern (17 June)-
We can’t get enough comic book heroes here at MadBid! Watch this DC Comic film adaptation of the initiation of one intergalactic warrior with a supernatural ring. No, not Gollum’s precious, but a mysterious alien relic that has unknown powers. It is up to pilot Hal Jordan played by Ryan Reynolds (Van Wilder, The Proposal) to restore the balance of the universe. We are much more excited to finally see Ryan Reynolds in spandex for this film, after being confused by Seth Rogen’s super hero lead in The Green Hornet earlier this year!
Were you one of our over 2,500 members to win a Gourmet Society 1 Year Membership Card this month on MadBid.com? This week is National Vegetarian’s Week so even if you’re not crazy for soy and tofu try out these restaurants where you can get a great meat-free meal for an even greater price with your membership card!
-Tibits
Westminster, Greater London
Food so fresh, super-healthy and absolutely delicious is on the menu at Tibits, London. Tibits, a fabulous restaurant serving food that loves you back, represents a fresh new concept in healthy eating. It’s as easy as 1,2,3 to get your five-a-day each nutritious meal contains your entire daily fruit and vegetable intake.
Every vegan and vegetarian in the North East worth their chick peas knows about Roots and Fruits in Leeds’s elegant Grand Arcade. Serving up healthy, hearty and wholesome dishes from belly busting vegetarian brekkas to yummy GM free cakes to accompany the wide range of teas, the choice is vast and varied.
A basement restaurant reaching down a traditional passageway exactly opposite Kings College Gates, Rainbow Café offers a warm welcome for Vegetarians, Vegans, anyone with Allergy problems or visitors who prefer to have no meat products for religious reasons.
L’Artichaut is about eating well, eating fresh, following the seasons with fresh, organic and local products and importing the best of the Europeans markets. L’Artichaut aim to delight and satisfy the needs of vegetarian diners as well as giving the traditional carnivore an alternative experience.
If you’ve not already got one of these vouchers then there are still plenty up for grabs, just head over to the website and look out for the vouchers in the Upcoming Auctions section.
One of the biggest weeks for inspirational gardening The Chelsea Flower Show begins Tuesday May 24 for five days of elaborate and elegant garden exhibits in the 11 acres of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, London. Also known as the Great Spring Show, this red carpet event is the garden design equivalent of any haute couture fashion show.
Earlier this week VIP members of the Royal Horticultural Society attended the opening and preview shows. Among the 157,000 people who will visit the garden exhibit this week are distinguished guests including Her Majesty the Queen, Princess Beatrice, Helen Mirren, Gwyneth Paltrow, Vanessa Redgrave, and many other A-list celebrities and members of the Royal family.
Tickets to this event are already sold out, but you can see photos and video footage on the Royal Horticultural Society website http://www.rhs.org.uk/
So you can’t make it to the Chelsea Flower Show this year? B&Q asks “What could you do this weekend?” With a voucher from MadBid.com you can make your own garden look fabulous instead! B&Q has everything you need to you create your own garden to rival those in the Chelsea Flower Show – get started by choosing from their selection of over 1,000 different vegetable and flower seeds, fertilizer and compost or how about some gardening tools and you could get it for a bargain by bidding one B&Q vouchers from Madbid.com, the fun way to bid for a bargain!
And you never know maybe this time next year your garden will be featured at the show while you rub elbows with the rich and famous!
The Daily Telegraph Show Garden, designed by Cleve West, has been named Best Show Garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
MadBid.com is one of the UK's leading pay-to-bid auction sites with users saving up to 98% off top brand products such as iPods, iPhones, TVs, Laptop's, Car's, Games Consoles and much more all fall under the hammer at MadBid.com and can go for just pennies! Just a few great examples of the savings made for some of our users!
MacBook Air (RRP £1,299) - SOLD for just £3.38
iPhone 3Gs 16GB (RRP £449) - SOLD for just £26.88
Samsung 50" Plasma (RRP £975) - SOLD for just £13.50
So why not grab yourself a bargain today and visit MadBid.com
Social networks are changing, what used to be a fun past time has now become a popular channel of communication and with increased bandwidth video offerings are becoming key. Facebook have teamed up with Skype and will soon have an icon that would allow users to have group video or a private video conversation all for free. With 750 million viewers this is a great platform to integrate into the social mix. The company is also changing the layout of their chat system so that users can decide the amount of people they want on chat so potentially the whole family could get involved from around the globe – or maybe all our customers at MadBid.com.
