From your very own Einstein to an awesome Virtual Reality HMD, and some solar panels to keep them powered up on the go. Tech Trends has your back in the gear department. 

Professor Einstein

I bring out the magic and fun of astronomy, physics, biology, geology and much more. Want to know the weather in Capetown? What is a quark? The exploits of Isaac Newton? Just say “Hey Professor…?” and ask away.

RRP $249

Penclic K2 Wireless Keyboard

Swedish company Penclic have a mission to reduce your RSI and we have tested several of their products here on Tech Trends and can vouch for their effectiveness. Today we are testing their latest version of their wireless keyboard the K2 which retails for €69 or £62. This new version has a slightly nicer feel to the keys but is still not as nice to use as the fractionally more expensive, minimalist KB3 Bluetooth keyboard they make. Overall the K2 is a comfortable keyboard to use and the small size and low profile do keep my arms relaxed when typing and my only mild frustration is that the wi-fi only works within a radius of about a meter from the computer, probably not an issue for most users but something to bear in mind.

RRP: €69.99

BioLite SolarPanel 10+

Fans of hiking, kayaking, camping and outdoor pursuits in general still need their mobile devices and when they’re miles from the nearest power socket and need their GPS to get them home, they often let them down at the worst possible time.

Enter the BioLite SolarPanel 10+ a super thin and lightweight smart power device. The two High-efficiency monocrystaline solar panels will suck 10 watts of power from the sun and fill up the built in 3000 mAh rechargeable battery for charging all your essential devices, tablets and phones. BioLite’s Optimal Sun System includes a built in sundial for aligning the panels to the sun’s rays and a 360 degree kickstand to simplify positioning on uneven terrain. When you are done, simply fold the 10+ up and pop it in your rucksack or you can charge on the move by hanging it from you backpack and keep going. Oh and it’s splash proof, so go ahead and jump in those puddles!

RRP: $129.95

DigiBit

A Kickstarter funded, funky new wearable motion capture device, DigiBit gives you responsive in-game control for VR and non VR environments on iOS and Android (Marshmallow and above) devices. Control your in-game movements and actions with smart sensors that attach to the hands or feet for a gaming experience like never before!

These elegant little wearables are the creation of DigiBit Founder, Colt Correa and his family. This is one of those great stories of an engineer who, when disappointed by commercial products, knew he could do better, and with the help of a Kickstarter campaign plans to deliver an affordable product even the big games and console manufacturers would be proud of. DigiBit is an open platform and includes an open source Air Hockey game, a free Unity3D plugin and an open Bluetooth API. The patent-pending wearable motion and communication technology captures your body movement for responsive in-game control in VR and non-VR environments.

Read Tech Trends full review here

RRP: $79 (Super Early Bird Pledge)

TouchPoints

TouchPoints Basic are another crowdfunding success story. Founded in 2015 by Neuropsychologist Dr. Amy Serin and executive child advocate Vicki Mayo, these cunning little gadgets are a non-invasive, wearable devices that use patent-pending neuroscience to relieve stress in as little as 30 seconds.

Using quantitative electroencephalogram data, existing neuroscience research and archival data, Dr Amy Serin determined the device produced significant and quantifiable brain changes after just seconds of use. TouchPoints use Bi-Lateral Alternating Stimulation Tactile (BLAST) stimulation to give the user a gentle vibration that affects the brain and alters the body’s fight, flight or freeze response.

Read Tech Trends full review here.

RRP: $119

Avid Media Composer First

Media Composer First is a very limited version of the full programme, currently MC 8.5, but it aims to give you the basic cutting experience, plus some key functionalities of its big brother. We consume most of our video content via the web these days and Avid gets this, offering very basic options for exporting your finished video via Quicktime in the web friendly H.264 or their propriety DNxHD codec or even better, publish directly to YouTube or Vimeo. Yes you can edit 4k video in First but only downscaled to HD, output is also limited to HD but again this is still the most web friendly format and to make your 4k files work for you Avid retain the awesome FrameFlex from the pro version.

Read all the details and specs in the full review here.

RRP: $FREE

Tom Atkinson is a Digital Producer & Photographer at R3Digital and Reviews & Dept. Editor at Tech Trends. Connect on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter @R3Digital

The post July 2017 Tech Trends Product Reviews appeared first on Tech Trends.

This month has been – I think you’ll agree – a colourful and eclectic month for product testing here at Tech Trends. From some amazing sex toys designed by women, for women, to a nifty pen that wards off RSI and an affordable classroom laptop that teaches kids about electronics and programming. We even found time to give the latest editing software from Vegas a quick spin. If you’d like to get in on the action and get your product reviewed here for the next edition, by all means get in touch, but do read these guidelines first to see whether it’s right for us.

Pi-top

We all learn better when we’re engaged, have fun, and take pride in what we achieve. The pi-top does that by allowing children to build a cool-looking classroom laptop from scratch. Teachers can use the device to plan lessons around coding, electronics, and much more. The device is also fully functional and highly customizable, so it’s a great value option for ICT equipment in its own right. Read the full review on IDG Connect

RRP: $200

Penclic B3 Stylus

The Penclic B3 Bluetooth is designed like a swivelling pen mounted on a gliding base, so you don’t need a mousepad, and takes up very little desk space. As someone who suffers from RSI – hazards of being a writer and spending most of my time either in front of a computer or tapping away at my phone – the advantage of switching to a stylus is that it not only uses a different set of muscles, but also makes you think about your movements more, therefore stopping the “happy clicking” that often triggers the pain, so I have to say it’s a keeper!

RRP: $103

Miss On The Go

This is a rather awesome little vibrating device that connects to a smart app on your phone (free to download on Apple and Android) and either provides guidance for your Kegel exercise routine to get those all-important pelvic floor muscles in tip-top shape, or becomes a platform for some fun and games (solo, with your other half, or with complete strangers). This is a nice product with a great story of female entrepreneurship behind it, which you can read more about on this article I wrote for the Future of Sex website.

RRP: $169

Dame Products

Another great story of female entrepreneurship came from the folks at Dame Products, who designed and successfully crowdfunded two amazing vibrating devices. You can read about them and find out more about the Fin and the Eva here.

RRP: $105 for the (Eva) and $74.95 (Fin)

Vegas Movie Studio

This month we did a deep-dive review on the Vegas Movie Studio software, courtesy of my husband, film editor, producer and all-round technical geek Tom Atkinson, who was impressed by how it provided a good-value solution for the prosumer market. You can read all about it here.

RRP: $79.99

The post April 2017 Tech Trends Product Reviews appeared first on Tech Trends.