KEY STROKE OF GENIUS

Stylish, laser – powered multi – touch keyboard and mouse duo morph into any interface you fancy

There’s a new wave of keyboards in town. Designer – turned – inventor Jason Giddlings ‘ multi – touch keyboard and mouse is the future of peripherals and promises to change the way we interact with computing devices, morphing into different interfaces as per your needs. The multi – touch device also supports gestures, and comprises of two “fourier transforum infrared “ (FTIR – Google it, why don’cha ) glass sheetsm and hence can be tailored to multiple purposes, from traditional QWERTY to video editing or gaming setups. The mouse is similarly adaptable, putting key controls under your palm.

Read More

MAC JUICE ON TAP : Mobee Magic Feet

Keeping your achingly stylish Apple wireless kwyboard, Magic Trackpad and Magic Mouse fully charged, the complimentary and equally sexy Mobee Magic Feet inductive charging station props up your peripherals with six hours of side-by-side battery boosting keeping you in full working order for up to ten days. It also adds fours USB ports to your PC – hatting armoury while sitting sleekly on your desk 24/7.

Read More

Everything But the Box Terra MK3: FAT BOTTOMED GIRILS

Remember the saucy number by Queen that eulogised women with large posteriors? That’s the song that rang true in our minds when we were introduced to EBTB’s Terra Mk3 bookshelf speakers. While Freddie Mercury stood amongst the crowd of rock singer – performers  for his showmanship. EBTB does it with its eccentric designs that are anything but cuboidal. But are they fat enough to make the rockin’ world go around?

It didn’t take us long before we had the 30mm tweeters and 4 – inch bass – mid driver belting out tracks as best as they could. Just under the midrange driver and in front of the spherical enclosure is the bass reflex port. What’s more, there is a tweakable dial on each of the bottoms… kinky ! Actually, they are meant to tone down the highs, depending on your preferences.

At first, these lacquer – finished, high – gloss speakers were a little stiff when it came to reproducing adequate bass. However, they dealt with the highs and mids quite well.  It was only after extended usage did the mid – bass drivers seems to loosen up a little. Adding much – needed body to the soundtracks.

The Mk3 is bright – sounding, which everyone may not prefer, so the HF dial at the back is a plus. While the lows were not as full – bodied as we would have liked, the speakers never skipped a beat or boomed along lazily. Ideally, these should be paired with EBTB’s monster ball, the Subterranean II ( Model 2 ) subwoofer. While the Mk3s were not as detailed for layered music, they were superb with simpler orchestrations like a jazz routine or an acoustic ballad. If you have the moolah, you should take these girls down beside you that red firelight.

Read More

MAC JUICE ON TAP : Mobee Magic Feet

Keeping your achingly stylish Apple wireless kwyboard, Magic Trackpad and Magic Mouse fully charged, the complimentary and equally sexy Mobee Magic Feet inductive charging station props up your peripherals with six hours of side-by-side battery boosting keeping you in full working order for up to ten days. It also adds fours USB ports to your PC – hatting armoury while sitting sleekly on your desk 24/7.

Read More

Everything But the Box Terra MK3: FAT BOTTOMED GIRILS

Remember the saucy number by Queen that eulogised women with large posteriors? That’s the song that rang true in our minds when we were introduced to EBTB’s Terra Mk3 bookshelf speakers. While Freddie Mercury stood amongst the crowd of rock singer – performers  for his showmanship. EBTB does it with its eccentric designs that are anything but cuboidal. But are they fat enough to make the rockin’ world go around?

It didn’t take us long before we had the 30mm tweeters and 4 – inch bass – mid driver belting out tracks as best as they could. Just under the midrange driver and in front of the spherical enclosure is the bass reflex port. What’s more, there is a tweakable dial on each of the bottoms… kinky ! Actually, they are meant to tone down the highs, depending on your preferences.

At first, these lacquer – finished, high – gloss speakers were a little stiff when it came to reproducing adequate bass. However, they dealt with the highs and mids quite well.  It was only after extended usage did the mid – bass drivers seems to loosen up a little. Adding much – needed body to the soundtracks.

The Mk3 is bright – sounding, which everyone may not prefer, so the HF dial at the back is a plus. While the lows were not as full – bodied as we would have liked, the speakers never skipped a beat or boomed along lazily. Ideally, these should be paired with EBTB’s monster ball, the Subterranean II ( Model 2 ) subwoofer. While the Mk3s were not as detailed for layered music, they were superb with simpler orchestrations like a jazz routine or an acoustic ballad. If you have the moolah, you should take these girls down beside you that red firelight.

Read More

10 Things… Tech heads are irrationally scared of

• Unwanted PC seizure
• Vintage tapes being found
• Phone loss
• Micro face cancer
• The toilets of others
• Children who know tech
• Emailing the CEO
• Cash machines
• The Airport
• Webcams

Unwanted PC seizure

You’ve never done anything other than work, buy Blu – rays online and play QWOP on your office computer. But you also know its previous owner was that sweaty guy with the Red Dwarf t-shirt who smelled of boiled lamb and left in a hurry. Could it be that any second now the “special police” will burst through the window, find a buried folder and send you down for a lengthy and disagreeable stretch in nonce town? Yes, in a word.

Vintage tapes being found

You were a bit of tormented singer-songwriter when you were a teenager, and recorded all your yearning balladry onto cassettes. Then you left them behind when you moved out. So where are said tapes now? They’re still sitting there, waiting for your children to find them. Then they’ll listen to Love is Killing Me ( reprise ), Window Pain, Requiem for my Loneliness and An Eternity of Misery and subsequently never look you in the eye again.

Phone Loss

If there’s one thing that’s more painful to lose than a close friend, it’s your beloved smart phone. The 24 hours before you find it in the fridge are filled with sweaty terror, stomach – churning dread and dark malaise: “How will all the people contact me?” Finally, you see The Precious sitting under that industrial block of cheddar and notice you have 22 missed calls, Job offers? Invites to parties? No. it was you ringing from the house phone.

Microwave face cancer

Cooking food in the old “potty ping” is responsible for your headaches and that lump on your neck, sure as your phone is killing your every sperm. Luckily, the microwave will not have time to kill you. The lasagne sat-fat fests meant for two that you scorch inside it every night will see to that.

The toilets of others

More specifically, those of potential in – laws. You just know it won’t be able to deal with what you’ve just done. Oh yes, it may have a doily on its head and delightful pine seating, but an effective flush ? forget it. Here goes 3-2-1… Nothing. So to refill, then try again. Oh dear. After an hour of this, and long after the dessert course arrived downstairs, you start to weep, before finally slopping off to bed and hoping for the best.

Children who know tech

They’re all over the internet, jumping on anyone who dare mistake their quadcore for a dualcore, or who mentions digital zoom ratings when everyone know only optical zoom is relevant, pausing only to lambast tech publications for their “Apple bias”. If only there was a way to lean through their monitors and clip them round the ear. Get off our virtual lawns, you pesky kids.

Emailing the CEO

A “personal” mailing from the boss to you and the 7,300 other people you work with has made clear there’s to be no pay rises, and counselled. “Feel free to email with any concerns.” So you reply with some detailed queries about his or her “road map”. Fear grabs you as soon as you hit send. Will you now be seen as a troublemaker? Or could it be you’ll get the promotion for your chutzpah? Neither, you’ll just be told a month later that a “company – wide review” is in place and times are tough, to which you should always reply with a thumbs – up smiley.

Cash machines

Up there with toilet rims , hand rails in hospitals and most trains, cash machine keys look like they’re laced with a cocktail of sweat, spit, blood, flu, E-Coli, herpes, bubonic plague and cholera.

The Airport

You know you haven’t got TNT in your blog; you know your passport is in your jacket pocket; you know your briefcase is in your hand. Still, this doesn’t stop you checking all three every 30 seconds or so. You’re also sure this is the time you’ll finally succumb to that childish urge to say, “No, I asked the Taliban to pack it for me,” as your laptop and camera cables poke suspiciously out of your carry bag.

Webcams

Even wonder if that little camera built into your laptop is beaming your image to some far off land, or to everyone you know while you’re busy “relaxing”? No? Oh good, Just us then…

Read More

LENOVO U300S: PORTA PARTY

Ultrabooks are finally a category that isn’t just the purview of Apple-loving hipsters, extending to people who well, actually do something with their laptops rather than just look fashionable at coffee shops. To prove its point, Lenovo has thrown its hat into the ring with the U300s. The first thing that hits you is its slim, borderline anorexic looks. Carved form a block of aluminium, it is quite striking. Decked with grey accents, it has an appearance that’s quite unlike other ultrabooks in its category. Its appearance is quite befitting the discerning business class who yearn for some added style while working on presentations. This notion is further heightening by the 13.3-inch-screen – more than enough room to multi-task between documents, emails and spreadsheets. It’s a welcome change from the usual fare that’s an inch or two shorter on display space.
In terms of specs, the U300s is available ini5 or i7 variants. Battery life is decent, clocking around five hours. That’s just about enough to get you through a long flight, if used judiciously. Its equipped with a 128GB solid state drive, which is by no means generous but should suffice if you don’t plan on storing movies or music. This is strictly a professional affair and it shows, what the ergonomic Chiclet-shaped keys that allows a modicum of comfort to ease you through a harrowing day of computing. While the U300s is a solid piece of kit, we feel a tad short-changed by omissions such as backlit keys and a LAN port. For the price, it should have these features-something the non-hipster ultrabook-seeking folk would definitely clamour for when the inevitable refreshed, revamped model hits.

SPECIFICATIONS

PROCESSOR- Intel core i5 245M up to 2.3GHz

MEMORY- 4GB STORAGE -128GB SSD

GRAPHICS- Intel HD3000

DISPLAY-1366*768 13.3-inch

CONNECTIONS- USB

SIZE/WEIGHT -324*216*15mm/1.32kg

Read More