Code With AI2. Timer (Part 1)

David Briddock gets into Google’s App Inventor

App Inventor 2 (AI2) is a platform that aims to open up Android app creation to everyone. All you’ll need to begin is a Windows, Mac or Linux PC, a web browser and a Google account.

Ideally you’ll also have an Android smartphone or tablet, but even this isn’t essential to get started.

Free Alternatives To Commercial Software

If you’re on a limited budget or just like free and open-source software, Roland Waddilove has some alternatives to popular commercial software that might be right up your street

Commercial software like Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop and other applications sell in huge volumes because they’re excellent. They’re also expensive, especially when you look at the long-term costs of using them. Both those examples require monthly or annual subscriptions, and as the years go by the cost mounts up – to more than £1,000 over five years, in fact. Are there any alternatives?

Does The UK Pay More For Tech?

David Crookes look at price differences between the UK and the US, and whether the gap is closing

Brits can be a canny bunch when it comes to saving cash. Hundreds of thousands of people subscribe to weekly money-saving emails, many more use price comparison sites and price trackers, and there are also lots of apps that pick up where we are at any one time and point us to the bargains that are all around us.

Pendulumic Stance S1+ Bluetooth headphones

The worlds of Bluetooth and good audio have traditionally not been the best of bedfellows, although that’s all changing. In the traditional stereo world, companies like Chord Electronics have performed wonders with Bluetooth enabled DACs and the rest. In the headphone world, though, Bluetooth has been considerably more widely adopted, but mostly in a low to mid end manner, hooking smartphone to headset for commuters and joggers who hate wires.

The Pendulumic Stance S1+ is different. It’s a legitimately high-end, studio-grade headphone that runs wirelessly through Bluetooth. It also has a wired mode, and can even be used to make calls. It runs along all the latest and greatest Bluetooth lines (Bluetooth 4.0, aptX, and A2DP), which means CD quality. It auto-pairs with devices, and has a 15m radius, even as a phone headset (with built-in microphone).

Astell&Kern AK380 high-res digital audio player

When Astell&Kern brought out its AK240 Portable High Fidelity Sound system (£2,199) about two years ago, many of us assumed the firm has pushed the sonic and price limits of the high-end portable player genre as far as they could go, but as it turns out we were wrong. Enter the firm’s spectacular new all singing, all dancing, and all-conquering flagship model, the AK380 (£2,999), which in some respects takes up where the AK240 leaves off.