Author: Stephen Fenech

Episode 164 of the Tech Guide podcast, hosted by editor Stephen Fenech, is right here to give you a thorough rundown of the week’s tech news, product news and predictions to keep you updated and educated. On this week’s show, we’ve just returned from the IFA tech show in Berlin and we’ll wrap up new products from Samsung including the world’s first Ultra HD Blu-ray player and Sleep Sense, Huawei’s smartphone beats Apple to the punch with a Force Touch screen, Lenovo reinvents the tablet with a built-in projector and Sphero releases the Star War BB8 toy droid. In the…

We saw the future of gaming and entertainment when tried Project Mopheus at the IFA tech show in Berlin – Sony’s remarkable virtual reality (VR) headset the puts you inside the game. Tech Guide had an opportunity to give Project Morpheus a try on the Sony stand at IFA and it was nothing short of stunning. We played the game The London Heist and the section of the game played started with us being interrogated before the scene flashed back to a gunfight where you are taking cover behind a desk. The Project Morpheus headset connects to the PS4 console…

Lenovo has reinvented the tablet once again with the launch of the Yoga Tab 3 Pro 10 at the IFA trade show in Berlin. It incorporates a projector that can beam up to a 70-inch picture on a screen or wall. The Android 5.1 device has a 10.1-inch quad HD display and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon quad-core 2.24Ghz Intel Atom X5-Z8500 processor with 2GB RAM. On the audio side, the Yoga Tab 3 Pro 10 has a front facing soundbar which contains four JBL speakers complete with Dolby Atmos enhancement and 3D surround sound. With quad HD resolution…

The Apple launch event is on this week in San Francisco and rumours about what the company will launch have been swirling for months so we’ve decided to go through and sort fact from fiction. For a start the event will be held at a much larger venue than usual at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium which has a capacity of 7,000. So you can expect an audience closer to the size of a larger Worldwide Developers Conference Keynote than the usually more intimate venue used in the past to launch products like the iPad and previous iPhones. This would…

Samsung has used the IFA tech show in Berlin to announce the world’s first Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc player, a device designed to track how well you sleep and the Gear S2 smartwatch. SAMSUNG ULTRA HD BLU-RAY PLAYER Samsung is the first company in the world to announce an Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc player. The UBS-K8500, will be available in early 2016, and will be able to play native 4K content from a multi-layer UHD Blu-ray disc which has been developed to fit the extra data needed to store the larger video file. The device has a curved front panel…

The Two Blokes Talking Tech podcast, with Tech Guide editor Stephen Fenech and EFTM’s Trevor Long, is coming to you live from IFA in Berlin, one of the world’s largest tech trade shows. On this week’s show, the blokes talk about the products that were unveiled at the show held at Messe Berlin including the Sony Xperia Z5 family of smartphones, the Huawei smartphone with Force Touch Screen, LG’s new OLED TV offerings, the new Motorola 360 smartwatches and the amazing Star Wars BB8 toy droid from Sphero. Also on the show, Netgear’s latest Nighthawk X4S modem router and what…

One of most popular new characters from the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens film is sure to be the remarkable rolling BB8 droid and you can now own your very own working mini version. We had a first look at the toy version which will be available in stores from today. The technology for the actual working droid for the film and the toy – which is sure to be a hit with Star Wars fans in the lead-up to Christmas – was created by Sphero. Sphero is the ball-shaped robot that can race around at impressive speeds and…

Sony has expanded its popular Xperia range of smartphones with three new devices and unveiled them at the IFA tech show in Berlin with all of them boasting features that raise the bar in terms of design, features and performance. Sony’s latest entrants – the Xperia Z5 Compact, the Xperia Z5 and the Xperia X5 Premium  – all boast innovations that address the smartphone user’s pain points like camera speed, picture quality and battery life. They are all powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor and are all running the latest Android 5.1 operating system with 32GB of internal…

Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei has stolen some of Apple’s thunder after announcing its latest Mate S flagship device that features Force Touch technology – a feature rumoured to be part of the next iPhones which will be unveiled next week. Apple introduced Force Touch on Apple Watch and also integrated the technology on its latest MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops. At IFA in Berlin, Huawei demonstrated its new Force Touch screen technology which can respond to different levels of pressure on the display. Users can do things like zooming in on a photo and launch an app just by pressing…

Netgear has released its highest performing product ever – the Nighthawk X4S AC2600 VDSL/ADSL modem router (D7800) which is the world’s first to support the latest Wave 2 Wi-Fi technology with Quad-Stream on both bands. Also onboard is a dual-core 1.4Ghz processor and Multi-User MIMO-capability so that families and businesses can enjoy even faster wi-fi speeds even wider range and improved streaming capabilities to enjoy movies and gaming. The built-DSL modem supports current ADSL, ADSL2 and ADSL2+ connections as well as the speedy VDSL and VSDL2 which is being utilised in the NBN rollout. There’s also a WAN port that’s…

We’ve heard of plenty of uses for a drone but this has to be one of the strangest and most inventive we’ve ever seen. Take a look at Farmer Derek catch a fish using his DJI Phantom drone. Suspended from the bottom of the drone was the fishing line and the bait. Farmer Derek then fires up the drone and flies it over the water and waits patiently. Soon after he feels a nibble and quickly raises the drone to hook the fish. Watch the whole thing in the video. Drone fishing – could this become a new sport? READ…

After teasing it in New York a couple of weeks ago, Samsung has officially unveiled its latest smartwatch on the eve of the IFA tech trade show in Berlin – the Gear S2 which has a circular design and new personalised mobile user interface. The circular smartwatch is available in two models – the Gear S2 and the Gear S2 Classic – and has a unique rotating bezel along with separate home and back buttons. Each is just 11.4mm thick with a 1.2-inch circular Super AMOLED display with a resolution of of 360 x 360 and 302ppi (pixels per inch).…

Get your fix of the latest consumer tech news and product reviews with Episode 163 of the top-rating Tech Guide podcast, hosted by editor Stephen Fenech, to stay updated and educated. On this week’s show, Apple confirms a September launch event in San Francisco, Windows 10 gets off to a flying start after launch and Samsung releases a new omnidirectional speaker and unveils the science behind it. In the Tech Guide Interview, we talk to Logitech’s Doug Sharp about the company’s new G933 and G633 gaming headphones and also take a look behind the scenes at how the product was…

We rarely go anywhere without our smartphones but how many times have you left your reading glasses behind. This was a question an Australian couple asked before coming up with Lenzcase. Lenzcase combines an iPhone 6 case with a spring loaded back-up set of reading glasses on the back so you’re never caught out again. One out of every four Australians and Americans are burdened with having to remember to carry reading glasses even when it’s just to read a menu, wine label, receipt, your phone, a boarding pass and other dimly lit obscure writing for a few seconds. With…

LG is expanding its range of popular OLED TVs which will be showcased for the first time at the IFA tech trade show which kicks off this week in Berlin with a range of resolutions, designs and screen sizes. The new models will include flat 65-inch and 55-inch 4K High Dynamic Range (HDR) OLED TVs (models 65/55EF9500 and 55EG9200) along with a curved 55-inch full HD OLED (model 55EG9100). The 55-inch models will be just 4.8mm at its thinnest point – that’s thinner than your smartphone. LG expanded 2015 OLED line-up will include nine new models. LG’s OLED offers a…

An Australian Oscar-nominated actress is the new face of the Presto subscription video on demand service with an all-new advertising campaign highlighting the more “demanding” side of her personality. Part of the new “Demand More” campaign will be a big budget TV ad that will be screened from Thursday but which you can see right here. And the star of the show is none other than Naomi Watts who uncharacteristically plays quite the diva with an entourage of people on hand to meet her every demand. The ad was filmed in New York by award-winning director Jeff Low. https://youtu.be/xP9jYTtC3RA “Celebrities…

Father’s Day is just a few days away and there are plenty of tech gifts to consider so we’ve put together a few ideas to give your Dad something he’ll love to make his day even more special. We take a look at a variety of categories including audio, computers, digital cameras and health and fitness trackers. There’s also other gadgets, in-car products, smartphone and tablet accessories and smartwatches. And we’ve also kept the price in mind and offered a variety of choices so it’s easy to find something to fit your budget. FOR THE AUDIO DAD PLANTRONICS BACKBEAT SENSE…

Windows 10 has gotten off to a flying start with computers users around the world installing Microsoft’s latest PC operating system on their desktops, laptops and tablet devices. According to Microsoft’s Yusuf Mehdi, Corporate Vice President of Marketing for Windows and Devices, there are now more than 75 million devices running Windows 10 and growing. Windows 10 is being accessed in 192 countries around the world with devices dating as far back as 2007 installing the new operating system. One of the most popular new features of Windows 10 is the ability to stream Xbox One games to your PC…

Apple has confirmed it will be holding a special media event in San Francisco where it is expected the company will unveil the latest iPhones along with some other product and software updates. Invitations sent to the media feature the top of the Apple logo with the words: “Siri give us a hint”. In fact, if users ask Siri on their iPhone “give us a hint?” there will be different responses. These include “Look deep within yourself and you will find the answer – especially on September 9” and “You’re cute when you’re desperate for information”. The event will be…

Logitech has introduced two gaming headphones that can deliver exceptional audio quality not only when you’re playing games but when you’re watching movies and listening to music. The Logitech G933 Artemis Spectrum (wireless) and G633 Artemis Spectrum (wired) headphones are the result of more than 18 months of design, research and development and feature the patent-pending Pro-G audio drivers to deliver a complete audio experience. Logitech’s goal with these products was to create high quality headphones that would deliver audiophile-like performance whether the player is deeply immersed in a game, enjoying their favourite music or enjoying the surround sound of…