I played a lot of Pac-Man 256, checked out phones and phone deals, and finished up somehow reviewing some slippers. Here’s a sample of my favourite bits of my own work throughout the last week.
Lead image: Manoj Vasanth
Just Eat It
It’s fair to say that I’ve been hyped about the prospect of Pac-Man 256 ever since it was announced. It came out this week, which gave me the opportunity for a hands-on review (and rather inevitable purchase of the unlimited credits pack), and then later in the week, a guide to maximising your scoring possibilities. I could be playing right now…
And Then There Were Three
The buyout of iiNet has been an ongoing saga that this week reached its fairly inevitable conclusion, with the ACCC signing off on TPG’s buyout plans. Any further consolidation might apparently be cause for competitive concern, but it’s not like there’s that many big ISP players left.
Does My Phone Look Big In This?
Sony doesn’t charge a lot of money for the Xperia E4g, and that’s a good thing, because there’s not that much about it that’s all that impressive except for the price.
Note-Worthy
Samsung didn’t waste much time after the New York reveal of the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+ handsets, revealing their Australian pricing and release info this week. Curiously, there’s one version of the Note 5 we won’t see in Australia, as I wrote at PC Mag Australia.
Staying on topic, at Finder, I wrote up some early impressions of the two new phones, focusing on the aspects it’s worth getting excited about — and not just because they’re big phones.
I Like To Stream It, Stream It
Almost as soon as I’d finished writing about the different streaming approaches of Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft, the ability to stream Xbox One games to my Windows 10 PC crashed with seemingly no fix. One update to the Xbox One fixed that, bringing tasty 1080P streaming along for the ride.
Estuans interius, Ira vehementi
It’s taken a while, but the English-language version of Final Fantasy VII finally appeared on iOS devices this week. The only thing is, you’ll need a reasonably recent handset… and a few pennies saved away… to buy it.
Online GST: General Stupidity Tax
Image: Michael Coghlan
It seems inevitable that the GST will apply on everything purchased from overseas. I really don’t get who it’s meant to help, because it’s certainly not going to help consumers or businesses, or even the government’s revenue bottom line.
Slipping Into Something More Comfortable
I’ve reviewed some unusual things in my time, but this week was the first (and probably last) time I’ll ever review a pair of slippers. Although if anyone has a comfy chair and a floppy eared dog they’d like me to review…
Get Your Moto Running
For the past couple of releases, Motorola phones have been sold only as outright devices, not on contract with telcos. That changed this week as Motorola announced that two of its premium handsets, the Motorola Moto X Style and Moto X Play, will be sold via Vodafone — and in the case of the Moto X Style, that’s the only (official) way to get one in Australia.
Who Uses A Phone For Calling Anyway?
It’s been clear for a while that data is what telcos can sell plans on, and not really calling minutes or texting allowances. Vodafone this week took that to its logical conclusion by giving all of its plans unlimited national calls and texting. Hopefully, the data network can hold up to the strain.
I Want To Get Away, I Want To Flyyyy Awayyyy
Original Image: BriYYZ
This week’s short story is all about flying — or at least what happens when we can no longer fly. It’s on the darker side, this one.