All The Tech I Really Want to Pack My House With Right Now
The ASUS Zenbook DUO
The last time M2 covered the ASUS Zenbook was back in 2022. When the company heard consumers wanted flexible options, it must have taken the request to heart. The unique form factor of the ASUS Zenbook DUO (UX8407) is back and better than ever. The result is a laptop with two screens attached by a hinge that can rotate through a full 360 degrees, as well as a detachable keyboard. This gives you all sorts of oddball configurations: one screen above the other, two portrait-mode screens side by side, standard laptop mode and, for the true boardroom pro, a presentation-sharing mode. This final mode can be enabled once the screens are turned away from each other, with one for the presenter and one for everyone else. It runs an Intel Core Ultra X9 Series 3 processor, a 16-core CPU and a discrete Intel Arc B390 GPU. It supports fast charging, reaching up to 60 per cent in 49 minutes, while battery life is somewhere in the ballpark of 12 to 18 hours with both screens on.
The Stars Have Aligned
Jaeger-LeCoultre has teamed up with design icon Marc Newson to create the Atmos Hybris Artistica Tellurium. This isn’t a snow globe. It is a serious work of horological art, surrounded by 539 cabochon-cut sapphires representing 64 etched constellations from the Northern Hemisphere. Nothing I recognise, then. It’s a limited-edition item, with only three ever produced. A tiny Earth is embedded in it and accurately tracks its rotation. A moon phase circles it, with accuracy so good that it goes out of phase by only one day every 5,770 years. At the centre is the Sun, which the miniature Earth takes one year to orbit. Season indicators around the dial let you know when you’re getting sunburn and when you’re getting frostbite. As for regular old time, this is regulated by the in-house Calibre 590 perpetual movement.
It’s a beautiful piece. A shame my backyard hasn’t burst full of oil so I can afford one.
Rule Them All
I’ve never looked at a ruler before and said to myself, “How the heck do you use this?” but there’s a first for everything. The Flintone Megaruler is a 9-in-1 titanium and aluminium ruler that’s only a couple of inches long, but it’s not its length that matters; it’s how you use it. Roller locks on the underside allow continuous extension, while a protractor embedded inside lets you draw angles precisely. It has a plumb line and spirit level and is magnetic, so if you’re levelling something metal, you can stick it right on. It even has a handy pen embedded in it. Suffice it to say, the Kickstarter went very well.
Synthly Amazing
Korg consistently tempts me with its synths and excellent product design. Its latest weird little gadget, begging to be added to my music stash, is the Phase8, an acoustic synthesiser that uses eight steel bars designed to be struck. The resulting sound is sent back through the machine to be shaped by the synth. Korg encourages you to place different objects on the bars to create different textures. It’s a serious little operation, with MIDI/USB-MIDI and CV that can be used to control the knob parameters externally. The resonator bars also come in different shapes to further customise their tone, and it has everything you’d expect from a synth, including eight memory slots, trigger delays, envelope controls and dampers. Just because we live in a digital world doesn’t mean we can’t get a little physical sometimes.
GameSir Pocket Taco
I’m a sucker for anything that makes my phone potentially way more fun than it currently is. The GameSir Pocket Taco promises to turn your phone into a full-blown Game Boy, with the retro aesthetics to boot. It has bumper buttons on the back as well, making Game Boy Advance-style controls possible with very little trouble. It’s inexpensive and comes with an app for customising the keys. It connects via Bluetooth, and a hole in the bottom of the hinge allows a USB-C cable to pass through so you can charge your phone at the same time. The Taco is powered by its own 600 mAh battery. I think it would have been cool if it also acted as a wireless charger to keep you going; it’s chunky enough for it. I already use the 8BitDo Micro with a mobile clip. That thing is so tiny it sits in my jacket pocket at all times.
gamesir.com RRP $62