Martin Fields Screen Protector Apple iPhone 3GS Review
August 27, 2009
Now that you’ve splashed out on the latest Apple iPhone 3GS, you’re likely to want your new shiny gadget to stay looking that way. Unfortunately, many screen protectors can have problems, particularly on touch sensitive devices like the iPhone, such as problems with brightness, poor adhesion, over adhesion (leaving marks after removal), or simply making the screen less sensitive to your input. The purpose of the Martin Fields Screen Protector is to avoid premature damage to your iPod, caused by keys, coins, or general handling and stylus input into the device. The iPhone is especially prone to this sort of damage, given its design which maximises screen size and relies on the screen for navigation (as well as the phone in general being built primarily around its style). Using a screen protector therefore becomes a necessity if you want your iPhone to look reasonable for more than a maximum of a few months.
The Martin Fields Screen Protector is in the higher price bracket of iPhone screen protectors, although there are other ones at a similar price, so it is not the single most expensive one and is priced at around £12 to £15. Bearing in mind the cost of your iPhone in the first place (and the fact that it is likely on a long contract term), cost should not necessarily be a factor when choosing accessories. A slight criticism of the Martin Fields Screen Protector might be that it can make fingerprints more noticeable than if you didn’t use one – but this is only because the surface is so shiny to begin with (conversely, fingerprints are barely noticeable on a worn, scratched screen). The screen protector can be easily wiped clean, giving you a long time of usage before you need to think about replacement. The screen protector also offers UV protection to maintain the LCD in your iPhone’s screen, giving it extra longevity, as well as an enduring ‘new’ appearance. Rather than making your screen less responsive to the touch, which can be the effect of some screen protectors, the Martin Fields iPhone Screen Protector can actually make your iPhone easier to use by providing a more tactile surface for styluses and for your hands. Some people will be put off by screen protectors that increase the thickness of the screen, as it can ruin the sleek appeal of spending your money on the latest device, especially as some screen protectors can be up to half a millimetre thick. The Martin Fields Screen Protector is unnoticeable when applied, at only one fifth of a millimetre (0.2 mm) in thickness, meaning nobody would know it was there unless you told them.
Many screen protectors claim to be designed to reduce brightness glare, which is a rather strange inclusion, given that most devices can be dimmed manually and that brightness is generally desired (although it can make it easier to use in bright daylight). The Martin Fields Screen Protector, however, offers you the same level of clarity as you would experience if the accessory were not even in place. The accessory manages to deliver this, while still offering polarised anti glare, which gives a noticeable improvement when the iPhone is used in harsh artificial light or outdoors. This makes it a great option for anyone who wants to keep their iPhone looking new and standard, rather than having obvious accessories added. Some screen protectors stay in place by tucking into the corner of the device they are attached to, while others work by sticking to the screen using natural static. However, both of these can become easily undone, defeating the protector’s purpose and potentially damaging the protector itself while in your pocket. The Martin Fields Screen Protector uses a mild adhesive which allows you to position it easily on the iPhone’s front, while still being able to remove it later on without any permanent marking left. Applying the Martin Fields Screen Protector is quick and easy and the most difficult part is lining it up squarely on your screen (although you do get the chance to ‘try again’ if you fail with this particular one). Simply use a plastic card to smooth out the protector as you lay it onto your screen, avoiding trapping any bubbles between it and the screen. The light adhesive is durable and can survive gentle cleaning, allowing you to ‘refresh’ the screen protector every so often. This also means that the Martin Fields Screen Protector is reusable, making it a valuable investment to protect your iPhone for many years to come.
The martin fields screen protectors are available from the mobile fun website at www.mobilefun.co.uk
Parajet Skycar The First Mainstream Flying Car
August 25, 2009
I don’t think a day passes without me finding myself bumper to bumper inching along stuck in the inevitable traffic jam of the daily commute. I also don’t think a day passes without me willing my car with all my might to leap into the air and soar heroically above the honking horns and billowing exhaust of my fellow commuters, sadly it hasn’t happened, yet.
Parajet have taken this fantastic dream and ran no… flown with it.
The Parajet Skycar is a two seater, road legal, all terrain vehicle which runs of bio fuel, produces zero emissions and oh yeah it can fly.
Simplicity is the key to its design. It works in a similar way to paramotor. A large propeller running off the engine and a ‘parafoil’ wing provide lift. In drive mode the wing is folded into the boot and drive is transferred from the propeller to the wheels. This simple setup means the car is cheap, safe and reliable.
An emergency reserve parachute is included should the wing become unattached or a mid-air collision occur, always good to know.
In ‘Road Mode’ it has a top speed of 180 kmph 0–100 kmph in 4.5 seconds, rear wheel drive and a range of 400 km. In ‘Fly Mode’ a top speed of 110 kmph, a maximum altitude of 15,000 ft, a cruising altitude of 2000-3000 ft and a top speed of 110 kmph.
So if you find yourself looking to spend £50,000 you can purchase a flying car today, and fly it next year.
To read more visit the manufactures website www.parajetautomotive.com
Advent Altro Laptop Review With Specification
August 22, 2009
There are countless thin laptops on the market and unfortunately quite a lot of them carry a hefty price tag. Take the Toshiba portage as an example. However you can get performance, looks and style at an affordable price and today we are going to take a quick look at the new Advent Altro laptop.
The Altro is only the width of standard notepad
The advent Altro is only 21.8mm thick and weighs only 1.6 kilograms. That is about as thick, that’s about one and a half pieces of bread thick and about a loaf and a quarter in weight (sorry about the comparison but it is late). It is also a beautiful looking machine that manages to pack in a lot of technology in it’s thin body.
The Altro uses the latest Intel® Celeron® M Processor ULV 723, this allows it to use approximately 40% less energy than other processors in this price bracket. Benchmark tests have shown that this gives the machine 4 hours of continuous use on optimal settings. However efficiency does not mean that it is slow, in fact it is well equipped to run the pre installed windows Vista with ease.
Altro packs a lot into its thin frame
The reason that Vista runs so well is that 3 GB of ram has been included as well as a 120 gbhard drive. This is plenty of space for a person on the move. Advent have also included shock detecting tecnology which protects the hard drive from sudden movements, shocks and even drops (only the hard drive mind). This is an extremely important feature for a mobile laptop/netbook. The 13.3 inch widescreen provides an excellent picture in any light setting. The images are sharp and display vivid colours without sucking the life out the battery.
Other laptops in this price bracket are usually pretty sparse with the extra gadgets and gizmos but again the Altro does not dissapoint. Advent have included a built in webcam, fingerprint reader and bluetooth. All of which integrate with other devices and applications with ease. This is great for the web 2.0 and social networking crowd as well as the businessman and casual user.
Silver finish looks great
In conclusion we believe that this is the best looking and feature filled laptop Advent have ever built and one that is great value for money, which is an obvious bonus in todays financial climate. PC world are offering this laptop at £599.99 while stocks last, so reserve or buy online today (use the buy now button or banner below to take advantage of the low price).
Advent Altro specification:
Gadget To Translate Dogs Barks To Human Words
August 21, 2009
If I told you dogs can talk you probably wouldn’t believe me, at least not if your sane, but now thanks to some very clever chaps at Takara Tomy in Japan they can, sort of.
The Bowlingual Voice is a very cool piece of kit which analyzes your dog’s barks and translates them into real human words…. I personally think it’s amazing, Dr Doolittle eat your heart out. A basic model was released seven years ago selling 300,000 units in Japan alone and causing enough of a stir to demand a more technologically advanced evolved version.
Focussing mainly on six areas of emotion; joy, sadness frustration etc the collar unit worn by the dog detects sound and relays the information to a hand held device, which then in turn analyzes the sounds captured and synthesis a humanised output, in aural and visual form.
So although you’re not going to be entering any lively debates with next doors Labrador anytime soon. Dog owners will be able to view there dog’s in a whole new light.
The gadget may seem a little limiting. I imagine a good dog owner would have a good general idea of their pets’ emotion status rendering a computerised go between pretty useless. Bearing that in mind however I still like the intention of the Bowlingual voice even if it is a gimmick, the course of increasing communication between man and mans best friend is a worthy one. A lucrative one too regarding the size of the canine market place, a good product like this could do very well.
The bad news however is that for now the device is only for sale in Japan retailing at £129.
Sony PlayStation3 Slim
August 21, 2009
After weeks of speculation and rumour Sony unveil the PlayStation 3 slim at the GamesCom convention in Cologne Germany, as well as price cuts on the 80gb and 160gb models released in 2006 and software upgrades across the board.
The new PS3 Slim boasts the same features as the previous generation as well as a 120gb hard drive and an ultra slim ultra sleek ultra sexy design.
Less is definitely more when it come to the slim, size is reduced by 33%, weight reduced by 36% and power usage by 34% as well as a very competitive and recession reflective retail price of £249.
To allow for the significant size and weight loss the PS3’s internals have undergone a rigorous reshuffle. Semiconductor, power unit, cooling mechanism if it’s in there it has moved to a more space efficient location creating scope for the external redesign.
The alterations are predominately aesthetic. Although the new unit consumes less power and space, the overall performance and function of the Slim is the same as previous model it just comes in a prettier package. Personally I feel it is a worthy evolution of a good brand.
Following the new release Sony promise an array of further software titles to follow in time for this Christmas, and aim to offer a further diversified line of hardware.
Due to hit stores September 1st the new slender Slim is a must have for the gaming enthusiast with an eye for design.
Get Your Blu Ray Fix For August
August 19, 2009
Plenty of great new blu-ray releases to pick from this month. First up is Fighting, the tale of a bare-knuckle boxer’s streetfighting career in New York. Written and directed by the excellent Dito Montiel, the man responsible for A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints, Fighting is everything you’d expect and want it to be; gritty, brutal and somehow romantic all at once.
Adventureland gets its eagerly anticipated outing on blu-ray this month too. Whilst it seemed that the film was going to struggle with critics and cinema-goers alike just for being what the guy wrote Superbad did next, Adventureland never struggled to get out of its shadow. It is a hilarious tale of a young student forced to take up a job in a decaying old amusement park – played by the believable Jesse Eisenberg. The story is a sweet tale, but it is the script that excels here, await Greg Motola’s next work keenly!
I Love You Man appeared from trailers to be a simple rehash of You, Me and Dupree. Fortunately it isn’t and when I’ve coaxed you back out from hiding behind the sofa in fear that it might be another turgid Owen Wilson flop, you’ll be relieved to hear that the film is a rather raucous comedy that will appeal to both men and women alike and is thus a fantastic choice for a night in with your significant other. As is Duplicity, a comedy stroke espionage thriller stroke romance, with Julia Roberts and Clive Owen. Although it is a bit more polished and a bit more sanitised, it is still great middle of the road viewing.
A quick mention should also be made to 17 Again – the new film starring the ridiculously popular Zac Efron. Honestly you’ll be hard pushed to find a critic speaking warmly of this film, but that won’t stop it selling like tamiflu at the moment!
Of course with blu-ray being a brand-new format, older films are being remastered and re-released all the time. Here are some of the highlights out this month. The Andy Kaufman biopic, starring Jim Carrey – ‘Man on the Moon – gets released on blu-ray for its 40th Anniversary Edition. Carrey’s detractors are certainly a numerous crowd, commonly criticising his over-the-top style and his perceived inability to play the more serious roles. However his convincing portrayal of the troubled and unusual comedian, or rather ‘song and dance man’ in Kaufman’s own typically perverse words, is an absolute tour-de-force and earned Carrey a Golden Globe, as well as considerable critical acclaim. Completely overshadowing what are, in their own right, great performances from Danny De Vito, Courtney Love and Paul Giamatti. Darkly funny rather than traditionally hilarious and touchingly tragic in other places, the film is a fitting tribute to a comedian renowned for his dislike of telling jokes and his open admittance that he did not know how to entertain his audience.
Another actor who inspires a similar mix of adulation and antipathy, Adam Sandler, has his film The Waterboy re-released in high definition this August. Unlike Carrey, Sandler seldom tries to reprise his roles as gawping, idiotic, childish, mouth-breathing morons with anything altogether more respectful. However if all you want after a hard day is some easy laughs at a gawping, idiotic, childish, mouth-breathing moron, Sandler has very much cornered the market. The Waterboy is capable of raising a chuckle from even the most curmudgeonly of viewers with its likeable blend of slapstick humour and well, barefaced asininity.
Classic 80s horror film Children of The Corn also gets the blu-ray treatment this month. For the uninitiated, it is based on a characteristically dark Steven King short story and tells the tale of a small rural community where the adults are all dead and the children worship a malevolent force lurking in the corn fields surrounding the town. If some slasher action with creepy children is what you’re after for some strange reason, forget going to see Orphan in the cinema and book yourself a night on the sofa with Children of The Corn.
Big Trouble In Little China, the cult classic Kurt Russell film, also from the 80s is re-released too. It flopped in the cinemas, but made a killing on home video sales thanks to its humorous all-action plot, that in the day caused to Time magazine to gush: “Little China offers dollops of entertainment, but it is so stocked with canny references to other pictures that it suggests a master’s thesis that moves.” It still as good as it ever was.
Kite Powered Turbines Could Be The Future
August 16, 2009
I have always had a fascination with renewable energy ever since my Geography teacher explained it to me all those years ago. The whole concept makes perfect sense, ever lasting energy that harnesses nature’s power without damaging or destroying it.
One type of renewable energy that governments all over the world are trying is wind power. This has had various results and returns and so far it is safe to say it is still in its infancy. One of the hottest forms of wind power comes in the form of using kites to generate electricity.
A standard wind farm consists of multiple turbines that each stand at roughly 262 feet tall. The largest wind farm in the US operates 222 turbines which generates enough power for 365 homes and businesses. These farms take up a lot of space and are quite noisy, also many people think that they are unsightly (you can’t please some people). However the positives outweigh the negatives.
Scientists and Geographers have been developing a new kind of wind power based on the popular toy kite. In 2007 Dutch scientists launched a stacked a single kite capable of powering five homes. The reason that this one kite could produce more power is due to its 4,100 foot height, this allowed the scientists to stack kites on top of each other. As the kites moved in and out in the wind it generates power. This type of kite turbine is called the ‘laddermill’. However there is a new type of kite turbine that is set to dwarf the ladermill both in size and capacity for producing electricity.
Inventor Saul Griffith and his co workers at Makani are developing a top secret kite turbine which journalists are calling ‘The Makani’. The actual design is top secret but Griffith calculates that kites could fly six miles high (an astounding 31,680 ft). He also estimates that one turbine could produce enough energy to power 100,000 homes. The turbine will generate power when the kite moves in, out, up and down making the process extremely efficient as it is not reliant on wind direction, this could be the downfall of the traditional wind turbine.
More details can be found on the Makani website, although details are kept to a minimum for obvious reasons.
New Computer Games Of The Month August 2009
August 6, 2009
Nigh is the season to dust off your sporting uniform of choice and comically attempt to emulate the summer’s great sporting spectacles. Something now eminently possible from the comfort of your own living room, ideal for when the British summer strikes! Enter Ashes Cricket 2009 (available on PS3, WII and PC); some blatant bandwagoneering from the same people that brought you the much loved Brian Lara Cricket. The game only contains two fully licensed teams and just twelve in total, but is full of nice touches, such as video tutorials from legends Shane Warne and Ian Botham and even includes Hawk-Eye analysis!
For the ultimate ashes experience, how about getting two TVs side-by-side, one for live coverage of the Ashes, the other for the game and a wiimote in hand, shining it on your trousers as you run up to bowl, the depressingly familiar sound of leather on willow, yet another boundary to the seemingly invincible Australians, praying for the prospect of rain to save a draw. It has never been so easy to imagine that you are, in fact, Freddie Flintoff. Just remember; he’s really hurt his knee doing this and steer clear of pedalos!
If cricket is anathema to you, never fear, for also out this month across all the platforms, is the latest instalment in EA’s highly successful Madden NFL series, number ten to be precise. The definitive American football simulation, Madden is as lean and well-honed as you would expect from a game that has been through so many incarnations. Gameplay is as realistic as it has ever been and when you factor in convincing post-match analysis (even including a tv-style weekly round up show!) and commentary from the legendary John Madden himself, the lack of tedious advert breaks in between plays means the game is almost better than the reality!
Fans of motorsport will enjoy System 3′s latest offering: Supercar Challenge, out this month on PS3. With its combination of polished graphics and almost indecently attractive cars, including the Pagani Zonda, the Aston Martin DBR9, the ultra-exclusive Ferrari FXX and the 1000hp legend that is the Bugatti Veyron, it provides the perfect fillip for gamers frustrated at the incessantly-delayed Gran Turismo 4.
Film tie-ins are now an inevitable part of the gaming landscape, the latest blockbuster to get the treatment is the new all-action GI Joe film – The Rise of the Cobra, on all consoles and handhelds. The film is full to bursting with ridiculous plotlines, hi-tech gadgets, beautiful women and masses of fight scenes, car chases and glossy CGI. This has all made it into the video game without any dilution whatsoever, so if some simple, mindless, high-octane gunslinging whets your appetite, look no further.
Wolfenstein’s first shoot-em-up incarnation was one of the seminal first-person shooters and it makes a welcome return to the shops this month on PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. The early games earned infamy with their prominent use of Nazi iconography and controversial plot, something that appears to have been sidestepped on this new release by taking the plot down a bizarre undead horror route. Regardless of this, the graphics are great and the game utilises a modified version of ID Software’s Tech 4 physics engine, previously featured on Doom 3 and Quake 4, it is pretty much flawless.
Perhaps the most exciting game to drop this month is Batman: Arkham Asylum, out on all major formats bar the Wii. It isn’t, as you may assume, based on the recent Batman films, but rather the storylines of the comic books. As far as gamers are concerned this can only be a good thing, as the plot of the game remains unconstrained by events happening in the films and allows the developers much greater scope. As we have unfortunately seen on all too many occasions prior, ‘games of the film’ tend to be turgid!
The game itself is a stealth-influenced action adventure game and has earned favourable comparisons to the brilliant BioShock. Tension is created cleverly by use of a third-person viewpoint, imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, as it is lifted from the popular Resident Evil games – players have to watch the action unfold over batman’s shoulder, which heightens the sense of claustrophobia. To better explore areas, players must instead climb around the buildings to gain better vantage points. The combative elements are pleasingly diverse, requiring players to utilise Batman’s array of gadgets, as well as his brute force and whilst the stealth gameplay isn’t quite of the same standard as Metal Gear Solid, it is certainly enjoyable
Withings bathroom scale review
August 4, 2009
The Connected bathroom scale is a new, high tech gadget from Withings. It provides a way of measuring your weight and keeping track of your diet progress and body composition that is in keeping with the modern focus on persona fitness. The basic concept is this: the bathroom scales tell you your weight in the normal manner and then using a WiFi connection, the results are sent to a web dashboard program which keeps track of your measurements over time, showing you clearly exactly when your weight has gone up or down. The precise tracking allows you to see how factors such as stress and many of the other elements of modern living affect your weight from day to day.
The first thing that strikes you about the Connected scale is that the design is pretty slick: soft lines and a dark, metallic colour scheme seem to have been drawn from the iPhone school of design. The ‘retro’ digital readout is large and easy to read and fits the look quite well. It turns on and off automatically and features an instant ‘weigh in’ whenever you stand on the scales. It’s also remarkably thin, being only twenty-three millimetres in depth, even with the four carpet feet attached. The device is powered by 4 AAA batteries (included with the package) and it includes free access to the web dashboard programme. All in all, for something that you stand on, it is a pretty attractive piece of kit.
This idea of using a WiFi connection to measure your weight is quite a good one. Considering that your weight can change depending on what time of day it is, having a nicely graphed progress report is likely to be far more informative than simply standing on a set of scales in the morning. The Connected scales also measures your fat mass, lean mass and body mass index, so you’ll get a good idea as to what is going on. It also features automatic user recognition, so you can have different profiles for each person in the house. All of this is automatically sent to the web dashboard programme, which you access via the Internet, or from a specially created iPhone application.
The dashboard itself is clear (both on the website and iphone app) and, as with the scale, looks pretty cool too. Since the scale is incredibly accurate itself, Withings say that the dashboard measurements are perfectly accurate and from these measurements, the system calculates your BMI and also offers you a ‘reference’ guide – a comparison of your figures to the statistics of the ‘ideal’ numbers of a healthy person of your age, height and gender. (They do of course specify that this reference point is an estimate and should not be taken as an absolute ideal.) It will also keep track of your ‘body curves’- your weight rising and falling over time. This is particularly important in the context of the so-called ‘yoyo effect’ – a possible side effect of the stresses of modern living and diet, whereby your weight continuously fluctuates. Access to the dashboard is by password, just in case you are a little embarrassed by the results and want to keep them private and it is possible to have multiple profiles if the Connected scale is to be used by more than one person.
So, now that we have established what the Connected bathroom scale does, it rather begs the question- why do we need all this? One of the most common health problems in modern Britain is obesity which, along with widespread poor nutrition, is on the increase. As all doctors will tell you, prevention is the easiest way to avoid the associated health risks with being over or under weight. Monitoring your progress in terms of not only weight, but also body fat and lean mass and on such a detailed scale, should tell you very quickly if you are doing something that is heading towards the slippery slope to obesity. Certainly, if you are on a diet and trying to loose weight, then being able to see your progress over time is a great way of encouraging yourself to keep going.
Pictured left : The withings website is easy to use and provides a innovative dashboard.
So to sum up, the Connected scale is nice to look at, well designed, accurate and easy to use. It is useful for keeping track of precisely what your body weight and BMI are doing. Many consumers particularly like the iPhone accessibility, which definitely ranks this a cool gadget. At 129 euros, it will probably be the most expensive gadget in many a bathroom — but then again, it may well also be the best-looking and coolest thing in there. They are available from www.withings.com
Withings scale gallery:
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