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Student News

Amazon Delivery Change, Google in Exams, Apple Watch Fail…

Amazon delivery costs to change?

Amazon-Prime-StudentA lot of news websites reported on Wednesday that Amazon would be increasing the minimum spend for free delivery, from £10 to £20.

However, Amazon seemed to have done a u-turn on the rise – as the website still says delivery is free when you spend £10. What is going on?!

Update: We received a confirmation email today that the minimum order to qualify for free delivery will be increasing to £20!

Our take: We're very annoyed about this but it's clever business from Amazon. Free delivery was part of what got them a market share and now they're going to reel in the profits. Need help getting free delivery? Students can get free Amazon Prime, which is awesome. We'll keep you updated if it changes to £20.

TalkTalk to increase prices

Talktalk Price HikesErg – price rises. We’d like it if just once a company actually reduced its prices! This time, it’s TalkTalk, whose customers will be faced with price hikes in June.

The unlucky customers will be sent an email and a letter if they will be affected, and can leave penalty-free if they notify TalkTalk within 30 days of receiving the bad news.

Our take: No one likes paying more money for same service. However, at least TalkTalk will be allowing customers to leave, so they can find a better deal. We’ve rounded up the best TV, broadband and phone packages here to help you out.

EE runs out of free portable chargers

EE-portable-chargerHave you got your portable charger from EE yet? We reported about the awesome freebie here – but unfortunately, too many people have claimed their charger and EE are running out, so they are ‘pausing’ the offer for a few months.

If you have not sent the text requesting a bar, you will now have to wait until June. This is because EE had 1 million requests in four days, and they can’t keep up!

Our take: We think they underestimated how much we love a freebie! But it’s a case of you snooze, you lose (or, rather, have to wait a bit) because it was kind of obvious that the deal would be popular. Next time you see a freebie, be first in line to avoid disappointment – especially if it’s food, because free food is the best food.

Students should use Google in exams

Exam hallThe chief of OCR believes students, including GCSE and A Level young’uns, should be able to use Google during exams.

Mark Dawe says using the internet is part of modern life and students should be able to use tools, such as Google, to answer questions. He has likened it to calculator and non-calculator exams – even though you can’t type ‘What is ‘x’?’ in to a calculator. Unless it was a really smart calculator.

Our take: In a way, we can see where he’s coming from. Using a search engine is so important to find important information, but to also find out who voiced Arnold in Hey, Arnold. The problem is, the internet is so big and the information isn’t always reliable (you’ll know this whenever you’ve had to Google something for an essay). Mr Dawe didn’t go in to much detail, but we guess the questions wouldn’t be straight-forward and something that would require, like, no effort.

Journalist accidentally buys Xbox during Apple Watch demo

Apple-watchA journalist from CNET was demonstrating the new (and, may we mention, RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE) Apple Watch to a colleague – but then bought an Xbox One bundle by accident.

The journalist was showing how easy the watch is by using Amazon to search for an Xbox One, then tried adding the console to his wish list… but he hit the wrong button instead, and with ‘one click’ enabled, he bought it instead. He later managed to cancel the order – but learnt an expensive lesson: don’t try to use Amazon on a tiny watch.

Our take: Seriously – those buttons look so small, we aren’t surprised this happened. The accidental button click can happen to anyone, but this could’ve been an expensive mistake to make! (Just like buying the Watch…)

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