Dork Adore » Gadgetry

Are eco-friendly cars any fun? Ford Fiesta Econetic

Emma Cossey — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:00:08 +0000

I don’t review cars often. I have a little Peugeot 206 that I drive like a go-kart and it gets me from A to B. It’s nice but…well, lacking in gadgets and not exactly eco-friendly.

While I’m quite content with my little run-around, I’m still keen to keep an eye out for something a little better.

And if it can be eco-friendly as well, all the better!

So with rather excellent timing, the PR people at Ford got in touch with a new car they wanted Dork Adore to try out. In fact, they wanted us to drive it all the way down to eco hotel The Scarlet in Cornwall.

The Ford Fiesta ECOnetic is part of Ford’s eco-friendly range of cars that have “ULTRA LOW CO2 output without sacrificing power and performance.”

So, does eco-friendly mean you scrimp on the fun?

In a word, no.

The Ford Fiesta Econetic is packed full of those gadgets I hanker for, including an eco-mode to help drivers achieve better fuel economy and Auto-Start-Stop which turns off the vehicle when it’s idle (say, at traffic lights).

Sadly our car didn’t have the rear camera that some of the other tester cars had, but the general consensus was that it was a handy tool (especially if you’re a nervous reverse parker).

We did have the Gear Shift Indicator, which lets you know when you need to change up a gear. This works with the ECOnetic system to get the most out of your car: you produce more power, but with less fuel.

There are all sorts of other eco-friendly tools too, but most of them work away with very little input from me.

Final thoughts

If you’ve driven a Ford Fiesta before, the actual driving experience won’t be hugely different. It’s just as good to drive on the country roads as it is to speed up the motorway (and it really can speed). But the gadgets enhance the driving experience, and it would be foolish to not consider an eco-friendly car when your transport needs an upgrade.

Prices start at £15,845.00 on the road for a 3-door Ford Fiesta Titanium Econetic.

PS. What about The Scarlet eco hotel?

Visiting The Scarlet eco-friendly hotel in Cornwall was definitely an added bonus to trying out the Ford Fiesta Econetic. The building itself is beautiful, with outside pools, balconies in all the rooms and scented fires that help you relax straight away.

The bedrooms are slightly odd….I think I’m a little too reserved for a bath tub in the middle of a shared room and a wet room shower that leaves the toilet soaking. That said, the rest of the room was luxurious, proving that being conscientious needn’t mean going basic.

A word of warning though, you’ll get very little wi-fi signal here. You can use the hotel’s, but I think they like to encourage you to disconnect. It goes in with the whole ‘retreat’ atmosphere I guess!

Ford Fiesta ECOnetic official website.

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The Padintosh: When iPad covers go wrong

Emma Cossey — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:55:51 +0000

You’ve just received a beautiful new iPad for Christmas. It’s sleek, ultra-skinny and just the right size for digital tapping on the go.

Ah, the wonders of living in an age where we don’t have to lug around a ton of technology to check our emails!

So why would you ruin it with a giant Macintosh case? For the ironic, retro lulz. Obviously.

The Padintosh is the brainchild of Thumbs Up World. They’ve also bought us the 80s Retro iPhone case, which was presumably designed to ensure that you’re the only person still doing Trigger Happy TV impressions in the 21st century.

While it might be too late to buy this as a Secret Santa for your practical joke-loving IT department, you will be able to buy it from Thumbs Up World from Q2 2012.

Just in time for next Christmas then.

What do you think? Are they taking the mac a bit?

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How to piddle away your time in a club

Emma Cossey — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 15:00:49 +0000

It’s a running joke that toilet queues are usually three times longer for woman than they are for men. This might all be about to change though if plans go ahead to install “the world’s first ‘hands-free’ video game for urinals” in clubs.

Yup, it’s a game men can control with their willies. Or rather, their pee.

A video screen sits above the urinal, attached to the wall at exactly the point where you’re traditionally meant to fix your gaze (if you want to avoid contravening all kinds of urinal-based etiquette, that is).

Inside the urinal you’ll find the “controls” in the form of stickers offering you “start” “left” and “right” options. Then, you simply wave your human joystick around, aiming for the relevant badges, and play till you run out of juice.

Once you’re all done and dusted (and hands are washed) you can use your mobile phone to post your high score to a live leader board.

Women have a longer wait (typical), but something to ease the boredom of queuing will apparently be on its way shortly.

Check out the video below to see how it works.

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Kobo eReader Touch review

Katie — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 10:00:14 +0000

Still in need of a last-minute panic purchase present for your mother-in-law?

Pop to WH Smiths and buy a lavender Kobo eReader Touch. That’s my tip, anyway.

If you want a review that gets into the ins and outs of which is better – Kindle or Kobo – you’ve probably come to the wrong place. Unless you’re a supreme tech-head, the choice between the two is likely to come down to which one you like the look of, how wedded you are to the idea of buying your books on Amazon (or NOT buying them on Amazon) and whether you’re willing to fork out the extra fee for a touchscreen.

Personally, I love the Kobo. I love its slightly old-ladyish quilted back (which made my own mother-in-law emit a little “ooh!” of excitement – possibly her first ever emotion towards an item of technology) and I love the fact that I just tap the screen to turn the page (after enlarging the font size to MASSIVE so I can read lying down and hold the eReader miles off).

The set up is easy to master – although having to prod at different sectors of the screen to get the menu up or turn pages may momentarily flummox my in-laws – and buying new books through the online store (accessed via wifi) is simple, if slow.

For many, this will simply be an also-ran that gets referred to as a Kindle, just as all personal organisers used to be called Palm Pilots (oh those silly people who couldn’t tell a Palm from an iPAQ). Then again, no one uses Palms now, so who knows what could happen?

I hope that this “also-ran” sticks around for a good while yet. Without a little bit of diversity, where are we? We’re in an Apple, Amazon, Google love triangle, that’s where. And not everyone wants to be trapped in that relationship.

For a more exhaustive Kindle Vs Kobo comparison, check out ZDNet.

Kobo eReader Touch from WH Smiths

Kobo eReader Touch from Asda

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Dork Adore Gift Guide: The Music Fan

Emma Cossey — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 10:30:24 +0000

Depending on your own taste in music, buying for a music fan is either a bit of a self-indulgent shopping dream, or hell on earth. Music fans have very high standards (some people may say snobbish, but y’know…) so it’s a tough challenge.

If you fall into the “hell on earth” category, we’ve put together a few suggestions which might stave off a mid-Comet breakdown.

Top left to right: DIY Guitar Pick Punch, ThinkGeek $24.99, Monster Beats by Dr. Dre Headphones, Amazon £211.85, Red Angry Birds Speaker, Gear4 £49.99

Bottom left to right: Georgia Brown Plectrum Wallet, Firebox £31.99, CD Wall Tiles, Firebox £15.99, Bose SoundDock Portable digital music system, Amazon £199.95

(Ok, so I put the Bose SoundDock in there for me. Heads up family/rich friends)

What will you be getting for the music geek in your life?

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Waterproof your smart phone with the Aqua Phone Case

Tamsin Worrad — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:04:33 +0000

Apparently, rapper Wretch 32 recently lost all his lyrics for his new album when he dropped his phone in the bath.

‘I now know to back up my phone regularly’ he said.

I have another option for him in the form of this smart phone waterproof case from Gizoo.

The Aqua phone case protects your iPhone or Blackberry from water, whilst you carry on using it as normal. Gizoo suggests this is useful for taking photos underwater, or when you’re at the pool on holiday. However, I was excited for the much more mundane reason that it meant I could play Words with Friends in the bath.

Gizoo kindly sent me over a case to test out. You can see how I got on after the jump.

Waterproof or washout?

Initially, I was terrified. Put my beloved phone in the bath? Deliberately? Even with the case it seemed a bit wrong. I was very apprehensive, so I approached the situation with a several stage experiment, like the scientist I am.

Firstly, I tested the case on its own. A piece of absorbent paper is included in the case for this very purpose and after opening & closing the case once to make sure I was doing it right, I threw the case in the bath.

On removing the case, no water had leaked through into the paper. So far so good. Now it was time to get brave. I put my phone in, checked the seals and ran the tap over the case.

Praying fervently that my beloved iPhone would be ok, I dried off the case to avoid any water transfer and opened it up. Hurrah, it worked! Now more confident in the cases abilities, I decided to get really brave. I submerged my iPhone into the sink full of water.

Heart racing, I took it out, dried it off and opened it up. It was bone dry, much to my relief. I tested the functionality of the touch pad underwater and this was fine too which means that you can use your phone as a handy underwater camera if wanted. The case fits pretty much all smart phones out there right now.

It’s available at £19.95 from Gizoo.

It might go against all your instincts to expose such expensive pieces of technology to water but trust me on this one, it works.

In the interests of honesty this case was provided to me free of charge by the good people of Gizoo, but the opinions remain all my own.

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Dork Adore Gift Guide: The Scientist

Tamsin Worrad — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 17:15:45 +0000

Scientists get a bad rap. We’re frequently shown in the media as bespectacled nerds who take everything literally and never have fun.

In reality, we like to have just as much fun as everyone else; we just understand it on a higher level. And Christmas is no exception.

Everyone has a sciencey type in their life, whether they work in a lab or just really love The Big Bang Theory.

We’ve rounded up some of our top presents for the more mechanically minded amongst us.

Top left to right: Chemistry Shot Glass Set £10 Urban Outfitters, Giant Microbes £7.99 Firefox, Periodic Table Shower Curtain £26.49 Firefox

Bottom left to right: Brain Poster $18.99 Ork Posters, Space Origami Set £8 Science Museum Shop, Maths Formula Magnets $5.99 Artaltered on Etsy

Are you a science geek? If so, what’s on your wishlist?

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Money is Time: contactless payment watches

Tamsin Worrad — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 09:17:32 +0000

It seems only recently that “contactless” payment technology has received airtime, so I was surprised to discover it has been going for several years. It’s just that retailers are only now getting into it.

The premise is simple, you get a card which you can top up online (it’s not linked to a bank account so you can feel secure there) and you can then use that card to pay where you see the contactless payment symbol. All you have to do is tap it on the reader.

My main worry with it was the ease of which I lose cards. Without a pin number I’d feel insecure about someone else getting hold of it and spending my hard earned cash, although spending limits do apply to avoid any disasters.

So I was excited when Dork Adore was offered the chance to try out the brand new contactless payment watches from watch 2 pay. It’s a lot harder to lose something that’s attached to your wrist and, like any self respecting geek, I love a good multifunctional gadget.

But how did I get on with this bit of hi-tech?

Fashionable contactless watches

The watch is a collaboration between Mastercard and watch manufacturer LAKS. It comes along with a prepaid card to use as well.

On a superficial level the watch looks great and not at all ‘gimmicky’, which was a worry for me (I am the fashion dork, after all). Even without the payment function I’d be more than happy to wear it on a daily basis and have had quite a few compliments on the style; fairly important is you’re going to invest in one and use it.

Setting up the watch is very simple and it comes with easy to follow instructions; just pop the sim card into the side of the watch, register your card online in a few steps and you’re off!

A lot of retailers are utilising contactless payment in their stores now. I decided to go to Pret-a-Manger to try out the watch by buying some lunch. In all honestly I felt very self-conscious as I waited for the cashier to add up my total, realising that asking to pay by using my watch was going to make me look a bit mad.

I needn’t have worried.

Scanning the watch took a manner of seconds but the difficult part was trying to get out of the shop after the cashiers realised what I’d done. ‘Are you going to fly off in your spaceship now?’ one asked.

It really did feel like I was in the future, and I had to show it off to various staff and customers before I could leave the shop. Disregarding the delay this caused, with a queue of hungry workers behind me and a limited lunch break the benefits of paying in such a short amount of time are pretty obvious, and it was the same when I tried a different store a few days later. I’d guess that the total time for me to pay was a couple of seconds, with no scrabbling to find my purse or waiting for the card machine.

Watch the pennies

In short, this piece of technology is highly impressive and actually genuinely useful, something a lot of gadgets can’t really claim. Not being linked to a bank account provides security, but it also allows you budget effectively since you can load it with only what you’re allowed to spend.

For example, you could pop your lunch money for the week on there and avoid the pitfalls of getting a tenner a day out and somehow frittering away the rest!

The watch is available in eight colours £99 from watch2pay.co.uk.

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Video Funsies: When Siri met Furby

Emma Cossey — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 09:30:12 +0000

We’ve all been waiting for this, haven’t we? Maybe we didn’t know it, but now it’s happened it seems like the universe was created for this very moment: iPhone’s Siri has been introduced to the granddaddy of interactive toys, Furby.

Now, we’re intrigued by Siri and we have mildly irritating memories of Furby.

But who’s better? FIGHT!

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Smart Gloves for Smart Phones

Tamsin Worrad — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 09:21:50 +0000

Smartphones have become almost ubiquitous over the last couple of years. Even my mother has a touch screen phone, although she hasn’t quite grasped typing on it: she still sends me messages saying things like ‘Crime home soon’.

I think then that I can speak with confidence when I say that we’ve nearly all of us experienced the pain of cold hands whilst trying to type a message at a bus stop or walking to walk in the winter; touch screens just don’t work with your fingers covered.

But worry not! There’s a solution to this problem in the form of these Smart Gloves for Smart Phone from Gizoo. I gave them a test drive for the benefit of you lucky Dork Adore readers.

Listen carefully, here comes the science bit.

You see, the way a smart phone knows what you want it do is via the electrical current travelling from your fingers to the screen. A layer of capacitive material under the screen monitors the change in charge depending on where your finger is touching the phone.

But when you’re wearing gloves they act as an insulator, effectively blocking the electrical current and stopping the phone responding to your touch. The Smart Gloves get over this hurdle using conductive material woven into the tips of of your main screen-surfing fingers so that the current can still pass through and allow the touch screen to function.

I was initially worried about this conductive yarn, assuming it would be irritating to the fingers or scratchy like wire wool, but I was happily proven wrong. The gloves are comfortable and warm. I was genuinely excited when I tried them out with my iPhone and realised that they worked as well as my bare hands, even when it came to typing a text (though unfortunately they did nothing to help my terrible spelling).

It’s no exaggeration when I say that owning these gloves is going to change my life. I get horribly cold hands and I’m also horribly addicted to Twitter, but now I can stand at a bus stop and tell the internet all about it! I’ve already wowed colleagues and family with them; I can definitely see them popping up in a few people’s Christmas stockings. The gloves are compatible with all smart phone and are available at Gizoo for £7.99.

In the interests of honesty these gloves were provided to me free of charge by the good people of Gizoo, but the opinions remain all my own.

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Dork Adore » Gadgetry

Are eco-friendly cars any fun? Ford Fiesta Econetic

Final thoughts

PS. What about The Scarlet eco hotel?

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The Padintosh: When iPad covers go wrong

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How to piddle away your time in a club

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Kobo eReader Touch review

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Dork Adore Gift Guide: The Music Fan

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Waterproof your smart phone with the Aqua Phone Case

Waterproof or washout?

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Dork Adore Gift Guide: The Scientist

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Money is Time: contactless payment watches

Fashionable contactless watches

Watch the pennies

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Video Funsies: When Siri met Furby

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Smart Gloves for Smart Phones

Listen carefully, here comes the science bit.

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