T3 February 2016

MEET THE ROBOT THAT DOES YOGA! P41 AIDO AIDO is unlike anything we’ve ever seen here atT3: it’s a home robot that acts as an entertainment system, a smart-home controller, a kitchen assistant, a security system and, well, just an all-round friendly robot. The ballbot-based device will even scoot over to you when you call its name. So, is AIDO the future of home robots? Well, it certainly looks like a massive step (or should that be roll?) in the right direction. Entertainment-wise, it features a two-inch woofer, dual tweeters and a 10-watt amplifier for playing tunes, as well as a built-in projector for beaming movies onto your wall. It can even project game boards that you can interact with. This three-foot robot will patrol your house for you (you can set custom patrol…

Rob Carney EDITOR As we write this, Rob is jetting off to Detroit for the International Motor Show, where he’ll be testdriving some of the world’s best new cars. It’s a tough job but we think he’ll cope. Nick Odantzis DEPUTY EDITOR Nick went to CES in Las Vegas this month, where he drank champagne, quaffed oysters and gambled away his borrowed Nissan GTR. He also explored the very latest in cutting-edge tech. Duncan Bell LIFE STYLE TECHNOLOGY EDITOR Because his Fitbit scales told him he’d put on a stone over Xmas, Duncan attempted to go vegan. But then he realised his fridge was full of cheese and charcuterie, so he didn’t bother. Claire Davies ASSISTANT EDITOR Claire’s been using the new Vitastiq to discover what vitamins she’s deficient in, and what ones she’s oversupplementing with. You’d never know she used…

SAVE 62% on a new T3 subscription p82 I’m glad we’ve got that sorted. What I’m referring to, of course, is our cover feature this month – namely, the T3 Power List. These aren’t your ordinary gadgets. These are by no means run-of-the-mill. These are the best, most excellent items of tech for transforming your life. Hyperbole? Maybe a little, but if you want to run harder, cycle faster, work smarter, play better and even live longer (while we can’t verify the latter, we think it’s true), this is a top-spec selection of tech for you. Flick to p46 right now. Go on, I dare you. “Hall, you filthy maggot, get your arse through that water!” That’s the sound of Man Vs Tech this month, where we put our (brave or stupid) writer…

Oculus Rift consumer edition £TBC, oculus.com Haven’t we seen this before? The Oculus Rift has been a s-l-o-wgestating product. Tech boy genius Palmer Luckey started flogging the original developer-kit version back in 2013, and look – it’s 2016 now! So what’s so great about this thing? The Rift is a full-immersion virtualreality headset, enabling you to experience new worlds. It thrusts you right into the action in firstperson shooter games, and unlocks new possibilities in movies, music videos, marketing and education. It’s hardly the only VR headset, though, is it? No, but it’s more powerful than, for instance, Samsung’s Gear VR (which was made with assistance from Oculus, as it happens), and more fully realised than the HTC Vive or, at least for now, the PlayStation VR. What’s its killer feature, then? The high-resolution graphics are impressive, but the…

Are we going super-high-end now? Indeed we are! Astell&Kern really doesn’t mess around when it comes to creating serious audiophile-level equipment. But to get the best out of high-end portable players of that ilk, you need the right headphones to go with them, and that’s where these new AK T1p cans come in. What makes these so good for portable listening, then? The headphones were made in collaboration with Beyerdynamic and, like the German company’s outstanding T1 cans, they use groundbreaking Tesla transducers to offer more power but with a precise frequency response and distortion-free sound. And the portable listening part? Well reminded! So while the T1s are seen as home headphones (their 600-ohm impedance means that a separate amplifier is recommended to get a truly satisfying experience when listening on the go), the 32-ohm…

What do we have here, T3? It’s a Bluetooth wearable with a stylish, minimalist design and brains engineered by Hewlett-Packard. The Motion is perfect for peeps who don’t want an intrusive, heavy-duty smartwatch, or for those who like the style of the Withings Activité. With a black analogue face and white dial, quartz movement and a silicone strap, it’s a handsome one, right? Yeah, it’s a looker. What can it do? Well, apart from tell you what time it is (obviously), it can track your steps, giving you feedback (via its app) on how many you take each day. Via the app, you can also set daily step goals, with the watch notifying you on your progress in real-time. What about texts and emails? Because the Movado Bold Motion has an analogue display, you can’t…