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iKettle 2.0!
We here at How To Kill An Hour didn’t think that the act of boiling a cup of tea needed revolutionising, or that the kettle could be any more technologically advanced than it already is.
But we were WRONG!
We have been introduced to the iKettle 2.0 by Smarter and it is simply amazing! Who knew the simple act of boiling a kettle could be so much fun! Basically it’s a Kettle which has a WiFi connection in it. But that WiFi connection opens up a whole heap of features such as:
Remote Boil: Instead of hanging around in the kitchen waiting for what seems like a 1000 years you can set your kettle to boil over wifi and have it ready for you when you get in! Or you can request for it to be boiled from another room in the house. How cool is that?!
Wake Up Mode: Set your iKettle to boil as soon as you wake up, thus saving you from being late to work for the 3rd time this week!
Temperature Setting: You are able to set the kettle to boil within a single degree. That way you can create the perfect green tea or black tea if that takes your fancy. Either way it will make for a better tasting tea as it hasn’t been over-boiled!
Water Sensor: Can see how much water is in the kettle all from the app, so you got no excuses for having people left out.
Warmer for Longer: The Kettle is able to keep your water for longer, long after it has been boiled!
Cooling: Cool the water to just the right temperature, perfect for those who like their brews at just the right temperature or for those with babies who require very specific temperatures for their food and milk!
A lot of the features that the iKettle 2.0 has is not on the kettle physically but rather in the complimentary smarter app. It’s very simple and a single setting can be changed with a simple touch of a button, for example setting the kettle to boil at any temperature! The center dial giving complete control with a simple two touch experience.
To buy your own iKettle 2.0 by Smarter please click here!
To download the Smarter app please click here: Apple / Android
To listen to the guys discussing the iKettle 2.0 please click here!
Philips Hue Smart Bulbs
Nick Bright on the show introduced us to some ‘Smart Bulbs’ called Philips Hue and they are quite impressive!
The lights allow you to choose from 16million colours in the complimentary hue app to allow you to set the light to match your mood. The bulbs themselves have been improved with deeper green, cyan, and blues for even better scene setting. You can even use a photo and set the bulbs to colour that particular photo! The bulbs are even compatible with iOS’s HomeKit technology, ask Siri to turn on or dim the lights! You can even save your favourite light settings and recall them whenever with a touch of a button.
You can extend your TV Viewing experience to sync with your favourite show or favourite music to flicker to the beat! Can even control the lights away from the house! Remotely check if you have left the lights on, you can even and check out how cool this is, by using geofencing technology you can set the lights to turn on as soon as you walk through the door after work! Not only that you can wake up naturally with your Philips Hue Smart Bulbs and have the bulbs increase with intensity to reflect the sunrise or vice versa and have it dim slowly to reflect a sundown.
To buy your own Philips Hue Smart Bulbs please click here!
To listen to the guys discussing the Philips Hue Smart Bulbs please click here!
Roli Blocks
Marcus recently went to a Roli event to check out their latest product: Blocks. Basically for all the music producers out there it’s a modular music studio that lets anyone create music as it is so simple to use!
It lets you easily make music whether your a beginner or a seasoned pro through intuitive gestures on a small touch sensitive gesture pad you can connect multiple blocks to one another and with the FREE NOISE app by Roli (available on the app store) start to make music quickly and easily.
They suggest to start off with the ‘Lightpad Block’ which is the center of the BLOCKS system. You make music by making natural movements on the pad, drop melodies and beats by striking, gliding and pressing your fingers on the surface while the illuminated grids help you find notes. While the Light Trails guide you through making music via musical gestures quickly!
Check below for a video on BLOCKS
To find out more about Roli Blocks please click here!
To hear the guys talking about Roli Blocks please click here!
The New Macbook Pro
The new Macbook Pro’s are here and they’re better than ever and they look so cool for one!
They’re obviously much more powerful than previous models, they’re much thinner and lighter and not to mention the screen has had a massive upgrade too! Now more brighter and colourful allowing you to work and view media gloriously!
But what is getting everyone talking is this new touch bar, a multi-touch enabled strip of glass that is fully customisable and changes depending on what app you’re using. They replace the function keys along the top strip of the keyboard and become something that is much more versatile than regular old function keys. For example you can have intelligent typing complete with auto-complete and emoji’s like you already have on your phone or on Final Cut Pro X you can scroll through your timeline with the Touch Bar quickly and easily.
The keyboard has had a slight upgrade too, becoming shallower than previous generations and is now much more responsive with a Force Touch trackpad which is now 2 times larger than before.
The Macbook Pro comes in 3 different formats:
13 inch Macbook Pro (with no touch bar)
13 Inch Macbook Pro
15 Inch Macbook Pro
For more information please click here!
To listen to the guys talking about the Macbook Pro please click here!
iOS AutoComplete Essay!
A New Zealand professor has been asked to present a talk at a US event based on Nuclear physics, yet there is a lot of gibberish throughout!
The academic paper was written by Christoph Bartneck an associate professor at the Human Interface Technology laboratory (University of Canterbury, New Zealand) after an email asked him to submit a paper to the International Conference on Atomic and Nuclear Physics in the United States in November.
Written only in iOS auto complete Christoph said he “resorted to iOS autocomplete function to help” when writing the paper. Writing on his blog he said:
“Since I have practically no knowledge of nuclear physics…I started a sentence with ‘atomic’ or ‘nuclear’ and then randomly hit the autocomplete suggestions”
Here is an extract from Christophs paper:
“The atoms of a better universe will have the right for the same as you are the way we shall have to be a great place for a great time to enjoy the day you are a wonderful person to your great time to take the fun and take a great time and enjoy the great day you will be a wonderful time for your parents and kids,”
Christoph decided to submit the paper under a fake identity, it was accepted three hours later and he was asked to pay a fee of $1099 US dollars to register at the conference. It was at this point that Christoph decided that enough was enough and his fun was over as the University would not have liked to pay for him to go to such an event.
Christoph told Guardian Australia: “My impression is that this is not a particularly good conference…. reasonably certain that this is a money-making conference with little to no commitment to science” due to such a high registration fee and the fact that his paper was accepted in such a quick amount of time…not least forgetting it was full of text that didn’t make any sense!
What’s the funniest autocomplete you have done? Let us know tweet us @howtokillanhour
To hear the guys talking about this please click here!
Hickies!
We are always on the look out to make life easier for ourselves and like the Couch Coaster the Hickies shoe lacing system is no different!
Remember as a kid you never usually wanted to tie your shoes and we were lazy and just slipped your feet into your shoes, well this new invention will help make that dream become a reality!
The Hickies lacing system is a responsive lacing system is a memory fit elastomer that moves with your feet while walking to provide the comfort stability to keep your shoes safe and secure! Making your trainers look better and helping to provide security from your shoes falling off as you run, so a perfect fit of combination of fit, function, and fashion.
What is memory-fit performance elastomer?
A material that expands and contracts in sync with your feet as you walk. Each strap works independently to deliver the best possible fit, whatever you’re doing. Hickies is suitable for all sizes and there is three different ways to ‘lace’ your shoes with the Hickies lacing system.:
Price: £5-16
To buy Hickies please click here!
To listen to the episode where the guys discuss the Hickies please click here:
Beats Studio Wireless!
Nick Bright recently bought an iPhone 7, which by now we all know doesn’t come with the 3.5mm headphone jack. So to combat that he also got himself a pair of Beats Studio’s — But in wireless!
It’s the same headphone as the regular Beats Studios that we all know and love, but just doesn’t come with all those pesky wires. (Although there is an option to use a wire if you so wish. Just plug in the 3.5mm aux cable into the cans then the other end into a piece of hardware that has a 3.5mm jack in it)
Has all the features of a regular Beats Studio so thats Adaptive Noise Cancellation, ReChargeable battery and top quality sound. The Bluetooth tech inside the cans can control calls, skip songs and change the volume all within 30ft so you can walk around and do whatever without worrying about getting the wire caught on the door handle and your expensive headphones going for a flying lesson.
To Buy your own Beats Studio Wireless headphones please click here!
To listen to Nick talk about his experience with the Beats Studio Wireless Headphones please click here!
BfB Labs!
Credit: Shiftdesign.org.uk
This week we had the guys from BfB labs down for a chat through their products which help with “emotionally responsive gaming for better mental health” Now, BfB Labs is a new social venture created by a company called Shift Design that is setting out to bring Emotionally Responsive Gaming to the world. Which is a games which respond to a gamers emotional response to those games and reward those who are exceptionally good at them.
The games are challenging in three different ways, physically, mentally and emotionally training gamers in emotional control, building resilience and promoting wellbeing in the user.
Now you may be wondering how our emotional/physical response to said games be recorded? Well the BfB labs record this via an ear clip monitor which monitors a users emotional state by tracking their Heart Rate Variability (HRV)
Their first title in their library is Champions of the Shengha, a fantasy card battling game. Challenging you to defeat opponents with a combination of strategy and self control to becoming an ultimate Shengha Warrior. With regular play the user will learn how to control stress, anxiety and frustration rewarding them as they go throughout the game.
To support the guys over at BfB labs please click here!
To listen to the guys chat with the guys from Bfb Labs please click here!
Bionic Bird!
Bionic Bird is a half drone, half bird gadget that is absolutely incredible! All controlled via the ultra sensitive flying app on your smartphone and fly with a range of 100m!
The drone is designed in the shape of a bird and flies just like a bird, to create a unique flying experience. that is close to nature as possible! It has incredible amounts of technology built into it furtive and biomimetic the Bionic Bird is packed with patented with micro-technologies!
Included in the app is a guide showing you how to fly and control the bird, as well as the numerous ways to control and fly the bird such as holding your device with one hand and tilting the phone or like a steering wheel and holding the smartphone sideways and control it like a wheel.
We loved it here at How To Kill An Hour, even if we had a bit of trouble flying it at first we soon got to grips with it and killed an hour with it! We even had to prize it away from Marcus’ hands at one point!
Buy the Bionic Bird here!
Download the Bionic Bird App here!