Who doesn't love a meeting?
Be it a brainstorm or an information sharing session, don't we all just love sitting around pretending to find our managers just so incredibly interesting.
It would help if they knew how to work the projector. Or the conference call. Or if the whiteboard markers hadn't all run out.
And what was that third "must do" we all agreed was so important on the action plan? It's completely slipped my mind...
Samsung introduces the Flip, what they describe as a digital flip chart.
Given I'm not even sure what an analogue flip chart is, I've been telling people it's more like a whiteboard and a 55" UHD TV got together and had a baby. A really massive baby.
Make no mistake, this thing is big and it's heavy. Although I managed to assemble most of it single-handed, I did have to get someone to help me lift the 55" screen into place. Which made it all the more frustrating when I discovered it wouldn't fit through the door.
Yep, I had to take it to pieces again to get it into the room where I actually wanted to use it. This is because the feet of the stand splay out quite some distance in all directions to prevent the Flip toppling over and to be fair, the stand is certainly rock steady. Unfortunately, it's literally impossible to manoeuvre it through an ordinary doorway. Not sure what the point of putting it on wheels is if you can't use it in different rooms around the office. Even the wheels need some work. They're basically fairly standard casters with brakes, but they really need to be about twice the size to make wheeling the Flip around a viable option. Over time I've become pretty good at it, steering the Flip a bit like an ocean liner; getting some momentum up then changing the direction well before I need to actually avoid any obstacles.
Although not as mobile as it could be, the Flip is certainly attractive enough, both stand and casing a modern off-white. It comes with two virtual marker pens - a bit like giant styluses. Each can be used for writing/drawing or as a highlighter, depending which end you use. You can erase anything you draw with a swipe of your hand. There's a built-in pen holder attached to the side of the screen which automatically turns it on once the pen is removed.
Like most other stylus-type tools, everything is easily customised; colour, thickness - no matter what's showing on the screen, you can use either or both pens to draw all over it. Once you've highlighted, crossed out and underlined to your heart's content, you can easily save the new document or image.
Unlike other digital presentation displays, the Flip is easily rotated from landscape to portrait - which also turns the screen on automatically. This is obviously why it is called what it is, and it's an important point of difference because when you can connect pretty much any digital device to it, you need the ability to quickly change profiles.
You can screen-share your phone, bluetooth your tablet, HDMI your laptop or just plug in a USB with a bunch of pictures on it. The Flip is NFC enabled so pairing devices is literally a one-touch operation.
The Flip can also connect to office networks via WiFi or LAN, assuming you can persuade your technical department to allow you through the security protocols. Yes, I'm talking to you, NZME Technical.
Once connected, you can print your work, or better still, just email it to everyone, straight from the Flip. Unlike a conventional whiteboard, you can create several pages at once, swap between them, and save or send them all. Best brainstorm ever. If you want your work kept on the device for later, but it's private, you can simply lock it up with a password so the next meeting can't steal your awesome ideas.
It's not just a meeting tool of course - the Flip is a 55" UHD TV you can connect almost any device to. This makes it a powerful presentation aid. I've been using it to provide background graphics for my daily episodes of glennzb TV. I just create a simple PowerPoint with headlines, pictures and video and click through it all with my phone. Talk about high production standards.
Picture quality is excellent in a range of weird office-lighting conditions and while the built-in speakers are nothing to write home about, they're perfectly adequate for most meeting rooms.
The Flip is a pretty damn useful thing - really, there are only a couple of features I'm missing. There's no built-in camera or microphone for inter-office meetings. You can actually get around this by setting up a video chat on the device you've connected to the screen - but that does start to get a bit confusing. Perhaps this is a feature Samsung will include on a future generation.
The other thing missing is a cleaning cloth. Because this is a touch screen, everyone wants to. This means a 55" wall of fingerprints and smudges and it's always a bit of an unknown how you're supposed to keep a high-end display like this grease-free.
Screen hygiene aside, the Flip is extremely user-friendly and intuitive, making it fun to play with and hopefully making the meetings and presentations its being used for more fun too. It's not the cheapest bit of kit for the office, but it feels very robust and durable, giving me confidence you'd get a pretty good lifespan out of it, even in the busiest of businesses.
If only I could get it through the door.
Click here for more detailed information on the Samsung Flip
Click here for New Zealand pricing and availability
Headphones are a bit like cars and clothes. Because you use them all the time, eventually they wear out or break down.
So you have a choice.
You can pay top dollar in the hope the extra coin buys extra quality, but often all that high price gets you is a bit of brand coolness in front of your friends. You still end up dropping them, sitting on them or leaving them behind somewhere.
So where's the balancing point? Price versus pay-off?...
JBL's TUNE600BTNC could very well be the answer.
You probably haven't noticed a lot of people wearing these because, although they're stylish enough, the TUNE600BTNC's are stylish in a subtle, understated way. Available in black, blue, pink and white - even the pink ones are a mellow, pale pink, not IN YOUR FACE SHOCKING PINK.
Being on-ear rather than over-ear, they're also very compact, especially given they can fold up flat. Really, the only bling going on here is the extremely shiny covers on the ear cups. The only trouble with nice, shiny things is they attract fingerprints, smears and smudges. The TUNE600BTNC's are no exception and my greasy mitts had utterly disfigured them within the first thirty seconds of me taking them out of the box. I tried to keep polishing them up for the first few days, then I just accepted my ears were never meant to look this glossy and let headphones take on a more... distressed look. Very hipster.
The cushioning is extremely soft, thick and comfy. Whatever fabric it's covered in seems very breathable so I never felt my ears getting hot and clammy, even after several hours use. When I first wore the TUNE600BTNC's I worried there wasn't enough give in the headband as I have a massively oversized skull and it all felt way too tight. However, after I persisted for an hour or so, everything seemed to stretch out to accommodate my pate more comfortably and the more I wear them, the better they feel.
This really is the complete opposite to most of my previous headphone experiences, as usually, like shoes, I can't wait to get home so I can take them off.
With the TUNE600BTNC's, I find I'm more than happy to wear them around the house - especially since they pass my exacting vacuum test with flying colours.
You know the vacuum test? I do the vacuuming with the noise-cancelling on and see if I can still hear the vacuum cleaner. After the sheer comfort factor, that's the second thing that blew me away with these cans - the noise cancelling is really good, right up there with other headphones hundreds of dollars more expensive. Combined with an excellent 12-hour plus battery life, the TUNE600BTNC's would make a great choice for long flights. The only trouble with that scenario is there's no carry-case of any kind included so those shiny ear cups will be at the mercy of any scratchy objects you might have in your bag.
The lack of carry-case is a shame, because it does give the impression these headphones are a more budget option, as does the detachable cable. It's a flimsy little thing, long enough but in a narrow tape-shape profile that seems far from tangle-free. It's also has that weird rubbery feel that's almost sticky to touch. Compared to other braided, fabric or newfangled options out there it just looks... cheap.
Mind you, I guess a lot of people won't even take that cable out of the packet as these are of course bluetooth headphones and the difference in sound quality between the wired and wireless connections is barely perceptible. And this is the third (and obviously most important) thing that won me over with the TUNE600BTNC's - sound quality. I think you'd be hard pushed to find clarity, power and bass punch like this for under $170. Especially the bass - JBL calls this "Pure Bass" - whatever, it really does bang. As I write this I'm listening to some Vance Joy folk/rock and I could swear I can feel the kick drum as well as just hearing it.
If I was to be super-critical, my impression is things are a little thin and muddy in the mid-range before the high-ends peep through again in crystal clarity, but unless you're using these headphones to master your sophomore album, I wouldn't worry too much about that.
I keep coming back to the fact the more I use the TUNE600BTNC's, the more I want to use them. They're easy to wear, they pack a serious audio punch and they won't break the bank if you leave them on the bus.
JBL TUNE600BTNC headphones are now available at...
Noel Leeming and JB Hi-Fi
The cyber criminals are coming.
Every day there are news stories, press releases and warnings about the latest advances the virtual bad guys have made to get inside our connected devices.
One of the latest trends is to attack our routers directly, effectively leaving the front door open to invaders.
Knowing this is a major worry, but that knowledge doesn't mean we then feel like we can do anything about it. It's hard enough getting your teenager to stop playing Fortnite to join you at the dinner table.
Why doesn't technology make life more straight-forward, instead of more complicated?...
The cyber security experts at Norton have taken things into their own hands and come up with the Norton Core WiFi router.
This is not your normal, every day router in many ways - the first and most obvious way, the way it looks. As you can see from the image above, we're not dealing with a boring square panel on a stand or a crazy alien-looking shelf-hog with giant antennae sticking out in all directions. Instead, the Core is a compact geodesic dome painted in a metallic gunmetal.
I thought it was one of the coolest things I'd ever seen and immediately gave it pride of place on the middle shelf of the entertainment unit in the lounge. I was then informed in no uncertain terms that it wasn't cool at all and still looked like a weird gadget, but it was better than what was there before. Oh well.
I was surprised how small the Norton Core is. not much bigger than a large grapefruit, although because of its spherical profile, it's not quite slim enough to fit into a standard data cable cabinet. This isn't a problem if, like me, you think it looks really cool, so you'll want it on display. Because it is so small, the space underneath where you plug things in is pretty cramped. Four ethernet ports, two USB slots and a socket for the power lead is a lot of stuff to hide away under something this tiny - here's how it's set up...
As you can see, the ethernet ports on the left and right edges are actually slightly behind the opening at the back of the base which means if you're using them all it's an extremely tight fit. The ethernet lead included with the Norton Core is more flexible and the plug is slightly shorter than standard cables so it plugs in quite easily. Unfortunately, there's only one of those leads in the box. By the time you fill up all those ports with more standard sized cords, it's actually quite a challenge to get the Core to sit down flat on top of it all.
If you can manage it though, the result is fantastic, because everything is tucked away so tidily. The power lead and ethernet cable are both white and it's probably worth only using white cables for anything else you plug in to keep the whole picture looking subtle and neat.
In keeping with that theme, unlike just about every other router out there, there are no stupid flashing lights to be found anywhere on the Core - just a simple white LED status ring around the base which you can turn off completely once you've got the device all set up. Great work, Norton. I loathe flashing lights.
While we're talking setup, I can't emphasise enough how easy and user-friendly the Norton Core app is. I've installed my fair share of routers, modems and extenders over the years and it's never been this straight-forward. Other devices have promised to be idiot-proof, but more often than not my idiocy has prevailed and I manage to get connected only by resorting to a random combination of app, WPS direct connections and a web based interface.
There's no option to access the Core via your browser, so that simplifies things straight away. The app walks you through set-up step by step and then the fun really begins, because you now have complete control over all your WiFi settings. You can create guest connections with time limits or give certain devices priority over others (useful for uninterrupted streaming or gaming) Perhaps most useful is the ability to pause the connection for any device connected to your network - including the one that teenager is playing Fortnite on. You can even stop the whole network completely so everyone comes to dinner at the same time!
Unfortunately, although there are two USB ports available, there's no way to set up any kind of media server connected directly to the router. I guess if you don't know what I'm talking about, you won't miss it, but I would have thought it'd be a feature Norton could have easily included.
Obviously, with the Core being made by Norton, cyber security is its number one focus - but rather than that feature being intrusive and in your face, because it all happens in the router, the security measures take place well before any potential threats get anywhere near your device. This includes all those new I.o.T. devices like smart fridges, TVs and speakers you didn't even realise could be hacked.
Purchasing the Core automatically entitles you to a complimentary 12 month Norton Core Security Plus subscription which promises to keep you insulated from all those cyber-nasties out there. I wondered if everything would keep working the way I wanted it to, or whether I would have to be constantly creating exemptions for my favourite sites and apps (which you can do easily by the way) but the only time this was necessary was when I tried to use the voice assistant on a phone I was reviewing. I assume the Core wanted to block this activity because the phone hadn't actually been released yet so it didn't recognise what was happening.
Other than that small hiccup, I experienced excellent connection speeds, both down and upstream and I also found the connection strength to be stable all around the house. This impressed me given the small size of the device and no external antennae.
The Norton Core is the perfect solution for anyone who's worried about securing their home network, but doesn't have any real technical know-how. Thanks to the most user-friendly set-up app I've ever used, your new, totally secure WiFi can be up and running in under five minutes. Then you don't have to think about the bad guys trying to steal your stuff ever again, because Norton does the worrying for you.
This is all wrapped up in a compact, aesthetically pleasing package, with the added bonus of being able to threaten your kids with WiFi disconnection at the push of a button - for many, that feature alone would be worth $450.
Click here from more information and pricing on the Norton Core router
Huawei makes great phones. The tri-lens camera on this year's P20 Pro is probably the finest camera ever seen on a smart phone. Combined with the awesome power of Huawei's Kirin chipset technology, it's an extremely nice device.
But the question is; why have three cameras when you can have four?... ...for less than half the price?...
Okay, the four camera thing is slightly misleading - but only slightly.
The Huawei nova 3i only has a dual lens rear-facing camera as opposed to the P20 Pro's unique tri-lens setup. I say only, but truth is, very few phones in this price range sport dual lens cameras. What even fewer phones at any price have is a dual lens forward-facing camera. This means the nova 3i offers you the same features for your selfies you can access for the rest of your pics.
The camera innovation doesn't stop there. AI object recognition has been popping up in a lot of flagship devices, now you get it in the nova 3i - both front and back. Not only does this help you take way better photos in a range of environments and lighting conditions, but it also gives you the option of shopping for things you take pictures of. If the phone can recognise it, it can link you to an online store that sells it.
Of course, the other thing you get when you combine powerful AI with cool cameras is 3D facial recognition. Not only does this mean fast and accurate face unlock functionality, but also silly live animations you can superimpose over your own face. Huawei calls these QMojis. I call them too much time on your hands.
But the nova 3i is so so much more than just pretty pictures. It's also extremely pretty itself. While it is available in black, no-one in their right mind would choose anything other than Iris Purple. Iris Purple is only partly purple, quite a lot of blue and all the colours in between. It's kind of hypnotic to look at... like a double rainbow. This is all encased in glass with a metal mid-frame. It's super light, super slim and super slippery. It feels luxurious in your hand... but only if you can actually manage to grip its near frictionless surface. It could well be the slipperiest phone I've ever encountered - at one stage it worked its way out of my pocket onto the floor, while I was sitting on the couch. The glass seems pretty tough... no damage to report.
The 6.3inch display sounds too big but because it's edge-to-edge, the phone really isn't over the top size-wise and you want maximum display real-estate for streaming and gaming - two things the nova 3i does very well again, due in large part to the built-in AI. Combined with the impressive processing power of the Kirin 710 chipset, the nova 3i even offers a dedicated Gaming Mode which commits maximum resources to graphics and sound while blocking pesky notifications.
There's a more-than-ample 128GB of built-in storage, and the 4GB of RAM once again puts this lower-mid-range device up with the big boys.
The only real sign of the budget price-tag is the microUSB connection instead of the more user-friendly USB Type-C all high-end phones now support. Still no wireless charging here either which is slightly mysterious because in other markets Huawei does have a phone available with wireless charging capability.
A slightly old fashioned plug. That's really the only thing wrong with the nova 3i. So actually, there's nothing wrong with it at all. Plus it takes incredible photos from both cameras. PLUS plus it's amazing to look at.
But here's what I don't understand... why offer a phone that's almost as good as your flagship device for less than half the price?
The nova 3i is currently available for just $499 - and that's not even including the nice bonus pressies most retailers are bundling in with it. So surely it makes no sense to pay $1200 for a P20 Pro, just to get a 3 lens rear facing camera?
Click here for more information and pricing on the Huawei nova 3i
I've always thought you can tell a lot about a device by the box it comes in. If plenty of thought and creativity has gone into the packaging alone, you can usually assume the same will apply for what's inside.
I've never seen a box like the box for the Dyson Cyclone V10 Absolute+...
Not impressed?
Well this is what I found inside...
As you can see, the boffins at Dyson have clearly come up with a way to bend the laws of physics, time and space to fit more into a box that can actually fit in that box. Not only that, but every single component was protected in its own, custom cut compartment - all cardboard and slotted together, no tape, glue or polystyrene.
If merely unpacking the V10 was this much fun, how good was using it going to be?
Until now, my only real first-hand Dyson experience has been courtesy of my trusty DC58 handheld, which has been, unquestionably, the most effective and reliable device of its kind I've ever used. Sure it's performed brilliantly for those "handy-vac" style jobs - cleaning up small spills and vacuuming out the cars - but I've also relied on it for doing my stairs, simply because lugging a normal sized vacuum cleaner, with a cord, up and down steps is a major pain.
Yes, Friday is vacuuming day and vacuuming is one of my jobs. I chose vacuuming not because I like it, but it was either that or cleaning the showers and I'm pretty sure I'd hate that even more.
I've been through a few vacuum cleaners over the years, different brands, models with bags, bagless ones... frankly, all of them sucked - and not in a good way. Each time I've bought a new one I've been disappointed within minutes of turning it on. Not powerful enough. Not maneuverable enough. Too bulky. Too heavy. Hard to clean. And the cord. Argh, the cord! Never long enough, constantly snagging, wearing paint off the corners of every wall.
There has to be a better way. James Dyson agrees. In fact, he thinks he's found it, which is why he recently announced Dyson is no longer developing corded vacuums.
Obviously, the theory of a stick vacuum that can clean a whole house as effectively as a corded model on a single charge is attractive, but many have tried before and come up woefully short in terms of sheer power, capacity, charge time and overall usability.
Still, even if the V10 performed to the same standard as my DC58 handheld, but with a longer attachment, I was pretty sure we'd be onto a winner.
The V10 didn't just match the DC58, it out performed it (and therefore every other vacuum I've ever used) in every way.
There are two main powered heads, one for carpet and one the Dyson people call, "the Fluffy" for hard floors. Yes, it's a slight bother having to swap between the two, but only a slight bother as Dyson's latest quick release locking system is more intuitive than before, with no chance of fitting the heads in the wrong position.
The V10 is easily as powerful as my old corded machine on the lowest of its 3 settings. At that setting, the Dyson website promises, "up to 60 minutes" of continuous use and I certainly had no problems getting through my entire 4 bedroom home... except, it turns out we're a family of filth monsters! The 760ml bin was only just big enough to collect all the grossness I sucked out of my floors first time through - which seemed to be a lot more than usual.
The standard procedure for Dyson cyclonic devices is to run at maximum suction right till the point the bin is full, then they cut out automatically. While less than a litre of bin capacity seems a bit small, it helps keep the weight of the whole device down to just 2.67kg, which is plenty comfortable enough to use all over the house.
The emptying procedure has been vastly improved on the V10, with the whole bin sliding forward to eject everything inside, a virtually dust free procedure which takes about a second. In fact, thanks to Dyson's latest filtration technology, dust doesn't get a look in. I even took part in a demonstration where the V10 sucked up a tank of smoke and left no trace.
The V10 comes with a compact docking station so you can hang it on the wall, complete with sockets you can fit your two favourite attachments into.
Ah yes, the attachments. The powered heads are extremely maneuverable, in fact you can hold the V10 past right angles which makes stairs easier than ever, either from above or below. There's a mini version of the motorised heads for smaller spaces and the familiar Brush, Crevice and Combination tools. There are also two even more ingenius attachments; the Flexi-Crevice tool, which extends to twice its length making it ideal for cobwebs in high corners and the Extension Hose, made from some kind of super-bendy wonder-material that ensures sucking things out of tight places under car seats is a breeze.
Design excellence is everywhere, with all these attachments easily snapping on and off with the same quick-release system and in many cases, you can attach them together to use them in combination.
If it sounds like a lot of bits to look after, it is. Which is why Dyson includes a comfy shoulder bag to put them in so you can carry them all around with you while you work.
You won't believe me when I say this, but I swear it's true. The Dyson V10 works so brilliantly, it's actually fun to use. I started to search out things to vacuum, just so I could use it a bit more.
Then came the ultimate test; moving house. You know what it's like, when you move you seem to need to vacuum every 5 minutes - boxes, rubbish and mess everywhere. Places under furniture that hasn't been moved for years. Then moving day comes and not only do you have to vacuum the house you're leaving behind, but you usually want to give the new one a good going over too.
Sadly, this is where my V10 met its match. I fully expected to run out of charge at some stage on moving day, so I diligently plugged it in whenever I wasn't using it. What I hadn't anticipated was a filter clean. A light started blinking on the side of the handset demanding I clean the filter. Luckily, as usual, Dyson has made this process extremely straight-forward; you simply unscrew the filter compartment off the back and run the tap through it.
Unfortunately, you then need to wait 24 hours for the filter to dry. Under normal circumstances, this is a process that only needs to happen once a month at most - but moving day is the opposite of normal circumstances. What's more, I didn't have 24 hours to wait for the filter to dry - I was only halfway through cleaning my old house and the new owners were on the way.
Luckily, my old handheld DC58 had been charging too. I got down on my hands and knees and finished the rest of the floors with that. Not quite what I'd planned.
Nor was what happened 24 hours later when I screwed the dried-out filter back on, which was absolutely nothing. My V10 had decided it had done enough and would do no more. What a disaster! To have the finest vacuum technology I'd ever encountered right there in my hands, but for it to remain completely lifeless. The humanity!
I got hold of Dyson and they replaced it immediately, totally confused by what could have caused the issue. So now I vacuum on, undeterred - although I'm a bit nervous about what will happen next time I clean that filter.
Let's hope it's some kind of freak, one-off fault, which I'm sure it must have been because I haven't been able to find any mention of a similar problem anywhere online. (And believe me, I looked)
In the meantime, my cars, stairs, ceilings and floors have never looked so spotless and I no longer dread my Friday morning chore. Is it going too far to say I now look forward to it?... Let's not get carried away.
Click here for more information on the Dyson Cyclone V10 Absolute+
It can't be easy being married to me.
Some guys play golf. Some guys fish. Some go hunting. Me? I play with gadgets. Everybody has a hobby and mine happens to be tech. If I'm not charging up the latest phone, speaker or electronic whatever, my sense of FOMO becomes unbearable.
As a result, sometimes my house seems full of pointless dodads. Things that light up. Things that vibrate. Things that make all sorts of noises.
For the most part, the Domestic Manager suffers all this in silence. For the most part. Occasionally I forget to turn off an alarm. When you work in breakfast radio, alarms go off very early. So if you've already gone to work and that back-up alarm you forgot goes off... that can cause some justifiable marital tension.
I play with my toys and the Domestic Manager humours me.
So it came as quite a shock when she hijacked my latest gadget for herself...
The Harman/Kardon Allure is a great theory brought to life... one of the best bluetooth speakers money can buy, combined with one of the original smart speaker technologies.
The good news is; now the theory is reality it's a flawless combination.
I've reviewed Harman/Kardon products before and they have always stood above the rest because a) they just sound so damn fine and b) the design is always unique, elegant and classy.
The Allure is no exception.
If other Harman/Kardon speakers kept flashy buttons and lights to a minimum, the incorporation of Amazon Alexa into the equation has enabled the Allure to be even more spartan with unsightly physical controls.
Yet again I've been amazed how H/K has managed to squeeze a full-ranged, 360-degree, room-filling sound out of a speaker small enough to fit on most shelves. While perhaps not quite producing the massive bass-punch offered by the Onyx Studio 4, the Allure still impresses with plenty of oomph across the whole frequency range.
Now for its greatest trick; Alexa. She's listening through a built-in 4-microphone array and she's listening very carefully. Even in large rooms with music playing pretty loud, as long as I started my commands with a simple, clear, "Alexa?" she responded to my instructions about 90 percent of the time.
The Allure was my first experience with the Amazon-powered voice assistant and I have to say, I'm starting to get what all the fuss is about.
Once you connect your Amazon account with the Allure using H/K's setup app (a simple, no frills process) you can add other services you subscribe to like Spotify and iHeart Radio. This means you can simply ask Alexa to play the song of your choice, one of your playlists, or listen to a quality radio station like Newstalk ZB. I think Alexa only misunderstood me once the whole time I've been using the speaker and that may have been after a few drinks so there's a chance nobody was understanding me.
Note; Spotify will only play what you want if you have a premium account, but you can also connect to the Allure like an ordinary bluetooth speaker. This means Alexa can still play, pause, skip or adjust the volume for you. The cool thing about letting her do the streaming directly is you don't have to keep your phone in bluetooth range, because the Allure is connected directly to your WiFi.
The best thing about it all is, it works. And it works well. It works so well, the Domestic Manager, who has zero patience learning how to operate new technology, took to it straight away. There really is nothing to learn, because Alexa is so intuitive. Domestic Manager wasn't even put off by the Allure's light display, probably because, like everything Harman/Kardon, it's simple, subtle and monochrome.
Oh, and you can turn it off if you don't like it anyway.
The only thing I missed when comparing the Allure to other Harman/Kardon speakers was not being able to connect to other Harman/Kardon (or JBL) speakers for multi room or large area coverage. The Allure can link to other speakers - but only other Amazon smart speakers via WiFi. To be fair, this is probably the way of the future anyway and it won't be long before all our speakers are this smart.
The Domestic Manager seems to enjoy using the Allure so much, I've started to wonder if it's just because she likes ordering it around. Alexa never answers back, never gives her a dirty look and never storms off to her room in a huff. She remains calm and compliant in all situations... well, at least until the robot apocalypse anyway.
It'd be nice to have the option of a New Zealand accent. At the moment, the closest you can get is Australian. Don't worry - it's the nice Australian accent, not the one that sounds like a cat fight out the back. Maybe that's an option Amazon will offer in time, if it considers our market large enough to warrant the resources.
Meanwhile, Aussie Alexa does an impeccable job and all I can say is Harman/Kardon does it again. Luxury design, perfect sound quality and now all the smarts to match.
Priced in the mid $400 range, it's hard not to suggest it's worth every penny.
Click here for more information on the Harman/Kardon Allure voice activated speaker
