Another first for MK...

Milton Keynes is becoming known as a place of biggest, bests and firsts, being home to one of the largest indoor snow slopes (Xscape) as well as one of the largest shopping centres (15th largest in the UK), and driverless cars, which are set to be trialled here later in the year.

This year there's another 'first' coming to the city, with the UK's first ever 4DX cinema. Home to 3D, D-Box and now a shiny new 'Super Screen', Milton Keynes' Cineworld has been undergoing renovations for some time now, and 4DX is rumoured to be the next big thing.

If you've been to certain theme parks across the world, you'll have probably come across 4D cinemas; the same as 3D but with added effects such as water and moving chairs. The 4DX sounds like it's going to be going that one step further, showing films in both 2D and 3D with the added effects of high-tech motion seats, fog, wind, lightning, strobes, bubbles, water and rain. As if this wasn't all enough, there's apparently also going to be 'scents', which, depending on the film, could be good or bad. Most children have sat in front of the TV screen thinking how amazing it would be if we could have 'smell-a-vision' and now it appears to arrived, on our very doorstep.

If it all goes as well as it sounds, it's sure to be one of the biggest and best experiences of cinema to date, making you really feel as though you are well and truly in the movie. How much this is going to cost hasn't yet been revealed, but it's sure to be a novel experience which, being the first in the UK, will definitely bring people from near and far to the city.

The experience will be launching later this month, on the 30th January, with the first film to be shown in the screen being 'Kinsman: The Secret Service'. 4DX in considered the biggest step in cinema technology to date, and as the first place to have it in the UK, Milton Keynes is an exciting place to be right now. If you love cinema and want to be right in the action, then this is a must try. Whether the multitude of effects will be all too much or will really make you feel like you're there, we'll have to wait and see, but it's definitely going to be a big thing for milton Keynes, we can't wait to try it for ourselves!

Think Local: Small Business Saturday - 6th December

You'll have heard of the American phenomenon 'Black Friday' which has become more prominent in the UK over the last couple of years, and maybe even 'Cyber Monday', but have you heard of 'Small Business Saturday'? Held on the first Saturday following Thanksgiving in America, Small Business Saturday aims to support, inspire and promote small businesses, not just on the day but beyond.

The initiative started in America in 2010, and has since then generated a great amount of custom for small businesses, and now it's come to the UK on the 6th December, to hopefully do the same for shops and small businesses here. Small businesses in the UK provide almost two thirds of the private sector employment and almost half of public sector turnover. From this it is clear that they are a great asset to the community and economy as a whole, and therefore it is important to ensure that small business owners are supported, and that shoppers are encouraged to visit such shops.

This year, Small Business Saturday will be held on the 6th December, one of the UK's busiest shopping days. A grass-roots, non-commercial, and non-political campaign, Small Business Saturday aims to encourage consumers to shop locally and therefore support small businesses in their communities while finding some unique Christmas gifts.

Supporters of Small Business Saturday range from Amex to David Cameron, o2 to Ingenious Britain, the small business champions, all encouraging shoppers to give small businesses a chance. We at the Phonebox know the importance of supporting local businesses, and know that for many people, once they've tried shopping locally they often stick to it. Small businesses play a key role in keeping the charm and personality of many villages, towns and cites, as well as helping build a sense of community.

There are a large number of local and small businesses in our area which would benefit from us all taking the 6th December as an opportunity to shop locally. In Olney, Newport Pagnell and the surrounding areas, there are many businesses which provide great quality products. Why not make a day of it on the 6th and enjoy some scenic, small business shopping? We'll be looking more at Small Business Saturday later in the week, and how you can get the most out of the small businesses near you this Christmas-time.

You're fired!- The Apprentice is back

It's that time of year again, The Apprentice is back on our screens... do you watch it?! Whether you watch it for the business side of things, or simply for the comic value of watching them all run about like headless chickens, it can be quite an entertaining show. This week has seen an introductory double-whammy of the Apprentice, with 3 people fired in just 2 days. With more contestants comes the chance of double eliminations out of the blue, which is what was seen last night as Robert and Scott were both fired.

With added members to each team compared to previous years, one might think that the inventions would be better and the teams more organised. Far from it. The show last night depicted a group of mouthy and argumentative members, who seemed to be acting more like teenagers than business men and women. 

Maybe it's a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth, and it did seem the case yesterday with the creations the team came up with. Having been given the brief of 'wearable technology', the boys came up with a jumper with a video camera on the front, which they advertised with the unfortunate words 'privacy is history' and which rather resembled a tacky Christmas jumper.

Similarly, the girls had a bit of a nightmare with their product too, a jacket which charged your phone, kept you warm with heat pads and had flashing lights on the front. A gimmicky product which was trying to be too many things to too many people and just didn't seem to make sense. For example, why would you be wearing a jacket if the sun was out? (the sun was the main source of power to charge the jacket through the solar panels) and why would you want flashing lights on a jacket, never mind the fact that they would need to be in the light to be charged?! More bizarre of all was the fact that they were pitching to a sports shop among others... they seem to have missed a trick here.

It seems that this week the team members were just too much for the project managers to control, and there was a definite conflict of opinions amongst some large personalities. However much we can laugh and shout at the television screen, it does make for good entertainment, even if it's just to see Lord Sugar's humorous remarks at the end of each challenge. It looks like it'll be an eventful series, and we're definitely interested to see what happens over the next couple of weeks!

WW1 remembered

The campaign: 'lights out', featured in this month's Phonebox Magazine, took place this Monday. The idea was that people across the country would turn out their lights and leave one light or candle on, in order to commemorate 100 years since the outbreak of WW1. A National Grid estimate reckons that over 3 million households turned their lights out on Monday, between 10pm and 11pm, and over 143,000 tweets with the hashtag '#lightsout' were tweeted over the course of the day.

With the aim of the hour to be to create a shared moment of reflection, it seems this was achieved, with not only households but also famous landmarks taking part. Watch the video below to see the significant lights being turnout out across the country to remember this day.

Did you get involved and turn out your lights and light a candle? We'd love to hear from you and see your pictures!

 

Ice Cream!

Pinch, punch first of the month, and welcome to July! We've just discovered here at the Phonebox magazine, that July is National Ice Cream month in America. Apparently, back in July 1984, President Ronald Reagan designated the month as National Ice Cream Month, with National Ice Cream day being the 14th July 1984, and it has been continued ever since...I wonder why?! We don't appear to have such a day here in the UK, but considering there's a town named Olney in the United States, and we love ice cream, we guessed it would be rude not to show our support and help celebrate this National day! So what are you waiting for, get out there and treat yourself to some ice cream! You've got an excuse...sort of!