All The Latest Tech You Need To Know About
Shining A Light
Swedish-founded furniture powerhouse, IKEA, has recently partnered with Little Sun, a small business owned by artist, Olafur Eliasson. Little Sun specialises in small domestic panels that save power. This collaboration has spawned the Sammanlänkad – an easier style of solar panel. Though it’s only a prototype at the moment, the design looks promising. It comprises of a set of energy stores in a nifty little structure, so it’ll be easy to sit on a table or ceiling lights or charging docks and is the size of a human hand. Eliasson hopes that the tiny energy source will make consumers think twice about climate change and how we are each ‘agents’ in the mission of energy consumption. The price hasn’t been confirmed yet, but the products are hoping to be out in the market in 2021.
Drop The Beat
Late last month, New Zealand-made DJ powerhouse, Serato, launched their latest in break-through production software to the masses. Called Serato Studio, this inclusive and simple-to-use software features the ability to stretch samples, includes key shifts easily, a 32 drum-sequencer, customising swings, and many more cool additions. This software launched in beta-form in March this year, gaining a huge amount of interest, with the beta release getting up to 3,000 eager buyers in the first day. They even had to shut down their beta early from the eager buyers, with fear that it might crash the program. This new piece of software is designed to incorporate workflow elements to heighten the musical experience. Serato Studio is available to purchase for a monthly fee of USD $14.99, or $9.99 billed every 12 months.
Xbox Going All-Digital
Buying games on disc has already become somewhat of an unneeded formality with Blu-ray struggling to keep up with game sizes. It was only a matter of time console gamers got pulled kicking and screaming into the 21st century with a discless console. At the beginning of the month, Xbox released the Xbox One S All-Digital, which is the first Xbox to come without a disc drive. Bundled with the console, you get codes for Minecraft for the kids, Sea of Thieves for the family, and Forza Horizon 3 for you.
The price is slightly lower than a regular Xbox One at $399, and if you’re a PC gamer looking for something grunty for the lounge, or a new console gamer with no discs to worry about then the All-Digital is a decent choice. Already having a decent Xbox library setting up the console was easy, I instantly loaded on Horizon 4 and pick up where I left off on PC. Being able to transport your games from Windows 10 is a real blessing. When you’re not gaming, it can stream 4K HDR, really squeezing the most out of your TV.
Discs are an over glorified coupon at this point, it’s time to throw out that disc drive.
For The Love Of The Swing
Have you ever wanted to impress your mates on the golf course so bad with your mad skills at the game, but oftentimes fall short at the bunker? The Garmin Approach S40 GPS Golf Watch might be just the thing to help. A smartwatch that gathers data to help track the speed and strength of each stroke can collect incoming calls, texts, and emails. It can also read 41,000 courses, log scores and yardage to layups and dogends in the course. You can even switch modes between Golf, Running and Biking, making the watch more durable on the move. The Approach S40 has got a reliable battery life, with 15 hours in golf mode so you can easily make it around 36 holes. It’ll cost the player up to USD$299 on their site, but worth it for the love of the swing? We think yes.
HP Spectre x360
This isn’t a descriptor I’d typically use for a laptop, but the HP Spectre x360 feels like jewellery. It’s sharp, sexy edges and light (but just heavy enough to feel valuable) 2.1kg weight gives it the gravitas of a nice watch or clutch. It’s thickness is a dainty 19.35mm, and sliding it into its leather case lends it that extra sense of class when it isn’t in use. It comes with a touch screen and a monitor that folds all the way back, which sets Windows 10 into tablet mode which is easy to navigate with the provided pen. It has almost 17 hours of battery life and has enough grunt to handle most creative programs. Using it in tablet mode with the pen on the latest version of Photoshop, I was able to sketch away to my hearts content without too much of a worry of running out of juice before I got home.
In terms of a mobile work machine, the Spectre x360 is a sexy little addition.
Essential stats
CPU: 1.8GHz Intel Core i7-8565U (quad-core, 4MB cache, up to 4.6GHz)
Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 620.
RAM: 8GB DDR4.
Screen: 13.3-inch FHD
