Here's the technology I was talking about in my November 2017 'gadget guru' chat on TRE Talk Radio Europe this afternoon:
Nuviz
This is a 'head-up' display that’s designed to fit to a motorbike helmet, bringing fighter pilot technology to the road.
You get GPS maps, a camera for recording your journey, a hands-free headset connection and the opportunity to listen to music. Nuviz is designed to stick to the bottom right-hand side of a motorbike helmet, offering a transparent screen that sits in front of the rider’s right eye and a controller that fits to the bike handlebars. From what I’ve seen, the Nuviz is a serious piece of kit for any motorcyclist who does a lot of riding in unfamiliar territory. UK price is £615.
Bowers and Wilkins PX headphones
Bowers and Wilkins started making loudspeakers back in the 1960s – that’s still what they’re best known for – and only expanded into headphones less than ten years ago.
The PX is the company's first pair of wireless headphones with built-in active noise-cancellation. Inside the earpiece is a 40mm driver angled to send the music straight into your ears. They connect via Bluetooth, with buttons on the right-hand earpiece for volume control and playing or pausing - and can even stop your music automatically when you take them off. Expect to pay around £329.
Moto Smart Speaker with Amazon Alexa
This loudspeaker is designed to attach to any of Motorola's Moto Z phones. It fastens on magnetically, which is rather neat, and gives you a pair of stereo speakers delivering 8 watts of music power.
Inside is the same kind of technology as one of Amazon’s Echo loudspeakers, including a connection to the Amazon Alexa virtual assistant. It’ll listen out for instructions through its four microphones and will answer the same questions you might ask an Amazon Echo device. Except, of course, because it’s attached to your phone, you don’t need to be at home to do any of this.
And because it’s attached to your phone, the phone screen can also show you answers whilst Alexa talks to you. Pricing is $149/£99.
USB fridge
A few years ago, accessories powered by the USB socket on your laptop or desktop computer were all the rage. I thought this trend had gone away but it seems I was wrong, because I’ve spotted a USB fridge.
How on earth do you get enough power out of a USB socket to power a fridge? Part of the answer is the size of the thing: it’s literally only capable of holding a single 330ml can of drink. It’ll cool to around 8 Celsius after five minutes, which isn’t as cold as a proper fridge but is perfectly acceptable, I’d say. Especially for £14.99.
Showing posts with label audio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label audio. Show all posts
Monday, 6 November 2017
Monday, 11 September 2017
My TRE Talk Radio Europe 'gadget guru' technology for September 2017
Here's the technology I talked about in my September 2017 'gadget guru' chat on TRE Talk Radio Europe:
Samsung Galaxy Note8
The Note8 is a phablet, with all the functions of a phone but the size of a small tablet. This device is the successor to the ill-fated Note7, so there are no surprises that it’s called the Note8… and also no surprises that it’s had a whole load more pre-production checking.
The most obvious feature of the Note8 is the size: it has a 6.3-inch quadHD display. Because the screen’s so big, you can comfortably run more than one application at once. What also makes the Note8 stand out are the two cameras on the back. This means you can take a photo and then adjust the depth of field – effectively the focus – afterwards. You can even take a close-up shot (it’s got a 2x optical zoom) and a wide-angle shot at the same time.
The whole thing is waterproof, too – and it comes with Samsung’s voice assistant, Bixby, which can help with tasks and reminders without pressing buttons. Price is £869 without a contract.
Caterpillar T20 rugged tablet
Caterpillar is a brand that’s usually associated with construction equipment – but for a few years they’ve also lent their name to tough phones. Now, specialist mobile company Bullitt Group, which produces Cat-branded handsets, has made a tablet computer with the same kind of protection.
The T20 is the first Caterpillar-branded tablet on the market, it’s got an 8-inch screen and it runs the Windows 10 operating system. As well as WiFi it’s got a mobile connection, so you’re not tied to being near a broadband connection.
But it’s the protection that’s really notable. This is IP67-certified: dustproof and waterproof for 30 minutes at a depth of one metre. It is drop-resistant up t a height of 1.8 metres and is vibration-proof, too.
The whole thing runs on an Intel Atom chip, it’s got a five megapixel camera on the back, a two megapixel camera on the front and toughened glass on the screen. Rather sensibly, it’s also supplied with a hand strap. Expect to pay £599 without a contract.
ILIFE V5s Pro robot vacuum cleaner
Robot vacuum cleaners are a relatively recent innovation. Imagine something like one of those aluminium food covers that restaurants sometimes use, rolling itself around the floor and picking up dust. These robot cleaners can get under chairs and tables without you needing to move the furniture – and you can set them to work when you’re going out, so you don’t need to hear the noise.
ILIFE is a Chinese company that’s quite big in this kind of thing. The ILIFE V5s Pro isn’t just a vacuum cleaner but can also mop the floor. It’s got a microfibre cleaning pad and a 300ml water tank that can give you over an hour of cleaning; up to 180 square metres. (The water tank takes the same space inside the machine as the dirt bin: you need to take one out and put the other in.)
As you’d expect, it’s clever enough to avoid crashing into your furniture or falling downstairs. Yes, there are compromises but they’re reflected in the price: you can pick one of these up for less than £200.
BeoVision Eclipse TV
This television comes from a partnership between Bang & Olufsen and LG, although it’s being sold under the B&O brand. Effectively, it’s B&O's sound and design plus LG’s 4K display.
As with most big, flat televisions you can fix it to the wall – but this one offers the option of a motorised wall mount. That means you don’t have to keep the TV or the furniture in the best position to watch things. With this, you can hang the TV in the place that looks best for your room – perhaps flat against a wall – and push a button on the remote control when you’re all sitting down. The TV then angles itself into the room.
The optional floor stand does the same. Switch on and it’ll spin to bring the TV away from the wall, then you can angle it to suit where you’re sitting: up to 90 degrees either way.
There are two sizes available: a 55-inch version and a 65-inch version. Pricing reflects the technology: it’s just under £9000 for the 55-inch TV and around £11,500 (€13000) for the 65-inch model.
Samsung Galaxy Note8
The Note8 is a phablet, with all the functions of a phone but the size of a small tablet. This device is the successor to the ill-fated Note7, so there are no surprises that it’s called the Note8… and also no surprises that it’s had a whole load more pre-production checking.
The most obvious feature of the Note8 is the size: it has a 6.3-inch quadHD display. Because the screen’s so big, you can comfortably run more than one application at once. What also makes the Note8 stand out are the two cameras on the back. This means you can take a photo and then adjust the depth of field – effectively the focus – afterwards. You can even take a close-up shot (it’s got a 2x optical zoom) and a wide-angle shot at the same time.
The whole thing is waterproof, too – and it comes with Samsung’s voice assistant, Bixby, which can help with tasks and reminders without pressing buttons. Price is £869 without a contract.
Caterpillar T20 rugged tablet
Caterpillar is a brand that’s usually associated with construction equipment – but for a few years they’ve also lent their name to tough phones. Now, specialist mobile company Bullitt Group, which produces Cat-branded handsets, has made a tablet computer with the same kind of protection.
The T20 is the first Caterpillar-branded tablet on the market, it’s got an 8-inch screen and it runs the Windows 10 operating system. As well as WiFi it’s got a mobile connection, so you’re not tied to being near a broadband connection.
But it’s the protection that’s really notable. This is IP67-certified: dustproof and waterproof for 30 minutes at a depth of one metre. It is drop-resistant up t a height of 1.8 metres and is vibration-proof, too.
The whole thing runs on an Intel Atom chip, it’s got a five megapixel camera on the back, a two megapixel camera on the front and toughened glass on the screen. Rather sensibly, it’s also supplied with a hand strap. Expect to pay £599 without a contract.
ILIFE V5s Pro robot vacuum cleaner
Robot vacuum cleaners are a relatively recent innovation. Imagine something like one of those aluminium food covers that restaurants sometimes use, rolling itself around the floor and picking up dust. These robot cleaners can get under chairs and tables without you needing to move the furniture – and you can set them to work when you’re going out, so you don’t need to hear the noise.
ILIFE is a Chinese company that’s quite big in this kind of thing. The ILIFE V5s Pro isn’t just a vacuum cleaner but can also mop the floor. It’s got a microfibre cleaning pad and a 300ml water tank that can give you over an hour of cleaning; up to 180 square metres. (The water tank takes the same space inside the machine as the dirt bin: you need to take one out and put the other in.)
As you’d expect, it’s clever enough to avoid crashing into your furniture or falling downstairs. Yes, there are compromises but they’re reflected in the price: you can pick one of these up for less than £200.
BeoVision Eclipse TV
This television comes from a partnership between Bang & Olufsen and LG, although it’s being sold under the B&O brand. Effectively, it’s B&O's sound and design plus LG’s 4K display.
As with most big, flat televisions you can fix it to the wall – but this one offers the option of a motorised wall mount. That means you don’t have to keep the TV or the furniture in the best position to watch things. With this, you can hang the TV in the place that looks best for your room – perhaps flat against a wall – and push a button on the remote control when you’re all sitting down. The TV then angles itself into the room.
The optional floor stand does the same. Switch on and it’ll spin to bring the TV away from the wall, then you can angle it to suit where you’re sitting: up to 90 degrees either way.
There are two sizes available: a 55-inch version and a 65-inch version. Pricing reflects the technology: it’s just under £9000 for the 55-inch TV and around £11,500 (€13000) for the 65-inch model.
Tuesday, 25 July 2017
TRE Talk Radio Europe 'gadget guru' tech for July 2017
Here's a short summary of the technology from my July 2017 'gadget guru' chat on TRE Talk Radio Europe:
Apple HomePod smart loudspeaker
This is a smart loudspeaker, which puts it in competition with the Amazon Echo and Google Home. Much like these, it connects to your home broadband and has built-in microphones, so you can control it by talking.
And you probably won't be surprised to hear that HomePod is designed to work closely with Apple iTunes; or, more specifically, with the Apple Music subscription service.
The device is just under seven inches tall, plugs into the mains and connects to your WiFi. Inside there's a little array of speakers to cover the high frequencies and a woofer for the low frequencies. It's also got six microphones, which helps it pick up your voice from any direction and also helps it adjust the music depending on where it is in the room.
What does it actually do? You can tell it to play music by artist, by genre, by album or by song. You can then tell it what you like and it'll learn your preferences. Because these are stored online, your preferences will also be available across all your Apple devices. And you can ask or specific questions about songs: who's singing, who's on bass guitar, that kind of thing.
Plus, because it's all powered by Apple's virtual assistant Siri, you can get news and weather updates, you can send messages and can even control some ‘smart home’ appliances. The magic words are "Hey, Siri" - without that, it won't do a thing.
Setting it all up doesn't require much more than plugging the speaker into the mains and holding your iPhone next to it.
HomePod will be available for $349 (US) in December; it’ll also launch then in the UK and Australia, although official pricing hasn't been confirmed yet.
Master Lock Bluetooth key box
Having a key box is a whole lot safer than leaving a spare key under the stone by the back door. They're great for keeping a spare key in case you lock yourself out, leaving a key for family or friends if you're not around - and, of course, very popular for holiday homes and rented property.
This one offers a Bluetooth connection as well; that's the wireless technology better known for connecting the hands-free headset on your phone. So - you fit the box to the wall. You put your spare key inside. And then you've got a couple of choices. There's a ten-digit keypad on the front, so it looks much like a conventional key box with a combination lock. But you can use your phone to set people up with their own code, which they can either enter on the keypad or they can download the Master Lock app onto their phone and do it from there. You can even set codes to expire, so - for example - your plumber can have access but only if they turn up in the morning.
The whole thing runs from a battery that lasts for around two years. It’ll warn you if the battery is running low; if you let the battery run out, you can touch a 9 volt battery on the bottom of the box to ‘jump-start’ it.
UK pricing is £109.
Minipresso portable espresso machine
You're out camping, you've gone for a drive, you're on a hike - or perhaps you're at work. Anyway, it's coffee time and you'd love an espresso. But carrying an espresso machine around with you just isn't practical. Until now.
The Minipresso NS is a cylinder that's 17.5 centimetres long. It doesn't need electricity. It doesn't need compressed gas or compressed air. It doesn't even need a coffee grinder, because it takes Nespresso coffee pods (or, indeed, any other coffee pod that's the same size). It just needs boiling water.
You put your capsule in, you put your boiling water in - it holds up to 70ml - and then you pump it. A little pump arm pops out the side of the cylinder; it's the same sort of pressure as pumping a bicycle tyre. There's even a cup that unscrews from the end of the device, so you don't need anything else.
The company makes another version that uses conventional ground coffee if you prefer. Either way it'll cost you around £50.
InkCase i7 Plus
If you were one of the first people to start using the Amazon Kindle eBook reader - or if you still have one of the simpler devices with a monochrome electronic ink screen - you'll know how amazingly long the battery life is, especially when you compare it with a tablet or a phone.
Now along comes a Kickstarter project that aims to give iPhone users the best of both worlds.
It's a case for your iPhone 7 plus. (There's also a version for the regular iPhone 7 but I'm going to talk about the Plus version because it's a little bit more sophisticated.)
The Oaxis InkCase i7 Plus adds an e-ink screen – a second screen to your iPhone. It’s got its own built-in rechargeable battery and lets you read eBooks, check your to-do list, read the news and even display photos. Talking of pictures, because it’s on the back of your phone with the main camera, there’s a selfie assistance feature so you can take better photos of yourself.
What’s also noteworthy is that it's not stupidly big: it just adds 4½mm to the back of your iPhone 7 Plus and only weighs 80g.
It won’t work with every app on your phone – neither would you want it to – but it will show your to-do lists, your calendar, your fitness data, news stories and a clock if you want, as well as supporting the .epub and .txt eBook formats.
If all goes according to plan, regular shipments will start in September. Pricing will be $69 for the regular size and $159 for the plus size but there are discounts on those figures for the next few days while the Kickstarter campaign is still running.
Apple HomePod smart loudspeaker
This is a smart loudspeaker, which puts it in competition with the Amazon Echo and Google Home. Much like these, it connects to your home broadband and has built-in microphones, so you can control it by talking.
And you probably won't be surprised to hear that HomePod is designed to work closely with Apple iTunes; or, more specifically, with the Apple Music subscription service.
The device is just under seven inches tall, plugs into the mains and connects to your WiFi. Inside there's a little array of speakers to cover the high frequencies and a woofer for the low frequencies. It's also got six microphones, which helps it pick up your voice from any direction and also helps it adjust the music depending on where it is in the room.
What does it actually do? You can tell it to play music by artist, by genre, by album or by song. You can then tell it what you like and it'll learn your preferences. Because these are stored online, your preferences will also be available across all your Apple devices. And you can ask or specific questions about songs: who's singing, who's on bass guitar, that kind of thing.
Plus, because it's all powered by Apple's virtual assistant Siri, you can get news and weather updates, you can send messages and can even control some ‘smart home’ appliances. The magic words are "Hey, Siri" - without that, it won't do a thing.
Setting it all up doesn't require much more than plugging the speaker into the mains and holding your iPhone next to it.
HomePod will be available for $349 (US) in December; it’ll also launch then in the UK and Australia, although official pricing hasn't been confirmed yet.
Master Lock Bluetooth key box
Having a key box is a whole lot safer than leaving a spare key under the stone by the back door. They're great for keeping a spare key in case you lock yourself out, leaving a key for family or friends if you're not around - and, of course, very popular for holiday homes and rented property.
This one offers a Bluetooth connection as well; that's the wireless technology better known for connecting the hands-free headset on your phone. So - you fit the box to the wall. You put your spare key inside. And then you've got a couple of choices. There's a ten-digit keypad on the front, so it looks much like a conventional key box with a combination lock. But you can use your phone to set people up with their own code, which they can either enter on the keypad or they can download the Master Lock app onto their phone and do it from there. You can even set codes to expire, so - for example - your plumber can have access but only if they turn up in the morning.
The whole thing runs from a battery that lasts for around two years. It’ll warn you if the battery is running low; if you let the battery run out, you can touch a 9 volt battery on the bottom of the box to ‘jump-start’ it.
UK pricing is £109.
Minipresso portable espresso machine
You're out camping, you've gone for a drive, you're on a hike - or perhaps you're at work. Anyway, it's coffee time and you'd love an espresso. But carrying an espresso machine around with you just isn't practical. Until now.
The Minipresso NS is a cylinder that's 17.5 centimetres long. It doesn't need electricity. It doesn't need compressed gas or compressed air. It doesn't even need a coffee grinder, because it takes Nespresso coffee pods (or, indeed, any other coffee pod that's the same size). It just needs boiling water.
You put your capsule in, you put your boiling water in - it holds up to 70ml - and then you pump it. A little pump arm pops out the side of the cylinder; it's the same sort of pressure as pumping a bicycle tyre. There's even a cup that unscrews from the end of the device, so you don't need anything else.
The company makes another version that uses conventional ground coffee if you prefer. Either way it'll cost you around £50.
InkCase i7 Plus
If you were one of the first people to start using the Amazon Kindle eBook reader - or if you still have one of the simpler devices with a monochrome electronic ink screen - you'll know how amazingly long the battery life is, especially when you compare it with a tablet or a phone.
Now along comes a Kickstarter project that aims to give iPhone users the best of both worlds.
It's a case for your iPhone 7 plus. (There's also a version for the regular iPhone 7 but I'm going to talk about the Plus version because it's a little bit more sophisticated.)
The Oaxis InkCase i7 Plus adds an e-ink screen – a second screen to your iPhone. It’s got its own built-in rechargeable battery and lets you read eBooks, check your to-do list, read the news and even display photos. Talking of pictures, because it’s on the back of your phone with the main camera, there’s a selfie assistance feature so you can take better photos of yourself.
What’s also noteworthy is that it's not stupidly big: it just adds 4½mm to the back of your iPhone 7 Plus and only weighs 80g.
It won’t work with every app on your phone – neither would you want it to – but it will show your to-do lists, your calendar, your fitness data, news stories and a clock if you want, as well as supporting the .epub and .txt eBook formats.
If all goes according to plan, regular shipments will start in September. Pricing will be $69 for the regular size and $159 for the plus size but there are discounts on those figures for the next few days while the Kickstarter campaign is still running.
Friday, 3 March 2017
How many words in a minute?
How many words in a minute? It's a question that appears to mix disparate disconnected units, like measuring an Olympic-sized swimming pool with double-decker buses or calculating the height of Nelson's Column in football pitches. Besides, there are also issues of size and speed - from the single syllable to the sesquipedalian, from relaxed to rushed. How many balls of string would it take to reach the moon? One, if it's long enough. As a child I was told that was one of the oldest recorded English language jokes - unless, of course, someone was having me on. Incidentally, your ball of string would only need to be a few metres across. Now that IS surprising. More recently, researchers have found a tenth-century double entendre in a poetry book at Exeter Cathedral. What's the punchline? And is double entendre hyphenated? We'll come back to those another time. Ultimately, any calculation can only be an average. Fortunately, I am an average man - although for copyright reasons I won't be quoting any of Rockwell's lyrics. Unlike his protagonist, I cannot afford to pay the price. But there is an answer to my question. One hundred and ninety nine and a ha...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)