This week we talk about the Transcend Storejet 25M3 detachable
Transcend Storejet 25M3 1TB USB 3.0 Hard Disk
USB 3.0 hard disk drive. These are ruggedised, which mean that they are a bit more durable than your average portable hard disks and whats more, thet support USB3.0 transfer speeds!
The are whisper quiet to use and work very nicely as a backup device with the addition of a quick backup button and also can encrypt your data, so if you do unfortunately lose the device prying eyes won’t be able to get their hands on your data.
We also tested this device as a Set-top box disk drive, this added the functionalities of pausing and rewinding TV and also recording episodes of programmes. Again it worked flawlessly and more importantly quietly.
To find out more, listen to the stream and find out what I thought of the device.
Thanks to Mickaela at Transcend for her assistance again!!
You can find out more information about Transcend and its other products by liking their Facebook page or following them on Twitter.
This week I talk about Google Cardboard and Google I/O Extended from Adastral Park. The event was the brainchild of Mark Thomas at Coderus, they are situated on the Innovation Martlesham also.
Google I/O Extended are events which enable people to experience the keynotes of I/O in Silicon Valley in their own countries. BT provided some amazing facilities to web cast the event to a large auditorium and Coderus were on hand to demonstrate some amazing Google products such as Chromecast and the Nexus Player. We also enjoyed Google themed cupcakes and sandwiches which were delicious.
After the keynotes were finished, there was a question and answer session hosted by Jim Milne from Innovation Martlesham and featured guest speakers from the tech area to answer questions and queries about the direction that Google is taking and there were some very interesting discussions about the nurturing role we can all take with young people to help encourage a new generation of UK based IT expertise.
For those of us that waited until the very end of the evening, we were very pleasantly surprised to receive our very own Google Cardboard to take away.
Google Cardboard is a VR system developed by Google engineers David Coz and Damien Henry in their 20% time. It was first released at Google I/O 2014 developers conference.
Google Cardboard
This year, Google have updated ‘Cardboard’ to support phones of up to 6 inches screen size and now it works with the Apple iPhone (but check your screen size is big enough!). Google Cardboard headsets cost about £12 to construct and the plans and specifications are freely available to buy online for about a tenner.
They are very simple to use, you install the Google Cardboard app on your smartphone, then slide it into the back of the ‘device’. There is normally an NFC tag with the headset which automatically identifies itself and tells your phone it is ready to work in ‘3d’.
The two lenses built into Cardboard focus onto the screen on the phone and produces the impression of stereoscopic 3d.
The apps are the real gem in the whole idea and there are hundreds available and most provide and incredibly immersive experience, it’s a fantastic opportunity to try out VR and at a low entry cost it means it’s accessible to everyone with compatible smartphone.
Thanks to Mark Thomas and everyone at Coderus for the evening, it was very interesting. You can find out more about the company by visiting their website here or following them on Twitter here
This week, we chatted about the Fujifilm X-A2 Mirrorless Compact Camera. This is a camera that is aimed at the mid point of the market, but has the features of the ‘X’ series .
We have the camera for a few weeks and will be revisiting it shortly to find out if it lives up to it’s hype.
Thanks to Fuji for the loan of the camera, they have been extraordinarily helpful as ever.
This week we chat about MiFi’s or mobile wireless which allow you to connect your laptop and gadgets to a wifi network anywhere where you can get mobile coverage.
The Huawei E5756 is perfect for people who commute a great deal or even better for long family journeys as it gives you a wireless network, so you can stream music, upload files and browse the web.
Listen in to find out more about the Huawei E5756.
Many thanks again to Jocelyn at Cow PR for supplying us with the E5756 and the Sim card too!
This week we talk about the Tesla Powerwall. The powerwall is an electricity storage solution for homes, businesses an more!
Tesla Powerwall
The Tesla Powerwall is a rechargeable lithium-ion battery designed to store energy at a residential level for load shifting, backup power and self-consumption of solar power generation. The Powerwall consists of Tesla’s lithium-ion battery pack, liquid thermal control system and software that receives dispatch commands from a solar inverter. The unit mounts seamlessly on a wall and is integrated with the local grid to harness excess power and give customers the flexibility to draw energy from their own reserve.
The battery can provide a number of different benefits to the customer including:
Load shifting – The battery can provide financial savings to its owner by charging during low rate periods when demand for electricity is lower and discharging during more expensive rate periods when electricity demand is higher
Increasing self-consumption of solar power generation – The battery can store surplus solar energy not used at the time it is generated and use that energy later when the sun is not shining
Back-up power – Assures power in the event of an outage
The Powerwall Home Battery increases the capacity for a household’s solar consumption, while also offering backup functionality during grid outages.
The Powerwall is available in 10kWh, optimized for backup applications or 7kWh optimized for daily use applications. Both can be connected with solar or grid and both can provide backup power. The 10kWh Powerwall is optimized to provide backup when the grid goes down, providing power for your home when you need it most. When paired with solar power, the 7kWh Powerwall can be used in daily cycling to extend the environmental and cost benefits of solar into the night when sunlight is unavailable.
Tesla’s selling price to installers is $3500 for 10kWh and $3000 for 7kWh. (Price excludes inverter and installation.) Deliveries begin in late Summer in the US. Plans are for Powerwall to be available in the UK before for the end of the year with more details to follow.
Powerwall specs:
Mounting: Wall Mounted Indoor/Outdoor
Inverter: Pairs with growing list of inverters
Energy: 7kWh or 10kWh
Continuous Power: 2kW
Peak Power: 3kW
Round Trip Efficiency: >92%
Operating Temperature Range: -20C (-4F) to 43C (110F)
Warranty: 10 years
Dimensions: H: 1300mm W: 860mm D:180mm
This week I talk to Mark about a bunch of amazing products supplied to me my D-Link. Specifically the myhome suite of products.
D-Link myhome Smart Plug
D-Link have taken a very intelligent view of home automation by not only providing a plug that can be controlled via a phone app from anywhere in the world, but also by adding sensible features to the product allowing you to monitor usage and also set switch on and cut off times via a schedule.
When used in conjunction with the Motion Sensor and Home Monitor, the smart plug can be programmed to switch on or off based on events triggered by motion (Motion Sensor and Home Monitor) and also sound (Home Monitor).
The Home Monitor is a very able HD streaming camera which as I have mentioned can be programmed to trigger other devices within your personal home network.
They are really very good devices and I would like to personally thank D-Link for sending the very helpful Robert to our offices to fully demonstrate their capabilities.
We will be fully reviewing the devices online shortly
This morning I talked about a very useful dash-cam, namely the Transcend DrivePro 220 in-car camera. The camera boasts an incredible F1.8 low aperture super wide lens with a hefty 16GB memory card on-board.
The camera is however much more than simply a way of recording your journey (and any unfortunate events), it also features ‘lane departure warning’ and ‘collision warning’ and speed warning systems. I found it very able and the picture quality was outstanding.
If you would like to find out more, listen in to the link above and find out what I thought!
You can find out more information about Transcend and its other products by liking their Facebook page or following them on Twitter.
We had a wonderful day at the World Endurance Championship’s 6 Hours of Silverstone last weekend. Not only were we guests of the wonderful people at Porsche Motorsports, we were also able to chat to the Technicians and Drivers and find out more about how the idea of Hybrid power translates to the worlds fastest racecars.
Matt Porter interviews Mark Webber about the Porsche 919 LMP1
During our day, we were able to speak to former Formula 1 driver Mark Webber who is now racing the Porsche 919 LMP1. We also spoke at length to Alexander Hitzinger who is in charge for the 919’s development as Technical Director for the LMP1 and Michael Christensen who is the works driver for the Porsche 911 RSR.
I would like to thank the ever amazing Mark Webber for his patience after a long day! Sam Lloyd at Lloyd Bell Productions and Nick Perry at Porsche Cars Great Britain for their help making the day so memorable.
Massive thanks to Paul Shalan for attending with me and taking so many AMAZING photographs!!
You can listen to this weeks episode at the top of the page or below.
Porsche 919 Hybrid, Porsche Team – Photo courtesy of Porsche
We had a very exciting weekend at Silverstone for the World Endurance Championship Qualifiers, namely 6 Hours of Silverstone which is the UK heat of the WEC which culminates in the world famous 24 Hour race at Le Mans.
The WEC LMP1 class now uses hybrid technology and following on from our series of electric and hybrid car reviews, we were interested in finding out what Porsche were doing in this area.
Porsche Motorsports and former Formula 1 driver, Mark Webber
Porsche Motorsports very kindly invited us to be their guests for the day and we were able to interview drivers, Mark Webber & Michael Christensen, plus we were also able to chat to Porsche LMP1 Technical Director Alexander Hitzinger about the technology around the car and what the future holds for us in an increasingly electric world.
To hear the interview, tune in to BBC Radio Suffolk on Monday 20th April 2015 at 11:40 and find out what Mark Webber thinks of the all new hybrid technology and how it will eventually effect us in production cars to come.
I previously reviewed the Sony Smartband and thought it was one of the best wearables of last year. This week we look at it’s latest iteration which is the Sony Smartband Talk. Yet again, it’s a great product for monitoring activity and more! The ‘more’ being, the lovely e-ink screen and bluetooth headset technology. I really rate these products as a means to motivate people to be more active and the Smartband Talk does this with that added bit of ‘cool’.
Listen in to what I thought of it and hear about some of our listeners that are using the same products.
Full review coming soon!!!
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