Author: Stephen Fenech

Tech Guide Episode 428, hosted by editor Stephen Fenech, is packed with the latest tech news and reviews and our Celebrity Tech special guest is best-selling action novelist Matthew Reilly. On this week’s show, Samsung has quietly added 30 more channels to their TVs with the launch of Samsung TV Plus, we’ve kicked off our 12 Days of Christmas Gift Ideas and, in the Celebrity Tech segment, we chat with best-selling novelist Matthew Reilly. In the Tech Guide reviews, we take to the skies with the DJI Mini 2 drone, we raise the roof with the BlueAnt X5 Bluetooth speaker…

The DJI Mini 2 drone is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand but don’t let its size fool you into thinking it is not a capable drone that can handle the conditions and also produce stunning videos and images. This is the follow up to the original Mavic mini and its small size and easily portable design really gives you no excuse why you couldn’t take this with you wherever you go. It’s literally small enough to fit in your pocket but it’s still powerful enough to capture 4K video at 30 frames per second and…

Christmas is just around the corner and we’re here to help you find the right gift for your friends and family with Tech Guide’s 2020 12 Days of Christmas Gift Ideas. On Day 2 of the 2020 12 Day Christmas Gift Guide we’re covering one of the most popular tech products – the smartphone. This Christmas might see parents gift their child their first smartphone. Some may see it as an opportunity to upgrade to a better smartphone, consolidate with a mid-tier device or get their hands on their first 5G phone. Here are Tech Guide’s 12 Days of Christmas…

The stereotype of gamers being fat and unhealthy has been shattered in a new study by Queensland University of Technology which shows e-sports players being much healthier than the general population. The QUT study based on a survey of 1400 participants from 65 countries, showed remarkable results considering global obesity levels. This was the first study to investigate the BMI (body mass index) of a global sample of esports players. Surprisingly the results showed esports players were between nine and 21 per cent more likely to be a healthy weight then the rest of the population. In fact, esports players…

Christmas is nearly upon us – just over three weeks away, in fact – but there’s still plenty of time to find the right present for your friends and family with Tech Guide’s 2020 12 Days of Christmas Gift Ideas. To kick off our 12 Day Christmas Gift Guide in 2020 we’re taking a looking at cameras. Dedicated cameras are still in huge demand even though our smartphones have a high quality camera onboard. But these cameras can do things your smartphones can’t – and could be a perfect fit as a gift this Christmas Here are Tech Guide’s 12…

If you own a recent model Samsung TV there’s probably a nice surprise waiting for you. There’s a whole bunch of extra free channels waiting for you following the quiet launch in Australia of Samsung TV Plus. Samsung TV Plus is a free TV service that, once installed on your TV, will be found when scrolling through your free to air channels despite the fact that they are all streamed through your internet connection. There are hundreds of channels available on the service across news, entertainment, bingeable TV shows, sports, outdoors, lifestyle, kids, comedy, tech, gaming, movies and music. There…

Join the Two Blokes Talking Tech for Episode 464, with Tech Guide editor Stephen Fenech and EFTM’s Trevor Long, as they discuss the week’s biggest tech stories, issues and products in a fun yet informative way. On this week’s show, Black Friday sales kick off, BritBox streaming service launches in Australia, Samsung TV+ offers even more content on Samsung TVs, Duracell solar batteries partners with Social Energy, the new game Planet Coaster and Audible teams up with Empty Esky to encourage road trippers to support local businesses. You can listen to the show right here on the Tech Guide site…

Belkin has always been connecting our devices or charging then through their popular and durable cables and it has just received Ultra High Speed certification for its HDMI 2.1 cables which can handle 4K and even 8K content. The HDMI Forum has officially certified the Belkin AV1017bt series of 1m and 2m cables which support HDMI 2.1 and almost triples the bandwidth from 18Gbps to 48Gbps to support 4K HDR and 8K HDR video along with multi-channel audio the support the best brightness and resolution possible. This will be of interest to anyone who has just purchased a 4K or…

The post was written in partnership with Samsung. There are lot of things to consider when deciding on your next smartphone. After all it is not just for making calls and sending messages – it is your camera, your computer, your music player, movie player, internet browser and your e-book. And there is now a wide range of choices from the mid-tier all the way through to the latest flagship devices. Samsung Electronics has one of the widest smartphones ranges on the market and has several choices for customers at the mid-tier (about $400 and higher) level all the way…

Bargain hunters for tech products will be out in force on Black Friday when major online stores offer products from major brands at greatly reduced prices,. Tech Guide has put the best deals together here for you to help you find the product you want at a much lower price. AMAZON Amazon Devices  Save 38% off RRP on All-new Echo Dot (4th Gen) Save $10 Off All-New Fire TV Stick Lite with Alexa. Only $49 Save $50 off RRP on Kindle Paperwhite 8GB Save up to 30% off RRP on select Ring Home Security (Ring Home Security deals will be available to…

You can’t go to a concert but you can still rock your next party at home with the new BlueAnt X5 speaker which offers a solid house-filling sound and a couple of microphones if you fancy yourself as a singer. The $399.95 Australian-made 60W Bluetooth speaker has a built-in Class D amplifier and can produce 110dB of sound and great bass with an impressive sound range that doesn’t distort when you crank it up and wake the neighbours. Onboard is BlueAnt’s patented Psycho-Acoustic Bass Extension with a 156mm woofer and a 59mm tweeter. And it puts on an LED light…

A solar battery that can not only save you thousands off your energy bill but also pay you. That’s what you get with the Duracell Energy Bank Home 2 solar battery in partnership with Australian cricket legend Shane Warne and his new business Social Energy. Social Energy is a new energy retailer which launches for the first time this week with the Duracell Energy Bank 2 solar battery and will offer customer the highest feed-in tariff on the market at 40c per kWh that’s put back into the grid from the system. The 40c per kWh rate is more than…

Tune in to Episode 427 of the Tech Guide podcast, hosted by editor Stephen Fenech, to stay updated and educated about the latest tech news and products – and to hear our interview with the one and only Sandra Sully. On this week’s show, we take a close look at the M1-powered MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro – and boy were we impressed. There’s a new streaming service for those who love British TV and in the Celebrity Tech segment we interview news icon Sandra Sully and share her views about Twitter, the state of Australian journalism in the…

One of the biggest worries for customers, especially seniors, is keeping their home phones after the NBN rollout. But there is a way to keep your number even if you don’t connect to the NBN. myhomefone allows users to keep their home phone and their phone number even without the NBN. The NBN rollout meant customers had to use the new network to connect to the internet and to connect their home phones. This has caused a lot of anxiety for older customers who didn’t necessarily want the NBN but who still wanted a home phone. Most thought the only…

Audible, the world’s largest producer and provider of audiobooks, has teamed up with the Empty Esky tourism campaign to encourage more travellers to hit the road and help support local businesses with access to free audiobooks at more than 70 destinations. Research by Audible has shown that, not surprisingly, 52 per cent of Australians say the length of the drive is the biggest turn off for road trips. But 8.9 million Aussies say they listen to audiobooks because it makes their drive go faster. In the Empty Esky campaign, Audible is giving away more than 60 hours of entertainment for…

The Xiaomi Mi Portable Air Compressor is a handy companion for drivers and riders – it can top up your car tyre air pressure as well as pump motorcycle and bike tyres and balls. The unit, which is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, allows users to check their tyre pressure and top it up If needed. Priced at just $99, the Xiaomi Mi Portable Air Compressor does not require any external power so you can carry it and use it anywhere. The front display shows the desired pressure which can be set using the directional…

If you’re a fan of British drama and comedy – we have great news. An all-new streaming service called BritBox has just launched in Australia which puts the best of British TV in one place. BritBox has landed in Australia following a partnership between BBC Studio and ITV after successful launches in the US, Canada and the UK. The content for Australian BritBox subscribers has been specially curated to include classic and contemporary British series along with exclusive and premiere titles which span crime, drama, comedy and mystery. The BritBox service is accessible through an app which will run on…

If you love camping and hiking but you still want to stay entertained in the great outdoors then EcoXGear has some rugged waterproof products that means you still have some of life’s comforts with you. The EcoXGear range includes a carabiner that’s also a powerbank, a compact lightweight speaker and a lantern that’s also a speaker. ECOXGEAR ECOXCHARGE CLIP – $49.99 The ExoXCharge Clip is an oversized carabiner that can be easily attached to your clothing or a backpack. Built in is a 3,350mAh battery so you can still keep all of your devices, including your all-important smartphone, charged while…

Not everyone can connect to the NBN and other want faster speeds that the NBN can offer so a product like the Netgear Orbi 4GX Router with Satellite can be the perfect solution. The Netgear Orbi 4GX router with Satellite (LBK 1220) takes the company’s award-winning technology and delivers whole home wi-fi to keep you connected for your streaming, gaming and other online activities. And the connection comes from a Telstra SIM card which can offer typical download speeds of up to 300Mbps – three times faster than the NBN. The unit and it’ satellite can share that connection with…

Tune in to Episode 462 of the entertaining and informative Two Blokes Talking Tech podcast with Tech Guide editor Stephen Fenech and EFTM’s Trevor Long as they discuss the week’s biggest tech stories and products. On this week’s show, Apple reduces App Store commissions for small businesses, we take a look at the new Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War game, our verdicts on the M1-powered MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro, the HomePod mini, the Felix telco that’s environmentally-friendly and how to protect yourself from online scammers this Christmas. You can listen to the show right here on…