I’m Going to Go Broke Buying All This Tech
On a Quest
The Quest 3 dropped early in October and it represents Meta’s big bet on the future of virtual reality. While Apple has gone for an ultra premium market Quest is aiming for the more affordable end of the spectrum. This coupled with the beautiful functionality of earlier wireless Quest units has earned it the market share in the growing VR space. The Quest 3 marks the next step up in usability, with a wider field of view and higher resolution than its predecessor. If you were a first time VR user then the Quest 3 would be an easy recommendation.
The Most Expensive iPhone Case On the Market
Despite being located in the world’s least favourite country, the Russian luxury phone studio is back at it again with a new headline grabbing case, this time for the iPhone 150 Pro/Pro Max. Available in October they have cases ranging from a paltry $7,500 all the way up to a very respectable $562,410. The latter price is for the Diamond Snowflake, a case made of 18k white gold and inlaid with 570 diamonds. On the back is also a platinum, white gold with diamonds Snowflake Graff necklace. The case comes with a certificate of authenticity from the jewelry house Graff themselves. Only three of these cases are being produced, but if you get at least two of them you should be able to use them as an alternative form of currency to buy a house in Auckland, if things get really tight for you.
DIY’s Best Friend
It’s time to offload some of those trusty tools you use for every DIY project and let the MAKA Pro Measure do all the work. In no particular order it can do laser measurements, find studs, thermal image, measure moisture levels, Detect AC currents and cross laser level. It can detect at depths of up to 100mm and an LCD screen even shows you what it’s picking up inside the wall and how close you are to it’s centerline. So you can tell the difference between some copper piping or some power cables for example. The onscreen UI makes sorting your job simple. It has a 1000mAH battery so it’ll go for as long as it takes to get the job done.
Currently in Kickstarter a single unit goes for about $253.
Charge Me JSD
As I figure out what to write about next my wireless mouse dies. This is followed by my wireless headphones making a dull “doop” sound occasionally to let me know they’re on the way out and that I shouldn’t enjoy these final moments we have together. Going wireless has it’s perks, like saving my phone’s USB-C port from a premature death, but what I really need is a charging pad for everything. Fortunately that’s where the JSD comes in, designed by Light&Salt Interactive. The pad delivers a total of 30w of power across it’s 720mmx330mm surface with a dedicated 18w fast charge zone for phones and earpods. The charging spots are large meaning you’re going to have a hard time misplacing your device on the charger. Although there aren’t a whole lot of Wireless charging enabled keyboards and mice out there, so JSD will try and railroad you into their peripherals. I’m not entirely a fan of their honeycomb keyboard missing the numpad, but if it means never having charge anxiety ever again It might just be well worth the jump.
Honda Goes Compact
I feel like standup scooters won the battle for compact personal transport but Honda reckons it’s suitcase sized seated scooter is a winner. Dubbed the Motocompacto it’s not kidding about the compacto thing. It’s only 73cm long and 53cm tall with everything able to fold inside it. The seat, wheels and handlebars all fold away into the white square form of the body. It’s a 490W electric motor able to hit speeds of up to 24km/h and has a max range of 19km. So you’re going to probably be looking at doing a charge every day after your commute. A full charge takes 3.5 hours and it has a max carry capacity of 120kg. You can keep tabs on it via an app, and the charging cable can go into a regular wall plug anywhere, and can be safely stowed away inside the body as well.
It’s dinky, but that’s the charm.
One Pump Wonder
The days of gigantic pumps are over. Now you can get a pump reminiscent of those cigarette lighters in cars primarily placed to teach kids painful lessons about what you get for being curious. The Flextail Zero Pump is a hiker’s dream weighing just 34 grams and sized at 25mm x 74mm. It can both inflate and deflate, being quick enough to inflate an air mattress in 50 seconds. It’s successfully hit it’s Kickstarter goal and going for the $60 level will bag you one for yourself. Be prepared and pack light.
Trophy’s just got too smart
The Formula 1 Grand Prix is typically known as a hot bed of tech and innovation on the automotive front, but it turns out that’s not the only place things are being honed and improved. Lenovo of all companies has been put in charge of the Formula 1 trophies at the podium. Their innovation was to develop a kiss activated trophy, because pashing a cup at the end of a hard race is just a given. The trophy uses an LED ring to guide the drivers lips to the landing pad, which is then activated by a touch-sensitive micro-switch. After activation the trophy lights up into a parametric pattern reminiscent of an F1’s air intake, decked in the colours of the drivers home country. Unfortunately it doesn’t go so far as having every drivers lip prints on file to call up the correct set of colours, but maybe that’s a dystopian future we can all look forward towards.
I’d like to know Lenovo’s train of thought when they came up with the idea of getting turned on from a kiss but I feel like that would reveal more than I’m comfortable with.
The Polaroid I-2
The convenience of taking a thousand photos on your phone is quickly tempered when you drop your phone in the toilet and lose all of them, easy come easy go. It might be this ephemeral nature of digital photograph that has allowed Polaroid to enjoy a renaissance with a new generation of people who actually want to hold and cherish their snaps. Polaroid has always been very happy snappy with minimal controls, making it perfect for on the fly party shots. Now the Polaroid I-2 is set to enhance that by adding a host of modern features that makes fast photography have even better results, including a wide aperture three-lens, making more vibrant shots as well as autofocus and LiDAR technology to adapt to different lighting.
But professionals are going to love this things brand new manual controls giving them a greater level of creativity to fiddle with aperture and shutter speeds. It also comes with remote control functionality via a mobile connection. It can handle both i-Type 600 and SX-70 films with pricing starting at US$599.
The SongBook Max
With a Retrofuturistic case with contemporary sounds the SongBook Max from Tivoli Audio is a bluetooth boombox from the 70s. It’s got 10 hours of battery life, built-in preamp, DAB/DAB+/FM radio, and bluetooth connectivity making it ready and capable of anything you want to throw at it, except for you know, CD’s and cassettes of course. It weighs 5.2kg and charges via USB-C. It’s got auxiliary input and EQ sliders to fiddle with the sound. It’s also got an IPX 4 rating for waterproofing and comes in two colours, an olive green or a swish cream and brown.
Atari 2600+
Out November 17th is the Atari 2600+, a remake of the 1980 original that handles the original game cartridges as well as 7800 cartridges. Only 80% of the size of the original the aesthetics successfully recall when times were better and the Bush family was friends with Saddam Hussein. It comes with a 10 in 1 cartridge to get you started and It drags these classics kicking and screaming into the 21st century with HDMI and widescreen mode support for modern TV’s.
It comes with a CX40+ Joystick but if you’re going to be doing any multiplayer you’re going to be wanting to pick up another one for $25. Atari also has CX30+ Paddle Controllers for people who want that authentic Breakout experience. A hot tip, Atari and others occasionally release special editions of the original cartridges but if you really want to expand your library google up the UNO-2600 Cartridge which handles SD cards for the homebrew scene.
Unleashing the Force
While the name Force 4 EQ might sound like an emotional droid from a Star Wars spinoff, it is in reality probably a lot more useful for day to day use. It is one of the clever offerings from New Zealand electric bike manufacturer Sinch. Founded by two New Zealanders with biking in their blood, Kim Struthers and Stephen James, this isn’t just a company—it’s a mission. With over 50 years of combined experience, these chaps weren’t just content with the status quo.
And they have been doing a great job of shifting the perception of e-bikes as flimsy foldy things that have enough trouble negotiating a footpath let alone a mountain bike trail. In fact they have taken the best bits of a mountain bike, injected it with some serious electric torque, and housed it all in a solid and sleek design. The Force 4 EQ boasts a Mullet geometry (business at the front, party at the back) and an internal cable routing frame design. Custom-tuned Rock Shox at both ends ensures that the bumps stay where they belong—beneath you and not juddering up your spine.
Apart from your feet, the beating heart of this bike is the Bosch Performance Line CX system. Punching out an impressive 85Nm with a top speed of 32 km/hr, this isn’t just any e-bike; it’s an electric stallion. This futuristic horsepower is fueled by a removable Bosch PowerTube 625Wh. And for those who want to extend the fun there’s an option to add the PowerMore 250Wh. Putting this power where it needs to go is the Shimano Deore XT 11-speed LinkGlide for those who appreciate the art of smooth transitions. And speaking of smooth transitions that’s our segue to some dad puns so whether you’re off to save the galaxy or just heading to the corner store for some milk, riding the Force 4 EQ ensures that every journey is an epic saga. May the torque be with you!
