February 2018 'gadget guru' technology for TRE Talk Radio Europe

Here's a reminder of the technology I mentioned in my February 2018 TRE Talk Radio Europe 'gadget guru' conversation:

Sonic Soak

Sonic Soak is a little cylindrical device that's made of stainless steel, just over four inches long. It’s attached with a wire to a separate controller that plugs into the mains.

You put whatever you’re cleaning into a tray or bucket with some water, pop the cylinder in there as well, turn it on and it creates ultrasonic waves that travel through the water. Fifty thousand vibrations per second create little bubbles that burst, and that’s what does the cleaning.

What can you clean? Clothes, especially those that are only suitable for hand washing, like silk or lace. (It’ll work with up to four litres of water and up to four pounds of clothes.) You can clean jewellery and silverware. You can clean children’s toys and baby’s bottles. You can even clean fruit and vegetables.

Not only does it use much less water than a conventional washing machine, it also uses less energy.

The device is being produced by a company in Los Angeles called Sonic Soak, which is launching the product via crowd-funding site IndieGoGo. Standard pricing is expected to be $250 plus shipping but there are special pre-launch offers.

Mycroft Mark II

Here’s another crowd-funded product. Mycroft is a voice-controlled assistant, like Amazon Echo and Google Home.

Unlike some other products, the company lets anyone look at its software so you can see exactly what happens. Does it save your voice recordings after you've talked to it? No, it doesn’t. Does it sell your information to advertisers? No, it doesn’t. Does it create its own targeted advertising? No, it doesn’t.

So what does it do?

Mycroft is a smart loudspeaker that’ll find answers when you talk to it, it’ll play music, it’ll take care of your diary and it has a little touch-controlled screen as well – which is nice if you ask it for things that work visually, like countdown timers or weather forecasts.

The unit sits just under eight inches tall. Inside there are six individual microphones to pick up your voice, it plays stereo with two-inch drivers putting out 10W of music, there’s a Bluetooth connection, a USB socket and a memory card slot. At the moment it just speaks English but developers are working on other European languages.

When it comes to talent, the joy of open software means other people can build skills for Mycroft. So as well as the usual weather and news stuff you might ask a smart loudspeaker, it can potentially control your lights, check your email, log into Facebook… if it’s online, there’s a good chance your Mycroft can talk to it.

Shipping is expected before the end of the year; pricing is $129 (around £90) plus shipping via Kickstarter.

Shell smartwatch

Shell is a smartwatch that can turn into a 4G smartphone and also has what the designers say is “the world’s first built-in manual charging solution”.

There are little wings that pop out the side of the watch. Squeeze them for a few minutes and they’ll give you a few more minutes of talk time on your watch.

Also in the watch is a 360-degree rotating camera that’ll take 12-megapixel photos. Battery life is up to five days of standby or five hours of talktime.

There’ll be three models to choose from: the Signature Model starts at $250 [approx. €200/£180], there’s also a lower-priced adaptor that’ll let people turn their existing smartwatch into a smartphone and a higher-priced version that includes a two-way walkie-talkie as well.

Shell is currently due to launch on IndieGoGo.

Ryze Tello drone

A Chinese company called Ryze has recently announced a £99 (€109) drone called the Tello, with help from drone specialists DJI and chip manufacturer Intel.

This drone literally fits into the palm of your hand. It weighs around 80g (including the rechargeable battery) and is 10cm long.

Does that affect its performance? Of course it does. There’s a maximum range of around 100 metres and a maximum flight time of 13 minutes before it needs recharging. In fact, it’s so small you won’t want to take it outdoors if there’s any kind of breeze at all.


Despite this, it carries a 5 megapixel camera that can also shoot 720p video and has built-in electronic image stabilisation. It also has a collision detection system, it can fly itself if you take your hands off the controls and it sends live video to your phone or tablet. You can also program it, which means it’s not just a toy but could encourage young engineers to learn coding.

Tello is due to go on sale from March 2018.

TRE Talk Radio Europe 'gadget guru' technology from January 2018

Here is a quick reminder of the technology I mentioned in my January 2018 TRE Talk Radio Europe 'gadget guru' conversation:

LG 4K Ultra-HD projector

The HU80K could be described as the equivalent of a 150-inch 4K ultra-high definition television - but actually, it's not actually a television at all. Instead, it's LG's first 4K UHD projector, which has already won a CES Best of Innovation award.

What's most notable about this is the size: not the picture but the projector itself, which is around half as big as some of its competitors. Despite this, it can project a 150-inch image at 2,500 lumens - that's brighter than a number of rival products - and it even supports HDR for better contrast.

Unlike traditional projectors, it sits upright and can be moved around easily. There are a couple of 7-watt speakers for sound and it'll even connect to the internet like a smart TV, as well as offering USB, Ethernet and HDMI ports.

Verdera Voice Lighted Mirror

American company Kohler says this is the first announcement of a bathroom mirror that has Amazon Alexa built-in. Alexa is one of those intelligent assistants that can answer questions and interact with smart home appliances.

Inside Verdera you’ll find a dual microphone for voice control, stereo speakers in sealed casings, a motion-activated nightlight and LED lights for everyday use. The whole thing connects to your home broadband by WiFi.

Now, that’s all very clever. You can get Alexa to read you the news headlines when you’re cleaning your teeth. You can even turn on the lights in the mirror. But it can also control other 'smart' products from Kohler.

Maybe you'd like to control your shower or even run the bath by talking to the mirror. Water temperature, music, steam… all these things can be controlled by your voice.

Acer Swift 7 laptop

Here comes Acer with what they’re calling the World’s Thinnest Laptop. It’s the new version of the Acer Swift 7, which they’ve whittled down to 8.98mm thin. It runs Windows 10 on an Intel Core i7 processor and includes a 4G LTE connection, so you can use mobile data as well as WiFi.

Rather than running with a mechanical hard drive, it’s got a 256GB solid-state disc and a battery that’ll last for up to 10 hours. It’s equipped with a 14-inch touchscreen and a backlit keyboard, plus a fingerprint reader for extra security.

Kodak Mini 2 Instant Photo Printer

Portable photo printers - for phones, tablets and laptops - are getting smaller. The Kodak Mini 2 Instant Photo Printer prints credit card-sized photos (2.1-inches by 3.4-inches) using 4Pass dye-sublimation printing technology. (Dye sublimation refers to the heat process, while 4Pass means there are four layers of colour.)

This, according to Kodak, is the world’s smallest dye-sublimation photo printer. It’ll work with Android devices, iPhones and iPads – and it means you can print your own photos, stuff from social media or even web pages. There’s also a mobile app for editing shots and cropping them to fit on the photo paper.

The printer itself runs from rechargeable batteries and is 5.2 inches long, 3 inches wide and 1 inch deep. You buy the paper and the ink as a single unit that’ll print 20, 30 or 50 pictures.

TRE Talk Radio Europe 'gadget guru' tech for December 2017

Here's a reminder of the technology I talked about for December 2017 in my TRE Talk Radio Europe 'gadget guru' conversation this afternoon:

Simba Hybrid Pillow

This high-tech pillow says it’s “scientifically engineered to give you the best night’s sleep”.

How does it do this?  First of all, it’s designed to make sure you’re never too hot or cold. This is done with what the manufacturer calls OUTLAST technology. It absorbs, stores and releases heat all through the night, to keep the temperature of your head regulated. And there are panels in the side to let air circulate, so you never get too hot in the summer.

Then there’s the height. Simba's Hybrid Pillow contains nanotubes – hundreds of memory foam tubes – that can be removed or added to adjust the height and the firmness. And because they’re memory foam, they adjust to support your head and your neck.

On one side of the pillow is the OUTLAST material and a layer of duck down. Alternatively, there’s 300 thread count cotton on the other side. Pricing is £95 (around €110).

SmithFly Shoal Tent

Thanks to SmithFly – a company that makes equipment for fishing and outdoor sports – you can now get even further away from the crowds. Their Shoal Tent lets you camp on water. It’s actually an inflatable raft with an inflatable tent on top. Perfect for a pond or a river, subject to common sense, of course.

The whole tent part is held up by inflatable pillars, a bit like a bouncy castle. The fabric, much like a conventional tent, is waterproof - and the floor doubles up as your mattress. If you want, you can detach the sides for getting in and out. The raft is around 8 foot square with the bed part accommodating people up to 6' 3".

When you’re done, everything deflates and rolls up into a storage bag that’s about five foot long and two foot wide. The price is US$1,499 excluding postage – that includes the tent, the storage bag, a repair kit and a foot pump.

Razer smartphone

As well as dedicated game consoles like the Xbox and PlayStation, you can also buy gaming laptops. These offer loads of processing power and high-resolution screens. One of the companies that builds these computers is caller Razer – and they’ve just launched an Android-powered mobile phone.


The display is 5.7-inches across but, unlike other phones, refreshes at a rate of up to 120 Hertz. Most phones refresh at 60 Hz. Double that to 120, like the Razer Phone, and everything’s even smoother. Perfect for gaming, where things are moving all the time.

You’ve also got stereo loudspeakers with audio hardware certified by THX and Dolby Atmos. And it’s all running on a high-spec Qualcomm Snapdragon chip with plenty of memory and a big 4,000mAh battery.

Pricing is £699.99 SIM-free – it’s also available on contracts with Three UK.

Bluetooth Remote Camera Shutter Release

This is a great stocking-filler for anyone who has a smartphone. It’s the 2017 alternative to the selfie stick: a tiny little remote control that’s not much bigger than your thumb.

You set up your phone – perhaps on a little tripod, perhaps balanced on a wall – then you take a few steps away and press the remote control button for a perfectly posed photo. It’s also good at night time when you don’t want to shake the phone as you press the button.

The remote works with most current Android and Apple devices up to ten metres away. Price is around £5, depending on the manufacturer and the retailer. I've just ordered one from Amazon UK.

St Paul and the dinosaurs

I know I'm not the first to notice the biblical parallels in Jurassic Park but whenever either one of these is quoted, I can't help thinking of the other...

St Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 6, verse 12:
All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

Dr Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park (David Koepp / Michael Crichton / Malia Scotch Marmo):
Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should.

TRE Talk Radio Europe 'gadget guru' technology for November 2017

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.

Rocket FM Lewes 'Talking Culture’ playlist from 30th October 2017

Here's a list of the songs I played during the 'Talking Culture' show on Rocket FM Lewes today:

The Whitlams: Thank You (For Loving Me At My Worst)
Katie Melua: The Closest Thing To Crazy
David Lee Roth: Just A Gigolo / I Ain't Got Nobody
Kate and Anna McGarrigle: Be My Baby
Paul McCartney: Silly Love Songs
Sara Bareilles: Love Song
Michael Nyman: Chasing Sheep Is Best Left To Shepherds
After The Fire: One Rule For You
Tracey Ullman: Breakaway
Peter Skellern: Hold On To Love
Mister Solo: Number One
Jill Sobule: I Kissed A Girl
Jimmy Cliff: Wonderful World, Beautiful People

Baffled at a Bookcase

...a library needs to be handy and local; it shouldn’t require an expedition. Municipal authorities of all parties point to splendid new and scheduled central libraries as if this discharges them of their obligations. It doesn’t. For a child a library needs to be round the corner. And if we lose local libraries it is children who will suffer.

Alan Bennett, first published in the London Review of Books and then in 'The Library Book' (borrowed from Ringmer library, which is threatened with closure).