Latest news with #hardware
The Sun
3 days ago
- Business
- The Sun
My hardware shop survived two world wars, recessions & Covid – now Rachel Reeves has KO'd it after 160 years
FOR 160 years Mogford & Son has been a trusty hardware shop just like the one seen in the Two Ronnies' famous 'fork handles' sketch. But running a small independent shop has become no laughing matter for its current owner Paul Gillam. 5 5 Because of a tsunami of rising costs, including Rachel Reeves' employer National Insurance increase, Paul, 57, has been forced to call it a day. At the end of September Mogford — one of Britain's oldest shops — will close its doors for the final time. Queen Victoria was on the throne in the 1860s when businessman WH Mogford first opened his ironmongers store on the high street in Westbury-on-Trym, north Bristol. This Aladdin's cave has survived two world wars, the Great Depression, recessions and Covid but the current owner has had to make the heartbreaking decision to stop trading. Close to tears, Paul told The Sun: 'I'm working seven days a week but things have got more expensive. From staffing costs to National Insurance and bank charges. 'The car park up the road has started to charge £2, so people can no longer park for free, because the council is short of cash. My business rates keep going up. 'It's been a hard decision but I can't carry on.' Standing at the till, Paul is surrounded by thousands of objects for the home, from bamboo and compost to jubilee clips and, of course, candles. He has a wry smile as he poses with four candles, like shopkeeper Ronnie Corbett in the famous TV sketch, but he looks sad as he surveys his stock. There are house numbers, bolts, rabbit food and aquarium cleaners all stacked neatly on shelving that has carried everything the local community could want for the past century and a half. Popular bank with over 400 spots confirms it is shutting 18 branches in August – it follows 148 closures by rivals Paul's wife Babs, 55, who has been working in the shop since two staff retired recently, not to be replaced, says: 'The Government say they want to keep High Streets open but then all the banks close. "Then the car parks start charging, then the shops close. People end up going online or to one of the big retailers.' The car park up the road has started to charge £2, so people can no longer park for free, because the council is short of cash. My business rates keep going up. Paul To try to counter the online threat, Paul's shop has a Facebook page and offers a delivery service. He charges £1 for anything under £20 and free delivery on orders over 20 quid. Paul makes just £1.60 on a bag of compost and in 30 years of working at Mogford he has never increased all his prices at once to keep pace with inflation. He raises prices as little as possible and he reluctantly puts a £3 limit on the card machine because of the cost of using it. Paul would have liked his daughter Sophie and grandson James to take over but he decided they would be better off in jobs with a future. Paul remembers walking past Mogford's shop as a boy. He says: 'There was everything round here. 'Clothes shops, shoe shops, butchers, fishmongers, greengrocers. You could get every single thing you wanted.' He points across the road to the shops that have closed down — a newsagent's, a women's accessories shop and a shoe repair bar. He says: 'When Covid happened, we were considered an essential business. 'We extended our hours, opening at 6am and not closing until 9pm because our footfall went up so much with people working from home, and we wanted to help.' When The Sun visited, all morning there was a steady stream of customers coming in to buy goods from washers to dog bowls, super glue to carpet cleaner. Paul knows most of them by name and all seem upset that the shop will be gone in just ten weeks' time. They say it's the latest nail in the coffin for their High Street and they don't know what they'll do when Paul locks up for the final time. He says: 'I will close the doors with a heavy heart. 'It's not for lack of trying either but there's simply nothing I can do. I'm breaking even and have been for a while, so I've been left with no choice.' 5 5
BBC News
3 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Bristol's oldest hardware shop to close after 160 years
A store owner says "160 years of history will be coming to an end" once he officially closes the doors on the city's oldest hardware shop. & Sons in Bristol is an old-fashioned hardware shop, which sells everything from nails and rabbit food to candles and slug repellent. Paul Gillam, who took it more than 20 years ago, made the reluctant decision to close following five years of dwindling footfall and unsustainable staffing shop will remain open until the end of August, though Mr Gillam is still yet to announce a precise closing-down date. Until the last 20 years, the shop on the High Street in Westbury-on-Trym had been run by the same family. Mr Gillam said giving up the reins was "a difficult decision, but it's the right one". "There's lots of different reasons - Covid-19, Amazon, less people on the high street, utility bills going up, lots of things have come together," he said. "It's really been with the closure of the banks in the last two years that sealed it. That was the final straw because the footfall just dropped off." Mr Gillam said when he first began working at the store 30 years ago there were five members of staff on shift every day. Now that figure has plummeted to two, and Mr Gilliam believes "going forward that's just not sustainable.""I know many many people will miss the shop, and a lot of the customers come in every week and they're like friends now. It's really sad." 'Absolutely gutting' Melvyn Griffiths is a long-standing customer of the shop, and described it as a "proper Mr. Arkwright's" tool emporium. "You can get everything you want here. It goes back years, and it's got everything you need in small quantities," she said."It'll be absolutely gutting for the community to lose it. I'm sure everyone locally will miss it like mad when it's gone." Colin Clarke said the closure means he will have to instead turn to corporate chains like B&Q for supplies. "I'm absolutely devastated. This shop has been here since Queen Victoria's time," he said."This is the centre of the community - it's going to be well missed."
CNET
4 days ago
- CNET
This Keychron Keyboard Combines One of the Best Technologies in Gaming With a Gorgeous Premium Design
If you've paid any attention to gaming accessories the past few years you've likely heard something about the benefits of Hall Effect joysticks and triggers. Essentially, instead of using a physical connection to sense movement, Hall Effect sensors use magnets. The idea is to reduce wear and tear on components to give you more durability as well as improve the controller's response time. Most gamers probably won't notice the difference between a standard and Hall Effect controller, but for the hardcore gamers, where every millisecond counts, it can make a big difference. Hall Effect controllers have exploded in popularity over the past few years, so I suppose it was only a matter of time before companies started using this same technology in keyboards. Behold the Keychron K4 HE: It's a 96%-sized wireless keyboard from the world-renowned company. As you probably guessed from the intro, it uses uses Hall Effect switches instead of traditional mechanical switches. The result is a combination of superlatives like impressive, enjoyable, annoying and ridiculous overkill, all in one package. What I like about the Keychron K4 HE For starters, the build quality is exceptional, as I've come to expect from Keychron. The K4 HE has a good bit of weight to it, which gives it a premium feel, and the wood sides of the Special Edition version I reviewed add a touch of luxury as well. It's available with either black or white keycaps with slightly different wood tones for each. There's also a Standard version, which has Cherry-profile keycaps instead of OSA-profile and loses the wood side rails, knocking about $10 off the price. CNET/Jason Cockerham The most important feature of the K4 HE, however, is the Hall Effect switches. The use of magnets enables a 0.2 to 3.8mm actuation range with a minimal 0.1 mm sensitivity. The Nebula Gateron switches that came with my K4 HE have a start and end actuation force of 40 gram-force and 60 gram-force, respectively, but you can get other Hall Effect switches with smaller or larger actuation forces. It's worth noting that the K4 HE is only compatible with double-rail magnetic switches. So while you can hot-swap the switches, you cannot use traditional mechanical switches. What's really nuts is the insane levels of software customization available. You can set different actions for different actuation points within each keypress, meaning a shallow, 0.2mm keypress could trigger one action while a deeper, 3.8mm keypress could trigger a different action. There's also Last Key Prioritization, which prioritizes the last key pressed, and Snap Click, where deeper keypresses take precedence when you press two keys at the same time. Basically, this allows you to trigger multiple actions in a game without having to lift your fingers for multiple keypresses. In games that require speed and fast reaction times, this can be huge. CNET/Jason Cockerham The Rapid Trigger feature also gets a speed boost because each keypress is reset the moment the key travel reverses, meaning you can keep firing or moving literally as fast as your finger can move. Honestly, the most surprising thing to me is that you can have up to four distinct actions per key based on how hard you press it. As in, you can program up to four stages per key, which triggers a keypress at each stage. This is my first experience with Hall Effect magnetic keyboard switches and the typing experience is… interesting. Fully aware of the irony, I immediately noticed how firm and tactile the typing experience felt when I first started using it. The design engineers at Keychron deserve a lot of credit for tuning the magnetic resistance so superbly. It feels amazing to type on. The acoustics are also enjoyable. While they don't quite have the crispiness of a traditional mechanical keyboard "thock," they still sound great. I personally enjoy the noise of a mechanical keyboard and the K4 HE sounds nice to my ears. The only exceptions are the spacebar and other longer keys. It's not unusual for these specific keys to sound different than the rest of the keyboard, but it's still annoying when they do, at least for me. CNET/Jason Cockerham HE not for everyone? I never quite got used to the typing experience over my several weeks with it, so I never got back up to my normal typing speed and accuracy while using it. I still haven't decided if I'm going to press on (sorry) and see if I fully adjust or go back to my standard mechanical switches. Part of my frustration lies with the compact layout. It's literally one solid rectangle with no space between the main keyboard and the arrow keys, numpad, or function keys. I personally found it annoying and don't know if I'll get used to it. Also, if you're a big fan of RGB, I'd probably get the Standard edition over the Special Edition because the RGB is much harder to see with the keycaps from the Special Edition. Overall, the Keychron K4 HE is an impressive keyboard. If you are a hard-core FPS player, there's no doubt you can take full advantage of the customization options to up your gameplay, and the solid build quality and wood rails look great on any desk. If you don't need a numpad, I'd probably recommend going for the K2, as the layout is likely closer to what you're used to. Either way, for $135 to $145, depending on if you want the OBS keycaps and wood rails, there's not a lot wrong with the K4 HE. That's a good price for a keyboard this good, and if it sounds interesting to you, you won't be disappointed.
CNET
4 days ago
- CNET
The GameSir Cyclone 2 Has One Thing That Keeps It From Being a Great Nintendo Switch Controller
GameSir has made a name for itself over the past few years by building solid gaming controllers with top-notch features, often at lower prices than the competition. One of its latest controllers, the Cyclone 2, offers a lot of great things including support for multiple platforms, several connectivity options and solid triggers and joysticks. But the lackluster buttons and janky software make it hard to recommend when there are dozens of other great controllers for around the same price. What I like about the GameSir Cyclone 2 The first thing I love about the Cyclone 2 is how it feels to hold. Ergonomically the Cyclone 2 feels similar to the standard Xbox controller from Microsoft, which is a good thing. It's also got a decent amount of weight to it, which feels reassuring without getting tiring. There are vibration motors in both sides, which almost makes the controller feel more premium than the price might suggest. The Hall Effect triggers are nice, and can be toggled to become a micro switch hair trigger. You can also turn on a Hair Trigger mode via software which lets you still use the full Hall Effect trigger, yet still get the hair trigger action if you prefer. I personally prefer the physical micro switch, but if you need the extra milliseconds, you do you. GameSir The rear paddles are well-positioned for my hands, and they and the bumpers are quite tactile and responsive. However, the rest of the hardware is a mixed bag. The face buttons, for example, just feel mushy. During my testing I was always worried for a split second that my actions wouldn't register. While the triggers are Hall Effect, the joysticks are GameSir's own proprietary Mag-Res TMR which they claim are even more durable than Hall Effect Sticks. I couldn't find much technical information about them other than they have a 1,000Hz polling rate and a 4,096 sampling resolution. They felt fine to use and I didn't notice much a difference compared to other joysticks. One of my favorite things about the Cyclone 2 is its broad cross-platform support, letting you use one controller for just about everything. You can use the Cyclone 2 with Nintendo Switch, PC, Android and iOS (oddly, there's a slot on top for a mobile mount to hold your smartphone, but GameSir confirmed to me that they don't sell that accessory anymore). GameSir Cyclone 2 Jason Cockerham There's no official Xbox or PlayStation support, but you can play both consoles remotely from a PC, which the Cyclone 2 supports just fine. I tested this out and had no issues, both streaming from each console and playing my Xbox games directly on my PC via Game Pass. You'll need to use something like reWASD or PSPlay to remap the buttons on the Cyclone 2 for use with the PlayStation, which should work fine. My favorite feature of the Cyclone 2 is enabled by the included charging stand. Simply lift the controller off the stand and it automatically turns on and reconnects to your last connected device. It's beyond convenient to literally pick up the controller and without doing anything else, by the time I've sat down in my chair, it's ready to go. The one big letdown Sadly, the Cyclone 2 has one glaring missing piece: its supporting software. GameSir has always been behind the competition with its software, and that holds true with its PC app, GameSir Connect. To be fair, it does work and does what it's supposed to, but the whole UI is a bit janky and feels way too crowded. Overall, $56 ($49 without the charging stand) isn't an unreasonable price for a decent controller, but truthfully, there are several others I would recommend instead.
Globe and Mail
11-06-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Esgaming Launches Model 1101 PC Case Designed for High Cooling Efficiency and DIY Flexibility
Esgaming, a globally recognized gaming accessories brand, has officially introduced the Model 1101, a versatile PC case engineered to deliver excellent cooling performance, durable construction, and broad hardware compatibility for DIY users, gamers, and workstation builders. The Esgaming Model 1101 supports ATX, M-ATX, and ITX motherboards, offering flexibility for various system configurations. Designed with a focus on expandability and performance, the case provides external dimensions of 420×285×410mm, installation space of 436×291×435mm, and is constructed with 0.6mm SPCC steel, ensuring long-term structural reliability. For storage needs, the 1101 includes 1 × 3.5' drive bay and 2 × 5.5' drive bays. It accommodates high-performance components with graphics card support up to 400mm and CPU cooler height up to 175mm. The case supports a wide range of cooling setups, including: Side: 3 × 120mm fans (optional 2 × 140mm) Rear: 1 × 120mm fan (optional 1 × 140mm) Top/Bottom: Compatibility with 360mm, 280mm, or 240mm water cooling radiators User accessibility is enhanced with 1 × USB 3.0, 1 × USB 2.0, 1 × Type-C port, and audio/mic jacks, all integrated into the front I/O panel. Weighing 6.80kg, the 1101 strikes a balance between rugged build quality and user-friendly design. Esgaming developed the 1101 specifically for DIY enthusiasts, gamers, and professional workstation users requiring strong airflow, powerful hardware support, and efficient internal layout. Customers have praised the case for its effective thermal performance, modern and minimal appearance, and ease of installation, making it a reliable foundation for both entry-level and advanced systems. Each unit of the Model 1101 is produced under Esgaming's quality-focused workflow: Design & Development: Focused on optimizing airflow and expansion Material Cutting & Assembly: Precision-cut SPCC steel and detailed component assembly Quality Check: Rigorous inspection of each unit before release Packaging & Shipping: Secure packing to ensure safe international delivery To learn more, visit: Tel/Whatsapp: +86 13690469645 E - mail/Skype: sales05@ Website: While manufacturing is supported by Coolzer, a long - established player in eSports hardware development, the Model 1101 is entirely branded, marketed, and distributed under the Esgaming name, reinforcing the company's commitment to quality and independence as a global gaming brand. Backed by Coolzer — a 30 - year veteran ESports accessories manufacturer with ISO9001, SGS testing, and certifications like CE/UL/ROHS — the Model 1101 reflects Esgaming's commitment to quality, leveraging decades of manufacturing expertise. Media Contact Company Name: Esgaming (A Coolzer Brand) Contact Person: Sales Team Email: Send Email Phone: +86 13690469645 City: Shenzhen Country: China Website:
