gadgets Archives - Page 10 of 14

Jul 18

Travel tech: the best gadgets to pack on your holiday this summer | Gadgets

Summer is finally here, and after two years of disruption, many people will be getting on a plane, long-distance train or ferry for the first time in a long while.

A lot of us will inevitably be chucking a few gadgets and gizmos into our suitcases and hand luggage – from essentials such as travel adapters to the items that can make a journey more pleasant, such as headphones and portable handheld fans.

Here’s our guide to the best gadgets to pack on your holiday this summer.

Noise-cancelling headphones

Bose QuietComfort 45

RRP: £319.95 – deals from £289, refurbished from £160.

Take some of the stress out of traveling by canceling out the drone of engines or fellow passengers with a good set of headphones. The Bose QuietComfort 45 are the sequel to some of the best noise-cancelling headphones ever made, now with updated technology, including better battery life and sound, to give you a bit of peace and quiet.

Anker Soundcore Life Q30

The Soundcore Life Q30 headphones on a table. — The Soundcore Life Q30 offers long battery life and noise-cancelling on a budget. Photograph: Anker

RRP: £80 – refurbished from £66.

For those looking for something cheaper, Anker’s Soundcore Life Q30 offer Bluetooth 5, good noise reduction, reasonable sound quality and a 40-hour battery life that takes some beating, and cost as little as £66 refurbished. An updated model with higher-resolution Bluetooth support, the Life Q35, is also available with an official price of £130, although this week you could find them on Amazon for £90.

Portable speakers

Sonos Roam

RRP: £159 – refurbished from £130.

If you want something better than the myriad of cheap, not-great Bluetooth speakers that are available to buy, the Sonos Roam is so good, you’ll want to use it in your home, too.

Use it on wifi when at home or on Bluetooth when on the road. It’s water-resistant and durable, the battery lasts up to 10 hours, and it can fill a room with music despite its diminutive water-bottle-like size. It costs £159 without microphones or £179 with voice control.

Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 2

RRP: £90 – deals from £70, refurbished from £55.

If you are looking to spend a little less money but want something that’s just as durable and boasts really decent sound, the Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 2 is still one of the best Bluetooth speakers you can get. It can be picked up for about £55 onwards. The compact Bluetooth speaker is drop-proof, has 13 hours of battery life and water resistance.

Chargers and adapters

Go Travel Worldwide Adapter

RRP: £30 – deals from £26.

Juggling multiple power adapters when traveling can

Jul 17

Five great gadgets for the beach

You’re unlikely to be mistaken for a member of the Hells Angels on the Cake sa. Quiet and friendly-looking rather than leather-jacket-sexy, this new release from Swedish startup Cake is Still a lot of fun to zip around on.

The brand is by Stefan Ytterborn, a former Ikea employee and founder of action-helmet brand POC, who saw a gap in the market for green off-road motorbikes that can smoothly traverse the bumpiest of sand dunes and hairiest of mountain paths. There are several sa models to choose from: the sa Plus requires a motorbike license and maxes out at 90kmph, while the sa Flex – really a moped – can be used with a regular driving license but has a top speed of 45kmph. The Plus can travel about 84km, and the Flex 92km, between charges. Meanwhile, the new sa Work comes in Plus or Flex form; it’s basically a beefier update, boasting a 50 per cent bigger battery capacity than the originals.

Cake calls the sa a “Swiss Army knife on wheels”

All are low-slung, weigh less than 100kg and possess dirt bike-style wheels and stellar suspension. What the sa lacks in speed it makes up for in ease of use. It’s activated by entering a passcode on its handlebar-mounted screen; a companion app has GPS and can track your riding stats.

The best bits? The brand calls sa a “Swiss Army knife on wheels”, which is about right: it’s a versatile machine that has a mule-like carrying capacity and can be furnished with various attachments, from surfboard racks and extra seats to, as of this month , colorful windscreens. And once at your destination, its battery can be used to fire up personal devices, including phone, laptop, small stove and coffee machine. (If you intend to power several gadgets, and bigger appliances, I’d recommend the Work and/or the optional second battery.)

Pick from attachment packages such as the Carry (rack, basket, waterproof bag) or the Max (power converter, baskets, cargo net), or build your own. Cake sa, from £7,850, Work version from €8,850, ridecake.com

Walk on water

Philip Werner, Awake’s founder, calls electric surfing a “totally new sport”. Participants do not require Oahu-like waves for an adrenaline rush; they need only grip a handheld remote that Werner calls a “dynamite stick”. The new Rävik S 22 is Awake’s zippiest model yet. The jet-propelled board has a response time of 0.02 seconds and a top speed of 57kmph. It’s less buoyant than its predecessors, enabling sharper turns, and making it slightly more difficult for beginners to embrace than the Rävik 3, but novices should still be able to stand up within an hour or so. It lasts about 20 minutes with the standard battery, and can be ridden on waves as well as in sleepy bays. Awake Rävik S 22, from €12,900, awakeboards.com

Cool it

With the TravelR, Colorado upstart RovR is a challenging market behemoth Yeti for

Jul 15

Gadgeteer Adds 23 New Musical Gadgets In Update

A new update for physics-based puzzle game Gadgeteer brings 23 musical gadgets to play with as well as a new environment to build in.

The Musical Gadget Update released recently for Gadgeteer on Quest and PC VR. It adds a bunch of new music-inspired tools for players to implement in their Rube Goldberg machines, such as a metronome, xylophone, drum parts, cymbals, gongs, cowbells and a rubber chicken.

As you can see in the trailer embedded above, players can use existing well-known Gadgeteer staples, such as the marble ball, to interact with the new musical elements to produce tones in sequences and create songs.

The update also adds in a new sandbox environment, ‘Study’, which is “purposely designed to offer a building canvas that’s different from the ‘Apartment’ environment” and provides a better canvas for building music-focused machines.

Free update for Gadgeteer is OUT NOW! 23 new ‘musical’ gadgets and 1 new environment to build in. pic.twitter.com/DTD1UxyoEe

— Gadgeteer (@gadgeteergame) July 5, 2022

Metanaut CEO and Creative Director Peter Kao shared bits about future updates to come in a prepared statement, “Our players have been asking for gadgets that allow them to build perpetually running machines. They’ve also asked for powerful electrical gadgets. These are great suggestions and we have them on the top of our list of gadgets to prototype.”

Metanaut has consistently updated Gadgeteer through early access and post launch, adding in some key features such as online level sharing, while also expanding out with Quest and PSVR releases in 2019 and 2021 respectively.

The update is available now for Gadgeteer on PC VR and Quest platforms, with PSVR to come in the future.

Jul 14

I’ve spent years testing kids gadgets, and these are the best on Prime Day

With my two young boys, I am never without something to do. But, of course, they seem to find plenty of moments to say they are bored — even with the 5 acres of country property to explore. I am constantly looking for ways to keep them learning, having fun, and safe with the devices I test. So, to help parents in a similar situation, I have found some of the best Prime Day deals on kid’s tech that you can still take advantage of.

While there are a lot of great smartphones for kids, with some of the best being from smaller brands you haven’t heard of, not all kids are ready for a phone. That’s where a smartwatch designed specifically for kids comes in — and Amazon has some good deals on mine and my kids’ favorites.

The TickTalk 4 sits atop our list of best smartwatches for kids for various reasons. Even after the review, my oldest son has continued to go back to it. The dual-camera setup makes it easy to use the video calling feature and to take pictures of his adventures. He also loves the free iHeart Radio Family streaming. But I like the companion app’s parental controls, safety features, and options for messaging and voice calls.

Spacetalk Adventurer kids smartwatch — (Image credit: Chris Wedel/Android Central)

If your child isn’t ready for a smartwatch with as many features, check out the Spacetalk Adventurer for an option with a more mature look but not quite as many features. Don’t get me wrong, during the review with my younger son — we found a lot of things to like about this watch. It has amazing build quality, a great-looking display, and a great companion app tying it all together.

Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids Pro, HD 8 Kids & 7 Kids — (Image credit: Chris Wedel/Android Central)

Of course, it’s hard to go wrong with any of the excellent Amazon kids devices. Almost all of these devices are on sale right now, with $80 off the super capable Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids Pro and the Fire 7 Kids Pro all the way down to $50! Don’t forget the fun and cute Amazon Echo Dot Kids for only $25 or the Echo Show 5 Kids for $40 (opens in new tab).

All of these products take advantage of the fantastic Amazon Kids+ software to ensure your child is accessing age-appropriate content, and you get a full suite of parental controls.

BuddyPhones kids Headphones — (Image credit: Chris Wedel/Android Central)

Does your kid already have a tablet, phone, or smartwatch, and you want to get some kind of accessory to go with them? I suggest taking a look at some of the best kids headphones. Aside from having fun colors and patterns and offering a size designed for smaller heads, they also have volume-limiting technology to keep little ears safe.

My kids love the ONANOFF Buddyphones, and Amazon has the latest versions on sale. When my kids and I reviewed these headphones, we were surprised not only by the features each option

Jul 13

My Favorite Summer Gadgets: 2022 Edition

Just in time for summer, I gathered a handful of my favorite seasonal gadgets and took them on my favorite morning news show, CBS Mornings. Whenever I’m asked to pick tech products to recommend for a TV audience, I try to cover all the bases — expensive items and budget items, serious products and fun products.

You can watch the full segment above, and if you’re interested in any of the gadgets, I’ve gone into a little detail about each below. I thought the Ninja Creami ice cream maker would be the big hit, but the hosts (and everyone backstage) were surprisingly smitten with the light-up grill tools. My takeaway: You can almost never go wrong sticking a flashlight on something.

Amazon

Especially during summer trips, everyone should bring a backup power bank along. There are thousands of choices, and frankly they’re mostly all fine. I happen to like this ambitious model that has a solar panel, wireless charging for phones, a flashlight and, most importantly, built-in USB-C, Lightning and Micro-USB cables.

Ninja

I’ve tried old-fashioned ice cream makers, the kind with the big metal bowl you have to freeze beforehand and clean out after. It’s a pretty time-consuming process. The Ninja Creami flips the concept on its head — you mix your ingredients in little pint-size plastic containers, freeze those overnight (the Creami comes with three pint containers, extras are about $10), then the machine mixes up really excellent ice cream in 90 seconds. I was dubious, but now I’m a believer.

Read our full review of the Ninja Creami here.

Sensibo

This little box beams IR commands to your window unit AC, allowing you to control it via an app. That’s pretty basic, but I like that the Sensibo app can also set up schedules and target temperatures, plus geofencing to turn the AC off and on depending on if you’re in the house or not. For those of us living in apartments with window AC units, it’s a pretty clever upgrade. (Note that you need the AC’s remote to set it up. I couldn’t find mine, so I ordered this $8 knockoff from Amazon that worked fine.)