ross presly portfolio
TRANSCRIPT
ROSS PRESLY
PARTY LIKE IT’S 2024 Turn your NYE into a bash
from the future
CANS OF WHOOPASS On-ear headphones:
we test the best
CASE AND STATUS Wrap yourself and
your gadgets in style
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GADGETS / APPS / GEAR
SMARTWATCH SHOWDOWN THE TOP THREE TECH TICKERS
YULE BE LUCKY LAST-MINUTE XMAS GADGET
GIFT GUIDE
THE 20 GREATEST GADGETS IN THE WORLD TODAY
2014 GADGET AWARDS
THE TECH OF THE YEAR
GADGETS / APPS / GEAR
ANDROID WEAR WORN
A smartwatch you actually
need p80
VR GETS REALHolodecks, armchair
tourism, 360º films & VR Attenborough p51
THE £230 SUPERPHONEOnePlus One tested: So long Samsung, adios Apple p96
PLUS!Turn your
phone into a VR headset... for £25
...and they’re here, now
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TESLA S ON TESTSo much fun to drive, the electric bit’s just a bonus
YOU’VE GOT ALE Brew the perfect pint
with your smartphone
HI-DEF? SO PASSÉThe three best quad-HD
TVs money can buy
THINGS
GADGETS / APPS / GEAR
STUFF INNOVATORS 2014
SUPERHEROES OF TECH
THE APPLE WATCH IS HERE ...AND IT’S ABOUT TIME
LUCKEY Gatekeeper of
the virtual realm
WHITE
Reinventing your record
collection
BREAZEAL Mother of a
million robots
THE VERDICT
iPHONE 6
NAKAMOTO Replacing money with code
MUSK Revolutionising travel on Earth... and in space
GREEN MACHINES We go long-distance in three eco-friendly supercarsGREEN MACHINES
Meet the visionaries remaking your world
+ 5.5in
6 PLUS
www.stuff.tv / Nov 2014 / £4.60
ROSS PRESLY
/WINTER SPORTS SPECIAL
120 / www.stuff.tv
Arc’teryx Micon £420 | arcteryx.com
A great option if your pins feel the cold, Arc’teryx’s
leg-warmers use Coreloft insulation to keep
your lower half toasty, while a waterproof Gore-
Tex Pro Shell will help to fend off the elements.
Their two large cargo pockets have watertight
zips, while zipped thigh vents keep air circulating.
Suunto Ambit from £350 | suunto.com
While just as comfortable on a mountain bike run
as they are on the piste, the handsome Ambit
watch has stacks of slope-friendly features – such
as a barometer for forecasting mountain weather
and a heart rate monitor. The impressive 15-hour
battery life will see you through a full day’s skiing.
Black Diamond Agent Avalung £175 | blackdiamondequipment.com One of Black Diamond’s 20L, medium-sized
Avalung packs will carry all the kit you need for
backcountry adventuring and features a built-in
‘Avalung’ breathing tube to feed you air drawn
from the snow should you wind up on the wrong
side of an avalanche. A potential ski-saviour.
Volkl Shiro£600 | ellis-brigham.com
This versatile ski blends playful, easy powder performance with a solid, stable ride. It’s really a ‘big mountain’ ski to suit budding backcountry riders while also providing good on-piste performance. Combine it with Marker’s F12 Tour bindings (£290, marker.de) for great security on fast descents and efficient hiking on the more remote slopes.
Salomon BBR 7.5 with Z10 bindings £450 | salomonsports.com
The BBR range’s surfboard-meets-ski design makes it ideal for learners,
and this entry-level model is great value. The lightweight, oversized
tip allows novices to both ‘surf’ the piste and take those first forays
into deeper powder, while the Z10 bindings release in all directions so
your knees will stay in one piece.
skiing
BEST FOR
freeriding
nOW Add
these
BEST FOR
beginners
MAKE THE MOUNTAINS
YOURS WITH A PAIR OF
GO-ANYWHERE SKIS
/WINTER SPORTS SPECIAL/WINTER SPORTS SPECIAL
www.stuff.tv / 121
Steep £2.99 | amazon.co.uk
It might only carve over the surface of why big-mountain skiers are prepared to risk (and occasionally lose) their lives in the pursuit of vertical runs, but watching this doc’s off-piste antics will have even the snow-apathetic reaching for a holiday brochure.
Ski Tracks £0.69 | iOS
Like a snowsport Strava, this app uses your phone’s GPS to log everything from your speed to altitude and distance. It’s filled with neat touches such as auto- starting a new run as soon as you hop off a chairlift, and has built-in music controls to tweak your slope soundtrack.
Be INsPIreD
aPP tHIs
Three Valleys flights from £54 | les3vallees.com
France houses the world’s biggest ski resort, with 370 miles of slopes for beginners (Méribel’s lower slopes) and experts (the steep couloirs at Courchevel). The Les 3 Vallées app (£free, iOS, Android) has weather, maps and a GPS ‘friend-finder’.
go Here
sKIWear… WHAT TO LOOK FOR BY O’NEILL ATHLETE AND UK NUMBER ONE FREESKIER PADDY GRAHAM
sKI
JaCKet
A jacket’s waterproof
and breathability ratings are
most important. They’re listed in a
range between 1.5K to 20K. My
O’Neill Jeremy Jones 2L has a
high 15K/10K rating
due to its Firewall
insulation.
goggles
Make sure they
fit comfortably with
and without your helmet and
that the lens tint matches your
environment. In low light, gold and
amber lenses filter blue light
– use dark lenses
when in bright
light.
trouser
Insulated ski
pants are measured in
grams, from 30g to 800g, so
bear in mind how hot you get on the
slopes and choose your rating
accordingly. Look for thigh
vents and for zipped
pockets to carry
your tech.
Base
layer
Get one with Merino
wool to keep you warm and
dry. I don’t feel right without a
good thermal base layer. Resist the
urge to cut corners – cotton
T-shirts will get soggy.
Cold people leave
early.
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H o t s t
VOICE CONTROL
Walk into your living room, say
‘Xbox on’, then ‘Xbox, show Dave’,
and kablammo – you’re into an
afternoon of Man vs Food repeats
without lifting a finger. You can also
switch between TV, games, web
and Skype using only the sounds
that come out of your face.
9
Just to be clear, we mean Microsoft is going in One direction, not in One
Direction. By which we mean it’s taking a unified approach, not that it’s packing itself into a microscopic submarine and
injecting itself into Harry Styles’ boyishly handsome face. You see, Microsoft has noticed that people
spend about half of their Xtime doing something other than playing games, and it’s only too happy to continue this trend by adding strings to the Xbox’s bow. This boxy beast is a 4K Blu-ray
player, a voice-controlled media streamer that serves up all your TV
and movies, a phone (via Skype), a web browser and, yes, a games console, all
rolled into One. Although if we’re honest, the games – the jaw-dropping graphics, the persistent online worlds, the grandiose new stories, the multi-screen play, the frighteningly realistic
new game engines – are the One thing we really want it for.
As hot as… Master Chief in 4K
Due November 2013 / xbox.com
MicroSoft GoeS in one direction
the Xbox one will take over your tV, your livin�
room and eventually your life
fu f27 PAGES
OF THE BIGGEST
STORIES FROM
PLANET TECH
HOTTHREE
#1
For more views of the Xbox One, download the Stuff iOS app
10
5
3
4
1
2
6
THINGS WE KNOW
THING WE DON’T
fangled way, allowing you to lend
out your games to your Xbox Live
pals. One at a time, mind. What you
can’t do is play your existing 360
library on the One – not even Xbox
Live Arcade downloads. Ouch.
5 It can see your heart rate...and your face, which it can
recognise and use to sign you in.
The new Kinect is a frighteningly
powerful all-seeing 1080p, 2Gbps
eye with a 60% greater field of
vision, the nouse to see six players
at once, do 1080p video calls,
Minority Report-esque motion
control and read your family’s
thoughts as they sleep. Probably.
6 It has a proper controllerThe Xbox 360’s controller is a
gamer’s favourite, so it’s good to
see it untainted by a screen or
touch controls. It does have new
thumbstick rumble motors for
targeted feedback. And, the
battery has been moved so the
controller balances better. Nice.
1 It has 3 operating systemsAlongside the proprietary Xbox
OS, the One runs a version of
Windows, which lets it do Windows
8-style screen-splitting. Keeping
these two on talking terms is
a third, facilitator OS, while the
eight-core AMD processor and
8GB RAM do the heavy lifting.
2 It supports 4k Well, sort of. The Blu-ray drive
certainly can and will output 4K.
As for games, we don’t at time of
writing know if the One will game in
4K. Yes, the difference in graphics
is night and day, but that doesn’t
necessarily mean the resolution
will go up, too. Although obviously
we’ve got our fingers crossed.
3 It vampires on your digiboxPort-fondling nerds that we are,
the first thing we did when we saw
the One was to ogle its rear panel.
With an HDMI in and an HDMI out, it
acts as a middleman between your
Sky/Virgin/Freeview/YouView
box and your TV, serving up the
same content but with nicer
menus and voice control.
4 It lets you play other people’s games, but not your old onesThere’s a certain old-fashioned
magic in letting someone else
borrow your copy of something,
but the One does this in a new-
PS4 vs XBOX ONE WHICH IS THE
MOST POWERFUL?
Both the PS4 and the One have an 8-core processor made by AMD, plus 8GB RAM. However, while the One’s memory is of the DDR3 type that you’d find in most desktop PCs, the PS4’s is of the more powerful GDDR5 type found in graphics cards. This could translate to better performance, and while Sony has bandied its teraflops (the number of calculations the PS4 can make in a second) about, Microsoft has stayed strangely quiet on the subject, indicating it might not be able to match Sony’s figure. If we had to put money on it we’d say the PS4 is likely to be the more powerful machine, as in the last generation. But it may be that, just like the previous console generation, it’s the less powerful machine that offers the better gaming experience.
11
● Quantum BreakThis follows the trail blazed by Defiance into
‘transmedia’, which is suit-patter for something
that’s both a game and a TV show. With the
newly spruced Xbox Live hosting persistent
game worlds, the show will affect what happens
in the game and vice versa. Expect lots of
chrono-twisting from the bullet-time-
inventing makers of Max Payne.
● Forza 5The sixth instalment in the Xbox Xclusive racing franchise will be a launch title for the One, gridding up with the PS4’s Gran
Turismo 6. As with the preview of fellow futuristic megaracer Drive Club at the launch of the PS4, the focus is on exquisite realism, with details finer than a gnat’s eyelash crisply picked out.
● Call of Duty: GhostsWith perhaps the most impressive next-gen
graphics we’ve seen so far, the new CoD puts
a new engine to startling effect. The detail goes
down to individual leaves and the little screws
on your gun, while environments are modifiable
and highly destructible. It also promises an
emotionally charged script from Traffic scribe
Stephen Gaghan. And it’s got a dog in it.
● RYSEThis Kinect-only hack ’n’ slash transports you to
a catastrophically divided Rome, in which your
job is to stab, punch, cleave and generally offend
against your fellow historical figures. If you’re
really handy with a sword, you might even get
them to lend you their ears. This should be a
good game for showing off your new Kinect’s
ability to measure the force of a punch.
WHAT WE’LL PLAY
Download the Stuff iOS app for more Xbox One screenshots
59
BEST APPS OF RIGHT NOW!Without a stable full of thoroughbred apps, your superphone might as well be made of cheese. Happily, it isn’t, so power up your pocket-puter with our pick of the greatest apps on the planet
75 BEST APPS
64
Spendbook Can you afford that Krispy Kreme box? Spendbook says yes. You input all your incomings and outgoings to track what you fritter your hard-earned on. There’s a lot of data entry, but if there’s something you buy daily (a Gregg’s iced ring, for example) it’ll automatically account for it. Your reward is gorgeous graphs documenting your penchant for deep-fried batter. And a better handle on your finances. £1.49 / iOS
GratuityWill Dunn Editor
Gratuity almost warrants a spot in the Travel section,
because there’s one country it applies to in particular: the USA. Everywhere else, I can get away with just adding what seems a fair tip and scarpering, but Stateside tips are wages, and you need to know how much to pay. Gratuity makes this simple and discreet, and it also adds in bill splitting – because I assume everyone’s fine with splitting the bill after I had all those foie gras cocktails and a swan steak for dinner.£0.69 / iOS
DropletUnlike full-on mobile banking apps, Droplet doesn’t require you to carry around a DNA sample and letter from your mum before it’ll let you transfer cash. Tell it your account number and sort code and you can top up your Droplet coffers, which can then be used to pay Facebook friends or anyone with the app whose number you know; and when people pay you, you can deposit it back into your account.£free / iOS, Android
FairShareHouseshares can be a hotbed of sniping over who put what in the kitty and passive-aggressive notes on the fridge over the cleaning rota. FairShare puts an end to that, divvying up duties and keeping track of who’s paid what bills; it will even prioritise tasks for you. With your housemates now talking to each other, there’s also a private social network for organising drinks out and dinner.£0.69 / iOS, Android
Yahoo FinanceNot only is Yahoo Finance a very good feed of wonga-based news; it also allows you to follow particular stocks so you can track your portfolio in real time (if you’re the kind of person who has a portfolio). It also has summarised articles on currencies and markets, and makes sure you’re buying at the lowest of the low and selling at the highest of the high. You’ll be the wolf of your street in no time.£free / iOS, Android
360 SecurityWith the kind of
features you’d expect to have to pay for, 360 Security goes above and beyond when it comes to protecting your phone. It not only fends off viruses and malware but also allows you to block calls and texts from annoying PPI robots.£free / Android
DashlaneDashlane
remembers all your passwords so you don’t have to, with one master code to protect them all. You can even trust it with bank details, notes and anything you’d rather didn’t fall into enemy hands.from £free /
iOS, Android
Salient EyeGot an old
Android phone kicking around? Install Salient Eye and it’ll use the camera as a motion detector, taking pics of anyone who strays into view before sending them to you via email or SMS. Handy if the thief nicks the phone too.£free / Android
security
MONey
75 BEST APPS
62
music
Soundcloud Tom Wiggins Deputy editor
While Spotify (see left) is still my go-to music app, I’m finding myself opening Soundcloud more and more frequently since its slick redesign this summer. Even if the catalogue will never match Spotify or Rdio, more bands are uploading new singles to Soundcloud first and it’s a popular place for DJs and up-and-coming bands to put out mixes and demos for free – a bit like a YouTube for music. If only there were an offline mode, then I could stop using up all my data each month. £free / iOS, Android
TwicketsEverybody knows ticket
touts are the scum of the earth, just like people who don’t move down inside train carriages. Twickets is an attempt to make them extinct, by allowing those with spare tickets for gigs (and other events) to put them up for sale at face value, allowing proper fans to buy them. There’s even a reporting system if you suspect a ticket-tout rat has infiltrated the system.£free / iOS, Android,
Windows Phone
SongkickIf Songkick were still just an
app to keep track of the gigs it’d be the equivalent of an album that any self-respecting music fan should have in their collection – The Best Of The Beatles, for example. Since Songkick launched its own ticket-buying shop within the app, it’s become even more than that. Which must make it Band On The Run by Wings – the band The Beatles could’ve been.£free / iOS, Android
Boiler RoomThe Boiler Room
has built up a reputation for pushing boundaries (sometimes of what can be considered music), but if you’re into that sort of thing it collects its DJ sets together brilliantly, sorting them by genre and allowing you to save ones you like offline. There’s AirPlay support too, so if you’re having a house party you can press play on a mix and pretend its you all along. Sneaky.£free / iOS, Android
Who SampledYou might not
know this but there’s a good chance your music collection is made up of everybody else’s music collection. It’s called sampling. If you want to know what ingredients make up the songs on your iPhone, WhoSampled scans your iTunes library and tells you where the bassline for that came from, or which James Brown track they nicked the drums for that from. £1.99 / iOS
cLassic apps
SpotifyWhat is man’s
greatest achievement?
Space travel, or instant access to Phil Collins from anywhere that
you can get internet?
from £free /
iOS, Android,
Windows Phone
Channel 4 News
Channel 4’s in-depth
coverage is hard to beat. With
text, video, maps, live tweets and even Vines, it’s
brilliant for news and analysis. £free / iOS,
Android
Minecraft Pocket Edition
Punch trees with bare hands.
Acquire wood. Make tools.
Make house. Fight zombies. Never ask why
so pixellated. £4.99 / iOS,
Android
75 BEST APPS
63
GojimoGetting all the exam answers tattooed onto your body might seem like a good idea at the time, but it’s actually not the most effective (or moral) way to cram before taking any test. Gojimo offers downloadable quizzes (for a fee) for different subjects at different levels (11+, GCSE, AS-levels, etc), which are a much better way of making sure all those facts sink right in. No ink required.from £free / iOS
Great British Chefs KidsThe problem with many kids’ cooking guides is that
the end result isn’t what grown-ups want to eat – and what’s the point of teaching them to cook if they’re not going to make you something tasty? This app has lots of fun visual elements and straightforward guides (don’t miss the Hints section, which contains good advice on chopping onions and the like), but more importantly, the recipes from Michelin-starred chefs are something you’ll actually want for dinner.£free / iOS
kids
news
TynkerIf you’re planning to raise the next Mark Zuckerberg you’re going to need them to speak binary and have a complete disregard for privacy from an early age. Tynker can’t help with the latter but it will give your future billionaire the tools they need to learn the theories behind coding via games and puzzles, with more advanced ones available as in-app purchases. They can pay you back when they IPO.from £free /
iOS, Android
TimeAway Curb your kids’ addictive online habits by installing TimeAway on both yours and up to six other devices. Using a password, you can immediately pause all these devices for dinner or bedtime or, if they’ve been particularly naughty, lock them all together. You’ll receive a daily summary of how long they spend online and their most used apps. Plus you can track where their phones are on Google Maps.£free / Android
Teach Your Monster To ReadKids have it so easy these days. Where we had to make do with boring old textbooks written in Latin, they play with apps like this. It’s fun, charming and perfectly paced for kids of nose-picking age, teaching them sounds then simple letter combinations and finally full words. They’ll also learn basic game mechanics as they play – the best education you could give any child.£2.99 / iPad
Great British Chefs KidsThe problem with many kids’ cooking guides is that
the end result isn’t what grown-ups
ReverbA phone screen
can dazzle you with many wonders, but it can’t tell you all the news at once. In fact, even Jon Snow can’t do that. But Reverb’s personalised wall of key words enables you to follow the stories and themes that matter to you. £free / iOS
Circa NewsOld people
like to fall asleep in an armchair with a massive newspaper over their head, bless ’em. But young, vibrant groovesters like you want their news boiled down to nibble-sized chunks, and that’s what the editors of Circa News deliver. £free / iOS, Android
NuzzelAre you
interested in the same things your friends are interested in? If you’re not, dump them and get some new ones, perhaps at a local snooker hall or bingo club. If you are, use Nuzzel to track the news stories they’re sharing on social sites.£free / iOS
75 BEST APPS
102 / www.stuff.tv
/TEST/11.11/nnn/
robot vacuums
Samsung NaviBot
Silencio 8895 £500 | samsung.com/uk
It’s bot the look
The NaviBot is so smooth you could
skim it across a lake like a stone. As
the name suggests, it’s about being
quiet while still offering sufficient
cleaning power. And with a HEPA
filter, even the exhaust air it
breathes out is sparkling.
Clean machine?
The Silencio is well named: it’s so
quiet you could leave it on overnight
and sleep soundly, yet it still
manages great suction. There’s also
plenty of junk space in its trunk,
which can be emptied by hand or
(oddly) sucked out by another vac.
Sadly, there are chinks in its armour.
It may have 39 sensors and a
Visionary Mapping System – which
shoots 30 snaps a second to map a
room – but any cables left on the
floor will soon end up tangled in the
bot’s undercarriage. Its weak
battery, meanwhile, often leaves it
lacking the power to reach its dock.
Stuff says ★★★✩✩
Quiet as a mouse, and sadly
not much more efficient.
Bump ‘n’ fine
Despite its low profile
the NaviBot will happily
bump over mats and
stray magazines.
www.stuff.tv / 103
robot vacuums
/TEST/11.11/nnn/
Litter-Robot II£295 | litter-robot.euThis automated litter cleaning pod
means that you’ll never
again have to deal with
your cat’s litter tray –
all you need do is
swap the waste bag
every few days.
MORE ROBOT PHWOARS
Aquabot Rover NE356£250 | aquabots.comIf you can afford your own
swimming pool, it’s only right to
splash out on a robot
to clean it. The
Rover will do the
job in less than
three hours.
Robomow RL2000£1900 | robomow.co.ukThis mower-bot is ideal for lazy
landowners. Peg down a perimeter
wire and it’ll trundle around, making
the lawn look
pristine before
returning to its
charging base.
iRobot Scooba 385£390 | irobot.com/ukSimilar to its robot cleaner siblings,
this navigates its way round your
house, washing the hard floors and
sucking up
its dirty
cleaning water
as it goes.
iRobot
Roomba 770£420 | irobot.com/uk
It’s bot the look
Despite the iRobot’s slightly
plasticky feel, it looks like R2-D2’s
shiny fantasy girl. And with its highly
evolved sensors, you don’t have to
fret about it crashing into anything
and damaging its handsome visage.
Clean machine?
This one has it all: it’s quiet, powerful,
long-lasting and a bit of a brain-bot.
The Roomba has just one spinning
brush to sweep up all your debris,
but even so manages to clear dirt
out of your trickiest corners. And its
whopping battery means it keeps
going until the floor is spotless. The
fact that it only needs emptying
once a clean means you can leave it
to do a whole room without lifting a
digit – which, let’s face it, is the
whole point here – and it’ll even
leave lines in the carpet from its
mighty suction. Spotless.
Stuff says ★★★★★
Fast, efficient and powerful, the
iRobot is lord of the future-vacs.
Adapt and conquer
The 770’s updated
iAdapt software
means the vac rarely
misses a spot of dirt.
TESTWINNER
TRAVEL
innovators
68
Plotting to colonise the red planet
Elon Musk is about as close to a real-life Tony Stark as we have. He’s a Willy Wonka of tech, concocting plans (probably from a volcano lair in the Pacific) before unleashing them on the public.
But rather than sending overweight German children up industrial pipes he’s mainly
sending stuff into space. Musk sold his first product at 12 years old – he got US$500 for a videogame he’d written called Blastar after teaching himself to code – but it was the sale of PayPal in 2002 that put him on Stuff’s map. Since then he’s reinvented the electric car, banishing associations with
ELON MUSK PAYPAL/TESLA/SPACE X
milk floats and the G-Wiz courtesy of Tesla’s Roadster and seven-seater Model S, and set up SpaceX – a private space exploration company that aims to one day colonise Mars. “I see us going to Mars in about 10-11 years,” he told Stuff earlier this year, “and in a really big spaceship, not a little thing.”
Musk compares that proposed first trip to the red planet to the English colonising America and envisions setting up a city home to millions of people, with homes, jobs and (probably) pet Martians. You
know, just in case we accidentally destroy Earth. In short, he’s a man with ambitions to match the size of his fortune.
If he sounds like the twin brother of a Bond villain, that’s not a million miles from the truth. Musk recently spent some of his immense wealth on the actual submarine Lotus Esprit used in The Spy Who Loved Me and is building his own: “We’ve even joked about having a submarine-plane-car.” That’s a joke we can’t wait to see the punchline for.
Satellite town
So far the Dragon has only carried
cargo into space, but SpaceX reckons
it’ll soon be taking humans
Final frontier
This is Falcon 9, the first private
spacecraft to visit the
International Space Station
Fully charged In 2009 a Roadster travelled 311 miles on a single charge,
setting a new world record
69
innovators
If you want to make something streamlined
and aerodynamic, the model to copy isn’t a Formula 1 car
or fighter jet – it’s a penguin. Not when it’s in upright
waddling mode, but when arrowing its way through
the ocean. That’s what exterior design manager
Peter Wouda would’ve been aiming for when he crafted
the VW XL1 – the most efficient production car in
the world. Everything about it is designed to cut through the air like a hot axe through
ice cream, from the extremely low ride height
and lack of wing mirrors (it has cameras instead) to the way it tapers towards a flat rear end. Combined with its hybrid of diesel and electric power, VW has managed to
eke out over 300 miles to the gallon, and with its tech already filtering through to the VW GTE, it could turn out to be one of the most
significant cars ever made.
Now we have plug sockets with USB ports in them, there are only really two main sci-fi dreams that remain: flying cars and hoverboards. Aerofex’s Aero-X fulfils both, with
the added bonus of being a little like Luke Skywalker’s
Landspeeder. On terra firma it’s a four-wheeled, two-person buggy-type vehicle, but in flight it uses downward-facing fans to
levitate up to 10 feet off the ground at up to 45mph. Designed by aerospace
engineer Mark DeRoche, it uses a clever steering
system that removes the need for complex controls
like those found in helicopters, making it similar
to riding a motorbike. And while it’s not ready to ride
away from a showroom just yet, it’s not pure fantasy
either. Aerofex has tested the Aero-X and hopes to
have them on sale by 2017. Yours for just US$85,000.
Before he became public enemy number one among London’s black-cab drivers,
Travis Kalanick launched Uber in San Francisco
in 2010. It’s an app that allows you to book a cab
and watch it arrive on a map. In four years it’s
taken over the world, like a convenient four-wheeled
virus that runs at very affordable rates.
And it’s not just for taxis now either. There’s Uber Ice Cream, which allows
you to summon a 99 just like a cab, plus Uber
Chopper: an on-demand chauffeur-flown helicopter service from New York City to the Hamptons at the far
end of Long Island. Uber now operates in over 200 cities
around the world, and while not everyone is
happy to see them (those aforementioned cabbies for one), it’s a company
dragging an age-old industry into the future.
It’s almost impossible to get lost these days. You’ve got one man to thank for that:
Azmat Yusuf. He’s the man behind Citymapper – the app that gets you around
London, New York, Paris and other less fashionable cities
across the world. It makes the most of open, real-time
data to show you various routes to your destination,
how long each one will take, how much they’ll cost and if there are any problems that could cause delays. Creator
Yusuf and his team are adding cities all the time – you can vote for which one they should do next on the Citymapper website – and
he’s already got one eye on Rio in time for the
Olympics in 2016. Yusuf told Stuff that he wanted “to build something that
people would use regularly”. Considering we can barely get to the end of the road
without using his app, looks like mission accomplished.
The future of streamlined
hybrid car design
Making our sci-fi dreams
come true
Hailing a cab towards the
future
App-ing to make getting lost get lost
PETER WOUDA VOLKSWAGEN XL1
MARK DEROCHEAEROFEX
TRAVIS KALANICK UBER
AZMAT YUSUFCITYMAPPER
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ARE FAKE BURGERS
THE FUTURE?
FUTURE FOOD
YES PRoFESSoR MARK PoST, MAASTRICHTUnIVERSITY
“In the beginning, for all sorts of practical reasons, we are focusing on processed meat – that will change the perception of processed meat in that it will become a highly regulated and much more environmentally friendly and animal-friendly product.”
noDR MoRGAInE GAYE, CURAToR oF FUTUREFEST GASTRoDoME
“Loads of people are resistant to in-vitro meat – people who aren’t keen on playing god or interfering with nature. But meat prices will double in the next five years, so if people want to keep eating the quantities of meat they’re eating, something has to change.”
CULTURED MEATWhen your research project has the backing of Sergey Brin, you know it’s going places. And Professor Mark Post’s research into lab-grown meat has been funded by the Google founder to the tune of £215,000. This is because, as Post says, “Pigs and cows are very inefficient in converting the vegetable proteins in their food to animal proteins.”
Lab-grown meat will mean fewer resources poured into rearing livestock for meat – although we can’t expect to chow down on in-vitro burgers for at least a decade.
How does it work? Muscle cells are extracted from a cow and cultivated in the lab, where they’re arranged into small myotubes. These contract and bulk up, forming strands of tissue. Around 20,000 strands are required to create a single burger; the first was unveiled at a tasting event in July this year, where it was pronounced “close to meat” by taster and nutrition researcher Hanni Rützler and “like an animal protein cake” by food writer Josh Schonwald. So, some work still to be done, then.culturedbeef.net
113
FuTure FooD
NeW FooDsources
AlgAeThis ‘algaculture symbiosis suit’ is just an art installation – but algae’s already making its way into our food. US company Solazyme Roquette Nutritionals is producing Almagine, an ‘algal flour’ which can be used in place of butter, eggs and flour – and which it claims means up to 40% less fat and cholesterol in your diet.solazyme.com
MIllIMeAlsSci-fi’s often teasing us with the idea of a meal in a pill. Millimeals puts a new spin on the concept; it’s a set of tearable food strips created by a team of students for the Science Museum in London. You can layer them up to create full meals – and cleverly, Millimeals also lets you measure nutritional value by length, rather than weight.bit.ly/millimeals
PlAnt eggsOne of three companies praised by Bill Gates for its futuristic food, Hampton Creek has picked out the 22 key traits of a hen’s egg and duplicated them with plant-based alternatives. Beyond Eggs won’t be part of your fry-up, but it could replace the entire third of the world’s eggs used in cookies, mayonnaise and muffins.hamptoncreekfoods.com
soylentNo, not the mysterious green wafers used to feed an overpopulated Earth in the 1973 film Soylent Green, but a customisable beige liquid (powder mixed with water) that’s promising to be a new food substitute. Recently tested by several journalists whose only complaint was the bland taste, it’ll be available in the US from December at US$65 for a week’s supply.campaign.soylent.me
tHey sAy...“I’ve always been skeptical of edible packaging. The point of packaging for me is that it protects the food from potentially harmful foreign bodies, stops it getting damaged, etc. I think that it could be a gimmick in a high-end scenario, not spilling off the shelf in Tesco.”Peter Firth, trend forecaster at LS:N Global
eDIBLe PAcKAGINGWe’ve all seen excessive packaging in the supermarket – fruit and veg cocooned in layers of polystyrene and cling film for no obvious reason. WikiPearl is a new form of packaging based around edible ‘WikiCells’, a protective membrane made of plant-based material. Now, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s a silly idea – because you’ll need to package the WikiCell too, if you want to eat it (as indeed WikiPearl does, in a biodegradable wrapper). But the real trick is that foodstuffs such as yoghurts, and ice cream can be turned into new types of finger food. And let’s face it, the mango ice cream with coconut skin sounds mighty appetising.wikipearl.com
tHey sAy...“It’s unlikely that we will be able to enjoy a 3D printed veal escalope. The food that gets 3D printed will be more functional and borne of necessity as the world population swells, and traditional modes of food production and distribution are no longer feasible.”Peter Firth, trend forecaster at LS:N Global
3D�PrINTeD FooD IN sPAce3D printing food sounds like a gimmick – hooray, you can make a cheesy puff in the shape of a swan – but NASA is taking it seriously. It’s looking at the possibility of using a 3D printer to make food during deep-space missions, with printers mixing up the ingredients for meals themselves and printing them off using additive manufacturing.The possibilities are intriguing – recipes could be shared on a Thingiverse-style site and downloaded to your printer, or customised to meet your own specific calorific needs based on your BMI and activity. Once cultured beef comes on the market, you could even print your own hamburger in space.bit.ly/nasa3dfood
tHey sAy...“In the 1600s, lobster was considered the vermin of the sea, and no-one wanted anything to do with it. Now people pay top dollar. We think we can eventually get to a point where insects have the same level of high esteem as lobster, crabs and shrimp do now.”Greg Sewitz, co-founder of Exo
INsecT ProTeIN BArs Set aside your squeamishness – according to a UN report, 2 billion people worldwide eat bugs. And entomophagy (the eating of insects) is good for you, too. “Crickets are about 70% protein, and they have more iron than beef, gram for gram – they have a ton of calcium, so they’re super healthy,” says Greg Sewitz of Exo, a company that makes protein bars out of cricket flour. It’s also good for the planet – insect farming uses fewer resources and takes up less space than livestock. Pioneers such as Exo want to get bugs on your plate in the next few years – and designer Katharina Unger has gone a step further, creating Farm 432, an insect breeder for the home (below).www.exo.co
FUTURE FOOD
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Humans have a food problem – and it’s a lot more serious than dropping a yoghurt in the supermarket. By 2025, the UN predicts that the world population will be 8.1 billion, an increase of nearly a billion. We all need food, and it’s placing a substantial burden on Earth’s resources.
That’s not the only problem. Animal farming is emitting more greenhouse gas than transport. Monocultures, desertification and pollution are all taking their toll. And the World Wildlife Fund reckons that 120 million hectares of natural habitat will become farmland by 2050. Fortunately, science and its sidekick technology could hold the key – but we might have to get used to a few changes on our dinner plates first…
CULTUREd
MEATMeat may not grow on
trees, but it doesn’t have to grow on animals either.
INSECT
PRoTEIN BARSYou might think that
eating insects just isn’t cricket, but really it is.
3d PRINTEd
foodMade-to-measure ready
meals and printing food in space: the final frontier?
EdIBLE
PACKAGINGWaste not, want not –
thinking outside the box, and then eating it.
NEW food
SoURCESAlgae, plant eggs and
meals-by-the-millimetre. Fancy a Soylent shake?
Unlike video game steak power-ups, food sadly isn't infinite. If we're to avoid a future of cannibalism, we need to look to tech…
55
innovators
SUPERHEROES OF TECH
They range from VR revolutionaries to vinyl pioneers, and they’ve given us everything from hoverbikes to robot servants. It’s time to meet the Stuff Innovators of 2014: our pick of the geniuses who are going beyond ordinary geekdom to remake the modern world
STUFF INNOVATORS 2014
With a little help
from our friends…
Sometimes it’s nice to get a fresh viewpoint, so we asked our friends at Dezeen and NMEto give us their thoughts on our Innovators. Keep an eye out for them.
[ Illustrations Rich Kelly ]
86
Genesis Croix De Fer
The Avid BB7 disc brakes give massive stopping power – no matter the terrain or conditions. They are
of course also excellent for doing
massive skids.
G R O U P T E ST
I haven’t got space in my flat for an array of different bikes, so I need one that does it all. The
Croix De Fer is that bike. So now when Simon emails about mountain biking, I can reply “See you on the trail!” And when Will D FaceTimes me in his Lycra, it’s *call rejected* – but I can later text: “Sure I’ll do a 100k sportive.” And when Monday morning rolls around, I’m able to weave my way through the traffic to the Stuffbunker. And if I have time left for cyclocrossing or touring, it handles those with ease too.
Ross Preslydeputy art editor
£1150 / genesisbikes.co.ukStuff says ★★★★★
87
G R O U P T E ST
Douze Messenger
The Douze has two wheels, not three, so it’ll lean into corners. However, its length means it has a very
‘relaxed’ turning circle – avoid tight spots and U-turns.
Bikes are versatile things. You can strap on pannier bags and carry a weekly shop. Or bolt on
a child seat and carry a child. Or fix up a trailer and carry the weekly shop and several children. Has anyone got the time to do these things? No. So into the car they jump. The Douze is the solution; it’s the pickup truck of bikes. Throw whatever you like into the cargo area – it’s in front, so you’ll see if he/she/it falls out – and the seven- or eight-speed transmission will keep you rolling when the load gets lardy.
Fraser Macdonaldcontributor
from £1940 / londongreencycles.co.ukStuff says ★★★★✩
BIKESFrom cargo to ‘crosser’, the Stuff team has put foot to pedal
and hand to ’lebar to test the entire bike spectrum
ST U F F P I C K S
83
The aluminium frame serves up a smooth ride and is the same
one found in its pricier .004 brother,
making this the Sa Calobra range’s
sweet spot.
Hoy Sa Calobra .003
BIKESBIKESBIKES
My commute is a jumbled mix of potholed roads, cycle lanes and a sprint through Richmond Park,
so I need an all-rounder to boost my Strava rankings. Cut from the same pragmatic cloth as Halford’s Boardman range, this sensible but smart Hoy is the perfect fit. Its carbon fork is on hand to absorb road judder, while the high-quality Shimano components and low riding position could yet propel me to being crowned king of Spankers Hill. All I need now are the somewhat harder to obtain tree-trunk thighs.
Mark Wilsonfeatures editor
£1000 / evanscycles.comStuff says ★★★★★
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hardTraIN a GOOd daY TO
Beat fatigue and crush your rivals with these running shoes. White vest optional
Laundry by Pixel£25 | pxlclothing.com
Nuclear Fam by Dirty Velvet
£25 | dirtyvelvet.co.uk
Owl b
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£25 | asos.com
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£35 | 55dsl.com
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£25 | king-apparel.com
Defy by King
Defy by King
£25 |
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76
Terra Nova Ultra 1
Owner of the Guinness World Record for lightest
double-wall shelter, the Ultra 1 uses material so
thin that it is almost see-through. You are warned
BUILD T
IME
BUILD T
IME
If you want to spend a week in a field, get a camper van. I see tents as a way to keep moving, not
stop. It is a sleep facilitator that I stick in a daypack, or strap to my mountain bike. So it needs to be small and light. It is put up, slept in, then taken down. So it needs to be quick. The Ultra 1 is a rather extreme – and expensive – way to prove the point. Featherlight material, a single pole, fixed carbon end-poles and wispy titanium pegs mean it weighs 560g and packs to the size of a loaf of bread. Only room for one, though, so suits a lone wolf. Like me.
Fraser Macdonald
contributor
£700 / terra-nova.co.uk
Stuff says ★★★★★
ROSS PRESLY
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appcessoriesApps are to the Stuff team what Scooby Snacks were to the titular hound.
These five come with their own hardware for maximum smartness
ST U F F P I C K S
Triggertrap Mobile
The adaptor cables are available for most
DSLRs and CSCs, plus loads of popular
compacts. You get one with the kit but they can be bought
separately (£8).
79
Triggertrap manages to make photography’s least sexy piece of equipment, the remote shutter
release, seem exciting and new. It actually turns your phone into the remote, connecting to your camera via an adaptor cable and controlled through an app that does so much more than just release the shutter. You can set it up to do timelapses, long-exposure star trails and HDR shots. My only minor gripe is that the connection from the phone to the dongle isn’t wireless, but this is offset by the fact I can trigger it to shoot when I whistle.
Simon Osborne-Walkeracting editor
£24 (iOS, Android) / triggertrap.comStuff says ★★★★✩
The STuff Team geT plugged inTo The he
cooleST wayS To geT from ac To dc
stuff picks
Is it a scooter? Clearly not. A car? Closer, but no. This is, in fact, an electric quadricycle. True, its doors are optional and it lacks windows, but the windscreen and roof keep me relatively protected from the elements. And although it may not have room for both luggage and a passenger, it is small enough to fit into the teensiest of parking spaces and has a range of about 45 miles. What’s more, it makes people grin. Me, because it’s like driving a 50mph go-kart, and everyone else because it’s just so unusual. OK, so a few might be laughing at me not with me, but that’s all part of the fun, isn’t it?Stuff says ★★★★I
Tom ParsonsRenault Twizyfrom £6690 | renault.co.uk
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The rear passenger sits pinion-style. It’s tricky to get into the
seat, but surprisingly comfortable once you’re wedged in.
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I think the others have lost sight of why we got talking about electric vehicles in the first place: money. The EC-03 costs about the same as a petrol scooter, but only pocket change to run. Its range is a mere 20 miles, but that’ll get me to the office and back with an added detour via the supermarket. And, crucially, when navigating the crowded streets of London, it’s small enough for me to weave through traffic. It’ll even fit in the side passage outside my flat so I can run the charging cable through the kitchen window and plug it in next to the kettle.Stuff says ★★★★✩
Will DunnYamaha EC-03 £2600 | yamaha-motor.eu/uk
The EC-03 is classified as a
scooter, so you’ll need at least a CBT certificate to ride it.
That’ll take a day and cost you about £100.
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Sorry world, and sorry wallet, but I’m not making any compromises. I want my electro-steed to do all of the things my petrol one would. Including, but not limited to: barrelling me safely out of the way of distractedly driven four-wheeled death-bringers; dealing with the odd muddy foray up a green lane; and leaving me with a smile on my face for hours after I’ve wheeled it back into the garage. The DS does it all, eking a twist-and-go 80mph with all the torque you’d expect from an electric, yet still remaining compact, light and chuckable, whether on-road or off. It’s a hoot.Stuff says ★★★★★
Luke EdwardsZero DS ZF9 £11,795 | zeromotorcycles.com
This is the leggier of two DS models, with a 40-60 mile range depending on how roughly you ride it. The 20kg-lighter
ZF6 model is £9995.
stuff picks/TEST/09.12/nnnnnn/
Koubachi Wi-Fi Plant Sensor Outdoor
The Koubachi works out what your plant
needs through its sensor feedback and the app’s huge library of plant requirements – a fine read for keen botanists on its own.
80
ST U F F P I C K S
€120 (iOS) / koubachi.comStuff says ★★★★✩
If I’m honest, I’d neglected Doug the dragon tree plant. I was too wrapped up in my own life and he’d
started to droop. Until, that is, nurse Koubachi came to the rescue. The Wi-Fi Plant Sensor sat in Doug’s pot, monitoring his temperature, water and light levels and keeping me updated via its iOS app. The calibration for some features is a little long (up to a week for sunlight analysis), but the probe soon starts sending push nudges for mist and water. The outdoor version will even survive a heavy rainstorm. Doug is now healthy and well – and my guilt is assuaged.
Mark Wilsonfeatures editor
Withings Pulse
81
G R O U P T E ST
As well as covering the Pulse’s data, the app links with third-party apps such as
RunKeeper and Withings’ ambient-CO2-reading Smart
Body Analyzer scales.
The Pulse joins the growing army of step counters, but it’s stepping in with a special weapon. Sure it’ll
count your daily paces, mileage, calories and even altitude climbed, but it also offers a clear touchscreen display, clip mount, wrist strap for sleep tracking and a heart rate sensor. It’ll then send all of that data to your Android or iOS device via Bluetooth 4.0. And that’s not its only clever trick: to measure your heart rate, you hold a finger to the sensor for an instant reading. Witchcraft! Despite all that, you’ll get a full week’s use before needing a microUSB charge.
Luke Edwardsmultimedia journalist
€100 (iOS, Android) / withings.comStuff says ★★★★★
82
Urbanears Slussen
The free Urbanears app is very basic and
lacks key features. Fortunately, the Slussen widget
works with the far superior Djay and Traktor apps too.
82
G R O U P T E ST
£13 (iOS) / urbanears.comStuff says ★★★★✩
Phones and tablets are almost perfect for portable DJing. But with just the one audio output,
there’s nowhere to plug in your headphones for cueing and monitoring. The trick is to reduce the signals from stereo to mono and put them either side of the main output, which requires specialist, messy cables. Slussen has solved this with a keyring-attachable splitter. Just rock up at a party with an iThing and ’phones, hook up to your mate’s stereo with a standard cable and boogie the night away. Until you realise no-one there likes Jethro Tull, that is.
Tony Horgansenior reviewer
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FIREWORKS NIGHT
6 INSTANT UPGRADES
What better way to christen your new back garden than with a neighbour-annoying, dog-bothering pyrotechnics extravaganza? Warning: may emit sparks of sensationalness
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TRIPOD
An essential. Decide what angle you want to capture and set up your camera on a tripod to keep it steady. You can even use the Weye Feye (see no.4, left) to see exactly what your camera sees and fire off shots without shaking it.
TIME-LAPSE
If you want to record the whole thing, you can compress an entire fireworks display into a 15-second clip. Many cameras have a time-lapse mode, or you can use apps such as Lapse It (from £free / iOS, Android).
LONG EXPOSURE
If you’re using a DSLR, select manual and focus on infinity. Keep the ISO at 100, set the aperture to around f/12 and try exposures up to 30 secs. If you’re using a compact camera, select night mode (no flash) or fireworks mode if it has one.
EXPERIMENT
Feeling ambitious? Try getting reflections, silhouettes of spectators… or use flash in a group shot with long exposure to catch background fireworks. With care, you could even use a drone to capture an aerial view.
3 BRAVEN BRV-1
If you’re feeling really creative, you could always set your fireworks display to music. Ready to provide the soundtrack is the BRV-1. It’s a compact Bluetooth speaker built to withstand the testing conditions of a cold, damp November night thanks to its IPX5 water-resistant rating and rugged rubber exterior. Its twin drivers can manage 3W each of power and offer a playing time of up to 12 hours. It also has a built-in noise-cancelling mic for hands-free calling… although it’s probably best not to try that while the sky is exploding.£130 / braven.eu
1 DUALIT STRAIGHT
SOUP KETTLE
Your guests are on their way, the emergency water bucket is on standby, you’ve set up your camera (see panel) and the fireworks are ready to launch... but what’s that smell? Uh-oh, you’ve boiled the mulled wine into a foul-tasting soup again. �is six-litre soup kettle is the perfect set-and-forget option. In stainless steel with a variable thermostat, it means you’ll never end up with horrible boiled wine again. Also good for those ‘six litres of soup’ Sundays.£80 / nisbets.co.uk
6 HUSQVARNA
TECHNICAL GLOVES
You need sturdy gloves that will keep your fingers safe without being too bulky for fiddling with fuses. While they’re designed for use with Husqvarna chainsaws, these are also light enough to allow full movement, with a tough yet supple goat-leather palm, extra protection for the index finger and a terry-cloth panel for wiping away your excitement-induced sweat. �e snug Velcro closure makes sure they stay put, and reflective piping makes them easier to find if you drop one in the dark.£39 / husqvarna.com
pYROTECHniC papping
4 XSORIES WEYE FEYE
If you want to photograph your fireworks, the best views aren’t likely to be from the safest places. Solution: the Weye Feye – pronounced like Wi-Fi – hooks up to your Nikon or Canon DSLR (there’s an ‘S’ version coming soon that works with most cameras) and provides live view and remote shooting controls on your smartphone or tablet via its own Wi-Fi network. �e built-in battery gives up to eight hours of use and it works up to 80m away, so you can get your camera up close without putting yourself in the line of fire.£200 / xsories.co.uk
2 LAUNCH KONTROL
PULSE
Why would you stumble around a muddy garden in the dark when you could set off your fireworks at the push of a button? �e Launch Kontrol Pulse is a simple wired system that can be used up to 20m away. Replaceable ignition tips clip to the firework fuses, and the pad is connected via a Cat 5 network cable and powered by a 9V battery. Up to four fireworks can be triggered per board, and you can chain multiple boards together for bigger displays. £17 / pyrostation.co.uk
5 FIREWORKS
INTERNATIONAL
TOMAHAWK ROCKETS
Every good display needs a fine set of rockets to round it off. �is bargain pack of five Fireworks International Tomahawks is just the job. With two dazzling effects – Silver Glittering Willow and the rather cocktail-sounding Green Crackling Coconut with Pistil Purple Peony – they’re the perfect showstoppers. You’ll finally be able to shake off the stigma of that time you disappointed everyone with a mouldy box of Roman candles.£20 / pyro.co.uk
ROSS PRESLY
My eyes dart left and right, an arm extends, fingers and thumb touch: a five-cross axle in one palm, a 3x3 T-beam and connector pegs in the other. My deeply ingrained part-location abilities have reawoken. It feels good – it feels natural. Piecing together the V8, building the rear slip diff and installing the suspension bring back memories long forgotten. But realising that I’d just assembled a Technic clutch was a new feeling. Learning. Mechanical knowledge. Power! Lego is wasted on the young.
Stuff says ★★★★★
Ross PreslyLego Technic 42000 Grand Prix Racer£80 | lego.com
stuff picks/TEST/04.13/nnnnnnn/
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Build time 5h11 Finger soreness
My eyes dart left and right, an arm extends, fingers and thumb touch: a five-cross axle in one palm, a 3x3 T-beam and connector pegs in the other. My deeply ingrained part-location abilities have reawoken. It feels good – it feels natural. Piecing together the V8, building the rear slip diff and installing the suspension bring back memories long forgotten. But realising that I’d just assembled a Technic clutch was a new feeling. Learning. Mechanical knowledge. Power! Lego is wasted on the young.
Stuff says ★★★★★
Ross PreslyLego Technic 42000 Grand Prix Racer£80 | lego.com
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94 / www.stuff.tv
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Build time 5h11 Finger soreness
Fraser MacdonaldHaynes Combustion Engine Kit £30 | amazon.co.uk
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Before you ask: no, it doesn’t. Actual combustion and compression in a plastic model doesn’t really seem wise. But despite that, and its slightly cheap build, there’s some hard-boiled engineering nous required here. Bolted together, this kit will demonstrate a full four-stroke cycle, complete with cam-operated valves and light-up spark plugs firing in the right order. It’s backwards, mind you, with the crank being driven by a battery motor in the ‘gearbox’ – but it’s an education nonetheless.
Stuff says ★★★★I
Build time 6h Finger soreness
DESIGN
114
CAFe RACeRevolution
tRiuMPH StReet tRiPle R
Middleweight naked bikes such as the Street Triple R are the big-selling
hotcakes of the motorbike world, and British-born Triumph is leading
the way. The Triple R is a masterclass in light handling and proper sporting
performance, but the comfortable straight bars mean there will be no physio trips for aching wrists
after your epic Sunday rides either.
from £7700 / triumph.co.uk
DeSiGn
115
SCIENCE FICTION
STUFF’SGUIDE TO
If you love technology, you’ve got to love sci-fi. It’s where the big ideas come from – decades or even centuries before they happen in real life, the inventions of the future are described by authors, programmers and filmmakers. Yes, there is a certain amount of nerditude involved, but in case you hadn’t noticed, nerds get all the best jobs these days. Buckle up for a geektastic tour of the future…
The difference is tech: while science fiction concentrates on what might be possible, given the right technology, fantasy explains the incredible by saying “it’s a kind of magic”. Sci-fi sometimes describes technology so outlandish or advanced that it might as well be magic, but it’s always based in science. Some authors, such as Ursula Le Guin and Michael Moorcock, manage to excel in both genres. Sci-fi is better, though, because it’s more believable, offers more possibilities – and we all know who’s going to win in a fight between Gandalf and the Death Star.
/ SCIENCE FICTION
Images from Hardware: The Definitive SF Works of Chris Foss, £25, Titan Books
SCI-FI VS FANTASY
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1. Ball Engineer Hydrocarbon DeepQUEST
This monster has gas-illuminated hands that’ll keep glowing right down to
its 3000m limit.£2660 / ballwatch.com
2. Citizen Promaster Depth Meter Chronograph
This Eco-Drive diver displays your depth to 125ft and records your deepest plunge for posterity.
£470 / citizenwatch.com
3. Suunto D9tx TitaniumA dive computer masquerading as a watch: ideal for dive-stat geeks.
£965 / suunto.co.uk
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orn
e-W
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DIVING
198
7
KEY
INTR
O
20
02
20
02
84 / www.stuff.tv
No
kia
110
0
Sti
ll th
e w
orl
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st-s
elli
ng
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ph
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re
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20
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illio
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es
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imat
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abo
ut £
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ghs
8
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g, a
nd is
use
d by
then
-S
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t lea
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orb
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ce it
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orb
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611
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his
har
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d c
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rick
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als
o t
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ure
Sn
ake
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on
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t a N
oki
a, b
ut th
e de
but o
f E
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the
mul
ti-t
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S
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lves
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ean
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lect
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hees
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No
kia
76
50
Th
e F
inn
s’ m
ost
imp
ort
ant
ph
on
e
of t
he
no
ug
hti
es
– a
firs
t fo
r S
ym
bia
n, w
ith
a b
uilt
-in
ca
me
ra a
nd
a c
olo
ur
scre
en
, an
d t
he
firs
t p
ho
ne
wit
h a
sl
ide
-dow
n k
eyp
ad. W
ith
th
ird-p
arty
ap
ps
and
a m
ult
i-ta
skin
g O
S, i
t is
(in
co
nce
pt,
if
no
t d
esi
gn
) th
e g
od
fath
er
of
tod
ay’s
sm
artp
ho
ne
s. A
ll k
ne
el…
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kia
711
0
Insp
ired
by
th
e s
pri
ng-l
oad
ed
N
ok
ia in
Th
e M
at
rix
, th
is d
esi
gn
cl
assi
c is
th
e fi
rst
ph
on
e
wit
h T
9 p
red
icti
ve te
xt
and
a W
AP
bro
wse
r. T
he
u
nin
spir
ing
ear
ly m
ob
ile
inte
rne
t m
ay h
ave
led
to
‘WA
Pat
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bu
t th
e 7
110
re
mai
ns
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lt d
um
bp
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lar.
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us
up
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Un
til r
ece
ntl
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inn
ish
firm
No
kia
was
th
e
kin
g o
f mo
bile
s –
pro
du
cing
mas
s-m
arke
t cl
assi
cs a
nd
hig
h-e
nd
su
pe
rph
on
es
that
ri
vals
sim
ply
co
uld
n’t
mat
ch. T
he
n it
all
un
rave
lled
: fir
st, t
he
Ko
rean
s in
tro
du
ced
wav
e-u
po
n-w
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of h
igh
-sty
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ow-p
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h
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sets
. Th
en
th
e iP
ho
ne
arr
ive
d, k
no
ckin
g
No
kia
off
th
e s
mar
tph
on
e t
hro
ne
. Wh
ere
did
it
all
go w
rong
? A
nd
can
a fo
rce
d m
arri
age
to
long
-tim
e ri
val M
icro
soft
reve
rse
the
decl
ine?
No
kia
90
00
No
kia
’s fi
rst
Co
mm
un
icat
or
run
s a
PC
op
era
ting
sys
tem
, G
EO
S v
3. O
ne
in t
he
ey
e fo
r M
icro
soft
an
d it
s la
me
nta
ble
Win
dow
s C
E.
No
kia
92
10
Th
e fi
rst
Sy
mb
ian
(an
d fi
rst
colo
ur)
Co
mm
un
icat
or.
P
op
ula
r am
ong
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th
hig
h-f
lyin
g b
usi
ne
ss g
ee
ks
and
Stu
ff e
dito
rs-t
o-b
e.
As
No
kia
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ts t
o w
ork
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its
firs
t W
ind
ow
s P
ho
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7 h
an
dse
t,
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ge
t a
ll n
ost
alg
ic a
bo
ut
its
tra
ilbla
zin
g b
ac
k c
ata
log
ue
No
kia
10
11W
orld
’s fi
rst m
ass-
pro
duce
d
GS
M, o
r 2G
, pho
ne. N
oki
a is
ke
y in
dev
elo
ping
this
tech
, w
hich
mea
ns b
ette
r cal
l, tex
t an
d da
ta p
erfo
rman
ce.
No
kia
210
0T
he
firs
t p
ho
ne
to u
se t
he
N
ok
ia T
un
e r
ing
ton
e t
hat
s
sou
nd
trac
k t
he
nex
t d
eca
de
. Ove
r 2
0 m
illio
n s
old
, p
oss
ibly
th
anks
to t
he
so
ng.
No
kia
511
0T
he
firs
t m
ob
ile w
ith
ch
ange
able
cov
ers
: fas
hio
n
ph
on
es
star
t h
ere
. So
bla
me
it fo
r o
dd
itie
s su
ch a
s th
e
late
r 72
80
‘lip
stic
k’ p
ho
ne
.
199
219
94
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20
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199
119
96
20
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mb
ph
on
e
sma
rtp
ho
ne
com
pu
ter
GR
EATE
ST
HIT
S
#1N
okia
www.stuff.tv / 85
No
kia
72
00
No
kia
’s fi
rst
clam
she
ll co
me
s w
ay a
fte
r th
e p
eak
o
f ‘fli
pm
ania
’, an
d to
o la
te to
p
rote
ct it
s m
ass-
mar
ket
bu
sin
ess
fro
m c
om
pe
tito
rs.
No
kia
53
10
‘Co
me
s w
ith
Mu
sic’
, it
said
. T
he
n it
qu
ick
ly ‘w
en
t w
ith
m
usi
c’. I
ts a
ll-yo
u-c
an-e
at
dow
nlo
ad s
erv
ice
fails
to
set
the
wo
rld
alig
ht.
No
kia
18
00
T
his
bas
ic N
ok
ia m
ob
ile is
av
aila
ble
for
less
th
an a
five
r o
n p
ay-a
s-yo
u-g
o. I
mp
ort
s fr
om
th
e F
ar E
ast
are
eve
n
che
ape
r, b
ut
no
t as
so
lid.
No
kia
N9
5
Th
is ‘K
ing
of S
mar
tph
on
es’
(©
Stu
ff) i
s lig
ht-
year
s ah
ead
w
he
n it
’s a
nn
ou
nce
d in
late
2
00
6, w
ith
Wi-
Fi, H
SD
PA,
GP
S a
nd
a 5
MP
cam
. Bu
t by
th
e t
ime
it a
rriv
es
in M
arch
2
00
7, A
pp
le h
as u
nve
iled
th
e
iPh
on
e, a
nd
th
e N
95
loo
ks li
ke
a d
ino
sau
r. N
ok
ia s
pe
nd
s tw
o
year
s lic
kin
g it
s w
ou
nd
s.
No
kia
N8
T
he
imp
rove
d S
ym
bia
n^3
mak
es
its
de
bu
t o
n a
n a
lum
iniu
m-c
lad
p
ho
ne
wit
h H
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ide
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P
cam
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an
d H
DM
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t.
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twe
en
its
ann
ou
nce
me
nt
and
rele
ase
, Ap
ple
unv
eils
th
e
iPh
on
e 4
. It’
s st
ill t
he
be
st
cam
ph
on
e, b
ut
the
clu
nky
in
terf
ace
sh
ows
why
No
kia
had
to
dra
ft in
Win
dow
s P
ho
ne
7.
No
kia
X7 (S
ymb
ian
) S
ym
bia
n w
ill c
on
tin
ue
to p
owe
r N
ok
ia’s
mid
rang
e h
and
sets
“l
ong
aft
er”
Win
dow
s P
ho
ne
7
han
dse
ts a
pp
ear
. It’
s b
ee
n
po
lish
ed
up
wit
h a
n im
pro
ved
W
eb
kit
bro
wse
r an
d in
terf
ace
tw
eak
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ive
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ple
asan
t n
ew
nam
e (A
nn
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nd
fou
nd
a
span
ky n
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ess
el i
n t
he
X7,
w
ith
its
4in
scr
ee
n a
nd
8M
P c
am.
No
kia
WP
7 p
ho
ne
Th
e fi
rst
fru
it o
f th
e u
nh
oly
un
ion
b
etw
ee
n M
icro
soft
an
d N
ok
ia
is d
ue
late
r th
is y
ear
, ru
nn
ing
W
ind
ows
Ph
on
e 7
wit
h a
N
ok
ia s
kin
. Th
e F
inn
s ar
e
aim
ing
to h
it a
“ve
ry lo
w
pri
ce-p
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th
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firs
t W
P7
ph
on
e, s
o a
mid
rang
e
han
dse
t is
a b
ett
er
be
t th
an
a p
rice
y, W
P7-
pow
ere
d N
8.
No
kia
MeeG
o t
ab
let
No
kia
isn
’t c
om
mit
ted
to u
sing
W
ind
ows
Ph
on
e 7
in t
able
ts,
and
th
e F
inn
s ar
e s
till
off
icia
lly
allie
d w
ith
th
e o
pe
n-s
ou
rce
M
ee
Go
pla
tfo
rm. I
t co
uld
ye
t b
e u
sed
to p
owe
r N
ok
ia’s
firs
t ta
ble
t, w
hic
h it
pat
en
ted
bac
k
in M
ay 2
010
. If a
Me
eG
o t
able
t d
oe
s ev
er
arri
ve, w
e h
op
e it
’s a
s w
ell
bu
ilt a
s th
e lo
vely
Bo
ok
let
3G
.
No
kia
E6
1 T
he
Sy
mb
ian
-pow
ere
d
E-s
eri
es
trie
s to
tak
e d
own
B
Bla
cker
ry w
ith
its
QW
ER
TY
ke
yb
oar
ds
and
slim
line
form
fa
cto
rs. H
as li
mite
d s
ucc
ess
.
No
kia
36
50
Ec
cen
tric
Sy
mb
ian
sm
artp
ho
ne
wit
h c
ircu
lar
key
pad
– a
n e
ra o
f de
sig
n
mad
ne
ss s
tart
s h
ere
. Als
o
see
th
e le
af-s
hap
ed
76
00
.
No
kia
N8
0
Ve
ry s
mal
l sm
artp
ho
ne
wit
h
pan
op
ly o
f fe
atu
res:
3.1
MP
ca
m, W
i-Fi
an
d v
ide
o-c
allin
g.
An
d it
s W
eb
kit
-bas
ed
b
row
sing
pu
ts it
way
ah
ead
.
No
kia
58
00
N
ok
ia’s
firs
t to
uch
scre
en
p
ho
ne
. In
ste
ad o
f a
cap
acit
ive
tou
chsc
ree
n it
u
ses
infe
rio
r p
oke
-an
d-p
rod
re
sist
ive
tech
. iP
ho
ne
sm
irks
.
No
kia
N9
00
T
he
firs
t sm
artp
ho
ne
wit
h
Mae
mo
is p
owe
rfu
l bu
t co
nfu
sing
. En
ter
Inte
l’s
Mo
blin
ne
tbo
ok
OS
: th
e t
wo
fu
se a
nd
Me
eG
o is
bo
rn.
No
kia
Bo
okl
et
3G
No
kia
’s fi
rst
PC
for
alm
ost
2
0 y
ear
s, t
his
is t
he
‘if A
pp
le
mad
e n
etb
oo
ks’ n
etb
oo
k.
It’s
als
o t
he
firs
t o
f its
p
rod
uct
s to
ru
n W
ind
ows.
No
kia
N9
0
Th
e N
-se
rie
s o
f Sy
mb
ian
sm
artp
ho
ne
s, in
clu
din
g t
he
v
ide
o c
ame
ra-s
hap
ed
N9
0,
arri
ves.
Pal
m-p
owe
red
p
ho
ne
s st
rug
gle
to c
om
pe
te.
No
kia
N8
2
A m
uch
-lov
ed
sm
artp
ho
ne
o
f th
e o
ld s
cho
ol –
an
d t
he
fir
st p
ho
ne
wit
h a
pro
pe
r xe
non
flash
. The
wo
rld’s
b
est
cam
ph
on
e, f
or
a b
it.
No
kia
X6
Ju
st o
ver
two
ye
ars
afte
r th
e
iPh
on
e, N
ok
ia’s
cap
acit
ive
to
uch
scre
en
co
me
s o
ut.
Its
anti
qu
ate
d S
ym
bia
n v
2
do
esn
’t g
o d
own
we
ll.
No
kia
N-G
ag
eT
he
co
mp
any
’s fi
rst
gam
es
mac
hin
e is
tw
ice
th
e
pri
ce o
f a G
ame
Boy
A
dva
nce
, bu
t w
ith
no
ne
of
the
gam
es.
Can
ne
d in
20
05
.
No
kia
770
G
rou
nd
bre
akin
g (b
ut
littl
e
know
n) to
uchs
cree
n in
tern
et
tab
let,
ru
nn
ing
a v
aria
nt
of
Lin
ux
kn
own
as
Mae
mo
. W
ay a
he
ad o
f its
tim
e.
20
04
20
07
20
08
20
06
2
00
2
20
06
20
08
20
09
2
00
9
20
11
20
10
20
05
20
07
20
09
20
112
011
20
03
20
07
20
05
82 / www.stuff.tv
THE DAWN OF SCI-FI
INVENTING THE FUTURE
Writers have been speculating about space travel for almost two millennia, and you can find robots in ancient mythology. Sci-fi might be about the future, but the future is as old as time…
Sci-fi predicted much of the modern world, including…
/ SCIENCE FICTION
A TRUE STORY Lucian of Samosata | 2nd century ADThe title is ironic – this traveller’s yarn
of a visit to the moon was meant as a
satire of the stories of Homer, which
many at the time took as real historical
sources. In sending up other stories,
Lucian invented a new type of fiction.
SOMNIUM Johannes Kepler | 1634When he wasn’t discovering the
laws of planetary motion, the father
of modern astrophysics found time
to imagine what it would be like to
travel to the moon, and to observe the
Earth from its surface.
FRANKENSTEIN Mary Shelley | 1818The new science of galvanism –
animating muscles with electricity –
gave the 19-year-old Mary nightmares.
She wrote them down, and her story
of a man created from the spare parts
bin became the first true sci-fi novel.
A JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH Jules Verne | 1864Verne was the first writer to make a
career from sci-fi, and the first to make
the genre hugely popular. His trip down
a volcanic tube made geology sound
a lot more exciting than it really is.
SatellitesSci-fi legend Arthur C Clarke is often credited with ‘inventing’ satellite communication, in a detailed essay for Wireless World in 1945. But Jules Verne put a military satellite in his 1879 novel The Begum’s
Fortune, and in 1869 Edward Everett Hale made the first recorded mention of an artificial satellite (made of bricks) in his short story The Brick Moon.
Tablet computersIn Arthur C Clarke’s novel 2001: A Space
Odyssey, an astronaut uses a Newspad, a flat display a little bigger than an iPad, to read digital newspapers, expanding postage-stamp-sized icons to fullscreen view. The novel was written in 1969. Around the same time, the crew of the USS Enterprise were usiing familiar-looking flat panels for computing tasks.
WikipediaHG Wells was a
prolific predictor,
writing depictions of
nuclear weapons,
genetic engineering,
military lasers and
the Second World
War decades before
they happened. In
The Shape of Things
to Come, he also
wrote about
a ‘World
Encyclopaedia’:
a free, universal
information
resource accessed
from people’s
home terminals.
YouTubeYears before the
first web browser,
David Brin wrote
Earth, in which
people use the web
for news, blogging
and especially video,
thanks to cheap
handheld video
cameras. Earth also
predicts email spam,
augmented reality
and more. Add to
that the fact that
David Brin has a
shiny bald head, and
you have only one
conclusion: he’s
a time traveller.
THE PERIODIC TABLE OF SCI-FI
Cavorite Appears in The First Men in the Moon by HG WellsProperties Negates the effects of gravity; useful for space flight
Unobtanium Appears in Avatar, various other films Properties Super-conductor; very rare and expensive
Adamantium Appears in X-Men comics & filmsProperties Practically indestructible; good blade material
Ice-nine (water) Appears in Cat’s Cradle by Kurt VonnegutProperties Crystallises water at room temperature, including sea water
Ca Ub Ad H20
[ Illu
str
ati
on
Ch
ris
Foss
]
2 19 11 83
www.stuff.tv / 83
CYBERPUNK
…AND MANY OTHER FLAVOURS
SCI-FI EVOLVED
As technology evolves in the real world, it fires up the imaginations of sci-fi authors. In the late Victorian era, fast communication, electricity and steam engines drove HG Wells and Jules Verne to popularise the genre; in the 1980s and ’90s, the birth of the internet caused a similar rush of ideas from authors such as William Gibson and Neal Stephenson. Social change can set them off, too – in the 1960s, ideas and politics became the themes. Every time the world changes, a new sub-genre of SF is born… STEAMPUNK
/ SCIENCE FICTION
What is it?
In the 1980s and ’90s, as personal computers made their way into every home and the internet went global, sci-fi writers began to populate ‘cyberspace’ (a word coined by William Gibson in his 1982 story Burning Chrome) with their characters. Fast-paced and anarchic, cyberpunk finds at least as much adventure in the digital as it does in real life.
What is it?
Cyberpunk’s mustachioed, monocled, gin-swilling uncle, steampunk uses tech familiar to HG Wells and Jules Verne: steam power, clockwork and airships. Characters wear capes and dash about on rooftops. Read Stephen Hunt’s The Court of the Air, China Miéville’s Perdido Street Station and Alan Moore’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
APOCALYPTIC
…in which the world comes to an end, but it’s sort of cool
COMIC
...in which the future is, like the present, something of a joke
PSYCHOLOGICAL
…in which the most important action takes place in the mind
MILITARY
…in which, well – you get the picture. It’s got soldiers in it
Ghost in the Shell (film)Mamoru Oshii, 1995In Hong Kong, a female cyborg cop investigates a mysterious hacker. Watch it in a double bill with Akira for a full dose of futuristic anime.
Blade Runner (film)Ridley Scott, 1982Created the environment into which cyberpunk was born: cities of skyscrapers in a perpetual night, lit by neon advertising billboards.
Neuromancer (book)William Gibson, 1984The original cyberpunk novel has all the elements: a hacker hero, a giant Tokyo-style city, artificial intelligences, and huge, sinister corporations.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution (game)Eidos Montreal, 2011Peppered with references to
Blade Runner, this game
makes the future look dark,
dirty and very, very cool.
Cat’s CradleKurt Vonnegut, 1963A scientist figures out how to get water to freeze solid at room temperature, without stopping to wonder if that might be a bad idea.
The Drowned WorldJG Ballard, 1962The ice caps have melted and Nature is taking back the planet. As their environment changes, human minds regress to their primal state.
Red DwarfRob Grant & Doug Naylor, 1988-99The great thing about digital TV is that, if all else fails, there’s usually an episode of Red
Dwarf on somewhere.
The Forever WarJoe Haldeman, 1974The soldiers of Earth set out to fight aliens, but huge distances and time dilation mean war is rendered pointless and confusing.
Until the 1960s, sci-fi had no subtext; it was about the future, pure and simple. Then came a new breed of authors, who used the genre to write about other things –Ursula le Guin played out her political ideas on other planets, and JG Ballard set his psychological dramas on a near-future Earth. ‘Soft’ sci-fi – stories set in sci-fi’s infinite worlds, but relevant to modern life on Earth – was born.
Penny Farthing£500 | iwantoneofthose.comGet some practice somewhere quiet before taking your new bike out for a ride in the park, otherwise you’ll look farthing ridiculous.
Phonofone IIIUS$195 | scienceandsons.comThis porcelain gramophone/ear-trumpet amplifies your iPhone’s speaker acoustically – like shouting through a traffic cone, only classier.
iRetrophone Steampunk£225 | freelandstudios.comTurns your iPhone 4 into the sort of hefty, respectable machine a chap can lift to his face and bellow “what the deuce do you want?” into.
‘SOFT’ AND ‘HARD’
Bioshock Infinite (game)2K Games, 2012Bioshock is steampunk in game form, and Infinite’s setting in an airborne dirigible city is straight out of a Stephen Hunt novel.
GIFT GUIDE
USE IT WITH…
56
Fact: you’ll have more success selling tat on ebay if you take nice photos of said tat. Crazy, eh? The good news is that it’s now easier
than ever to give pics a pro sheen. Just buy your ebay fan a Foldio, a portable mini studio with built-in
LED lights, and every shot will look like something from a John
Lewis catalogue. from US$50 / orangemonkie.com
Everyone over the age of 30 has a drawer full of 35mm negatives lying somewhere.
Imagine what might be on it: you, when you were young and fit! Your partner, when they were young and fit! Your dog, when
it wasn’t dead! This scanner transfers those memories from
film to shiny smartphone.£50 / lomography.com
Camera straps are uniformly evil, cutting into shoulders like a malevolent masseuse and
offering little functionality. The UltraFit Sling Strap is a revelation: it’s comfy enough to sleep in and
users can whizz a camera from waist to face in one slick move.
£38 / joby.com
Any true photography geek will already have a top-notch DSLR, compact and snap-happy smartphone. But none will be much use shooting wild salmon in the freezing waters of Alaska: the DSLR will be too bulky to lug to the Katmai National Park, the compact won’t be waterproof and the smartphone lacks a zoom. Enter the Nikon Coolpix AW120. It’s tougher than Steven Seagal and 10 times sexier. It can survive dunks, drops and freezes and has a built-in compass and altimeter. Most importantly, its 16MP sensor serves up pin-sharp pictures and its 5x optical zoom will be handy if there are bears about.£250 / nikon.co.uk
LaCie Rugged MiniGet them to store all their riskily taken shots on this tough little hard drive. It’s rain-resistant, shock-resistant and pressure- resistant, and comes with between 500GB and 2TB of storage.from £65 / lacie.com/uk
Foldio
Lomography Smartphone Scanner
Joby UltraFit Sling Strap
Nikon Coolpix AW120
StoCKInG FILLerS
SHutter
nutter
tHe GLIF This Kickstarter-funded marvel grips a smartphone securely in its jaws then fits to a tripod to give a phone-cam the gift of steadiness. It’ll work with almost any smartphone in the world and doubles as a stand. US$30 / studioneat.com
nova However good the iPhone’s dual-LED flash is, it’ll never compete with off-camera lighting. Give shots a glow worthy of a studio set-up with the Nova flash – a dinky, Bluetooth-controlled source that comes with a free iOS app. £50 / novaphotos.com
CuRRICuLuM
GADGEtAE
Tony FadelltHE MAN WHO INVENtED tHEiPHONE
NAMEs tO DROP #4
26
H sO t ft u f
[ Illu
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From working on the first iPod to designing next-gen thermostat Nest, Tony Fadell is at the leading edge of personal tech. We ask him why he thinks home automation isn’t actually all that smart…
I designed the first iPod.
I showed it to Steve [Jobs, obvs.], got his sign-off on it, then built the team. We shipped 8 generations of iPod, designed the hardware for the iPhone and shipped the first three generations of the iPhone. I designed the hardware and the software stacks – where the buttons went, which sensor went where – and our team created the touchscreen.
When I first saw a 3D TV, I was like,
“That thing is DOA.” They tried to take a commodity product and turn it into something that was new and exciting when we already had a flatpanel that was fine. Their growth stopped, so they thought, “Let’s add more, and it’ll all be better.” And smart TVs, how
dumb are they? The interfaces are horrible. You just want Netflix but the remotes have a Yahoo button, a Netflix button, a smart TV button that takes you to another set of menus – they’re not rethinking, they’re just adding more stuff.
I loathe home automation.
Typically, the people who want home automation are single guys. They want one button to impress the chicks. It closes the blinds, turns on the lights, turns on the TV. But most people just want the technology to go away. We’re all about taking the things that are necessary in your home and making them smarter, but in the background. To me, that’s what the success of the connected home is going to be; it’s not going
to be all of these whizzy home automation things that you see in all these Kickstarter projects. Blah blah blah, talk to your coffee maker. Are you kidding me?
Smart appliances are one step
too far.
We’re solving a problem people don’t have. It’s just more complication. There are a couple of very cool things smart appliances can do, like reporting energy usage. But are they really going to change dramatically? No. What they need to do is figure out new ways of convection cooking or induction cooking. That’s where the fundamental technology differences are – not layering on more stuff from Silicon Valley to confuse things. Like when Nest came into the thermostat market: before us, the big innovation was coloured touchscreens, so you could have your calendar and your photo album on your thermostat. What? Why?
I worked on wearable computing.
I did the Nike+ shoe with the iPod, and I learned a lot about wearables. I hate the term ‘smart’. Smart this, smart that, smart smart smart. What problem are you truly solving? I think it has to be a couple of things done very simply. It’s not going to be this whole platform; it’s an accessory to a phone. Often you’re just not understanding the problem, you’re just layering more on so you can say, “I’ve outdone this other guy’s stuff, it’s got more checkboxes, therefore you should buy mine.”
Phablets seem like a fad. People think, “Yeah I want the bigger screen,” and then they’re like, “Oh no – maybe I just want a smaller tablet.” What’s being marketed seems cool, but look at what people are really using, what people stick with. A lot of people just want it to fit in their pocket.
The basics make a phone brilliant.
What people talk about are: what’s the camera, what’s the display, what’s the battery life? The smartphone market now reminds me of PCs back in the day, when they kept adding more bloatware. It’s really more about apps than it is about hardware.
Sony Magic Link (1994)Tony created a lightweight OS for handheld touchscreen devices 13 years before the first iPhone was launched.
Philips Nino (1999)While at Philips, Fadell created a number of touchscreen PDAs running Windows CE. Known as Palm-Size PCs, they had obvious smartphone leanings.
Apple iPod (2001)After Philips, Fadell started a company called Fuse to produce a music player with a small hard disk. He couldn’t get funding, so went to Apple.
Nest (2010)While kitting out his newly built house in Lake Tahoe, Fadell realised thermostats were rubbish, and decided to make his own, better one.
“TYPICALLY, IT’S THE SINGLE GUYS WHO WANT HOME AUTOMATION.THEY WANTONE BUTTON TO IMPRESS THE CHICKS”
74 / www.stuff.tv
If it’s a life on the ocean waves for you, you’ll be needing a fleece-
lined shell that’ll keep you warm even in a white squall. The HPX is coated in laminated Gore-Tex to keep wind and waves at bay, and
a stretch fabric for mobility. So you’re at the crux of an E3 and
the rain’s closing in: clearly you need a three-point hood
adjustment system so you can keep your bonce dry. Tapered
sleeves stop the arms riding up as you reach for that tricky edge.
/TECH JACKETS
MAMMUT
NORDWAND£550 | outside.co.uk
MUSTO HPX
OCEAN JACKET £570 | musto.com
BEST FOR
SAILING
BEST FOR
CLIMBING
ROSS PRESLY
144 / www.stuff.tv
LITTLE BIG PLANETS
A SENSOR ADVENTURE
/GEEK ART
Tired of Instagram sunsets? Try these photographers’ tips to make your own works of art
AKA STEREOGRAPHIC PROJECTION
www.stuff.tv / 145
BY JEFF GOLDBERGFLICKR.COM/JEFFAGOLDBERG
ingredients
HOW TO...
/GEEK ART
“I came across this technique on Flickr, and
emailed photographers to find out how they
composed their work: most are very willing to share their techniques.
Then I explored my local areas in Illinois, United
States – the water was so still for this shot,
I managed to get a glass-like reflection on the far
side of the water.”
PTGui software
from £70 | ptgui.comA photo-stitching wizard
for Windows and Mac, its
‘stereographic down’
mode centres the ‘nadir’ of
your scene to make it look
like a tiny planet.
Canon EOS 7D DSLR
£790 | digitalrev.com
Sigma 10-20mm
f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM lens
£340 | amazon.co.uk
Manfrotto
190CXPRO4 tripod
£220 | jessops.com
1Scenes that make good
‘little planets’ have a
consistent texture to the
foreground, and a decent
variation to the background.
Trees and buildings work
well, but if they’re too tall
they’ll dwarf your planet.
2Set up your tripod and
take a 360o round of
photos. The shot above is a
composite of 72 images, but
simpler scenes require far
fewer. Use a shot taken
above and below you as the
centre of the planet.
3Load the images into
PTGui and choose
‘Stereographic Down’ mode.
The software calculates the
angles to help align things
and gets about 80% of
the joins correct; you can
manually adjust the rest.
4Now use Adobe
Photoshop and
Lightroom to ‘clean up’ the
likes of exposure and
generally buff your planet.
Post-processing for a shot
like this can take up to a day,
but it’s worth it to play God.
SHARECONOMY
93
[ Words Jamie Condliffe Illustration Erro Johannes ]
Welcome to the shareconomy, in which sites such as Airbnb and TaskRabbit reinvent community spirit by letting you borrow from
and lend to others over the web. Karl Marx would be so proud…
So, the ‘shareconomy’ – that means we’ll all be knitting socks in a commune soon, right? Don’t fret, it’s nothing so unsexy as that. Simply put, most of us have things we don’t use and skills we could share. Enter, stage right, the internet, which makes it possible to lend things to others, sometimes for a fee, sometimes just for the vibes, man. And even when there is a charge, it’s usually less than using a traditional service.
Want to get started? Simply list something – anything from a spare room to your pet — on the right website and people will contact you to borrow it. Sites such as Economy Of Hours take the peer-to-peer spirit further, letting you trade your skills and time for the same in return. And lo! A new spirit of community is born. It’s what the internet was invented for.
INTErNET karma
94 / www.stuff.tv
It’s chilly down by your shins.
It’s chilly down by your shins.
Boot yourself into warmth
Boot yourself into warmth
It’s chilly down by your shins.
Boot yourself into warmth
It’s chilly down by your shins.
It’s chilly down by your shins.
Boot yourself into warmth
It’s chilly down by your shins.
with a pair of high-tops
with a pair of high-tops
Boot yourself into warmth
with a pair of high-tops
Boot yourself into warmth
Boot yourself into warmth
with a pair of high-tops
Boot yourself into warmth
[Wor
dsC
herr
y M
artin
Pic
ture
sM
atth
ew B
eedl
e ]
/FASHION
Air
Mag
ma
by N
ike
£8
5 | s
ize.
co.u
k
Pulfer by Call It Spring
£85 | callitspring.com
Trekker Boot by Gravis
£130 | surfdome.com
Khyke by Boxfresh
£105 | boxfresh.co.uk
Jake Workboot by Caterpillar
£85 | catfootwear.com
SHARESRISING…
94
SHARECONOMY
here was a time when a cheap room meant Premier Inn and hiring a car meant Enterprise. But now, everyday folk on the internet have flats, cars, and all kinds of other stuff that they’re willing to lend. “Sharing has
been around forever,” explains Nathan Blecharczyk, co-founder of Airbnb, the pioneering site that lets you rent a room in someone else’s home. “It’s just that in the last 50 years people have accumulated so much stuff that they’re not using it all. Now, technology is making it possible for them to share it.”
Websites can match owners to borrowers, online payment systems allow people to stump up cash, and social networks let everyone check they can trust one another. This is the sharing economy – and if you’re not using it yet, you probably soon will be.
Sharing 2.0The whole thing sounds a lot like re-branded renting, but advocates rightly point to a few subtle differences. “Three things mark out a successful sharing economy company,” explains Blecharczyk. “One, the technology has to remove friction from the transaction, to make it easier. Two, there needs to be some degree of financial arbitrage. And three, it has to be a community, it has to be fun. It can’t just be about the money. That’s the secret sauce.”
Add to the mix the fact that shareconomy services are often good for the environment, because they minimise wasteful purchases, and it seems an irresistible prospect. It’s certainly working for Airbnb: launched in 2008, the site now offers users over 500,000 places to stay in 34,000 cities around the world.
Boom, boomIt’s not just about finding a taker for your spare room, though. American sites such as Relay Rides have created peer-to-peer car rental services, Uber – and its cheaper UberX offshoot – has pioneered a new kind of taxi service by matching willing drivers to wanting passengers, and TaskRabbit allows people to farm out chores. It’s all great value, too. “UberX in London is 30-40% cheaper than a black cab,” explains Corey Owens, Head of Global Public Policy at Uber. “For a long time people didn’t realise it was possible to make services that cheap and provide someone with a living wage.”
There are increasingly more UK-specific examples, too,
allowing you to share home-cooked food, borrow land to pitch a tent, or even find a pooch you can pet-sit for. Business is booming. In fact, Lauren Anderson from Collaborative Consumption, an independent research organisation specialising in peer-to-peer markets, is “comfortable valuing the sharing economy globally as worth in the region of US$100 billion.”
All about the money?With that much cash floating around, it’s tempting to get involved. As a customer you can save a packet, but you could make money, too. Not all the cash comes your way, though – the sites take a cut, and you may have to pay tax on the income – but it’s still possible to make a wedge.
One user we spoke to, who wants to remain anonymous, rents a central-London apartment for £2000 a month then sub-lets it on Airbnb. “I make £500 in profit each month,” he explains. “It’s not passive income, but now I’ve been doing it for a while I probably only spend about 20 minutes a day working on it.” That’s an hourly rate of a none-too-shabby £55.
He’s not alone in this, either: Airbnb claims the average San Francisco host makes £5600 a year, while Steven Webb from Relay Rides explains that “some power users make upwards of £600 a month.”
1995
eBAY opeNs Its
doors
Car boot sales and village auctions were the places
for second-hand stuff, until eBay changed everything. Nineteen years after its launch, it's fair to say the multi-billion-dollar site has proven that web-based economies work.
1999
NApster pIoNeers
peer-to-peer
It didn't invent peer-to-peer sharing, but Sean Parker's
pioneering music label nemesis did popularise the idea of internet users pooling their resources for the collective good. Or the collective bad, if you're the bypassed middle man.
2004
streetCAr stArts
Its eNGINes
It began with just eight cars parked outside Clapham
Junction station, but Streetcar soon became a pioneer of the UK shareconomy and our biggest car-sharing service. Until, that is, it was hoovered up by its US equivalent, Zipcar, in 2010.
2008
AIrBNB Is BorN
When two San Franciscan roommates couldn’t afford to pay their rent, they let
the place out to cover costs, made a profit – and invented Airbnb in the process. The room-sharing service has so far provided a roof over the heads of more than 9 million people.
2013
tAsKrABBIt
HIts tHe UK
America’s biggest task-sharing site – which lets
you farm out chores and errands you’d rather avoid – hopped across to the UK in November 2013. An economy kick-started in the States is now ready to reinvent the concept of 'temping'.
HOW IT WORKS109 NEIGHBOURS SHARING 83 THINGS WITHIN 1 MILE
SHARECONOMY
95
Community serviceThe origin of all this success? “It’s been a perfect storm,” explains Anderson. “The sharing economy allowed people to have what they wanted without spending as much during the financial crisis. But at the same time there’s been a resurgent desire to feel part of a community, too.” That’s particularly evident in the UK. “In the US, they’re a much purer breed of capitalist,” muses Ben Pugh, founder of Farmdrop, a site linking food producers to customers,
cutting out the supermarkets. “In the UK, we’ve got a streak of left-wing in us.”
His company means producers see more profit and customers get fresher, tastier food, but many sites highlight the UK’s egalitarian streak: Streetclub helps communities pool DIY tasks and tools, while Streetbank lets you share possessions with a neighbour. Neither require money to change hands. “We think financial exchanges take away the natural high you get when you help
“IT HAS TO BE A COMMUNITY, IT HAS TO BE FUN, NOT JUST BE ABOUT THE MONEY” NATHAN BLECHARCZYK, AIRBNB
someone,” explains Sam Stephens, founder of Streetbank. “So we're encouraging people to be generous.”
Trust nobodyCash or otherwise, you might still be worried about dealing with strangers. After all, a woman in the US famously had her apartment trashed by a rogue Airbnb guest in 2011, and some Relay Rides and Uber cars have been involved in accidents. “Without a doubt the most critical aspect for all businesses in the sharing economy is establishing trust and safety,” admits Webb, which is why sites offer multiple layers of reassurance.
In some cases, users can be filtered from the get-go — blemished driving licenses make it impossible to sign up to car-sharing sites, say. Then there’s
1. SHOUT
Advertise or make a request for a Thing (be it a product or service) on the relevant site. Try Meshing.it for a list of sharing sites. On Streetbank, your Thing could be an old sofa or French lessons.
2. RESPONSE
Like-minded peeps see your post, then request and respond through a shareconomy service. Or, if the Things are owned by the service, they’ll say what’s available, and where to collect it.
3. STRIKE A DEAL
An agreement is set. On Streetbank, say, it’s a digital handshake. Where cash is involved, services such as Airbnb hold the fee, take a cut, then pass on the cash after the Thing has been returned.
4. KUDOS TO YOU
Leave and receive feedback for the deal. Don’t neglect this part: it boosts your reputation on the site and makes you a trustworthy shareconomiser (just don’t call yourself that).
sPACe
oddities
SHARECONOMY
98
CaSSERoLE CLUbThe best thing some of us can make for dinner
is a reservation, so Casserole Club pairs foodies with people devoid of culinary skills – and those who just appreciate a good, home-cooked supper.casseroleclub.com
CaMP IN MY GaRDENIf Airbnb is too much, how about some
turf to call your own? Camp In My Garden offers a selection of back yards whose owners are happy to have a tent pitched there for the night.campinmy�arden.com
DoG VaCaYMaybe your dog needs looking after, or you want a pet but
can’t have one full-time. Dog Vacay pairs pooches whose owners are off on holiday with animal lovers keen to care for them for a few weeks.do�vacay.com
GEt MY boatA life on the waves: relaxing, romantic, but
expensive. Unless you borrow someone else's boat for the weekend – GetMyBoat finds occasional sailors’ vessels, from kayaks to ocean-going yachts.�etmyboat.com
…holiday moneyWE SWaPInstead of spending your lunchtimes queuing up at the bureau de change, We Swap lets your trade your currency directly with someone who’s doing the reverse of your trip. Your cash then appears on a prepaid credit card to spend during your holiday.weswap.com
…snowboardsSPINLIStERHitting the slopes can be a pricey business, but Spinlister lets you borrow someone else’s skis or snowboard while they’re hitting the après-ski Jägermeister. And come the summer when the snow has all melted, they can fix you up with a mountain bike, too.spinlister.com
…3D Printers3D HUbSEverybody wants to have a go at 3D printing, but these machines aren't exactly an impulse buy. This site lets you know of nearby hardware and when it’s free. Now you just need to decide which of your colleagues to turn into a novelty plastic meerkat. 3dhubs.com
…car sharingbLa bLa CaRThe UK’s answer to Lyft pairs an empty seat in someone’s motor to a person needing to take the same journey. Like hitchhiking without the Rutger Hauer character from The Hitcher, the driver earns petrol money while the passenger gets a cheap ride.blablacar.com
…parking spacesPaRK at MY HoUSEDrive down any street in the middle of the day and kerbs will be full but driveways empty. Park At My House pairs empty drives with people who need a spot during their workday, saving them 70% on parking costs. And a lot of parking-ticket rage.Parkatmyhouse.com
tHE LEFt�FIELD LoaNS FRoM tHoSE WHo WaNt to SEEM GENERoUS
RisiNG stARs The shareconomy is branching beyond cars and flats and into…
68
G R O U P T E ST
What is it?The laptop-slaying Surface Pro 2 comes armed with Intel’s new Haswell chip for better battery life and processing grunt. Its 10.6in full HD screen is the biggest here and, with either the Touch or Type Cover attached, offers the best keys for trout-sized hands. But all that comes at a price – that price being at least £720, with upwards of £100 on top of that for a Cover.
Is it any good?Never mind ‘laptop slayer’, at 900g the Pro 2 is almost as beastly as a laptop itself. Fortunately, it has the power to match, with the most
What is it?The Encore is the first of a raft of 8in full Windows 8.1 tablets due to arrive this year. It runs on Intel’s speedy new Baytrail mobile CPU, squeezes in a respectable 1280x800 screen and is well stocked for ports, with microSD and microHDMI-out adorning its sides. It’s not much of a looker, admittedly, but it’s neat, sturdy and works nicely in portrait mode.
Is it any good? Full Windows 8.1 looks a bit squashed on an 8in screen, but at £250, with the ability to run side-by-side apps and with
Microsoft Surface Pro 2 £720 / microsoft.com
Toshiba Encore 8in£250 / toshiba.com
STUFF SAYS ★★★★★
The best Windows 8 tablet that (a lot of) money can buy
STUFF SAYS ★★★★✩
The reliable, versatile Encore serves up full Win 8.1 on a budget
Tech 10.6in, 1920x1080 ● Intel Core i5 @ 1.9GHz ● 64GB (+ microSD) ● 1.2MP, 720p (front/rear) ● USB3.0, MiniDisplayPort, Bluetooth 4.0 ●275x173x13.5mm, 900g
Tech 8in, 1280x800 ● Intel Atom Z3740 @ 1.33GHz ● 32GB (+ microSD) ●8MP (rear); 2MP (front) ● microUSB, Bluetooth 4.0, microHDMI ● 10.68x213x135.9mm, 445g
sprightly video editing, browsing and gaming on test. It’s certainly the only tablet here capable of running Premiere Pro and Grid 2
simultaneously. A 5hr battery life is acceptable, build is excellent and if you want the best, it’s the only choice. But, boy, that price…
access to full Windows programs, we’ll forgive it. Stamina is good at 8hrs, it flies through Window Store games and Excel spreadsheets alike, and while there’s no obvious keyboard attachment, it’s simple enough to use a Bluetooth one.
Port authority
The Pro 2 has a USB3.0 port – great
for sticking in an Xbox controller and getting
in some proper FPS action (on low
settings).
69
G R O U P T E ST
test
test
winner
What is it?An advanced netbook terminator, Asus’ T100 lacks the shapeshifting ability of its movie big brother the T-1000, but it does bring word processing to the party instead. The 10.1in tablet-and-dock combo pushes the scales at 1kg, but it’s worth it for the USB3.0 port and to tap away furiously on the train. The 1366x768 screen offers crisp text, great contrast and colours that pop.
Is it any good? The T Book runs full 8.1 on Intel’s new Baytrail processors – double the processing power and triple
Asus Transformer Book T100 £350 / asus.com
STUFF SAYS ★★★★★
An amazing tabtop with power, neat design and killer battery life
Tech 10.1in, 1366x768 ● Intel Atom Z3740 @ 1.33GHz ● 32GB (+ microSD) ● 1.2MP (front) ● Bluetooth 4.0, microUSB, USB3.0 (dock) ●
264x171x10.5mm, 550g (tab); 264x171x23.6mm, 1.07kg (both)
the graphics of last year’s Atoms – and it shows. Everything runs smoothly and it also rocks speedy dual-band Wi-Fi and the best battery life here, lasting all day and into the next. For £350 all in, it’s really quite a bargain.
Nice to see you…The Encore is
great for Skype, with crystal-clear audio –
thanks to dual mics that block out background
noise – and bright HD pictures.
Room for manoeuvre
The T100 is smaller than a laptop, but the
keyboard is sturdy and the keys have good
depth. The trackpad’s not quite so hot,
though.
ROSS PRESLY