SOUNDS GOOD TO ME

I was filling up at the service station today and I noticed the stand with all the headphones and charging cables now also offers a bluetooth speaker.

They're pretty much everywhere. But I can tell you from experience; not all bluetooth speakers are created equal. I can also now tell you from experience, JBL makes some good ones...

Firstly, don't ever let anybody convince you you can get decent sound out of something you can fit in your pocket. There are some mini speakers that sound okayish at low level, but basic physics tells us low frequency waves are bigger and it stands to reason you need something a bit bigger to reproduce them.

In other words, it's all about that bass.

The Flip 4 from JBL actually almost does fit in my pocket (on my baggy shorts) It's certainly compact enough to chuck in a bag or strap to a bike and it's robust enough, with its rubberised ends and controls, to take a few knocks.

What's more, it's literally waterproof. The Flip 4's IPX7 rating means it can withstand being submerged down to a metre for up to 30 minutes. I don't fully understand why you'd want to do this, given it's tricky to listen to music underwater, but good to know you're perfectly safe around the pool or on the beach.

In fact, just between you and me, the Flip 4 has become my personal shower buddy. I can now listen to my mindless podcasts while I wash. What more could I ask for?

Maybe a little mood lighting?

That's where the JBL Pulse 3 comes in. All of those features I just mentioned, plus a 360 degree light display, that's fully customisable, via the JBL Connect app. I have to admit, I'm not a massive fan of devices that light up, but the Pulse 3 offers eight different preset patterns you can modify to your own colour tastes, or you can even design your own from scratch. It's a bit like having a lava lamp you can change to suit your mood. Best of all, you can turn it off and just listen to the music.

And that's really what this is all about right? All very well having pretty lights by the pool, but not if it sounds rubbish.

These speakers sound the opposite of rubbish.

Without getting into decibel response figures and frequency ranges, I can tell you both these speakers out-perform most other devices in their class.

The Pulse 3 produces a 360 degree, surround effect which easily fills a room while the Flip 4 performs best on its side to make the most of its stereo output.

Both speakers feature external passive bass radiators (x 2 on the Flip 4) In layman's (ie: my) terms, there's a wobbly disc that bounces up and down that not only looks impressive, but does real justice to those banging, bassy dance tracks you love pumping out so much. I'm begging you now; do not waste any money on a speaker that doesn't offer bass response as good as these JBLs. You'll regret it.

Of course, perhaps the coolest feature of these devices is their connectivity. With a simple push of a button, the speakers will pair with any other JBL Connect+ enabled device. In fact, according to the website, you can connect over 100 speakers. While that would indeed result in an amazing party, I think Noise Control would be there within minutes. (Some previous models of JBL speakers may require a firmware upgrade before being connectable with the new ones, but this is a straightforward process via the JBL Connect app)

Again, let me assure you, both these speakers really fill a room with great sound across all frequencies and people seem to really enjoy the light show put on by the Pulse 3. Personally, and I can't say exactly why, I prefer the stereo performance from the Flip 4 over its big brother's 360 degree design. Maybe I'm a little O.G. that way.

There are other speakers offering similar audio quality out there, but price-wise, the Pulse 3 and especially the Flip 4 are hard to beat.

Don't go cheap, go good. JBL definitely seems to know what it's doing.


Click here for more information on the JBL Flip 4

Click here for more information on the JBL Pulse 3

TIME TO STRAIGHTEN UP

After millennia of evolution, human beings stood on their hind limbs and eventually became one of the most erect species around. Then we invented the typewriter, the desktop computer, the laptop and the tablet and now we've bent ourselves back over again.

What's become recognised as "iHunch" has resulted in widespread neck and shoulder tension, back pain and basically just a bad look.

So if technology is the leading cause of this condition, maybe there's a gadget to combat it...

Upright Go is a small device with big potential, not only tracking your posture habits but training you to sit and stand up straighter.

I've always had terrible posture and I'd never really done much about it
until my back pain became so persistent and invasive my quality of life was starting to suffer.

A big part of my problem is a lack of basic core strength. I've tried various exercise regimes in an attempt to sort this out, which has certainly made a difference.

Yet I still find sitting or standing tall and pulling my shoulders back just doesn't come naturally.

What's really distressing is I seem to have passed on some of my bad posture habits to my 16 year-old daughter - so I gave her first crack with the Upright Go...

When I was told about the Upright Go, my first thought was that it sounded like one of those electric dog collars that you use to zap your dog when it’s misbehaving. And that’s exactly what it is. But there’s a reason those collars exist, and there’s a reason this exists... because it works.  You put it on and you’re basically given the choice to sit up straight or be told off. It doesn’t hurt when it vibrates but it makes you feel bad for disappointing it! I don’t know how such a tiny device can have such power over you, but somehow it made me want to impress it. So I instantly sat up straighter and I stood with a straight back. It only recommended I train for nine minutes the first time before setting it back to tracking mode, but even after I turned it off I could still feel it’s presence, and still imagine it vibrating every time I slouched. So it kept working, without even being turned on. The Upright Go is always watching.

The second day I had trouble connecting the Upright Go to my phone, but this didn’t matter because you can use it without the app. Unfortunately I couldn’t remember if two blue flashes of the LED light meant it had been turned on or off, or if calibration was shown by two short vibrations or one long one, or what a green blinking light meant... What I’m getting at is that while you’re getting to know it, figuring out what the Upright Go is trying to tell you can be difficult. But maybe that’s just because I was born in 2001 and I don’t remember what using devices without a screen is like.

Day 3 and the Upright Go is starting to lose its stickiness. I only have a limited amount of adhesive pads so I’m reluctant to change, but I also don’t want it falling off my back during the day. The manual says you can clean it with a little water, so this is what I do, and it looks promising. But when sticking the Upright Go back on it again, it feels almost less sticky than before. After another half day of feeling like it’s about to fall off, I turn to the alcohol wipes provided in the starter pack. I’m ready for the magic they will work on the adhesive pad. And at first, it seems to be working! But then it falls off and gets tangled in my shirt. And falls off again. And again. And again. Apparently the pad is meant to last up to two weeks but mine made it... Three days.

Day 4: My sister asked why I had a security tag stuck to my back. Hmm.

Day 5: I had two exams today and knowing I wasn’t going to be sitting up straight, I decided I valued good grades more than a good posture. However, I made it through my twelve minutes training when I got home without slouching once. Go me! - Billie Hart

It was at about this point she lost interest and gave up. Teenagers; what are you gonna do?

I figured I better give this thing a try too, especially since my natural stance is about one notch away from Quasimodo.

Like my daughter, at first I found managing the adhesive pads a bit tricky and keeping the Upright Go attached to me somewhat challenging. But I persisted and by storing the Upright Go in its case when not using it and making sure all surfaces involved were super clean, I managed to keep things sticky in all the right spots.

If you can get over the initial hurdle of actually keeping the Upright Go in place, the rest is simple - and effective. As Billie said, even when you're not in training mode, you're ever so slightly aware it's there, so you try that little bit harder.

The process is very like keeping a food diary or tracking your exercise - once you have some statistics, you naturally want to improve your performance. To do this, there is of course the obligatory app. While the app is extremely simple and easy-to-use, it's also rather limited.

When you first use it to set up your device, you're required to create an account inputting your gender, height and weight. Weirdly, once you've done this, there's no option to adjust these details which is a pain as I think I accidentally told my Upright Go I'm a woman.

On the bright side, the customer support from the qualified Upright experts is prompt and proactive - when I asked how give my profile a sex change they got back to me straight away... to say I couldn't. (They're working on it though, apparently)

I've also received several messages and emails of encouragement and advice, not to mention the promise of replacement adhesives if I keep training. (These can also be purchased from PB Tech and JB HiFi)

You'll only get about a day's usage out of the battery, but the good news is the device charges very quickly if you want to top it up so you can wear it out for some late-night posturing.

While it's still early days, I do believe the Upright Go is already having effect. I know this, not just because of the slouching statistics I'm monitoring, but because my upper back muscles are tired - good tired, like after a workout.

Hopefully next time you see me, I may even look taller!


Click here for more information and pricing on the Upright Go

I DON'T DO WINDOWS... TILL NOW

What is it that's so damn frustrating about cleaning glass?

Probably something to do with how tricky it is to get them absolutely streak-free.

Sure, the professionals always seem to have some magic formula in their spray bottles that makes it look easy. As for their squeegees, where do they get those streak-proof magic wands from?

Karcher may have an alternative that's actually kind of fun...

The WV 2 Premium window vacuum does not instantly, effortlessly clean your windows for you. But used properly, I found it pretty much guaranteed a totally streak-free result in a fraction of the time.

Till now, my usual method had been based around lots of paper towels. I'd tried a soft-cloth followed-by-squeegee technique, but it never seemed to work as efficiently as I wanted it too. There's nothing more depressing than coming inside and seeing the sun catching all the dried-up drips you missed.

I'd initially hoped the WV 2 Premium was an all-in-one window cleaning machine - a bit like some kind of wet'n'dry carpet cleaner. But it's much more accurate to think of this device as a window drier - because that's what it does so perfectly.

I was surprised to discover a few other things in the box, other than the window vacuum itself. Aside from 2 different sizes of suction nozzle, there's also a cleverly designed spray bottle with a microfibre cleaning cloth attachment. A sachet of Karcher's own cleaning concentrate is included too. You can buy this by the bottle but I assume regular glass cleaners work almost as well.

Yes, I'm afraid you'll still have to spray and wipe before you suck, but the good news is, with Karcher's ingenuous all-in-one bottle/wiper, you can hold that in one hand and the WV 2 Premium in the other, rather than swapping between bottles, cloths, paper towels and squeegees.

So while it's still a two-step operation, the steps are so easy, I reckon even my teenagers could figure it out without breaking or spilling anything.

After spraying and wiping the first window, I turned the WV 2 Premium on and vacuumed up the dirty water. Just like that. Three swipes and one window was done. No streaks. It was an emotional moment.

I was only going to try it out. I was supposed to be making dinner. But this thing is so well designed, once you start using it, there's no stopping.

I had the whole bottom storey of my house done in under an hour, inside and out. It was almost as though I'd dreamed it but no, as I sit here, I'm definitely looking out through crystal clean, streak-free glass.

I even did some table-tops. I was out of control.

Karcher's new way of doing things is so great, it's easy to be fooled into thinking it's perfect. There are still a few pitfalls to be wary of, however. I've found it's a bit tricky steering the WV 2 Premium's suction nozzle right into the edges, top, sides and bottom. It's possible, but you do have to take your time about it and it may be more efficient to quickly run a dry cloth around to finish each pane off.

The process is literally streak free - provided the window is wet enough when you vacuum it. I found cleaning windows in bright sunlight was a bit more challenging because they'd dry more quickly and then the WV 2 Premium has nothing to suck up. This is easily sorted with an extra spray and an extra swipe of the vacuum.

So both those things are just about technique and practice really.

The only actual design flaw I've detected is the streamlined cover on the top of the spray bottle nozzle. I kept knocking this off and in the end I simply left it off altogether - it doesn't serve any useful purpose other than making it look cool, sleek and black. A weird little blemish on an otherwise inspired cleaning device.

This model doesn't sit in its own charging base unit, instead it just plugs in. The power light flashes until it's fully charged then it turns itself off. In terms of how long that charge lasts, I'm not sure because it was still going strong when I finished that first storey.

I'm just popping out to get the extension handle now so I can do the high windows. That sounds even more fun. Yes, I said it; the Karcher WV 2 Premium makes doing windows fun.

I don't know what's real anymore.


Click here for more information on the Karcher WV 2 Premium window vacuum

THE FUTURE OF STORAGE IS TINY

For a while there. memory space was a bit of an obsession.

I still remember having to delete texts on my phone because I'd run out of room.

Even on PC's, video files needed to be erased as soon as they were watched. Rewriteable DVD's were a revelation. At last we could back up large numbers of photos.

I edit audio for a living and it takes up a lot of space. DVD backups were an easily accessible archive option.

Hard drives got bigger, but we still filled them up. The cleverer our phones got, the better the cameras, the bigger the video and image files, the more space they required.

Finally, the Cloud came to the rescue... sort of. We'll cover off cloud-based limitations shortly but we all know there's something to be said for storage you can physically hold in your hand...

The Samsung T5 portable SSD's will definitely fit in your hand... and not just one of them, the whole range all at once.

By now most of us have come to rely on some form of external hard drive when it comes to supplementing our everyday storage needs. Whether this is for secure backups or a standalone media server for movie and music files, there's a wide selection available. With the evolution of Solid State technology taking over from the more traditional hard drives, these external storage devices have grown quieter and slimmer.

In spite of these advances, when it comes to portability, we still generally rely on USB thumb drives to carry around just a few files at a time. The Samsung T5 challenges this idea, offering up to 2TB of storage in a package not much bigger than a matchbox.

Available in 250GB, 500GB, 1TB and 2TB variants, even the smallest-capacity T5 is capable of storing pretty much everything on your laptop. It fits in your pocket and weighs practically nothing. The T5's attractive aluminium unibody suggests sturdy construction and the Samsung website claims the device is shock-proof enough to withstand being dropped from a height of up to 2 metres.

Apart from its oh-so-petite stature, the T5 offers something else; versatility. There are two high-speed transfer cables in the box, offering a standard USB connection or USB-Type C for the latest smart phones and Macs. I could quote transfer speeds from Samsung and other tests, but the reality is, the T5 is definitely quick, probably faster than the device you're transferring to or from.

Mere numbers don't mean much, but I can cite a few real-life experiments. I backed up my entire phone in less than 5 minutes - contacts, music, photos, videos, everything. I also transferred a full-length movie file (1080HD) from the T5 to my phone in under 10 seconds.

This is where physical storage still trumps the Cloud every time. If you've ever tried backing up a whole phone or tablet to the Cloud, it can be a pretty frustrating experience and if you don't have a rock-solid WiFi connection, forget it. And speed isn't the only barrier to a cloud-based existence. Obviously downloading movies and sharing images uses up a lot of your data if you're out and about... and then there's the security issue.

Once you've uploaded your personal stuff, how secure is it really? Do you even know where it is?

Not only does the T5 let you keep all your nude selfies with you, the bundled app means you can encrypt the device with a password so your files are secure even if they fall into the wrong hands. Very James Bond.

So basically, this about the most useful little gadget ever.

The only thing I can't get my head around is the price. I've been playing with the 500GB version which is plenty big enough for all the movies I've been meaning to watch but haven't got around to yet. That'll set you back $379. Now that's a lot more than an external hard drive of the same size. But you can't throw a hard drive around, fit it in your pocket and it won't be nearly this fast. I think the price tag makes me balk simply because this thing is just so damn small.

You don't even want to know how much the 2TB version is. (Here's a clue; 2TB is 4 times bigger than 500GB)

While I feel the T5 is a bit pricey, I can't deny its speed, versatility and tinyness. If those are the storage features you're looking for, maybe you should make the investment.


Click here for more information an pricing on the Samsung T5 portable SSD

I'LL BE WATCHING YOU... ON THE MOVE

I'm afraid I don't really get it.

There seems to be a massive community of tattle-tales driving around out there and now they have the video evidence to back themselves up.

The Navman MiVUE780 dashcam makes recording, saving and sharing your journeys easier than ever before.

This was my first experience with a dashcam, but being a typical New Zealander I ignored the accompanying instruction manual and just plugged the thing in.

Navman makes this process as easy as possible by including a very long charging cable and ample stick-on cable clips to tidy the cable safely away. I don't know why car manufacturers don't include charging ports either on the roof (preferably by the interior light) or on top of the console close to the windscreen. Instead, you're usually stuck with the completely obsolete "cigarette lighter" which, positioned in the centre of your console, is about as far away from any of the accessories you want to power as it could be.

In the case of the MiVUE780, the ideal location for a charging port would be in the back of the rear-vision mirror, because Navman recommends you mount the device just to the side of your mirror.

The suction-cup bracket is very versatile and sturdy, assuring secure placement, regardless of the exact angle of your windscreen.

The device itself is tiny - much smaller than I was expecting, less than 9cm across. This means the monitor display is a mere 2.7 inches - still colour, still big enough to see what's happening but not too distracting when you're driving.

So setup is literally just sticking it on the windscreen, bunging a micoSD card into the slot, plugging it in and away you go.

What impressed me most was how the MiVUE780 started working straight away - I didn't even need to switch it on. The moment I started the car, it came to life and started recording my journey automatically. Then it shuts itself down once you switch off the ignition.

While there are settings you can adjust, the only one I really had to was the time zone... very important to have the right time recorded on those vids... which brings me to the real reason we should all probably use one of these things.

Unfortunately, traffic accidents do happen and it's not always clear exactly what went wrong and whose fault it was. I managed to total my car once and I still have absolutely no recollection of the event. Would have been nice to be able to review the footage to find out how the hell I ended up upside down, facing the wrong way.

Whether it's for insurance purposes, police reports or just your own piece of mind, having crystal clear footage with the time, speed and exact location all recorded should probably be mandatory.

And the footage really is super clear - I couldn't believe how good it was first time I watched one of the files back. I don't know how they do it, but even nighttime footage is easy to see. The default setting breaks the recording into 3 minute chunks, but this can be adjusted, along with other options like recording quality and whether to include sound or not. The MiVUE780 keeps recording until your memory card is full, then starts recording over the top again. (Supports cards up to 128GB)

You can pop your microSD card out to transfer videos to PC, but the MiVUE780 also works as a WiFi hotspot, so you can easily transfer videos and images to your phone using Navman's MiVUE app. Once you've transferred your footage to your phone or PC, you can then share instantly to your favourite social media stream. Believe it or not, there are even entire websites out there dedicated to outing stupid driving - like http://www.comroads.com. I don't pretend to understand the fascination, although I have to admit, once you start watching, it's weirdly addictive.

To be honest, there are more features packed into the MiVUE780 than you'll probably ever need. You can set driver fatigue and speed alerts and there's even a helpful lady who chimes in to remind you to turn your headlights on when it's dark.

Oddly, there are red light and speed camera locations preloaded and you can add others with the push of a button. The odd thing is, while you can turn off the audio warnings about safety cameras, you can't stop them hijacking your display as you approach them. This is especially annoying when you're on the motorway and you pass over an intersection controlled by a red light camera, because you still get the warning even though you're not driving through the intersection. Something for Navman to work on in future models maybe.

Back to the real reason behind this device though; in the event of a collision, the MiVUE780 usues its 3-Axis G-Sensor to record the direction of the impact and instantly saves a protected recording of the event so you can look it up later.

That really is a pretty good insurance policy for just $279.


Click here for more information and pricing on the Navman MiVUE780 dashcam.