SONY HDR - CX410VE

SONY HDR - CX410VE

SPECIFICATION

• 55x zoom
• Great image quality
• Image stabilisation
• 1080p at 50fps
• Excellent battery life
• Audio in, headphone out
• Optional extras

LONG, STEADY ZOOM

This camcoder effortlessly records silky smooth, razor-sharp footage at a TV-style 50fps or the more web-centric 25fps. Sony claims that you can even film with it, hand-held, as you run. The Sony's zoom takes it from a wide angle to 55x magnification and in digital zoom mode you can push it upto 350x.

 SLOW MOTION AND STILLS

The super smooth slow motion mode is a blast, capturing a couple of seconds of action and rendering the results in cheek-flapping slow-motion at a slightly reduced but usable resolution, so long as you don't mind it being interlaced rather than progressive video.There's also a mode for analyzing your golf shot which outputs a collage of animation frames on a still image, plus GPS tracking with a map to display your location.

PRO FEATURES

The Sony would make a decent semi-pro camera or a second camera for a pro setup. There's 5.1 surround sound recording, lots of control over focusing and exposure, and also an audio input so you can feed it a soundtrack from an external mic or a mixing desk. 

USB TAIL

Tucked into the hand strap you'll find a little USB tail which allows you to charge up the camera and offload footage to a computer when you don't have a card reader available. In the box there's thoughtful array of cables, including a USB extender and a microHDMI to regular HDMI cable.

SUMMARY

This is a great camcoder and image quality is excellent. It is well specced and featured without being overcomplicated with superflous features. If video matters top you, the Sony's neat mix of user friendly controls, a battery that lasts up to three hours and the ability to step up to more serious shooting should put it at the top of your wish list.  

THE SMART WALLET

Created in Japan, the living wallet has tiny wheels allowing it to roll away. When paired with an app, it'll monitor your bank account and swap between two modes, depending on how much you have to spend.

There are two modes available that is save and consume.

In the first, Save Mode, it slowly rolls away to discourage you. If you catch it , things get even weirder - it shouts for help. Carry on, and it'll actually call your partner or parents to tell them what you're trying to do.

However , in consumption mode, when you have the cash in your account, things are a lot nicer - and it'll even read out the top selling products to try and help you out with your shopping splurge.

iPAD AIR REVIEW

The new iPad Air is a hugely slimmed down version of Apple's class leading tablet and it also packs the A7 processor.

iPad Air: Size and build

Launched alongside the new iPad Mini Retina, the iPad Air is much thinner and lighter than it's predecessor at it's noticeable the first time you pick up the iPad Air. It certainly lives up to its moniker. At 7.5mm thin, 169.5mm wide and 240mm long and weighting just 469g, it's positively lightweight compared to the 662g heft of the iPad 4 and iPad 3 that both came with a thickness of 9.4mm.

It also beats all it's competitors. It trumps, the newly announced, Nokia 2520 at 8.7mm, the Nexus 10 at 839mm thin and the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 at 8.6mm thin. Colors have been updated too but don't expect an iPhone 5c rainbow, instead Apple introduced Space Grey and Champagne into the mix. In terms of external buttons and ports, it's business as usual. You'll find a lightning port, volume rocker, on/off button and a screen lock switch.

iPad Air: Features

It's go big or go home when it comes to the new features packed into the iPad Air. Alas, there's no Touch ID fingerprint scanning, as on the iPhone 5s so no biometrics on the big screen but there's still plenty to talk about.

When it comes to camera on tablets, Apple has always been a bit behind it's competitors but it's change on the new iPad. It's true the iPad has always had the same megapixel count as the Nexus 10 and beat the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 but picture quality was never great.

iPad Air vs iPad 4

Although it doesn't add megapixels, remaining at five, the picture quality is better . The front-facing video cam has also been updated to new HD FaceTime camera found on the new iPhone 5c and 5s. During our short play with the tablet the pictures were noticeably crisper than those taken on the iPad 3 and a world apart from those taken on an iPad 2. We're still unconvinced as to whether a tablet should be a picture taking device but if your tablets your snapper of choice then the new iPad Air will certainly do the job.

iPad Air: Screen

We've come to expect pin-sharp images on Apple's Retina screen and the iPad Air doesn't disappoint. It's the same size as the iPad 4 at 9.7 inch and the same resolution (2048x1536, 264ppi) but what Apple has managed to do, this time around, is place a Retina screen in a thinner bezel. iOS 7 icons pop out of the screen and on the bigger screen that parallax-effect even gave us a touch of motion sickness.

iPad Air: Performance

The chip has been upgraded from the A6X to the A7 with the same 64-bit architecture of the iPhone 5s. The iPhone 5s was blisteringly fast and it's the same story with the new iPad Air. Apps open in an instant, scrubbing through videos is a breeze and multitasking no-problem.. Of course, the 64-bit is a future proofing exercise but we can't wait to get our hands on some apps that make the most of the iPad's super-power.

  

  

SONOS PLAY:1 REVIEW

The great looking Sonos Play1 is a premium mono speaker that, for a limited time comes with a free Sonos Bridge, meaning you can get started for $273.68.

Sonos Play 1 : Performance

As a solo device, the Play:1 chucks out a decent amount of audio wedge for its size. It takes woofer and tweeter cues from its bigger Sonos Play:3 cousin and shrinks the tech down into a package just bigger than a kilo bag of flour.

Sound at high volumes is poised but you'll need to tweak the EQ to move away from muddy thumps. The sound dispersion is impressive, however, and will fill a bedroom or smallish room no problem. But it's still mono - and you can't not but notice that.

Therefore, pairing it with another Play:1 has a dramatic effect. Music of all types is instantly more balanced and it copes with higher volumes much easier. In stereo mode, two Play:1's can fill a decent-sized room, with bass levels being notably impressive.The Sonos software allows you to wireless stream anything on your phone (providing it's an iPhone)to the speaker. The only two connections are an Ethernet port and power socket.

Sonos Play 1: Features

They're completely sealed and humidity tested to work in a bathroom, yet you'll need a dodgy workaround to convert the UK plug to a two-pin socket.The Play:1 speakers are also the first to swap the mute button for play/pause option. Pressing this on Play:1 speaker will stop all music in the zone it's grouped with. Pressing it again almost instantly brings the music back.

Sonos has released a software upgrade to allow all existing ZonePlayers and speakers the same feature. It works a treat and is great for quickly pausing all 

tunage if you can't get to a controller quick enough.

 PRICE - $273.68

PORCHE'S NEW CAYMAN

SPECIFICATION

TOP SPEED -  165MPH

0-62 -5.7 SECONDS

ENGINE - 2,706CC FLAT-6, NATURALLY ASPIRATED

GEARBOX - SIX-SPEED MANUAL

POWER - 271BHP

TORQUE - 214LB/FT

FUEL CONSUMPTION - 34.4MPG

CARBON EMISSIONS 192G/KM

WEIGHT - 1,320KG 

Porche Cayman : Technology

Porche Communication Management - PCM, if you will is based on seven-inch touch in the center console, with extra screen in the instruments. Hit the sport plus button to unleash sharper throttle response, stiffen the suspension, film up the engine mounts and log lap times. Its steering feels as smooth as honey.

Porche Cayman : Features

The all new Porche Cayman still has a manual gearbox and flat-six petrol engine. From the hybrid steel and aluminium construction, which shaves about 30 to 40kg from the old model to the panoply of active drive-enhancing systems, this is very cool indeed.

APPLE IPHONE 6 LEAKED

According to the rumors Apple is going to launch iPhone 6 around September 2014. 

APPLE iPHONE 6 screen size

Recent reports indicated that Apple is experimenting with screens ranging from 4.5 to 6 inches. According to MacRumors, one analyst has suggested that Apple could be looking to implement a 4.8-inch Retina+ IGZO screen made by Sharp, which will make iPhone 6 display thinner, brighter and much clearer boasting better than HD resolutions.

Apple iPhone 6 storage

In the build up to the iPhone 5S launch analysts predicted the company would boost the storage device to 128GB, up from the top-end 64GB handset. That speculation will now carry over to the iPhone 6. That would tie in with the recent addition of a 128GB iPad model.

Specification

It will come with a brand new M7 motion co-processor that tracks the users movement.The camera sensor will be 15 percent larger and dual LED flash which will improve camera capabilities.There's also new software features TrueTone flash firing, Burst Mode and slow motion video. Camera will be updated to 13-megapixels.

Network will also be upgraded to latest Wi-Fi, 4G and Bluetooth technologies.

The biggest rumor is that Apple is going to launch iPhone 6 with iOS 8 out of the box.

GOOGLE NEXUS 5 LEAKED SPECS

After the huge success of Google's Nexus 4 and stocks are running low and rumors are growing that the company is about to launch a new, slightly larger replacement: the Nexus 5.

According to the rumors and the leaked specification of Google Nexus 5, the smartphone will come with a 4.95-inch screen with a 1080p display. Internally, it will be powered bu a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 2.3GHz processor and 2GB of RAM.

These specs aren't best around, but that hasn't stopped the phone from apparently equalling the performance of the recently launched Apple iPhone 5s.

GFX's benchmark revealed that a phone it claims to be the Google Nexus 5 managed to match Apple's flagship smartphone's performance in several tests.

In the company's Egypt test, the Nexus 5 actually outperformed the iPhone 5s, posting a score you'd more commonly experience on a full desktop computer.

The Google 5 reached 58 frames per second during test compared to the iPhone 5s score of 56.7 frames per second.

The leaked manual was leaked several months ago and specifications may have changed. According to the reports, the phone's RAM may have been increased to 3GB and it may now come with an Andreno 330 GPU. Other specs hinted are 2300mAh battery, slimport compatibility, microSIM, wireless charging, NFC and LTE support.It also said to include a range of sensors including accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, proximity/ambient light and pressure. 

WIRELESS CAMERA LETS YOU HELP OVERTAKE WHILE DRIVING

This is the most inventive use of a wireless camera ever seen by anybody. This camera helps to show live feed of what's ahead of the truck in front of you and is it safe to overtake or not.

It is really a awesome product as if you are stuck behind a bus or some other big vehicle, and thinking of overtaking so that you move forward from that vehicle but you are confused to overtake or not, this wireless camera system lets you see through buses and trucks. This camera is tested on roads and will be available in the market soon. This product is very useful to avoid accidents that are caused by overtaking on the roads.

MAC OS X UPDATES FOR FREE

Apple has released an update that is available for free for Mountain Lion operating system. Earlier in 2012 the update was provided at a price of $22.64 and in 2011 update was provided at a price of  $33.96 but this year Apple is giving the update for free.

BASIC KEY FEATURES OF THE UPDATE

Improved battery life

Better graphic quality

Bundle of new apps  - Maps, iBooks, Safari and many more .

SAMSUNG GALAXY S4 REPORTEDLY RECEIVING ANDROID 4.3 UPDATE IN INDIA

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is going to be updated on 4.3 JellyBean , as per the leaked screenshot 658MB in size and is reportedly available both OTA(over the air) and via the company's Kies software. Notably, this update brings Galaxy gear support , Samsung's first wearable device, making S4 the second device to support that functionality.

Some of the details about the leaked update are KNOX for consumers , improved RAM management, improved display color reproduction which will make the display look sharper than before, improved TouchWiz launcher and minor tweaks in the UI for contacts, flashlight widget and dialog box apps.