TECH
INTEGRATED
EVERYTHING
by Chris Jones
Phones can control our heating, watches can alert us to
calorie intake and heart rates. Tablets can help us relax
and meditate and TV streaming can allow us to rent
movies or watch our entire photo library.
How do you feel about this? We are racing to embrace
technology, and companies are only too happy to
develop products and apps to help us do this.
We’ve done some footwork for you and highlighted our
favourites below:
Apple TV:
This smart little gadget has been around for quite some time, but
its update has brought it into competition with other set top
boxes. It doesn't (yet) offer on-demand TV like iPlayer or 4OD,
but it lets you access your iTunes library through your TV and
surround sound. It allows you to rent or buy movies or TV series
to watch almost immediately. If you have items on your iPhone or
iPad you want on the bigger screen, you can simply use that
lovely little feature, Airplay, and send it over to play on whatever
your TV screen size is! You can also pour yourself a G&T and
watch your holiday piccies on your TV through your iPhoto
library. Alongside this, you can access YouTube to shake your
bootie around your living room to your fav tunes, and access your
Netflix account to watch yet more fun! Available from most
electrical retailers and apple.com
Urban Weather Station:
From Netatmo comes this lovely little item, a device specifically
designed to work with your iPhone, iPad or Android device. You
get 2 beautifully designed devices, one for indoor, one for outdoor
use. These send data by way of wifi to your app and allow you
access to a 7 day forecast, a tad more detailed than the free apps
available.
Admittedly an item for the more dedicated weather watcher, or
serious gardeners. Retailing from £139, it is a serious bit of kit
and is available from Apple stores and netatmo.com
Nest:
Nest proves that companies are taking this growing area of
technology very, very seriously, so much so that Google have
recently bought this manufacturer of smart smoke detectors and
thermostat controllers for billions. Google sees this market to be
worth trillions, as it grows, towards the movement to connect
every electronic gadget via the internet and so easily control
tasks. Currently, Nest has a quite narrow outlook, in terms of
what it controls but that’s the bonus for Google. This company is
stuffed full of former Apple talent, and Nest is an ideal starting
point for bigger things, and don't forget, Google already own
Android… Want to know more? Pop over to nest.com
48 AUG / SEPT 2014 | THEGAYUK