Features

Rants, raves, comments and opinion on the latest trends in technology, by our panel of experts bloggers and columnists in the know.

Opinion: Apple needs to seriously up its game

Opinion: Apple needs to seriously up its game

Like it or not, Angry Birds is the most successful game of all time. Nearly twice as many people own an Angry [...]

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Future Tech: Guiding Light navigation app

Future Tech: Guiding Light navigation app

Boring. I want a phone that shoots lasers. Don’t we all? While we’re sure that’s being worked on, you’ll just have to settle for this nifty [...]

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Hands-on Review: Samsung Smart TV (2012)

Hands-on Review: Samsung Smart TV (2012)

In full HD for this year, the interface hasn’t been overhauled but we’re still a fan. Three new pre-loaded Samsung Apps take [...]

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Future Tech: Heartbeat data security

Future Tech: Heartbeat data security

Data security? Be still my beating heart. Enough of the sarcasm, please. If your heart was still then you wouldn’t be able to use this fancy new [...]

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Future Tech: 4D virtual reality theme park

Future Tech: 4D virtual reality theme park

True gadgeteers don’t need to get their thrills from vertical drops and gut-wrenching speeds. The Live Park interactive theme park [...]

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Hands-on review: Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0

Hands-on review: Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0

Samsung’s next-gen tablet is making its first appearance as a 7in slate and even if we’re not convinced we’d choose a Galaxy Tab [...]

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Bad reception? Spray on antennae on the waqy

Bad reception? Spray on antennae on the waqy

Blame your phone, blame your network, blame the weather – whoever is to blame when you lose mobile signal, nothing can help, [...]

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Hands-on review: Motorola MOTOLUXE

Hands-on review: Motorola MOTOLUXE

The 4in MOTOLUXE is just 9.8mm thick and 124g – but incredibly the rounded, soft-plastic body of this new mid-ranger still manages to [...]

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Best iPad apps of the week

Best iPad apps of the week

Game Your Video US$1
Anyone versed in the art of meticulous video editing look away now. Because for less than a pound, Game [...]

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Future Tech: Virtual reality contact lenses

Future Tech: Virtual reality contact lenses

These aren’t your cheap snake eye lenses designed to scare away little kids. These contact lenses developed by Innovega contain full [...]

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What we know so far: Samsung Galaxy S III

What we know so far: Samsung Galaxy S III

So far rumours have pointed towards a 4.6in Super AMOLED Plus display on the Exynos quad-core, 2GB RAM and 16MP camera [...]

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Rumour round-up: Samsung Galaxy S III

Rumour round-up: Samsung Galaxy S III

Samsung is undeniably an alpha gadget maker, and its totem of power is the Galaxy S II. After winning a flurry of [...]

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Future Tech: Self-aware headphones

Future Tech: Self-aware headphones

Aaagh, to the bunkers, the audio kit has achieved sentience Not so fast, these headphones only want to help humanity get out of a tangle [...]

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Future Tech: touchscreen books

Future Tech: touchscreen books

Ooh, holographic screens? Not quite, but close. FoldMe is an MIT Fluid Interfaces project that makes paper-like touchscreen displays [...]

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By the numbers: For the price of Facebook…

By the numbers: For the price of Facebook…

Facebook wants $5 billion cash, which got us to thinking – what do we want more than the Benjamins? OK so you won’t be able to afford as many of these [...]

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Best Android apps of the week

Best Android apps of the week

Get three popular Android games – Osmos, Anomaly and Edge – for however much you feel like paying and Humble Bundle will throw [...]

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Future Tech: Vending Machine 2.0

Future Tech: Vending Machine 2.0

While it may seem like there’s a vending machine for absolutely everything – including gold bars, computer games, underwear, alcohol and [...]

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Need to know: Who runs Apple

Need to know: Who runs Apple

We take a look at five of the head honchos over at Apple HQ – without whom we would have no shiny iDevices to call our own [...]

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Best iPhone apps of the week

Best iPhone apps of the week

The other app stores may be catching up – but here are five reasons that Apple’s iOS is still ahead of the app pack [...]

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Future Tech: Printed computers

Future Tech: Printed computers

The world’s first printed sticker monitor hails a brave new future for 3D printing. That must be one huge [...]

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Future Tech: Swap-O-Matic exchange machines

Future Tech: Swap-O-Matic exchange machines

Fancy swapping your old tennis racquet for a pair of trainers? Thanks to the Swap-O-Matic vending machine, you can [...]

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Future Tech: folding cars

Future Tech: folding cars

What’s so special about a Smart Car?
Have you got your glasses on? This isn’t a smart car, this is the future of [...]

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BlackBerry Porsche Design P’9981 unboxed

BlackBerry Porsche Design P’9981 unboxed

And so the extravagance begins with the box. It’s larger than your average BlackBerry container. Maybe there’s a toy model of a [...]

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Versus: Amazon Kindle vs Kobo Touch

Versus: Amazon Kindle vs Kobo Touch

Finally, a Kindle that’s light, tough and cheap enough to read anywhere, except possibly the bath. Ditching the [...]

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Rumour Roundup: best MWC 2012 phone rumours

Rumour Roundup: best MWC 2012 phone rumours

Say hello to your next smartphone – it’s just four weeks until the future phone party that is Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and we’ve got the juiciest rumours [...]

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Best Android apps of the week

Best Android apps of the week

More virtual reality than Google Maps rival, UpNext gives you funky 3D maps (of US cities for now) with [...]

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Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 will invade the London Eye

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 will invade the London Eye

After playing it safe for eleven years – with the odd dining pod and garden pod thrown in – the London Eye [...]

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Hot Five: best geek desks

Hot Five: best geek desks

Adam Benton’s iDesk concept looks like it’s fallen right out of an official Apple design portfolio. Its ability to sync any [...]

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FileSonic disables file sharing after Megaupload shutdown

FileSonic disables file sharing after Megaupload shutdown

Unlimited file-sharing site FileSonic has committed hara-kiri by disabling all sharing capabilities on its site. It’ll still operate as an [...]

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IMHO: Megaupload was always guilty until proven innocent

IMHO: Megaupload was always guilty until proven innocent

Megaupload was brought down by the FBI yesterday, accused of breaking piracy laws and costing copyright holders more than US$500 million. The [...]

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Future Tech: solar powered OLED car roof

Is that an iCar interior? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. That right there is a concept design between BASF and [...]

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My Gadget Life: Andy McNab

My Gadget Life: Andy McNab

There’s a lot of tech in the regiment
Everyone’s got a laptop and a smartphone. They all want Powermonkeys because their batteries keep [...]

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Hands On – Apple iBooks 2

Hands On – Apple iBooks 2

Settle down at the back there, this is important. Apple’s launch of iBooks 2 today aims to transform school textbooks from [...]

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Five of the best online SOPA/PIPA protests

Five of the best online SOPA/PIPA protests

Why did the internet go down yesterday? Well, the US government – under pressure from the music and film industries – drafted [...]

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Future Tech: WristQue smart wristbands

Future Tech: WristQue smart wristbands

Not at all. These 3D-printed plastic WristQue bands, created by the genius hothouse that is the MIT Media Lab [...]

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Best iPhone apps of the week

Best iPhone apps of the week

Combine the best faces of various attempts at group photos with this clever photo app, GroupShot. Warning – the app does [...]

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Nikon D4 hands-on

Nikon D4 hands-on

Nikon D4 vs Canon EOS 1D X – CES 2012
The two titans of camera kit – Nikon and Canon – went head [...]

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Hands-on review: Lenovo IdeaPad S2

Hands-on review: Lenovo IdeaPad S2

Asus’ Transformer had better watch its back now that Lenovo has announced its 10in, dual-core powered Transformer Prime-baiting [...]

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Need to know: Lenovo IdeaPad U300

Need to know: Lenovo IdeaPad U300

Lenovo took the wraps off its most portable IdeaPad yet at an event last night. Here’s a bite-size guide to its many, [...]

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Hands-on review: Sony PlayStation Vita

Hands-on review: Sony PlayStation Vita

Despite being fairly large, the Vita feels light enough for long gaming sessions without causing wrist-ache. Pushed [...]

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[LIVE] Sony PlayStation Vita Middle East launch event

[LIVE] Sony PlayStation Vita Middle East launch event

We’re coming to you live from Sony Middle East’s PlayStation Vita media launch event. Follow the action right here [...]

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Future Tech: Atomic memory

Future Tech: Atomic memory

There there, it’s been a long week so we’ll try to keep it simple. IBM researchers have proven their worth by sussing [...]

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Hands-on review: Sony Xperia Ion

Hands-on review: Sony Xperia Ion

Don’t be fooled by the Sony Ericsson moniker sitting atop Sony’s Xperia Ion. For starters, it’s just a prototype. But like the [...]

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Hands-on review: Dell XPS 13

Hands-on review: Dell XPS 13

Dell knows a thing or two about luxurious high-end laptops – the Adamo XPS was some of the finest laptop engineering and [...]

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