technologicall gadgetsssss

  Flare Calmer What are the most annoying sounds you can think of? Nails scratching down a chalkboard? Car alarms? It could be that our ears, through thousands of years of evolution, are sort of designed to find these sounds particularly unpleasant to act as a warning that danger is imminent. That’s great for our ancient ancestors, listening out for prowling sabre-tooth tigers, but for us modern humans it’s just plain annoying. In fact, according to audio specialists Flare, the shape of the eardrum itself acts as a bell, adding 20db of distortion-causing resonance. This irritating distortion could impact on our mental and physical wellbeing, so the idea behind the Flare Calmer earplugs is that they change the shape of the eardrum to cut out the particularly annoying distorted frequencies between 2,000-8,000 Hz. By doing this, they claim to reduce ear fatigue, noise-induced headaches and overall stress levels. So does it work? Well, it’s hard to tell how much earplugs can reduce you...

Arlo video doorbell Offering a good balance between price, premium features, and usability, Arlo’s Video Doorbell is our top choice for the  best video doorbell  if you want a high-quality smart doorbell that works reliably without being annoying. Its standout feature – telling the difference between people, animals, vehicles, and packages, and only sending you the notifications you want – means you don’t get an alert every time a strong breeze sends a plastic bag down the street. Being able to create motion zones – so you get alerted only when someone (or the neighbour’s cat) is in them – and the option to turn off all alerts when you are home (using the location of your phone to figure this out) ensures a smart doorbell doesn’t become just another electronic annoyance but a useful security tool. Along with some of the best quality video we tested and a nice square video shape that shows you more of your doorstep than most, we like that it has a built-in siren you can set off...

  Naim Mu-so for Bentley Special Edition Wireless Speaker System Our favourite wireless speaker system just got a touch prettier. The Naim Mu-so 2 nd  Generation wowed us when it launched in 2019: it hits a rare sweet spot between form and function, with a timeless design that produces brilliant sound. The onboard tech will handle almost every streaming platform and is fine-tuned for handling hi-res digital audio. But now thanks to Naim’s partnership with Bentley, the Mu-so mark 2 looks even better. Inspired by their luxury cars, the speaker housing is now made out of Ayous (an African hardwood), features an anodised copper heat sink on the back and a copper-threaded speaker grille – how suave.

  Oral B IO toothbrush Ok, let’s be honest, we’re not totally sold on the idea of a gadget that winks and smiles at you when you put it in your mouth. That aside, this toothbrush is crammed with an almost implausible amount of tech. Sensors inside will track the brush’s movement as you clean your teeth and map out areas you’ve missed. There are separate modes depending on your mood, like “Intense Clean” after a particularly sweary day or something gentler for those with sensitive gums. A new pressure sensor inside will also warn you if you’re brushing technique starts to verge into self-flagellation.

  Withing ScanWatch Studies show fitness watches can make it easier to keep fit. Health tech company Withings has been making great-looking, fitness monitoring gadgets for years and their latest watch is no exception. The ScanWatch’s traditional clockface hides some of the most advanced tech we’ve seen in a smartwatch yet. The medical grade ECG and oximeter take continual readings to provide a measure of the health of your heart and respiratory system. It’s looking for signals that might suggest you suffer from arrhythmia or apnoea, conditions that affect millions of Brits and for a large number of people go undiagnosed. It’s also got automatic activity detection on board, that’ll spot what type of exercise you’re doing and GPS to log the routes you take for apps like Strava. Withings say its watch is water resistant up to 50 metres deep and so it’ll handle a dip in the pool or, in our case, the sink. Our favourite thing about the watch by far though is its battery life which, thou...

  PS5 VR controller Details are thin on the ground about virtual reality on next-gen consoles, but Sony has revealed what its motion controllers (which will translate your hand movements into the virtual world) will look like. Of particular interest is the finger-touch detection that senses where your digits are placed on the remote. This will enable you to pick up and manipulate objects in the virtual world in natural way. Sony is revealing its new VR controllers for the PS5 today. The orb-shaped controllers look more like typical VR controllers than existing PlayStation Move motion controllers, and they also include the same adaptive trigger technology found on the DualSense PS5 controller. Each controller has tensions in the triggers, and Sony is aiming to use this tech in future VR games. The controllers also have haptic feedback, and finger touch detection that will let them detect fingers without having to press areas where you rest your thumb, index, or middle fingers. “This...

  Grado GT220 wireless earbuds Building great earphones is a bit of a dark art. The goal is to create the illusion of a big, spacious sound out of something very small. Most of the time, earbuds can’t quite pull off this trick, so you end up with audio that can lack bass, sound tinny or seem distant (or in some cases all three). The GT220 wireless earbuds from the Brooklyn-based, family-run Grado avoids all of these pitfalls to make the most out of your music. The earbuds handle the big bassy electronic beats of Run the Jewels just as well as they delicate, breathy vocals of Nick Hakim. All the highs and lows have room to be heard. I suspect half the reason they sound so good is down to the fit. The earbuds twist into place with ease and sit there comfortably for hours, without any danger of falling out. There’s six hours of listening time between charges and another 30 hours of charge held in the case. There are plenty of extra features too, like wireless charging, touch controls ...