Tabla de contenidos para Issue 5 en Gadget

Smart and strong The watch has a pressure sensor, accelerometer, gyrometer and compass, and it can also cope with sudden shocks, vibrations, humidity, extreme temperatures and low and high pressure Different colour watch faces There is a range of different colour watch faces for outdoor use displaying altitude, temperature and more. Be warned, using the colour LCD will eat your battery within a day Easy to operate There are three chunky power buttons, including one for tools, such as the pressure sensor, and one to display Android apps. They can be operated while wearing your gloves Metal body The waterproof body of the watch is made of metal and the strap is rubber. It feels very robust and comes in one of four different colours Only a brave soul would…

01 Kerv Kerv is the latest gadget to jump on the contactless payment bandwagon, an NFC-enabled smart ring for small transactions. £25 | $36 | kerv.com 02 Ravean Jacket A heated outdoor jacket with manual temperature control and the option to charge up your mobile devices as well – what’s not to like? £165 | $249 | ravean.com 03 Lukla Endeavour Though quite pricey, few other jackets have been developed using NASA technology to keep you warm in any temperature. £205 |$299 | luklaapparel.com 04 SleepPhones Effortless It’s difficult to listen to music with headphones in bed, but this wireless headband could change that. £27 | $40 | sleepphones.com 05 Percko Percko is a discreet smart undershirt to improve your posture little by little, using slight vibrations it prods your…

Backup batteries The main engine of this car is powered by hydrogen fuel cells, but there’s a lithium-ion battery standing by for bonus bursts of power Suspending disbelief Audi is reusing the Q7’s air-suspension systems in this concept, which ride on 22-inch wheels. This makes for a smooth ride that’s much more stable for the hydrogen fuel bay Smart power At low speeds, the car flips to front-wheel drive and draws power from the batteries. When low on power, it automatically switches to pushing hydrogen fuel A panel show Aside from bonus lithium batteries and the central hydrogen fuel source, the H-Tron also has 320-watt solar panels Central nervous system The motors and fuel cells are controlled by a management system that’s geared for efficiency – it’s an all-wheel drive,…

Feel the power Ford can pump those impressive stats out of the engine thanks to a combination port/ direct injection system, low-friction roller-finger-follower valve train and two turbochargers A classic body A super-light carbon fibre and aluminium construction makes the foundation of the GT’s body. A material that’s very durable yet incredibly light! Gorilla Glass protection The sloped windshield is made of a new kind of triple-layered Gorilla Glass that is thinner than traditional laminate glass and lowers the car’s centre of gravity A vintage flavour Despite looking new-fangled, there are a lot of legacy design features that lend themselves to the old GT models: circular taillights, the mid-engine design and that iconic sloped nose Gauging interest The gauge cluster has a configurable display that you can customise to show…

There’s no doubt about it, electric power is the certified fuel of the future for cars as the world begins to run out of the natural resources needed to make petrol and diesel. Companies such as Tesla and Faraday Future make all-electric cars look amazing, but with that all-important infrastructure still quite minimal – how many charge points do you see on the road compared to fuel stations? – car manufacturers around the world are still committed to developing hybrid technology, a system that utilises both a traditional internal combustion engine as well as an electric power source, to fill the gap between the time when cars can go completely electric. But almost ten years on since the first Toyota Prius, are hybrid cars still worth our attention – and…

COST EFFICIENCY Petrol and diesel may be at the lowest it’s been for nearly ten years, but having an engine means having more parts that will need constantly servicing. VS There’s no engine to service, but charging your car at home each night (and perhaps in the city during the day) will have significant effects on your household electricity bill. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT While there’s still an internal combustion engine in the car with an exhaust pipe attached, both the environment and us humans are at risk. Tesla is quick to point out that up to 30,000 deaths are caused each year because of air pollution. VS Sure, electric cars don’t produce emissions that harm the ozone layer, but the batteries housed inside their chassis will be hazardous for the environment…

PROJECT 1 Install new speakers Add a little boom to your beaten-up banger PROJECT 2 Get an all-round sound with door speakers How-to guide for upgrading your inner door speakers PROJECT 3 Hit the high notes with new tweeters Replace your factory standard treble speakers PROJECT 4 Connect up a new head unit Upgrade your navigation system and install a digital radio PROJECT 5 Make and receive calls on the go – safely! Set up a Bluetooth hands-free kit PROJECT 6 Add an amp for extra effect Complete your speaker installation with the all-important amp In our contemporary world, it doesn’t take long for audio technology inside even a modern car to become dated. It all began with the modest tape deck, but then came the CD player, quickly followed…

AVOID SPEEDING TICKETS If you’re keen to make sure you stay on the right side of the law, especially when visiting a new area, then this gadget may well turn out to be your best mate. Mounted to your windscreen, it spills the beans on all the latest speed traps and safety cameras, ensuring you know exactly where they are even if you don’t spot them yourself. You’ll always be in the loop too, as the device constantly updates thanks to its built-in GSM chip, sharing data that’s input by you and other users. And, before you ask, it is 100 per cent legal. Road Angel Gem+ road-angel.co.uk | £179 | $262 EXTRA EYES ON THE ROAD With over 500 accidents per day in the UK alone (and plenty of…

To help you get started with your own wireless hi-fi system, we’ve teamed up with Libratone to give away three speakers. As well as two Libratone Zipp Minis – our recommended pick for portability – we also have a larger Libratone Zipp for you to win. While most multi-room speakers are designed to be static, Libratone’s new system gives you the freedom to move speakers from room to room. You can also link them; the SoundSpace Link can connect up to six speakers per group – eight groups on a wireless network – supporting up to 16 speakers in total throughout your house. Both speakers also work across either Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, so they can stream anything from music, podcasts and internet radio stations to videos, Netflix and even e-books.…

If you find it difficult to keep up with technology, it can easily leave you behind – and smartphones are perhaps more rapidly evolving than we realise. Most of us find our smartphones user-friendly enough, but if you’re buying your first one in 2016, it’s a daunting product for any beginner to start learning. But let us put your concerns aside; Doro’s Liberto 820 is perfectly designed for any first-time buyers, aimed specifically at an older customer, yet it doesn’t scrimp on the essentials: is this the perfect way to keep in touch with your grandparents? You can download apps from Google Play, customise the homescreen to add your most-used contacts or apps, and you can even shoot pictures with an 8MP camera. The Doro Liberto 820 feels similar to…

“What looks easy on TV often proves much messier in reality” Cooking timer When you need to bake something in the oven, tap Start in the relevant step and this timer will count down to an alarm Weighing it up The left marker shows the weight of each new ingredient as you add it to the bowl. Aim to match the target weight on the right Advance to the next step Instead of tapping Done, you can press the scales button. You can also set it to auto-advance when the correct weight is added A great non-slip surface The top of the Drop Scale is made from a non-slip, anti-static, kitchen-safe silicone that is also heat resistant No flour on your iPad’s screen You can advance through the Bluetooth-connected app’s…

£200 | $250 tefal.co.uk Tefal ActiFry A low-fat multi-cooker with a built-in paddle to help automatically stir your food based on the programmed cooking times that you choose. £100 | $145 russellhobbs.com Russell Hobbs Purifry One of the few air fryers on the market that requires absolutely no oil or fat to cook chips to golden brown perfection. This is certainly the healthy option! £130 | $200 sageappliances.co.uk Sage Smart Fryer Master chef Heston Blumenthal’s fryer of choice uses electronic thermostats to make crisper chips. £180 | $200 philips.co.uk Philips AirFryer The AirFryer is an all-in-one fryer that uses hot air to cook any and all food items placed inside at the optimum temperature. £190 | $200 delonghi.com Delonghi MultiFry While it uses the same heating technology as the other…

Line of sight This LED display flashes if a car is behind you. However, looking down at your handlebars to determine the distance of an approaching vehicle isn’t recommended at the best of times Red alert As well as alert the cyclist that a car is getting too close, the radar sensor has a built-in rear light, which will flash at the offending tailgaiter. A good idea, but at 15 lumens its not the brightest signal Not pre-paired Pairing the radar-enabled light with the head unit that sits on your handlebars takes a few minutes, but is incredibly easy to do. Just hold the button down on both gadgets and you’re set to go Mount it up The light connects to your seat post with an elastomer band – a…

No one likes to imagine that there will be a potentially fatal fire in their house, but the fact remains that sadly they’re an all-too common occurrence and although you may think that your house is safe and secure, accidents do happen. One thing that could save your life in the event of a house fire is a set of working smoke alarms. Have one in every room of the house and check them regularly to make sure that they really are working. If there’s a fire in the middle of the night then they will almost certainly wake you up before you could possibly know there’s a fire in the house. With the proper kit at your disposal, a decent fire plan in place and a smattering of common…

“Stuck with a puncture and no kit, what do you do?” Cycling is most definitely on the rise – it’s impossible to head out onto the roads on a warm day without spotting a train of Lycra-clad road racers. This is a good thing, but if you’re one of those cyclists who’s stuck in the middle of nowhere with a flat tyre then it’s not quite so good. We obviously recommend you take a puncture repair kit with you at all times, but there will always be times when you have forgotten it or run out of patches, so if you’re stuck with a puncture and no kit, what do you do? Thankfully, there are a few solutions out there that you can use to get you fixed up and…

“Take a tour through the future of automotive transport” Car tech has moved up a gear. Where once a high-tech car might have been one with an electric sunroof, teeth-shaking subwoofers, or more recently, built-in GPS, the game was changed the day Tesla sold its first electric Roadster. This was never more clear than at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. Traditionally the event where tech-makers announce the year’s must-have gadgets, this year the auto industry was out in full, alongside all the smartphones, virtual reality headsets and flying drones. But it wasn’t Google or new companies like Faraday Future committing itself to self-driving cars. All of the biggest and oldest names in car tech were here, saying they were working on something new: Ford announced its connecting its cars to…

Heads up! The traditional rear-view mirror has been replaced with a 300mm x 75mm display. This shows the driver a smart interpretation of the road with overlays, rather than just reflecting it Smart rain protection The not-quite wing mirrors channel rain off of the windscreen and onto the side windows, making for greater visibility Under the hood The BMW i8 Mirrorless is powered by a 228-horsepower 1.5-litre twin-turbo three-cylinder engine, paired with a 129-horsepower electric motor, with an estimated 330-mile range Aerodynamic The sharp design wasn’t created to just be eye-catching: BMW has also created the car with optimised aeroacoustics in mind, meaning passengers hear less noise from the wind brushing against the car Cameras on its wings Despite still looking like traditional wing mirrors, these are actually cameras that…

Steer clearly Despite being a new steering wheel, you can tell design touches have been taken from the Mercedes S-Class, but with one key difference: all the old manual buttons have been replaced with touch-operated keys instead Stay in style The morphing exterior might be a world first, but the interior is still based on the S-Class. However, there are new ambient blue lights and slightly redesigned seats and door panels Labour of love The aerodynamic panels went through over 300 variations before Mercedes-Benz settled on the final design – it took one million CPU hours to decide the final build Out of range? Mercedes states the car can travel approximately 41 miles on electric power alone – not the best projection when compared to other electric vehicles’ rates Connective…

Traditional engine power The Panamera’s V6 internal combustion engine is mounted in the usual position, as in a normal car Electric motor Affixed between the engine and gearbox is the electric motor. The power from this also runs through the eight-speed automatic gearbox Sport: for the best of both worlds In Sport mode, the electric motor and traditional engine combine once the accelerator pedal reaches the 80 per cent point, giving you an extra boost in thrust Recoup energy whilst on the go You can actually recoup lost power when driving, as energy exerted during braking is recovered by the electric motor, which also operates as a generator The power behind the pedal An extra action point on the gas pedal means the first portion of acceleration is always electric,…

Thumbs down Early models of the DS4’s thumbsticks were subject to tearing, but don’t worry: they’re easy to replace! Light ‘em up The light bar has its own mini circuit board to power the illumination. Different games use this in different ways, but it’s not essential. You can disable the bar altogether and make your battery last a good deal longer Pull the trigger As with the face buttons, pressure sensitivity has been removed from the trigger buttons. This is a shame, because in the Xbox One pad, the sensitivity along with trigger-specific haptic feedback feels wonderful when shooting or driving A step backwards? This is the first time since the DualShock 2 that a PlayStation controller does not have sensitivity sensors under the face buttons for hard and soft…

Android Marshmallow Though not desktop software – and sometimes it shows – the Pixel C is running the latest version of Android, which means it comes with Now on Tap for better contextual searches Magnetic versatility The magnets in the Pixel C and the hinged stand housed in the keyboard means it looks like a notebook one moment, then pull it apart and it’s an upright tablet in another Processor The Nvidia Tegra X1 and Intel Maxwell GPU make the Pixel C sharp when gaming as well as when jumping between apps and multitasking USB-C The new universal connection is also in place on Google’s new Nexus phones, meaning just one cable and you can connect across devices when needed Some LED style The slim-line LED light panel on the…

DO YOU STILL NEED A WI-FI BRIDGE? Until recently, you needed a Wi-Fi bridge if you wanted to connect multiple speakers to your Wi-Fi network. The bridge usually came in the form of a small box that was positioned in the middle of your router and speakers. This created a false network for connecting multiple speakers. Getting started with a multi-room audio system is now extremely simple and, because wireless networks are quicker and more reliable, a Wi-Fi bridge is virtually obsolete. Bridge pioneers, Sonos, dropped theirs in 2014. HOW EASY IS IT TO STREAM MUSIC OVER WIRELESS SPEAKERS? Your main concern here is checking whether the Wi-Fi speaker you have your eye on is compatible with your devices and the streaming services you use. Some speakers, like Philips’ multi-room…

Easy-to-shoot camera The Liberto 820 Mini comes equipped with an 8MP camera on the back of the phone – pictures can be shot with the shutter button on the side of the phone Customisable homescreen Add whichever shortcuts you like to the homescreen of the Liberto phone – whether they are apps or contacts’ faces – and set your own background Apps Use the Android Google Play store to download apps to the phone. The Liberto has no trouble loading games or catch-up television app Remote-assistance button The remote assistance button located on the back side of the phone can be pressed either once or three times to dial five numbers until one answers Tactile buttons Like some other Android products available, there are three shortcut buttons along the bottom…

Radio jammer A slightly more permanent installation is the AUDS cannon – the anti-UAV Defence System. The British-developed instalment locks onto airborne drones and fires a four-watt radio jammer at the suspect device. The beam will lock the drone’s controls until the battery drains or it crashes Anti-drone drones This is basically what it says on the tin: these are drones that are fitted with nets, claws, guns or other devices that are capable of taking their fellow quadcopters out of the sky. They’re typically customised with Raspberry Pi computers designed for rigging these extra devices Anti-drone ray gun Developed by a company called Battelle, the anti-drone gun is basically a rifle-shaped beam cannon that’s capable of jamming drone radio controls and killing them in mid-air. The gun fires in…

Multi-shooting options Unlike other variations of the SnapCam and wearables, the LE version can shoot video in two resolutions: in 1080p at 30fps or 720p at 60fps Buy a memory card Want to record video and save it for later? You’ll need to buy a 2GB or 32GB microSD card to save up to two hours of recording Multipurpose attachments SnapCam not only comes equipped with a magnetic clip – for easy attachment to items of clothing – but it can also be attached to Selfie Sticks and other tripods Great picture quality The SnapCam LE comes equipped with a front-facing 8MP camera to shoot both pictures and record video in surprisingly high quality Broadcast from wherever you are Live stream your life for an hour at a time, just…

The magic formula Philips has incorporated Rapid Air technology into the AirFryer, which circulates air within the chamber to crisp the outside of your food and keep it soft on the inside Cook in seconds The AirFryer can remarkably preheat from room temperature to 200 degrees Celsius in just three minutes. Add your potatoes and you’ll have cooked chips in 12 minutes! Tickle your taste buds Fancy trying something different? The AirFryer can be used for everything from cooking chicken to even baking a cake, just follow the specified timings on the AirFryer Manage your load The cooking basket in the AirFryer can hold just over a kilogram of uncooked potatoes. Pull firmly on the handle to remove the basket from the fryer compartment Frying your chips with air may…

Removable and cleanable casing The casing comes off easily for cleaning, but most importantly, it comes off so you can top up the treat box! Food hole! The Petzi has a dispenser point that will throw out one to three one-inch treats of your pet’s liking. Obviously, it’s up to you to fill the device, but the Petzi will throw them out for you! Speak on command The Petzi has a speaker built in that will play your voice back to your pet, obviously it’s not a pure replication of your voice, but in most situations it’s enough to beckon your pet closer Wide-angle lens The Petzi has a good field of vision to track your pet with, enabling you to see most of the room around it on your…

This year the virtual will become reality. Google Cardboard is out now; the Oculus Rift headset is available to preorder; and the HTC Vive and Playstation VR aren’t far behind. Soon you’ll be able to immerse yourself in virtual reality in all sorts of ways. But, rather than passively viewing content, wouldn’t it be great to shoot your own three-dimensional home movies? One of the best-kept secrets in tech, there are actually several cameras out now that shoot virtual reality video. High-end camera like the Nokia OZO and GoPro Odyssey produce the best results but have five-digit pricetags, making them a bit too expensive for most of us, but you can also shoot and share 360-degree photos and videos for just a few hundred pounds. In this workshop, we will…

“Limit your exposure to blue light to make reading more comfortable on the eyes” Where once people took an actual book to bed made out of something called paper (ask your parents), those with a desire for a spot of night-time reading are more likely to take their Amazon Kindle up with them nowadays. All well and good, but those of us that read our books on a standard tablet will have something called blue light emitting from our screens, which scientists now claim can have a detrimental effect on our sleeping patterns. Thankfully though, help is at hand. While Android and iOS users have to download an app to overcome blue light emissions, Kindle Fire owners can simply update their OS to the latest version, which now includes a…

Lock and load New film cartridges were placed into the back of the Instamatic camera, with a rear button being pressed to open up the back plate for easy entry Shutter speeds Normally the Instamatic’s shutter speed was 1/90 per second. But when the flash holder was up, it upped to 1/45 per second, producing better action shots Peanut bulb flashgun While later Instamatic models had a rotating flashcube, the original Instamatic had a single AG-1 flashbulb. It would pop up with a press of the button on the front of the camera No controls Every early Instamatic camera came with both a fixed aperture and fixed flash modes, meaning you could only point, shoot and hope for the best Battery power Similar to the way disposable cameras work today,…

Brain power The Segway Robot has an Intel Atom processor runs on an Android operating system, which develops can easily code apps for Depth-sensing camera Three depth-sensing lenses across the front of the screen form part of the Intel RealSense 3D-mapping camera – perfect for object recognition and preventing the robot from bumping into things Take pictures In addition to all those sensor cameras, the Segway Robot also has a photo camera so it can take pictures and record video Air-filled tyres Rather than have the plastic wheels of some hoverboards, this robot has air-inflated tyres. The central pole also comes up to knee level rather than arm height as with other Segways It moves so smoothly With 800-watt double motors and a maximum torque of 70Nm, the robot is…

Air conduits Aero tunnels run through the car, allowing air to flow through it rather than around it, reducing drag while cooling batteries Quad-core motors While production models will only have one to three motors, the FFZERO1 has four, one by each wheel, giving it more than 1000 horsepower and top speeds of 200mph Smartphone controls The car is autonomous, but it comes with the option to slot your smartphone into the steering wheel. You can then use this as an interface to further control the car High-tech helmet As if the FFZERO1 didn’t look and feel enough like a spaceship, it also comes with a helmet that supplies water and oxygen to the driver and could also track their health Rocket seat Inspired by NASA research into zero gravity,…

Retro and futuristic Despite losing that old flat-nose look VW minibuses are known for (thanks to crash test standards), the car retains that old VW style, tapping into the powerful pull of nostalgia Born to run VW has made the most of the van’s large, square stance to fit a 92.4 kilowatt-hour battery pack in there – that’s almost four times what you would find in a regular electric car. As a result, the BUDD-e has an impressive 331-mile range Gesture controls Touch, voice and gesture controls can be used to operate what VW calls infotainment panels in the car, such as, waving your hand will open the door and making a kicking motion will open the boot System display Directly in front of the driver there’s an active information…

Family thinking There are four seats in the car – making it more family-friendly than the vast majority of other concept cars that have been recently showcased Community spirit The car’s fuel cell stack can be reused as an electricity-generating device, as well as an engine. Put to versatile uses around the world, these stacks could contribute significantly to local communities Perpetual charge In addition to the vehicle’s own hydrogen tank, the car can also generate electricity directly from hydrogen stored outside the vehicle, thus creating a stable source of electric power for use at home or away Plug and play When the car is not being used as a means of transport, it shares its power generation capabilities with communities as part of the local infrastructure Smart positioning The…

In a world where cars are getting faster, yet expected to be ever more environmentally aware, Porsche’s hybrid concept is epic on paper: it’s a 420hp car weighing 2.2 tonnes that’s supposedly capable of 91mpg. At face value, there’s nothing outwardly different about this elongated sports saloon: so where’s the electric power? The battery is positioned underneath the rear boot, which is great for two reasons: it’s out of the way and it enhances a low centre of gravity for the Panamera, a crucial handling credential. The e-motor, as Porsche calls it, is candidly positioned between the conventional V6 engine and the eight-speed Tiptronic S automatic gearbox. So regardless of whether you’re using e-power or the V6’s grunt, power goes through the gearbox before being sent to the wheels. This…

Heat-dissipating form Amps get hot and a good design can help reduce this heat. The Thunder 1000.1 does this with slats on its surface, providing a greater surface area coming into contact with the air Surface-mount design This resists vibrations for reliability under the most extreme conditions, ideal for an amp you want to transfer from car to car Class D technology A class D amplifier is the most efficient in terms of controlling power loss, especially during heat buildup, as the transistors inside (which amplify signals) are electrically switch-able; this is instead of linear gain devices that are used in class A, B or AB amps. Most amps these days are digital in their operation Simple monoblock specification The 1000.1 is a monoblock amp, meaning it uses one channel…

1994 PlayStation Controller Based on the basic button configuration of the Super NES pad, the PlayStation controller added an extra set of shoulder buttons so players could navigate the three-dimensional game environments that were becoming more popular on the PlayStation 1. 1997 DualShock The main addition the DualShock brought was the vibration, which was powered by two motors in the palm grips/handles. Each motor was a different strength (the left-hand side was stronger) so games could modulate various levels of rumble, depending on the situation. 2000 DualShock 2 The DualShock 2 didn’t change too much as the model was upgraded for the PS2. It was lighter, though, and had one fewer screw holding it all together. It did introduce readable values on the buttons – meaning games could request you…

iPAD PRO With a screen that can rival the Pixel in terms of brightness and sharpness, the iPad Pro is aimed at a slightly more creative audience. With the Apple Pencil as a prominent accessory and the hyper-sensitive touch display included, this is the tablet for the artistic – whether it be professional use or for a hobby. Processing power is still extremely good and the size of the screen means that you view full-size websites as opposed to mobile versions. Battery life matches that of previous iPad generations. £679 | £799 | apple.com VS MICROSOFT PRO SURFACE 4 Microsoft’s newest offering to the two-in-one tablet market is a chunky, dense device that is in keeping with the brand’s ‘laptop’ aesthetic. The kickstand can be set at an impressive variety…

FOR GOOD SOUND QUALITY If you want audiophile quality, then look no further than a Wi-Fi speaker. The range is greater, there are no obstacles at all and the quality is lossless. If you want to go really loud, check whether a speaker has a built-in amp. Woofers and tweeters are essentially for all-round audio performance. WHEN IS THE PRICE RIGHT If you’re after a portable Bluetooth speaker, you will find some great options for under £200. Wireless speakers will fetch much more, but the quality of sound is generally superior. Design wise, they are products to lust over too. There will be options for all prices, but invariably quality always comes at a price. CHOOSE CONNECTIVITY Your connectivity options come down to two main standards: Bluetooth or wireless. Be…

How many calories are you burning? A built-in accelerometer keeps a precise count of the number of steps you take. This is converted into the distance you have covered and the calories you have burned Get connected to your insole Charge up your insoles, input your details and automatically connect both left and right insoles via Bluetooth 4.0 Turn up the heat on your cold feet Individually control the temperature of your insoles. Is your left foot always cold? Push up the slider to add extra warmth! Shock to the system Sitting on the top layer and at the heel is the Digitsole’s SHS system. This uses pads on two layers to reduce the impact on the user’s foot, heel and muscles Hidden tech Sitting between the flex zone layer…

Music while on the move Thread the individual pieces of the circuit into the plastic casing after it has been assembled to let you easily take your synthesiser out and about It’s alive! To get your circuit functioning, connect a nine-volt battery to the battery clip; remember the red wire is positive and the black is negative Avoid explosive accidents Resistors are important in circuits as they restrict the flow of electrical current and essentially stop everything from quite literally blowing up right in your face Releasing charge at will The two 10nf Ceramic Capacitors store charge until they are completely full, before releasing it all in one go. Be wary of their placement for proper operation The storage centre The 10uf Electrolytic Capacitor is used for storing big charges…

The device and app The app shows you how to pair your phone or tablet over Bluetooth with the Spark. It then shows the digital versions of your captured drawings and syncs them with other devices via the Wacom Cloud Blue for go The top LED turns blue when you’re writing, so you can easily check that the Spark is detecting your pen strokes. The bottom orange LED is lit whenever you’re charging the Spark A bright spark pen Powered by the radio signals emitted by the Spark’s ECR board, the battery-free pen transmits its position, along with nib-pressure information. Extra ink refills are available from Wacom The magic button When you have finished your note or sketch, press this button to send it via Bluetooth to your smartphone or…

Let it work for you The automatic paddle will constantly mix chips or any other food on set timings – this will stop you needing to manually stir your own food Experiment with food A second heating element solely at the bottom of the MultiFry is ideal for cooking fish or the base of a small pizza when you fancy something other than chips Add some heat The combination of a 1,400-watt heating element and central fan helps distribute heat around the food and cook it at a quicker rate than conventional cooking Feed the family The MultiFry is capable of cooking up to 1.7kg of fresh potatoes at one go. That’s enough to serve eight people and still have some spare! The Delonghi MultiFry goes far beyond just cooking…

Dual-core wheel The front wheel is hard on the outside and soft on the inside, meaning it absorbs shock better than a rubber wheel and will take a while to succumb to regular wear No more uphill struggles The Emicro One’s slope support system in its motion-control algorithm automatically increases the power and torque when riding uphill. When sensors detect a slope, the scooter ascends with ease Scoot in a hurry The foldable design makes assembly and disassembly simple, this means you can store the scooter in your car, on the train or under your desk with virtually no hassle Eco, standard or sport mode? Get the most out of the Emicro One by choosing a mode that suits you. Different ride programmes limit the speed and power of the…

Resembling an oversized Weeble, the Violife Zapi Luxe wobbles, but it won’t fall down. It does, however, have a more serious purpose: keeping your toothbrush germ free. Just think about it: here’s an item that we insert into our mouths on a twice-daily basis and yet we rarely think about how clean it is, other than maybe giving it a quick rinse under the tap after brushing, which doesn’t kill any bacteria. While alternative sanitisation methods include soaking a toothbrush in mouthwash or even putting it in the dishwasher (don’t do this), they’re not as convenient as the Zapi Luxe. Just clip your manual toothbrush or an electric brush-head into the top, tap the button and the blue LED starts flashing to show it’s working. You can even leave the…

01 Time to hit the overdraft Putting a VR video on the internet is simplicity itself, but the most painful part of the whole process is the money you’ll have to shell out to buy your VR camera. They’re still new, so prices are a little high (eventually we’ll all have them on our phones), but you can pick up a decent one for around £300 (the Theta S). 02 Pick the perfect shot Alongside your camera, you need to download a companion app for your phone to control it. When it comes to shooting, you either want to mount the camera or use an extra-long selfie stick – remember that it’s completely 360 degrees, so if you’re holding it in front of you then you will be in the…