Author: Stephen Fenech

It’s getting to that time of year when we hit the road on our holidays and just in time Laser has launched its latest range of crash cams to be your eyes and ears on the road. Laser is an Australian company with a reputation for offering quality products at an affordable price and the new crash cam range certainly fits into this category. There is a product to suit all types of users and budgets and include features like GPS, full high definition resolution, in-car recording as well as local school zone warnings and speed and red camera alerts.…

Bed specialists AH Beard have launched a range of non-wearable sleep tech products that can give us insights into our sleep habits and use that information to help us get a better night’s sleep. We all know sleep is important yet it’s the first thing that suffers when we’re busy. In fact, 40 per cent of Australians don’t get enough sleep. Sleep experts says sleep is one of the vital pillars of our life along with exercise and nutrition which affects our ability to think and learn, affect our mood and behaviour and even our weight. Australia company AH Beard,…

If you like using Facebook Messenger there is some good news – especially for the 90 per cent of users who like to attach photos to their messages – you can now send and receive photos at their full resolution. More than 17 billion photos are exchanged through Messenger every month and now each picture can be sent at up to 4K resolution or 4096 x 4096 pixels per image. Users can share pictures of their holiday, their night out, the arrival of a new member of the family and all the big occasions of their lives in all their…

Sit back and relax and let us update and educate you about the latest tech news and products with Episode 275 of the top-rating Tech Guide podcast, hosted by editor Stephen Fenech. On this week’s show, GymKit makes its worldwide debut in Australian gyms so members can pair their Apple Watch to cardio machines, Apple’s HomePod smart speaker delayed, Kogan shakes up the computer market with affordable Windows 10 notebooks and Tesla shocks the world by unveiling the world’s fastest production car ever built. In the Tech Guide reviews, we take a look at Jedi Challenges where you get to…

D-Link’s new modem router – the AC5300 MU-MIMO Cobra – is the fastest it has ever produced and it’s designed to deliver fast Wi-Fi speeds especially for NBN customers. The Cobra DSL-5300 has a built-in VDSL2 and ADSL2+ modem along with a dedicated Gigabit WAN (wide area network) port and four Gigabit LAN (local area network) ports. The product has an aggressive design with eight high gain antennas that contribute to the stronger wi-fi coverage and performance. This new device builds on D-Link’s heritage from the award-winning Taipan modem router and brings with it the latest generation of MU-MIMO multi…

There’s isn’t a true Star Wars fan around who hasn’t once imagined wielding a lightsabre and using the Force. Thanks to the new Lenovo Jedi Challenges – it has turned that imagination to reality – augmented reality to be precise. Jedi Challenges literally puts a lightsabre in your hands and pits you against Darth Maul, Kylo Ren, Darth Vader and others. And not only that you can play Holochess – on the same board we first saw aboard the Millennium Falcon in the original 1977 Star Wars film – you can also direct troops in massive ground battles. And it…

Backing up your computer is essential but that backup has to be protected and that’s been made even easier with the new LaCie rugged portable hard drives which are designed to handle solid day-to-day use. Available in capacities up to 5TB, the LaCie Rugged Thunderbolt USB-C portable drive has the company’s trademark orange bumper around the edges of the device so it can handle drops from a height of 1.5m. It’s also water resistant and shock resistant. it can also withstand the weight of a one-ton car, so if it got run over it would still be okay. The LaCie…

Kogan has yet again broken the price barrier with another in-demand tech product. This time it’s a range of three affordable Windows 10 notebooks that start at less than $200. The Atlas range includes two 2-in-1s with the versatility of a tablet and power of a laptop and a notebook. The three notebooks are all available for pre-sale today at Kogan.com and will ship to customers on December 7. All of these products are running Windows 10 Home with features you’d expect from far more expensive devices at a fraction of the price. KOGAN ATLAS 2-IN-1 D300 TOUCHSCREEN NOTEBOOK -…

Apple’s HomePod connected smart speaker, unveiled at the Worldwide Developer’s Conference and due for a December release, has now been delayed until early 2018. The HomePod, a high-quality speaker that can be controlled using Siri, was one of the stars of the show at WWDC in San Jose in June. At that time Apple made the unusual move of naming a release date six months down the track in December. Pricing was also revealed at $US349. The company has confirmed the delay in a statement. “We can’t wait for people to experience HomePod, Apple’s breakthrough wireless speaker for the home,…

Spend your weekend with the Two Blokes Talking Tech – Tech Guide editor Stephen Fenech and EFTM’s Trevor Long, for Episode 323 where they discuss the biggest tech news and product releases. On this week’s show, Telstra offers unlimited data on its home broadband plans and starts paying refunds for those oversold on the NBN, GymKit – where you can link your Apple Watch to cardio equipment – makes its world-wide debut in Australian and our public Netflix bingeing habits unveiled. Also on the program, our rights in the sharing economy, Aussie brand Audiofly’s affordable and high quality Bluetooth headphones,…

Tesla has sprung a massive surprise at an event to reveal an electric heavy haul truck but stunned attendees by revealing a sleek new roadster which has been described as “the fastest production car ever made”. The launch was advertised as Tesla’s entry into the heavy vehicle market and the prototype vehicle, due to go into production at the end of 2019, will have a range of 800km. But after the new Tesla semi was driven into the event – the trailer it was hauling opened up and the new Tesla supercar prototype emerged. The new all-wheel drive Tesla roadster…

You know how they say we should buy Australian? Now you can gladly do that when buying Bluetooth earphones so you can experience surprising audio quality with home-grown brand Audiofly. The new range of locally designed and engineered earphones brings Audiofly’s expertise in professional music to customers who want to enjoy their music on the go. The Perth-based company has come up with a range of three earphones – good, better, best offerings – that absolutely punch above their weight. Audiofly’s expertise in designing pro-musician stage and recording headphones with multi-driver technology has been used to provide a remarkable soundstage.…

Tomorrow 1,977 Star Wars limited edition drones from Propel will go on sale to celebrate the release of the original film in 1977 at the special price of $199 – that’s $100 cheaper the regular price. There are three models in the Star Wars collection – the 74-Speeder Bike, the TIE Advanced X1 and the T-65 X Wing – which can be used for exciting drone gaming and boasting speeds of up to 45 km/h. The 1,977 Limited edition souvenir boxed drones are being released to celebrate the latest Star Wars film, The Last Jedi, which will be released on…

Australia’s Fitness First gymnasiums have become the first in the world to roll out Apple’s GymKit which allows customers with an Apple Watch to connect directly to cardio equipment for more accurate exercise information. In an industry first, Fitness First’s members can just tap their Apple Watch to the GymKit-enabled cardio equipment to pair wirelessly and begin tracking and recording their fitness information. The TechnoGym treadmills, ellipticals, indoor bikes and stair machines at Fitness First include the new technology so data not previously communicated like heart rate, calories burned, distance, speed and incline can now be exchanged with the Apple…

We’re told it’s essential to back up our content and most of these precious memories are on our smartphones but SanDisk has just made that task even easier with each new iXpand Base. Designed for iPhone users, the iXpand Base is both a charger and backup device that can store your photos, videos and contacts. Most of us use our smartphones as our day-to-day camera and are capturing moments every day that would like to preserve. Despite this, according to SanDisk’s research, a staggering 85 per cent of smartphone users don’t back up their device. The SanDisk iXpand Base can…

Most of us use a computer mouse every day but not all of them suit the needs of every user. Logitech has just released the MX Ergo wireless mouse with a built-in trackball. The MX Ergo combines the Logitech mouse technology already featured in the rest of the excellent MX range. These include ergonomic design and several programmable buttons as well as a track wheel. Logitech’s MX Ergo has all of those features and more. On the left side of the device – where you’d place your thumb – is a trackball which offers a number of benefits. The first…

There is a lot to love about the new Huawei Nova 2i – it has a generous 5.9-inch display and a sleek design and it’s the first smartphone with dual lens cameras on the front and back. Give the people what they want, is probably what Huawei was thinking with the Nova 2i – especially with the growing number of people who’ve turned taking selfies into an art form. Right away you’ll see the quality of your selfies taken through the 13-megapixel and 2-megapixel lenses on the front of the device. Of course, the rear 16-megapixel and 2-megapixel cameras are…

Telstra has launched its first home broadband plans with unlimited data allowances to match the growing appetite of Australian customers who are now using the internet to access their entertainment. Streaming entertainment has continued to grow dramatically in popularity especially as more homes are connected to the NBN. In past 12 months, traffic on Telstra’s fixed network has increased by 40 per cent with two thirds of Australians now streaming their favourite shows and movies. “Not having a data limit will provide peace of mind as Australians’ data habits continue to grow,” says Telstra group executive, consumer and small business,…

Want to stay updated and educated about the latest consumer tech news and reviews? Then you need to listen to Episode 274 of the top-rating Tech Guide podcast, hosted by editor Stephen Fenech. On this week’s show, knowing your rights in the sharing economy, our public Netflix bingeing habits revealed and Foxtel launches its new Foxtel Now box. In the Tech Guide reviews, we check out the Netgear Powerline Wi-Fi range extender, Kogan has released a new affordable large screen smartphone and Apple’s Clips 2.0 app lets you create the ultimate selfie. In the Tech Guide Help Desk we talk…

If you’ve ever used services like Uber, AirBNB or Airtasker, you’re part of the booming sharing economy but while they are quite convenient – do you know your rights if things don’t go to plan? These platforms have been enormously successful and offer a convenient way to obtain goods and services being offered by other members of the public rather than an organisation. But what happens when things go wrong? Where does a customer stand? The good news is anyone using these services through an online marketplace or sharing economy platform have the full protection of Australian Consumer Law. It’s…