Latest news with #ACER
Daily Record
10-07-2025
- Daily Record
Parents 'absolutely love' Amazon HD Kids Tablet that's 60% off in Prime Day deal
"The screen brightness and clarity is very good, and there are no complaints there... The case is sturdy and has taken the odd battering from my youngest child" Kids today are growing up in a digital world, making reliable and safe devices essential for both learning and entertainment. Amazon's Prime Day has brought a massive 60 per cent discount to one of its most popular child-friendly devices. The newest generation Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids tablet is now available for just £59.99, down from £149.99, offering families a big saving on a tablet designed specifically for children aged 3 to 7. The latest model features an 8" HD screen, 3GB of memory, and 32GB of storage, expandable up to 1TB. With an all-day 13-hour battery life, it's ideal for long trips, holidays, or day-to-day use at home. It also includes one year of Amazon Kids+, providing access to a wide range of ad-free books, games, videos and educational content, including STEM-based apps and multilingual books. After the first year, the subscription renews from £4.99/month but can be cancelled at any time. The tablet is built for durability, with a strengthened aluminosilicate glass screen and a Kid-Proof Case with stand/handle. Should it break, Amazon's 2-year worry-free guarantee means it will be replaced for free. Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids tablet (newest gen), ages 3–7 £149.99 £59.99 Amazon Shop Product Description The parental controls are designed for ease, allowing adults to set screen time limits, review activity, and prioritise educational content through the Amazon Parent Dashboard. Those comparing alternatives might also look at the HONOR Pad X8a 11 Inch Kids Tablet, priced at £149.99 at Argos and rated 4.9 stars. Elsewhere, the ACER 10.1" Kids Tablet is currently £99 at Currys and has a 4.2-star rating from 116 reviews. But if it's the Fire HD 8 Kids tablet that's of interest, it continues to be praised for its child-focused features and ease of use. It currently holds a 4.4-star rating from 239 reviews and is available in a range of bright colours with a sturdy, child-safe case. It has been bought over 4,000 times in the last month, highlighting its popularity. One pleased parent commented: 'For the price, I wasn't expecting as much as the more expensive Apple iPads we have, but equally I didn't want my son messing about with those. "The screen brightness and clarity is very good, and there are no complaints there... The case is sturdy and has taken the odd battering from my youngest child... I will consider buying one for my youngest child when they are a bit older.' Another wrote: 'The tablet battery life is really good and the case is super strong... We got this for trips on planes and holidays and it fits really nicely in a bag even though the case is really chunky and protective.." They did warn, however: "Some of the games do require Wi-Fi... so we just added a couple of videos on there.' Tech deal of the week It's that time of year where we are looking for ways to keep cool amidst the balmy, summer days. One item shoppers are raving over is this DDKJ Neck Fan that can be used to keep cool when commuting, at work or in the home. Even better, it costs just £26.98 on Amazon. With certain parts of the UK set to reach sweltering 35C, it's handy that this neck fan comes with a rose gold cooling plate around the neck curve that is said to "feel like an ice cube", dropping temperatures to just 15C in as little as one second. Boasting an ergonomic, wearable design, it features two bladeless fans that are safe to wear, with five different speed settings that provide a cooling effect on the head, neck and sides. It's also quite smart thanks to a LED digital display that makes the operation easy and convenient, while the built-in 5500mAh large capacity rechargeable battery features a fast charging chip that ensures a full charge within just 2.5-3hrs. Numerous shoppers who have bagged the neck fan say it is a "godsend" and a "lifesaver" for the heatwave, with one writing: "This is easy to wear when sitting or walking generally. Works fast and never needed it on anything but the lowest setting! At my time of life it is a lifesaver, especially through the heatwave we experienced." Keep cool amidst the rising temperatures with the DDKJ Neck Fan with Cooling Plate on Amazon for £26.98 And another reviewer was disappointed with the battery, saying: 'We ordered for the kids and it comes with 12-month subscription to kids package... my only negative is the battery life is not as long as expected and it does run a little slow after a while.' But a different five-star reviewer wrote: 'Got this as a birthday present for my son... Absolutely loving it, as well as the ease of having my phone to myself. I think this was an absolute good buy.' Despite a few drawbacks, the Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids tablet remains one of the most comprehensive child-friendly devices currently on the market, especially when factoring in the built-in subscription, protective design, and generous warranty. Get this product HERE while the Prime Day deal lasts.
The Guardian
25-05-2025
- The Guardian
‘Culture of disrespect': Australian teachers say students' behaviour is driving them from profession
It took three weeks for Amanda, who's name has been changed to protect her identity, to resign as a casual relief teacher. Now in her 60s, Amanda has had teaching stints for decades, including time at remote communities in the Northern Territory. She thought this year's contract in Victoria would be a breeze. But she'd never experienced behaviour that was so poor. Every lesson, a year 11 boy would repeatedly ask her if she was a 'gooner' and was going to 'goon' – a colloquial phrase for masturbation – when she got home. During class, she found it impossible to get the attention of students, who would 'refuse to shut their computers' and continued playing online games. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email 'I was shattered,' she says. 'I just couldn't go back. What I experienced was a culture of total disrespect.' This week, the federal government opened submissions for a review into bullying at Australian schools, with the aim of developing a nationally consistent response. According to the Australian Council for Educational Research (Acer), Australia's disciplinary climate is significantly worse than the OECD average. Exposure to bullying is higher than all comparison countries, except Latvia. The government's review is focused on the experience of children, with evidence suggesting bullying is undermining student wellbeing, attendance, engagement and learning outcomes. But teachers say they're not immune from the impacts of behavioural issues. And they need support. Guardian Australia has spoken to more than a dozen teachers who have faced mental health issues or decided to exit the system due to the poor behaviour of students. One teacher, who is on stress leave after 20 years in the sector, says they used to face three or four difficult young boys in class. It had since grown to almost half. Another former teacher in north-west New South Wales recently medically retired due to repeat instances of bullying and violence by students and parents across multiple schools. He says the schools would fail to respond to suspension guidelines and appropriate child-safety plans. 'I'd report violence, assault and drug use and nothing would happen,' he says. The proportion of Australian teachers reporting they plan to leave the profession jumped from less than a quarter in 2020 (22.25%) to more than a third (34.21%) in 2022, data from the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) has found. And the reasons are multifaceted. A Deakin University study into the turnover rates of teachers, published this year, found emotional demands and experiences of work-related violence were strongly associated with an intention to leave the profession. Dr Mark Rahimi, a psychosocial researcher at Deakin University, says a shift towards more 'teacher-centred' policies, that recognise the profession as 'complex emotional and intellectual work' is needed. 'This means examining how the pressures and challenges teachers experience daily, the levels of respect and recognition they receive, and the support they are given in their work are shaped by policies and decisions at both the school and systemic level,' he says. Workloads also play a factor. One teacher retired this year after experiencing 'out of control' behaviour at a government school in Sydney when numbers exceeded capacity. 'We had teachers punched, pushed, spit on, name-called, intimidated,' he says. 'A woman on canteen duty who was in a wheelchair was surrounded by 10 year-nine boys. 'We had no CCTV, so no evidence of what was happening on the playground each day.' Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Another high school teacher with three decades of experience temporarily retired in 2020, 'exhausted and disillusioned'. Following the floods in northern New South Wales, she returned to work in 2023. 'I was verbally abused more times than I had experienced in all my previous teaching years,' she says, citing sexual harassment and physical intimidation, including being referred to as a 'poxy [worthless] skank'. 'The pervading culture is misogynistic … what keeps me going is my belief that there are many kids who are also suffering … and that we teachers can and do make a difference.' Other teachers still in the system are unable to speak out due to Department of Education employee guidelines, but say they are experiencing daily verbal abuse from students and, often, their parents. They've pointed to a significant shift post-Covid lockdowns, with dropping attendance and a decline in respect for the profession, exacerbated by the continued underfunding of public schools. 'I have been punched, kicked, grabbed, slapped, pushed, head-butted and stabbed with a pencil all within the last 12 months,' one teacher says. 'The system is very broken.' Senior lecturer at Monash university's school of education, Dr Fiona Longmuir, says the retention issue is 'massive', particularly for mid-career teachers who are the most likely to indicate a desire to leave the profession. 'We can keep recruiting until the cows come home, but if we're not keeping teachers in the job and keeping them healthy and sustaining … we're just pouring water into a leaking bucket,' she says. Longmuir describes the problem as 'death by 1,000 paper cuts'. Teachers are passionate about their job, but they're demoralised, and their time and energy is increasingly being directed away from the bread and butter of teaching. 'They can't switch off, particularly with the increasingly complex and demanding needs of young people who we know are struggling – probably more than they ever have before,' she says. 'They're also seeing a lack of respect [towards teachers] in the public discourse. We've lost this sense of shared responsibility … as we're seeing decreasing respect across the community.' Longmuir says what teachers, and students, are 'crying out for' is more sector-wide effort to foster care and connection in schools. 'We've had such pressure for schools to be good at achievement in certain narrow areas … and those pressures have increased over the years,' she says. 'We need to make more room for kids to have fun and connect and for teachers to be able to find joy in the work that they do.' One teacher, who's been in the profession for more than a decade and currently teaches at a private boys school, used to love his job. He has a file of thank you notes from students and parents. The issue, he says, is children are less eager to learn. 'Managing the behaviour of a vocal minority in every class takes up more and more time and – crucially – more and more of the teacher's emotional energy,' he says. 'Their attention spans get shorter and shorter by the year, something most teachers anecdotally attribute to mobile phone use and 'TikTok brain'.' He says 'rudeness, defiance and a lack of basic respect' – especially towards female teachers from boys – is persistent. He worries about the rise of the 'manosphere', popularised by figures like Andrew Tate. 'I have – more than once – been physically threatened by students to beat me up,' he says. 'I'm under the care of a psychologist as a result of the stress. I've been advised that the best course of action for my mental health is to retire but I can't afford to. 'Teachers need far more support … We deal with dozens of students at a time and many of them have poor impulse control. We're legally responsible for their safety. But who's taking care of ours?'
Reuters
22-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Portugal wants European regulators' agency to lead Iberia outage investigation
LISBON, May 22 (Reuters) - Portugal wants European energy regulators' agency ACER to lead an independent investigation into the causes of the huge power outage that brought most of Spain and Portugal to a standstill last month, its acting energy minister told Reuters. Maria da Graca Carvalho said Prime Minister Luis Montenegro wants an independent investigation led by the European Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators to complement the technical report being prepared by the European network of transmission system operators ENTSO-E. "ACER, as a suitable entity to coordinate any external evaluation process, could bring more confidence, impartiality and transparency to the conclusions," Carvalho said in an e-mail, responding to questions from Reuters. "As for speculation about cyber attacks, sabotage or human error, at this time there is no evidence" that any of those could have caused the outage, the minister told Reuters in a written statement. Spain's energy minister said last week that an abrupt loss of power generation at a site in Granada, followed by outages seconds later in Badajoz and Seville, triggered the unprecedented blackout across Spain and Portugal on April 28. Iberia lags behind the EU's target for all countries to have 15% of their energy system interconnected to the broader European network by 2030, with Iberia's share stuck at just 3%. Carvalho said that, regardless of the causes of the blackout, Portugal was pondering how to strengthen the resilience and security of the national electricity system, which is a "strategic imperative".
Hindustan Times
22-05-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
Portugal wants European regulators' agency to lead Iberia outage investigation
LISBON, - Portugal wants European energy regulators' agency ACER to lead an independent investigation into the causes of the huge power outage that brought most of Spain and Portugal to a standstill last month, its acting energy minister told Reuters. Maria da Graca Carvalho said Prime Minister Luis Montenegro wants an independent investigation led by the European Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators to complement the technical report being prepared by the European network of transmission system operators ENTSO-E. "ACER, as a suitable entity to coordinate any external evaluation process, could bring more confidence, impartiality and transparency to the conclusions," Carvalho said in an e-mail, responding to questions from Reuters. "As for speculation about cyber attacks, sabotage or human error, at this time there is no evidence" that any of those could have caused the outage, the minister told Reuters in a written statement. Spain's energy minister said last week that an abrupt loss of power generation at a site in Granada, followed by outages seconds later in Badajoz and Seville, triggered the unprecedented blackout across Spain and Portugal on April 28. Iberia lags behind the EU's target for all countries to have 15% of their energy system interconnected to the broader European network by 2030, with Iberia's share stuck at just 3%. Carvalho said that, regardless of the causes of the blackout, Portugal was pondering how to strengthen the resilience and security of the national electricity system, which is a "strategic imperative".
