Author: Stephen Fenech

If you get a hankering for some KFC, there’s a new delivery service that will get your food to you by drone. Wing, Australia’s first on-demand drone delivery service, have teamed up with Kentucky Fried Chicken to provide the service to deliver hot and fresh menu items to the homes and businesses of Logan in Queensland. This is a proof-of-concept service that will use the southeast Queensland town and, in particular, Kingston, Logan Central, Slacks Creek, Underwood, and Woodridge. The service will eventually expand to include other nearby locations. So if you live in one of these areas and craving…

With Valentine’s Day coming up, many Australians may be looking to the dating apps to find true love. But they should take care – romance scams cost Aussie victims more than $46m in 2021. That’s up from $37m in 2020 – an alarming 20 per cent increase. Catfish scammers are the main culprits – these are people who pretend to be someone else online as they get to know their targets before asking them for money. These scammers pose as potential friends or distant family members or past work colleagues. All these scams usually involve a person using a fake…

Jaguar Land Rover has announced Amazon Alexa will be available on its new and existing Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles to allow drivers to enjoy voice-enabled experiences while their hands are safely on the wheel. Jaguars and Land Rovers equipped with the Pivi Pro infotainment system will receive an over-the-air software update to enable Alexa in their vehicles. Owners will receive an in-vehicle notification via their vehicle’s touchscreen when the Alexa update is ready to install. And all new Jaguar I-PACE all-electric SUV models with Pivi Pro will come with Alexa pre-installed. The engineering teams from Jaguar Land Rover an…

If you haven’t heard of Wordle yet – you soon will. It’s a new daily word game that millions of people are playing each day. And we’ve got some tips to help you crack it even faster. The Wordle puzzle released each day on a website – it’s not app. And more than three million people are playing the game every day – and sharing their results on social media. The object of the game is to guess a five-letter word in six attempts. Each attempt will reveal if you have the right letter in the right place or the…

We are creating so much content with our smartphones on the move and the Pivo Pod Silver can now let you do that hands free while its motion tracking function keeps you in the centre of the frame. The device is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand and can securely hold your smartphone in portrait or landscape mode. The Pivo Pod Silver has a thread on the base which means it could be mounted on top of a tripod. The device provides an excellent way to capture your content hands-free while also being kept in the…

Lend me your ears for Episode 487 of the top-rating Tech Guide podcast, hosted by Stephen Fenech, so you can stay updated and educated about the latest consumer tech news and reviews. On this week’s show: Electric vehicle shipments are set to increase in 2022, Samsung has named the date for the launch of its flagship Galaxy S22 smartphones – and we have more details about the device and Norton has released new Antitrack software to stop sites tracking you. In the Tech Guide reviews, we check out the Samsung S21 FE 5G smartphone, Denon’s new soundbar that can connect…

iPhone owners have been frustrated during the pandemic not being able to unlock their phone and authorise Apple Pay payments with Face ID because they’re wearing a mask. But that’s all about to change when Apple releases iOS 15.4 in the coming weeks which will allow users to unlock their iPhone with Face ID even while wearing their face mask. A year ago, Apple released iOS 14.5 which made it possible to unlock your iPhone with Apple Watch instead of Face ID because we were wearing a mask and it couldn’t recognise us. This worked OK for iPhone users who…

For those who love the great outdoors and enjoy camping, bushwalking or 4WD exploring – a new device has been released by Australian company GME to keep them safe and locatable in the event of an emergency. Australians love exploring our beautiful country and often that’s outside the range of our mobile networks so if something happens you can’t just dial 000. The Australian made GME MT610 Personal Locator Beacon is an essential product for anyone who likes exploring the most remote parts of Australia. Many people are unaware that our current cellular networks might be within reach of 99…

The Samsung has packed in all our favourite features into the Galaxy S21 FE 5G – an attractive smartphone that’s suited to a wide range of users. The S21 FE 5G was announced during the Consumer Electronics Show in early January – a month before the launch of the Galaxy S22. That says to us the Samsung is offering customers the best of last year’s tech in a single device for those who don’t want a more affordable smartphone but still a high-quality set of features. Think of the Galaxy S21 FE 5G like Samsung Mobile’s greatest hits album. If…

In recent years, the popularity of esports has kept increasing. Everything is packed with competitive action, and gamers give their best to show off their skills and win. eSports are extremely fun to watch, and the option to bet on these does not come as a surprise. As you take a look at the list of sites on https://hellsbet.com/en-au/, you may notice that almost all offer esports as well. While some people love watching esports, others are considering an option to step into the world of it.  Where to Start? Once upon a time, many thought that gaming was nothing…

Can you be perfect? This week on The Best Movies You’ve Never Seen podcast we’re watching Friday Night Lights which tells the true story of the 1988 Permian Panthers football team. Starring Billy Bob Thornton, Friday Night Lights is based on the best-selling sports book written by HG Bizzinger who spent a year in Odessa, West Texas tracking the Permian Panthers as they strived to win the State Championship in 1988. But the story isn’t just out on the field – it’s all about the players’ personal struggles and how a town is held together by their love of the…

Leading cyber safety and security company NortonLifeLock has released AntiTrack – new software to increase online privacy by preventing websites and third-party companies tracking searches and collecting personal data. Norton AntiTrack is a new app and a browser extension for Windows PCs so users can have more control of their online privacy and secure their personal data. The latest Norton Consumer Cyber Safety Pulse report found advertising trackers can see up to 73 per cent of an average user’s browsing history. During a typical week, consumers encounter 177 tracking organisations, with more than half of those trackers within the first…

Electric vehicle shipments are set to reach 6 million globally, up from 4 million in 2021, according to the latest forecasts by Gartner. The 2022 figure is a 35 per cent increase from the previous year with Greater China set to account for 46 per cent of global EV shipments this year. That’s a total of 2.9 million EVs just in that region. Europe will rank number 2 as it’s on track to ship 1.9 million units in 2022. North America will the third highest region in 2022 with an expected shipment of 855,300 EVs. The Asia Pacific region, and…

Get Episode 520 of the popular Two Blokes Talking Tech podcast, with Tech Guide editor Stephen Fenech and EFTM’s Trevor Long, in your ears right now as they go through the week’s biggest tech stories and products. This week, as we celebrate Australia Day, we take a look at the technology invented by Australia including wi-fi, Google Maps, black box flight recorder and the cochlear implant as well as the Australian companies flying the flag including Rode Microphones, Blackmagic Design, Atlassian and Canva. Also on the show: the rumours around the Samsung Galaxy S22, Vodafone rolls out new AI and…

Samsung has confirmed its Unpacked launch event for Feb 9 (2am Feb 10 AEDT) to launch the company’s latest line-up of flagship Galaxy S22 smartphones which will include next generation camera technology. After confirming the launch date, Samsung launched a trailer which hints at the low light capabilities of what we’re assuming is the S22 Ultra which will have a four-camera system including a 108-megapixel main camera. https://youtu.be/2ykQRba4kM4 The video showed the shape of the smartphone framing various objects. Then we see a person making a frame with their fingers and seeing the bright lights of a cityscape shining in…

Casio has unveiled new voice synthesis technology that looks set to redefine who we play keyboards with the launch of the Casiotone CT-S1000V which can not only play notes – it can also play lyrics. The CT-S1000V goes into totally new territory by making it possible to create lyrics using a phone or tablet and then play them musically using the CT-S1000V’s keys. Creators can speak or type their lyrics into the free Lyric Creator app for Android and iOS and then export them to the keyboard. In Note mode you can then play a word or a syllable with…

Stay updated and educated about the latest consumer tech news and reviews with Episode 486 of the top-rating Tech Guide podcast hosted by editor Stephen Fenech. On this week’s show, Samsung has teased it’s new upcoming flagship Galaxy S22 smartphones, Australians lost a record $323m in scams in 2021 and 3 in 5 Australians working from home are unhappy with their internet connection. In the Tech Guide reviews, we’ll take a listen to the Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin all-in-one speaker system, Canon has launched the EOS R5 C its first full frame 8K camera and Boost Mobile is offering more…

Ever get frustrated when you can’t talk to a real person? Vodafone’s answer to this won’t be adding real people but rather AI-powered chat bots and smart speech recognition tools as a way of improving the customer experience. The new service will be called TOBi and will use Google Cloud’s DialogFlow and Genesys Multicloud to improve the customer service journey and resolve queries in record time. It is the first phase of Vodafone’s new Natural Language Processing (NLP) speech Interactive Voice Response (IVR) on its customer care channel. This technology uses AI to comprehend the customer, understand the issue and…

Audio brand Denon, one of the market leaders in AV receivers, has released the DHT-S517 soundbar that can plug into any TV and enhance the entertainment experience. The Denon soundbar has upfiring speakers along with a powerful wireless subwoofer to bring Dolby Atmos to your living room. This thrilling 3D audio effect will make you hear sounds from around you, behind you and above you. The device has been precisely engineered and tuned by the Denon Sound Masters to provide clear dialogue, enhanced bass and enveloping sound through its 3.1.2 configuration. Under the hood is a powerful seven-driver array made…

Three in five Australians working from home are unhappy with their internet connection according to the latest research from comparison specialists Canstar Blue. Around 60 per cent of Australians have been frustrated with their connection while working remotely Dropouts on their NBN connection were the most common problem (42 per cent) followed by speed issues (31 per cent) and installation hassles (9 per cent). “While 34 percent of Australians say they intend to continue working from home at least one day a week in the future, 16 percent also say their home internet reliability is noticeably impacted when multiple people…