Xi3 piston
Price: S$1,000
Website: xi3.com
It
is a really impressive piece of computer engineering. But it is not the Steam
Box.
Is this Valve’s Steam Box? Is this, at
last, the fabled console from the world’s most influential game developer? No.
No, it isn’t. But… is it? After all, it’s a tiny gaming PC, barely larger than
a coffee mug but packing a quad-core 3.2GHz CPU, 8GB RAM, an SSD and 384-core
graphics that will handle 4K resolution gaming, all from a dinky 40W power
supply. It is a really impressive piece of computer engineering. But it is not
the Steam Box. OK? Now, let’s fire up steam on this thing!
Bester spigot
Dyson Airblade Tap
Price: $1,500
Price: dyson.com
Does
your sink really need a motor that accelerates to 90,000rpm, expelling air in
two wafer-thin, 430mph sheets?
Here at Stuff we always get over-excited by
over-engineering: from rubidium-powered amplifiers to watches that will outlast
time itself. Thus we’ve been left sweaty palmed by this, the world’s most
advanced faucet. Does your sink really need a motor that accelerates to
90,000rpm, expelling air in two wafer-thin, 430mph sheets? One wash on this
baby and we decided that yes, it does. The tap brushes water off your hands
like a futuristic butler. We’ll take 12
Join the Qube
Asus Qube
Price: asus.com
Do
not question the Qube. Do not ask how it arrived, or look at it too much.
Do not question the Qube. Do not ask how it
arrived, or look at it too much. Simply attach its feeding tube – sorry, HDMI
cable to your TV, and allow it to furnish you with all the delights of Google
TV 3.0. Request a movie from Google Play or Netflix via its smart voice
recognition tech, browse the web using its double-sided QWERTY controller, or
try gaming using your Android device to control it. It promises not to
assimilate you. Unless you’d like to be assimilated? No, no, of course. Not
yet. Not yet.
Oh, what a lovely Plair
Plair
Price: $100
Website: plair.com
You
can even stream the same video to multiple seals at once.
It’s been a little while since you bought
your tiny robotic seal pet, and winter might not have been kind to it. That’s
where this replacement fin comes in, if your Robo-seal is swimming in circles,
just plug this in and off he goes. Wait, that’s not right at all. Plug Plair
(not a seal) into a TV’s HDMI port and you can stream video to it from any
phone, tablet or PC with Wi-Fi. You can even stream the same video to multiple
seals at once. Wait. Plairs. We meant Plairs
Do it! Format me!
Kingston DataTraveler
Hyperx predator 1tb
Website: kingston.com
Rattlesnakes
become agitated in your presence, but fear to strike.
When it arrived in the post, you were
reborn. No longer merely ‘Brian’, now people pay attention to you. Women peek
at you over their sunglasses. Rattlesnakes become agitated in your presence,
but fear to strike. You wrestle wolves in the darkness. You are HyperX
Predator, wielder of the Terabyte. None of this fluffy ‘cloud’ storage for you:
your data, your whole digital world, is in your pocket, and you can read it at
240MB a second. You are a data warrior.
The vast and the viewrious
Samsung S9000
Website: samsung.com
It
should be easy to find, as it’s huge, but if you can’t see it then keep an ear
out for its 120W 2.2 speakers.
What’s that, you’re popping out to the
shops? Do we want anything? Yes, actually. We would like you to buy us the
world’s largest 4K TV. You know, the 85in, 3D-capable, quad-core, up-scaling,
Smart TV-toting LED mega set so unashamedly behemoth that it has to be
supported by an industrial-looking frame. It should be easy to find, as it’s
huge, but if you can’t see it then keep an ear out for its 120W 2.2 speakers.
Oh, and a pint of chocolate milk and a Twix.
Twenty’s plenty
Fujifilm X20
We
keep it on a purple velvet cushion in our Top 10 Cupboard of Glory.
We love Fujifilm’s superb X10. We keep it
on a purple velvet cushion in our Top 10 Cupboard of Glory. And its uncle, the
X100, single-lensedly started the fad for cameras that are brilliant, modern,
and look like your dad’s old cam. So the X20 comes from some pretty rich stock,
and it looks as if it’ll do the family proud: it’s basically an upgraded X10,
with a new 12MP sensor that promises better low-light performance, a new
viewfinder, faster autofocus and RAW. All great, but what happens when they
upgrade the X90? Do they just rerelease the X100?
Let’s get down to brass snaps
Pentax MX-1
Price: $600
But
Pentax has sensibly given the MX-1 some: the top and bottom plates are made of
good old hefty brass.
You know the lovely feeling you get from
holding a hammer? That’s heft. Sweet, delicious heft. The feeling that you’re
holding something sturdy. It’s a factor gadget-makers, who tend to aim for
lighter and smaller, often ignore. But Pentax has sensibly given the MX-1 some:
the top and bottom plates are made of good old hefty brass. The rest of it is
as futuristic as you’d like – an f/1.8, 28-112mm lens, 1080p video, a 12MP sensor
and an articulated 3in display – but it’s the heft that’ll steady you.
Tune-ulonimbus
Teenage engineering od-11
Price: $800
Website: od-11.com
Some
will say any wireless speaker can suck music from the cloud.
‘The world’s first cloud speaker’ is a tricky claim. Some will say
any wireless speaker can suck music from the cloud. Some will say the Norse god
Thor was first to speak to us from the clouds. From the land of Thor (Thorway*)
comes a 26cm3 box to hammer the opposition: with a 100W amplifier and
drivers that point upwards for immersive sound, it’s a cut above your average
Bluetooth box. But it’s the ability to play straight from the cloud that has us
excited. Details of available services are cloudy at the moment, but should
brighten up this summer.
Bone to be audiophiled
Panasonic rp-btgs10 Bluetooth headphones
Price: panasonic.com
We’re
not sure why, but there’s a direct correlation between how leaky a person’s
headphones are and their taste in music.
We’re not sure why, but there’s a direct correlation
between how leaky a person’s headphones are and their taste in music. Proper
cans equals respectable taste; if you can hear what they’re listening to three
seats away, it’s rubbish. Pana’s cans use bone-conducting tech: you place them
on your temples and they vibrate your inner ear, leaving your actual shell-like
open to hear useful announcements or oncoming traffic. Best of all, others
won’t hear a peep of your music. That means it’s excellent.
