Stuff Magazine - October 2014 UK

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THE NEW EAU DE PARFUM BY CHANEL

conTns on the cover p14 p94

p59 App, app and away!

hot stuff 14 The Hot Four ● Dyson 360 Eye Robot ● Jibo ● Samsung Galaxy Alpha ● Sony Bravia S90 22 Vital stats Timex Ironman One GPS+ Fit and unfettered: a smartwatch that doesn’t need a smartphone 24 Gigapixel Pentax Q-S1 A camera available in 40 colour schemes… will you go for Forest Green or French Violet? 32 Apps Borrowing bicycles and dating on LinkedIn 34 Icon Breva Génie 01 Meteo-horological: half watch, half barometer 40 Games Stuff’s swords make limbs fly in BattleCry 42 Geek on the road Charging around the chicanes of Formula E 44 Choice Knife sharpeners No need to eat tomatoes like apples any more 46 Names to drop Warren Ellis The comics maestro predicts a drone war 52 Our month Everything we’ve been doing instead of work 54 Your month Fend off September blues by playing Destiny

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tests

p82 Modular phones

p90 On the Surface

p76 She’s (half) electric

76 First test BMW i8 A head-turning super-hybrid with added tax breaks? We’ll take three 90 First test Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Speaking of super-hybrids... is this the laptop-tablet you’ve been waiting for? 94 Group test Rugged cameras Snappers that will survive even your clumsiest efforts to destroy them 96 Tested Games ● The Last Of Us Remastered ● Metrico 107 4 of the best On-demand PVRs Viewers! Unshackle yourself from the imperialist oppression of TV listings! 110 Reviews Sensory snacks Stuff had a listen to Royal Blood, watched Fargo series one and read about talking pigs

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WIN! p57

top 10

of everything p79

p118

features 59 The 75 best apps of right now From travel, shopping and entertainment to security, health and music, here are the apps you need to download today 79 Fashion Classic watches Time doesn’t stand still, and the times they are a-changin’, but that’s no reason not to have a bit of ageless style on your wrist 82 Project Ara Go modular, and your next smartphone could be the last one you ever need to buy 100 Design Steampunk To go with your buckle-riddled Victorian leather outfit and bristling moustache, a selection of steampunk-inspired gadgetry 146 Next big thing? Digital photo frames Yes, those old things – but crowdfunding is opening up a whole new world of wall art

Been away for a while? There are three more Stuff Top 10s nowadays: Games machines, Wearable tech and Connected home. Check them out from p127

projects 116 Beta yourself Home photo studio Get your eBay items selling themselves by giving your pictures a professional edge 118 Playlist Mac games Most people love Macs for being stylishly practical – but they can be playful too 120 Super geek Electric guitars Don leather trousers, grab plectrum, place right foot on monitor… proceed to rock 122 Instant upgrades Adventure racing Triathlons not gnarly enough for you? Try an exhilarating team race using actual maps 124 Gadget doctor Let the doctor smother your techno-tale of woe with the ointment of knowledge 125 5-minute hacks If nothing else, at least… Get chords for any song ● Take over your local cinema ● Become an iPhone ninja p59 OUR PRICES Prices in Hot Stuff are RRPs. Prices in features, tests and Top 10s are the best we could find from a reputable online retailer at the time of going to print.

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WelcoM

Like most people, i’ve broken a few phones in my time. My first Nokia 3300 was snatched by an excitable terrier (I got it back, but it smelt of dog-mouth); I impaled my HTC Touch on its own stylus; my BlackBerry 9800 expired in a three-storey plunge. But so many gadgets go to the scrapheap just because of one faulty component, or because they’ve been around for a while. That’s why Google’s project ara (p82), which lets you replace, upgrade and customise your mobile piece by piece, could be the biggest thing to happen to phones since Apple stuck a little ‘i’ on them. For the phones of the future, modules will be like apps: you’ll swap component power-ups as easily as you rearrange your homescreen. But for the phones of the present, we’ve hand-picked the 75 most essential, useful, fun apps in the world (p59). Of course, another way of making sure a gadget doesn’t break is to make it hard as diamond-tipped, tungsten-coated nails, which our top rugged cameras (p93) most certainly are. Not to mention our favourite classic watches (p79) and steampunk gadgets (p100) – the latter are held together with enough brass rivets to last a couple of centuries. By which time my Nokia 3300 will be on Antiques Holo-Blurt, being evaluated by a robotic Fiona Bruce.

this month in stuff’s ios app edition n Exclusive 360-degree photography of the new Microsoft Surface Pro 3 n Animated, interactive pages, videos and more high-res pictures Android fan? Stuff is also available on Google Play, Zinio, Exact Editions and Samsung’s Papergarden.

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Will Dunn, Editor / [email protected] / @willydunn

www.stuff.tv Email us [email protected] Call us 020 8267 5036 Teddington Studios, Broom Rd, Teddington, Middx TW11 9BE, UK Editorial Editor Will Dunn Deputy Editor Tom Wiggins Production Editor Richard Purvis Consulting Editor Fraser Macdonald features Editor Mark Wilson Sub-Editor Emily May Brand Art Editor Chee-Chiu Lee Deputy Art Editor Ross Presly Senior Designer Will Clarke Reviews Editor Tom Parsons Reviewer Sophie Charara Staff Writer Esat Dedezade Editor, Stuff.tv Marc McLaren Deputy Editor, Stuff.tv Stephen Graves Editorial Assistant Max Langridge Editor-in-Chief Will Findlater Content Director Hugh Sleight

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• Volume 18 issue 10 • iSSN: 1364-963 • On sale 4 September 2014 • Audit Bureau of Circulations: 77,340 (Jan-Dec 2013)

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© 2014, Haymarket Media Group Ltd. Reprographics by Anthony McDonald at Fresh Media Group. Printed by Wyndeham Heron; cover printed by Stephens & George. Distributed by Frontline Ltd, Midgate House, Midgate, Peterborough, PE1 1TN. The US annual subscription price is $75.50. Airfreight and mailing in the USA by agent named Air Business Ltd, c/o Worldnet Shipping Inc., 156-15, 146th Avenue, 2nd Floor, Jamaica, NY 11434, USA. Periodicals postage paid at Jamaica NY 11431. Subscription records are maintained at Haymarket Media Group, Teddington Studios, Broom Road, Teddington TW11 9BE. Air Business Ltd is acting as our mailing agent. All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form in whole or in part without the written permission of the publishers. Liability: while every care has been taken in the preparation of this magazine, the publishers can’t be held responsible for the accuracy of the information herein, or any consequence arising from it. In the case of all product reviews, judgements have been made in the context of ware based on UK prices at the time of review, which are subject to fluctuation and only applicable to the UK market.

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26 PAGES OF THE BIGGEST STORIES FROM PLANET TECH

HOT FOuR #1 exterminate carpet Hair

Dyson 360 eye robot Here it is, housework fans: the hands-free Dyson we’ve all been waiting for. And the numbers explain why we’ve been waiting. Like 420 patents and patent applications. Or 1080km of rolling road-testing and 100,000 hours of software engineering to create the navigation system. With infrared sensors and a top-mounted 360° camera, it correlates where it thought it was going to go and where it actually went. Dyson’s digital motor and cyclone tech are on-board, of course, and the company is keen to stress the ‘proper’ cleaning credentials of the robot, with a full-length brush roller and mini tank-tracks rather than wheels for consistent movement. Android and iOS Dyson Link apps will let you check or schedule cleans from anywhere. All in all, it sounds like it was worth the wait. As hot as… putting a flame to the chores list and not having to clean up the ashes £tba / dyson.com

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hot Four #2 satan’s LittLe HeLper Jibo

Things have been a bit quiet in the ‘creepy robot’ scene for a bit. But perhaps it’s all been building up to this: Jibo. It’s part Furby, part Nabaztag and a goodly part Pixar Anglepoise. The intro video on its Indiegogo page leaves you a little bit in love with this cute device that magnanimously looks after a child by reading to it in the night. It has face recognition, takes photos, serves family reminders and generally does everything to ensure you’ll look elsewhere when the kitchen knives start going missing. As hot as... the fires it definitely didn’t start US$500 / myjibo.com

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hot Four #3 aLpHa numerics 6.7mm …is the thinness, and 115g the lightness, of the metal-edged Alpha. However, such lithe specs inevitably lead to…

1860mAh …being the battery size. That’s nearly a thousand happy-amps fewer than the S5, which in turn means…

1280x720 …is the medium-res screen that has to keep the phone efficient. Mind you, it’s a 4.7in screen so your eyes won’t exactly be tripping over pixels.

new metaL poppet

samsung Galaxy alpha Apparently, people don’t like Samsung’s plastic Galaxys (ignoring the five million people who bought one, natch). But it can’t just make a metal S5 without alienating existing S5ers and/or charging over £600 for it. So it’s made a smaller, 4.7in-screen Galaxy called Alpha. The metal edges still surround a dimpled plastic panel, but it looks tidy. There’s no room in the smaller chassis for S5-level hardware, so it has an octa-core processor, a smaller battery and no microSD card. Will it be enough to quieten the haters? As hot as... the commenters’ keyboards £tba / samsung.com/uk 17

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hot Four #3 tHe perfect curve sony Bravia s90

“You mark my words,” said the Sony engineer. “Next it’ll be a plug-in air-freshener that has one scent for the morning and a different scent for evening.” And so determined was she that the next week they found she’d handed in her notice and gone to work for P&G. But on her desk they found a notebook that contained another idea: while curved televisions are great for a natural viewing experience, a slightly less curved TV would

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reduce the on-screen distortion created by straight lines. And, as sure as night follows day – as sure as lilting lemongrass is replaced by balmy bergamot – Sony’s first curved TV for the UK market has a less pronounced bend than others. Oh, and it’s 4K (in 65in or 75in sizes) and has 4.2-channel virtual surround sound. But for us, it’s all about the curve. As hot as... a spicy lemongrass hot pot £tba / sony.co.uk

OUTDOORS IS EVERY

WHERE

E R E H W S THIS I

E H T A E R B YOU CAN

the tatters of mist of the their warmth dispersing n, izo hor the r ove rk hard to help get k to do what we do – wo The frst rays of sun blin thing, we’ve got like these that inspire us clo d nts late me mo insu to It’s es r... com hou blue rm and dry. When it wa reliable warmth , you ple p sim kee d iver An del re. you out the ets, for example, which jack ter win ged rug – what you need See you out there! move or on a rest break. www.jack-wolfskin.com whether you‘re on the

V I

T A L S T A T S

The SmArTphonefree SmArTwATch

You can send out GPS coordinates in an emergency, such as running out of jelly babies

Timex Ironman One GPS+ US$400 / timex.com

With its own 3G connection and a futuristic screen, this Ironman isn’t playing by the rules. Is it the first of a new breed of smartwatch? ● It’s got Toq tech. Timex might not have been your first pick for a company to make a new breed of wristputer, but that’s because this watch is largely the work of chip giant Qualcomm, which forges the Snapdragon chips found in (most) superphones. The One’s mobile tech and always-on, sunlightreadable Mirasol screen (it’s a bit like E Ink, but in colour) were first seen last year in Qualcomm’s experimental Toq smartwatch. It’s no watchphone, though: the 3G chip is just for location tracking, basic messaging and come-getme emergency alerts. As such, the data is free for the first year, although we don’t know who’ll be providing the 3G in the UK yet. ● It’s not really a smartwatch. It’s a GPS fitness watch with some smart functions: it will track your distance, speed and pace, and it’ll show your Iron-fans where you are, in real time. But it stops there: Timex assumes you’re too busy canoeing up a mountain to catch up on your calendar or get message notifications or any of that lush Android Wear kind of fun, so it doesn’t connect to your phone at all. It will play your Bear Grylls motivational shouting tapes, though, with 4GB of onboard storage (just add any Bluetooth headphones). It’s also waterresistant down to 50m. ● It’s gonna be big. We’re not talking Market Share in the Wearables Zone: we mean it takes up a fair bit of wrist. If you have the hand-ankles for it, you’ll be able to wear a locationtracking, message-sending chunk of the future that doesn’t cost your phone’s battery one milliamp of juice. If you don’t, you’re just going to have a really tired arm.

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ALTernATIVeLy… Rip Curl Search GPS No fancy 3G, but this dude-specific watch tracks surf stats such as top speed and waves ridden, and the battery lasts for months (unless you’re using the GPS).

HEAR THE BIGGER PICTURE

TM

LG SoundPlate

LAB540 All-in-one Home Cinema System with LG Smart and integrated 3D Blu-ray™ Player. Hear the bigger picture with a powerful 4.1 Ch 320W virtual surround sound and external subwoofer to enhance your viewing experience, whatever you watch. Access the latest Smart apps to enjoy all of your favourite catch-up TV, movies, sport and music wirelessly, perfectly.

It’s All Possible. www.lg.com/uk/hearthebiggerpicture

The bigger picture in tech forty ways to say CHeese 40 Days And 40 Nights… Ali Baba And The Forty Thieves… (12.5 x 40) Days Of Summer… Pentax is the latest trendmaker to harness the power of the number 40 by creating 40 colour combinations of its new Q-S1 system camera. Following in the tracks of the Q7 and using the same 1/1.7in sensor, the S1 is both one of the smallest system cameras you can buy and, at £300 (body only), one of the most affordable.

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XboX levels up

Wondrous times for owners of the Xbox One with the arrival of both Sky’s Now TV service and the announcement of a PlayStation TV-style digital TV tuner that turns your console into a set-top box (but with better games).

more power to your ‘book

Acer’s Chromebook 13 is the first laptop to feature NVIDIA’s new 64-bit Tegra K1 caboodle. The result? Next-gen graphicscrunching muscle, but with a battery that lasts up to 13 hours. Oh, and it’s £165 (for the 1366x768 version; the 1080p version starts at a princely £180).

bill-flavour HtC

What’s the difference between an HTC One and Microsoft Windows? One is built to thrill, and the other is in thrall to Bill. Oh, please yourselves. Apparently, an HTC One M8 with Windows will be coming soon to a phone store near you.

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? Wtf is

Coravin? Isn’t it an ancient bloodline of vampires and werewolves? Ah, ‘Corvinus’ – you’ve been dipping into your Kate Beckinsale film collection again. You’ll go blind. But actually, there is a vampiric element to this product. It lets you tap into a bottle of wine and extract as much as you want of the tasty grapethanol without subjecting the remainder to death by oxidisation.

That’s called a corkscrew. No, you see, this doesn’t remove the cork. Its needle pokes through the cork, letting you slowly pour out some of the wine while the device refills the bottle with harmless argon gas from a canister.

Wireless in and wireless out

Qistone+

In the safety of the orbiter, while your new clone body dries, you try to understand what went wrong with the latest surface mission. Clearly, it was when you said “It’s not a real stone, you silly” that the primitive life form smashed you to death. With a real stone. Perhaps it was too soon to introduce the idea of a wireless charger? Wait – it must have been the concept of a wireless charging powerbank that can be itself be charged using a wireless charger. Tomorrow, you’ll teleport back down there and talk about something else. Maybe the switch to digital radio. £45 / fonesalesman.com

Why wouldn’t you want to drink the whole bottle? The inventor isn’t British. Apparently, some people don’t want to drink the whole bottle in one go, but do want to be able to enjoy it days, weeks or even years later.

So does it work with any wine? Only those with natural corks, because they seal up again after the needle is retracted. We imagine ourselves strolling through a cellar full of red wine, deciding what to steal a glass from, but there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be white or rosé.

What about a lovely bottle of fizzy? Given that the company recently had to send all its US customers a protective bottle sleeve following reports of exploding bottles, we’re pretty sure that using it to fire gas into an already pressurised container can only end in tears.

Fair enough. Tell me where I can get this device-for-drinking-less-thana-whole-bottle-even-though-tenunits-a-night-never-hurt-anyone. It’s just jumped across the pond and finds itself – where else? – in Harrods. But you can also get it online at coravin.co.uk for the princely sum of £280. The same price as exactly a hundred bottles of our usual plonk de dogwash.

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Smart? Yes, rather

instrmnt 01

It’ll not be a long conversation, this one. Thank the observer for suggesting that it looks nice. No, it’s not a smartwatch. If you want to spin the discourse out a bit – perhaps the canapés have not yet appeared – you can mention it’s a Scottish-designed, Swiss-movement watch that was Kickstarted by some individuals who just wanted a classy, minimalist watch. Then, if you’re done with this small talk, just point out that every watch has a smart function – the ability to find north using the hour hand and the sun. That clears the decks every time. £160 / instrmnt.co.uk

Nokia.co.uk

Honestly I wanted a phone for whatever life throws at me.

Nokia Lumia 930 My new Lumia 930, with a 20MP PureView Camera and a 5” full HD display, means I get the perfect shot every time.

Nokia Lumia 930

29.99

£

PER MONTH

Internet connection required. Apps available from Windows Phone Store.

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For after-hours awesomeness

Knog qudos

We’ve never needed a light for a GoPro, because we rarely do anything exciting after dark. It tends to be cold, does night-time, and there’s all that on-demand TV to watch. Uninformed, then, we saw the tastylooking Qudos (pronounced ‘kudos’) and reckoned there was probably loads of GoPro-specific lighting out there already. Not really, it turns out – which makes this suddenly highly desirable for night-biking or night-surfing or other things that sound miserably cold. It has three Cree LEDs that can be set to three beam widths each with two power levels, run times from its lithium-ion battery range from 42-240mins, it’s waterproof to 40m and weighs 115g. If they do one as a special set with a nice warm jumper, we’re in. €100 / euro.knog.com.au

Would you Blu and then DAC too?

MusiCal Fidelity V90-Blu

Step forward if you think £200 is too much for a Bluetooth streamer. Here’s a £10 TK Maxx voucher; off you pop. You remaining lot are clearly more discerning, but what if we were to say that Musical Fidelity suggests you run the output from the V90-BLU to another DAC – perhaps their matching £200 V90-DAC? This, despite the V90-BLU having its own DAC and using AptX Bluetooth. Who’s still in now, eh? Who’s so into hi-fi, and wireless, that they’d run tunes from their phone through £400 worth of electronics before it even hits an amp? Just us! £200 / musicalfidelity.com

Vive la hairvolution!

Wahl PoWer CliPPer Sensing the backlash but lacking any kind of a steer as to the new direction of hip hairwear, you have but one choice. To take a blade to your beard and your short-back-and-sides; to completely reset the look that has served you so well for the past two years. But this is not a task to be taken lightly. Not for you the snarling Robert de Niro transformation in the bathroom. You want to climb to the top of Greenwich Park, to stand on the GMT line – the beginning of time – and look out over the city and begin again. And you can, thanks to the powerful lithium-ion batteries within this pro-style hair destroyer. £70 / wahlglobal.com

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EVERYTHING ON CIVIC BLACK SPECIAL EDITION 0% APR Representative. 0 deposit 78.5 miles per gallon Voted UK’s most reliable car brand for 8 years by What Car? readers

SERVICING WARRANTY ROAD ASSIST FOR £555

Fuel consumption fi gures for the Civic 1.6 i-DTEC Black Special Edition in mpg (l/100km): Urban 70.6 (4.0), Extra Urban 85.6 (3.3), Combined 78.5 (3.6). CO 2 emissions: 94g/km. Model Shown: Civic 1.6 i-DTEC Black Special Edition in Crystal Black Pearl at £22,460 On The Road (OTR). Terms and Conditions: New retail Civic registered from 1 July 2014 to 30 September 2014. Subject to model and colour availability. Offers applicable at participating dealers and are at the promoter’s absolute discretion. Civic Black Special Edition Honda Aspirations (PCP): Example shown based on Civic 1.6 i-DTEC Black Special Edition in Crystal Black Pearl at £22,460 total cash price (and total amount payable) with 37 months 0% APR Representative (interest rate per annum 0% fixed) with £0 (0%) deposit, £408.29 monthly payment, Guaranteed Future Value / Optional Final Payment of £7,761.73 annual mileage of 10,000 and excess mileage charge: 6p per mile. You do not have to pay the Final Payment if you return the car at the end of the agreement and you have paid all other amounts due, the vehicle is in good condition and has been serviced in accordance with the Honda service book and the maximum annual mileage has not been exceeded. Indemnities may be required in certain circumstances. Finance is only available to persons aged 18 or over, subject to status. All figures are correct at

BLACK

Fuel consumption figures sourced from official EU-regulated laboratory test results, are provided for comparison purposes and may not refl ect real-life driving experience. time of publication but may be subject to change. Credit provided by Honda Finance Europe Plc. 470 London Road, Slough, Berkshire SL3 8QY. Honda Finance Europe plc is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, Financial Services Register number 312541. The 5 Year Care Package includes: Servicing: All scheduled servicing, as detailed in the vehicles service book, will be covered for 5 years or 62,500 miles, whichever comes first. Warranty: In addition to the standard 3 year warranty the customer will receive a complimentary 2 year extended guarantee taking the warranty to 5 years or 90,000 miles, whichever comes first. Roadside Assist: In addition to the standard 3 years roadside assistance package the customer will receive complimentary Hondacare Assistance for a further 2 years, taking it to 5 years or 90,000 miles, whichever comes first. The 5 Year Care Package: The 5 Year Care Package is optional. It is being offered for £555 including VAT (usual value £1,845 including VAT, resulting in a £1,290 saving for the customer) and is available to finance or non-finance customers. Please note, should you sell the vehicle during the period of cover, the package remains with the vehicle.

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This month’s mobile must-downloads

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75 more essential apps p59

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1 BioShock

4 Sky Service

7 Weave

£tba / iOS We like original games that are designed to suit touchscreen devices. And yet we also like older PC or console games that have been carefully tweaked to suit their new environs. But which do we prefer? Only one way to find out.

£free / iOS It’s not all about the ritzy apps and glitzy games – sometimes it’s the little things. Like an app that gives you information in and around your Sky subscription, plus access to Murdoch’s Wee Helpers if you get a bit stuck with anything.

£free / iOS, Android Bored of hooking up with Tinderers but not having anything to talk about? Wouldn’t it be great to meet other machine-parts salespeople? Now you can! With this swipe-tochat, swipe-to-ignore front end for your LinkedIn contacts.

2 Fitbit

5 Payfriendz

8 Fly

£free / Windows Windows Phone users are probably 60% more productive than other users. For while the latter crowd spend hours browsing the 1000s of smarts available, WP users just get on with work. But Fitbit is changing things: it’s the first WP smartband.

£free / iOS, Android Payfriendz? Nah, we’ve already got some. Seriously, though, this makes sharing money with friends fun. Upload cash to your Payfriendz account and from there it’s as easy as Snapcash. Mobile payments are gonna be big this year, kids.

£free / iOS GoPro is currently working its socks off to produce a user-friendly mobile video editing platform. Has Fly beaten it to it? Grab clips from your library and cut them into a film with prods. In-app purchases give you more powerful tools too.

3 Spinlister

6 Vent

9 Pocket High Street

£free / iOS, Android Nope, not an app for selling second-hand records. Or sharing details of great political campaigns. It’s an Airbnb for bikes that’s now available in 100 countries, including the good ol’ UK of GB & NI. A sound idea; now it just needs users.

£free / iOS So you’ve got problems. And one is that you’ve got more problems than it is socially acceptable to share. You could just create an anonymous Twitter account but you actually want people to read your them, don’t you? See Vent.

£free / iOS Google Maps will let you search for a cycle shop, but it won’t let you search for the actual 27.5in inner tube that you need asap. Pocket High Street aims to change that, with searchable inventories of independent bike shops.

APP SPOTLIGHT Wacom BamBoo paper £free / iOS, Android, Windows, Amazon This drawing app is designed to be used with a touchscreen stylus, with the usual plethora of brushes and whatnots to daub with. It’s also designed to work across different devices – a new programming language has been developed, called WILL: Wacom Ink Layer Language. Hi, Will.

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its aneroid capsule expands and contracts with chanGes in air pressure

Breva GÉnie 01 from CHF150,000 / breva-watch.com Oh, a weather watch. How very British. It’s fair enough, though, isn’t it? We get so very much weather on our little island, and coupled with a cultural abhorrence of conversational vacuum, it’s only natural that we would talk about the blows, snows and glows, day in and day out. And, consequently, weather-based accoutrements are of particular interest – your

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Oregon Scientific weather station, your rock on a string, your net-connected umbrella… And this watch? This is a weather rememberer. In the morning, you enter your home weather station – standard in any British home – and take measurements. You access your various online services, amateur weather blogs and countless apps,

and a couple of hours later you aggregate all your findings into an appropriate weather symbol. Then you carefully dial it into the watch and leave the house. Taking an umbrella, naturally. Really? No, not really. It is, as you would expect for the asking price, an intricate and marvellous analogue forecaster, and an altimeter too.

It has an aneroid capsule that expands and contracts with changes in air pressure and, with the intricate barometric calculator that is a tiny arm resting on the capsule, the weather trend is told. For accuracy, you’ll want to open the air valve on the watch several times throughout the day to observe the changes – a ritual that, if you’re truly British, ought to sound simply delightful.

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Grain storm

EighT In your phone, the little speaker diaphragm vibrates, the wood resonates, your heart pulsates. PayPal processes your payment, Royal Mail congratulates itself on its delivery and the Eight makers share a “squee” of glee as they check their takings. HMRC, meanwhile, watches with a raised eyebrow. This is the complication of parts being played out across the globe to bring you your maple or walnut passive iPhone speaker with magnetic cradle and routing for your Lightning cable. And, throughout, the beat in the wood goes on and on. US$290 / geteight.com

Piloting not required

AirDog Anyone can have a dashcam. Diligent drivers mount the camera on their headrest, so the footage shows their hands on the wheel. Pessimistic drivers have cameras facing both front and rear. But if you really want to impress the accident investigators, get a few of these GoPro-suspending drones that follow the wireless AirLeash control you wear on your wrist. Via the AirLeash or an app, you can set AirDog to simply follow you, circle around you, or hover over a particular spot – that tricky crossroads, for example. What’s more, the time you’re not spending in court on a careless driving charge, you can be taking your AirDog surfing, skiing or biking – create 3D no-fly zones so you can teach it to avoid trees or pylons. US$1500 / airdog.com

start menu Peripheral vision

packed pixels

The month’s best concepts, start-ups, crowdfunded projects and plain crazy ideas

Magic lantern

toucHpico

Cardboard vs boredom

Viddy

£140 / packedpixels.com

US$500 / indiegogo.com

£30 / thepopuppinholecompany.com

Listen: any Rod, Jane or Freddy can wander right into a high-street store and get themselves a Retina screen. What you need to be truly a prince of the pixels is a second screen, like this 2048x1536 side-screen. It runs off USB power, works in either portrait or landscape orientation and takes its video signal from DisplayPort, making it compatible with lots of laptops, including ‘the Retina ones’.

A long, long time ago – before there were encyclopaedias – renowned thinkers believed that the eye spewed forth a special fire that covered objects in sight. Wrong! But this smarter-than-average pico-projector definitely spews forth a touchscreen that lands on a wall and can be interacted with. We know, because we’ve seen it on the amazing YouTube talky-box thing.

Decommission your flip-flops, shelve your shorts: summer is done and the winter is come. No longer can you entertain either yourself or the kids by just heading out to the park. You need a project, and making a camera out of cardboard seems like just the thing. It’s proper, too: pinhole, but shoots onto 35mm or medium-format film. Suitable for years 11+, due to it involving naked light.

Status seeking funding (kickstarter)

Status funded (indiegogo)

Status funded (kickstarter) 35

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It has a name for your pain

casio Gba-400 G’mix You are a sea serpent twisting in the waves of music, pulling impossible shapes of joy and pain, oblivious to all but the beat. What is this masterpiece that has caused you to emerge from your normal contemplative depths and react in ways that make the onlookers cheer and laugh? To pull out your phone now would be the end of it. Instead you reach for your Bluetooth watch and twist the dial; it connects to the Casio G’Mix app on your phone, finds the song using SoundHound and displays it on the watch screen. It is, you discover as you add a new jerking limbo action to your repertoire, The Loco-Motion by Kylie Minogue. And there’s a text too: “How’s the school reunion going? Mum x”. ¥23,000 (approx) / casio.co.jp

Need for speed

chillblast Fusion carbon

So you’ve been waiting to see which new console turns out to be the superior choice while keeping the purchase price of both in a lucrative investment scheme. Good news! You now have enough money to sack the whole thing off and buy a gaming PC. Console-sized (well, ish) but far, far more fearsome is the Fusion Carbon, the world’s most powerful small-form-factor gaming PC. Not only does it pack in an overclocked Core i7 brain and 32GB of RAM, but most of its carbon-fibre-tastic case is taken up by AMD’s hilariously powerful, water-cooled Radeon R9 295X2 graphics card. Which, with 8GB of GDDR5 memory, manages 11.5 teraflops – about six times the computing power of a PS4. from £2,600 / chillblast.com

terawHat? Put simply, a ‘teraflop’ is a measure of how fast a computer can do sums. One teraflop is a brain-rate of a trillion sums per second.

Taking charge of your DIY

Dremel micro

Acknowledged masters of the device that solves the age-old problem of wishing you had a thing that would just make doing that thing easier, Dremel has revealed a new cordless version. Smaller, more efficient lithium-ion batteries mean you can now take your whittling, sharpening, grinding, polishing and engraving out into public spaces. It’s speedadjustable up to 25,000rpm, with an LED light to illuminate your workspace and an LED fuel gauge to stop you getting caught unawares with a half-finished, er, thing. £110 / dremeleurope.com/gb

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Available in Metallic Black and Shine Gold

• 5.5” Quad HD Display • 13MP Laser Auto Focus Camera • 3000mAh Removable Battery

“The best smartphone in the world.” LG G3, Stuff.tv, 24th June 2014

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Back in black

RaLeIgh ChoPPeR Imagine – though you might have to use your most powerful setting – that the whole Chopper thing never happened. Not the original, and not the various reissues and copycats. Now imagine that it is now (ramp down that power setting) and you’re clapping eyes on this bike design for the very first time. You’d have more questions than answers, wouldn’t you? Let the real past reinstall itself, though, and you’ll need no clarification – this is cool, and this new limited edition is painted up in black and gold and has six gears. And costs less than a new graphics card. Better be quick, though – because fewer than 400 are being made. £250 / velorution.com

Flexisneaks

VIVoBaRefoot tRaIL fReak Don’t go shooting your mouth off about minimalist trainers down at the running club unless you know your subject. It’s a divisive topic amongst the leg-guns lot. Biological advantages notwithstanding, these Trail Freaks have lots going for them. They’re ludicrously light, for one thing, and squash up small to make them a useful travel buddy. There’s grip on the soles for trail running, making them more forgiving on your feet than full-on barefoots. And, if the off-road action you’re envisaging is some dance festival wildness, they’re suitably coloured for that too. £85 / vivobarefoot.com

Drop everytHing anD DownloaD... appy parking – london £free / iOS, Android We know not all of you live in London, but there’s a fair chance that the only thing that’s been keeping you away is drivers’ tales of death, destruction and parking nightmares. Most of those still exist, but this app goes a long way to making parking easier. It can tell you when restrictions apply, even if unusual holiday or event hours are in place. It knows where motorbike spaces are, and car parks, and can even help you with Pay By Phone bays – and it knows where Just Park private hire spaces are. 38

THE ONE RE-IMAGINING WHAT’S POSSIBLE

LUMIX GH4, WITH 4K SHOOTING LUMIX GH4 is the first camera of its type to shoot true-to-life 4K Ultra HD stills and video. The most advanced camera in the LUMIX G range, it’s the one for those who demand absolute quality behind the lens,* its size freeing your creativity to imagine new possibilities. Find the LUMIX G for you at panasonic.co.uk/LumixGTheOne *GH4 available body only or with 14-140mm lens.

ards 2014 Aw

G A M E S

firSt plAy bAttlEcry PC While real-life swordplay usually ends with at least one person whimpering over a gouged hand, a virtual sword can offer so much more satisfaction (if you’ll pardon the duelling pun) than hosing your opponents with bullets. There’s a powerful allure in stylish, sharpedged combat, and it’s made games like Devil May Cry and God Of War hugely successful; in real life your bladework might not scare anything larger than an onion, but in the game you’re a tornado of whirling steel. With BattleCry, Bethesda is trying a new approach to the

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Stylish Sword genre: rather than a single-player campaign, BattleCry is the first of its kind to work as an online deathmatch – and a free-to-play one, at that. Think of it as Team Fortress but with daggers and crossbows. It would be easy to make a terrible game of BattleCry, but what we’ve played so far is really promising: there’s a bit of Titanfall in its fast-paced, jumpy action and it has that same nice mix of skill and luck. Character classes vary from speedy archers and deft swordsmen to armoured

DuE 2015

heavies, and you quickly learn to use your team and your power-ups strategically. The gameplay is surprisingly good, but the graphics are just what you’d expect from creative director Viktor Antonov, who also designed Half-Life 2 and Dishonored: washes of colour and sweeps of movement give the impression that you’re somehow playing a painting. It’s different, it’s inventive and it doesn’t have any guns but BattleCry isn’t worthy. It’s hugely accessible and great fun; it could well be an unexpected hit.

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2-up [StronG x Girl] + KicKStArtEr =

WoolfE: tHE rED HooD DiAriES

PC

Fairytales are ripe for dark re-imagining, mostly because – as the creators of Woolfe: The Red Hood Diaries point out – most fairytales were a damn sight darker before modern social standards and/or Disney brightened them up. Anyway, the idea of an axe-wielding Red Riding Hood leaping dystopian platforms in order to hunt down other fairyland stalwarts sounds good to us. The plan is to release it first for PC, then hopefully for PS4 and Xbox One if it goes well.

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JEnny lEcluE: DEtEctivu

PC, Mac, Linux Cuter and perhaps more measured than Woolfe, LeClue is more point-and-click adventurer than fire-and-brimstone platformer. But the universe and character production look super-slick and quite possibly LOL-worthy, plus there are still central themes of loss and identity. Oh, and murder: Jenny is out to solve the case in which her own mother is implicated in the death of Dean Strausberry. A serious business indeed. And speaking of business, it’s already met its funding goal.

tHE GrEAtESt lAtESt StEAM GrEEnliGHtS

AbSolutE Drift

absolutedrift.com Refreshing, like a frozen limoncello at the end of a evening tasting Trappist beers, Absolute Drift is a pared-back 3D driving skills game. The aim is to slide your car about either hitting or avoiding things and basically having a hoot. It is not dark, inspired by Nietzsche or an endless runner.

Six MilES unDEr

sixmilesunder.com As the name suggests, this game is set underground and, as such, the sets are pretty dark. But they also look beautifully realised, with inventive lighting and gorgeous backdrops. Gameplay is straightforward: one man plus enemies equals 2D side-scrolling bosh-’em-up.

cubic cAStlES

cubiccastles.com ‘Super Mario World meets Minecraft’ is how we’re describing this. It’s one pervasive online world in which you can wander, plunder materials and build. Enjoy other people’s constructed game spaces – including warps, spikes, boost blocks and so on – or spend time making your own.

incoMinG SEptEMbEr ● fifA 15 ● HyrulE WArriorS octobEr ● forzA Horizon 2 ● MiDDlE-EArtH: SHADoW of MorDor ● SunSEt ovErDrivE novEMbEr ● cAll of Duty: ADvAncED WArfArE ● tHE crEW

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Geek on the road

FORMULA E

[ Pictures Virgin Racing, Leon Poultney]

Leon Poultney gets an eerily silent tour of Virgin’s new all-electric racing headquarters

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Head to Donington Park circuit in a remote part of the East Midlands, cup your ear, and above the roar of wrung-out superbike engines you might just catch the faint hum of a motorsport revolution. That’s because a bland and inconspicuous group of industrial units behind the track is now home to ten teams that are set to battle it out in the recently conceived Formula E racing series. “Forget comparing what we do here to Formula 1,” says Barry Mortimer, Virgin Racing’s team manager, as he shows me around the facility. “We don’t have the same budget as our F1 counterparts, the resources or the manpower,” he adds, before talking me through the technology behind this battery-powered battle for podium places. This September ten teams, each with two drivers and four cars, will jet around the globe competing in the Formula E street races. Each team has the same 220kW (270bhp)

Spark-Renault SRT_01E race car, one set of tyres and limited access to telemetry, ensuring this series is all about the skill of the helmsmen rather than pit lane tactics. Virgin Racing’s unit currently houses three cars – all in differing states of build – as the team readies itself for testing. A quick look at the bare shells suggests it’s not so high-tech after all. The driver sits in a carbon-fibre tub just behind a scaled-down version of an F1 steering wheel; there are the typical aerodynamic body addenda found on many single-seaters, steel wishbone suspension (as opposed to the carbon found in F1) and an enormous battery pack where the engine would normally sit. The drivers will have to harness this power to be successful, carefully judging when to pull the energy regeneration paddle next to the steering wheel that tops up batteries under braking, and when to go for full boost during overtaking manoeuvres. A full charge takes an hour, so drivers will physically swap cars when the batteries die during the race – hence the need for two cars each – but this is a charging system that could really benefit the consumer. A few years of development, and they’ll have

designed a unit that could top up that battery in half an hour. But what about the noise? Well, the cars produce just 80db at full speed and emit a weird space-age clamour when travelling through the pits for safety reasons, so it’s nothing like what we’re used to. On the plus side, I’m promised there will be a big-name DJ at every race, blasting out tunes to make up for the distinct lack of snarling V6 soundtrack.

FORMULA E IN NUMBERS

150mph

3 secs

1m 30s

Top speed of the Spark-Renault SRT_01E

Time it takes to accelerate from 0-60mph

Minimum time a car is allowed to pit

888kg

200km

£1million

Regulation weight of car with the driver inside

Distance completed by one set of tyres in testing

Average budget of a Formula E team (F1 team: £150m)

The award-winning connecTed roboTs

rolling sPider

JumPing sumo

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“Unlike anything else on the planet. Get ready to get hooked.” T3

www.parrot.com FreeFlight 3 is available for free

Available now from

Apple Store App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc. Google Play is a trademark of Google Inc. The Parrot Trademarks appearing on this document are the sole and exclusive property of Parrot S.A. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. All Rights reserved. Visual, description and specifcations are not contractual. Product visuals and technical specifcations may change without prior notice. Parrot s.a. 174 quai de Jemmapes 75010 Paris - rcs Paris 394 149 496.

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packed with information. Comics can be peculiarly light on all that information – a way around that would be to layer things under the page, as it were. There’s going to be a battle over Africa’s internet business… Because it’s the last emerging market. Google’s planning Project Loon over there – the balloons that work as internet stations. And Facebook’s building drones as internet portals. So soon the skies will fill up with balloons and drones, and it’s only a matter of time before they start hacking each other, shooting at each other, knocking each other down: it’ll be the first inter-corporate war. That’ll be fun!

names to drop #11

warren ellis

tHe man wHose comics predict tHe future He’s written about gonzo journalists of the future, Iron Man and feral cities. His thoughts about the destructive powers of the internet are all over the, um, internet. All of which makes Warren Ellis just the man to speak to about synthetic biology, drone wars, 3D-printed body parts… oh, and comics. Digital comics never took off the way I thought they would… With just a couple of exceptions. I’m not a big proponent of the allsinging, all-dancing digital comic; I think it normally ends up looking like really cheap animation. Motion comics are something different, because that’s an attempt at a comic/animation hybrid. But too many people stick on some walking and talking and a bit of music and call it a digital comic. I was actually more interested in what Thrillbent have done with comics like Insufferable and Motorcycle Samurai – layered static panels that reveal the narrative and effects as you tap 44

and swipe through on your tablet. It wasn’t quite there, but it was very interesting. They’re still playing with that, and I think eventually it will turn into something interesting. Augmented reality in comics has a long way to go. AR is hitting that trough of despond where everyone’s just bored of it. I’m more interested in the possibility of drilling down; I’ve seen digital comics that preserve every aspect of the work, so you can swipe back to the original pencils. And you can drill down into the history of elements or characters on the page, or pull up relationship maps. Coming back to comics after my second novel, the big difference was that a novel is more densely

Drones are going to become indistinguishable from nature. Synthetic biology is the future, like this weird fish/beetle drone I discovered while researching a new book. There’s a synthetic biologist called Rachel Armstrong whom I met at a think tank in Holland, talking about ways to grow a city from coral and mussel shell. Rachel said to me, “Biology is the new engineering.” She’s planning to grow the interior of a starship. Once you start disruption rolling, it goes bloody everywhere. Everyone talks about disruption to the norm – whether it’s synthetics or 3D printing or whatever. What they don’t get is that it’s a feral process; once disruption is out in the wild, it doesn’t stop. In 10 years’ time, there are going to be kids in basements 3D-printing additional organs and working out ways to stitch them into their bodies. My latest project is a rum-based cocktail, of sorts. A friend asked if they could send me over some stuff from the Bacardi archive; I thought, the least I can do is spend 15 minutes reading it. In doing so, I found the story of Emilio Bacardi, and the double life he led as a business leader and subversive political activist. I thought that was really interesting, so I started work on the story. The Spirit Of Bacardi, written by Warren Ellis and with art by Mike Allred, is available to download from bacardi.com/spiritofbacardi

“too many people stick on some walking and talking and a bit of music and call it a digital comic”

You migHt know me from…

Transmetropolitan Lead character Spider Jerusalem ought to be an iconic character in these blogospheric times: a chemically enhanced, constantly hunted gonzo-type journalist fighting political corruption in an all-too-likely dark and cyberpunky future America.

Red The comic book that inspired the film featuring Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman and a deliciously roughtytoughty Helen Mirren was written by Ellis and Cully Hamner.

Dead Space Creepy is a relatively straightforward ingredient to bake into your video game; addictiveness requires the skill of a master story writer. Enter Warren Ellis… exit over two million copies of the game, now available on iOS and Android.

[ Illustration BenTheIllustrator.com ]

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C H O I C E

KNIFE SHarpENErS Show that tomato who’s boss with a blade like a metal laser 2 1

1 Swiss Istor Professional Parental Unit 1: “Deirdre’s got one and she says its fabulous.” PU2: “Deirdre’s a having a laugh – £25? Look, it’s done nowt… Ow! Fetch the plasters, please poppet.” £25 / firstaidforblades.co.uk

2 Global Whetstone and Holder; Ceramic Sharpening Steel The whetstone will not whet your stone. But it will sharpen a blunt knife, while the steel you use more regularly to keep the edge keen. £175; from £150 / globalknives.uk.com

3 Lansky Blade Medic Though it’s more of an outdoor product than one designed for the kitchen, the Lansky’s various ceramic, tungsten carbide and diamond tapered widgets will resuscitate just about any blade. £11 / heinnie.com

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4 Victorinox Sharpener When the Swiss Army gets back from practising not fighting anyone, they are starving. Which is why Victorinox makes cooking knives, and why it also makes this natty ceramic-wheel sharpener. £35 / victorinox.com

5 Fallkniven Flipstone 3

[ Picture RGB Digital ]

Street fights are best won by threat alone. And nothing says “I’ll cut ya to ribbons, ya mook!” like a flip-out two-sided sharpening stone. “Leave it, T-Bird: he takes care of his knives,” a sidekick will sneer… £29 / heinnie.com

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6 Joseph Joseph Slice&Sharpen You hone, you chop, and you don’t stop. Well, you have to stop a bit, if only to lift the board onto its edge, putting the ceramic honing rods into alignment with your blade. from £12 / josephjoseph.com

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Did God really say don’t eat that?

BlueanT PumP Hd

And at the end of the sixth day, after what had been a pretty tiring week, God bodged together Man. He carelessly imbued his last creation with a level of intelligence disproportionate to the rest of the ecosystem and put hardly any thought into the ears, which ended up all wrinkly and goofy-looking. Some time later, though, both Man and Woman are laughing because those oddly-shaped appendages are just the thing for hanging a set of wireless-ish earphones on. The water-resistant Pumps hook over and into your ear, making them fit-and-forget for up to eight hours of playback. God, meanwhile, dreamt up golf on the seventh day and was never seen again. £110 / blueantpump.com

Cost-effective car navigation

TomTom STarT

No mathematicians, us. But it seems that a joy-based formula could be developed here. Input the smugness of getting free sat-nav on your phone, then aggregate the aggravation of not really having a good place in the car to prop it, not quite being able to hear the voice instructions and your sister calling during a crucial lane-change scenario. Then work out the cost-permile-per-smile of spending a little upwards of 100 quid on the very latest entry-level TomTom sat-nav – with pre-loaded maps for life as well as a quick, intelligent UI, solid windscreen mount, and a choice of four, five or six-inch screens to suit your vehicle and/or budget. The superior equation might well involve the TomTom. from £120 / tomtom.com

Don’t call me grinder

GT Grade

Maybe it was the images of Tour de France riders hauling themselves across the muddy, cobbly pavé on Stage 5 this year, but many road riders are seeing a new side to cycling beyond flat tarmac and Strava segments. The Grade is designed to answer that desire: a capable road bike – not a cyclocross bike – but one with clearance for bigger tyres and powerful disc brakes. Those super-skinny rear seatstays are designed to absorb a little of the hump and bump of impact (though this is the top-end carbon Ultegra version; cheaper models get a chunkier aluminium frame). All good and well, but now those riders just need to decide on a name for their new adventurous on/off-road sub-category. GT says ‘EnduRoad’, but the worst we’ve heard is ‘gravel grinder’ shortened to ‘grinder’. Nope. from £700 / gtbicycles.com

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3 NEW WAYS TO LOOK AT SOUND Buy a wireless Libratone ZIPP or LOOP speaker and get an additional FREE cover from our new décor color range: Apricot Red Moss Green Sandstone Yellow Buy your speaker online or from an authorised reseller and register your product at libratone.com to claim your free cover.*

FREE EXTRA COVER WITH PURCHASE

* Ofer valid until 31st of October 2014

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tom Wiggins

media Hoard

don’t you wonder sometimes ’bout sound and vision?

Screw-in smarts

EmbErlight First thoughts: “That is a mighty small and/or directional lightbulb. Do we need something like that? It’d be no use in the middle of the room, or in a lamp. Perhaps it’s designed for underlighting. What are we going to do with it?” And then, on looking closer, we see this is actually a socket: screw in any dimmable bulb, and it becomes a smart light. It needs no separate hub plugged into your Wi-Fi router (we’re looking at you, Philips Hue), and it makes your light switches look old: it’ll detect your phone and switch on when you enter a room, or you can turn it on/ off/up/down using the app. All very clever, but it doesn’t play music… US$60 / emberlight.co

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Lumi tunes

mipow playbulb Initial thoughts: “Ha!” A minute later: “Hmm.” When you think about it, a combined LED lightbulb and Bluetooth speaker isn’t completely barmy. It’ll work in a kids’ room, where you might want music but don’t necessarily want the little bleeders having control of the mix, and where a docked iPod or Sonos might get dragged from its perch and forced to drink tea. The dimmer level and music can be controlled from your phone and it has a sleep function that gradually fades to silence, so it also makes sense for more grown-up scenarios… Like in the garage, where terrestrial speakers tend to get covered in gunk. £60 / mipow.com

● Amazon has finally launched its ‘Netflix for books’, aka Kindle Unlimited – but unfortunately you’ll have to move to America to take advantage of it. For US$10 a month, Kindle users across the pond can download as many books as they want – although with none of publishing’s ‘big five’ of Hachette, HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster and Macmillan on board, they could find some rather large gaps in the catalogue. With Amazon’s tech and services often taking a few months to come to the UK, hopefully those holes will be filled by the time it decides to bring Kindle Unlimited to Blighty.

● Like a mole as it breaks through the turf after corrective laser eye surgery, Sky has finally seen the light and changed the pricing for its sports channels via Now TV – but only until the end of November. Rather than paying a tenner for 24 hours you’ll now have the option to buy a day for £6.99, or a week for £10.99. So it’s still not exactly cheap, but if there’s a Test match or whole weekend of football coming up (including games on Friday and Monday night) it certainly works out at a better poundsper-goal ratio than before.

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Brown, yellow and orange squash

Hydrapak THe STaSH

Humans need air and water. Divers, who are simultaneously human, also need air and water. The water, if they have chosen their playground wisely, is abundant. But air is tricky. They have to carry it, compressed, in huge heavy bottles that become doublecumbersome out of the medium of water. Wouldn’t it be good, when they no longer need air, if they could squash those bottles down? The Stash is of no use to them. It is designed to hold water and, upon the disposal of the water when it is filled merely with air that we don’t need because it is our surrounding medium, squashed. US$18 / hydrapak.com

The only trunks allowed on the beach

aqua VaulT

Dangerous places, beaches. There’s a riptide trying to take your feet out from under you, there’s a seashell-seller trying to squirrel your sandwiches into a conch and there’s a seagull using a crab as a multitool to dismantle your sunglasses. But none except the sandworms can get at your true valuables, hidden as they are inside your Aqua Vault. Made of tough ABS plastic, combination-locked and designed to clamp over the rails of a deckchair – or a bike frame, or allotment railing, or skatepark gate – it’ll prove too much of a bother for your average sneak thief. £27 / theaquavault.com

Feeling strangely vinyl

pro-jecT STereo Box pHono You buy some vinyl from a charity shop because you like the sleeve art. Later, you decide it’s a shame not to play it, so you look for a cheap turntable but end up with a nice one with a belt-driven platter. Later, you discover your AV amp doesn’t have phono inputs and so browse for a cheap phono amp, but end up with this nice Pro-ject box, designed to amplify a turntable but also capable of dealing with other inputs. Later, you decide it’s not right to play the LPs through your surround system, delay having children and convert the would-be nursery into a listening room. C’est la vie. £200 / project-audio.com

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our month What the past 31 days have brought us by way of geekery

I left my coat at home

I chalked up another headset …on my wallchart of virtual things – though GameFace is an actual thing, like the Oculus Rift I added last month. This has Android, and Tegra hardware, so doesn’t need anything to use it except a gamepad.

Stephen Graves stuff.tv deputy ed / virtual collector

I trIed to fall off a scooter …but couldn’t. The three-wheeled Peugeot Metropolis is similar to the Piaggio MP3 we tested a few years back but designed for car drivers. Loads of front grip certainly gives it a car-like indifference to potholes and drain covers.

Fraser Macdonald consulting editor / lean machine 52

I geeked up my bedroom tV ...by plugging a Chromecast into it, installing Plex on my home server and using the Plex app (£2.99, iOS, Android) to choose what videos and music to chuck at the screen. Sounds onerous, but it’s dead easy and works brilliantly.

Will Findlater editor-in-chief / horizontal TV watcher

…because I knew it was going to be Phil Collins (that’s No Jacket Required) thanks to Dark Sky (£2.49, iOS) – an app that specialises in telling you if it’s going to rain at your exact location in the next hour or so. Indispensable.

I played ps3 games on my ps4

Tom Wiggins deputy editor / rain man

Tom Parsons reviews editor / solid metal

…without needing to buy them, thanks to the PS Now Beta. I was able to relive Metal Gear Solid 4 for about £5, and there’s tons more to keep me occupied until Destiny.

I took a robot selfIe When the robots enslave us all, you can blame me: instead of asking Honda’s latest ASIMO about the mysteries of its intelligence, I just giggled and took a snap of our faces. I for one welcome our photogenic new overlords.

Will Dunn editor / robot collaborator

Wear it. Mount it. Love it.™ GoPro App

gopro.madison.co.uk

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YouR MoNtH sep

Fend off the looming misery of autumn with this assortment of diversions

05 BeFoRe I Go to sleep

Ridley Scott is behind this Rowan Joffe take on S J Watson’s book, and with Colin Firth, Mark Strong and Nicole Kidman on the screen it might be excellent. Or terrible. But if the concept of waking up with no idea who you are intrigues you, then see it you ought.

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08 IsaF saIlING woRlD cHaMps Santander, Spain

If you’re as stoked about Rio 2016 as we are, then go and watch sportspeople fight for the right to be selected for their national teams. Which also gives you a chance to get the 24-hour ferry from Portsmouth.

09 DestINY

Described as the shooting action of Halo combined with the addictive loot-gathering of Diablo and MMORPG elements of World Of Warcraft – not forgetting a ladleful of utter brilliance – Destiny is going to be very big news this month. Not that you’ll know about it, because you’ll be playing Destiny.

13 Fe RouND 1 Beijing, China

Here it is: a chance for racing fans to appear all progressive and get behind the world’s first electric championship. There’s an exciting calendar ahead: ten rounds including Monte Carlo, Long Beach USA and a London street circuit in June 2015.

19 20,000 DaYs oN eaRtH

Were you to happen upon Nick Cave in a bus station toilet, you probably wouldn’t want to spend more than a penny with him. Yet the prospect of experiencing 24 hours in his life – albeit compressed to 97 minutes – has got film and music fans all in a lather.

24 GReeNwIcH coMeDY FestIval

One of London’s most popular comedy festivals, Greenwich draws in the likes of Rich Hall (above), Aisling Bea and Mark Thomas. Not in London? Use this as a linchpin for a visit: the tourist maelstrom should have died down.

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HoW to eNter

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75 BEST appS

BEST appS of righT now! without a stable full of thoroughbred apps, your superphone might as well be made of cheese. happily, it isn’t, so power up your pocket-puter with our pick of the greatest apps on the planet

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75 best apps

Fotor Fotor is two things: a tooled-up replacement for your phone’s default camera app and a cracking photo editor. What makes Fotor stand out is its combination of genuinely useful camera features and the range and quality of its quick-fix and enhancement filters, including the ability to add text and create collages. It’s like all the best photo apps combined into one. Oh, and it doesn’t demand that you sign up to yet another ‘service’ in order to use it. At its best on iOS but worth a look no matter what platform you’re on. £free / iOS, Android, Windows Phone

SoCIaL

PhotograPhy

Videofx live

60

Turn your tedious home videos into slightly less tedious home videos with the addition of a huge library of Photobooth-style filters and effects. Pixelate your cousin’s wedding vows for that added Crimewatch feel, or give the reception the booze-fuelled haze that most people will (fail to) remember it with. You can even sync devices, shoot the same scene from different angles and use fading. £free / iOS

Slow Shutter cam A Ronseal app that gives you control over how long your camera shutter stays open, with presets for each intended outcome, including motion blur, light painting and low light. Within each one you can mess about with the shutter speed, sensitivity and exposure. It might take a few attempts but the tools are there to create some snaps that’ll trick people into thinking you used a DSLR. £0.69 / iOS

FaceTune

Dubble

With the selfie now more irritatingly popular than having a face, you can’t afford to have your vanity snaps looking substandard. Any self-respecting narcissist now uses FaceTune to smooth, de-pimple and reshape their fizzog before uploading and watching the likes roll in. You can even tinker with hairline and colour if things are getting a bit Just For Men up there. from £1.99 / iOS, Android, Windows Phone

Getting photos developed only to find a load of accidental double exposures used to be an annoying waste of film but Dubble now lets you make mistakes like that on purpose. Upload a pic and the app combines it with another snap taken by a random Dubble user. The results are often, well, a bit rubbish (just like the old days) but that just means when you get a really good one it’s all the more rewarding. £free / iOS

Tweetbot

Firechat

Your choice of Twitter app is a vital life decision. Yes, there are tons of free clients out there, but none are as polished and feature-rich as this. With its Flipboardstyle ‘media view’ and swishy animations, Tweetbot is well worth the cost of a pint. £3 / iOS

Once, being out in the wilds without network coverage or an internet connection meant you had to talk to real people – urgh. Luckily, FireChat lets you have text-based conversations with anyone in the vicinity, even if that vicinity is the bottom of a well. £free / iOS, Android

My Permissions All too often, in return for use of a service you’re asked to just hand over a little bit of personal information. This app tells you who’s watching your social accounts, and allows you to easily revoke access if you’d rather they didn’t. £free / iOS, Android

hEaLth & FItNESS lift Often the hardest bit about getting fit is finding motivation. After all, the grass is almost always greener on the sofa eating crisps. Lift sets you goals for a healthier lifestyle: cut down on the Cokes, sign up to fitness challenges or learn yoga with the help of videos (hey, it kept Ryan Giggs playing football until he was 83). Soon you’ll be meditating your way to eternal life (maybe). £free / iOS, Android

Babylon Health Carrying a doctor in your pocket used to be a nightmare. Not only did you have to pay Rick Moranis for the shrinking and assembling a tiny stethoscope – at least once a month your pocket doc would go through the wash. You can avoid all this by using Babylon Health, sending queries directly to a doc or booking a consultation. Prescriptions are then sent to a nearby chemist. £7.99/m / iOS, Android

CLaSSIC aPPS

instagram Vintage filters for your phone pics , replicating those sun-bleached Polaroids: a winning combo of hipster cred and social features. £free / iOS, Android, Windows Phone

Run The World Mark Wilson Features editor When I tell someone my personal best for the 10km they usually give me a blank stare. But when I told Facebook I had run from London to Liverpool in the last month, I got swamped in a deluge of likes. Run The World is all about these tangible goals, letting me set a target destination based on my location, and counting my progress towards it. Suggested schedules and a personal records list round off a fresh alternative to stats-obsessed fitness apps. £free / iOS

Whatsapp

Samsung Power Sleep No money? Never mind, you can also donate processing power to a good cause. Using jauntilynamed BOINC tech, the University of Vienna harnesses your phone overnight to decrypt protein sequences, which aids research into cures for Alzheimer’s and cancer. The process stops when your alarm goes off. You owe it to the world to hit snooze. £free / Android

loggr Record it, note it, track it, measure it, save it, keep it, log it, something something Daft Punk. If you want to track everything from your steps and how many books you’ve read to your blood glucose and levels and chin-up count, then Loggr is the app for you. If you’ve got the patience to update it, you’ll have your entire life available at a colour-coded, shareable glance. £free / iOS

A simple concept: instant messaging across different devices, with the ability to create group chats. It’s free if you’re on Wi-Fi, too. from £free / iOS, Android, Windows Phone

Strava The app that makes cycling more addictive than Tetris, Strava tracks every leg of your journey and ranks you against everyone else. £free / iOS, Android

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75 besT apps

music

classic apps

Twickets Everybody knows ticket touts are the scum of the earth, just like people who don’t move down inside train carriages. Twickets is an attempt to make them extinct, by allowing those with spare tickets for gigs (and other events) to put them up for sale at face value, allowing proper fans to buy them. There’s even a reporting system if you suspect a ticket-tout rat has infiltrated the system. £free / iOS, Android, Windows Phone

Spotify What is man’s greatest achievement? Space travel, or instant access to Phil Collins from anywhere that you can get internet? from £free / iOS, Android, Windows Phone

Boiler Room The Boiler Room has built up a reputation for pushing boundaries (sometimes of what can be considered music), but if you’re into that sort of thing it collects its DJ sets together brilliantly, sorting them by genre and allowing you to save ones you like offline. There’s AirPlay support too, so if you’re having a house party you can press play on a mix and pretend its you all along. Sneaky. £free / iOS, Android

Soundcloud

Channel 4 News Channel 4’s in-depth coverage is hard to beat. With text, video, maps, live tweets and even Vines, it’s brilliant for news and analysis. £free / iOS, Android

Minecraft Pocket Edition Punch trees with bare hands. Acquire wood. Make tools. Make house. Fight zombies. Never ask why so pixellated. £4.99 / iOS, Android

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Tom Wiggins Deputy editor While Spotify (see left) is still my go-to music app, I’m finding myself opening Soundcloud more and more frequently since its slick redesign this summer. Even if the catalogue will never match Spotify or Rdio, more bands are uploading new singles to Soundcloud first and it’s a popular place for DJs and up-and-coming bands to put out mixes and demos for free – a bit like a YouTube for music. If only there were an offline mode, then I could stop using up all my data each month. £free / iOS, Android

Songkick If Songkick were still just an app to keep track of the gigs it’d be the equivalent of an album that any self-respecting music fan should have in their collection – The Best Of The Beatles, for example. Since Songkick launched its own ticket-buying shop within the app, it’s become even more than that. Which must make it Band On The Run by Wings – the band The Beatles could’ve been. £free / iOS, Android

Who Sampled You might not know this but there’s a good chance your music collection is made up of everybody else’s music collection. It’s called sampling. If you want to know what ingredients make up the songs on your iPhone, WhoSampled scans your iTunes library and tells you where the bassline for that came from, or which James Brown track they nicked the drums for that from. £1.99 / iOS

75 besT apps

Great British Chefs Kids The problem with many kids’ cooking guides is that the end result isn’t what grown-ups want to eat – and what’s the point of teaching them to cook if they’re not going to make you something tasty? This app has lots of fun visual elements and straightforward guides (don’t miss the Hints section, which contains good advice on chopping onions and the like), but more importantly, the recipes from Michelin-starred chefs are something you’ll actually want for dinner. £free / iOS

Kids have it so easy these days. Where we had to make do with boring old textbooks written in Latin, they play with apps like this. It’s fun, charming and perfectly paced for kids of nose-picking age, teaching them sounds then simple letter combinations and finally full words. They’ll also learn basic game mechanics as they play – the best education you could give any child. £2.99 / iPad

Nuzzel

news

kids

Teach Your Monster To Read

Are you interested in the same things your friends are interested in? If you’re not, dump them and get some new ones, perhaps at a local snooker hall or bingo club. If you are, use Nuzzel to track the news stories they’re sharing on social sites. £free / iOS

Tynker

Gojimo

TimeAway

If you’re planning to raise the next Mark Zuckerberg you’re going to need them to speak binary and have a complete disregard for privacy from an early age. Tynker can’t help with the latter but it will give your future billionaire the tools they need to learn the theories behind coding via games and puzzles, with more advanced ones available as in-app purchases. They can pay you back when they IPO. from £free / iOS, Android

Getting all the exam answers tattooed onto your body might seem like a good idea at the time, but it’s actually not the most effective (or moral) way to cram before taking any test. Gojimo offers downloadable quizzes (for a fee) for different subjects at different levels (11+, GCSE, AS-levels, etc), which are a much better way of making sure all those facts sink right in. No ink required. from £free / iOS

Curb your kids’ addictive online habits by installing TimeAway on both yours and up to six other devices. Using a password, you can immediately pause all these devices for dinner or bedtime or, if they’ve been particularly naughty, lock them all together. You’ll receive a daily summary of how long they spend online and their most used apps. Plus you can track where their phones are on Google Maps. £free / Android

Circa News Old people like to fall asleep in an armchair with a massive newspaper over their head, bless ’em. But young, vibrant groovesters like you want their news boiled down to nibble-sized chunks, and that’s what the editors of Circa News deliver. £free / iOS, Android

Reverb A phone screen can dazzle you with many wonders, but it can’t tell you all the news at once. In fact, even Jon Snow can’t do that. But Reverb’s personalised wall of key words enables you to follow the stories and themes that matter to you. £free / iOS

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75 bEst apps

MONey

Yahoo Finance

Droplet

Spendbook

FairShare

Not only is Yahoo Finance a very good feed of wonga-based news; it also allows you to follow particular stocks so you can track your portfolio in real time (if you’re the kind of person who has a portfolio). It also has summarised articles on currencies and markets, and makes sure you’re buying at the lowest of the low and selling at the highest of the high. You’ll be the wolf of your street in no time. £free / iOS, Android

Unlike full-on mobile banking apps, Droplet doesn’t require you to carry around a DNA sample and letter from your mum before it’ll let you transfer cash. Tell it your account number and sort code and you can top up your Droplet coffers, which can then be used to pay Facebook friends or anyone with the app whose number you know; and when people pay you, you can deposit it back into your account. £free / iOS, Android

Can you afford that Krispy Kreme box? Spendbook says yes. You input all your incomings and outgoings to track what you fritter your hard-earned on. There’s a lot of data entry, but if there’s something you buy daily (a Gregg’s iced ring, for example) it’ll automatically account for it. Your reward is gorgeous graphs documenting your penchant for deep-fried batter. And a better handle on your finances. £1.49 / iOS

Houseshares can be a hotbed of sniping over who put what in the kitty and passive-aggressive notes on the fridge over the cleaning rota. FairShare puts an end to that, divvying up duties and keeping track of who’s paid what bills; it will even prioritise tasks for you. With your housemates now talking to each other, there’s also a private social network for organising drinks out and dinner. £0.69 / iOS, Android

Gratuity Will Dunn Editor Gratuity almost warrants a spot in the Travel section, because there’s one country it applies to in particular: the USA. Everywhere else, I can get away with just adding what seems a fair tip and scarpering, but Stateside tips are wages, and you need to know how much to pay. Gratuity makes this simple and discreet, and it also adds in bill splitting – because I assume everyone’s fine with splitting the bill after I had all those foie gras cocktails and a swan steak for dinner. £0.69 / iOS

Salient Eye

security 64

Got an old Android phone kicking around? Install Salient Eye and it’ll use the camera as a motion detector, taking pics of anyone who strays into view before sending them to you via email or SMS. Handy if the thief nicks the phone too. £free / Android

Dashlane Dashlane remembers all your passwords so you don’t have to, with one master code to protect them all. You can even trust it with bank details, notes and anything you’d rather didn’t fall into enemy hands. from £free / iOS, Android

360 Security With the kind of features you’d expect to have to pay for, 360 Security goes above and beyond when it comes to protecting your phone. It not only fends off viruses and malware but also allows you to block calls and texts from annoying PPI robots. £free / Android

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75 best apps

GAMES

ClASSiC AppS

New Star Soccer Such a neat, yet deep, exposure to the world of football – from management to the game itself – that you could use it to convert a kickyball hater. £free / iOS, Android

Carmageddon In its PC game heyday, this car-smashing, cow-mashing, pedestrian-killing racer was called ‘sick’. Today, it still is, except that the meaning has changed. £0.69 / iOS, Android

Jetpack Joyride You got to be slick to win my game; you got to be cool to rule my phone. This game is a blast for any age. Even Tom Jones. £free / iOS, Android, Windows Phone

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Monument Valley

Eliss Infinity

A head-tilting, attention-hijacking gem, Monument Valley is short and sweet but well worth the small sum. Ida is the silent princess you guide through twisting and turning monuments, dodging Crow People and discovering hidden talents. The surreal architecture of the levels, flawlessly designed optical tricks and simple but mesmerising gameplay really will make your brain smile. It sounds as stunning as it looks too. Finished in an hour? They’re working on new levels right now. £2.49 / iOS, Android

When it first appeared in 2009, the original Eliss was one of the first games to really show off multi-touch controls, and this revamped version is every bit as good. The gameplay involves a section of space into which planets appear; your job is to clean them away (it’s a real tickle for neat-freaks) by depositing them in portals of the same colour. As the number of planets, vortexes and space storms increases, your screen becomes a frantic game of Twister for your fingers. £1.99 / iOS, Android

75 best apps

FTL: Faster Than Light

Kiwanuka In Kiwanuka the drops aren’t just geographical. Mixing follow-the-leaderwithout-falling-to-your-doom gameplay with a planet-shaking dubstep soundtrack, you guide your friends to the goal using your lightning staff and a handy ability to build human bridges across the floating landscapes. It’s a bit like trying to get some lemmings to an intergalactic dubstep conference. It won’t take you forever to complete but it makes a change from the Flappy Bird clones clogging up app stores. £1.49 / iOS, Android

Device 6 From the makers of the excellent Year Walk, this half-game, half-book takes storytelling in an interesting new direction. A number of directions, in fact – the words twist and turn and rotate as you read your way around the screen, taking in the engaging story before stopping for a while to wrestle with a puzzle. A great deal of talent has gone into this – and it really shows. £2.49 / iOS

The wait for a brilliant Star Trek simulator is over. This deceptively simple-looking iOS (previously PC and Mac) game makes you feel more like Kirk than any of the myriad official games ever have – although there’s no seduction of suspiciously human-like ‘aliens’ here. Instead you have to outrun Rebels while maintaining supplies and fuel and making sure your crew and ship remain intact. It’s utterly brilliant, and deep and addictive enough to turn a ‘quick go’ into a four-hour sesh. £6.99 / iOS

2 Dots The sequel to the simplistic colour-connecting hit, 2 Dots has cute woolly-hatted characters and a level-based format incorporating new in-game objects. Users are given a certain number of moves to achieve certain goals, such as sinking anchors or breaking ice. Lives regenerate every 20 minutes, but there are plenty of pop-ups too. Prepare for addiction. £free / iOS

Table Tennis Touch The combination of a simple, comfortable game mechanic with depth and regular injections of jovial encouragement and bonuses makes us so happy. Swipes control your disembodied bat through a career mode of knockout competitions that rapidly escalate from the casual to the deadly serious. Lose in the final and you’ll cry like Andy Murray. £2.49 / iOS

The Walking Dead: Season 2 Not yet finished playing Season 1? Then what the heck are you doing reading about Season 2, you spoiler-bating fool?! Still here? Then you know adorable protagonist Clem is now Lee-less in the zombie apocalypse, making each decision of who to trust a much more tricky one. The point-and-click gameplay and split-second life-and-death choices are as powerful as ever, and it’s heading for a thrilling climax in episode 5. £2.99 per episode / iOS, Android

Threes! Marc McLaren Website editor I love numbers. Unlike people, they behave in entirely predictable ways. And that’s possibly why I love the maddeningly addictive puzzler Threes! Smash two ‘3’ tiles together and they make a 6 tile. Combine two 6 tiles and you get a 12. And so on, right the way up to 6144, the highest tile anyone has so far managed. My highest is only a 384, predictably. from £1.49 / iOS, Android

Thomas Was Alone Proof that you don’t need to spend months creating detailed characters and worlds that stretch off to a horizon that you’ll never reach to make a meaningful and engaging game, Thomas Was Alone is a bona fide indie smash. Your job is to guide various shapes through a minimalist world, doing your best to avoid Danny Wallace’s typically smug narration. £3.99 / iOS

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75 best aPPs

mental

Google Helpouts

Brain+ Brain Training

Google knows everything. That’s why pub quizzes have been ruined, arguments can be solved in seconds and nobody knows what to say any more. Helpouts are like Google searches personified with video lessons by experts, some available for free, while others must be scheduled and paid for per minute. You’ll never lose an argument again. But you will have to talk to someone. £free / iOS, Android

Ross Presly Deputy art editor The brain is like a muscle. If you don’t use it, your head will get fat and lazy. I send mine out for a virtual 10k every day with Brain+, an app that assigns you a brain score based on your performance in its various synapse stretching tests. It’s been devised by the neuroscience folks at the University of Copenhagen – and if they can’t help me, nobody can. £free / iOS

Reporter Most people would rather walk out into traffic than stop in the street to do a survey – but what if the subject is you, you, you? Reporter pops up throughout the day and asks you a few questions: How did you sleep? Where are you? Who are you with? What have you eaten? It then builds graphs of your answers, so you can see if you’re spending too much time in the office (quite likely), drinking too much coffee (almost certainly) and hanging out in the pub too much with Fat Barry (definitely). £2.49 / iOS

Paperbag

shopping 68

It’s not rocket surgery (that’s in aisle seven with the salad) but Paperbag makes ensuring you’ve got everything on your shopping list easier than putting an unexpected item in the bagging area. It’ll even remind you to re-use your bags. £0.69 / iOS

Lingua.ly

Coursera

Learning words in a new language is all well and good, but how do they fit into news stories about Jennifer Lopez? Like most lingua-apps there are practice quizzes to answer but the killer feature is pulling in articles from the web that use the vocab you’ve just learned. Conscientious travel nerds should start with DuoLingo and level up to Lingua.ly, which already supports French, English, Russian, Arabic and Spanish. £free / iOS, Android

Tired of skimming amusing froth from the internet without really learning anything? Thanks to this app for MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), you can now get a free university on your phone. Coursera provides access to hundreds of classes on everything from maths to medicine, which you can either stream or download for watching on the train home. And once you’ve done one course, it’ll help you enrol in the next. £free / iOS, Android

Spruce With every buying decision comes the crippling fear that others might judge you for getting the wrong thing. Spruce’s up/downvote system tells you what’s trending, so you can avoid the disgrace and humiliation of an un-hip purchase. £free / iOS

Fitbay Are you vertically challenged or melon-shaped? When trying in vain to find clothes that fit, do you blame “big bones” or “society”? Fitbay’s personalised feed of you-sized threads (and body double models) will help you. £free / iOS

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75 besT apps

work HabitRPG

Fraser Macdonald Consulting editor HabitRPG allows me to reimagine day-to-day tasks and medium-term goals as RPG-style missions. My character gets health points and experience points from munching through my to-do list, but loses some for missing deadlines. It’s not something you’ll do for your whole life, but it’s great if you’re expecting a stressful month – buying a house, for example. £free / iOS, Android

Pomotodo Hands up who’s heard of the Pomodoro Technique? No, nothing to do with pizza – it’s a time-management strategy that involves breaking tasks down into 25-minute chunks. Finish one and you get a break. Finish four and you get a longer break. And it really does work. Pomotodo combines a standard to-do list interface, stats on how you’re doing and cross-platform syncing. Anyone fancy a pizza? £free / iOS, Android

Moment John Lennon once said: “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” But he really should have said: “Life is what happens to you when you’re busy playing with your phone.” I know, we’re all guilty of it, but this app can lower the risk of missing the birth of your child, a UFO flying past the window or a leprechaun riding a unicorn in your garden, all because something mildly amusing happened on the internet. Moment monitors your phone use, and will notify you when you go over (or get close to) your pre-set limit. £2.99 / iOS

Interviewy

Tom Wiggins Deputy editor Here’s an embarrassing secret: most tech journos still use dictaphones. Some even use the really old ones with cassette tapes. Why? We mumble something about them being reliable and they have good microphones, but so does Interviewy. It optimises voice recording, lets you add tags that you can skip to when you listen back, and stores recordings in the cloud. £free / iOS

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Hours Tracker Recreate the feeling of clocking on and off at a grimy northern factory with Hours Tracker. Tell it how much you earn and it’ll tot up how much each job should pay and how much tax you’ll owe. It’s even location-aware, so you can automatically clock in when you arrive at a specific place. Why not use it to work out how much you’ve been paid to go to the loo? £free / iOS, Android

MORE THAN A MULTIROOM HIFI SYSTEM Stream all the music you love. PlayLink lets YOU select your listening choices via your Smartphone or Tablet. Choose a tune for one room, play the same music in several rooms, or stream it throughout your home. Jazz, rock, pop from the cloud or your library, millions of tracks to choose from. Playconnect, PlayLink 4 and PlayLink 6 are designed for high-resolution ‘lossless’ audio files (up to 24-bit and 192KHZ). Simple, powerful, and impressive sound. PlayLink is THE essential sound system for the connected homes of tomorrow and can interact with other AllPlay devices in your house.

www.lencoplay.com

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75 bESt appS

life admin You Borrowed It Put in details of the item you’re lending, add a photo if you like, assign a contact you’re lending to, and set a reminder for when it’s due back. The reminder will go into your calendar, so you can easily add a reminder to the borrower’s calendar to guilt them into returning your cherished object in good time. £0.59 Android / £0.69 iOS / £0.79 Windows Phone

TaskRabbit

ClassiC apps

Even the most beautiful to-do list app in the world cannot compete with an app that actually does everything on the list for you. US service TaskRabbit has just launched in London, promising screened sidekicks to clean your house, pick up deliveries or even wait in line for you. Tasks are priced per hour to avoid spats. App etiquette: yes, your on-demand minions are, in fact, named TaskRabbits. £free / iOS, Android

The Trainline

Sunrise Victorious after a close-fought battle with Fantastical, Sunrise takes the prize thanks to its simplicity despite being able to do pretty much anything you can think of (except that – not even Meat Loaf would do that). Import calendars from Google, Exchange, iCal, Facebook, Songkick or Sunrise’s own list (including football fixtures for pretty much any team you could wish to follow) and then log in on your mobile, tablet or web browser. Voilà. Everything’s synced and integrated, with Google Maps guidance and local weather thrown in for good measure. £free / iOS, Android

Mopp Things you can stop doing now that Mopp exists: dressing up your Roomba in a tea cosy and calling it Edna; paying through the nose for a weekly cleaner; weeping into a feather duster. Book a cleaner and save yourself all that grief in a few taps with this new app that covers ten UK cities. It’s only £10 an hour if you provide supplies and you can book up to 24 hours in advance. Sorry, Edna. £free / iOS

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OmniFocus 2 If you’re easily distracted… oh, a pigeon! Sorry, what? OmniFocus 2 is a brain management tool that supercharges your to-do list, grouping items together, seeing whether deadlines clash and generally springcleaning the organising part of your brain. It can sync with your desktop too, so even if that pigeon lands on your monitor you’ll still know what’s left to do before beer o’clock. £13.99 / iOS

All it does is list train times and let you buy tickets, but it does so in the slickest, most helpful way imaginable. £free / iOS, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry

Nova Launcher Customisation remains one of Android’s greatest strengths, and this gives infinite possibilities, ensuring your phone really stands out. £free / Android

Clear The sexiest to-do list app you’ll ever meet mixes vibrant colours with intuitive list-forming gestures. Now it lets you set reminders for events too. £free / iOS

75 bESt appS

andRoid TRanspoRT

Citymapper Esat Dedezade Staff writer I can honestly say that, out of all the apps I’ve ever downloaded, Citymapper is the only one that’s probably saved my life. Its transport smarts have guided me back to civilisation when all hope seemed lost. I’ve got the worst sense of direction in the world, and without it I’d probably still be lost on a council estate in Brixton, quietly whimpering beneath some stairs. Trains, buses, walking and more – it’s impossible to go wrong. £free / iOS, Android

Auto Finder If you’re so rich you regularly forget where you’ve left one of the most expensive things you own, you probably don’t need to worry about finding it. For those who are just a bit forgetful, Auto Finder uses your phone’s motion sensors to detect when you’ve parked and automatically tags that location on the map. No more wandering around pressing the unlock button on your key fob and looking out to see which lights flash. £free / Android

Uber It’s 3am. It’s raining. There’s a drenched fox miserably staring at you from beneath a pile of rubbish. Welcome to London, after hours. You could crawl on a night bus and spend the next hour avoiding eye contact with the inebriated gentleman singing loudly in front of you. Or you could order a taxi directly to your location with Uber, tracking it in real time. A no-brainer, if you ask us. £free / iOS, Android, Windows Phone

Lightflow That LED notification light in most Android phones is capable of some genuinely useful information-sharing. But Android engineers seem to think that complex information delivered via flashing lights might confuse or annoy us. They’re quite right. When you first download this you’ll set different-coloured notifications for everything and quickly get confused and annoyed. But once you’ve pared it back to a sensible three or four statuses, it’s essential. £1.49 / Android

Hangar Hangar is exactly the sort of app that appeals to a certain kind of Android geek. On the face of it, it’s just a shortcut to your open apps – but it’s also so much more. For starters, it’ll install a shortcuts bar in your notifications drawer, but it’ll also keep tabs of your app usage and prioritise your favourites for easy access. You can even use it to pin apps in the way you can pin tabs in Gmail. And, of course, it’s all highly customisable. £free / Android

Intelligent Ringer Want your phone to ring nice and quietly when you’re sneaking up on Kim Jong-un to give him a wedgie, but nice and loudly when you’re in a noisy North Korean labour camp waiting for consular assistance after an unfortunate misunderstanding? This app analyses ambient noise to determine the best volume setting for your ringtone, and is quite possibly more intelligent than you are. £free / Android

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75 besT aPPs

FOOD AND DRINK

TRAVEL Airbnb

Beer Buddy

It might have a fancy new logo but Airbnb’s raison d’être is still the same: finding places to stay all over the world. Tell it where you want to go and it’ll spit out a list of places available to rent, from an airbed on somebody’s living-room floor to penthouse suites via treehouses, vintage caravans and everything in between. You can make bookings within the app, or even list your place as somewhere for other Airbnb-ers to rent. You might never stay in a hotel again. £free / iOS, Android

Not sure whether to go for The Village Bike or Tactical Nuclear Penguin (both actual beer names, we assure you)? You could do the irresponsible thing and buy both, but far less damaging to your liver would be to scan the barcodes and look up the reviews of each using Beer Buddy. It’s linked to RateBeer.com and has millions of reviews of 300,000+ beers. It dribbles less than your average drinking buddy too. £2.49 / iOS

Evernote Food

Superb The rather presumptuous name heralds an app for discovering places – a cross between Pocket and Tinder for locations. Pick a place (or let it work out where you are) and it’ll throw up a list of nearby restaurants, cafes, bars and general places of interest from Foursquare that you might want to check out. Swipe right to save them to your offline to-do list, or left if you’ve been there already. Just don’t forget to leave a review for other users. £free / iOS

Grab recipes off the internet and neatly store them in this app for later use. You can also write in your own or record places you’ve had a good feed, be it Mr McDonald’s House of Meat or Kolonel Chuck’s Bucket of Cluck. It also offers a smorgasbord of recipes from (mostly American) food blogs, so there’s never a dearth of ideas next time you’re feeling peckish. If you are using this app, taking pictures of your food is just about permissible. £free / iOS, Android

WineGlass

Roomer

CLAssIC Apps

Tom Parsons Reviews editor I love wine, but I’ve not got Will Dunn’s encyclopaedic knowledge of all things grapey and alcoholic, which is why I’m finding the witchcraft-like WineGlass so darned useful. Use it to take a snap of a wine menu and it scans the text for wines it knows before chucking out tasting notes, reviews and even suggested prices. It’s like having a real sommelier in your presence, but far more comfortable for everyone. £free / iOS, Android

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We say you might never stay in a hotel room ever again (see Airbnb above), but with Roomer around that would be churlish. It’s like eBay for hotel rooms. Reservations can rarely be cancelled without incurring huge charges, so if you find suddenly yourself with a room you can’t use, stick it on Roomer for somebody to buy off you. Obviously you can’t book too far in advance, but for a last-minute jaunt, Roomer could save you a packet. £free / iOS, Android

OpenTable UK

Word Lens

Big date. No idea where to go. Fire up app. Browse restaurants. Book table. Order wine. Spill wine on date. Apologise. Spill again. At least booking was easy, eh? £free / iOS, Android, Windows Phone

Google’s recent acquisition of Word Lens means it’s now free to translate Russian, Spanish, French, Italian, German and Portuguese words into English just by using your phone’s camera. £free / iOS

first test BMW i8

It’s easy being green The BMW i8 hybrid supercar lands from the future to reassure petrolheads that excitement and eco-concern can co-exist 3

£94,845 / bmw.co.uk How should car makers address the future? Tesla built its electric tech around a conventionally handsome car for the Model S. For the i8 supercar, BMW is saying: “This electric stuff is new, so let’s style it new.” The i8’s swoops, cutaways and indents are taken straight from the 2009 concept, while the electric motor married to a highly tuned 1.5-litre turbo engine is equally bold. We’ve seen million-pound hybrid hyper-cars from McLaren, Ferrari and Porsche, but at just under £100,000 the i8 is flirting with affordable. It’s got breathtaking looks and heaps of tax breaks, but can it deliver the performance of the likes of the Aston Martin Vantage V8 or Audi R8?

Six hours with the i8

[ Words Nick Gibbs ]

Good Meh Evil

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2 Extreme yoghurt-weaving The i8 is relatively light at 1490kg, even with its two engines. It’s also stiff – you feel it when you corner hard and realise you could have done it much faster. With the rear petrol engine driving the back wheels and the electric motor powering the front wheels, the all-paw traction is excellent and the weight balance spot-on.

3 Oh, I see… No car we’ve ever driven has been fan-filmed in London this much, and we were glad of surround-view to help us avoid anything dumb for YouTubers to lap up. This analyses feeds from body-mounted cameras to display a drone’s-eye view of the car so you don’t whack those wheels on kerbs, taxis or vans nudging over for a closer look.

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1 Future sound How can an electric motor and a three-cylinder engine match the thunder of a V8 or V10? We don’t know how, but they can: the i8 sounds fabulous. We suspect trickery but it matters little. Shifting through the six speeds using the wheel-mounted paddles brings about a fearsome crack on each change, and the engine howls.

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Tech specs Top speed 155mph Max power 357bhp Max torque 570Nm 0-62mph 4.4 secs Electric-only range 23 miles Charging time 2hrs to 80%, 3.7kW fast charge Dimensions 4689x2039mm, 1490kg

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Inside the gadget garage For the i8, BMW has created a driving experience every bit as techie-friendly as the car itself

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5 Everyday supercar The boot’s tiny but otherwise the i8 can be used every day without stress. It takes a bit of undignified bottom-shuffling to get over the high sills and into the cabin, but those very light ‘dihedral’ scissor-like doors open up wide to help you. The view out front is expansive, and the steering light in all driving modes.

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4 State-sanctioned fun Not only will our government waive the i8’s VED tax, it’ll also hand you a £5,000 discount – because the i8 can officially run 23 miles on just the battery. This allows BMW to record 135mpg fuel consumption and CO2 of 49g/km – laughable, but the 33mpg we achieved over 122 miles was still staggering for a car of this potency.

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n Complete control Listen to DAB digital radio or sync your smartphone to stream music… there’s nothing else that can match the i8 for interior tech, though next year’s Audi R8 replacement might run it close.

n Give me a brake At one point the collision avoidance tech flashed up a graphic of a cyclist and briefly slammed on the brakes. There was an oncoming cyclist, but neither of us appreciated the car’s input.

n Don’t touch The elevated 8.8in screen is manipulated with a wheel control instead of touch, as in other posh BMWs, and it displays sat-nav with 3D graphics showing buildings along with a host of other info.

n Easy rider Choose between Comfort, Eco Pro and Sport driving modes. If you press the eDrive button, the petrol engine will hold off until the battery is almost empty for maximum efficiency.

The BMW i8 is like an all-you-can-eat salad buffet. Approached with restraint, it’s healthy and good for planetary well-being, but go to town and it delivers a kick of delicious badness. This plug-in hybrid is not as saintly as BMW might imply, but it’s a hell of a lot more efficient than the Aston Martin Vantage V8, and arguably more fun to drive. @nickgibbs

stuff says HHHHH stop hoarding petrol – the i8 proves there’s a bright eco-future for speed freaks and car geeks 77

fashion

time warp

Classic design s proving the o from a pre-digital age, nly a smartwatch thing better than is a smart watc [ Photograph h y Matthew Be edle ]

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PROJECT ARA

The lasT smarTphone Tired of upgrading your phone every few years? Meet the modular chameleon that might just be the only portable gadget you’ll ever need… [ Words Mark Wilson and Will Dunn Illustrations Alan Eldridge Main image Mark Serr ]

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n the future, your phone won’t be a single chunk of gadgetry. It’ll be a collection of things that you can click together into phones of different sizes depending on how you’re feeling, what you’re wearing and what you plan to do. It’ll have every sensor under the sun, but only if you decide to add them, and it’ll be permanently future-proof, because adding a new processor will be as simple as slotting in a SIM card. Join us as we travel into the brave new world of Google’s Project Ara to find out if it really is the last phone you’ll ever buy.

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PROJECT ARA

get a replacement, because camera companies don’t sell lens motors. They sell cameras. “That’s the weird thing about electronics,” says Hakkens. “If your car or your bike is faulty, you fix it. But with the camera, they said I should just throw it away and buy a new one.”

bygone ArA Modular tech is far from a new idea – meet Ara’s bold, Lego-inspired predecessors Arduino 2005

A phone you can break

Ara’s spiritual predecessor, this microcontroller sparked a ‘maker’ revolution covering everything from 3D printing to home automation. Google hopes Ara will spark a similar reaction from compulsive tinkerers.

ow many gadgets have you bought? As a Stuff-reading technology wizard, we’re guessing your answer will be: “Oh, most of them”. But how many of them have eventually stopped working and been thrown away? Sadly, your answer is likely to be the same: most of them. For decades we’ve bought things we can’t repair, with screens that break and batteries that lose their juice after six months. And every time that happens, we check our insurance, summon a shiny new replacement and send the old gadget to be buried in a mountain of VHS tapes, broken furniture and those bags of salad that never get finished. There has to be a better way. It was exactly these kinds of thoughts that began bouncing around the brain of Dutch product designer Dave Hakkens last year when his camera broke. Or rather, when part of it broke. That part was easily replaceable – although he’s not an engineer, Hakkens was able to spot the defective lens motor and remove it. The only problem was, he couldn’t

Modu 2007

The first modular phone was on the right track, but persisted with the terrible idea of dressing up a tiny phone in ‘jackets’ to add functionality. It disappeared in 2011, and Google snapped up its patents.

Xi3 ModulAr CoMputer 2011 Like Ara, this tiny PC (about the size of a can of beans) devised a new modular architecture to let you tweak everything right down to its ports. Xi3 was rumoured to be making the first Steam box, but now builds NUCs for Intel.

phonebloks 2013 Last year, product designer Dave Hakkens sparked a frenzy with this modular concept. Motorola had been secretly working on a similar idea, so they teamed up for a modular love-in.

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The modules slot into an ‘endo’ frame that holds them in place magnetically

Instead, Hakkens began thinking about how to make gadgets that could be repaired and upgraded, rather than replaced. He quickly realised the ubiquitous smartphone was the best place to start, and began designing a phone with removable components that could be swapped when they break or get old. But while Hakkens has a gift for ideas, he’s not an electrical engineer. “I had an idea for a phone, but I couldn’t build it,” he says. “So I thought, what’s the best way to get this done?” The answer was to do what no large company in its right mind would do with an idea like this: he made a video explaining his idea, and put it on the internet. The response to Hakkens’ concept phone, which he called Phonebloks, was huge. Within days he had over 900,000 supporters on the Thunderclap public speaking platform and the campaign reached an estimated 380 million people on social media, not to mention TV, newspapers and magazines (yes, you did see it in Hot Stuff). Among the huge number of responses, there was an email that would make Hakkens’ dream a reality. “We got a lot of people and companies responding, and one of them was Motorola. They said they were working on something similar, but they’d been doing it secretly in their lab.”

PROJECT ARA

Epic sh*t One of the people who had been hard at work in that secret lab was another designer, Gadi Amit. Gadi’s own company, New Deal Design, has shaped a significant portion of the tech that’s graced our pages in the last few years, including the FitBit, the Lytro camera, the Airocide air purifier and designs for Dell and Netgear. Gadi’s team was recruited by ATAP, the secretive Advanced Technology And Projects group within Motorola (and then Google following its buyout of Motorola in 2012) that cooks up futuristic

technologies in unmarked buildings on Californian business parks. ATAP describes itself as ‘a small band of pirates’, which is exactly the kind of thing nerds like to call themselves, and has the motto ‘We like epic shit’, which sounds confusing and disgusting but apparently means something quite different in American. ATAP’s brief is to pick wildly ambitious goals and deliver them in two years. The brief they gave Gadi’s team was unlike anything they’d been asked to do before. “They said they wanted a modular phone that could serve

six billion people,” explains Gadi. “They wanted it to have a malleable configuration, a high-technology core that can work with low-cost, detachable parts, and they wanted people to be able to 3D-print elements of it. “We came up with around 10 kinds of phone. We had a design that looked like a normal phone, but you would ‘pop the hood’ at the back and inside you’d see a variety of components attached with flat cables or connectors, very much like a PC. The problem with that concept was that if someone like my mum wants

to swap a component… well, she probably won’t do that, because she’s not the sort of person who opens a PC to replace the RAM. So this concept would appeal to tech enthusiasts, but it’s not for six billion phones. Then we

how to buy An ArA phone

Google’s ‘grey phone’ will kick off Project Ara in January, but how will the buying process work if it takes off?

1 Choose your ‘endo’

2 piCk your Modules

3 get CustoMising

Google envisions there being three types of Ara frame, or ‘endo’. There will be a Mini version, that’s about the size of a candy-bar feature phone, a Medium option with iPhone 5s-like dimensions, and a Large model that’s in phablet territory. All three will be 9.7mm thick, with the ‘grey phone’ coming in the Medium size.

Now for the fun bit. Using the Ara Configurator app (either on your smartphone or via a friend who has an Ara invite) you can play around with and choose which modules you want to slot into your endo. Google wants this to be an app store for modules. Those looking to try before they buy will be able to visit pop-up demo stores.

Chosen all your modules? Now it’s time to design their 3D-printed ‘shells’. Google is planning to go big on personalisation: for example, you’ll be able to import a holiday photo into the app, get a colour palette based on its hues and use this as your design. You’ll also be able tweak the shell’s materials and texture until it’s just how you want it.

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PROJECT ARA

We are the mods Google’s Ara isn’t the only gadget embracing the infinite tweakability of modular design Project christine

Still a concept, Razer’s modular gaming PC promises to help people build and modify their Far Cry rig without resorting to screwdrivers and thermal paste. £tbc / razerzone.com

neX Band

Tech and fashion usually combine about as well as a suit and baseball cap, but this charm bracelet hopes to pull it off with modules for fitness tracking and phone notifications. US$100 / mightycast.com

dV8 sPorts

This Kickstarterfunded project is aiming to shrink the enormous golf bag down into a more spine-friendly backpack, thanks to its modular club heads that clip onto a single shaft. from US$170 / dv8sports.com

ezeecuBe

This media box is compatible with extra ‘stack-on’ units that can boost its powers with a Blu-ray player and up to 9TB of storage. Most importantly, it also looks shiny and mysterious. US$300 / ezeecube.com

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looked at a hybrid model – half the phone was closed, and then half of it had interchangeable modules that were visible from the outside. “We looked at phones that came in layers, like a cake, layer on layer on layer. And we had a concept that was similar to Phonebloks in the sense that there wasn’t a skeleton, only blocks that connected to each other, which we called the ‘Lego phone’. “Both of these had a fundamental problem, though, which was that if you want to make the platform reliable, you have to be able to control the core communication bus between the different components. You don’t want to have one component communicating with another by way of the component in between, because if the component in the middle is slower, it’ll limit the performance of the whole phone.”

Magnets from the future “So we kept trying new ideas, but the concept that was a winner every time was the idea of a phone with a rigid grid of modules of three sizes that slotted into an inner skeleton. It’s just like having a spine and a central nervous system, and that’s why we used the word ‘endoskeleton’, in a biological sense.” But Project Ara’s endoskeleton isn’t just a dumb connector. “You can swap out a battery,” says Gadi, “while you’re making a call. The endoskeleton will maintain the call for up to five minutes because it has its own internal battery.”

When Dave Hakkens visited Google for his first look at Project Ara, his favourite part of the design was the way the modules are held in place. “My design had a board with modules held in by pins, but Google is using electropermanent magnets, which are quite a magical thing. It’s like an electromagnet, only usually an electromagnet always requires current. This one doesn’t – you can flip the polarity to turn it ‘on’ or ‘off’, but while it’s on or off it’s not using any current. And when it’s stuck, it’s stuck. “So to release the modules, you have to tell Android to release them and it’ll switch the magnets off, but while they’re on, they won’t fall out and you can’t pull them off – it really feels like a solid phone. It’s a really nice, futuristic piece of technology.” The skeletons themselves come in three sizes: a small ‘candy bar’ format that Gadi Amit says was chosen for its ‘pocketability’; a standard smartphone size; and a phablet. Because swapping modules takes seconds, this means if you own all three you can change the size of

Replacing a broken screen made really, really easy

PROJECT ARA

hoW to change an ara module

You won’t have to click, screw or glue your fun-squares into place – Ara’s much more clever than that…

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In Ara’s custom version of Android, go to the modules section and select the tile you want to change. This will be a new variant of Android, as Google’s OS doesn’t currently support hot-swappable hardware.

Ara gives the chosen module a short pulse of current that turns its electropermanent magnets ‘off’. The magnets only use power when you switch their polarity, so they don’t chomp your battery.

You can now slide the module out from its port. Thanks to your Ara phone’s small backup battery, you can even swap out the main battery while the phone’s still on. No more faffing with external battery packs.

Slide in your new module and another small pulse will automatically lock it into place. Get ready to start playing with your new camera/RAM/Geiger counter (see p88 for our most wanted modules).

your phone (but keep using the same memory, processor, camera and so on) depending on what you’re doing. And as far as extras are concerned, the possibilities for modules are almost endless. “It’s like an app store, basically,” says Dave Hakkens. “I’ve heard some good ideas for solar modules, to add solar charging. One of my favourites came from a woman who has diabetes, who responded to our video saying you could have a glucose meter block, so she could measure the amount of sugar in her blood. I would never have thought of it myself, and I don’t think any phone maker would ever have come up with an idea like that, but if you think about it there’s a really big group of people who would want that in their phone.”

But what Hakkens says he’d like to see is more established companies lending their expertise to modular phones. He’s currently working with Sennheiser on audio blocks, such as DAC modules for audiophile-quality headphone sound or better built-in speakers, but he’s eager to get other firms to bring their expertise in making cameras, batteries, processors and anything else you care to imagine into modular phones. And he’s particularly keen to get chip manufacturers involved (Qualcomm, not McCain… although some sort of tiny deep-fryer module could be handy for mid-call snacking). If you can replace the processor each time Nvidia or Intel brings out a newer, more powerful system-on-chip, the old processor can be easily recycled, the upgrade

process takes place piece-by-piece, and your phone is always the most powerful phone you can buy.

Upgrade everything So how and when can you get hold of Ara? For Stuff–reading technomages keen to get one early, Ara will be launched in January 2015 as a ‘grey phone’, with a set of basic modules made by Google. This is unlikely to roll in at the US$50 Google plans to sell Ara for around the world – it’s an early form, similar to the way Google launched Glass, giving geeks a first go on its futuristic device before more exotic modules appear and it becomes real, mass-market, Christmas-list gadgetry. Except, where Glass is one take on wearable tech, Ara and Phonebloks could pave the way

for a completely new breed of gadgets. If this takes off, module bays will become as commonplace as USB ports. You’ll be able to add processors and sensors to TVs, coffee machines, cars and anything else to which you can legally take a soldering iron. You’ll be able to upgrade everything you own, without throwing anything away.

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stuff’s ArA phone

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In an ideal, possibly physics-defying world, which modules would we want? 1 phIlIps shAver module

4 emergency mInI AIrbAg

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Will Dunn, Editor “Of the things my phone doesn’t do, the one that really bugs me is that I can’t rub it on my chin to make myself look presentable. Not any more. While we’re at it, let’s add a flip-out Sonicare and an aerial/nose-hair trimmer.”

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Mark Wilson, Features editor “One of my weaknesses is identifying slightly obscure fruits. Luckily my spectrometer, which scans any object’s molecular fingerprint, could not only tell me that I’m holding a pitaya, but also when it will ripen.”

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Tom Parsons, Reviews editor “As Stuff’s resident hi-fi bore it should come as no surprise that I want a proper hi-res DAC. AudioQuest already makes one the size of a USB stick, so surely it could make one for Ara.”

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Sophie Charara, Reviewer “My old smartphones all have cracks in the corners, but I refuse to ruin design with cases. So I’d equip my Ara phone with an accelerometer-activated airbag module. I stay clumsy; Ara stays intact.”

Will Findlater, Editor-in-chief “Well, with sensors for everything else, it seems only fitting. I’ve always been suspicious of Deputy art editor Ross Presly’s ability to not sweat no matter how far or fast he cycles. Is he radioactive? Now I’ll know.”

Marc McLaren, Web editor “I use my phone for two things: keeping up with Twitter, Feedly etc and playing games. And they don’t mix, but with an E Ink screen on the back I could check up on reality without leaving funsville.”

7 rolAnd dIrectIonAl mIcrophone

Fraser Macdonald, Consulting editor “Walking home at night, I listen to the chattering birds and I know they’re talking about me. A highquality mic is what I need to catch their witterings for future translation (it’s also good for meetings and interviews).”

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IncomIng modules…

Some more realistic Ara-cessories that could be in the modular pipeline

FLIppypad gameS contRoLLeR

Tumblr user Aether Technician sparked internet cooing with this concept Ara gamepad. It’s not clear whether it’d comply with Ara’s design rules, but we like the idea of a hot-swappable gamepad for Android phones.

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Spot SateLLIte moduLe

The maker of the Spot emergency beacon (findmespot.com) is working on a GPS module that will let anyone who’s off-grid stay in contact with friends or rescue aids without network coverage.

SennheISeR SpeakeR bLock

The German headphone giant partnered with Phonebloks in May, saying it was ready to contribute audio expertise. It hasn’t revealed what that might be, but a mini speaker module or DAC is possible.

FLIR theRmaL ImagIng cam

This US-based thermography specialist was seen at Project Ara’s developer conference. We’re hoping this means a module that will combine with a Google Cardboard headset for dirt-cheap Predator vision.

f i r s t t e s t M i c r o s o f t s u r fa c e P r o 3

Time to turn Pro Redefining tablets and laptops is one thing. Can the Surface Pro 3 make Microsoft sexy? from £640 / microsoft.com

4 Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3 may not wreck its maker if it fails. But if it succeeds, it could be a welcome turning point for a company that’s struggled for too long to out-innovate Apple and Google. The Pro 3 has enjoyed the kind of hype usually reserved for gamechanging products, because its various nips and tucks redefine the usability of the entire Surface concept. But to win, it must be usable everywhere, a brief that the Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 failed to meet. It must also be a serious alternative to a MacBook Air or Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro, and a good enough tablet to tempt away the masses heading for an iPad or Android 10-incher. No pressure here, then…

1 Keyboard solo The Type Cover keyboard can be latched magnetically to the bottom of the SP3’s screen, creating a rigid platform in place of the wobbly board that haunted previous Surfaces. It’s spacious enough for big, clumsy fingers, and at last the trackpad is of a size and sensitivity that make it a pleasure to use.

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1

2 Stand and deliver The kickstand uses a clever new hinge design. Bend it back to around 120° with the keyboard attached, and it works as well as any laptop if you spend your life with your legs crossed on the sofa. Tilt the kickstand back closer to 150° and it’s perfectly angled for use on a desk if you’re taking notes with its stylus.

3 Casual specs The Surface Pro 3 will be available with a choice of Intel i3, i5 and i7 chips, 4GB, 8GB or 12GB of RAM, and 64GB, 128GB, 256GB or 512GB of SSD storage. Whatever combo you go for, you’re buying a ridiculously powerful tablet and a decently meaty mid-range laptop. Our i5/4GB/128GB model costs £850, plus £110 for the Type Cover.

[ Words Mark Payton ]

Good Meh Evil

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A month with the Surface Pro 3

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f i r s t t e s t M i c r o s o f t s u r fa c e P r o 3

Tech specs Operating system Windows 8.1 Screen 12in LCD, 2160x1440 CPU Intel Core i5 (also available with i3 or i7) GPU Intel 4400HD RAM 4GB (also available with 8GB or 12GB) Storage 128GB (also available with 64, 256 or 512GB) Connectivity 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.0, USB 3.0, microSD, Mini DisplayPort Cameras 5MP front, 5MP rear Dimensions 201x292x9mm, 800g

Four notes on OneNote 3

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5 Join the dots The driver for the Surface screen will only allow two resolutions: the native 2160x1440 and a laughably old-school 1024x768. Couple that with Windows 8.1’s ‘interesting’ approach to DPI scaling, and be prepared to tweak before all is to your liking. Quirks in that scaling can also make life with an external monitor somewhat arduous.

D pr eve og lo ra pe m rs st n ha ee tw d or to s k w ta ith rt m its ak Th hig ing we e i hD P ek ad PI s. A Co ir uld ha s th n’t e S se P3 en be ac m tion or in Th eu t a s at se wo ’ s ing m fu l? le o ch st ar of ge a h : 5 ar pm d , a wor nd k it’ ing s a da t3 y 0% on W th ind er ow e’s s en St ou ore gh a to in’t re no w iT ar u d e ne xp s, b lo ut ra tio n

4 Big screen idol Many (including us) found text too small on the 1920x1080 10in screen of the Surface Pro 2. So the switch to a 12in display at a rather unusual 2160x1440 resolution is welcome, as is the shift to a 3:2 aspect ratio. Somehow, the Pro 3 just looks and feels the right size: it’s natural to use in portrait mode, and the picture quality is stunning.

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Thanks to the Surface Pro 3’s clever pen, Microsoft’s Evernote rival gets a new lease of scribbling life

n Pen-pusher Prod the pen’s purple top button and your Pro 3 will launch a full-screen note, whether the machine is asleep or awake. It’s a smart way of allowing you to get sudden ideas down quickly.

n Write at home The pen and OneNote quickly feel as much a part of the everyday experience as the keyboard and kickstand. And you realise OneNote 2013 can be a genuinely useful application.

n Hold on a minute… The Pro 3 comes with a small pen-holder that’s meant to attach to the Type Cover. It doesn’t work. After three or four days, we almost lost the pen when the holder quietly detached itself.

n My pen’s run out It’s well worth finding a reliable local stockist of AAAA batteries. The pen is powered by a single AAAA and we chewed through the power of the one in the box in about four weeks.

The Surface Pro 3 proves there’s space in the world for a design that’s more productive than an iPad or Galaxy Note, but easier to hump around than a traditional laptop. The price might be an issue, but a chunk of that money is going on ‘unusual’. We think that, for many, the Pro 3 will justify itself on that basis. Mark Payton

stuff says HHHHH excellent. at last, Microsoft has delivered on the promise of the tablet-laptop hybrid 91

group test tough cameras

The unbreakables We put three rugged cameras through the dishwasher, the freezer and our butterfingered hands to test their makers’ claims

slo-mo sTar Capturing 1080p at a higher frame rate than the others and compatible with two formats (AVCHD and MP4), the FT5’s video is brilliantly flexible.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT5 What’s the story?

Tough or guff?

Like the other models on test, the FT5 can withstand drops of 2m and temperatures down to -10°C. It’s waterproof to 13m and built to take up to 100kg/f of pressure. Glonass GPS, Wi-Fi and NFC also make it one of the smarter ruggedised models on the market.

The FT5 sailed (or swam, in one case) through our toughness trials with ease. Dropping, freezing, soaking – nothing impacted on its performance or left a mark on the camera’s hardy hide. The NFC and Wi-Fi didn’t work properly (after reviewing around a dozen Wi-Fi cameras,

we’d honestly be more surprised if they did), but we managed to manually connect the FT5 with a smartphone. In terms of image quality, the FT5 sits between the other two models on test: it’s a little better than the Canon in low light, but showed slightly less sharpness than the Nikon. For video, though, it’s pick of the crop.

Tech Sensor 16.1MP Zoom 4.6x optical Maximum video quality 1080p at 50fps GPS/Wi-Fi Yes/Yes (with NFC) Dimensions / weight 109.2x67.4x28.9mm / 220g Price £300 / panasonic.co.uk

stuff says A solid performer that excels at video – and at not breaking ★★★★✩ 93

group test tough cameras

You did what!?!

To see if these snappers lived up to their rugged billing, we put them through a series of Herculean trials: an hour in the freezer; a six-foot drop onto a hardwood floor; and the pièce de resistance, an eight-minute session in the dishwasher. All survived with their honour intact.

test winne r

AcTion! The Action Control feature, designed for underwater use or gloves, brings motion control to the fore: tilt to cycle modes and tap to select.

Nikon Coolpix AW120 What’s the story?

Tough or guff?

The AW120 is waterproof to 18m, shockproof against drops of up to 2m and freeze-proof to -10°C. It comes with advanced Glonass, an altimeter and even a compass to record precise location data on all your outdoor photos and videos. There’s Wi-Fi too.

The bad news is that, predictably, the Wi-Fi’s a complete dog – even after downloading Nikon’s dedicated app to our smartphone, we couldn’t get the camera to even attempt a connection. However, the good news is that the AW120 survived all the physical torments we’d devised

for it and came out unscathed (save for a tiny scratch in its metal shell), and that it takes lovely pictures and impressive video in both good lighting and dimmer conditions. We found it offered cleaner images than the Canon in low light, and slightly less purple fringing in high-contrast edge-of-frame areas.

Tech Sensor 16MP Zoom 5x optical Maximum video quality 1080p at 30fps GPS/Wi-Fi Yes/Yes Dimensions/weight 110.1x66x25.8mm / 213g Price £250 / nikon.co.uk

stuff says It’ll map out your travels – and survive anything you chuck at it ★★★★★ 94

group test tough cameras

TApped ouT It has an ‘Active Display’, allowing you to flip through photos and videos you’ve taken merely by tapping on the sides. Handy when wearing gloves.

Canon PowerShot D30 What’s the story?

Tough or guff?

Built to withstand a depth up to 25m, a drop of 2m and temperatures as low as -10°C, the PowerShot D30 is Canon’s toughest point-and-shoot ever – and the company claims it takes stunning pictures both in low light conditions and underwater.

The D30 lives up to Canon’s rugged claims: an hour in the freezer, a six-foot drop onto a wooden floor and a full run in the dishwasher’s rinse programme did nothing to affect its performance or appearance. Despite having the fewest megapixels of the three cameras, its image quality in good

light demonstrates a strong, dependable ability with colour, contrast and detail. There was lots of purple fringing at the edges of shots, however, and low-light performance isn’t so hot: expect lots of grain and ugly noise if you use the D30 indoors without a flash. Video, though, is smooth and crisp, as with the Nikon.

Tech Sensor 12.1MP Zoom 5x optical Maximum video quality 1080p at 24fps GPS/Wi-Fi Yes/No Dimensions/weight 109.4x68x27.5mm / 218g Price £250 / canon.co.uk

stuff says Divers will love its sub-aqua talents, but it lacks low-light skills ★★★★✩ 95

TesT games

PS4 / naughtydog.com

The Last Of Us Remastered

It beat GTA V to a Best Game Bafta, won 200 Game of the Year awards and sold a bajillion copies. Now, with a remastered version, The Last Of Us hits the PS4 he Last of Us Remastered is an already technically spectacular PS3 game that Naughty Dog has given the PS4 treatment, with higherresolution graphics and a higher framerate. With a full complement of bundled extras, this upgraded version gives you plenty of excuses to play again, and any newbie who missed it on PS3 is in for an unforgettable experience. It casts you as the grizzled Joel, one of the few human survivors left after a virus has turned most

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of the population into zombie-like mutants. For reasons much too interesting to spoil, Joel has to escort young Ellie across a ravaged United States, using improvised weapons and stealth against the often violent and predatory remains of humanity. There’s no other game out there with a story that has this sort of depth or maturity. The relationship between Joel and Ellie provides a sometimes funny, sometimes harrowing, constantly thought-provoking narrative. It’s

so good, in fact, that it’s being turned into a film with Sam Raimi as producer. On PS4, improvements include higher-resolution character models, improved shadows and lighting, longer draw distance and generally improved detail. There’s still some texture pop-in (where objects or textures suddenly appear) to be seen when you’re out in the open but otherwise it’s gorgeous, and it looks as if it was made for next-gen consoles. One of TLOU’s greatest strengths was

its gritty realism, and Remastered takes this to another level. While the improved graphics look lovely, it’s the higher frame rate that has the biggest impact. By default the game now runs at 60fps, doubling the original rate, and it feels a whole lot smoother, particularly during combat. This is likely to be the first of many next-gen remakes, but we’ll be amazed if, even years down the line, it’s not still worshipped as one of the very best. Guy Cocker

sTuff says It was one of the greatest games of all time – and now it’s even better ★★★★★ 96

TesT games

The Director’s Cut

There’s a 30fps option. Why might you want that? Even sexier shadows.

The game feels smoother, where controls could be twitchy in combat before

The Last Of Us Remastered is clearly intended to be the definitive version of the game, and like a director’s cut special edition Blu-ray it contains everything its makers could find to throw on the disc. The highlight has to be the Left Behind story mission, which was originally released as downloadable content on PS3. It tells Ellie’s back-story, before the events of the main game, and packs a powerful emotional punch. There are also director commentaries for the in-game cinematics and a photo mode akin to the one in inFamous: Second Son. All the multiplayer map packs released for the original are included in Remastered, and although multiplayer progress from the PS3 game isn’t carried over, the new version’s team play is just as brilliant. Two teams of four face off, sneaking around, picking up supplies and desperately trying to get the jump on the enemy. You don’t buy The Last of Us for multiplayer, but it’ll keep you playing long after the story’s finished. The Grounded difficulty level is available from the off; in it, supplies are extremely rare, which makes the game really tough. If you’ve already played the game through once, we’d strongly recommend rediscovering it this way.

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PS Vita / metrico-game.com

Metrico

Tristan Donovan gets in a sweat over an innocent-looking PS Vita puzzler that takes interactivity to new heights e can probably all agree that corporate reports are dull, no matter how many snazzy charts they have. But what if you could play in their infographic landscapes? Wouldn’t that be way more fun? The people behind Metrico certainly think so. This PS Vita exclusive is a puzzle game that drops players into an abstract world built out of charts and geometric objects. It resembles the fever dream of an Office for National Statistics clerk. To journey through this world, you need to help your stick man or woman get past puzzling arrangements of charts and line graphs that change depending on your actions. Want an example? Well, in one of the first puzzles the way ahead is blocked by a large square that rises up when you jump but falls when you don’t. So you need to jump repeatedly until it’s high enough for you to scurry under it before it drops. Metrico doesn’t, however, keep things that simple for long – as the

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number of ways to interact with the game grows, so does the fiendishness of the puzzles. Starting with just the ability to run and jump, the controls pile up until players are manipulating objects by twirling the console, searching for colours with the rear camera, and even shooting enemies by aiming with the back touchpad and tapping the front touchscreen to fire. It’s highly inventive stuff that makes good use of the Vita’s smorgasbord of controls. At times Metrico makes you want to slam down your Vita in frustration, but it gets under your skin to such an extent that you’ll be back at it the second a possible solution pops into your head while doing the dishes. It’s a short game with a synth soundtrack that can cross the border from upbeat into irritating, but it’s clever and interesting and it’ll have you using your Vita in ways you never imagined. Charts have never been so much fun. @tristandonovan

It starts simple but you’re soon manipulating objects by using your Vita in very unusual ways

The contortions required mean Metrico will make you look a right plonker if you play on the train

sTuff says An inventive Vita brainteaser that proves there’s great joy in graphs ★★★★✩ 98

WI-FI

Finally in any room*

Better than any Wi-Fi repeater Enjoy Wi-Fi in any room* Best reception for smartphones and tablets

dLAN® 500 WiFi Starter Kit • Unpack, plug in, get started • Improves Wi-Fi reception and range • Engineered in Germany • 3-year manufacturer‘s warranty

* Required: broadband Internet connection, router and active power sockets within one property.

More information: www.devolo.co.uk/wi-fi Tel.: +44 (0)1865 784344 Email: [email protected]

design

full steam ahead [ Words Paddy Smith Pictures Pete Gardner ]

Everyone hide: the 19th century’s coming round to get its stuff back. Here are some of the steampunked things we refuse to relinquish Devon TreaD 1

When time travel is finally invented, which watch will you wear? The Devon Tread 1 tells the time using a mesh of belts, each driven by its own motor. It’ll be as comfortable among the belt-driven looms of the Industrial Revolution as it is with the belt-driven cooling systems developed in the golden age of motoring. Even on a short-haul trip to the 20th century, your watch will find friends in belt-driven turntables. But be wary of travelling to the future, where belts are only used to stop trousers falling down. from £12,950 / devonworks.com

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goDfRey Steampunk ticking clock

Faced with a future where every camera shutter snap, telephone bell and wastepaper scrunch is artificial, Bad Dog Designs is fighting back with the Godfrey Steampunk Ticking Clock. It ticks loudly as the vintage brass clock movement drives the Nixie tube numerical display. It’s made from a restored wattmeter, punkified with a power coil. And if the coil’s green glow sends you to sleep, your dreams of helming a Victorian flying machine may be broken by the alarm, which is set only by guesswork. Future? Pah. £295 / bad-dog-designs.co.uk 102

design

Regal RD60 SquaReneck ReSo

If you’ve been around long enough to remember the birth of the CD then you’ve almost certainly seen a resonator guitar before, shining forth from the cover of the format’s first million-selling album: Dire Straits’ Brothers In Arms. If you haven’t sold a million albums, you might struggle to find the £2250 you’d need to pick up a replica of Mark Knopfler’s 1937 National Style-O, but you can take this wallet-friendly mahogany tricone into the studio, strap on a headband and wait for the royalty cheques to roll in. £800 / hobgoblin.com

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AScASO DReAm mAchINe Not every barista wanted to make skinny cappuccinos when he grew up. Some of them dreamed of sailing the skies in shiny aluminium craft. Squint when the sun hits off the corner of the Ascaso Dream Machine and you can glimpse the life that could have been: switches, dials and the serene freedom of the stratosphere. Still, the coffee’s rubbish up there, a fact that should give you solace when you come back to reality, back (quite literally) to the daily grind. Two sugars and an intricate teddy bear design in the milk froth, please. £600 / johnlewis.com

BOLTS OF INSPIRATION STeAmPuNk yOuR LIFe

● Steampunk Of The Celestial Spheres Tea Towel Even in the bleakest visions of the future, there’s always time for a nice cuppa. This tea towel will keep the cockroaches off your scones. shop.rmg.co.uk 104

● Steampunk Calculator

● Steampunk Wallpaper

Want to know what it was like to do maths in Archimedes’ time? Download this 53p replica of the app he used in developing his equilibrium of planes theory. Probably. play.google.com

Wake up every morning surrounded by copper piping and intricate gears with some steampunk wallpaper. For best results, tune your clock radio to static. spoonflower.com

● JK Brickworks

Steampunk Walking Ship

Teach your kids about life beyond the apocalypse with this unofficial Lego build, eerily reminiscent of DARPA’s more aggressive designs. truedimensions.com

design Tony Miles indusTrial PaPercliP lighT

If MacGyver ran a lamp shop, the Paperclip Light would be in his inventory. Fashioned from hand-wrought industrial steel tubing and “various boxes”, it manages to become something greater than the sum of its parts: a dimmable objet d’art with a distinct streak of steampunk. Admittedly, MacGyver’s hand-built version would almost certainly have a weaponisable blowtorch in place of the bulb fitting, but we somehow doubt this addition would meet with CE safety standards. £295 / tony-miles-industrialdesigns.myshopify.com

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gRouP test PVRs

4 of the best on-demand PVRs

SKY SCRAPERS

No more listings. No more rushing home in time to catch Waybuloo, or paying through the nose to get the programmes you love. Get an on-demand-ready set-top box and you can watch what you want, when you want. That just leaves one question: Which one?

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Best for... contractdodgers

Humax DTR-T2000 Price £200 / humaxdigital.com/uk What’s on? This lovely slab offers YouView in its purest form. Pause and rewind Freeview TV, or record up to two channels at a time to the 500GB hard drive – with room for up to 300hrs of standard def or 125 of HD. The EPG goes back seven days, so you can find what you missed and watch it on one of the catch-up services: BBC iPlayer,

ITV Player, 4oD and Demand 5. Extra players for on-demand w content include Sky’s Now TV, Sky Store, Living, Milkshake! (for kids) and S4C (for Welsh people).

Any good? Other boxes here offer more unique content, but YouView’s service is lovely, with a clean and intuitive interface. Find the show

you missed and the relevant catch-up player will open: the search function unites all available services. It’s really convenient, and this year’s box is more responsive than ever. The remote is good, and you can set recordings remotely with the free Android and iOS app. Its 1080p image can look great, depending upon your Freeview reception.

Tech Type Freeview x 2 (YouView) Availability Standalone Main services BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, 4oD, Demand 5, Living, Now TV, Sky Store Storage 500GB Wi-Fi No Dimensions 5x36x24cm Weight 2.5kg

stuff says a great of-the-shelf solution with no strings attached ★★★★★ Best for... sports fans

BT YouView+ Price £175 (free on contract from £15/month with £16 line rental and £35 set-up fee) / bt.com/youview What’s on? BT has taken the Humax YouView box and stamped all over it. This box is practically identical to the one above, besides being truly dinky, and it’s technically a Humax box, too, but with design cues taken from BT’s Home Hub. That means it looks a bit like a modem – but if that’s not to your taste, at least it’s small

enough to hide. It comes bundled with BT broadband, or you can buy it Han-style: solo.

Any good? The BT branding adds its own content to the core YouView experience, depending on your package. With BT Broadband you get the BT Sport app (which gives free access to 38 Premier League

games), plus the BT Player app for paid on-demand movies and TV. Get BT Infinity and you can subscribe to more stuff: BT Sports in HD, Sky Sports, Sky Movies, and extra channels such as Discovery and Fox. You have to pay extra, but there’s no annual contract. The box is as responsive as the standard one, but the remote is more comfortable and less clicky.

Tech Type Freeview x 2 (YouView) Availability Standalone/contract Main services BT Sport, BT Player, BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, 4oD, Demand 5, Living, Now TV, Sky Store Storage 500GB Wi-Fi No Dimensions 4x23x15cm Weight 0.76kg

stuff says a talented little box that’s a must for sport fans already on Bt ★★★★★ 108

group test pvrs

Best for... sky tv addicts

TalkTalk YouView+ Price £free on contract from £18.50/month with £16 line rental and £50 set-up fee) / talktalk.co.uk What’s on? TalkTalk has also put its mark on the core YouView service. Unlike the others, this is a Huawei box, and it’s only available bundled with TalkTalk broadband. Go for the Plus package and you get a 300GB box, which lets you pause/rewind/catch up/demand just like the others. TalkTalk’s bonus? Seven Sky channels,

live and on-demand: Sky 1 and 2, Arts 1 and 2, Living and Livingit, w plus Sports News. TalkTalk has its own content shop app, and you can get TV Boosts (including Sky Sports) for £5-£30/month.

Any good? This is another small, plasticky box, but a little more handsome, with more subtle lights. It’s slower

than the Humax boxes, notably on start-up, but not enough to make you look past the amount of goodies on offer. There’s more stuff to watch here than on the other boxes, even without paying for extras, which are made more tempting with one-month packages. If you’re already on TalkTalk broadband, it’s a no-brainer to upgrade to this.

Tech Type Freeview x 2 (YouView) Availability Contract only Main services 7 Sky channels, TalkTalk Player, BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, 4oD, Demand 5, Living, Now TV, Sky Store Storage 300GB Wi-Fi No Dimensions 5x30x19cm Weight 2.75kg

stuff says an impressively complete package, especially for sky fans ★★★★★ Best for... streaming media

Humax HB-1000S Price £100 / humaxdigital.com/uk What’s on? This one isn’t like the others. First off it’s a Freesat box, so uses a satellite dish on your roof to get its 170(ish) free TV and radio channels – great for Sky leavers and folk with poor Freeview reception. There’s no hard drive, but you can add your own epic USB disk. That’s because it majors on its Freetime on-demand service,

and doubles as a home media streamer – handy for anyone trying to build an integrated system. DLNA certification means it will merrily play your computer’s videos and music.

Any good? In a word, yes. Like YouView, the Freetime EPG lets you roll back seven days, and is integrated with

the main catch-up services. The extras are less impressive: the TV Portal section offers apps such as Teletext Holidays and The Daily Star. Another sticking point may be that the HB-1000S’ single tuner will only record one channel at a time. But you do get YouTube, picture quality is excellent and we like having the freedom to add a hard drive of our choosing.

Tech Tuner Freesat x 1 (Freetime) Availability Standalone Main services BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, 4oD, Demand 5, YouTube Storage None – add your own Wi-Fi No Dimensions 4x20x16cm Weight 0.46kg

stuff says Left sky? try this cheap, cheerful and versatile box ★★★★I 109

reviews

Sensory snacks Stuff’s the head chef and this month’s menu contains a little Avi Buffalo, some scary talking sheep and a slice of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman

watch

A Most Wanted Man_cinema here are two types of spy: the fun ones, and the realistic ones. Fun Spy gets sexy ladies, gadgets and kung fu. Realistic Spy is an alcoholic chainsmoker whose chief enemies are guilt and paranoia. The latter is much more interesting to watch, particularly when he’s being played by Philip Seymour Hoffman in his last leading role. The setting is Hamburg, the city where 9/11 was planned. A refugee turns up to collect an inheritance, and he may or may not be a terrorist. That’s what the German spymaster has to work out before the Americans do. There are secret information exchanges and meetings in anonymous places, and naturally, Hoffman plays a workaholic with

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no life outside of playing ‘guess the terrorist’. The film is committed to serving up all manner of fog and ambiguity; it’s in no rush to spell anything out. It’s not until halfway through that you’re fairly confident who’s who and what they’re doing. This is a slow builder, with time to weave past prejudices, human rights and wavering German accents. We don’t reach top speed until the last 15 of the 121 minutes. But that means more time with Hoffman, which is a good thing. Here is an actor at his peak, coming from somewhere between power and fragility, despair and duty, with absolute conviction. Riveting stuff. Ced Yuen

It’s not the same story as the film and doesn’t even take place in the town of Fargo, but the tone and pitch-black humour will be ambrosia to fans of arguably the Coens’ finest work. It’s seriously gripping, Martin Freeman does a brilliant job of shaking off Bilbo, and this is Billy Bob Thornton’s most brilliant and creepy work in forever. Tom Parsons

A pianist is told he will die if he makes a single mistake during his comeback concert. It’s a solid premise for a thriller, which mostly hits the right notes with tense direction and a convincing turn from Elijah Wood. Sadly, though, it’s a belly flop of a third act: the villain is laughable, as is the heavy product placement for BlackBerry. Ced Yuen

stuff says ★★★★✩

stuff says ★★★★★

stuff says ★★★✩✩

Fargo Season 1 _Blu-ray

Grand Piano _Blu-ray

reviews

listen

Royal Blood_Royal Blood Debut albums are rarely more than a mixtape of influences – a musical CV to prove the band is up to the job. There’s nothing wrong with that per se, but Royal Blood’s is more derivative than disruptive. There’s the ones that sound like Muse before they boarded a space shuttle into the black hole that is their own behind (Out Of The Black, Come On Over), the ones that sound like the Black Keys

At Best Cuckold _Avi Buffalo

(Figure It Out, Blood Hands), the one that sounds like a roughed-up Supergrass (You Can Be So Cruel) and the one that sounds like Queens Of The Stone Age’s copycat kid brothers (Loose Change). The riffs flow freely but next time, chaps, let’s hear more from you rather than your record collection. Tom Wiggins stuff says ★★★✩✩

The Weird And Wonderful _Marmozets

read

Bête_Adam Roberts It’s the near future and, after activists implant them with AI chips, animals can talk. Cows and horses politely request the same rights as humans. Dogs speak in throaty syllables, birds screech obscenities from the trees. While the debate rages over whether these ‘bêtes’ should have rights, the animals are making plans. Adam Roberts’ vision of a crumbling Britain is both bizarre and wickedly

Boy About Town

plausible. Tech is advanced but resources are scarce: only the mega-rich have a car while everyone else shops in giant, robotic supermarkets. Graham, the narrator, is spectacularly bad-tempered but his adventure is enriched by well-argued philosophy and plenty of dark, prickly humour. Intelligent, original and highly recommended. Will Dunn stuff says ★★★★★

Manson _Jeff Guinn

_Tony Fletcher

The prodigiously talented 19-year-old purveyors of saccharine Americana have flowered as 23year-olds. Fans of their 2010 debut may lament the ingress of maturity and reduction in Mark Knopfler-esque guitar lines, but this record is still wide-eyed, unpredictable and, above all, catchy, especially on Found Blind. Will Findlater

You might have read some lazy reviews saying this is like a British Paramore, but they’re only half right. Some of the slower ones have big pop hooks and female vocals, but that’s where the similarities stop. The rest is angry, with proper math rock guitars, creating some pretty excellent grooves. Ross Presly

By the age of 15, Tony Fletcher had formed a band, taken lots of speed, launched a fanzine and eaten a fried egg sandwich with Paul Weller. This is his wistfully gritty account of growing up in late-’70s south London, at the very heart of a youth culture that was changing even faster than he was. Richard Purvis

A gripping but grown-up biography of the amoral waster who morphed into a cult leader with the power to make gullible young women cook, clean, have sex and ultimately kill just because he told them to. Yet Charlie Manson was driven by nothing more than a juvenile desire to be a pop star. If Jedward had access to LSD and guns… Richard Purvis

stuff says ★★★★✩

stuff says ★★★★✩

stuff says ★★★★✩

stuff says ★★★★★

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p120 SUpER gEEK: ELEcTRic gUiTARS

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Projects | 10.14 beta yourself

home photo studio Looking to take some pro-looking product photos for your blog or eBay empire? Stuff snapper Jools Whitehorn shows you how to set up a sparkling studio in your spare room

The basics

(£50, www.manfrotto.co.uk) comes with a quick-adjust head for swapping between portrait and landscape.

■ Get even. The most important thing is getting soft, diffused light. Hard shadows have their place but even coverage is best. A constant light source makes this simpler, but is less versatile than flash.

■ Buy a tent. Start with a small pop-up light tent (like PhotoSel’s 80cm Photo Light Tent, from £45, photosel.co.uk), which surrounds whatever you’re photographing in a lovely light-softening white fabric and is big enough for most small-to-medium items. ■ Act flash. Start with some basic flashes, like the Yongnuo

■ Work remotely. You’ll need

YN 460 (£30, amazon.co.uk). You can set the light output individually and use an ‘optical slave’ mode so that when one goes off, they all go off.

■ Keep it steady. The key to pin-sharp, easily repeatable shots is to set your camera up on a tripod. Manfrotto’s Compact Series tripod

to directly trigger at least one flash, using either a long cable or a remote trigger system like the Phottix Strato 2 5-in-1 Trigger Set (£85, amazon.co.uk), which lets you position your flash up to 150m away.

■ Set the scene. A large sheet of thick paper is great for making an ‘infinite’ backdrop. Simply curve it from the table surface up to the wall or any vertical object and fix it there with clips or tape.

seTTing up ■ Room to work. You’ll need enough space to use a focal length of 50mm away or more on a full-frame camera. High ceilings are helpful too.

■ Set to manual. This lets you adjust things a little at a time. Set to auto and the camera will try to guess what you want, which leads to wildly variable results.

■ Sweet spot. You’ll want an aperture of around f/8-f/11, as the lens tends to achieve sharpest results around this area. You can also combine multiple shots in Photoshop.

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10.14 | Projects level up with...

tabletop photography

£16, amazon.co.uk Taking a low-cost approach to small-scale studio photography, this book outlines techniques that you can reproduce at home and will scale up as you progress. Particularly handy are the guides to making DIY accessories, including a honeycomb filter for your flash, which could save you £50.

flickr

flickr.com It’s easy to forget that whatever you’re trying to shoot, someone else has definitely tried to shoot before. A little browsing can turn up some behind-the-scenes shots of other people’s lighting setups to help you work out how to get the look you want, or simply give you inspiration on effects to use or angles to try.

■ Burning daylight. Set up your shot with a window to one side and a diffuser in front of it. To cut out the light completely, get a good set of curtains… or work after dark. ■ Tame the highlights. Reflective objects are some of the hardest to photograph. You’ll need to surround the object with black or white reflectors to manage the shape of the highlights.

■ Hard vs soft. Shiny objects benefit from hard (direct) light to bring out highlights and edges. It’s also adds a bit of drama.

exercise

mixing iT up

■ Set up your shot. Decide

■ Go reflective. Sitting your

how you want your subject positioned. Only then can you move on to perfecting lighting.

object on a sheet of glass can do wonders, revealing hidden details and adding depth. Use clear glass on white paper or spray-paint the back black.

■ Take a closer look. Check it’s in focus, then transfer your shots to a laptop. Most brands have their own software, but Adobe Lightroom (£100, adobe. com) is worth splashing out on.

■ Final shot. Give the object a good clean and take your final shots. Depending on the result you want, you can then give them a tweak in Lightroom or Photoshop to get the exposure right and remove any blemishes.

■ Add a turntable. For product 360°s or animated GIFs, use a turntable. Mark the edge every 10°. Then take a shot, turn to the next mark and repeat. Test the lighting to make sure it works well from all angles.

■ Experiment with colour. Try out coloured backdrops, or transparent film over the flash to alter a white background.

strobist

strobist.blogspot.co.uk For getting into flash photography of all kinds, the long-running Strobist blog has bags of tips on techniques and gear for all kinds of picture types from tabletop to portrait and beyond. Beginners should start with its Lighting 101 section, then go to ‘On Assignment’ to see those tips used in practice.

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[ Main picture flickr.com/alisonchristine ]

lighT conTrols

playlist

11 Great Mac GaMes Tink your iMac’s only good for GarageBand and iPhoto? Ten think again – because inside that neatly sculpted aluminium shell lurks a potential gaming monster...

the WALkinG DeAD Another licensed game? Believe it: Telltale Games’ take on the smash comic series is a marvellous thing, generating gut-punching emotion as it pulls you through the undead uprising. Every decision you make, whether it’s an action or response, alters your path. £19 / store. steampowered.com

Bioshock infinite You’ve never seen a gameworld quite like Columbia. As with the original BioShock, the heady narrative, super-powered combat, tremendous world design and period detail – the whole thing is set in 1912 – come together to create an original, memorable and throughly entertaining shooter. £21 / OS X App Store

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cAstLe cRAsheRs A cartoonish wonder from Te Behemoth that lets up to four players each command a hand-drawn, colour-coded knight and charge into battle against an array of crazed monsters. Not an especially long or complex game, but the co-op experience is hilarious fun. £10 / store. steampowered.com

toMB RAiDeR Te new Tomb Raider starts afresh with an Uncharted-like reboot that’s visually dazzling, intense and an engrossing story hook. You experience Lara changing from a frightened explorer into a confdent killer, and there’s plenty to investigate and puzzles to tackle. A welcome reinvention. £15 / store. steampowered.com

PoRtAL Te original Portal still stands as an utterly brilliant shake-up of the FPS genre, splicing action with puzzle-solving. Trapped in an experimental facility, you must tackle physics tests to break free. It’s short, sweet, and one of the greatest games you’ll ever play. £7 / store. steampowered.com

skY GAMBLeRs: stoRM RAiDeRs Probably the most fun you can have on a Mac for three quid, this slick dogfghter is excellent in both its online aerial showdowns and its thrilling campaign missions based on World War II. Either way, it’s a total blast: protect cities, bomb buildings and fy through tunnels. £3 / OS X App Store

feZ Tis mind-punch of a retro homage to Indie Game: Te Movie nearly drove its creator crazy, and its perplexing puzzles might do the same to you. Fortunately, it’s the kind of frustration made more than bearable by the brilliant platforming tweaks and charming presentation. £7 / store. steampowered.com

10.14 | Projects

now add these... Magic Mouse and sluggish performance holding your Mac back from gaming greatness? Upgrade away!

playstation dualshock 3 controller The PS3 controller is a great option for Mac gamers. It’s lot sturdier than most pads designed for Apple-flavoured stuff, and just a needs a bit of fiddling in your Bluetooth settings. £40, amazon.co.uk

raM upGrade

BAtMAn: ARkhAM citY After loads of bad Batman games, Arkham City fnally does the caped chap justice: it’s the ultimate superhero sim. You glide through the open terrain and battle a who’s-who of iconic villains. Te best comic game of all time? For now – Arkham Knight is just around the corner. £16 / OS X App Store

hALf-Life 2 Half-Life 2 is probably the only decade-old shooter that we’d play in a heartbeat (to be fair, it’s only been on Mac since 2010). It excels in all regards, whether it’s the taut action against frantic alien beasts or the enticing storyline with its believable, humanfeeling characters. £7 / store. steampowered.com

ftL: fAsteR thAn LiGht If you like your games both unpredictable and tough as nails, this might be for you. You’ll guide your ship through a randomised galaxy and engage any emerging threats. Te challenge will scare of some, but most will fall hard for this engrossing sci-f strategy experience. £7 / store. steampowered.com

siD MeieR’s ciViLiZAtion V One of history’s greatest time sinks, Civilization V is the culmination of all that’s enthralling about the strategy series: streamlined and more accessible while maintaining its complexity and richness. Mouseclick your people to prosperity (or, more likely, poverty). £21 / OS X App Store

Boosting your RAM will enhance your Mac’s performance in every way, but it will make an especially big impact in games. Your setup/needs will vary, but we grabbed an 8GB upgrade for a 2011 MacBook Pro for just £55. uk.crucial.com

Mad catz r.a.t. 7 GaMinG Mouse

This mouse is impressively customisable, letting you extend the length and add weights for heft. The 6400dpi optical sensor’s precision is perfect for online frag wars too. £90, store.gameshark.net

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Projects | 10.14 super Geek

F

eLecTric GuiTars

or every ten homes that contain a guitar, there are about three where someone can actually play the bloody thing. Under the bed, in the wardrobe, propped up in a corner of the living room to make you look vaguely bohemian… shameful, isn’t it? After all, the electric guitar remains the essential symbol of rock’n’roll, and being OK at it is still the best way to impress girls, boys and patronising aunties. I fell into the habit by mistake, plinking at my brother’s Tokai while he was at work. Later, like every other muso I’ve ever met,

Jargon busTer n acTion How close the strings are to the frets, and thus how easy a guitar is to play. “Nice action,” as Alan Partridge might nod. In fact, as long as the frets are sound, adjusting the action is usually a simple tweak. n pickup A magnetic device that turns string vibrations into an electrical signal. Pickups made with twin coils of wire, known as humbuckers, cancel out noise and have a fatter tone than single-coils. n binding A decorative plastic border sometimes applied to the front and back edges of a guitar’s body, and perhaps more significantly, the fretboard. Bound boards feel strangely luxurious. n vibraTo arm Everyone calls it a tremolo, even Fender, but the effect of a ‘whammy bar’ is on pitch so strictly speaking it’s a vibrato. A Stratocaster that has a fixed bridge instead of a vibrato is called a hardtail. Snigger!

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I was in a band that had a sniff of industry interest but never quite made it… now I gig sporadically, record bits of music for TV (that’s my Rickenbacker introducing the ITV weather most nights), and spend the rest of my free time reviewing things for Guitar & Bass magazine. And I still suffer from terrible bouts of GAS: gear acquisition syndrome. Some of the tech at the serious end of the market is getting pretty tasty, as we’ll see below, but by all means dip your toe in first with a £250 Chinese twanger: the Asian manufacturing revolution has

made it easier than ever to pick up a budget instrument that won’t turn out to be an unplayable fart-plank. A lot of sales are online now, notably via ebay and German über-giant Thomann, but guitars have so many variables in feel as well as sound that it is worth getting along to a real shop – as long as you promise not to play Sweet Child O’ Mine. Make the most of the internet, though. There are loads of forums where newbies can seek advice, and some have classified ads – I’m rarely off thefretboard.co.uk. You’ll also find brand-specific

Richard Purvis explains why there’s still no substitute for plugging in and wigging out

forums (eg: fenderforum.com) and even a handful for individual models (eg: mylespaul.com). And remember, you don’t have to be a great guitarist to be a great guitarist. Listen to the classic Television album Marquee Moon: Richard Lloyd’s solos are neat, logical, in time; Tom Verlaine’s are rough, wavering, human. Lloyd is the better technician, but Verlaine parades his soul on a stick and that, surely, is the real point. Besides, riffs are king, and you could play most of the ones on that record with your elbows. There really is hope for us all.

Line 6 JTV-89F

The hi-Tech wonder

Take out the battery and this is a fairly ordinary Korean-made rock/metal axe, with powerful humbuckers and a spatula-flat neck. Now put it back in again and take your pick of just about every guitar sound, electric or acoustic, that you could wish for – this is the crazy world of Line 6’s Variax technology. You can also pick from a range of tunings, and edit settings via USB. We’re not talking about a musical instrument here so much as a multi-purpose tool, and it’s a fair bet that the ghost of Robert Johnson doesn’t want one. But as a non-billionaire’s alternative to collecting the real thing, it’s fiendish. £1100 / uk.line6.com

Fender coronado ii

The vinTage bargain

Got your eye on a vintage Tele or Strat? Right… which one of the Bentleys are you planning to sell first? If you want some of Fender’s inimitable ’60s mojo, you might have to look to the ‘lesser’ models – the failures, in other words. Launched in 1966, the Coronado was a highly un-Fender-like design that only lasted about six years. It’s an odd looker and the fully hollow body makes it prone to feedback, but who cares when it sounds this gorgeous? (Well, Fender does, which is why the current reissue is only semi-hollow.) The one in the picture is a 1967 sample – and it’s mine, so stop looking at it. £1000-£1500 / ebay.co.uk

10.14 | Projects righT, where do i plug in?

virtual ampS Until recently, an electric guitar without an amplifier was just a spectacularly rubbish acoustic guitar. But now, as long as you have a decent audio interface with a jack input, you can plug straight into a PC or Mac. Simulators such as Peavey ReValver (£180) stuff a whole collection of amps and FX pedals into your headphones. peavey.com

modelling ampS If you fancy the versatility of digital emulation but still want to frighten your cat, go for a modelling amp: a real box with real speakers, but using digital algorithms to replicate a range of classic amp tones. Blackstar’s ID:Core Stereo 40 (£160) is a bedroom bargain, with a line input for jamming along with MP3s. blackstaramps.com

Gibson 2014 Les pauL sTandard “How can you call that a modern classic?” you may well sneer, searching for a lighter with which to burn this magazine in disgust. But while the LP Standard looks much as it did in 1959, this year’s model is riddled with canny new features: both pickups can be coil-tapped for lighter, Fender-ish tones, and you can also set them out of phase for extra cluck. Then there’s the asymmetrical neck for optimum playing comfort... and best of all, hidden behind the headstock, the Min-ETune automated tuning system. It’s quick, it’s clever and it might just be the future. £2100 / gibson.com

valve ampS Ah, but you don’t really want any of that digital malarkey, do you? You want a real amp, with real valves, that’s loud enough to fill a venue and heavy enough to bend your spine to a perfect right angle. You could grab a giggable 15-watt tube amp for £400 or so… or you could give your ears a real treat and dump £2430 on a handwired Marshall 1962HW. marshallamps.com

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[ pictures Jools Whitehorn ]

The modern classic

6 instant upgrades adventure racing City triathlons? Glorifed commuting. Go of-grid for a race through the wilds with nothing but a map, your wits and this essential kit to help you

5

4 What’s an adventure race?

2 3

[ Words Tobias Mews Illustration Jamie Sneddon ]

Tink an Easter egg hunt, but for sporty grown-ups. Teams of two to three combine endurance disciplines (usually trekking, biking and kayaking) with tech-free navigation.

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10.14 | Projects Best events for racing

4 HaglofS gRam comp 12 Most adventure races are self-supported, so you have to carry a list of mandatory kit: water, food, foil blanket, climbing harness, waterproof jacket, warm top, torch and helmet, among other things. At 275g, this water-resistant 12-litre pack will swallow all your kit without adding too much extra weight. It’s also very comfortable thanks to padded shoulder straps, while the attachment loops and large hip belt pockets make it easy to grab snacks and accessories without breaking your stride. £70 / haglofs.co.uk

2 gIant antHem 27.5 1

3 Inov 8 Race UltRa

A trusty, versatile mountain bike is the most important bit of equipment in an adventure racer’s collection. Because you never know what type of terrain you’ll be riding on, you need one that’s light and manoeuvrable, has decent suspension and will give you the confdence to tackle the most technical of single tracks. Tis Giant has the CV to do just that. It’s a great all-round cross-country bike, with a super-lightweight full-sus alloy frame, 100mm of travel and 27.5in wheels for a grippy, responsive ride. £2250 / giant-bicycles.com

Choosing footwear for an adventure race is quite personal. Some races can last up to a week, others only a few hours – so you need a shoe that’s light, comfortable and durable, and ofers decent grip. Tis award-winner from trail running specialists Inov 8 has been designed for of-road ultra-distance athletes. Tat means it’s good for the mountains or trails and, thanks to an 8mm heel drop, allows for heel striking when you’re tired – something that’s guaranteed to happen in an adventure race. £120 / inov-8.com

5 laSeR pHoton 2 two-peRSon tent Expedition-style adventure races often demand an overnight camp. As you’ll be carrying your tent for longer than you’ll be sleeping in it, you need one that’s minimal and spine-friendly. Tis is the world’s frst sub-900g two-person tent, so it ticks the weight box. But it’s also designed specifcally for adventure racing, mountain marathons and light backpacking, taking only fve minutes to pitch and ofering compatibility with Terra Nova’s ‘FastPack’ system for the option of using just the fysheet. £450 / terra-nova.co.uk

6 leD lenSeR H7R.2 Some races demand that you keep going through the night, so you’ll need a decent head-torch – especially if you’re careering around on a bike. Tis is a popular torch with trail runners and adventure racers thanks to its 300 lumens output, long battery life and low weight. It can be recharged via USB but you can also use standard AAA batteries. For the safety-conscious, there’s also a red rear light attached to the ergonomically designed battery compartment to make sure the speedsters behind don’t plough into you. £80 / ledlenser.com

oPen adventure coast to coast 28-31 Aug 2015 Making Indiana Jones look like a couch potato, you will mountain-bike, run, kayak and swim, racing from St Bees Head to Robin Hood’s Bay. from £270 / openadventure.com

orIgInal MountaIn MaratHon 25-26 Oct 2014 Known as ‘the OMM’, this 36-hour navigation event for pairs started in 1968. With courses for all abilities, it’s a fne way to explore the UK. £75 per person / theomm.com

Questars adventure race serIes Mar – Sep 2015 Great for beginners and experienced adventurers, these are fve events from the New Forest to the Brecon Beacons. from £37 per person / questars.co.uk

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[ Pictures James Kirby, marklucylockett]

1 SIlva Race S Jet Most races frown upon the use of GPS watches, so your navigation needs to be of the retro variety. In theory, you would keep your map perfectly orientated and your thumb on the location. But as this is tricky to do in the maelstrom of a race, use this handy thumb compass to check your bearings. Te design means you don’t have to fumble about to fnd it while you orientate the map. It’s also much harder to drop than a standard compass, and the super-fast needle won’t jump around as you run either. £70 / silva.se

Haglofs oPen 5 adventure race serIes Nov 2014 – Apr 2015 Tis series is the perfect introduction to the sport. You have fve hours to rack up points on foot and mountain bike. £28 per person / openadventure.com

Projects | 10.14

g A d g e t d o c t o r

AlwAys on cAll facebook.com/joinstuf l @stufTV

google.com/+stufftv l [email protected]

Mail of the Month Q

dAddy, dAddy cool

My eldest daughter is going to secondary school in September and we are getting pressure from this not-quite-teen to get her all teched-up. So we are looking for a budget smartphone for no more than £150 (ideally something with GPS tracking, automatic copying of text strings to parents and an

alert system for proximity to boys). Also, we’re looking for a laptop for about £200 that might help her stick to her studies. Any clues? Tim Atkin You can get the phone sorted with a Motorola Moto E (£90, phones4u.co.uk), Atky, and then put the money

A

you’ve saved there into an HP Chromebook 11 (£230, hp.com). Both outperform their price tags by some distance, while the Android/Chrome OS tag team works well together. Then there are multiple sneaky security apps you can install to keep a digital eye on her. Check out p59 for more.

Speak your brains and you could win a 6-month Qobuz hiFi SubSCRiPTioN worth £120 This letter wins 6 months of unlimited streaming in lossless-quality FLAC from Qobuz, worth £20/month

Q

run out of juice

I’m forever forgetting to turn off my Bluetooth headphones and finding the battery has died when I need to use them. Can you find me a pair that don’t expire so easily, or shall I just switch back to a set of standard in-ears? Sam Falconer Take a peep at Jabra’s irritatingly named Rox (£120, jabra.co.uk), Sammy F. They’re Bluetooth-stuffed, water-resistant buds that have a special trick of shutting off when you connect them together using the built-in magnets. Just be careful they don’t come apart again, or they’ll turn on and you’ll be back where you started.

A

Q

eAsy rider

I’m riding from Land’s End to John O’Groats for charity next year and, rather than training, I’m thinking about tech to take with me. I’d like something to track my ride that other people can log into and see how I’m doing. Does such a gadget exist? Craig Taylor That’s the spirit, Craig, the training can wait. Garmin’s Edge 1000 (£430, garmin.com) can be paired with an Android or iOS app called Garmin Connect that automatically uploads your progress to the website, where people can check how you’re getting on via a link you share on Facebook or Twitter.

A

Q

AntiQue tech

I have recently inherited an old but pretty great Yamaha receiver. It is analogue and only has RCA jacks in the back for inputs. I am looking for a digital-to-analogue converter so I can stream music wirelessly from my iPad or iPhone and play it through the receiver. I called Apple but they couldn’t help. Any tips? Will Creamer

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A

What you need, Creamy, is a little Bluetooth receiver with analogue outputs. There are loads of those out there these days but we’d suggest the Crystal Acoustics Blu-DAC (€70, crystalaudiovideo.com), Belkin SongStream BT HD (£50, belkin. com) or Focal Universal Wireless Receiver (£85, focal.com).

Q

bAr or bAse?

While looking for a new soundbar to go with my new telly I came across a couple of soundbases. Tell me: what are these strange new contraptions and why would I possibly want one instead of a regular soundbar? Matt Sponsor They’re basically soundbars that have been squashed into rectangles, so they’re not as wide but they’re deep enough to double up as a stand for your telly. That has the added benefit of providing more space for

A

speakers and a sub, so you don’t need a separate one taking up space in the living room. The only downside is you can’t mount them on the wall like a soundbar. Denon’s DHT-T100 (£250, denon.co.uk) is our favourite.

Q

biker problems

Any chance you guys can throw your considerable geekery into finding a Walkmanstyle portable DAB radio that can stream its music to a Bluetooth receiver in my motorbike helmet, please? I’d like to listen to DAB on the move. Paul Jones Portable radios normally use the headphones as an aerial, so removing that in favour of Bluetooth would probably render them useless, PJ. The fact that we’re unable to find one with the skills you’ve asked for would back this assertion of ours up, too. Hey, why not invent one?

A

10.14 | ProjeCts 5-minute hacks

…get chords for any song

…take over your cinema

Dabbling with the guitar, piano or (ahem) ukulele? Riffstation will instantly figure out the chords to any song on YouTube:

Your selfish local cinema is always showing the films it wants to screen. Here’s how to get it to build its schedule around you:

1. Head to play.riffstation.com and type in the song you want to learn, or search by artist. It’ll run the song through an automatic chord recognition algorithm in a few seconds.

1. Go to ourscreen.com, click ‘create a screening’ and search through its list of over 250 films by genre, or type a specific film into its search box.

2. Grab your axe and play along to the video using the chord diagrams. If you only got a ukulele for Christmas, click the instrument box and switch to the chords for that. 3. Want to add a capo? Choose your preferred fret and it’ll work out the equivalent chords. You can switch to left-handed here too. Now, stop tweaking, and commence riffing.

1

if nothing else, at least...

2

3

2. Now click ‘choose your cinema’ and type your postcode into the search box to find your closest participating cinema. There are now venues in 13 UK cities (and counting). 3. Choose a date and time for the screening and decide whether to make it ‘private’ (for friends only) or ‘public’ (for all comers). Drum up enough support and fellow viewers, and the screening will take place.

…become an iPhone ninja Your iPhone thinks its defaults know best. But hidden inside iOS 7 are some handy hidden shortcuts to get it singing to your tune: 1. Like to check your iPhone in the dark before sleepy-time? Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Accessibility Shortcut and choose ‘Invert colours’. A triple-click of the home button will now give you a glare-free mode. 2. To create shortcuts for favourite text and email phrases, go to Settings > General > Keyboard and ‘Add new shortcut’. Now type your phrase with an abbreviation, and earn yourself another 20 seconds a day. 3. Scrolled to the end of an epic article and need to get back up to the address bar? Double-tap the top of the screen and spring instantly back to the top. Magic.

tune in next month to...

● Cook like Jamie Oliver (no kitchen nakedness required) ● Puzzle yourself silly ● Reawesomise your Chromebook

125

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top tEN of everything Smartphones Tablets Hi-fi streaming Headphones Home cinema

Blu-ray / Speaker systems PVRs

TVs Laptops Best of the rest Home computers Sat-nav / Camcorders

Games Games machines Compact cameras Digital SLRs Geek accessories Wearable tech Connected home

128 130 132 133 134

135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 144 145

For full reviews of every product in the top 10s, visit stuff.tv/reviews

t ho y bu

smartphones

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LG G3 While we hoped the G3 would continue the great work started by the G2, we weren’t expecting it to be quite so much of a leap forward. Upgrades range from little touches such as the sleeker back buttons to major changes such as the bigger, better 2K screen and laser-assisted camera. The only thing that isn’t better is the battery life, but considering all that LG has crammed into the G3, the fact that it still lasts 15hrs is to be applauded.

hTC one M8 Only just toppled by the new LG, HTC’s flagship phone has enough power to take it to the top of the AnTuTu benchmarks. It’s a beaut to look at and to use, and it’s even got a whole load of Lytro-style post-snap refocus features for photographic fun.

onePlus one Believe the hype. To get one of the best smartphones on the planet, you don’t need £500 or £40 a month any more. You just need an invite. In terms of design, performance, screen and battery life you simply can’t get better than this for anywhere near £300.

LG G2 Its 5.2in screen is razor-sharp, its Snapdragon 800 processor handles demanding tasks with ease and its 13MP camera takes amazing photos. Good enough – and cheap enough – to keep its top-four place despite the arrival of the G3.

Samsung Galaxy S5 Big, bold and stuffed with tech, the Galaxy S5 is a bona fide superphone that will delight Samsung fans, although it has some very stiff competition. It has a faster processor, a slightly bigger screen and a more solid (if not quite stylish) feel than the S4.

Sony Xperia Z2 Classy, clever and with talent in spades, the water-resistant Z2 oozes quality. It flies in use and is capable of taking brilliant photos and playing videos at 4K cinephile quality. If the design had just been a bit more practical, it would have been unstoppable.

Google Nexus 5 This is a bargain only topped by the OnePlus One. The Nexus delivers top-end spec at a mid-range price and has a 4.95in screen, faster processor and a 8MP snapper. But its biggest improvement is its chocolatey-smooth Android KitKat 4.4 OS.

Apple iPhone 5s A curious blend of tried and tested – 4in screen, design, huge cost – with new and exciting features like a 64-bit processor, fingerprint-sensing home button and iOS 7. What it adds up to is an easy purchase for most… but we’re ready for iPhone 6.

Sony Xperia Z1 Compact With a 4.3in, 720p screen, Snapdragon-powered performance, solid, waterproof body and a 20.7MP camera, the Z1 Compact is the first small superphone that delivers with no ifs or buts. If you’re small of hand but demanding of phone, it’s the Android for you.

Motorola Moto G Google’s sprinkled some magical Nexus dust over its latest Motorola blower: the Moto G costs a mere £130 yet has a distinctly non-budget 4.5in 720p screen and quad-core processor. Paltry storage and poor camera count against it – but then again: £130!

STUff SAyS LG surprises us again. There’s barely a single thing wrong with the G3… and so, so much that’s right with it

£460 ★★★★★ £500 ★★★★★

best for RAW PoWER

£230 ★★★★★

best for SUPERPhoNE vALUE

£290 ★★★★★

best for PRICE TAG

£520 ★★★★★

best for fUN fEATURES

£520 ★★★★★

best for ThE CoNNoISSEUR

from £260 ★★★★★

best for vALUE foR MoNEy

£550 ★★★★★

best for APPLE fANS

£400 ★★★★★

best for dAINTy hANdS

from £130 ★★★★★

best for RECESSIoN BUSTING

For the Full reviews and our smartphone buying guide, visit stuFF.tv/top-10s/smartphones

Plug into Stuff’S Social netwoRk facebook.com/joinstuff

● Prices quoted are for handset only unless otherwise stated

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BR IG N NO HT EW W ON OP ST EN OR E

HiFi for a wireless generation

BLUESOUND IS A 24-BIT NATIVE, PURE DIGITAL WIRELESS STREAMING MUSIC SYSTEM. Even 16-bit CDs have only about half of the audio spectrum that the master recording holds and that’s a whole lot more than MP3s have left in them. With more than a decade of compressed audio piping through earbud headphones and cheap dock players, the time has come. The portable players we all love have created a new way of listening to music, but there hasn’t really been much there to hear. Until now. Enter true 24-bit HD digital audio.

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B&W • Z2 • WIRELESS MUSIC SYSTEM WITH DOCK

No more docks, no more wires just sit back, relax and enjoy your Bluetooth wireless music in style. The rechargeable lithium-ion battery gives 7 hours of uninterrupted enjoyment.

Combines Naim’s expertise in streaming, amplification and loudspeaker technology. Mu-so is the stage your music deserves, bringing you closer to the songs that inspire your life.

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SYSTEMS BEST MUSIC SYSTEM £800-£1500

NAIM UNITIQUTE 2

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Combines NAD’s most advanced digital platform, Direct Digital technology with Apple AirPlay® Wi-Fi streaming to create the ultimate plug ‘n play solution for wireless music.

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MONITOR AUDIO • AIRSTREAM A100 NETWORK AMPLIFIER / DAC The AirStream A100 blends true audiophile sound quality with 21st century technology and style. Whatever source you choose, it will render the sound with astonishing scale, detail and drama.

PIONEER • N-50 • MUSIC STREAMER Award-winning audiophile Network player supporting AirPlay® and DLNA wireless technologies, allowing you to stream music wirelessly from your iTunes libraries or iOS devices. When connected to your home network, you can also enjoy a wide variety of online music services remotely.

SONY • HAP-S1 HI-RES AUDIO PLAYER SYSTEM Take your music enjoyment to new heights with Sony’s new HAP-S1 500GB Hi-Res audio system with 2x40W analogue amplifier, easy music file transfer and smartphone browsing.

PLEASE NOTE: SOME BRANDS/PRODUCTS ARE NOT AVAILABLE AT ALL STORES. SPECIAL/ADDED VALUE OFFERS ARE NOT IN CONJUNCTION WITH ANY OTHER OFFER (NICWAOO). ADVERT VALID UNTIL 24/09/2014. E&OE

www.SSAV.com

130 t ho y bu

tablets

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Apple iPad Air The more things change, the more they stay the same. As the addition of the ‘Air’ moniker implies, the iPad’s been slimmed down on the outside and beefed up on the inside, while retaining all the other goodies that made previous versions great. So it now rocks the 64-bit A7 chip and M7 motion coprocessor that debuted with the iPhone 5s, while keeping the gorgeous screen, quality build and abundance of tablet-optimised apps that first won our hearts.

Apple iPad Mini With Retina Display Apple’s baby tab has been in for a nip and a tuck and emerged with a youthful-looking 2048x1536 screen. The flawless build quality, creativity-friendly 7.9in form and oodles of apps remain; only a few colour inaccuracies keep it behind the Air.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 Samsung has blessed the Galaxy Tab with one of the best tablet screens we’ve ever laid eyes on, plus an impressive camera and some incredible stamina – but there are performance niggles and Apple’s tablet app selection is still far superior.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 Superb screen, unique features… really, there’s very little that’s missing here. For us the iPad Mini beats the Samsung by a whisker for its design, performance and wider selection of optimised apps, but against other Android tabs it’s a winner.

Google Nexus 7 The Nexus has moved further ahead of the Android pack by virtue of getting an update to OS 4.4 KitKat. It’s now smoother, faster and more battery-friendly than ever, while its 323 pixel-per-inch 1080p screen and quad-core power still impress.

Microsoft Surface Pro 3 At last, Microsoft has delivered on the promise of the tablet-cum-laptop hybrid. It proves there’s space in the world for a design that’s more productive than an iPad or Galaxy Note, but easier to hump around than a traditional laptop.

Asus Transformer Pad The Transformers have always been more about laptop relacement than tableteering, and this one is the laptoppiest yet. A 2560x1600 screen, two-day battery life (with keyboard dock) and quad-core Tegra processor all work Android up into a frenzy.

Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 7 The Fire HDX presents a sanitised version of Android cloaked in a user-friendly Amazon skin. There’s even a ‘Mayday’ button for instant video help. A great build, fast processor and stunning screen round off a package that’ll appeal to families and less techy types.

Asus Transformer Book T100 This 10.1in tab-and-dock combo has enough grunt to run full Win 8.1 thanks to Intel’s new Baytrail CPU. The 1366x768 screen is a good ’un, with crisp text, great contrast and colours that pop, while dual-band Wi-Fi and a day-long battery are also welcome.

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014) The new 10.1 is fit to bursting with clever tricks, comes with the note-tastic S Pen and has a stunning 2560x1600 screen. But while we can forgive it its tacky looks, minor performance glitches deny it that fifth star; we hope firmware updates will fix them.

STuFF SAYS Now thinner, lighter and more powerful than ever, the iPad Air is a beautiful sliver of gadget heaven

from £335 ★★★★★ from £260 ★★★★★

best for CREATIVITY ON THE MOVE

£400 ★★★★★

best for MAGAzINES AND MOVIES

£320 ★★★★★ from £155 ★★★★★

best for VALuE AND PERFORMANCE

from £640 ★★★★★

best for uSING ANYWHERE

£310 ★★★★★

best for ALL-ROuND EXCELLENCE

from £230 ★★★★★

best for SAFE & SIMPLE TABLETEERING

from £290 ★★★★★

best for DESKTOP VERSATILITY

£400 ★★★★I

For the Full reviews and our tablet buying guide, visit www.stuFF.tv/top-10s/tablets

132 t ho y bu

hi-fi & music streaming

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Sonos multiroom system Who needs to drill holes and re-plaster walls to get a multiroom music system? Not you. With the addition of the cracking little Play:1 (£170) Sonos has made it easier than ever to start spreading your tunes around. Then maybe hook up a Connect to your existing hi-fi and router, and add speakers to a Connect:Amp in another room, or a SUB for a bass boost. You’ll run out of rooms before you run out of options. For a further upgrade, the Arcam rSeries SonLink DAC works a treat with the Connect.

Cambridge Audio Stream Magic 6 Our favourite music streamer is only kept from the top spot by the brilliant flexibility of the full Sonos system; as a single player, we’d go for this every time. Team it with the Azur 651A amp (£350), feed it high-resolution 24-bit tunes and you’ll never look back.

Naim UnitiQute 2 Awarded ‘Best Music System £800-£1500’ by our friends at What Hi-Fi? Sound And Vision, this punchy little system delivers superb performance. With streaming smarts, DAB+ and internet radio it’s highly capable. Just don’t feed it low-quality music.

Bowers & Wilkins Z2 The baby of B&W’s AirPlay range is a little belter, and it adds a proper Lightning dock to Apple’s wireless tech. It’ll easily fill a small to medium-sized room with chunky bass, punchy beats and lovely, clear vocals. You’ll buy it for the look, but love it for the sound.

Denon CEOL Piccolo This diminutive standard-bearer for next-gen micro hi-fi has Spotify and a control app, and it’ll stream your own tunes, right up to 24-bit. The dock’s 30-pin, but who cares when you’ve also got AirPlay? Add Q Acoustics 2020i speakers for awesome sound.

Audio Pro Addon T10 Available in orange, white or black, the Addon T10 is a Bluetooth speaker that also has analogue inputs and a USB socket for charging your MP3 player. Sound-wise it’s punchy and deep, with just a little too much bass. It sounds best in orange, obviously.

Libratone Zipp A fuzzy, cylindrical, colourful AirPlay dock that will deliver detailed, punchy 360-degree sound anywhere at all, thanks to a built-in battery that gives it four hours of outdoor life. Direct Wi-Fi skills free you from cables, routers and everything but the boogie.

Sony SRS-BTM8 Forget that this Sony looks uncomfortably like a handbag because it’s actually one of the biggest bargains in hi-fi right now. Pop in four AA batteries (old-school, right?) and it will power a party in the park. It’s got fancy NFC too, but the best thing is that it sounds ace.

Q Acoustics BT3 These ultra-versatile Bluetooth speakers have an optical input for waking up the audio of your flatscreen TV. The styling is simple and so is the sound – brilliantly so, with perfect hi-fi balance and an impressive focus to the stereo image.

Sony NWZ-ZX1 The latest Walkman is a premium high-res audio player, and it’s the best-sounding portable device we’ve ever heard: you’ll notice parts of songs you never knew were there. We’re not so keen on the high price and lack of expandable storage, though.

STUff SAyS infnite music in every room without the need for custom installers? Sign us up now, please

from £340 ★★★★★ £700 ★★★★★ £1200 ★★★★★

best for TOP SOUND QUALiTy

£270 ★★★★★ £180 ★★★★★

best for VERSATiLiTy AND VALUE

£300 ★★★★★ £330 ★★★★★

best for AL fRESCO PARTiES

£60 ★★★★★

best for BARgAiNOUS BLUETOOTh

£350 ★★★★★ £550 ★★★★I

For the Full reviews and our hi-Fi buying guide, jump over to www.stuFF.tv/top-10s/hi-Fi

HEADPHONES 133 t ho y bu

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AKG K451 They’ve actually been around a little while now, but what put the K451 on-ears back on to our radar was an official price drop from £130 to £80, and a real-world price of just £50 or less. For that money they’re unbeatable – awesomely agile and punchy sound wrapped up in a subtly stylish and foldable design. Add both standard and three-button control cables for maximising compatibility and there’s practically no excuse for not getting brilliant sound from your phone.

Bowers & Wilkins P3 Superb sound and a solid and achingly stylish design make these the best portable on-ears around. The fact that two cables come in the box – one with a mic and remote for iPhones, one without – only sweetens the already candyfloss-like deal.

SoundMagic E10 Yes, we also gave the very similar SoundMagic ES20s in-ears five stars. And they thoroughly deserve it. But we chose to keep these here because the more expensive E10s still represent a killer smiles-per-pence, sound-per-pound ratio.

Sony XBA-4iP These chunky in-ears have four drivers pumping exceptionally punchy, detailed sound into your gloriously spoilt lugholes, but despite the fairly hefty design they’re surprisingly comfortable too. They were £400 at launch, so £250 is a fantastic deal.

Sol Republic Master Tracks Really tough things are usually really ugly, which is why the lovely styling of the “virtually indestructible” Master Tracks headphones is so refreshing. Loud, punchy, fast and controlled, the sound is just as attractive as the design. Worth every penny.

Philips Fidelio M1BT There’s a comprehensive set of controls, while the dark blue-grey design is nicely understated – no Bose-esque sticky-out Bluetooth modules here. Cut the cords with style and substance: these are the best Bluetooth headphones around.

Final Audio Design Adagio III Calling a pair of headphones Adagio seems a bit pretentious, but these decidedly affordable in-ears from a Japanese company that usually occupies the most bonkers reaches of high-end earn it with brilliantly detailed and endlessly attacking sound.

SoundMagic P30 We love SoundMagic’s E10s, and our toe went into tap-spasms from the get-go with these on-ear P30s. Delivering a really easy-going yet dynamic sound, they aren’t perfect, especially in the treble, but they’ll do great work on low-res Spotify tracks.

Sennheiser Momentum Classily styled, cushion-comfortable and smooth-sounding, the Momentums are the perfect over-ears for the dapper man about town. There’s also an on-ear version – smaller and cheaper at £170, available in pink, blue, green and, um, ivory/brown.

PSB M4U2 Yes, the M4U2s have got great noise-cancelling, but that’s only half the story. Using the built-in amp produces a sound that’s almost unbelievably punchy, clean and exciting. They might be a bit heavy, but that audio quality really is worth the weight.

STUFF SAyS Fantastic sound and great portability at an almost unbeatable price: the perfect PMP upgrade

£50 ★★★★★ £170 ★★★★★

bEst for oN-EAR EXcEllENcE

£30 ★★★★★ £250 ★★★★★

bEst for IN-EAR EXcEllENcE

£90 ★★★★★ £250 ★★★★★

bEst for GREAT SoUND WITh No WIRES

£50 ★★★★★ £70 ★★★★★ £250 ★★★★★

bEst for QUAlITy AND STylE IN oNE

£300 ★★★★★

bEst for ShUTTING oUT ThE WoRlD

For the Full reviews and our headphone buying guide, visit stuFF.tv/top-10s/headphones

Hear the full spectrum P3 Bowers & Wilkins have been established as masters of sound engineering for almost 50 years. We are now able to bring that same expertise to the world of headphones; the same precision, the same care, the same extraordinary range and depth of detail is now available from an ultra-light, highly portable set of headphones superbly designed to ft into your life.

ToP ThREES hoME CinEMA

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blu-RAY PlAYERS t ho y bu

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Sony BDP-S6200

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Panasonic DMP-BDT260

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Marantz UD7007

The new king of Blu-ray players is the perfect balance of price, performance and features. It even looks pretty if you like that sort of thing. On top of the usual smart services (Netflix, iPlayer etc) you get Sony’s own brilliant Video Unlimited. If your budget won’t stretch to the Sony above, this ultra-affordable Panasonic will see you through in superb style. It lacks a display on the front, but the performance is impossible to fault. It’s got the core smart stuff too, including Netflix. Pricey like an Aston Martin is pricey and about as satisfying to own, this Marantz will play any disc you like, streams music at hi-def resolutions and can withstand an earthquake. If you really, really take movies and music seriously, this is your player.

£150 ★★★★★

best for ALL-ROUND AWESOMENESS

£90 ★★★★★

best for ExCELLENCE ON A BUDGET

£480 ★★★★★

best for THE ULTIMATE IN qUALITY

£400 ★★★★★

best for ALL-IN-ONE VALUE

£600 ★★★★★

best for ALL-YOU-CANSTREAM MUSIC

£1000 ★★★★★

best for SURROUND SOUND

from £free

best for DELIVERING EVERYTHING

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Sony BDV-N590

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Sonos Playbar

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Yamaha YSP-3300

The biggest bargain in home cinema, the Blu-ray-packing N590 has a massive spec but a micro price. Picture and sound are excellent, Sony’s smart services are immense and its stylish curves and touch-sensitive controls add a dash of premium quality. A characteristically Sonos take on the soundbar, the Playbar hooks up to your TV via its single optical input and fills your room with a big, detailed sound. And as with all Sonos kit, it can stream your own music files, Spotify and more wirelessly around the house. This is the only soundbar that creates proper surround sound. It fills the room, with individual effects flying in convincingly from the sides. You can feed in all your sources via HDMI and it sends video (including 4K and 3D) to your TV via a single cable.

PVRs, ETC

t ho y bu

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Sky+HD

The new Sky boxes come with built-in Wi-Fi, to make it easier to access on-demand programming, and you can opt for a 2TB drive. Which, with more than 65 channels of HD, might well be worth the outlay. On the move, the Sky Go app is supremely slick.

+ £21.50/month

2

Virgin TiVo

from £free

3

Humax DTR-T1010 YouView

Hardware-wise, the taste-learning TiVo is a Sky+HD-beater, but it loses out on content. Mind you, subscribers to the ‘XL’ package now have free access to all the BT Sport channels: Premier League kickyball, MotoGP and more, in lovely HD. Delivering free-to-air TV with the convenience of Sky or TiVo, the Humax lets you browse the last week’s catch-up TV direct from the EPG or record your own on its HDD. The iOS/Android app’s remote record is handy, and it’s all without a costly subscription.

★★★★★ + £24/month

best for SMART TELLYWATCHING

from £220 (500GB) ★★★★★

best for SUBSCRIPTIONFREE TV

★★★★★

For our CoMPLETE hoME CinEMa ToP 10 LisTs, PoinT your CLiCkEr aT www.sTuFF.Tv/ToP-10s

Plug into Stuff’S Social netwoRk twitter.com/stufftv

tvs 135 t ho y bu

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sony kdl-50W829b 4K a bit too new-fangled (or pricey) for you? How about a 50in edge-lit LED LCD with all of Sony’s smart features for well under a grand? It’s not even like picture quality’s been sacrificed – this is an absolute corker of a telly in every way.

samsung ue46f7000 The F7000 might just be the sweetest spot in Samsung’s current range – the same spectacular performance as the F8000 series but without the show-off design. Great picture quality and slick online functionality in one box.

sony kdl-40W605b If you’re looking for a TV that’s super-slim, this isn’t it. But if you’re looking for one that’s the right size for any room, has all the on-demand services you could hope for and produces brill pictures from any source, you won’t find better for the cash.

samsung ue40f6400

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Finlux is fast becoming the go-to brand if you’re after a decent TV at a proper budget price. The strengths of this screen – the crispness, the level of detail, the on-demand video services – far outweigh the sound quality shortcomings.

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Finally, a 4K TV that can be recommended without hesitation. Not only does it play the limited amount of 4K material on Netflix with eye-moistening beauty, it’s actually just as good as a full HD TV when playing 1080p stuff, and that wasn’t the case with last year’s models. Chuck in all of Samsung’s usual smart TV whizzbang, remove the silly motion-sensing controls and knock the price to something that wouldn’t make a city banker blush, and you’ve got 2014’s star TV.

All of the UK’s catch-up TV services? Exciting and immersive picture? Costs around £500? Yes please. The Samsung comes with all the bells and whistles of a modern smart TV, including active 3D and voice control. It’s an amazing TV bargain.

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samsung ue55hu7500

finlux 40f8073-T

sony kd-55X8505b If you want to jump on the 4K bandwagon with Sony you could go for the wedge-shaped X9, which is great, but we’d suggest that this slimmer, less intrusive ‘entry-level’ option is an even better buy. It’s still got all the smart stuff and great performance.

samsung ue55f8000 Yep, the F8000 has taken one hell of a fall from its previous position at the top of this tree. Has it suddenly got worse? No. But now that it’s been tested against newer sets, its picture flaws are more apparent. If not for its price it’d be higher, though.

lg 55ub950V LG’s 4K flagship looks gorgeous with Netflix’s 4K content, but the real story here is the Web OS interface, which finally gives a boot up the bottom of TV UIs. This is by far the most pleasant, colourful, multi-task-friendly and downright fun TV there’s ever been.

sony kdl-55W955 Sony’s ‘wedge design’ gives greater internal volume, which makes the speakers sound better. The excellent colours, motion and sound quality are all great, but it lacks a wow factor and doesn’t have the deepest blacks. There should be discounts, though.

sTuff says embrace the 4k future while still getting the best of your current blu-rays and TV: it’s the proverbial win-win

£2300 ★★★★★ £800 ★★★★★

best for affordable brilliance

£1380 ★★★★★ £400 ★★★★★

best for bargain hunTers

£550 ★★★★★ £270 ★★★★★

best for Telly on a budgeT

£2100 ★★★★I £1600 ★★★★I £2300 ★★★★I

best for making TV fun again

£1500 ★★★★I

For the Full reviews and our tv buying guide, navigate to www.stuFF.tv/top-10s/tvs

136 t ho y bu

LAptops

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StUff SayS

apple Macbook air 13in (2014) The 2014 MacBook Air update means, once again, our favourite old laptop is now our favourite new laptop. Nothing’s changed on the outside, and under the skin there’s just a slight processor boost from 1.3GHz to 1.4GHz, but combined with a price cut of £100 on each model we’re still happy with that. The very top model, which comes with a 256GB SSD, is now just under a grand, too. Head to stuff.tv for our full reviews of both 13in and 11in versions.

apple Macbook Pro with retina Display 13in (2013)

it’s not a major upgrade, but apple has improved the air’s already awesome spec and lopped £100 of the price

from £670 ★★★★★

We’re all agreed that the best laptop is a MacBook, but choosing between Air and Pro is getting steadily harder. Both now run on Haswell chips, but the Pro is faster. It also gets a 4K-capable Thunderbolt 2 port, and then there’s that Retina screen. Tough call.

from £1050 ★★★★★

best for everytHing bar tHe PriCe

Microsoft Surface Pro 3

from £750

best for USing anywHere

At last, Microsoft has delivered on the promise of the tablet-cum-laptop hybrid. It proves there’s space in the world for a design that’s more productive than an iPad or Galaxy Note, but easier to hump around than a traditional laptop.

alienware 17 A brute of a machine in every way, the Alienware 17 weighs as much as four MacBook Airs and probably frags harder than 10 of them. Core i7 Haswell processor at 3.4GHz, Nvidia GeForce graphics, up to 32GB of RAM… Our trigger finger’s already itching.

asus Zenbook Ux302 Asus has done a wonderful job of creating an ultra-slim laptop that’s as far removed from Apple’s influence as possible, while maintaining a stylish and unique aesthetic. The 13.3in display is razor-sharp and colourful – this is our favourite Ultrabook.

acer C720 Chromebook Bargain Chromebooks are everywhere right now, but the C720 stands out even so. It’s well made, well specced (for a Chromebook) and, crucially, has proper ports: HDMI, USB3.0 and SD are all here. The HP at No.7 is prettier, but the Acer’s the one we’d buy.

acer aspire S7 The Aspire S7 is almost the perfect Ultrabook – it matches the MacBook Air for weight, beats it for slimness by 6mm, and has a gorgeous 1920x1080 touch-friendly screen. Only its battery, which lasted a mere 5hrs on test, prevents it getting that fifth star.

HP Chromebook 11 HP’s done a fine job with the 11 (ignoring the faulty power supply recall): it’s small, light and everything a neo-netbook should be. However, the Chromebook 14 has since launched on the HP store and is worth a look if you want a larger screen.

asus S200e The touchscreen makes it ideal for Windows 8, but the S200E’s also got a top keyboard, bags of connectivity and enough power for 3D gaming. Specs aren’t top notch, but with an i3 Sandy Bridge core, 4GB RAM and a 500GB HDD, it’s good enough at this price.

lenovo ideaPad flex 15D Lenovo’s latest contortioning computer is hefty, which is handy in that you get a full keyboard and 15in screen, but a bit of an issue in terms of portability – and it means the 1366x768 resolution looks a little soft. It stands up nicely for movie-watching, though.

(with type Cover)

★★★★★ from £1500 ★★★★★

best for SerioUS gaMerS

£1000 ★★★★✩ £180 ★★★★✩

best for valUe anD Portability

£1060 ★★★★✩ £180 ★★★★✩ £280 ★★★★✩ £450 ★★★✩✩

best for literal flexibility

For the Full reviews and our laptops buying guide, visit stuFF.tv/top-10s/laptops-netbooks

this month in.. 2010

Gocycle

Motorola Flipout

MSI GX740

Apple iPhone 4

£1495

£300

£1000

from £500

Stuff said Smart looks, neat design touches and great handling through the city. The most striking of the current crop of ebikes. Most of the oily bits are covered to save your Savile Row flannels, and it’s all designed to be tweaked and set up without using any tools. ★★★★★

Stuff said The flipout's swivelling mechanism doesn’t feel very durable but it’s a neat trick. One opened you get a five-line keyboard with tall, oblong keys that are great for typing. However, in the presence of a touchscreen, the navigation pad is superfluous. ★★★★✩

Stuff said The MSI comes with a top-flight graphics processor, is light for its size and can be picked up for just under a grand if you shop around. That’s a pretty decent package, which should make amends for any worries about the bold red and black colour scheme. ★★★★★

Stuff said Apple’s champion smartphone is now 9.3 thin and adorned with a stunning hi-res ‘retina’ display. It also sports a 1GHz A4 processor (as used in the iPad). Despite valiant attempts from all corners to knock it from its throne, the iPhone 4 still rules. ★★★★★

top threes best of the rest 137 home computers t ho y bu

1 2 3

apple imac The iMac is thinner and more powerful than ever: Core i5 or i7 and at least 8GB RAM running the none-more-elegant OS X Mavericks. A 2013 update brought Intel’s Haswell CPU, a hybrid storage option, speedy 802.11ac Wi-Fi and a price increase.

Sapphire edge vS8 This mini-PC may look like the Terminator’s lunchbox, but it houses AMD’s 1.6GHz A8 APU and dedicated HD7600G graphics with 4GB of RAM. A capable little fellow, the VS8 even does a decent job with the latest gaming titles (with the detail dialled back a little).

alienware X51 (2014) The X51 hasn’t changed a huge amount, but the wee size matched with powerful components make it perfectly suited to HD gaming. Steam Machines are going to liven this market up but right now it’s the best balance of power and form in PC land.

from £970 ★★★★★

best for all-round brilliance

from £310 ★★★★★

best for compact power

from £700 ★★★★★

best for hardcore GamerS

£250 ★★★★★

best for total traffic knowledGe

£free ★★★★★

best for budGet travellerS

£270 ★★★★★

best for travellinG with Style

£500 ★★★★★

best for top-quality home movieS

£1200 ★★★★★

best for SeriouS ShooterS

£180 ★★★★★

best for action-junkie filmmakerS

sat-nav t ho y bu

1 2 3

tomtom Go 6000 The four-figure model name marks this an ‘Always Connected’ device with a SIM card for live traffic updates, while the ‘6’ in the name refers to its crisp 6in, 800x480 screen. It’s rather good, if huge. Smartphone-connected versions (600, 500, 400) are cheaper.

Google maps navigation Apple’s Maps app remains pretty, but flawed. With Google Nav now back in the iTunes Store, there really is one solid choice for both iOS and Android users and this is it. Street View, accurate public transport info, cycle maps and decent traffic warnings. Bingo.

Garmin nüvi 3598lmt-d Still pricier than the TomTom, the flagship Garmin has a similarly crisp (if only 5in) 800x480 screen, with clever photo-realistic junctions and 3D terrain. The DAB traffic works fine, but the extra cable is a faff too far for us.

camcorders

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Sony pj530 When quality footage matters, you’ll be glad you splashed out on the superb PJ530. We haven’t tested a better camcorder at this price – it captures excellent footage in all sorts of environments, with a colossal zoom and built-in projector into the bargain.

canon Xa10 Canon’s ultra-compact XA10 handles fine detail superbly due to its f/1.8 lens and 2.37MP chip. It might not look hefty enough to play with the big boys, but twin XLR inputs on its detachable handle give would-be filmmakers professional prowess out of the box.

Gopro hero3+ Silver edition You may well wonder why the flagship Black Edition of the Hero3+ isn’t in this slot, but for our money the extras don’t quite justify the extra expense. We reckon the Silver Edition is the current, umm, hero of the range, and a killer cam for your killer stunts.

For the Full reviews in each category and our buying guides, visit www.stuFF.tv/top-10s

Every gadget, every review, every page, available on PC, Mac, iPad and Android www.stuff.tv/digital-magazine

full ipad app out now!

138 t ho y bu

te DA uP

Games

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stuff sAys the gargantuan gameworld of Los santos is the most entertaining place to hang out since Vice City

★★★★★

the Last of us Ps3/Ps4 Now remastered for PS4, this is the best zombie-apocalypse game ever. It looks magnificent and plays even better, with a moving story and frights aplenty. It’s tough… but then a real-life zombie apocalypse would be. Think of this as essential prep.

★★★★★

Yes, it’s a franchise reboot, but the well-paced mixture of puzzles, action sequences, gunfights and stealth make the latest Lara Croft adventure an immersive, cinematic experience. Possibly the best fun we’ve ever had pretending to be a 21-year-old girl.

★★★★★

★★★★★

5

Watch_dogs PC/Ps3/Ps4/Xbox one/Xbox 360 This one promised big – and while it doesn’t quite match the level of expectation, its recreation of Chicago is impressive, the cat-and-mouse multiplayer livens things up and the gunplay, hacking and driving provide good, solid fun with lots to do and see.

★★★★I

8 9 10

best for ZoMbified hoRRoR

tomb Raider PC/Ps3/Xbox 360

4

7 W

You probably think you already know everything there is to know about GTA 5. After all, if you’ve been alive anywhere in the world for the past year you’ll have read all about life in Los Santos. So you’ll already know that it shines a satirical torch on the 21st century religion of celebrity. And that everything from social media to self-help gurus gets a kicking. And that it’s better-looking than ever. But really you only need to know one thing about it: it’s the most fun you’ll have on a console this month.

fifA 14 Ps4/Xbox one The next-gen edition of FIFA 14 is, perhaps unsurprisingly, better than the PS3/Xbox 360 version, thus its recent leap a couple of places up the table. Players and crowd are more realistically presented, and there are improvements in gameplay and flow.

6 Ne

Grand theft Auto 5 Ps3/Xbox 360

best for sit-doWn KiCKybALL

titanfall Xbox one The biggest Xbox One game launch so far, this FPS robot-fighting sim came with high expectations… and just about lives up to them. It’s a brilliant smash-fest, in a world where it rains massive ‘Titan’ robots to board and attack. The storyline is weak, though.

★★★★I

Mario Kart 8 Wii u Building upon lesser recent entries while adding flashy new twists and delightful physics-defying courses, Mario Kart 8 is a rare Wii U highlight. Although single-player still lacks punch, multiplayer is endlessly entertaining: it’s glossy and fluid throughout.

★★★★I

best for student houses

★★★★I

best for RPG With Added LoL

★★★★I

best for A hARdCoRe ChALLenGe

south Park: the stick of truth PC/Ps3/Xbox 360 Written by show creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone themselves, this is the definitive South Park game, complete with its famously merciless humour and cutout animation. And it’s backed by strong RPG mechanics to boot.

dark souls ii PC/Ps3/Xbox 360 You might never play a tougher game than this old-school action-RPG sequel, which drops you into the mystical land of Drangleic and lets you figure things out for yourself. Mostly by being killed… but that just makes it all the more rewarding when you get it right.

Wolfenstein: the new order PC/Ps3/Ps4/Xbox one/Xbox 360 How do you solve a problem like Nazi world domination? With guns. Lots of guns. Even so, this remake might not be exactly what you’re expecting: as well as carnage and genetically engineered soldiers, there’s a sombre message on the pointlessness of war.

★★★★I

For the Full reviews and our Game-buyinG Guide, visit stuFF.tv/top-10s/apps-Games/Games

Plug into Stuff’S Social netwoRk google.com/+stufftv

gamES machinES 139 t ho y bu

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Sony PlayStation 4 Sony’s next-gen console may not quite be the finished article, but it’s already the best games machine on the planet. With whisper-quiet operation and a sleek form, it’ll slot neatly into your lounge setup, but more importantly it offers bags of power, with full 1080p on all titles and not a whiff of lag. The controller’s vastly improved, too, while remote streaming to PS Vita is a nice bonus. All that and it’s also cheaper than the Xbox One. When proper media streaming arrives, it’ll be unstoppable.

Microsoft Xbox 360 Yes, it’s been succeeded by the One, but the years have been kind to the 360. With an amazing catalogue of recent games that use its full potential, brilliant media streaming skills and a low, low price it’s impossible not to recommend it to cash-strapped gamers.

Sony PlayStation 3 The PS3 has been around a while, but, like the Xbox 360, that just means it has plenty of great games. Online gaming via PlayStation Network is still brilliant and still free (it’s £40/yr for PS4), and it’s worth buying for its Blu-ray and media streaming alone.

Alienware X51 (2014) The X51 hasn’t changed a huge amount, but the wee size matched with powerful components make it perfectly suited to HD gaming. Steam Machines are going to liven this market up but right now it’s the best balance of power and form in PC land.

Microsoft Xbox One The new Xbox aims for the stars and, if it falls short on occasion, it should be praised for trying. Next-gen games run beautifully – albeit in 720p, in some cases – and it’s packed with tricks such as Kinect voice control. Once the minor UI flaws are fixed it’ll get 5 stars.

Nintendo 3DS XL The bigger version of Nintendo’s latest handheld serves up a larger 3D sweet spot and slightly more premium finish than its smaller sibling. There’s still only one thumb-stick, but it’s a tried and tested design that’s served Nintendo titles very well over the years.

Sony PlayStation Vita Slim The Slim (aka PCH-2000) is comfier to hold than the original Vita, it lasts longer, it no longer relies on proprietary cables and the screen is an improvement… but Sony could have gone so much further, not least by adding more than 1GB of internal storage.

PC Specialist Nvidia GTX Titan Battlebox This powerhouse delivers mind-blowing 4K gaming, bringing eye-searing detail to Arkham Origins in our test. But twin Nvidia GTX Titan graphics cards and liquid cooling don’t come cheap, and neither will the 4K monitor you’ll need to go with it.

Nintendo Wii U While it hasn’t had the same impact as the original Wii, don’t underestimate the Wii U’s fun factor. Nintendo’s bottomless bag of superb game franchises rolls on with the excitement of the Mario Kart 8 release (with its anti-gravity karts and submarine racing).

Nvidia Shield Like an Xbox controller with a 5in screen stuck to it, this Android console is (just about) portable enough to play on the bus. As well as having access to hundreds of games via Google Play, the Shield can stream full PC titles from your PC – pretty damn cool.

STUff SAyS Slick, powerful and packed with stand-out features, the PS4 delivers on the next-gen console promise

£350 ★★★★★ from £150 ★★★★★

best for BUDGeT GAMiNG

from £195 ★★★★★ from £600 ★★★★★ £380 ★★★★✩ £170 ★★★★✩ £145 ★★★★✩

best for POrTABLe PLAyTiMe

£3900 ★★★★✩

best for fLUSh 4K feTiShiSTS

£230 ★★★★✩

best for NiNTeNDO fANS

£185 ★★★★✩

For Full reviews oF all the consoles Featured here, visit stuFF.tv/top-10s/games-machines

140 t ho y bu

compacT cameras

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StuFF SayS

Sony DSC-HX60 Last year’s HX50 was our previous pick for the best compact camera around, and 2014’s HX60 isn’t a huge departure from its predecessor in terms of build quality, ease of use, specifications and performance – all of which are excellent. And thankfully the superb 30x zoom lens remains. What it does add is NFC (for quick pairing with a tablet or phone) and a newer Bionz X processor, making it a slightly nippier performer.

Fujifilm X20 The X20 isn’t all retro looks and no trousers. It excels in Advanced Auto mode and has manual controls and RAW shooting for creative days. The optical viewfinder, though small, is linked to the 4x zoom and frames well. All this, and it looks cool.

Sony DSC-RX100 The 20MP RX100 is just what we’re looking for in an advanced compact: pocketable with a huge 1in sensor that serves up great images. After something a bit different? Sony’s crazy lens-without-a-body, the QX100, has much of the same tech.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ200 If you want a superzoom cam, the Lumix FZ200 wipes the floor with its rival snoopy snappers. A small and solid build is coupled with a 24x optical zoom, an excellent auto mode and spot-on exposure abilities. The downside is the video, which is a mixed bag.

Fujifilm FinePix X100S Fujifilm’s souped up its fixed-lens retro shooter, with faster focusing and a big APS-C sensor. It’s not all new, though, keeping the 35mm-equivalent f/2 lens and hybrid viewfinder from the X100. A less retro version with black finish is now available too.

Canon PowerShot G16 The G16 packs a lot into its sturdy body: optical viewfinder, loads of manual controls and an f1.8-2.8, 28-140mm (equivalent) zoom lens. Upgrades over the G15 include Wi-Fi and faster burst shooting of up to 12fps, while image quality is as good as ever.

Canon PowerShot G1 X MkII This powerful snapper is back, with a tilting touchscreen and a wider wide-angle lens but no viewfinder. The zoom and video are still fairly underwhelming but in terms of sheer image quality there aren’t many non-system cameras around that can beat it.

Canon PowerShot S120 Replacing the S110, the S120 is a compact camera for DSLR users on their days off. Its 12.1MP stills, low-light prowess and useful long-exposure modes are welcome, while its slightly laggy lens-ring control and hit-and-miss Wi-Fi features take the shine off.

Nikon Coolpix S6700 Your phone can probably match it for wide-angle photos in good conditions, but if you want to go equipped with a bit more creative control without loading yourself down with kit, the S6700 will be a useful addition to your gadget arsenal.

Samsung Galaxy Camera 2 Only a minor update of last year’s model – the sharing and backup features remain impressive, but the photo quality needed a bump and this hasn’t got there. Still, you can upload selfies directly to social media via Wi-Fi, so what more do you want? Hmm…

Sturdy, simple to use and ofering a huge zoom range for its size, this is a hugely capable all-rounder

£250 ★★★★★ £330 ★★★★★ £300 ★★★★★ £300 ★★★★★

best for at-a-DIStaNCe SHootING

£690 ★★★★★

best for DSLR PICS IN a SMaLL boDy

£320 ★★★★★ £475 ★★★★★ £260 ★★★★✩ £120 ★★★★✩ £280 ★★★✩✩

best for oN-tHe-Go IMaGe SHaRING

For the Full reviews and our camera buying guide, visit stuFF.tv/top-10s/compact-cameras

in case you missed.. 4K TVs

Sony KD-55X8505B

£2100 / sony.co.uk Watching Breaking Bad on Netflix 4K shows off plenty of detail: sharp without looking processed. Colours are nicely judged and skin tones are convincing. It’s a little too punchy but it is great to look at, and there’s plenty of subtlety in gradation and shading. ★★★★✩

Samsung UE55HU7500

£2300 / samsung.com The palette’s less shouty these days: retina-searingly bright colours have been swapped for more mature hues. Now the picture looks realistic while maintaining a degree of punch. There’s as much detail as you could want. A most rounded, versatile individual. ★★★★★

LG 55UB950V

£2300 / lg.com/uk If you’ve ever wanted to scrutinise every single line on Kevin Spacey’s face, now’s your chance. Contrast could be better because the blacks actually look a bit grey. Local dimming helps, but it struggles with the really dark stuff, so best to avoid Batman. ★★★★✩

SLRs, ETC 141 t ho y bu

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olympus oM-D e-M1

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Olympus’ new flagship is armed with the same excellent 16.3MP sensor as its predecessor the E-M5, but now has an improved autofocus system, a startlingly good electronic viewfinder and masses of direct controls. And look out for the E-M10: pretty much an E-M5 minus the weatherproofing and with only 3-axis stabilisation, but with an improved EVF, better metering, enhanced Wi-Fi and built-in flash in a smaller, cheaper body.

stuFF sAys take the e-M5’s amazing speed and quality, then add pro controls and you get the best system cam so far

£790 ★★★★★ (body only)

Canon eos 700D Look, it’s a new Canon at No2. No, wait, it’s the old one. Actually, it’s kind of both. The 700D is a minor upgrade over the 650D, keeping its 18MP sensor, flip-out touchscreen and autofocus during video and adding little beyond a new kit lens. Still great, though.

sony A6000 Sony’s new system camera may be tiny but it packs a big photographic punch. There may be no optical image stabilisation but the incredible speed and accuracy of the A6000’s autofocus is a real highlight, as is its large, clear electronic viewfinder.

nikon D600 Pro power has never come at such a reasonable price. A full-frame 24.3MP sensor combines with accurate 39-point autofocus for stunning results. Dual SD card slots, built-in flash and 5.5fps shooting speed complete a seriously powerful proposition..

sony A7r We love this camera. It’s lightweight but tough and delivers results that outstrip pretty much any other compact system camera on the market. It has a huge full-frame 36.4MP sensor and noise-suppression. Your wallet might weep, but your photo album will sing.

Canon eos 70D The 70D is Canon’s best camera in years. It’s the first ‘proper’ DSLR to nail autofocus in videos and Live View, offers a multitude of manual controls and can take stunning pics in almost any situation. Amateurs who’ve outgrown the entry level should look no further.

panasonic lumix gh4 Its 4K recording might grab the headlines, but the GH4 is more than that – it’s Panasonic’s finest all-round camera yet. Build quality is superb, autofocus is fast and accurate, image quality is great and video is even better.

Fujifilm X-t1 There’s lots to love about this snapper, from its clever viewfinder and lightning-speed focus to the weatherproof body. One for the analogue lovers, it has actual buttons and dials with no touchscreen. The lack of in-cam image stabilisation is our only complaint.

panasonic lumix DMC-gX7 The 16MP Panasonic is a versatile beast that, while not being much of a looker, has added tricks such as a tilting EVF and a handy touchscreen LCD. It’s great for smooth hi-def video recording and, with the bijou 20mm f/1.7 lens, is a great travel companion.

pentax k-3 With a 24MP APS-C sensor, advanced autofocus system, snappy burst shooting and clever anti-aliasing simulator, the K-3 is a stills snapper par excellence. A weatherproof body and in-camera stabilisation are welcome too, but it’s not quite so hot with video.

£380

(body only)

★★★★★

best for All-rounD VAlue

£470

(body only)

★★★★★ £960

(body only)

★★★★★ £1290

(body only)

★★★★★

best for shooting like the pros

£675

(body only)

★★★★★ £1300

(body only)

★★★★★

best for hi-res ViDeo

£820

(body only)

★★★★★ £470

(body only)

★★★★★ £800

(body only)

★★★★★

For the Full reviews and our digital slr buying guide, visit stuFF.tv/top-10s/digital-slrs

subsCrIbe

to stuff Check out our great subscriptions offer on p112.

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142

StUff SAyS

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite

1

There’s a new Paperwhite out on the streets of the world, and it’s brighter, whiter, faster and no more expensive. Contrast is improved, making your text blacker and the background less grey, while a claimed 25% faster processor goes largely unnoticed because it was always the fastest of the e-readers. A handy new Page Flip feature lets you keep your current page while flicking through the chapter in a pop-up window: finish the chapter, or go to sleep now?

3Doodler

2

£120 ★★★★★

best for AnALOgUe MAeStrOS

These gaming cans – with a noise-cancelling mic, bass boost and controls for in-game and voice channels – are aimed at Xbox 360 users. Not of the Xbox persuasion? Look out for the U 320s, which will play nicely with your PS3, PC and Mac.

£25 ★★★★★

best for gAMewOrLD IMMerSIOn

tesla Model S

from £50,000 ★★★★★

best for eXHILArAtIng ecO-DrIVIng

£1800 ★★★★★

best for POwereD-UP PeDALLIng

£750 ★★★★I

best for HIgH-fLyIng fILMerSHar

£60 ★★★★I

best for ALt-ctrL freAKS

£80 ★★★★I

best for igAMIng ADDIctS

£1250 ★★★★I

best for eArLy ADOPterS

This Roland TR-808-aping drum machine uses analogue and digital beats to amazing effect given the bargain price, offering a studio’s worth of wizardry in a tablet-sized package. If this doesn’t get the nation’s youth making amazing music, nothing will.

Sennheiser X 320

4 5

The Tesla isn’t just a better electric car – it’s a groundbreaker that history could hoist into the automotive hall of fame alongside the original Mini or even the Ford Model T. The range is good, the speed is breathtaking and the styling is sensational.

Smart ebike

6

This electric bike may be heavy and expensive, but its futuristic design, 250W motor and range of up to 62 miles make it ideal for the daily commute. And don’t get hung up over the price anyway – petrol and car insurance for a year would cost you way more.

DJI Phantom 2 Vision

7

Want to recreate those Apocalypse Now sequences at your local lido? This quadcopter offers great filming potential thanks to its 14MP/1080p HD camera and videolink, built-in GPS and ability to beam images to your smartphone from 300m away.

Leap Motion

8

Huge Kickstarter funding and promises of Minority Report-style PC input have come to this: a silent, KitKat-sized block of tech. It is very accurate, and the taster games are a blast, but it’ll need more consistency between apps to become truly useful.

Moga Ace Power

9

This click-on controller adds two analogue sticks, a D-pad and all the usual buttons to an iPhone 5/5c/5s or 5th-gen iPod Touch. It’s not brilliantly built and only works with selected games, but dedicated iOS gamers will swiftly get their money’s worth.

Up! Plus 2

10

£110 ★★★★★ best for 3D SPAce creAtIVeS

Korg Volca Beats

3

the best screen, the best ebook store and new book-challenging features: Kindle’s still on top

£100 ★★★★★

Essentially a 3D printer nozzle in a pen. Sticks of plastic are fed through like a glue gun and extruded at 200ºC into thin air, where it immediately cools and solidifies, letting you ‘draw’ 3D structures. Amazing, and we’ve only burnt ourselves once. Maybe twice.

Not since the early days of video encoding has a Stuff test caused such emotional rollercoastering. The Up! is the least frustrating – and least commercial – of the 3D printers we’ve tried, and the updated Plus 2 has a helpful auto-levelling build platform.

For the Full reviews oF all the gear above, browse your way to www.stuFF.tv/reviews

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wearables

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Pebble Steel Unveiled at CES 2014, the Steel keeps the straightforward looks, crisp display and five-day battery life that helped the standard Pebble win our hearts. But it holds more RAM, apps and customisable faces this time, and swaps the plastic for either a ‘Steel’ silver or matte black stylish suit, making it look and feel more like an actual watch. The Steel goes beyond the gimmicks and into the world of real-world wearable tech. Pop it on your wristwear wish-list.

Fitbit Flex The Flex delivers all of Fitbit’s activity-tracking smarts but in a form factor that’s less fiddly than its belt-clip counterparts. It’s packed with Bluetooth, NFC, vibratamotor and a display. America already has the new Force band, with a proper display. Here soon.

Jawbone UP24 Now with Bluetooth for hassle-free syncing, the stylish UP24 is worth the extra £25 over the Jawbone Up. The app introduces new challenges and tracks your sleep patterns. It will also gently nudge you, if you’re lazing around, to get back on the move.

Nike Lunar TR1+ The TR1+s are the smartest gym clogs we’ve seen, packed with pressure sensors and accelerometers. The Nike+ training app tracks your exertions and helps refine your technique, for example telling you to shift more weight to your heels during squats.

Garmin Forerunner 620 Garmin’s wealth of experience in wrist-mounted GPS shines through, offering up a cacophony of stats, including vertical oscillation (how much you jiggle while running) thanks to the smart heart-rate belt. Could be cheaper and more user-friendly, though.

TomTom Multi-Sport Cardio The new version of the TomTom Multi-Sport adds an impressively accurate heart-rate sensor to an already strong formula, allowing for more focused and personal training. It’ll track runs, cycles and swims, and the companion app is also much improved.

Samsung Gear 2 Neo It’s the ‘budget’ plastic version of Samsung’s Gear 2, but does 99% of what the more expensive device can do, although it does not have a camera. Only compatible with certain phones, it is the Gear we’d be most likely to buy, but it’s far from essential.

Martian Notifier The Notifier does one job very well – alerts – and you won’t be ashamed to wear one in public. It doesn’t shake off smartwatches’ dorky image but does blend a regular-looking watch design with smartphone smarts in an affordable, comfortable, reliable package.

Nike Fuelband SE The original Fuelband was early to the fitness tracker scene, doling out Nike Fuel points like slices of fitness carrot. Though updated, it’s still easier to fool than other fitness bands and its high price and iOS-only app mean it comes in at three stars.

Samsung Gear Fit Durable, comfortable and only 55g, the Gear Fit looks great but is ultimately a bit disappointing. It has unreliable heart-rate tracking and an unresponsive curved OLED screen that’s awkward to read, especially on a run. Fit by name, but not by nature.

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For Full reviews oF all the kit on this page, visit stuFF.tv/top-10s/wearable-tech

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connected home 145 t ho y bu

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Philips Hue It might seem like a gimmick, but having Wi-Fi-enabled, colour-changing lightbulbs isn’t just good for impressing mates and spooking guests at seance parties. These smart LED bulbs come into their own when paired with ‘recipes’ on ifttt.com – set them to change colour with the weather or when it’s time to run to the train. They also tie in neatly with Philips’ own Ambilight TVs, casting the colours from the screen across your entire room. A great thingternet starter.

Sonos Play:1 You don’t need to be planning a multi-room system to buy the Play:1, as it’s a stellar speaker in its own right, streaming from Spotify et al at the command of your phone or tablet. But team it up with another Sonos and you’ll be multi-rooming in minutes.

Synology dS214Se Within this entry-level hardware beats the best NAS (network attached storage) software yet. Not gorgeous to look at, but at least it’s small and easy to hide away. If you’re new to the NAS party, the DS214se is the cheapest way to get onboard.

devolo dLan 500 Wi-Fi Not that sexy, perhaps, but the Devolo system is faultless in its execution. Putting the ‘Internet’ in your ‘Internet of things’, it pipes broadband from your router, through your mains wiring and into the farthest reaches of your home, no messin’ ’bout.

Roku Streaming Stick ‘Streaming Stick’ tells you all you need to know, really: this is a stick, and it streams. It streams plenty, too – Netflix, iPlayer, Spotify, Sky Now and Sky Go to name a few. And unlike Chromecast, it’s also a dab hand with your own video and music files. Lovely stuff.

ninja Blocks This little box is a hacker’s dream. With everything from temp/humidity sensors to remotely switched power points, it has boundless potential for giving your home 21st century smarts. It’s open-source and has a devoted developer community, too.

Koubachi Wi-Fi Plant Sensor Why have real plants when you can 3D-print space-age fake plastic trees? Because if you have real plants you can use this Wi-Fi-connected thingternet device to monitor their vitals and relay their photosynthetic desires back via an iOS app. That’s why.

Belkin WeMo It started as an unassuming Wi-Fi-enabled socket that let you set lights or other mains-powered items on a schedule via an app. Now the range includes a motion sensor and a baby monitor (left), while a Hue-style lightbulb was announced at CES.

netatmo With an indoor and an outdoor module, the Netatmo monitors the conditions all around you, checking temp, humidity, air pressure, CO2 levels and noise. Use the info to fine-tune your sleeping conditions, or just tap into the global community of Netatmo users.

google chromecast This USB memory-stick-sized cord-cutter is compatible with Netflix, YouTube, Google Play movies and BBC iPlayer: a cheap, simple way of getting web-sourced movies and shows onto your living-room TV.

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For Full reviews oF everything on this page, visit stuFF.tv/top-10s/connected-home

All the latest gadget reviews

nExt big tHing?

ren’t they, like, ten years ago? Let me put you in the frame, so to speak. Digital photo frames are one of those sleeper products that – yes – have been around for quite a while but their popularity has never waned. You might not see them advertised on the digiboards of Piccadilly Circus. You might not have camped for two nights outside Westfield for the launch of a new Kodak 10-incher. But every day, in some small way, digital photo frames have made someone smile. Proof? Look how excited Google gets when you do a search for ‘digital photo frame’.

A

Let me see… Oh yes, it does get quite fizzy. Sponsored listings and ads and a double-deck Froogle box and all the fun of the fair. Whyfore art thou lit up, Frameo? Because demand is why. Enter the dastardly Kickstarter, stage left, and we see at least a couple of projects – Framed and Digital Objects – that are taking digital photo frames to the next level. Moving images, for one, but it’s more than that. Instead of endlessly repeating that Marbella 1999 folder you loaded onto your frame, these new frames will form the basis of a constant, and constantly updated, stream of digital art.

Art on the walls? Call the cops! Well, quite possibly. The combination of ‘digital art’ and ‘free to publish webstore’ sounds a total horror-bastard to us. But things might get interesting with the introduction of smartphone control and interaction, allowing you to tweak and define your moving wall-art. And there are some examples showing artistic clocks that could work quite nicely. Don’t even get us started on your frame interacting with internet-of-things devices and scenario-chewing services such as If This Then That to give you forewarnings of bad weather. Just don’t.

don’t miss tHE nExt issuE! on salE 1 oct

[ Words Fraser Macdonald ]

digita photo frams