It’s been a hectic week of writing, catching up on some reviews, arguing with politicians and, oh yeah, yet more writing. Here’s a sample of my favourite bits of my own work throughout the last week.
Lead image: Manoj Vasanth
Windows 10 Needs A Little TLC
Windows 10 is a rather nice operating system, especially if you’re scoring it for the low, low price of nothing.
Still, if you have taken the plunge and installed Windows 10, there’s some tweaks to the OS that you really should consider.
It costs how much?
Anything with a Leica badge on it is unlikely to be particularly affordable. The Leica Q costs as much as a small second-hand car — but it’s arguably worth it if you can afford it. No, I didn’t get to keep the review sample (dammit).
Politicians Apparently Don’t Serve The Public
Silly me, thinking that taking public office meant that you actually served the electorate you were elected to. Why, that would be, I don’t know, DEMOCRATIC OR SOMETHING.
Thanks to a very senior Liberal MP that I got into an entirely weird Twitter discussion with, I was informed in no uncertain terms that MPs aren’t actually public servants. Presumably, they’re just entitled to rule, or something.
(No, this isn’t satire. This actually happened to me this week. Nothing to do with tech, but really quite worrying if you have any interest in how the country is run, no matter what your political stripe might be.)
Apple, MVNO? No.
The slightly weird rumour story of the week involved Apple setting itself up as an MVNO. Apple denies it, and I have my serious doubts, but it got me thinking about the MVNO space and how (if it went nuts and did it) Apple would go about launching as its own telco brand down under.
And Now A Word From My Biggest Fan
Dyson doesn’t do “cheap”, and that shows with the very spiffy (but by no means cheap) Dyson Hot+Cool Jet Focus AM09, or “Elroy”, as I have (just this second) decided to call the one Dyson sent me for review. At least, it’ll be Elroy until they ask for it back, anyway.
Sing A Song Of Sixpence (Per Play On Only This Streaming Service)
Dr Dre is exclusive to Apple Music, as is Taylor Swift. Prince is releasing new music, but only on Spotify. The Streaming wars are in full effect, but who actually benefits from having an “exclusive” track? It’s not the listeners.
GentleMonsters, Start Your Engines
Skylanders is, without a shadow of a doubt, a phenomenon. It’s made a phenomenal amount of money for Activision, it’s facing a phenomenal quantity of competition from Lego and Disney this year — but how good will the new Skylanders game, Skylanders: Superchargers actually be? I got some hands on time with the just-announced multiplayer racing mode to find out.
Does The NBN Mean Jobs, Or Is Malcolm Just Election Fishing?
Image: G Meyer
nbn — the company formerly known as NBN Co — announced that it’ll hire up to 4,500 employees in order to meet its targets. Hurrah for productivity… erm… sort of. Except that this is still a project that’s not going to meet either needs or (most likely) targets in any real way, and if (as some pundits suggest) it’s more of an early election ploy, it’s worth revisiting the political history of the entire NBN project.
I Want To Benchmark This (But They Took Away My Explosives)
There are tablets. Then there are tablets that have tough slipcases. Then there are “rugged” Tablets that you can abuse a bit.
Then there are tablets that tout themselves as “explosion proof”. There’s really only going to be one way to test that.
I Got Pac-Man Fever, Driving Me Crazy
Pac-Man Championship Edition DX isn’t even a new game, but it’s new to iOS and Android. As I discovered through reviewing it, it’s perhaps the best version of the game you can buy, because it works so very well on mobile platforms.
The Not-Quite-Premium “Flagship” Phone
Huawei’s P8 is a rather nice phone at a very attractive price point, and it comes with a very generous screen replacement offer. Still, if I was shopping for a true flagship phone, I’d still be tempted to shop elsewhere.
Sharing Is Caring (For Telco Profits)
Every telco wants your money, but in a world where mobile value is increasingly defined by how much data you offer on a plan, how do you increase the perceptual data pool? Sharing is one way, and Optus this week rejigged its plans around sharing your quota more freely.
Or Maybe It’s Singing Is Caring (For Telco Profits)
Telstra’s shutting down its MOG streaming service, but at the same time, it’s adding “free” Apple Music subscriptions for iPhone contract buyers. That’s free once you pay the monthly fee, naturally.
At one time, 2G was cutting edge
It’s true… but that was a long time ago. Telstra’s already announced when its 2G network will bite the dust, and this week Optus announced when its own 2G service will be formally shut down. You do have a little bit of time to buy a smartphone that doesn’t actually run on coal to replace your 2G handset with, however.
BayWatch
As in “Pirate Bay”, that is. The site blocking legislation is now law, and Foxtel has indicated that it’s looking into making sure that Australian consumers can’t access sites that facilitate copyright infringement. Something tells me that they might win in court, but fail horribly at the technical level to actually do anything concrete.
Switching Can Mean Many Things
Here’s an oddity. This week, I reviewed not one, but two products with “switch” in the title. For those who write (I guess that’d include me), there was the Kensington KP400 Switchable Keyboard Review, featuring hot Bluetooth and micro USB action!
OK, maybe not that hot. It’s a keyboard. Calm down now.
Switch Me On, Switch Me Off
I like Belkin’s WeMo home automation gear as a complete ecosystem. The Belkin WeMo Insight Switch mashes up a couple of different Belkin products I’ve liked in the past, and the result is mostly pleasing, albeit not entirely worth it if you’re buying it as a standalone product.
Can I Have My Classic Games Done Medium Rare?
Astonishingly, I didn’t use that pun in my review of the exceptional Rare Replay, a collection of 30 classic games for the Xbox One that turn it into a ZX Spectrum. Because of course that’s a thing that you’d actually do.
Thinking Time
This week’s short story only just manages to squeak in on Sunday night — but that still totally counts. It’s a tale of deserts, booze, breakups and above all, Thinking Time.