Author: Stephen Fenech

SBS has become the first Australia network to launch a new on-demand virtual reality app to give viewers the opportunity to explore the latest immersive 360-degree videos produced by SBS and independent producers. The VR app was created by SBS’s Digital Creative Labs team and its goal is to use the latest technology to tell stories in new and innovative ways. The first VR content from SBS will work hand in hand with next week’s TV premiere of documentary series Inside Heston’s World starring celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal. It will be a 360-degree video of Blumenthal giving viewers a behind-the-scenes…

Samsung has entered the super tablet market with the Galaxy TabPro S –  a 12-inch tablet running Windows 10 – that is set to take on Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4 and Apple’s iPad Pro. It has a dazzling Super AMOLED 2160 x 1440 resolution display and is a slender 6.3mm thick and tipping the scales at a lightweight 693g. Design-wise, the TabPro S has been crafted with the same look and feel of Samsung’s recent hit smartphones – the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. But despite the slender looks and light weight, Samsung has positioned this device as a workhorse…

Mobile data is a valuable feature for all smartphone users but a study has revealed some customers are losing almost a quarter of their monthly allowance to an industry practice called megabyte rounding. Research by Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) uncovered the alarming results that is seeing customers losing on average around 23 per cent per month. Megabyte rounding occurs when a data session is rounded up to the nearest megabyte. So even if your data session uses a few kilobytes, some telcos round that up to a megabyte. The result is your data allowances being used up faster…

Two Blokes Talking Tech Episode 249, with Tech Guide editor Stephen Fenech and EFTM’s Trevor Long, takes a fun yet informative look at the biggest tech news and products of the week. On this week’s show: our iPhone SE reviews, the panic over Instagram changes and Kogan’s new Agora 6 smartphone that’s shattered the $200 barrier. The blokes also check the results of our question about size versus quality when it comes to buying a TV – the results are surprising. Also on the program, the Milo activity tracker for kids, the Samsung Galaxy TabPro S and, in the minute…

Lexar has released a 200GB high speed microSDXC UHS-1 card that’s capable of storing more than 17 hours of high definition and 4K video but is smaller than your fingernail. It’s one thing to be able to hold large amounts of data – like 33,000 photos or 28,000 songs – but it’s the speed of the card The Lexar microSD card has a read transfer speed of up to 95MB per second which makes it ideal for photographers and drone pilots shooting stills and videos. It can also be used to view your content on with smartphones and tablets. It…

Online electronics retailer Kogan has unveiled its latest 5-inch Agora 6 smartphone which offers a host of impressive features and capabilities while still managing to shatter the $200 mark. Priced at just $179, the Agora 6 has a 5-inch IPS (in-plane switching) high definition display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 and is powered by a 1.3Ghz octa-processor. The 4G LTE device is just 8mm thick, weighs 134g and is running the Android 5.1 operating system with 2GB RAM, 16GB of internal memory and a microSD card slot to expand that storage even further. On the camera side, there’s…

A projector provides a great way to enjoy your content on a much grander scale. But not all projectors are small enough to carry around – unless it’s Sony new MP-CL1 which is the size of a smartphone. This is a laser projector which means it doesn’t have a bulky lens structure so it can be housed in a chassis that can literally fit in your pocket. You can project an image up to 120-inches in size with a HD resolution of 1920 x 720 on any plain surface whether it’s a wall or a ceiling. Sony’s MP-CL1 mobile projector…

It’s time to tune in to Episode 192 of the top-rating Tech Guide podcast, hosted by editor Stephen Fenech, that looks at the latest tech news and products to keep you updated and educated. On this week’s show, Samsung develops the BrainBand which can detect the severity of head knocks in contact sports. We also go through the new LG 2016 TV line-up and speak to LG’s Grant Vandenberg about the range and the HDR Dolby Vision on board. Also appearing in the Tech Guide Interview is award-winning Australian cinematographer Peter James who talks about the new HDR Dolby Vision…

Have you noticed something about your Instagram feed lately? Every second post is asking followers to turn on post notifications. Why are they doing this? And is there any reason to panic? Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, recently announced it would be changing its algorithm so your feed will move from being chronological to being sorted based on popularity and your personal interests. Many high profile users, whose Instagram following is like currency for their career, posted images with long arrows pointing to the top right corner of the image. It is here where you’ll find three dots –…

Despite being surrounded by gadgets, there is a large number of people who still like putting pen to paper. A new device from Wacom called Bamboo Spark combines that tactile writing experience with our devices. Whatever you write on the pad can be transferred wirelessly to the Bamboo Spark app on your device so the digital note can be stored and shared or converted to text and edited. The Bamboo Spark is a smart folio with a pad on the right side, a pen and a space on the left for a digital device up to 9.7-inches in size. It…

Apple has gone back to the future with the iPhone SE – a 4-inch device that might look like the iPhone 5S on the outside but that has most of the features and performance of the latest iPhone 6S. Releasing a smaller and more affordable iPhone was not a difficult decision for Apple to make. After all, the company sold more than 30 million 4-inch iPhones in 2015 which demonstrated there was a demand for such a product. The number of people buying the latest, most expensive smartphone is only a small portion of the market with the bulk of…

It’s another big week in tech and Two Blokes Talking Tech Episode 248, with Tech Guide editor Stephen Fenech and EFTM’s Trevor Long, has covered everything like a tarpaulin. On this week’s show, Apple’s new products – the iPhone SE and the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, LG unveils its 2016 TV range and Telstra is dealing with yet another outage. Also on the program, Hisense introduces its ULED 4K TVs and Samsung develops the BrainBand which can instantly detect the severity of a head knock in contact sports. In the minute reviews, the MicFlip Red Belly Black cable that is the…

The iBlazr 2 is handy little wireless flash unit that can be used with your smartphone, tablet and DSLR camera to shed even more light on your pictures and videos. It’s ideal if you’re after that perfectly lit selfie. The tiny actually packs quite a punch when the four onboard LEDs are fired up and provides a solid and steady light that be used as a lamp or as a flash. It is small enough to fit in your pocket measuring just 4cm wide and 1cm thick. iBlazr 2 works with the companion Shotlight app or with the native camera…

LG has just revealed its complete TV range for 2016 which includes the flagship OLED models and 4K UHD LED TVs with a new feature onboard – Dolby Vision High Dynamic Range. While we’ve heard and seen a lot about LG’s stunning flagship OLED  4K televisions, they are but a part of LG’s TV range which includes 2K OLED, Super Ultra High Definition LED, UHD LED and Full HD. High Dynamic Range is feature that’s not exclusive to LG – it will be a feature on most TVs released in 2016. But LG’s special sauce in its HDR is the…

Isn’t it annoying when you try and connect your microUSB cable and you realise it’s upside down? The world’s first reversible cable called the MicFlip Red Belly Black cable solves that problem. How many times have you tried to connect your microUSB cable to charge your smartphone only to find it’s upside down? The MicFlip Red Belly Black cable can put an end to that. It has an aluminium gold-plated plug that is shaped to fit into the traditional microUSB port no matter how it is positioned. It now gives Android users something iPhone users are already enjoying with their…

Samsung Australia has developed a prototype product that has the potential to change the way major sports deal with concussion by accurately relaying the severity of head knocks in real time. The BrainBand is worn by a player like a headband and has sensors on board that can detect both the direction and strength of a head knock and relay that information to an app which can be viewed instantly by the referee, medics and coaching staff. The band also has a series of LED lights to offer a visual representation of the severity of the hit with yellow, orange…

It looks like it’s third time unlucky for Telstra with customers reporting yet another outage that has left them with a connection to the network and unable to make a receive calls and messages. It is the third outage since February 9 and the second since last week. Once again customers took to Twitter seeking an explanation from Telstra and to express their anger and disappointment. Several Tech Guide readers also got in touch with us to inform us of the latest problem with the Telstra network. Telstra released a statement to explain today’s outage and put it down to…

Tech Guide Episode 191, hosted by editor Stephen Fenech, takes a look at the latest Apple product announcements and the week’s biggest tech news to keep you updated and educated. On this week’s show, we talk about Apple’s new iPhone SE and the 9.7-inch iPad Pro including all their features, pricing and availability. Also on the program, the government bans hoverboards that don’t meet safety standards and former NRL star turned NFL rookie Jarryd Hayne talks to his old primary school about online safety and cyberbullying. We also take a look at the new Hisense 4K ULED TVs, the Epson…

It’s been nearly a year since the Apple Watch hit the market and the company today unveiled a range of new watch bands at its “Let us loop you in” event in San Francisco. According to Apple, more than a third of Apple Watch customers regularly change their watch bands. As a result, Apple has introduced some new bands including a new sport band made out of woven nylon, even more regular sport bad colours along with more leather bands and a black version of the Milanese loop. With these new bands it can now give Apple Watch users even…

Apple has expanded its popular iPad Pro range to now include the most popular 9.7-inch screen size which also inherits its features including the ability to write on the Retina Display with the Apple Pencil. The 9.7-inch iPad has always been the most popular size with more than 200 million sold since it was introduced back in 2010. The iPad Pro – already available in the 12.9-inch screen size – will now include the 9.7-inch version which weighs less than 500g and is just 6.1mm thick. APPLE INTRODUCES SMALLER AND MORE AFFORDABLE iPHONE SE It will be available to pre-order…