htxt.africa's Tech Made Easy - November 2015

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FLIP OVER T THIS MAG O NEW B READ OUR MADE USINESS EASY M AG! ECOMOBILITY Pass or fail?

Joburg says what it thinks about the car free month.

DELL DELIGHTS Cool gaming laptop Check out all the latest hardware on display at rAge.

THE BEST WIN! LG G4 Beat Dance your way to a new phone in our awesome competition.

ISSUE 21 | NOVEMBER 2015 | HTXT.CO.ZA

T F I G Y A D I HOL GUIDE!

ith our selection of w as tm ris Ch is th ch Give the gift of te ur family will love. yo d an u yo ow kn e ents w carefully-curated pres

Contents

www.htxt.co.za

ISSUE #21

November 2015

Need To kNow: News

SAWUBONA, SILLY SEASON

W

e have even fewer shopping days left until Christmas now, and to help you choose a great tech gift for your family, we’ve put together a handy buyer’s guide for your perusal.

We’ve found gifts for dads, moms, the kids, families as a whole and even thrown in a handful of stocking stuffers, all with a decided tech slant.

You’ll find these gift ideas between pages 16 and 35, and the entire htxt.africa team spent a lot of time making sure we’d thought everything out, and we hope our work offers you some inspiration for when it comes time to hit the shops. Which, if you look at the calendar, is pretty much now-ish.

The gift guide has taken over all of TME’s pages this month, making it more of a magazine that should be titled Gift-Giving Made Easy, but we thought you wouldn’t mind the change.

That’s all for this month; the next time you pick up a Tech Made Easy Christmas will be all but upon us, and 2015 will almost be done. Sjoe, how the time flies.

If you can’t wait for the next issue of TME, be sure Op erator ’s sub-r500 Steppa is first of its kin to check out our parent website, www.htxt.co.za to stay d. abreast of the latest happenings in the localobile techopera sphere. tor MTN has

MTN launches supercheap smartphone

M

launched South Africa’s first Android-powered smartphone that’s available on pre-pay for less than Deon R500. It certainly an African first, and may even a world one: as far as we know, there’s no other smartphone in this class PUBLISHER: Brett Haggard – brett@htxt.co.za available for less than $50 anywhere.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Adam Oxford – adam@htxt.co.za That makes it quite a milestone in MANAGING EDITOR: Nick Cowen - nick@htxt.co.za putting high-tech handsets within the DEPUTY EDITOR: Deon du Plessis – deon@htxt.co.za reach of everyone. Which is awesome.

TECH & NEWS: Charlie Fripp – charlie@htxt.co.za The phone itself isn’t, of course, hugel y STARTUPS & STUFF: Lungelo Shezi – lungelo@htxt.co.za powerful. It’s based on a Qualcomm reference design, so it has a 1GHz single SENIOR DESIGNER: Estelle Masana – estelle@htxt.co.za core Snapdragon processor, a 3.5in ch screen and a mere 2MP camera on ADVERTISING: Dorothy Haggard – dorothy@hypertext.co.za board.

More Sengezo Jubane – sengezo@hypertext.co.za limiting is the fact that there’s only 512MB of memory and 1GB of storag e on-board.

The screen is a decent enough multitouch affair, which takes up most

Until next issue!

8

It’s a milestone which puts hightech handsets within the reach of everyone… of the front of the device. There’s no physical keyboard.

It also runs a positively ancient versio n of Google’s Android OS, Gingerbre ad.

Still, that does still mean it’s able to access BlackBerry Messenger, which is hugel y

important for South Africa.

Sadly, MTN has confir med that there ’s no plans to upgrade the Steppa to a more recent version of Android, although local hackers are investigating the possib ility of unlocking the phone and flashing a custom firmware.

There’s an FM radio though, along with a microSD port for upgrading the storag e.

What you don’t get, however, is a fast HSPA radio for high speed internet access – you’ll have to settle for plain old 3G. All in all, though, it’s a heck of a phone for the price. Not even Nokia can come close with its Asha range of semismartphones, which start at about R799 and don’t have access to half the numb er of apps and services the Steppa has.

Like the sound of this super budget smartphone? See our full review at

11

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htxt.africa’s Tech Made Easy is At the bottom of almost every produced by: Hypertext Media, 102 on 11th, article in Tech Easy Climate Cha nge willMade Cause more Highlands North, 2192, Johannesburg storm dam agesee you’ll one of these strange in sa More news at Contact Us: sts from short codes.Two It’sscienti a Bit.ly adress Wits have published a paper which says Email: info@hypertext.co.za shortening link, which means that that South Africa may be at when you type it into web go to htxt.co.za Tel: (011) 023-8001/4 increas ed riskyour of tropical storm damag browser it will take e. you to a longer Fax: 08654 83304 Our content is licensed under a Creative 6 | tech made easy | March 2014 Commons Attribution-NonCommercialShareAlike 4.0 International Licence. Other rights may apply for non-original materials.

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WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 1

Contents ISSUE #21

Need to Know 4

8

6

www.htxt.co.za

November 2015

35

The Stuff at the Back

The important stuff in SA tech EcoMobility Festival, by the numbers This is what South Africans had to say about the recent EcoMobility Festival Maker News World’s first blood vessel bioprinter comes out of China This SA-made 3D printer is big enough to sleep on

8

Tech News Round-up Microsoft will force a Windows 10 update next year Google is merging Chrome OS with Android

11

Games News Until Dawn to get on-rails VR DLC SA-made game Broforce is officially out

13

rAge 2015 News All about this year’s Really Awesome Gaming Event

Stocking fillers Small gifts to take up some space in the old Christmas stocking

The fun bits, easily located for your reading convenience

36

This month’s competition Win a who knows what!

37

The Month in Stats The numbers that made the month what it was

21

35

The Best Gift Guide

Our Christmas 2015 guide to gift-giving

6 10

20

For Dad Gifts for the father figure in your life

21

For Mom Ideas for Mom’s perfect gift

23

For the kids Fun stuff for the little ‘uns

27

For the gamers in your life Because everyone wants videogames for Christmas

31

For photographers Gifts for the snap-happy among you

31 WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 3

NEED TO KNOW: NEWS

EcoMobility Festival by the numbers Gautrain and Uber win, but Park & Rides fail

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hroughout the month of October, the City of Johannesburg embarked on a project that saw major roads in the central business district closed off for private vehicles.

Residents and workers in the area were encouraged to make use of public transports, dedicated cycle lanes and walking to get to their destination.

At the final EcoMobility press conference, a number of interesting facts and figures about people’s behaviour in Sandton for the month of October were revealed.

4 | TECH MADE EASY | NOVEMBER 2015

The charts below are the result of an online survey conducted by SCMB in partnership with Growthpoint and Arup.

Based on the figures above, which show that a fair number of people did give up their cars in favour of bikes, buses, trains and walking, Gauteng City-region Observatory (GCRO) noted that when forced to, commuters will change their modes of transport. In other news, water is wet.

One question we’ve put to the organisers, however, is why the Park & Ride schemes were so unpopular. According to figures

we’ve seen, many Park & Rides were almost entirely unused, with only Brightwater Commons making any impact at all.

On two car counts we’ve conducted over the course of the month, we reckon about 150200 cars a day used it, although it must be noted the passengers we interviewed said they did so grudgingly.

Balfour Park, a park and ride close to our office, often went for days without a single P&R user parking up.

According to GCRO, the dissatisfaction with moving within Sandton clearly shows how much work still needs to be

NEED TO KNOW: NEWS

done to improve public transport. In their defence, a quarter of respondents were said they were satisfied or very satisfied.

activity surrounding EcoMobility spiked on the first day of the festival, several mentions the following week, and then tapering off towards the end. There was another spike in Twitter mentions when the scaffolding from a bridge being constructed over the M1 highway collapsed.

The chart below plots the sentiment that commuters felt towards certain streets, nodes and stations during the festival.

[Note: the exact numbers for the chart weren’t disclosed, so all figures are

estimates]

estimates] Here are some more interesting numbers

What did people really think?

IBM put its Watson supercomputer to work running sentiment analysis on social media around the EcoMobility festival. It found some interesting results, suggesting that almost three times more Tweets were positive about EcoMobility than complained about it.

ACCORDING TO IBM

•

6 100 people tweeted about EcoMobility • The tweets mentioning EcoMobility numbered around 17 000 • Through Twitter, the EcoMobility Festival had a minimum reach of 5.8 million people • The average reach was 26 million • The festival had around 350 million Twitter impressions According to IBM, the height of the Twitter

With the bridge collapse, the hashtag #bridgecollapse generated 51% negative sentiment towards the festival and only 2% positive. IBM notes that four hours later, negative sentiment dropped by 7% while positive sentiment increased to 51%.

While no reason was given for the increase, it could possibly be attributed to the fact that certain barriers were removed to alleviate the flow of congestive traffic away from the accident.

To ease the flow on the day, PutCo and Gautrain buses were also made available for free.

The chart below demonstrates commuters’ sentiment towards the modes of transport offered during the festival.

[Note: the exact numbers for the chart weren’t disclosed, so all figures are estimates] The chart below plots what commuters and residents felt about the on-going elements of the festival.

[Note: the exact numbers for the chart weren’t disclosed, so all figures are

given out by the City of Joburg: • 15 000 people attended at least 10 large scale events • Over 4 000 people participated in the Freedom Ride • 47 speakers from more than 20 countries attended the EcoMobility World Dialogues • Gautrain increased its ridership by 8.1% • Commuters from Randburg and Fourways who used public transport were able to save 15 minutes per trip into Sandton • Five times more people walked along West street during the festival than before • 100 taxis provided free taxi services around Sandton • The hashtag #joburgecomobility had approximately 26 million impressions on social media bit.ly/1RNQSYK

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NEED TO KNOW: NEWS

This SA-made 3D printer is big enough to sleep on

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World’s first blood vessel bioprinter comes out of China

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ioprinters”, or 3D printers that can print organic matter, aren’t exactly a new concept – a patent for the technology can be found as far back as 2004.

One of the end goals of this avenue of 3D printing is to one day be able to create functioning human organs. A stumbling block in the process is the creation of blood vessels, something that is crucial for the creation of more complex prints.

Now, a Chinese company called Revotek has created an as-yetunnamed printer that it claims can print a 10 cm-long blood vessel in only two minutes by utilizing two

alternating printing nozzles.

The printer achieves this with stem cells and the core of the machine called “BioBrick”. The stem cells are exposed to environments and conditions that change them into the cells required for printing.

Dai Kerong, an academic at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, says this printer is “useful in blood vessel printing, and in the printing of livers, kidneys and other organs.” However, he also states that it will be “a long time” before it can be used in applied medicine.

No date of release, price or availability of the printer was announced.

e would be lying if said we weren’t more than a little jealous of Hans Fouche. When your day job is 3D printing chocolate, and your hobby is running a venture that produces the massive Cheetah printer, we turn very green indeed.

Now he’s created a printer so big he felt inclined to install a hammock in it.

In February of this year when Fouche 3D Printing – Fouche’s new outlet for his printer – went live, we got to see where the Cheetah printer was in its development. The Cheetah 3.1 has a massive build volume of more than one cubic metre, and Fouche was using it for unique projects like a 3D printed lawnmower.

While we don’t know the exact build volume yet, there are several objects in the image that can be used for scale, including a hammock tied at two posts of the printer’s structure. Also in the picture are the printed lawnmower and some decorative bowls.

The beauty of the design is that should you have a print that drags on for hours, you can take a nap right there, on your printer. Bit.ly/1RdfI3X

Bit.ly/1POT6Jm

Military-grade DIY: Portable 3D-printed railgun

A

new maker project that recently popped up on reddit looks like it jumped straight out of science fiction and into the real world.

A user, NSA_Listbot (no real name given) submitted something a little different to the section of the site for DIY projects: a railgun he crafted with his own hands.

A railgun, for those outside of the military and mad-science, is a weapon that propels projectiles using electromagnets. With NASA considering using the technology to launch objects into orbit and the US

More stories at

MAN BUILDS WORKING THOR’S HAMMER

go to htxt.co.za

6 | TECH MADE EASY | NOVEMBER 2015

Electromagnets and a thumbprint scanner were all that an enterprising maker needed to replicate Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir, right down to its ability to test people’s worthiness.

Bit.ly/1RdfPfH

Navy testing it out as a weapon, it’s some very serious tech.

The gun, which is partly 3D-printed and controlled by an Arduino Uno R3, can fire copperplated tungsten, aluminium, carbon and teflon.

The railgun’s creator spoke to several users on Reddit, clarifying some aspects of the project, but he has not said what he plans to do with his weapon.

It’s a very cool project, but we can’t help but feel like NSA_Listbot is going to get a knock on his door very soon from some serious-looking government officials wearing black suits and shades.

Bit.ly/1H7CdBF

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NEED TO KNOW: NEWS

Windows 10 update to become “Recommended” next year

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icrosoft will force a Windows 10 update next year In 2016, people who are running Windows 7 and 8/8.1 on their PCs will be upgraded to 10 if Windows Update is set to “automatic”.

This is because Microsoft will soon add the Windows 10 Upgrade option to the system update feature of those earlier operating systems, and then at some point next year change its status from “Optional” to “Recommended” (via Engadget).

As you may know, all “recommended” Windows updates are installed automatically at 3am (or whenever your system is set to do so), so we fully expect a lot of people to wake up one morning in 2016 to find they’ve gone from Windows 7/8/8.1 to Windows 10 overnight.

Particularly people who aren’t all that computer-savvy, which we think will cause much phoning of relatives for tech support.

Should you be resisting upgrading to Windows 10 for whatever reason, the way to make sure your system doesn’t automatically perform the update is to set Windows Update to either download all updates but ask you which you’d like to install, not download any updates at all (not recommended), or to merely notify you that updates are available and then let you choose which you want.

You could also un-tick the option that says “Give me recommended updates the same way I receive important updates”.

This is how things stand right now, but should Microsoft get feedback from enough people that this isn’t what they want, there’s still time to make adjustments to their update plans.

On the positive side, Windows 10’s actually a pretty good operating system going on personal experience and plenty of anecdotal evidence, so upgrading isn’t actually all that bad an idea. Bit.ly/1Mce3LN

Google is merging Chrome OS with Android

G

oogle parent company, Alphabet is planning to merge Chrome OS

the two operating systems is strange,

expected to be released in 2017.

According to an online report, this

we just need to look to Microsoft to

combination of operating systems comes as

understand why Google’s head is in the

platform operating system which it will debut

Google tries to lower the number of platforms it

right place.

at Google I/O in 2016. The new OS is only

needs to maintain. That said, a number of changes

with Android to create a new, cross-

need to be made, such as including support for a mouse and keyboard before Android would run

use your Windows 10 smartphone as a

well on notebooks and desktops.

Chromebooks will receive an update to their name to match the new OS. A report by the Wall Street Journal states that Google hopes to have as many devices running Android as

8 | TECH MADE EASY | NOVEMBER 2015

Google may just be hoping to add more users to the 1 billion it reported in 2014, though nothing similar to Continuum has been announced quite yet.

Google has said that Chrome OS, Chrome Browser and Android are not

the platform by giving them a “one app fits all”

being shelved, and support will continue

development solution.

for all these products for the time being.

DEPT. OF COMMS’ DIGITAL TERRESTRIAL MIGRATION WOES CONTINUE

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full-fledged desktop are a reality and

possible and tempt third-party developers onto

While many may feel that the merging of

More stories at

Microsoft technologies like Continuum, which make it possible to

Not only is South Africa way behind where it should be regarding our migration to digital TV signals, but now one of the set-top box makers has been accused of sourcing their boxes from China.subSaharan Africa. Bit.ly/1LLWosY

Bit.ly/1LLWkJO

HADRON COLLIDER GETS AN UPGRADE The Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland is currently being upgraded to be able to smash together ten times as many atoms as it does right now.

Bit.ly/1Hn1dF2

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NEED TO KNOW: GAMES

Until Dawn to get VR real-shooting DLC

H

ere’s an idea: take the narrative-focused horror game Until Dawn, which doesn’t feature a shooting mechanic, and isn’t played from a first person perspective.

Next, give it a piece of downloadable content that involves an on-rails first-person shooting sequence that requires Sony’s PlayStation VR virtual reality headset to play.

Sounds like a terrible idea, right? Well, someone over at Supermassive Games doesn’t think so, because that’s apparently what the studio is working on. It involves shooting a bunch of critters in Until Dawn’s huge, cavernous house but from a rollercoaster car, a metaphor for one of Until Dawn’s characters’ descent into madness.

It will offer branching paths and a “high score” challenge, and go from a haunted-house-type experience into something the developers say is “very messed up”, a la the closing scenes of Until Dawn, which were admittedly pretty gross.

This is somewhat disturbing – and not in a good way – because Until Dawn is a character-driven, jump-scare-laced interactive story, and not the type of game that lends itself to shooting or a first-person perspective.

Still, initial reports from the likes of Engadget’s Aaron Souppouris, who played the Rush of Blood demo at the recent Paris Games Week show, seem to support the idea that Supermassive Games knows what it’s doing. Only time will tell.

Bit.ly/1PdwOzB

SA-made game Broforce is officially out

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roforce has finally hit “Full Release” status, after lingering in Steam’s Greenlight and Early Access programmes for a

More stories at go to htxt.co.za

good few years while its developers polished it to a shine. It started life as a prototype way back in April 2012, when it emerged from the Ludum

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Dare 23 Game Jam, and has been in development ever since.

In the intervening years, it was picked up by international publisher Devolver Digital, was involved in a movie tie-in, and worked its way through Steam’s Greenlight and Early Access programmes, and has now graduated to full release.

It’s a true South African Cinderella Story; only replace the princess with classic 80’s action heroes and the glass shoe with many, many guns.

Broforce plays out as an action platformer with classic leanings – the graphics are delightfully pixelated and the characters are ridiculous caricatures called “Bros”. Rambo becomes Rambro, Judge Dredd is Bro Dredd and, our favourite; Conan becomes Bronan the Brobarian.

Yes, in the game’s war on terror, evil robots and the devil himself, the English language takes a few bullets. It’s all so over the top and steeped in American patriotism that the biggest surprise for most players is the fact that it came from South Africa, not the US. Bit.ly/1k1rxja

PLAYSTATION 4 GETS A SA PRICE CUT If you’ve been putting off buying a PS4, now’s the time to do it – locals can now pick up the 500GB model for just R5 499.

Just in time for Christmas.

Bit.ly/1OgtTr9 WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 11

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NEED TO KNOW: GAMES

Dell’s gaming kit impresses at rAge Alienware shows why it’s the most-desired gaming brand once again

Y

ou know you’re a geek when rAge gives you goosebumps, and that’s exactly what happened at this year’s rAge. There’s just so much to see at this year’s event, and it appears to be continuing the trend of being bigger and better every year.

We were lucky enough to get some hands-on time with some of Alienware’s latest and greatest, including a gorgeous 21:9 monitor and a fantastic innovation that’s new to the country, but which promises to change laptop gaming in a big way.

ALIENWARE GRAPHICS AMPLIFIER

Even though laptop gaming has come a long way, it still lags a bit behind when it comes to performance; dedicated desktop gaming systems have them beat there unless you’re willing (and able) to spend upwards of R40 000 on one.

But what if you could plug a desktop graphics card into your notebook for a huge performance boost? What then?

Well, we have the answer – you’ll get a laptop that’s great at being portable, but which can play games at the same performance levels as a comparable desktop configuration.

This isn’t just hypothetical, either, it’s made possible by the “Alienware Graphics Amplifier”, a box that can accommodate a desktop graphics card that simply plugs into your laptop. It contains a 460W power supply and a daughterboard that the graphics card plugs in to, and interfaces with the laptop over four USB 3.0 connections, giving the laptop a huge gaming performance boost.

This isn’t a new concept; other countries have had the Alienware Graphics Amplif ier for a while, but this year

marks the f irst time it’s been made available in South Africa. Or at least, that we’ve seen it being demonstrated.

Should you own a laptop with four USB 3.0 ports, you can grab the AGA for R2 999, plug in a graphics card of your choice (that’s an extra cost, of course) and say goodbye to wishing your laptop was better at playing games.

21:9 DELL ULTRASHARP CURVED MONITOR

4K might be the standard of the day that monitors and TVs aspire to, but for some gamers they pale in desirability next to 21:9 gaming monitors, like the 29-inch Dell Ultrasharp screen we spent some quality time with.

It was hooked up to an Alienware Alpha Steam Machine, which you’ll know from our review is a pretty decent little gaming PC, and playing DiRT3 on it was just amazing. That was partly because of the wider perspective, and partly because of the screen’s curve. It was oh, so pretty.

The extra screen real estate it offers widens your field of view and makes driving a real treat, and while we didn’t play any other games apart from DiRT3, we imagine that wider field of view will make those games even better, too.

Of course, having an ambitious imagination, we now can’t stop thinking about how amazing it would be to have THREE of these screens hooked up to our PCs playing games at an aspect ratio of a whopping 63:9.

ALIENWARE X51 GAMING DESKTOP

While we didn’t get to actually play on an X51, we saw them in action as they’re powering Telkom’s DOTA 2 demo area.

They look the same as they did a few years ago, but inside they pack a much more potent punch.

That’s because they have Core i7 processors, 16GB of DDR3 RAM and a GTX750Ti powering their gaming chops, which are impressive. While you won’t be playing The Witcher 3 on its highest detail settings, that 750Ti is more than powerful enough for DOTA2, League of Legends and CS: GO. You’re looking at R20 500 for an X51, though – excluding a monitor, speakers or a headset – which is quite steep considering you can build a betterperforming (if not quite as sexy-looking) PC for less, but it’s Alienware and that’s the sort of price premium you’re expected to pay. bit.ly/1HHBk2M

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 13

NEED TO KNOW: TECH

Virtual Reality - Still not quite there yet Sadly, VR has a way to go before it’s up to snuff

I

managed to get my head into an Oculus Rift virtual reality headset at this year’s rAge expo, at Rectron’s huge stand, and I was simultaneously blown away and underwhelmed by my experience.

I know that sounds contradictory, but bear with me.

The virtual scene I was walked through was the bit that blew me away. I glided down the street of some sort of future city, passing slowly between several futuristic soldiers in slow motion as a running battle with a huge mech unfolded all around me, powered by some version of the Unreal Engine going on the logo that was shown in glorious 3D at the start of the demo.

Cement shards flew everywhere as the concrete jungle around me was torn to shreds by bullets and explosions, a car blew up and barrel rolled slowly overhead, a rubbish bin tumbled past me and an empty soft drink can headed right for my face.

It was so convincing that I wanted to reach out and touch things that weren’t there, and the grin that spread across my

WHAT IS THE OCULUS RIFT?

It’s one of the front-runners in the VR headset race, backed

by Facebook and $2bn of investment capital. It’s basically something you wear on your face that places two screens in front of your eyes that create a three-dimensional view of 3D environments.

face as I took it all in had the headset riding up uncomfortably as my joyously puffedup cheeks pushed it up my face. The VR goggles and the headphones I was wearing made me feel like I was there, in the middle of that scene, and it made me giddy with joy. It was glorious.

The demo culminated in me reaching the scene’s antagonist, a huge hulking mech that pointed its lasers at me and fired as the demo faded to black. It took no more than three minutes to go through the whole thing, and by the end of it I was still grinning like a fool.

But despite that euphoria, I couldn’t help but notice that the “screen door” effect that was so evident in the first VR headset I donned – the Oculus DK1 that took me for a ride on a virtual rollercoaster back in 2014 – was still there, and quite pronounced.

Sure, the 3D managed to immerse me nonetheless, but the graphics I saw weren’t anywhere near as sharp as I had hoped they’d be by now.

My dream has been that the huge $2bn investment Facebook sank into Oculus, Inc. meant that by this late stage of its

WHAT IS VIRTUAL REALITY?

It’s a technology that transports you to a virtual world when you strap on a VR headset by fooling your brain into seeing things that aren’t really there. You could also say it’s technology that puts you into any kind of 3D world created by programmers and artists.

development – the Oculus Rift headset is expected to be out sometime in 2016 – the visuals of VR scenes would be as smooth and clean as, say, games played using NVIDIA’s 3D Vision tech that turns games from 2D experiences to ones with threedimensional depth.

If you’ve experienced 3D Vision you’ll know it gives games believable depth, all without that screen door effect or fuzzy edges, and I’ve been hoping that VR would offer the same sort of visual fidelity. Going on what I experienced at rAge, it would appear that’s not yet the case.

So yes, as of right now I am both really impressed and underwhelmed with the state of VR, but I’m also hopeful that the quality of the visuals is something that’ll improve as the technology matures.

Bit.ly/1MigXKR

14 | TECH MADE EASY | NOVEMBER 2015

TM

SET THE WORLD ON FIRE 01 DECEMBER 2015

Just Cause 3 © 2015 Square Enix Ltd. All rights reserved. Developed by Avalanche Studios. Published by Square Enix Ltd. Just Cause 3 and the Just Cause logo are trademarks of Square Enix Ltd. Square Enix and the Square Enix logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Square Enix Holdings Co. Ltd. “PlayStation” and the “PS” Family logo are registered trademarks and “PS3", “PS4" and the PlayStation Network logo are trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners.

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

Holiday 2015 Buyers’ Guide Tech gifts are the best gifts, and we’ve got some great suggestions lined up for holiday shoppers.

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HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

Holiday 2015 Buyers’ Guide Gifts for families Family gifts can be the best ones to open on Christmas morning; here are a few we’d love to get.

WD My Passport Wireless 2TB

A Wasgij Puzzle

R2 999 - Takealot

From R249 – Various Retailers

While there are plenty of video on demand options to choose from these days, it’s still useful to have a hard drive stuffed with your own selection of TV shows and movies for those times when you’re offline.

You’re probably wondering what on earth a “wasgij” is, but it’s actually quite simple – it’s a “jigsaw” puzzle with a twist.

Chromecast HDMI Media Streaming Dongle R599 – Takealot

A Wasgij puzzle only provides you with clues about the puzzle you’re assembling as opposed to the actual image, forcing you to guess what the assembled image will look like.

Wasgijes are clever takes on the traditional puzzle model, and their detailed cartoon illustrations are fun to look at, and even more fun to assemble – just the kind of thing to get families going on Christmas morning.

Now here’s something the whole family will get a lot of use out of: a wireless dongle that lets anyone with access to your home’s Wifi network stream video and music files directly to whatever TV or monitor it’s plugged in to.

It’s cheap, too – you can grab a Chromecast dongle for less than the price of a brand-new videogame, plug it into your TV and share your phone or tablet’s screen to that TV with the Chromecast app once you’ve connected it to your network.

It’s the easiest way to cast your phone or tablet’s screen onto a larger display, ideal for family gatherings, presentations and even your evening entertainment.

WD’s My Passport Wireless 2TB external hard drive not only offers generous storage, but it has the added advantage of built-in Wifi that allows up to five of your family’s smartphones and tablets to connect to it at the same time.

That lets them watch whatever you’ve stored on there in the car or at your holiday destination, which may not be furnished with high-speed internet access.

Bestway Fast Set Pool – 305cm x 76cm

Fallout Monopoly Board

R770 – Loot.co.za

R600 – Direct Import

South African Christmases are known to be incredibly warm, so what better way to spend Christmas morning than with the family all splashing about in a swimming pool?

This above-ground one from Bestway is pretty affordable, too – for less than a grand you can have your very own pool that’s actually quite big, and spend Christmas day cooling off rather than sweating into your lunch.

All you need to do is assemble it, fill it up with water and you’re good to go. At just over three metres it’s wide enough that even the tallest among you can happily stretch out and at 76cm tall you’ll have plenty of depth under which to submerge yourselves.

18 | TECH MADE EASY | NOVEMBER 2015

Regular Monopoly is a great game, but it’s even better when it’s been re-skinned with landmarks, items and situations from the Fallout franchise of games.

Publisher Bethesda has brought out a version of the game that does exactly that, so gather the family around and prepare to save civilisation by buying and selling (and renting out) wasteland properties like Megaton and Tenpenny Tower.

Instead of houses and hotels, you’ll play with Shacks and Vaults, and Chance and Community Chest cards have been replaced by Vault Dweller’s Survival Guide and You’re S.P.E.C.I.A.L. cards.

Get to your nearest Incredible Connection Store today

LOGITECH X100 MOBILE WIRELESS SPEAKER Crystal clear sound. Pump up the volume and enjoy!

LOGITECH X300 MOBILE WIRELESS STEREO SPEAKER A powerful wireless speaker designed for performance

LOGITECH MULTIMEDIA SPEAKERS Z213 Full bass, compact design

LOGITECH WIRELESS TOUCH KEYBOARD K400 Wireless control of your laptop.Bluetooth technology

LOGITECH WIRELESS PRESENTER R400 The convenient controls of this wireless presenter will help you make your point.

LOGITECH MX MASTER WIRELESS MOUSE Optimized for Windows and Mac

EXTREME 3D PRO JOYSTICK With advanced controls and a twist-handle rudder, this joystick stays stable and precise through a acrobatic dogfight or a long-range strike.

F310 GAMEPAD Designed for the PC gamer looking for an advanced console-style controller.

G105 GAMING KEYBOARD When control is critical.

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

Holiday 2015 Buyers’ Guide Gifts for Dad

Nespresso Inissia Cream R1 450 from Dion Wired Nespresso Inissia Cream takes just 25 seconds to heat up and uses 13 pre-loaded Nespresso capsules for convenience and awesome flavour.

It also has a dedicated drip grip for milk recipes so you don’t have to spoil the taste of the coffee if you don’t like milk. The Inissia Cream includes a two year warranty so dad’s covered for at least 24 months.

Oregon SC Bluetooth Thermometer R800 from DionWired What do men love more than perfectly done meat? How about perfectly-done meat that was cooked with some high-tech help like this Bluetooth thermometer?

You basically stick the Oregon in the meat, pop it on the braai and wait until you get a notification that your meat has reached your desired temperature.

This handy tool lets you instantaneously check your food’s temperature, set a target temperature and even vibrate or make a sound to alert you when it’s done.

20 | TECH MADE EASY | NOVEMBER 2015

TomTom Multisport Sportswatch R2 999 from Cape Union Mart

There is so much tech crammed into this smartwatch even if your dad isn’t a fitness fundi he’ll want to become one. The TomTom Multisport Sportswatch is water proof up to 50m and because of this can track strokes and swim speed.

A built-in heart rate monitor, pedometer and alerts make this the coolest smartwatch for the fit father, and a handy high tech tool for the ones that want to get there.

Dremel 4000 Multi-tool R1 499 from Takealot

The Dremel 4000 Multi-tool is a great tool for dads that love tinkering around the house. A high-power 175W motor and variable speed control allows the Dremel to spin at speeds from 5 000 to 35 000RPM. In this package you get 45 high quality accessories that attach to the Dremel with its easy-to-use EZ Twist nose cap, the Dremel 4000 itself, and a soft carry bag so none of those attachments go missing.

GoPro Hero Edition R2 189 from Takealot This action camera from GoPro captures video in high definition 1080p at 30 frames per second and 720p at 60 frames per second and is perfect for active dads. With the included housing bracket, the GoPro Hero Edition is waterproof up to 40m. The Burst Photo mode means dad can capture those embarrassing photos of you at a rate of five photos every second. Plus, you can always grab the action cam and use it when your dad is busy, so everyone wins.

CCO/Geralt

Arguably the hardest person to shop for this festive season will be your dad. The trick is getting him something that he will use regularly and won’t be abandoned to the bedside table drawer.

So to help you find that perfect something, we have a few suggestions that will make it a bit easier to get dad something awesome this Christmas.

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

Holiday 2015 Buyers’ Guide Gifts for Mom Moms work so hard throughout the year to make sure everything in the house and everyone’s lives is in smooth running order, and so they deserve to be absolutely showered with gifts at every chance.

This Christmas, why not go for something that’s hi-tech, but simple enough for her to integrate into her every day life? We’ve rounded up five tech gifts we think every mom would love to have.

PicKit Portable Photo Printer R1 899 from iToys

The PicKit Portable Photo Printer gives mom the ability to turn all her special holiday memories into mini-prints wherever she is, without having to go a photographic store.

It is compatible with iOS and Android mobiles and connects to its companion app via WiFi, NFC or WiFi direct. Prints are about the size of a credit card and come out in beautiful, highres colours. Each photograph is also waterproof, scratch-proof and can last over 100 years, according to the company.

The Pickit Portable Photo Printer can also come in handy if you need to print passport-sized photos that you may need to submit with official documents.

TAKE CHARGE clutch bags R799 from TAKE CHARGE Charging mom’s smartphone on the go has never looked this fashionable. Created and made in Cape Town, TAKE CHARGE clutch bags are 100% leather and have a slim micron USB battery charger that sits in a secret slip-pocket inside the bag.

The bags’ castings and inner linings are custom designed and there’s enough space to fit a cellphone and other small items mom uses.

iBed Wood R199 from Superbalist Kikkerland’s iBed Wood is the perfect “me time” companion for those moments when moms just want to get away from the busyness of everyday life, catch up on their favourite series, movie or read a book while snacking on something tasty.

The iBed Wood has a slit in front which fits most tablets, and for added comfort, the cushioned bottom makes sure it sits snugly on mom’s lap.

Fitbit Surge R3 999 from iStore

moshi Spatia Airplay Speaker

CCO/Geralt

Contact nearest iStore for pricing

The moshi Spatia Airplay Speaker delivers powerful, balanced sound that can fill up an entire room thanks to its innovative technology. The speakers separately emit high and low frequencies for quality, balanced sound, while two built-in chips and digitally-tuned crossovers ensure it produces the perfect tonal balance. It creates a tranquil atmosphere for mom to relax to at home.

Physically active moms and those wanting to get started with fitness training, will appreciate the usefulness of an activity tracker like the Fitbit Surge.

This wearable takes fitness tracking technology up a notch. Apart from a heart-rate monitor, calorie, steps, kilometre and active minutes tracker, it also has a GPS tracker installed which shows where you’re running and stores the route and maps your progress in real-time.

The Fitbit Surge comes in blue, black and Tangerine.

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HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

Holiday 2015 Buyers’ Guide Gifts for the Kids Instead of the same old Barbie or toy car, we’ve put together a list of gifts that kids will love. From cardboard and dice games to electronics and robotics, it’s all here and we’ve made sure there’s something for every budget.

Micro Drone R1 200 (Drone only) | R1 400 (Drone + Camera) from: Micro Drone

Disney Infinity 3.0 Price: R860 (PS4/Xbox One) | R765 (PS3/Xbox360) Get it from: Animeworx Disney learned from the success of Skylanders and delivered its own take on the concept with Disney Infinity. Now on the third iteration, the game is better than ever with content from Star Wars, Marvel and the entire catalogue of Disney’s animated worlds for kids to play with.

The Micro Drone is exactly that – a pint-sized, flyable quadrocopter. At only 34g with four individual motors, it takes to the skies with ease. While we don’t suggest handing this to an extremely young child, the teenagers (and parents) out there will be in aviation heaven. If you opt to get the slightly more expensive version, you will also be able to record your flights, and maybe find the wealth of balls and frisbees nestled on the roof.

LEGO Star Wars buildable action figures R272 – R479 from Creative Play LEGO has been in possession of the Star Wars licence for some time now, but we think these buildable action figures really take the cake. The ones currently available are: Jango Fett, Clone Commander Cody, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader and General Grievous.

Each figure looks good enough to be a display model, but works equally well as a playable toy. The fact that this is all LEGO means you could take the venerable Darth Vader and give him purple armour, if you have the pieces to do so.

GoldieBlox R310 – R392 (depending on set) from Loot.co.za

Catan Junior

CCO/Geralt

Price: R474 Get it from: Raru.co.za

Marketed to “get girls building”, GoldieBlox cites that only 14% of engineers worldwide are female. While other such products (like the 4M science kits or Mindstorms) on this list do a similar job, GoldieBlox puts a decidedly feminine twist on affairs in the hopes of appealing to girls.

The cartoon art style and colourful parts hide lessons in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM). We hope toys like GoldieBlox replace some of the home appliances and otherwise dull products usually seen in the girls’ toys aisles of the world.

The future may be digital, but when the power is out or looking at a screen just becomes too much, few things beat a good few rounds of board gaming. Settlers of Catan is one of the most popular in the “new generation” of board games that is challenging the monopoly of Monopoly and co.

Catan Junior has simplified rules to make it easier on kids and is rated for those as young as six. The core of Catan is still present, though, so if you’re familiar with the game you will be at home here.

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HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

Holiday 2015 Buyers’ Guide Gifts for the Kids Pokémon Cards R175 for a theme deck from Animeworx While it was at its height of popularity around the turn of the millennium, Pokémon is still going strong today. The card game has a sizeable player base in South Africa, with organised events and a National competition which sees the winner get an invite to the World Championships which take place in different countries around the world.

A theme deck has everything needed to get into the game, as well as instructions to teach the fundamentals. Also included is a code card for Pokémon TCG Online; a free-to-play game which turns the real-world cards into a videogame and allows games to be played over the internet.

Skylanders SuperChargers R945 (PS4/Xbox One) | R855 (PS3/Xbox360) from BT Games SuperChargers SuperChargers delivers the same toys-to-life Skylanders formula but this time with the addition of fantastical vehicles.

The starter pack comes with a portal, three toys and a game disc; all kids need to do is crack it open and get playing.

Mindstorms Robotics Kit R4 564 from Creative Play

This is the most expensive item on this list, but for good reason. LEGO’s Mindstorms is a fully-fledged robotics system that mixes regular LEGO, Technic (LEGO’s more advanced system) and robotics to create an endlessly fun product.

Once built, the robot can be programmed to do just about anything, and can be improved with any existing LEGO bricks you may have lying around.

Kids not only have fun building, but they learn programming, too!

Nerf Mega Thunderbow R349 from Takealot

4M Science Kits

CCO/Geralt

R180 – R211 (depending on the kit) from Loot.co.za Do your kids want to dig up a T-Rex? Make a rocket? Create a robot? Model a solar system? Good news: they totally can!

Loot.co.za has a few dozen different kits on offer that cover a broad range of fun and educational topics. While the classic chemistry set isn’t among them, there is sufficient variety to find something for almost any wannabe scientist, engineer or archaeologist.

Turn your child loose on these sets and watch them pick up a realworld trick or two that’ll come in handy over the school year.

Taking the existing fun of Nerf guns and apply it to the idea of a bow and arrow, the (silly-named) Mega Thunderbow has it all. The bow comes with ten whistling darts and can hold up to five at a time.

Nerf says that the darts will go up to 30 metres, but we’re sure some enterprising archers – with the help of a gust of wind – will be able to get it farther than that. And, the best part, the kids can pull off the old “apple on the head” trick without any concern over eye-gouging or impalement. Always a plus over the holidays.

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IN STORE | ONLINE | MOBILE

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

Holiday 2015 Buyers’ Guide Gifts for Gamers As the holiday season approaches, the easiest people in the world to find a present for are videogame players. So many wonderful titles are being released in time for Christmas, the only worry is whether or not you’ll have enough time to play them all. Below we list the top-tier titles for the gamers in your life. You might even want to pick a couple up for yourself…

Call Of Duty: Black Ops III R899 from Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3

Halo 5: Guardians R799 - Xbox One Exclusive The latest iteration in Activision’s shooter behemoth is set in the future where technological advancements have led to AIcontrolled military machines and cyborg soldiers battling for control of the globe. The story has a toe-hold in modern reality and the action set-pieces contain enough testosterone-fuelled explosions to send Michael Bay into orbit.

Fallout 4 R899 - PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC

The latest instalment in Microsoft’s flagship shooter sees the galaxy facing a new threat just as the iconic Master Chief disappears.

Players take on the role of Spartan John Locke who goes in search of Master Chief, encountering numerous bad guys along the way. It’s pure fantastical space opera featuring tons of new enemies, a superb multiplayer mode and guns, guns and more guns. A must-buy for any Xbox One owner.

Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate

CCO/Geralt

R899 - Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC In a move that will probably have fans of this series wetting themselves, Ubisoft has moved the action in Assassin’s Creed to Victorian London for the latest instalment.

Players take on the role of two siblings fighting against the city’s oppressive Blue-Blooded overlords using a variety of steampunk gadgets.

Expect rooftop running and contract kills aplenty, along with a healthy dose of literal class warfare.

Fallout 4 returns players to the post-apocalyptic wastelands of the USA, which are simply bursting at the seams with things to do and shoot.

There’s a story underpinning all the action, but between the RPG levelling, weapon and gear crafting and the oodles and oodles of activities players can take part in, plot might be the last thing on your mind.

Rise Of The Tomb Raider R899 - Xbox One Timed Exclusive Lara Croft returns in a new adventure that builds on 2013’s gritty reboot of the series. This time, her adventures centre on discovering the source of the supernatural evil that she confronted in the last game.

Even though it does take a lot of cues from its predecessor, Rise Of The Tomb Raider offers high adventure at its best. Where do we sign up?

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HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

Holiday 2015 Buyers’ GuideGifts for Gamers Star Wars Battlefront R899 - PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4

Developed by DICE, Star Wars Battlefront is the perfect complement to the Star Wars mania that is currently gripping the world thanks to the incoming seventh movie.

Unlike a lot of Star Wars games, however, this one is rather decent; side with the Galactic Empire or the Rebel Alliance and then proceed to blast your chums online on a series of maps that recreate some of the film franchise’s most iconic battle. You even get to be Darth Vader occasionally.

Tell us you’re not interested in that.

Starcraft II: Legacy Of The Void R599 - PC Only

The second expansion in Blizzard’s sci-fi real time strategy series aims to wrap up the story of the ongoing war involving the Terrans, the nightmarish Zerg and the ethereal Protoss, and this time focuses on the third race in that trifecta. Players will be able to gorge themselves on the game’s lengthy campaign with its splintering narrative and its fascinating online multiplayer.

Need For Speed R799 - PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Just Cause 3 R899 - PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Ghost Games places this year’s Need for Speed arcade racing action on a vast open world for players to tool about in. Customisation options for your ever-increasing garage of cars border on the fetishistic and the Frostbite Engine powering the game makes everything look near-photo-realistic.

You’ll need an online connection at all times to play it, but that’s a small price to pay for some of the best arcade racing action on a console.

CCO/Geralt

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege

Rambunctious, chaotic and anarchic, Just Cause 3 is possibly the most fun you’ll have playing videogames this holiday season. Players are let loose on a tropical island that’s being ruled by a dictatorship and they’re charged with taking down the government, one gun battle at a time.

Players can travel about the island in a variety of ways, but our favourite involved the protagonist’s grappling hook and parachute that allows players to slingshot themselves over vast swathes of terrain. Chuck in vehicles, a huge collection of devastating weapons and tons of opportunities to wreak havoc and Just Cause 3 boasts an appeal that’s positively bacchanalian.

R899 - PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One Rainbow Six: Siege takes Ubisoft’s FPS military shooter right back to its tactical-based roots from the late 90s. Once you die you’ll have to spectate until the round ends.

Defenders and attackers square off using all sorts of modern-day siege equipment.

Rainbow Six: Siege is unforgiving; it’s one-shot-one-kill so make sure if you pick up a copy that your markmanship is honed to a diamondtipped edge.

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Turning amateurs into pro’s

stockist of major photographic brands

Tel: 011 880 2885 Fax: 086 685 8132 KAMERAZ - Shop L12, Rosebank Mews 173 Oxford Road, Rosebank

Web: www.kameraz.co.za Mail: info@kameraz.co.za Find us on facebook: http://goo.gl/3XitwWW

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

Holiday 2015 Buyers’ Guide Gifts for Photographers There are more digital cameras in the world now compared to any other point in history, so it’s fair to say there is a record number of people who could really use helpful gadgets to assist them taking the best shots possible.

So here’s a list of ten photographic goodies that we know will make taking, storing and enhancing those photos so much easier.

Fujifilm Instax Mini 50S Camera R1 240 from Takealot.com Wouldn’t it be cool if you could print out photos as you go along? Well, you can stop dreaming and make it happen with the Instax Mini 50S Camera. Just like the cameras from wayback, every picture that you take with the Instax Mini 50S will be printed on the spot on 62x46mm photo paper. The camera can focus on objects from 30cm away to infinity, has a selftimer so you can take two pictures at once, and has three shooting modes - Auto, Fill-in Flash, and Landscape.

WD Elements 1TB Portable Drive

CCO/Geralt

R8 50 from Takealot.com If you take a lot of pictures, you are going to need to store them all somewhere, and the WD Elements 1TB Portable Drive is the perfect solution.

Making use of USB 3.0 connectivity, you get the fastest possible data transfer speeds so you will be able to move pictures from your laptop to the drive in a flash. It’s also pretty small, weighing just 235 grams and measuring 11cm x 8.5cm x 2.1cm.

GoPro Hero 4 Session R3 690 from Takealot.com

The GoPro brand has, over the last few years, become synonymous with high-quality action cameras. The Hero 4 Session is the latest camera in the company’s extensive range, and it is perfect for those that just want a simple camera to capture all the action. It records video at 1080p60 and can capture still images at 8MP.

Fotopro Digi-3400 Aluminium Tripod R225 from Takealot.com Every photographer who wants to take stable, blur-free pictures needs a tripod, and this one comes highly recommended.

The Fotopro 3400 is lightweight, flexible and suitable for most compact cameras, video cameras and basic SLRs. It stands at 390mm and its legs can extend to push it to a height of 1190mm.

Just be careful, with its lightweight construction, it can only support cameras with a maximum weight of 2kg.

Romoss Sailing 3 7800mAh Power Bank R290 from Takealot.com One of the biggest problems for people – not just photographers – is running out of battery power.

While the Romoss Sailing 3 Power Bank won’t charge your camera’s battery without a special adapter, it will be able to charge most, if not all, of your smartphones. With a powerful 7800mAh battery, it should be able to charge a standard smartphone battery about three times with some charge to spare. What is great about this one is that it has two USB charge ports, allowing you to charge two devices at the same time.

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HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

Holiday 2015 Buyers’ Guide Gifts for Photographers Strontium 64GB MicroSD Card With SD Adaptor R400 from Takealot.com

Celestron SkyProdigy 130 Reflector Telescope R11 300 from Takealot.com This telescope from Celestron has 9mm and 25mm eyepieces, a stainless steel tripod and a quick-release accessory tray. It also features a 130mm f/5 Newtonian Reflector, making sure that your view of the moon is crystal clear; you don’t even need to know exactly where the celestial bodies are, as the telescope has a computer that will automatically turn the lens in the right direction through its computerised GoTo Altazimuth Mount. You can also get an attachment for cameras so that you can take images of planets, but sadly it’s not included.

If the portable storage mentioned earlier isn’t really your thing, you might want to invest in a large-capacity SD card instead. Most cameras today use a standard SD card, but this one comes with an adapter, so there is no need to worry that it won’t fit into your camera. The Class 10 card has a 10MB/s minimum data transfer rate, which is pretty quick and easily able to handle the speedy recording of 1080p videos and large, high-resolution stills.

Canon 700D 18MP Twin Lens Value Bundle R6 500 from Takealot.com

LoweProPro Roller X200 AW Roller Camera Bag

CCO/Geralt

R5 800 from Takealot.com

Now that you have all the gear you need plus a couple of accessories, you are going to need to store it all somewhere.

The people at LowePro make some of the best photographic bags in the business, so you can be assured that this one is of really good quality. It’s big enough to store up to two full-size SLR cameras, six to eight lenses (up to 600mm) and a whole bunch of accessories. There is also space for a laptop, a tripod and it is airline carry-on compatible. Oh, and did we mention that it has little wheels so that you can pull it along? Now that’s convenient.

If you know an aspiring photographer, or someone who wants to increase their collection of cameras, here is a really sweet deal that’s good enough for any scenario. Not only do you get the awesome Canon 700D, but you also get a Canon 18-55 DC Lens, a Canon 75-300mm DC lens, an 8GB Wifi card and a backpack. The camera has an 18-megapixel Hybrid CMOS AF sensor, a Vari-angle Clear View 7.7cm LCD II Touch screen, and can shoot video in full HD. That’s a lot of camera at a fantastic price.

Pentax UP 8x25 WP Binoculars R1 800 from Takealot.com While it is not really necessary to have binoculars as a photographer, it is still pretty handy for spotting and tracking animals in the wild so you can get closer to them. This compact porroprism model features a dual-axis, single-body design with synchronised eyepiece adjustment, which means there is one button to adjust both eyepieces. They’re also waterproof, so you can even use them in the rain.

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HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

Holiday 2015 Buyers’ Guide Stocking Stuffers Looking to fill some space in your family’s stockings, or small gifts for friends that don’t cost a lot? These stocking stuffers are just what you need.

Themed USB Flash Drives From R199 via Musica

Disney Infinity 3.0 Figures R180 Each, Takealot

Everyone from kids to grandparents needs a portable USB drive these days, and what better way to make getting and owning one fun than by making them not look like boring flash drives? These rubberised pop culture figures hide 8GB drives that fans of big-name franchises like Marvel and Disney will surely love.

Skylanders Figurines From R174, Takealot If your toys-to-life game leanings are more toward Disney and its megafranchises, then Disney Infinity 3.0 figures should be your stocking-stuffer of choice.

Drawing from its long list of characters and iconic franchises, Disney has made a huge number of popular characters available as figures for your Infinity Base, which draws them into the game and makes them playable.

We like the look of Darth Vader, Iron Man in his Hulkbuster suit and, of course, Rocket Raccoon from the Guardians of the Galaxy movie, so much so that we’d be happy to have any of them in our own stockings come Christmas morn.

Star Wars Characters Keychain Light

CCO/Geralt

R122 from Loot.co.za

Do you know serious Star Wars fans?

Want to stuff their stockings with something super special?

Then grab one of many Star Wars characters that have been turned into keychains with tiny LED lights in their feet from Loot.co.za; they’re cute, they’re cool and best of all, they’re super handy in any unexpected power outage and for helping friends find their dropped car keys!

Should you already own the smash-hit toys-to-life videogame Skylanders, you’ll know just how much your kids – or whoever plays it in your family, we won’t judge – will grin from ear to ear when they see a new figurine under the tree.

With a huge range of characters to pick from and prices ranging from R174 to the upper-middle two hundreds, you can easily impress your kids and your budget alike.

We’re partial to the Swap Force range, as they let kids mix and match heads and torsos from various characters, so their abilities in-game are mixed and matched as well, which helps to stimulate creativity and imagination while also being pretty cool.

Selfie Stick R249 from SelfieStickShop

Selfie sticks are definitely catching on. So if you are fond of shooting images of yourself with your phone and would like to boost your selfie-taking to the next level, you’ll definitely need one.

This particular one features a telescoping arm and an adjustable head that can accommodate any smartphone available today, and ships with a Bluetooth control that links wirelessly with your phone, allowing you to hit the shutter button remotely.

They should make for an entertaining Christmas morning as it’s documented in images and videos from a distance of about three feet.

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 35

COMPETITION

WIN!

AN LG G4 BEAT WORTH R3 899!

An LG G4 Beat is up for grabs!

I

t’s not unusual to really want an LG smartphone, so we’re giving you all a chance to win one.

The phone we’re putting up for grabs is the LG G4 Beat, a mid-range smartphone with a rock-solid camera and some tweaked manual controls which, while lot quite as good as those of the LG G4, are pretty handy nonetheless.

The basic design is very similar to the G4, as the Beat has the same curve which feels quite nice to touch and hold to your ear, a gorgeous 5.2-inch screen and remarkable touch responsiveness. It’s made some compromises here and there to keep its price down - that Qualcomm 615 chipset is nothing to write home about, for instance - but the Beat is a solid offering nonetheless.

To get your hands on one for mahala, we’re asking you to do something musical.

Remember that old 90s show, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air? Remember Carlton and his hilarious dance moves? Well, we’re asking you to submit your best Vines of yourselves doing your best imitation of that dance.

36 | TECH MADE EASY | NOVEMBER 2015

If you’ve never seen it before (which is doubtful thanks to re-runs), this Bitly link will take you to a YouTube video where you can see Carlton in full swing:

BIT.LY/1WCKF5F

Vine is a video-recording app that works on all mobile phone platforms, and which shoots videos with a maximum run time of 15 seconds. That’s more than enough to capture yourselves/your friends/your neighbour/

random people on the street doing their best Carlton impressions.

Once you have your video, submit it to @htxtafrica via Twitter with the hashtag #lgg4beatdanceoff, and we’ll watch all the submissions and choose a final winner, which we’ll announce in early December, giving us time to (hopefully) get the winner their prize before Christmas. We might not succeed, the end of the year rush being what it is, but we promise to try.

POINT YOUR BROWSER AT www.htxt.co.za/lgg4beatdanceoff

TO ENTER Record a Vine video of yourself or someone you know doing their best impression of Carlton’s dance from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and submit it via Twitter to @htxt.africa with the hashtag #lgg4beatdanceoff.

The closing date is 5th December 2015. See the entry form for T&Cs.

STATS

SA tech

The numbers that sum up the best of the month

in stats

Over 9 500 000 gamers helped Electronic Arts beta test Star Wars Battlefront. It was the biggest beta test in the company’s history.

Bit.ly/1GABY7v

The South African government issued over 1 000 000 Smart ID cards in 2015, putting government squarely on track to meet its targets. The cards replace the green ID books issued to South Africans prior to June, 2013.

Bit.ly/1PUjwtc

Once-popular instant messenger Mxit lost 6 000 000 South African users in two years, prompting the company to close its doors. This decline in popularity is likely due to the rise of competitors like WhatsApp, WeChat and their ilk.

Bit.ly/1RhVCW3

Apple’s Midas touch continues with the launch of Apple Music, which has attracted over 6.5 million paying subscribers despite stiff competition from the likes of Pandora, Google Play Music and Spotify.

Bit.ly/1LFSHF3

The London Metropolitan Police will no longer have a guard lying in wait for Julian Assange outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, after the operation’s cost exceeded R258 000 000.

Bit.ly/1Mm4Qwb

The #feesmustfall protests that happened all over the country largely thanks to the reach of social media resulted in a successful bid to get a 0% increase in university fees for 2016. Bit.ly/1WnkA7W

Enjoy this free copy of htxt.africa’s Tech Made Easy? There’s loads more stories like these, plus in-depth features and news published daily at our website www.htxt.co.za.

NEXT MONTH

And if you want even more, keep your eyes peeled for issue 21 from 1 December in all good technology retailers.