Author: Stephen Fenech

Garmin has announced two small standalone drive recorders – the Dash Cam 45 and Dash Cam 55 – that will offer high quality recoding of any on-road incidents and a number of other driver safety features. The Garmin Dash Cams are equipped with automatic incident detection through its G Sensor which will automatically save recorded footage as well as detailed time and location data. The device is quite small and sits on a mount on your car’s windscreen and starts recording automatically as soon as the car starts. Footage through the Dash Cam 55 is captured at 1440p, 1080p or…

Hisense has unveiled its new Series 8 and Series 9 4K ULED TVs as well as the affordable pricing and availability of the range which is sure to continue the brand’s impressive momentum in the Australian market. It was exactly a year ago when Hisense introduced its ULED technology which is protected by more than 20 patents. The latest ULED models have improved brightness (up to 1,000 nits) and a Wide Colour Gamut that brings the picture quality to an even higher level. Last year the Hisense Series 7 ULED TVs made a huge impact and the Series 8 and…

The workplace printer has just got faster, more efficient and environmentally friendly with the release of the Epson Workforce Enterprise inkjet printer that can produce 100 colour copies per minute. Epson Australia has unveiled the WorkForce Enterprise WF-C20590 (100 pages per minute) and the WF-C17590 which can produce 75ppm with both designed to meet the needs of departmental office printing in corporates, SMBs and SMEs. Under the hood are a number of innovations designed to deliver consistent results even at high speeds while reducing power usage by as much as 96 per cent when compared to the same speed laser…

We’ve all heard how it easy it is to pay for things with our phones and watches in stores but what about accepting payments anywhere quickly and conveniently even if you don’t have a store? Square has created a solution to accept tap and go payments that suits all types of workers and all types of businesses including health and fitness, trades and services, markets, beauty professionals and coffee shops. Square includes two payment devices. The first is a contactless chip reader that accepts chip cards for tap and go as well as mobile wallets like Apple Pay, Android Pay…

Apple has released new bands for Apple Watch and a new app called Clips that makes it easier to create videos on iPhone and iPad to share with friends, family and social media. These announcements were made the same day Apple released the (PRODUCT)RED iPhone 7 and the new 9.7-inch iPad. The new collection of watch band includes sports bands in pebble, azure and camelia and Nike Sport Bands in anthracite/black, pure platinum/white and volt/black. All of these bands will be available in both 38mm and 42mm sizes. There are also new Apple Watch Hermes bands including a 38mm Double…

LG has announced the price and availability in Australia of its amazing new Signature OLED W7 – the TV that’s so thin and light that it can be mounted in your home like wallpaper. The 65-inch TV is just 2.57mm thick and, when mounted inside the magnetic bracket, it extends a mere 4mm off the wall. LG’s wallpaper OLED TV, which was the hit of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, will arrive in Australia in the first week in April. It will be priced at $13,499. That price will include delivery and installation of the magnetic…

Apple has updated the 9.7-inch iPad – its most popular sized iPad – to take the place of the iPad Air in the company’s popular product range and at its most affordable price ever. The new 9.7-inch iPad is available to order from this Saturday, March 25 and is powered by Apple’s 64-bit A9 chip to deliver laptop-like performance for fast processing and smoother graphics. The iPad has a brighter Retina display with more than 3.1 million pixels and it’s housed in a chassis that’s just 7.5mm thick and weighs in at 469g. The device has an 8-megapixel rear camera…

Passengers travelling to the UK will be banned from carrying larger electronic devices like laptop computers and tablets aboard an aircraft following a British Government decision. Incoming passengers from six pre-dominantly Muslim countries – Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia – will be required to check in these larger electronic devices with their luggage. The decision comes after British intelligence uncovered a potential terrorist threat following an attempt by a terror group to bring down a jet using a laptop bomb. “The safety and security of the travelling public is our highest priority,” a No 10 Downing St…

Apple has introduced a bold new model of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus – the (PRODUCT)RED Special Edition – which allows anyone who purchases it to contribute to the Global Fund to combat AIDS. Apple has enjoyed a 10-year partnership with (RED) and the new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are the latest products to be offered in this distinct red colour. Apart from the new red colour, these new iPhones are identical to the current iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus models in terms of specs, size and camera quality. These new (PRODUCT)RED iPhones go on…

If you want to stay updated and educated about the latest consumer tech news and reviews then you need to tune in to Episode 241 of the top-rating Tech Guide podcast, hosted by editor Stephen Fenech. On this week’s show, we round up the rumours ahead of the launch of the highly-anticipated Samsung Galaxy S8 flagship smartphone, look at the new way to make tap and go payments with your sunglasses and talk about the new TAG Heuer smartwatch. In the Tech Guide interview, we chat with D-Link’s Australian general manager Greame Reardon about the company’s 30th anniversary and the…

How much does it take to really shock an Australian mobile customer? A fair bit according to the latest research which shows users only experience bill shock when it’s more than four times higher than their regular plan cost. A Finder study of more than 2000 people showed that almost one in four (23.5 per cent) have experienced mobile bill shock – that’s the equivalent of more than five million Australians – in the last two years. And of these people, more than a third has received a bill of $200 or more. That’s a massive overspend when you consider…

Stan is literally taking off in the coming weeks with news that Qantas will be offering the subscription video on demand service to its passengers with in-flight wi-fi before the end of the month. Qantas is flicking the switch on wi-fi connectivity for its fleet of its domestic aircraft in the coming weeks The first aircraft enabled with wi-fi and offering Stan to its passengers will be a 737 that will take to the skies before the end of March. Passengers on that flight will not only have access to Stan onboard the aircraft but access to the service with…

Independent gaming developers are about to get a massive shot in the arm thanks to Apple’s decision to create a dedicated page for indie games on the App Store. Apple launched the dedicated location for new and favourite indie titles a few days ago to spotlight some of the best games available – and there are many Australian titles to choose from which can be played on the iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Watch and the Mac. These include Duet Game by Melbourne indie game studio Kumobius and Crossy Road by Melbourne’s Hipster Whale. Other local favourites include Hulabear by…

Panasonic’s highly-anticipated Lumix GH5 – the company’s flagship single lens mirrorless camera that’s just as powerful shooting video as it is capturing stills – will go sale in April. The Lumix GH5 has a number of innovations and world firsts including being the first consumer digital camera to offer 4K 10-bit 4:2:2 and 25 or 30fps (frames per second) video recording to an SD card. Lumix GH5 also has a 20.3-megapixel sensor and 5-axis Dual IS 2 for excellent stabilisation. Panasonic’s Lumix GH5 has been designed with the needs and demands of the professional photographer and videographer in mind. It…

Let the Two Blokes Talking Tech, Tech Guide editor Stephen Fenech and EFTM’s Trevor Long, walk you through the biggest tech stories of the week in Episode 291 of the popular podcast. On this week’s show, Samsung unveils its QLED TV range – and the pricing, Telstra improves mobile blackspots in rural areas and battery dramas with headphones and an iPhone. The blokes also talk about Norton’s tips for parents and children about online bullying and the new TAG Heuer smartwatch. In the minute reviews we check out the Razer Blade gaming laptop and the Sol Republic Amps Air wire…

Prestigious watch maker TAG Heuer has released its second luxury smartwatch – the TAG Heuer Connected Modular 45 – which combines the company’s Swiss heritage with the latest technology. Intel is once again collaborating with Tag Heuer for the Connected Modular 45 to allow users to stay connected without compromising style. TAG Heuer’s Connected Modular 45 has a 1.39-inch AMOLED touchscreen display with sapphire cover glass and is encased in durable titanium. The watch is available in satin or polished grade 5 titanium. It also has 4GB of onboard memory and is water resistant The all-metal watch has wi-fi, Bluetooth,…

The countdown is on to the launch of Samsung’s new Galaxy S8 smartphone which will take place in New York later this month and the rumours about the device have gone into overdrive. With the dust just settling from Samsung’s Note7 issues and recalls, all eyes will be on the electronics giant to see what it comes up with next. The Galaxy S8 needs to be a home run and, if the rumours are to be believed, it is on track to be a hit. Battery issues aside, the Note7 was an advanced product that included an iris scanner so…

Australians have embraced tap and go contactless payments on average more than any other country so it makes sense we’ve created the latest way to pay – with our sunglasses. Australian start-up Inamo unveiled WaveShades – the new contactless payment sunglasses at the South by Southwest (SXSW) alongside global payments giant Visa. Inamo came up with the idea for the sunglasses and provided the NFC (near field communication) chip. Inamo founder Peter Colbert, a former agent to many international surfing stars and an avid surfer himself, thought of the contactless payment sunglasses after a surf with his friends in Manly.…

If you’re after a powerful laptop that allows you to play games and run demanding applications and look good doing it, then the new Razer Blade will tick all the boxes. The Razer Blade has a 14-inch display – available in full high definition or 4K – and is powered by the 7th Gen Intel Core i7 quad core processor. Also under the hood is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 graphics processor for amazing performance in high definition when playing games. And it’s also ready for immersive VR ready games and up to three times faster than the previous generation…

It’s the last sort of wake-up call you’d ever want – especially on a plane but that’s exactly what one Australian passenger received when her headphones exploded mid-flight. Two hours after take-off, the noise cancelling headphones the woman was wearing exploded. “As I went to turn around I felt burning on my face,” the unnamed woman told the Australia Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB). The explosion singed the woman’s hard and her face was covered in black soot from smoke and sparks coming from the headphones. Her worst injury was a burn which left her with blistered skin on her hand.…