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Worried about your electricity bills and the environment? Don’t know where to cut costs? An OWL will keep an eye on things, and I’m not talking about the local woodland birdlife. I’m referring to the newly launched gadget, The Owl – a monitor which identifies your level of energy usage and provides a monetary value of how much is being used. By simply turning off appliances when not in use, or rather being used needlessly (you know who you are), you can reduce your electricity usage by up to 25 per cent. The Owl costs £49 and is available now to buy online at Theowl.com and nationwide from B&Q stores. 

Allowing you to make free calls over the internet, Skype is a must for those wishing to save money on their phone bills. And it is no longer necessary to switch your PC on every time you make a call either. Just use one of these Philips VoIP841 phones. A dual phone that synchronizes with all your existing Skype contacts, the VoIP841 allows you to chat as you wander round the house or garden - without being tied to your computer. Skype is giving away a Philips phone (worth £99) to each of ten readers. Just send your contact details (full name, telephone number, Skype name and email address) to philipscompetition@skype.net before 24 October, 2007. The winners will be picked at random and contacted via their Skype account. The phone is available to buy from Skype.com/shop (Ts & Cs apply).

Disorganised filing cabinet?  Need labels for the jam jars/ packages/ media? One of the fastest printers for printing great looking labels in seconds, The LabelWriter 400 (£79.99) from DYMO automatically prints from MS Word, MS Outlook, and Palm Desktop. And, in celebration of 50 years in business, DYMO is running a ‘Golden Ticket Giveaway’ à la Willy Wonka, providing customers with the chance to win one of 50 ‘golden’ prizes. By purchasing a DYMO LableWriter, customers could find a gold ticket inside that will win them anything from a gold Canon Ixus digital camera to a sparkling gold Peugeot 207cc. Other prizes include a trip for two to Dubai, a weekend at one of London’s top hotels, or gold and diamond bracelets. LabelWriters are available at all leading stationers. Visit Dymo.com and Dymo Golden Ticket.com for more information.

Before you pack your bags and shoot off for the hols this summer, make sure your home is well protected with this new burglar detector from Optex Europe. An innovative, low cost and highly reliable security measure, the VX 402 not only detects unwanted visitors loitering in driveways or back gardens, but can also warn intruders off the site with a series of pre-recorded announcements programmed by the owner (“Get your thieving mitts off my property” would probably do the trick). The detector range has been specially developed to prevent false activations from family pet and birds etc, and can even issue safety warning to alert parents if their young children are straying too near the pond or swimming pool. Priced from £70. Email sales@optex-europe.com to be put in touch with a local installer.