Interesting Facts

According to official police crime data 1.8 million people in the UK were victims of street crime. (As more and more people are carrying expensive gadgets like phones and iPads, criminals are now targeting victims in the street. Surprisingly one in five of all incidents occur early on a Saturday afternoon. London, Leeds and Nottingham are the street crime hotspots.)

At Christmas ever popular on Santa's wish list are electronic gadgets. Even for children. According to a survey conducted by the Gadget Show live, the first gadget a child gets is probably a games console, by the age of seven years and seven months. (The last they receive is likely to be a mobile – with which they will be texting their friends by the time they are nine years and three months. In between, they will get their first digital camera at eight years six months, a TV in their bedroom two months later and an MP3 player at eight years and nine months. They’ll flip open their first laptop at eight years and ten months. At an even younger age we give them toy replicas of these gadgets, even working examples, aimed at children.  The future is going to be very interesting as our digital age generation comes of age.)

According to a survey carried out by website Just-Eat, people in the UK buy at least five kitchen gadgets that they never use. (From herb scissors to bread making machines, it all adds up to a scary £2 billion of gadgets sitting around doing nothing. I have to hold my hand up to being guilty of this, but only because the bread making machine I bought is useless.) Source: Daily Express

According to the Daily Mail, many gadgets cost about 37% more in Britain than in the US. (The official UK price for Nintendo's 3DS device is £179, but in New York it will set you back as little as £167.66, including VAT (sales tax). For iPad fans the news is just as depressing. The second generation of the pioneering tablet computer, which is thinner, lighter and faster than its predecessor, may cost £100 more in the UK than it does in the U.S. To be honest, ever since I moved to Germany and realised how cheap beer is here, I've called it "Rip off Britain". And it's not just beer and gadgets manufacturers that rip us off: a European Commission study from 2008 found we pay £12,900 for a VW Golf, compared with £10,986 in Denmark – almost 15% more – and £20,364 for a Vectra, which would cost £15,411 in Latvia.) Source: Daily Mail

According to gadget magazine T3, the Nintendo Wii is the UK’s fastest selling games console. (I mocked the name when it came out, but now nearly a quarter of all households in the UK own one - more than six million homes. And just think, this number will probably go up on Christmas day.)