Gadgets | Tech Zilla

       Yoto Player interactive audio player Cassettes were great, weren’t they… Ok, the sound was rubbish, you couldn’t skip tracks and they never lasted too long before they were gobbled up by the tape monster (you know what I mean), but as a kid I used to love listening to stories on them. For me there was something deeply satisfying about slotting the tapes into the player, pressing play and getting lost in a ripping yarn, and the Yoto Player is a modern-day equivalent just as tactile and exciting. Except it sounds good. Instead of tapes, this groovy little audio player works by slotting in cards, each of which contains a story to listen to. There are loads of classic tales to pick from, such as  The Gruffalo  and Roald Dahl’s  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory , as well as other cards with podcasts, radio and activities on. Instead of a screen it has a cutesy pixelated display, which along with chunky buttons for volume and skipping tracks, the who...

            Creative SXFI THEATRE headphones Getting your camera out is an unusual way to begin your audio experience, but the payoff is well worth it with these cinematic headphones. The Creative SXFI THEATER wireless headphones use a neat technology called Super X-FI, which models personalised cinema sound from photos of your head and ears for a head-wobbling experience in your living room. And head-wobbling it is. These headphones are loud, bassy and super powerful, with swooshing lightsabers from all angles when watching  Star Wars  and explosions shuddering your whole body playing a spot of  Call of Duty . And that’s before you even turn Super X-FI on, which takes everything up a notch for an even more cinematic experience. The headset comes with a USB wireless transmitter for zero-latency audio (at the expense of Bluetooth, but that’s not really an issue in your living room/office space), and although they’re on the chunky side, they ar...

                     HyperX wireless gaming setup HyperX are big names in gaming peripherals (they even have their own esports arena in Las Vegas), so it’s no wonder their kit maxes out on quality and features. Their suite of wireless gear doesn’t disappoint. First up you’ll need 7.1 headphones, and the HyperX Cloud Fight S ­­headset has some seriously good surround sound. You can control chat/audio balance from the headset itself, ideal for those vital mission strategy briefings without interrupting play, and the swivelling ear cups on the headset allows them to sit comfortably around your neck for when you need a breather (or snack). The butter-like softness of the leatherette and memory foam innards makes them plush and extremely easy to wear, even for all-day and night gaming marathons, and is weighted enough so that it’s stable when sitting on the charging pad, but not too heavy that it becomes uncomfortable after a few hours o...

  Build Your Own Telescope Do you or the kids fancy a spot of astronomy but shudder at the idea of splashing out on an expensive telescope? The Build Your Own Cardboard Telescope kit is a neat way to  get started at stargazing  on a budget. Except for the lenses and mirror, the kit is made entirely out of sustainable cardboard and is designed to slot together with no glue. Admittedly, that’s easier said than done as there were occasional points I found too fiddly to do on my own, so any 8-year-olds would struggle without an adult’s help. However, once everything was slotted into place (with the help of a little sticky tape due to my cack-handedness) all the difficulty I had in putting it together was worth it for the ‘wow’ moment I had when I finally got it working. The end result is a 72cm telescope with a sliding tube to focus, a viewfinder and an angle finder. Getting a glimpse of the Moon through a telescope I built myself was enchanting, and with 16x magnification, t...

                                Flare calmer What are the most annoying sounds you can think of? Nails scratching down a chalkboard? Car alarms? K-Pop? 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-induce...

                NuraLoop headphones What if your earphones could give you a hearing test and tune your equaliser to reflect the frequencies you are most, or least, sensitive to? That’s the idea behind the Nuraphone, which we  first tested a few years back  in headphone format. During setup, the original Nuraphones would fire out a range of frequencies and then measure your ear’s response to each of them, building a sound profile that perfectly equalises the output to your hearing. The company has now shrunk their clever tech and shaped it into a set of Bluetooth earphones called the NuraLoop. They’re packed full of all the other tech you’d expect – like active noise-cancelling and touch controls – but there are a few extra smart touches, like the magnetic analogue jack that lets you connect to your earphones with wires, or the smart on/off feature that automatically switches them on when you put them around your head. But most importantl...

          Meeting Owl Pro video conference camera Remember meetings? You know, those things we used to do face to face with other human beings? Seems like a long time ago that we were last in the office, but when we do eventually filter back into meeting rooms, you can bet your bottom dollar that there will be a lot more people calling in from home. Upon that fateful day, the Meeting Owl Pro will be a cool gadget for everyone on the call. For those at home, the 360-degree, 1080p camera mean those (un)lucky enough to be in the office will be pin sharp and crystal clear thanks to the 5.5m-radius mics. The Owl Intelligence System has autofocus and a smart zooming function to hone in on whoever is speaking, while for the benefit of the people in the room, they can enjoy powerful speakers and bask in the fact that it looks like an owl.