Author: Stephen Fenech

The smash hit box office sensation Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will be available to watch at home next month and will include hours of extra features to dive even deeper into the Star Wars universe. The film, which tells the story about Rebels stealing the plans to the fearsome Death Star, will be released on Digital as well as Blu-ray Disc and DVD. It will arrive on Digital on March 24 and on Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D and DVD on April 4. The movie will come with never-before-seen interviews and bonus features. These include: A Rogue Idea – Hear how…

Apple’s co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs will be honoured by the company when it opens its incredible new 175-acre campus in the heart of the Santa Clara valley this year. Apple Park, which was envisioned by Jobs as a creative and peaceful workspace, transformed miles of asphalt and created a green space around the campus’s ring-shaped 2.8 million square-foot main building which will include grassy fields and more than 9,000 native and drought-resistant trees. The theatre at Apple Park will be named the Steve Jobs Theatre in honour of the visionary who would have turned 62 on February 24.…

Being able to watch the same source on two TVs takes a fair bit of work to organise but a new wireless product from One For All makes that usually difficult task a whole lot easier. The Wireless HDMI Sender makes it possible to stream the output of one source to another TV in your home. You might want to watch a movie on your bedroom TV or catch the football by the pool. Or you want to locate sources at the back of the room away from the TV but don’t want to run any cables between them. You might…

It’s six years today since the first episode of the popular Two Blokes Talking Tech podcast was recorded with Tech Guide editor Stephen Fenech and EFTM’s Trevor Long. Exactly six years later, the blokes have recorded Episode 288 (there have actually been more than 300 shows when you factor in the multiple shows from the Consumer Electronic Show) at the Optus campus. On this week’s show, the Tesla Powerwall which has slashed one family’s power bills by more than 90 per cent, will Australian telcos offer unlimited plans like US carriers and Roy Morgan research reveals surprising stats about Vodafone.…

5G is just over the horizon for Optus with news the company’s 4.5G network has just been switched on to deliver high speeds and seamless access to content for their customers. The foundations for Optus’s 5G plans is being built with this 4.5G network update which will be capable exceeding the 1Gbps mark. Optus’s 4.5G network has kicked off in Sydney’s Macquarie Park – the same suburb where the company’s campus is located. In the next 12 months, the Optus high-speed 4.5G network will rollout to capital cities and will reach 70 per cent of Optus networks in Sydney, Melbourne,…

If you needed an incentive to go solar and install a Tesla Powerwall here it is. The first owners of the Tesla Powerwall have reduced their total power bills in the first year by more than 90 per cent. The Pfitzner family made headlines after having Australia’s first Tesla Powerwall installed by Natural Solar in their four-bedroom home in Sydney’s Hills District in January 2016. The original Tesla Powerwall contains a 6.4kWh capacity and stores the excess energy captured by the home’s solar panels for use later in the day and evening during peak hours. The Pfitzner family saved $2,110.46 in…

It’s time to tune in to Episode 237 of the top-rating Tech Guide podcast, hosted by editor Stephen Fenech, so you can stay updated and educated about the latest tech news and products. On this week’s show, will Australian telcos follow the US carriers and offer unlimited mobile data, will we see the iPhone 8 at Apple Worldwide Developer Conference in June, EHang passenger drones to go into service THIS YEAR and Microsoft Office updated with Touch Bar support for the MacBook Pro. In the Tech Guide reviews, we take a look at the iKlip Grip Pro photography accessory, we…

Mobile World Congress doesn’t kick off in Barcelona until next week but LG is already teasing some tantalising details about the company’s new G6 smartphone which will be announced at the annual mobile phone trade show. The LG G6 will have a 5.7-inch FullVision display with a resolution of 2,880 x 1,440. That giant screen will have an ultra-wide 18:9 aspect ratio that almost completely covers the entire front panel of the phone. LG says the FullVision display will have a differentiated experienced when viewing videos or surfing the web. Having a screen of this size and shape makes it…

Microsoft has rolled out a significant update to the Microsoft Office suite of applications that now includes Touch Bar support for Apple’s latest MacBook Pro. Now anyone using Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook on the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar will have fingertip access to the most common commands and functions for these respective applications. The Touch Bar changes depending on the application you’re using and allows the user to use these commands and shortcuts while their fingers are still on the keyboard rather than using the trackpad or reaching for the mouse. WORD Within Word the Touch Bar you…

Whether you’re using your smartphone or a small camera to take your photos and videos, anything that can help us create better results is welcomed. Say hello to the IK Multimedia iKlip Grip Pro multifunction stand. The iKlip Grip Pro is four accessories in one – a tripod, a hand-grip mount, an extendable monopod and a selfie stick complete with remote shutter control. It is made of sturdy lightweight plastic and aluminium and when fully closed and folded down it is about 20cm long but it extends to more than three times that length to up to 62cm. It has…

It’s 300 days until Star Wars: The Last Jedi explodes on movie screens around the world and today we were given our first glimpse of the highly-anticipated movie’s main characters. StarWars.com announced that Force Friday II – the day when toys, collectibles, books and other merchandise will be unveiled – will take place on September 1, 2017. Also revealed was a packaging sample which showed the three main characters Poe, Ray and Finn. In the centre was Rey holding Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber that she was holding at the end of The Force Awaken. She now has longer and a darker…

Apple has announced the dates and location of the 2017 Worldwide Developers Conference where the company will unveil the latest software updates for Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. The event attracts developers from across the globe who will have access to more than a 1,000 Apple engineers throughout the conference. The 2017 WWDC will be the 28th time the event has been held and it will run from June 5-9. It will be held at the McEnery Convention Centre in San Jose which is a stone’s throw away from Apple’s incredible new headquarters in Cupertino. We can expect to…

Join the Two Blokes Talking Tech, Tech Guide editor Stephen Fenech and EFTM’s Trevor Long, for Episode 287 of the popular podcast as they discuss the week’s biggest tech issues and products. On this week’s show: EHang to begin flying in a major capital city, CASA clarifying the local drone rules, Netgear’s Nighthawk M1 mobile router, Carpool Karaoke on Apple Music, Telstra’s new hybrid home modem, Apple Pay available at more banks and Telstra’s Live apps for the new NRL and AFL seasons. In the minute reviews, we check out the Braven 405 Bluetooth speaker and the Atari Flashback 7.…

The EHang 184 automated passenger drone, seen at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last month, will go from testing phase to active duty carrying paying customers as early as July this year. The EHang single passenger drone was first displayed CES in January 2016 as a prototype before going into testing late last year in the company’s homeland of China. But any prospect of the EHang 184 being used commercially seemed years away – until this week when the head of Dubai’s Road and Transportation Agency Mattar al-Tayer announced the vehicle would begin flying above Dubai in July.…

Everything old is new again especially when it comes to classic computer games. Now you can buy the Atari Flashback 7 – a classic game console with classic games like Space Invaders, Pong and Frogger. After the success of the Nintendo Classic Mini NES which is now rarer than a UFO sighting, Atari wanted to get in on the act and the Flashback 7 is the result. AtGames Digital and Five Star Games have joined forces to release the Atari Flashback 7 classic console which has 101 built-in games including Atari 2600 classic like Asteroids, Centipede, Jungle Hunt and Missile…

Any product that can keep us connected at high speed on the go will always be popular. Meet the Netgear Nighthawk M1 – a mobile router that’s so fast you might need to wear a seatbelt. The Nighthawk M1 runs on Telstra’s 4G LTE network and it’s theoretically able to hit speeds up to 1Gbps. The device is designed to keep you – and up to 20 other devices – connected on the move through the dual 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz bands it creates. So not only can you access the web and download content quickly – you can also upload…

Go-anywhere speakers have to tick a few boxes – they need to be rugged, waterproof, with a battery that can last all day and they have to sound good as well. The Braven 405 fits the bill. The Braven 405 Bluetooth speaker is small enough to take anywhere – it’s 15cm wide, 9.2cm long and 2.9cm thick and is a featherweight 0.28kg. It has a rubberized and rugged housing with a kickstand so the speaker can be either laid flat or up on an angle. It’s tough enough to throw in your bag before you head out and to use…

Episode 236 of the top-rating Tech Guide podcast, hosted by editor Stephen Fenech, is available now to keep you updated and educated about the biggest tech news and latest products. On this week’s show: we comb through the many rumours about the upcoming iPhone 8, Foxtel has decided on whether to pursue legal action against the Mundine-Green illegal fight streamers, more major banks are offering Apple Pay and Prince’s music is now available on streaming services – but is that what the late musician wanted? In the Tech Guide interview we chat with NRL CEO Todd Greenberg about the new…

They’re some great new TV shows right now but what most people didn’t know was that you can get your hands on them to own digitally the day after broadcast. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment has announced some exciting new releases of the hottest shows which you can download to own from iTunes, Google Play, Bigpond Movies, Fetch, Dendy Direct and the Microsoft and PlayStation stores. And once you’ve downloaded them they are free to watch over and over again on any device. Viewers can also subscribe to a season pass on iTunes and have each new episode delivered as…

Telstra has unveiled an Australian-first internet solution that combines its fixed broadband and 4G mobile network into a single device – the Telstra Gateway Frontier – to ensure customers are always connected. The Telstra Gateway Frontier uses hybrid technology so customers will always have a way to connect if services are disrupted, if they are moving or swapping to a new service. As soon as the device is powered up it will connect to Telstra’s 4G network so new customers can connect to the internet right away until their fixed services are installed. And if fixed services are disrupted or…