Star Wars Jedi Challenges: Become a Jedi

31st January 2018/in Gadgets, Gadgets / Tech/by marcusbronzy

Star Wars Jedi Challenges: Feel The Force!

Star Wars Jedi Challenges is the piece of tech for all Star Wars fans in 2018. With the help of augmented reality you’ll be transported into the Star Wars universe! There’s an array of cool VR/AR tech coming to our homes in the coming weeks and months! However, this has got to be one of the best things we have seen here at the office! We cannot believe that someone hasn’t thought of this before. Augmented and Virtual reality is perfect for the Star Wars franchise. Helping to bring nostalgia to a lot of men and women around the world. So we think that this is going to be used a lot more by the parents than the children!

With the help of the AR headset, complete an array of challenges to become a Jedi! Train to become a Jedi Master, have Jedi Battles with the Sith, play HoloChess, complete strategic combat right from your table! This sounds absolutely incredible and we LOVED it when it came into the studio!

So, how does this become reality? By using the smartphone-powered Lenovo Mirage AR headset and a Lightsaber controller, that is all, to transport you into space and fight to save the universe! The Lightsaber controller enables you to experience what it’s like to yield a lightsaber. So you can feel your opponents attacks with the force feedback! Whilst a tracking beacon ensures accurate and detailed tracking of yourself and the lightsaber controller. Furthermore allowing the AR headset to fill your environment with an immersive universe. While not just a video image displayed in front of you.

Click here to complete the challenges and become a Jedi Master!

Click here to purchase your own!

Nintendo Labo: Get Creative With Cardboard!

26th January 2018/in Gadgets / Tech/by billywright

Nintendo Labo

This is Nintendo Labo and they’re giving you new ways to interact with the Switch, with cardboard.

So, what exactly is it? It is designed to help you get creative with the Switch. Create all different kinds of gaming add ons with the variety kits that are available. Such as fishing kits, play piano or even the most impressive one that we have seen an AR Robot kit!

Nintendo are calling the cardboard kits, ‘Toy-Cons’ and are designed to be solely used with the Nintendo Switch. Just by following the onscreen instructions that are displayed on the Switches touchscreen.

The Toy-Cons are so versatile that you can either use the Toy-Cons independently of the screen itself and you watch what’s occuring on screen. I.e: Fishing. Where all the computing is done inside the joy-con controller, or by using the whole console itself to find new ways to play! An example of this would be the use of a motorbike, whereby the switch is placed in the center of the ‘Toy-Cons’ and ‘Joy-Cons’ are placed either side and the accelerometer acts as a steering mechanism.

The most impressive of the lot was the use of a HUGE contraption, with the Robot ‘Toy-Con’. This cardboard accessory is HUGE and is placed on a users back and utilises cables to detect a users movement. From the imagery online this game looks incredibly immersive and we cannot wait to check it out!

Nintendo Labo: Customization

Most of all, the ‘Toy-Cons’ are cardboard and come pre-printed with designs. Therefore users are able to colour them and customise them as they wish! Furthermore if you’re a computer whizz and know how to code, then you’re in luck! You can even create your very own games that interact with the Nintendo Labo! So, get those thinking caps on!

What do you think of the Nintendo Labo? Get in touch and let us know via our socials!

To purchase the Nintendo Labo please click here!

To listen to the guys chatting about this please click here!

CES 2018 TOP 5 – Top Tech from CES 2018

18th January 2018/in Gadgets / Tech/by billywright

Top Tech from CES 2018

GadgetsBoy joins us this week to check out his Top Tech from CES 2018!

Lacie DJI CoPilot

Top Tech from CES 2018 Lacie DJI

Lacie’s DJI CoPilot is basically a rugged external hard drive. But for the videographer’s out there. It’s a lot more than that. Who doesn’t want 2TB’s, a back up battery and a SD card reader in one?

Not got USB C? The CoPilot has got you! Use the regular USB or MicroUSB ports. Plug in any piece of media and the CoPilot does the rest, it’s automatically backed up. There’s also a small screen on the front to tell you how much storage is left. Making it great for videographers who don’t want to carry around their laptop ‘just in case’ they run out of space on all their SD cards. The CoPilot will also charge devices and daisy chain other drives off of it. Simply plug another external HDD into it and your lappy will be able to read and write to it!

Samsung’s ‘The Wall’

Top Tech from CES 2018 The Wall

Samsung announced at CES a breakthrough in home television technology. A world first. A modular, yes you read that right, a modular. 146-inch TV, that utilizes MicroLED technology. What’s beneficial of MicroLED’s over normal LED’s is that they are much much smaller than them and can serve as their own source of light. Thus vastly reducing the chance of backlight bleeding (as there isn’t a backlight) and burn-in. As well as creating darker blacks and much brighter colours on screen. Plus they draw a lot less power and can save you a lot of money in the long run! Bigger Tv Cheaper to run. Win Win in our books!

What’s even more intriguing is the fact that it has a modular design. This allows for a screen that is completely bezel-less and fully customisable to suit a consumers needs. Make the TV as big or as small as you like. You really are only stopped by how big your wall is!

Razer’s Project Linda

Top Tech from CES 2018 Project Linda

Razer’s Project Linda is a Lapdock. Don’t know what a Lapdock is? Basically it’s a laptop that has no internals and basically runs off of your mobile phone. What we’re about to tell you is really cool, but it’s just a prototype at the moment and it may or may not see the light of day. But one can hope!

Project Linda will run off the latest Razer Phone and it looks incredible and fits in well alongside other traditional gaming laptops. The phone sits where a trackpad would be and then you use the laptop traditionally but with a mouse.

Whilst being connected to Project Linda, games will take advantage of having an extra display and display vital stats and other information on the phone’s screen whilst the main action on the laptop screen.

When docked the phone will be charged by Project Linda and whilst the laptop doesn’t have internals per say there is 200gb of internal storage on the device. To store apps, games, media and phone backups. The aim of the device is to bridge the gap between handheld entertainment experience and laptop convenience.

Stats:

13.3” Quad HD 120Hz touchscreen
5.7″ Razer Phone screen can act as a touchpad, second display for stats or touch display for fine editing
Keyboard powered by Razer Chroma (Fully customizable laptop keys)
200gb internal storage
o.59 inches thin
3.5mm headphone jack

LG Rollable TV

Top Tech from CES 2018 LG Rollable Tv

Not to be outdone by Samsungs ‘The Wall” LG showed off a rollable 65″ TV prototype, which has a resolution of 3840 x 2160. (UHD) Much like their Wallpaper series, LG are highlighting to the world what OLED technology can actually do. When we saw the Wallpaper series we were impressed, it’s incredibly thin, yet produces some gorgeous imagery. The fact that it can now be rolled up, one saves space and two, makes it less easy to break. One small caveat of the Wallpaper series is although it was pencil thin, it looked really fragile!

Vivo’s In-Screen Fingerprint Reader

Top Tech from 2018 CES Vivo Fingerprint (The Verge)

Whilst many of us have iPhone X’s and have got used to FaceID, (so long TouchID, we hardly knew thee) there’s just as many who LOVED touch ID. We know have the notch. The notch we don’t want. There was a lot of will they won’t they prior to the launch of iPhone X in regards to the fingerprint sensor under the screen. While many experts believe that Apple will introduce it on this years iPhone. A Chinese tech firm have beat them to the punch!

Vivo, have announced at CES 2018 a phone that does just that, a phone that’s bezelless and with a fingerprint sensor embedded into the screen. The reader is completely invisible and makes for a super sleek design. The guys over at The Verge have been testing it out for themselves. Whilst they state that the phone and the tech is slow, it works. That’s all that matters. Whether that’s just because we’re used to super quick fingerprint sensors on Apple and Samsung devices is another matter entirely.

The Vivo is using a Synaptics optical sensor. The tech works by looking at the gaps between the pixels on an OLED display and scanning your prints that way. (LCD’s won’t work due to the tech needing a backlight.) The guys over at The Verge did state that whilst this is a breakthrough in tech, no phone has been announced. BUT. An announcement is due imminently.

To read more about GadgetsBoy please click here!

Listen to the guys chatting about this by clicking here!

Google’s Sheriffs Google Bikes saviour!

18th January 2018/in Gadgets / Tech/by billywright

Something’s afoot at Google HQ. At Google’s headquarters there are 1,100 Google Bikes also known as “Gbikes”. An estimated 250 of which are being stolen each week. The Google Bikes are intended to help employees get around on campus quickly and elegantly.

Launched in ’07, Google created a $5M grant to help more cities become more bike-conscious and help the environment. Most notably Google’s home city of Mountain View and make it commuter friendly!

Yet people are stealing the Gbikes, not only that, they’re not even employees of Google! Furthermore the Gbikes aren’t cheap coming in at $300 each.

The bikes are simple, with a Google branding colour scheme, a basket and 1 gear. So they’re not top of the range, but as they cannot be purchased by the public and are exclusively for Google employees they’re highly sought after. Hence why they are being stolen so often, they’ll fetch a pretty penny online!

Google Bikes Saviours!

As a result of the constant theft, Google wish to crack down on the theft. Therefore to combat people stealing the Gbikes, the search engine giant have employed a team of 30 freelancers to get the bikes back. Helping crackdown on theft, Google are too testing GPS trackers and locks to help employees access bikes through their phones. Therefore, those who have Google’s bikes better think twice!

Which does make you think why, Google, one of the worlds most advanced tech companies. A company who produce amazing hardware such as the Google Pixel, Google Home and of course Google search. Didn’t put tracking software into the bikes as standard? $300 is a drop in the ocean for such a huge company, so why didn’t they put security measures in? No one likes to lose money at the end of the day. Money is money. Regardless if you have millions, trillions or hundreds. Plus the bikes are perks for their employees! Come on guys, stop stealing Gbikes!

Would you like to ride a Gbike? (Remember to give it back though!) Let us know by reaching out to us via our social channels! We are all over the social media space, so can contact us at either our Facebook, Twitter or Instagram pages! Our social handle is @howtokillanhour across all platforms.

Listen to the guys chatting about this please click here!

Apple slows down iPhones

11th January 2018/in Gadgets / Tech/by marcusbronzy

In what wasn’t a surprise to anyone Apple slows down iPhones. Old iPhones specifically.

The reason that Apple disclosed to the public is because the batteries in old iphones are “less capable of delivering peak energy loads.” If they let it run at full capacity it would run hotter and cause damage to other components to the phone. To help ease the anger from the public Apple launched a year long $29 in-store battery replacement service. This would bring your iPhone back to life.

What’s Affected?

Longer app launch times
Lower frame rates while scrolling
Backlight dimming (which can be overridden in Control Center)
Lower speaker volume by up to -3 decibels
Gradual frame-rate reductions in some apps
During the most extreme cases, the camera flash will be disabled as visible in the camera UI
Apps refreshing in background may require reloading upon launch

There are also a range of things that Apple’s throttling do not affect:

Cellular call quality and networking throughput performance
Captured photo and video quality
GPS performance
Location accuracy
Sensors like gyroscope, accelerometer, barometer
Apple Pay

(Business Insider)

Do I need to replace?

Apple are working on an app to show you the health of your battery.

But until then, (and before you go needlessly buying a battery you don’t need) it’s best to run a test.

Download Geekbench and test the processor speed. The result that follows will determine if you need to get a new battery. According to the folks over at Digital Trends a score 500 or less means that you require a new battery.

Below are the results of what you should be receiving. Prior to when slows down your phone.

iPhone 6/6 Plus — 1400
iPhone 6S/6S Plus — 2300
iPhone SE — 2400
iPhone 7/7 Plus — 3400

To listen to the guys chatting about this please click here!

How much does your phone know about you? Location data’s dark secret.

11th January 2018/in Gadgets / Tech/by marcusbronzy

You’re giving away more data than you think to your phone. A lot of it is down to location data!

Here’s how.

Your phone tracks everywhere you go, using location data with geo tagging along the way. It also knows who you were with too.

(If you were wondering it’s when you allow apps to use your location data. Sometimes you allow it even when the app isn’t in use. For example Google Maps uses to tell you how much traffic there is on the road. Ever wondered why Apple Maps knows where you work when you’ve never told it? Location tracking. It knows you’re in a certain area for x amount of time per day, per week. Hence why it knows where ‘Home’ is.)

Apps can also use the microphone in your phone to receive ad beacons from billboards and Tvs to determine location. Facebook coming under fire for this most recently as users have discovered ads for things after discussing them with friends.

Every picture you take has data in it with things such as time and location. Though social media giants facebook, twitter and instagram wipe this upon upload.

(Your phone can also recognise objects. This was showed off at an Apple Keynote and is just iOS’s way of organising things better. We don’t think it’s anything to worry about. For example if you took a picture of your dog and you can’t find it, just type in dog and it will show it)

The things you say, the places your frequent and things you take pictures of, can all be used to sell you things.

So…how much does your phone know about you?

Are you scared?

No – Keep using your apps as you wish.

Yes.

Here’s how to save yourself

Delete your Facebook Account

Delete your google searches and account (they also make a profile on you based on what you search)

Get a dumb phone (I.e. Not smart)

To listen to the guys chatting about this please click here!

Serious Security Flaws

11th January 2018/in Gadgets / Tech/by billywright

Researchers have discovered 2 serious security flaws that affect a lot of computers. These flaws affect every device that run on a chip processor. Allowing hackers to steal the entire history of your devices memory.

The security flaws are known as Meltdown and Spectre. Affecting intel processors and every other processor respectively. Processors on all of your devices allow your computers and tech gadgets to perform a lot of tasks and calculations per second. For example on your phone, check the weather (whilst also determining your location) whilst listening to music whilst also sending an email.

The security flaws that researchers have discovered could potentially let people access protected parts of your computer or devices memory.

If hackers gain access they can harm your computer in a range of ways such as accessing passwords and emails. That’s not all major companies who use cloud servers for things such as iCloud or Dropbox are also at risk. As they too use the same tech as us, which also run on processors. This is even worse as hackers can gain access to everyone’s cloud based data!

Protection

Update to the latest update on Windows 10 and Apple’s OS 10.13.2 and on iOS download and install 11.2.2

Updates are releasing soon on Google Chrome and Firefox

To listen to the guys chatting about this please click here!

Spotify IPO

11th January 2018/in Gadgets / Tech/by billywright

Spotify have as recently as the end of December filed for an IPO via a ‘Direct Listing’ this is a very smart move by the Swedish company. This is an alternative route to Snapchats IPO, and regular WallStreet ‘rules’. As there is no public furore leading up to the listing. Thus allowing execs to pitch their buisness to analysts and other suitable and potential investors. Better yet there are no fees to Wall Street underwriters. (As they would price a company’s shares before trading.)

What’s different?

A major difference between Snap Inc’s IPO and Spotify’s ‘Direct Listing’ is because Spotify have a LOT of money. (With over 60M paid subscribers they can afford to) So raising more money isn’t directly in Spotify’s interest.

Instead, they’re offering employees to cash out (at a current private valuation) and sell their shares to new investors!

To listen to the guys chatting about this please click here!

Will we see whisper Siri soon?

21st December 2017/in Gadgets / Tech/by marcusbronzy

Apple have filed a patent for a “a digital assistant that is capable of detecting a whispered speech input and providing a whispered speech response.” Basically Siri that whispers back to you if you whisper to it. This may be Apple’s attempt at making it’s AI assistants to become more ‘human.’ As a result less awkward to use in public situations.

In the patent, Apple explained in which a whispering Siri will help you out when you need it the most. The situations that Apple listed where Libraries and in an office cubicle. While, Apple also noted that a whispering Siri is intended to protect a users privacy.

The way that an iPhone or Apple watch would be able to detect if a users talking quietly or whispering to it. Would be detecting the amplitude and frequency patterns of a users voice. As a result, Apple want to make Siri actually whisper back to you. Not just turn the volume down on your device. Think about it, when someone whispers something to you, you don’t speak back normally. Subconsciously you make the decision to match the other person’s voice pattern.

Just a patent

It’s also very important to note not all patents become reality.

Facebook baiting – A thing of the past?

21st December 2017/in Gadgets / Tech/by billywright

Facebook baiting, it’s the annoying trend on our Facebook newsfeed. Facebook baiting is basically those posts and pages that get you to comment/and/or do a bunch of things to get you to interact with their content.

Basically those posts that say “Like” this if you like Bread. “Share this” and Bill Gates will give you $10,000. Posts which offer a chance to win something as it has been opened. These 15″ 2017 Macbook Pro’s have been opened and cannot be sold comment “Win” and “Share” the post for your chance to win one!

Those cringeworthy and annoying posts are going to be less of an annoyance thanks to Facebook machine learning! As, it will learn what these posts are and dump them so far down your newsfeed you won’t read them. So, Facebook is de-prioritising these types of posts from your newsfeeds so they don’t waste anymore of your time. While it’s not only the posts that will be affected. Facebook pages are going to be demoted too.

Looking at you Fortafy!

Genuine Causes

While this is certainly going some ways to clean up your newsfeed. Facebook are planning to not punish posts that are genuinely asking for help and/or are trying to support beneficial causes. As a result posts like asking for help to locate a missing child or raise money for a charity won’t be affected.