Gadget Man, The Gadget Man

Staying on Top of Tech: Is The Newest Really Worth it?

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Those of us who love new tech gadgets will, undoubtedly, feel a bit gutted when we see the price of the latest releases. Sure, someone will always be able to afford it and can flaunt their newest gadgets around while the rest of us watch in envy – but is it really any point in always buying the latest?

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Here is a quick guide to those who would love to pre-order every new smartphone each year but who, sadly, will need to wait for the price to drop a bit. It just makes it a bit easier to stay on top of the latest tech even if you can’t afford it – and it may even take those expensive gadgets off your mind for a bit.

It won’t make you rich overnight, that’s for sure, but at least you’ll be able to enjoy the tech you already have and perhaps even afford the newest ones if you know where to look.

First: You’ll often get what you pay for

When it comes to technology, the newest does tend to be better than the gadgets we were playing with a year or two ago. The world is constantly evolving, after all, and we will be able to enjoy more powerful software and slicker-looking hardware; the difference may not always be that huge but it should be an improvement with each passing year unless we’ve started to go backwards again.

This doesn’t mean that an upgrade to the absolute latest is always worth the money, though. If you have been using an iPhone X, for example, and can’t stop thinking about the iPhone XS, you might want to hold on for a while before buying it as the difference isn’t really that big – going from an iPhone 7 to an iPhone XS, on the other hand, will definitely be noticeable.

Consider the technology you already have and whether or not it’s actually as outdated as you think it is before you head out to buy something that’s still slightly overpriced.

Next: Look for better deals

Those who enjoy saving money and would like to have a bit more of it to spend on other tech gadgets know that good deals can be hard to come by. Some of them may even just be incorporated in your phone deal and you can’t really take advantage of it unless you already have it – while others are hidden around the web instead.

Start by having a look at this, to begin with, and consider if a later version of a refurbished phone is right for you rather than paying half a paycheck on a brand new smartphone. This might not be for everyone but it can definitely help you to get the latest tech if you really want it.

Finally, it’s also a good idea to keep in mind that some technology can be bought a bit cheaper without compromising its quality. While smartphones are not one of them, you may be able to get a high-quality Bluetooth speaker without pawning your most valuable belongings first.

When it comes to excellent tech gadgets, waiting for the price to drop is definitely the best way to go if you’d like to save money. Prioritise what you need to have right away and what you can wait for, in other words, and you might be able to avoid the temptation of every new deal out there.

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How To Really Improve Your Gaming Experience

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If you consider yourself something of a gamer, chances are you are always on the lookout for new ways to improve your gaming experience. As it happens, there are always going to be such methods available, and that is something that is worth bearing in mind if you hope to ensure that you are going to enjoy it as much as possible. Obviously having the latest games and consoles is hugely important here, but so too are many myriad and peripheral things which you might want to look into as well. As long as you are taking care of some of the following, you should find that you can dramatically improve your gaming experience in no time, and that could mean that you are able to enjoy it a whole lot more too. Let’s take a look and see what you can do to massively improve your gaming experience today.

 

Get A Better Chair

If you find that you are not quite as comfortable as you could be, then you might want to think about getting a new chair. The truth is that you need to be a little careful with your choice of chair when you are gaming. You don’t want to go for something that is too solid or hard, as you want it to be as comfortable as possible. But at the same time, it should be something which is actually going to support your back properly, so that you are not going to cause yourself any damage. Believe it or not, having a proper chair can make a huge difference to whether or not you are likely to be taking proper care of your body, and it is both a comfort and a health concern. The best way to solve this is to get a proper gaming chair, which are designed to help you with these issues specifically. Or if you prefer, you could simply go for a computer chair at the very least. However you do it, just make sure that you are going to be able to be as comfortable as possible while you game.

 

Improve The Sound

The sound is a hugely important part of the gaming experience, and the better it is the more likely it is that you will feel truly involved and part of the game. If you have ever had to play on mute, you will know how much it can take away from the experience of any game. Fortunately, there are many things you can do to improve the sound of your games, and probably the best is to make sure that you are using the best speakers you can buy. If you are at a loss as to what kind of speakers you should go for, in general it’s a good idea to look into some powered PA speakers, as these are much more likely than generic speakers to play the sound well. You will be able to hear the whole range of frequencies this way, rather than just the base few, and that will make to feel a lot more realistic. Also consider surround sound if you are keen on obtaining that realistic feeling too.

Upgrade Your Screen

Clearly, the screen is always going to be a hugely vital part of the gaming experience, and you need to make sure that you are happy with your choice of screen if you want to make your gaming as enjoyable as possible. By upgrading your screen, you can hope to feel much more involved in the game, and to feel more drawn in, and you will be able to sit further away from it with a bigger screen too, which is only going to help your eyes in general. By ensuring that you upgrade your screen as and when you see fit, you can make sure that your gaming experience is truly astounding, so this is definitely something to think about.

 

Play With Others

Finally, it’s worth remembering too that games tend to be much more enjoyable if you are playing them with others, and that the more of a social thing you make of gaming, the more likely it is that you will be able to enjoy it all the more. You can do this online, of course, or preferably you can do it in person, and either way you are going to find that you have a lot more fun than if you are simply playing alone. This is worth bearing in mind, as it is a simple but effective means of making gaming more fun.

Gadget Man

2018s Best Gadgets for Gamers

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There are far more gadgets now than there was at the beginning of the year, much to many gamers delight.  It can be hard to keep track of all this new technology. PC gamers are generally keeping their software and hardware up to date with the latest versions, but what other gadgets have been introduced in 2018 to make their gaming experience even better?

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950x

This high-end processor will be on the wish list of most gamers. It is known to be the most powerful processor ever made for gamers. It has 16 cores with 32 threads, 40 MB of cache memory with a 4.2GHz superfast clock speed. It also has quad-channel DDR4, which gamers will love.  This is likely to replace Intel processors over the next few years, although great progress is also being made with those as well.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX Graphics Card

This product is about to change gaming. Boosted by the latest NVIDIA Turing GPU and the new and more powerful RTX platform, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics card delivers a performance that is amazing. It combines artificial intelligence with real-time ray tracing and programmable shading. It has been called the king of all graphics cards and is proving to be a gamers dream.

Gunner Sheadog Computer And Gaming Glasses

Playing games for several hours at a time puts a strain on a gamer’s eyes. If the eyes start to become tired and sore, the quality of the gaming experience will diminish.  These gaming glasses are specially designed to reduce the strain and to block out the blue light. As gamers often play for 6 or 7 hours at a time, protection for their eyes is very important.

Razer Mamba Rechargeable Wireless PC Gaming Mouse

A good mouse if vital for gamers, particularly if they are playing action games. This mouse is known to be ones of the best gaming ones available, and gamers can choose to use it wirelessly or wired in. It does support both options. It has mouse sensors of 16000 DPI and also comes with RGB lighting.  It is a very attractive and desirable gadget for most gamers.

Corsair Gaming K95 RGB PLATINUM Mechanical Keyboard

When gamers have tried a mechanical keyboard they do not generally switch back to membrane ones. The keys are more precise, and the Corsair K95 is one of the best on the market. It has Cheery6 MX speed RGB mechanical switches and 6 programmable G keys that will alter the gaming experience. It comes with a brushed aluminium frame, which enhances the better experience it provides for gamers.

More And More New Gadgets

There are many other gadgets available for all types of gaming, whether it is a PC, console or on digital devices. The choice is enormous, and new ones are being unveiled all the time.

These are some of the best gadgets for PC gamers from 2018. There is no doubt that development in technology will continue, and it remains to be seen what new innovations appear in 2019.

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Stay Safe Behind The Wheel With These Handy Gadgets

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When you are in the driver’s seat, you need to make sure that you and your passengers are as safe as possible at all times. Sure, the best way to ensure this is by driving safely and following all of the various rules of the road. But that will only get you so far. It’s also advisable to invest in some of the top safety gadgets that are currently on the market. These can help to keep you as alert as possible to the environment around you, as well as making you aware of some not-so-obvious risks. Here are some of the best safety gadgets that you might want to consider for your vehicle.

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Satnav

Satnav in a car might not seem like a gadget that can keep you safe, but it actually does have that benefit. If you aren’t too sure where you are heading, driving without a satnav can be quite nerve-wracking. Your nerves could easily leave you feeling very anxious. When we feel like this, it can be all too easy to end up making a rash decision when behind the wheel, and these can put us in danger. For instance, you might end up in the wrong lane, and trying to quickly correct that could lead to a collision with another unsuspecting vehicle.

Dash Cam

Have you ever thought about putting a dash cam into your car? Lots of other drivers are, especially employers who need a truck dash cam in each professional vehicle to monitor their fleet and employees’ driving. Your dash cam can monitor a range of data for you, depending on the type you get, but it can also provide evidence in the even that you are involved in a crash. You will be able to replay the footage to see who really was at fault.

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Bluetooth Car Kit

We all know that it is incredibly unsafe to use your mobile phone when you are driving. Not only is it unsafe, but it is also highly illegal. Well, there is a way around all this. You just need to install a Bluetooth kit into the car. These kits allow you to connect your phone to your car via the Bluetooth connection. Then you will be able to safely answer your phone completely hands-free. These kits are so popular now that many car manufacturers are adding them to their new cars.

Blind Spot Mirrors

One of the most dangerous things about driving is the blind spot. This is the spot on the road that cannot be seen while looking in the mirrors or straight ahead. If there is a car in your blind spot, you could completely miss it and might drive into it. These days, there is a solution that can completely get rid of this spot – blind spot mirrors! You just attach them onto the wing mirror, and then you can look clearly into your blind spot.

It is highly recommended that you use most of these safety gadgets so that you are never in any danger while driving.

 

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The Gadget Man – Episode 118 – Facebook Hacking Scams Explained

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Not a day passes without one of our Facebook friends informing us of the hacking attempts, breached accounts or worse. Most of this information is incorrect, but of course, it is good for people to remain vigilant at all times.

I spoke to James Hazell on BBC Radio Suffolk about Facebook ‘hacks’ and explained the reality that most of these are false.

A great place to check for spam and chain letters is Snopes, they are a great resource and of course spending 5 minutes investigating whether something is true or not, stops false information spreading.

Snopes has made a very informative video explaining this and many other scams, you can read about it here

Don’t forget to subscribe to our Podcast!

 

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The Gadget Man – Episode 117 – The benefits of Dashcams

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Dashcams have officially become commonplace in society. As more and more drivers use our roads, the chances of accidents increase and being able to accurately document such unfortunate incidents has become more important than ever, especially with the rise in fraudulent claims.

I spoke to Mark Murphy on BBC Radio Suffolk about the use of dashcams and also helmet cams for cyclists and my personal recollections of having to use video evidence to report a motorist.

Image Credit: SWNS

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Gadget Man – Review – Transcend DrivePro 550 – Driver and Passenger Safety, both inside and out

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I’ve been doing a lot of driving over the past few weeks and consequently, I’ve had the chance to test a few different gadgets that help to keep us safe and use a variety of different methods to track the driving habits of both ourselves and others. This month’s review is the Transcend DrivePro 550 dashcam, a camera that not only films ahead of your vehicle, but also features a 180° rotatable second camera to capture the interior of a vehicle and provides protection for both driver and passengers.

As with other Transcend cameras, the DrivePro 550 was exceedingly easy to install. The camera comes with a powerful suction mount and a very long Micro USB power cable with built-in 12v plug allowing for permanent installation in most vehicles. A 32gb MicroSD card is also supplied in the packaged, which gives hours of video footage capture.

The front-facing camera features a Sony 1080p image sensor with a wide angle lens recording at 30fps. The second rotatable camera is packed with four infrared LED’s which automatically trigger in low light or night. Both give extremely good results with the second camera recording 720p video. The dashcam recording 2 separate videos concurrently, timestamping them and adding geo-tagging information using both GPS and GLONASS satellite tracking which gives very accurate positioning information.

The front facing camera using special Wide Dynamic Range technology, which equalises both dark and light areas of the video to ensure that bright skies are not blown out and darker parts easy to recognise. The results were excellent!

Aside from simply recording video footage, the DrivePro 550 also features a WiFi mode which allows you to connect to the camera using your smartphone or tablet via Transcends own app. You can then video live footage on a larger screen or access the video files already recorded and transfer them to your device. I noted that I could only display either front or rear facing cameras, not both at the same time using the app. I could, however, see both on the rear built-in 2.4” colour TFT screen.

The camera comes with a built-in battery which ensures continued video recording in event of an accident or in ‘parking mode’. The camera can detect accidents and record the video in ‘emergency mode’, making it much more difficult to delete. Parking mode can be used to detect movement in the field of view of the camera and begin recording whilst you are away from the car.

Other useful settings are ‘lane departure’ warning, forward collision warning (when you get too close to the car in front), a heads-up display for current speed, headlight warning and driver fatigue reminders.

What sets this camera apart from standard dashcams is the interior facing camera, a feature which would appeal to delivery companies, transport providers, taxi and chauffeur companies. It allows for the recording of driver behaviour to ensure appropriate behaviour and both driver and passenger safety, I thought it was a great feature and the addition of infrared cameras makes it superb for night driving.

The camera is priced reasonably at around £140 and can be ordered from Amazon using this link: https://amzn.to/2S829d8

 

Matt Porter
The Gadget Man

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Gadget Man – Episode 116 – Digital Photo Overload

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Twenty years ago, we all relied on photographic film when taking pictures of friends, family or interesting places and landmarks. We were always very careful how and when we took these photos as at the time exposures were limited to either 24 or 36, there was also the case of having the photos developed by the nearest lab. The entire process would take from days to weeks depending on whether we were to wait until our return from our holidays.

Oh, how things have changed! We can now snap away with abandon and anything and everything! There is now no limit to how many photos we take, the storage on our cameras or phones allowing for thousands. If we do begin to fill up our devices, we can push these photos to ‘the cloud’ and start again.

In this episode, I speak to BBC Radio Suffolk about how many photos we now store and how we can safely store them away for future generations. I also talk about the possibility of hardware failure which can result in the loss of our memories.

 

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Gadget Man – Episode 115 – To Binge or Not to Binge? The Rise and Rise of Streaming TV

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With the incredible rise in popularity of on-demand streaming services from Netflix, Amazon Prime, Google Play, NowTV, Rakatun and more, there is now no better time to watch our favourite movies and TV programmes.

We can now consume our TV using a variety of devices - Image Credit: Netflix
We can now consume our TV using a variety of devices – Image Credit: Netflix

We are not just simply watching TV, we are ‘consuming’ it! This fascination and above all, choice of programming has led millions of people to ‘binge’ on entire TV series over short periods. Evenings can now be spent watching multiple episodes of a series, with seemingly limitless content being served up automatically at the end of each episode, with entirely new content provided at the end of series.

The BBC have not ignored this either, they too are releasing entire series on their platform iPlayer whilst broadcasting the series in the standard week on week format on traditional television.

Now we are all comfortable with the digital switch-over, the set-top boxes can now begin serving up content over the internet without us even realising this is happening, the broadcasters have found their pot of gold.

Stranger Things has been a massive success for Netflix - Image Credit: Netflix
Stranger Things has been a massive success for Netflix – Image Credit: Netflix

Personally, I am a massive Breaking Bad fan, now enjoying it’s spin-off prequel Better Call Saul, both available on Netflix, but switching to Amazon Prime for The Grand Tour and watching movies on Google Play, all available using low-cost devices from Amazon, Roku, Apple and many more!

Apple also have been investing heavily in the streaming marketplace - Image credit: Apple Inc
Apple has also been investing heavily in the streaming marketplace with their Apple TV  – Image credit: Apple Inc

We have now turned a corner, once this technology was the go-to place for our kids, now we have embraced it, there is no going back. Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Google and Sky are now the streaming big hitters with astronomically large budgets, high-quality content and the power to break the traditional status quo enjoyed in the UK by the BBC and ITV.

Now WE decide what we watch.

Listen to my interview with Mark Murphy from BBC Radio Suffolk, where I talk enthusiastically about my personal experience of binge-watching streaming TV.

Matt Porter
The Gadget Man

If you have enjoyed reading and listening to this episode, please remember to Like, Subscribe and Share!

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Gadget Man – Episode 114 – Too Much Smartphone Part II

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You might remember a few weeks back, I talked about how smartphones have now officially taken over our lives, squeezing into every social, domestic and work situation.

Today, I spoke to James Hazell on BBC Radio Suffolk about how our very Government is considering investigating how to make the use of a smartphone safer for us all.

China continues to innovate in this area by providing ‘mobile friendly’ footpaths for phone users to protect them from walking into each other or falling into fountains!

A designated 'Cellphone Sidewalk' in Chongqing, China. Photo credit: China Daily/Reuters
A designated ‘Cellphone Sidewalk’ in Chongqing, China.
Photo credit: China Daily/Reuters

While you sit and ponder how we as an advanced civilisation found ourselves in this position? Why not listen into my interview with James.

If you like what you read or listen to, why not ‘Like’ and ‘Share’ this story.

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