WORKING Apple Mirror (Concept)

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Someone has created an Apple Mirror that actually WORKS! It’s just a concept from YouTube user “dymekraf” but it gives a cool insight into what Apple could actually do with an iOS intergrated Mirror. It can do a whole heap of stuff such as:

  • Show the Time/Date and weather
  • Touch activated (to bring up the apps and information)
  • Can move apps easily
  • Can send a message directly from the mirror
  • Play music from connected speakers

Check below to check out this guys cool invention!

To listen to the guys chatting about the Apple Mirror please click here!

There is a Parallel Universe!

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Well it looks like there are an evil Team How To Kill An Hour out there! Parallel Universes exist! (Apparently)

A wise-man called Howard Wiseman of Griffith University in Australia has spearheaded a team that suggests a cool new theory that there are in fact multiple universes which exist in the same space and time as our own but react on a quantum level. (basically space and time do not behave in the same way that ours do) Wiseman’s team has a theory which slightly differs to a well known theory called ‘Many Worlds’ which originated in the 1950’s. Wiseman and his team have a “Many Interacting Worlds” theory.

The most popular and well known theory “Many Worlds” suggests that after a huge event occurring like our very own big band that numerous universes are created with all possible outcomes of that event Eg: Dinosaurs getting bigger/better or Dinosaurs getting destroyed. With all of those universes that were created occur at the same time (running parallel) but never interacting – unlike Wiseman’s theory.

The theory is like much like the one we just described but instead of them all running parallel and never impacting one another, this new theory suggests that one affects the other. For example, if you roll a dice any outcome could occur, until you roll again and something else occurs thus affecting the universe.

 

So in effect this theory suggests that parallel universes overlap one another and take up some space and time and simultaneously exist all at the same time and all possible outcomes live out their lives until something happens and forces one universe or state to exist over the other.

Interesting huh?

To hear the guys chatting about this please click here!

 

 

Sonos: Play 1’s

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We love our music here at How To Kill An Hour and we love our wireless speaker technology even better! Ever since Apple took the 3.5mm adapter away from us all we have been looking at ways at getting your music out there and in the room wirelessly. We love the Bragi Dash’s but what about if you want to share the music?! Well the SONOS:Play 1’s are here to save the day!

These little speakers pack an incredible punch and they sound absolutely magnificent! Pack some great base and some decent high ends these guys really sound good! But what’s even better is that if you have more than one or a selection of SONOS speakers you can control them all from the SONOS Controller app. Adjust the sound levels independently of one another. So the one in the bedroom can be quiet and the one in the office can be incredibly loud or control the sound levels at exactly the same time. But what’s cool about them is that they will be playing the same piece of music at the same time from the exact same source! They can also:

  • Two PLAY:1s work as Sonos home cinema rear speakers.
  • Or as Stereo Speakers
  • Wall or stand-mountable.
  • Be updated over Wi-Fi
  • Uses Trueplay Tuning

 

To download the SONOS Controller app please click here!

To buy your own SONOS Play 1 please click here! 

To listen to the guys chatting about the SONOS: Play 1’s please click here!

Bragi Update

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Bragi have released update “Bragi Dash OS2.2” and it makes the cool Bragi Dash’s even cooler! We love the Bragi Dash here at How To Kill An Hour and this update makes it even more ‘must have’ this Christmas time.

Amongst the plethora of features that it already has  this update adds a lot more:

  • Windshield (Advanced audio transparency. Hear your surroundings, but
    block out the wind)
  • Bragi KUI and MyTap (Bragi’s KUI (Kinetic User Interface) means your body
    now controls the device in new ways. Activate Siri and Google Now with MyTap by double tapping on your cheek.)
  • MyControls (A more detailed access to more gesture controls via the Bragi App)
  • Apple Watch Connectivity
  • More accurate heart rate monitor
  • Improved Bluetooth
  • Versant 1.1 – More improvements in speech recognition in noisy environments

 

To buy your own Bragi Dash’s please click here!

To download the latest Bragi Dash update please click here!

To listen to the guys chatting about the Bragi Dash Update please click here! 

Amazon Echo

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We have recently been sent the Amazon Echo and we love it! If you don’t know Amazon Echo is a home automation device that sits in your room and is controlled via your voice only. There is no screen and it includes only a 360 degree omni directional speaker with  far-field voice recognition technology built in.  Far field Voice Recognition technology is basically a really cool piece of tech that allows Alexa (the internal voice in the echo) to hear you from a far and in noisy environments or when you are playing music. The Echo is controlled entirely with your voice and is activated by simply saying “Alexa”

Alexa can do a range of things including:

  • Plays all your music from Amazon Music, Spotify and TuneIn Radio.
  • Echo has Bluetooth built in so you can stream music from iTunes/Apple Music or off of a bluetooth enabled device.
  • Can answer questions, reads you audiobooks, reports news, traffic and weather & more using Alexa Voice Service
  • Controls lights, switches, thermostats and more with compatible devices such as Philips Hue, Hive and Nest products.
  • Alexa updates through the cloud automatically and is continually learning, adding new features and skills. 
  • Skills such as ordering take away from Just Eat or requesting a ride from Uber—simply discover and enable the skills you want to use in the Alexa App.
  • The more you use Echo, the more it adapts to your speech patterns, vocabulary and personal preferences.
  • If you are an Amazon Prime member you can also ask Alexa to purchase and order things for you, that includes things you have already bought before and many Prime products that are available on Amazon. (this can be password protected to avoid any buying mistakes)

To listen to the guys chatting about the Amazon Echo please click here!

 

Twitter Muting

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Twitter has shook a trolls life up!

This week Twitter has introduced a way to block/filter certain words or phrases from appearing on your timeline! It’s a brand new way from the social company to tackle trolls and abusive content on their site.

Muting a conversation that you are apart of is also a feature that muting allows. For example if you have engaged in a conversation for a while and have since dropped out of said conversation, by muting the thread you will no longer receive notifications regarding that thread (they will still be on the notifications tab on your Twitter profile, you just won’t have your phone constantly bleeping all day) Or if you have had a tweet go viral you can mute that also and stop getting notifications for that one tweet.

Another way that muting helps Twitter’s customers is the ability to avoid spoilers from sports events or film/tv shows from showing up in your notifications, however, they will still appear in your timeline – sorry!

Yet Twitter said in a post on their blog:

“This is a feature we’ve heard many of you ask for, and we’re going to keep listening to make it better and more comprehensive over time,”

So there may be some hope for you Walking Dead fans at least!

The main reason for the ability to mute certain words or phrases appearing in your notifications is a fight by the company against harrasment, racism and bullying on their platform. So alongside this muting feature Twitter have improved the way their users can report hate speech, with internal tools and training of staff to allow them to effectively and quickly deal with the content that’s reported to them.

While this feature goes along way to battle the bullies, Twitter said in a statement regarding the update

“We don’t expect these announcements to suddenly remove abusive conduct from Twitter. No single action by us would do that. Instead we commit to rapidly improving Twitter based on everything we observe and learn”

To listen to the guys discussing this feature please click here! 

Fleetlights

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Fleetlights is a new initiative from Direct Line aimed at giving light to some of the darkest and most dangerous places in England.

What Fleetlights basically is, is a fleet of drones with lights attached to them which follow you around via an app on your phone. The best use for this would be in places like Petworth which is home to one of the
most dangerous roads in the UK. Due to the lack of streetlights people cannot see where they are going or walking so with the use of Fleetlights they are able to get home safely.

Direct Line are preparing for a future version of insurance companies where they’re becoming much more preventative of accidents rather than dealing with accidents after they have happened and Fleetlights looks like an incredible way to start! A user can even set a group of drone’s to light their path rather than just illuminating above them via a way pointed path set by the user.

To listen to the guys discussing ‘Fleetlights’ please click here!

Please see the video below for more information regarding the Fleetlights technology!

 

To listen to the guys discussing Fleetlights please click here!

Kenu Stance

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We love our gadgets here at How To Kill An Hour and the Kenu Stance is no different, in fact we love it! It’s basically a really small and simple tripod, that is the first tripod that utilizes your phones charging port to safely mount the phone, it’s designed to go on to small surfaces, like a wall, a table or a window sill. The tri-pod can be designed to either stand a phone upright or fold up the legs and stabilize the phone to watch a film in landscape mode, it can also be used to shoot incredible timelapses like this as well!

There’s a bunch of functions that the two differing tripod options can do such as:

  • Streaming live video.
  • Creating time-lapse videos.
  • Watching films.
  • Chat using FaceTime and Skype.
  • Take use of the timer option on your phone’s camera better with self-timer shots.

It even has a built in key ring and bottle opener so this little device is more than just handy for photography, it can even get the party started!

To listen to the guys discussing the Kenu Stance please click here!

Please see the video below for more information!

 

Prices start at £13 for Android Phones and £20 for iPhones with lightning connectors.

To buy your own Kenu Stance please click here!

To listen to the guys discussing Kenu Stance please click here!

 

Amazon Fire Tv Stick

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We love our streaming here at How To Kill An Hour and HDMI Dongles are increasingly becoming more and more popular than a standard set top box, due to their ease of use and portability.

Producer Bill got to check out the Amazon Fire Tv Stick recently as he is interested in the brand new exclusive show ‘The Grand Tour” at £33 he couldn’t let this great offer slide and picked one up!

It was incredibly easy to set up and use and within minutes you are able to start enjoying your content on the big screen. You plug it into a Free HDMI slot, plug it into the wall if your tele doesn’t put out enough power for it to work, watch a short instruction video and you’re free to binge to your hearts desires.

Plus what makes it even better is that if you have a Prime Video subscription you’re already signed in (As it is an Amazon product) and ready to go with that so no need to labour around and remember passwords to things all your content is right there to watch! All in glorious HD too (4K if you decide to go the set top box route) there’s no 5.1 available unfortunately but you can plug it into a receiver to work around this. With 8gb of storage and 1GB of memory the stick is incredibly fast for such a small device and no LAG which is great for gaming too! (Crossy Road is available and for FREE too!)

 

Click here to buy Amazon Fire Tv Stick

Click here to listen to the guys talking about the Amazon Fire Tv Stick on the show!

Mighty Mugs!

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Always knocking over your drink or spilling it everywhere?

Having tech ruined by glasses of water that have accidentally fallen over?

Well we have JUST the tech to combat all of those problems with absolute EASE!

It’s a mug that sticks to your desk when it is bumped into but will lift incredibly naturally!

Introducing the MIGHTY MUG! View the video below to see the mug in action!

Prices start from £12

 

Click here to buy your own Mighty Mug!

Click here to listen to the guys talking about Mighty Mugs on the show!