TechLifeの July 2022 の目次

Remember the bad old days of internet security? You’d need a raft of often conflicting apps to keep your machine safe. Or you’d settle for an all-encompassing suite of integrated programs... but it would chug your system to the point of unuseability, or be near impossible to uninstall. We’re looking at you, Symantec! Well, thankfully, those days are long past, and who do we have to thank? Microsoft! Back in those bad old days of internet security Microsoft’s baked-in solutions in Windows were considered a joke, but these days Windows Defender is more than capable of being the only tool you need. And the best bit... it’s completely free, and already installed. Of course, there are some great paid-for security solutions, and this issue we rate the best of them,…

There are currently more outdated apps on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store than ones that are frequently updated according to a new study. The study from the analytics firm Pixalate, titled The Abandoned Mobile Apps Report, shows that Apple’s recent announcement that it will soon begin deleting apps that haven’t been updated in quite a while makes a great deal of sense despite the fact that it wasn’t well received by developers. Netflix confirms the end of your password sharing – and it’s coming soonThe streaming giant is cracking down... To compile its report, Pixalate crawled through both the App Store and Play Store looking for what it has deemed abandoned apps, or those that have gone two or more years without being updated. The analytics firm…

Just one night spent sleeping in a moderately lit room can lead to a higher heart rate during the night and insulin resistance the next morning. A new study included two groups of ten healthy adults. One group slept in dimly lit rooms for two consecutive nights and the other slept in dimly lit rooms one night and then moderately lit rooms the next. The moderately lit rooms were illuminated with a 100 lux overhead light, which is about as bright as it would be on an overcast day. A 100 lux light could also be compared to a lit television screen in a darkened room or a standard street light shining through a thinly veiled window. All the study participants wore heart monitors to sleep. On the second night,…

$449, www.sony.com.au From the HT-A7000 to the HT-G700 and HT-X8500, Sony has made a habit of making premium-level soundbars that would normally cost a lot more. This is what makes the Sony HT-S400 so remarkable: not only does the soundbar/subwoofer combo pump out an impressive 330W of total audio output but does it at a reasonable price point of just $449. The 2.1ch front surround sound speaker comes with S-Force PRO Front Surround and Dolby Digital and the subwoofer is completely wireless. Besides utilising Bluetooth A2DP, HDMI ARC and optical cable support, Sony TV owners can connect the speaker set wirelessly alongside providing integrated controls. Unfortunately, however, there’s no 3.5mm input on the soundbar itself, nor a USB input should you want to run your music from a USB stick…

Guru, my house is damp. What now? Vince Frakes GaGu would start by cracking a window, particularly when running a shower or blasting the tumble dryer. Presuming your issues are not caused by cowboy-built masonry, mysterious leaks or some kind of guttering issue – personal problems Guru associates more with his trousers than his house – thinking practically rather than gadgetally is the way to go. If you’ve let the outside in and can still feel the fug in the air, a dehumidifier is a good choice. You can get these in desiccant and condenser varieties, the former of which employs gigantic versions of those delicious silica gel treat bags to suck up the moisture, while the latter is basically a lazy air conditioner more concerned with collecting moisture than…

Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters Deal with cosmic plagues and a quarrelsome crew. $64.95, www.chaosgate.com, PC Grand Master Kai looms over my crew via hologram like an enraged Greek cybergod. It’s our bimonthly report and he’s not happy. Our onboard Inquisitor’s desire to procure knowledge about the Nurgle plague has inadvertently accelerated its spread, and he wants to know who’s responsible. Do I cover up for Inquisitor Vakir and piss off Brother Ectar, revered captain of the Grey Knights Space Marine Chapter, or do I throw the brash Inquisitor under the bus? Whatever I do, someone will be unhappy, and that will have knock-on effects. I go for the third option: tell the Grand Master that the mission is going exactly as planned. He buys it, and seeing as…

From $999, www.samsung.com The Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 has arrived, and with it comes a new standard for premium Android tablets. This is the successor to 2020’s Samsung Galaxy Tab S7, which we called the best iPad Pro rival – and one of the best tablets, period – on the market. But that was two years ago, and in the interim Apple redefined what we expect from pro-grade tablets with the phenomenal 2021 iPad Pros. Samsung has also stepped up its tablet game, launching the Tab S8 alongside two larger, OLED-equipped models: A slightly improved Tab S8 Plus and the new Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra, a massive 14.6-inch Android tablet with a screen large enough to overshadow the iPad Pro. So where does that leave the Galaxy Tab S8?…

Being aerodynamic might not impact the technology housed inside the dock, but it certainly looks better than some docks we’ve seen. $515, www.startech.com StarTech is a Canadian business with distribution centres in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Hong Kong. It offers an enormous range of cables, equipment and accessories that are popular with many IT staff, audiovisual engineers and tech-savvy enthusiasts alike. Over the past year, we’ve seen some disturbingly unimaginative Thunderbolt dock and hub designs that are little more than aluminium tubes. Thankfully StarTech’s engineers have slightly more flair, and its design seems to borrow inspiration from an aircraft wing. Being aerodynamic might not impact the technology housed inside the dock, but it certainly looks better than some docks we’ve seen. One slightly strange twist on…

$229, www.garmin.com The Garmin Vivosmart 5 is a lightweight fitness tracker that takes the fight directly to Fitbit – and fares well. It’s certainly not as attractive as devices like the Fitbit Charge 5 and Fitbit Luxe thanks to its rather utilitarian design and monochrome screen, but it’s practical and puts a huge amount of data right at your fingertips. The Vivosmart 5 could also be a smart choice if you already own a full-fat Garmin sports watch but find it cumbersome for everyday wear. The most obvious upgrade from the Vivosmart 4 is the larger, higher resolution screen. Garmin makes good use of all that extra space to cram in an impressive array of data – including graphs and charts to show trends, which is something you don’t get…

Microsoft recently released a new version of its security tool, provisionally called Microsoft Defender Preview, which brings it closer in line with paid-for antivirus suites. Rather than limiting your protection to Windows, it serves as a security dashboard for your computer, phone, and tablet, to let you “easily manage your online security in one centralised view”. You’ll be alerted if one of your devices is compromised and can scan it for malware without needing physical access – provided it’s signed into your Microsoft account. Microsoft Defender Preview (see screenshot) is available to install for free from the Microsoft Store (www.snipca.com/41431), but currently only for users in the US. However, a footnote states that “in the future, Microsoft Defender will require a Microsoft 365 Family or Personal subscription”, which has led…

Windows 10 & 11 Run one command directly after another There’s an easy way to make one command run after another in Command Prompt – just type & between them. So, for example, typing powercfg /energy & powercfg /batteryreport (see screenshot) will first check for ‘energy efficiency’ errors in your hardware and software that may harm your battery life, and then save a report on your battery health to your C: drive. You can link multiple commands together by using as many &s as you like. You can tweak this by typing two ampersands (&&), so that the second command runs only if the first completes successfully. Another variation makes the second command run only if the first one fails. To do this, type the pipe symbol (|) between two…

REQUIRES Keynote 11.2 YOU WILL LEARN How to create radar charts in Keynote IT WILL TAKE 30 minutes Data visualisation is one of those buzz phrases that people, especially in business, like to throw around. Distill it down to its core principles, though, and data visualisation is just fancy charts and graphs. And there are few better tools on the Mac for producing fancy charts than Keynote. Its close integration with Numbers and Apple’s eye for good design make it a brilliant tool for wowing audiences with your data presentations. In this tutorial, we’ll focus on the latest addition to Keynote’s library of chart options, the radar chart. Radar, or spider’s web as they’re also known, charts enable you to plot multiple series of quantitative variables on one two-dimensional chart.…

Ask just about any security expert: “what’s the easiest and most reliable way to protect my identity online” and the answer will almost always be the same: “use multi-factor authentication”, also known as two-factor authentication (2FA). Password-only protection is well known to be very flawed. They’re often easily cracked; they’re vulnerable to phishing and keyloggers; people use the same password for multiple sites. If you’re only using a password to protect your various logins, then you’re doing security wrong. Multi-factor authentication, however, requires more than just knowing a password; it also typically requires access to a physical device, be it a phone, a fob, or a USB authenticator. There has even been more of a move to eliminate passwords as one of the ‘factors’ altogether, instead relying on more secure…

These new tools let you automatically target areas with a single click, so you can add drama to a blown-out sky, lift the tones in your subject and make powerful local enhancements. Local adjustments have long been one of the best features in Adobe’s Camera Raw and Lightroom programs. But now things have moved up a gear with Select Sky and Select Subject, two hugely helpful new masking tools that sit alongside the existing Adjustment Brush and Radial and Graduated Filters. These new tools let you automatically target areas with a single click, so you can add drama to a blown-out sky, lift the tones in your subject and make powerful local enhancements. The improvements don’t end there. The brand-new Masking Panel changes the way local adjustments are organised and…

Microsoft has revealed a new line of adaptive accessories to help people with disabilities who struggle with the typical keyboard and mouse layout. Announced during Ability Summit 2022, the new devices are the Microsoft Adaptive Mouse, Adaptive Button, and the Adaptive Hub. Each one was made working closely with community members in order to create the best possible products that enable people with disabilities to use apps more easily. The Adaptive Mouse is made of three individual pieces: a central core, thumb support, and a mouse tail. The last two are accessories that can be attached to the core in order to meet the needs of the user. For example, larger grips can be attached to the core for an easier grasp and will work equally as well for left-handed…

Astronomers searching for our Solar System’s elusive Planet Nine, a theoretical world that may lurk deep in a cloud of icy rocks far beyond the orbit of Neptune, have come up short once again. In a recent study, researchers pored over six years of telescope data in an attempt to identify potential signs of Planet Nine in the southern sky. Captured with the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) in Chile between 2013 and 2019, the observations covered about 87 percent of the sky visible from the Southern Hemisphere. While the team identified more than 3,000 candidate light sources located between 400 and 800 astronomical units (AU) away – that’s 400 to 800 times the distance between Earth and the Sun – none of those candidates could be confirmed as planets. However,…

Emerge Wave-1 US$450 From emerge.io Virtual reality headsets are a great way to see a new world, but they’re not always adept at making you feel that novel experience – what about your sense of touch? The Emerge Wave–1 is an unassuming box that could rectify that by emitting ultrasonic waves that produce a tactile sensation in your hands. Just reach your arms out and you get an extra level of immersion in your virtual world that takes the whole thing up a notch. For instance, when you reach out to hold someone’s hand in virtual reality, the Wave–1 blasts a precise wave of pressure towards your palms so you can “feel” the other person. Instead of focusing on sight and sound like most standard VR devices, the Wave-1 seems…

Between the world’s first metaverse marathon and the sale of US$320 million worth of digital land in a yet-to-be-built game metaverse, the digital Wild West is still producing more than its fair share of strange novelties for the Emerging Tech section this month. Joining this is a handful of more traditional XR experiences, including an ultra realistic VR moonwalk and a new Wallace and Gromit AR adventure. AI is taking a brief hiatus to focus on the critically important task of inclusive word selection and Microsoft might be facing its own Magic Leap moment as the US Army considers reneging on a US$22 billion deal. XR Spotify Island A metaverse island in the sun. $Free | roblox.com/spotify With the amount of music concerts that have already occurred in online game…

$TBC, www.hp.com The HP Omen 27c curved gaming monitor fits well into HP’s Omen line of displays, despite some notable caveats. While not exactly cheap, it is still one of the best gaming monitors you’re going to find if you’re looking for an affordable, curved, QHD/240Hz display. The Omen series of gaming monitors typically deliver decent performance at approachable prices, including the HP Omen 25i and HP Omen 27, and the Omen 27c doesn’t stray too far from the mean here. Racing games including Forza Horizon 5 and Dirt 5 performed well while providing a greater sense of speed The HP Omen 27c is available now in the US and UK. Oceania is out of luck on this one as the 27c doesn’t appear on any Australian retail sites that…

US$340, www.doogee.cc It is a tried and trusted template with an industrial design that uses a metal framework covered with rubber for shock protection. The Doogee S98 is available direct from the manufacturer’s site for US$340 (about $480), which is a big saving off its suggested retail price. At the time of writing, there was a couple of weeks delay from the three global warehouses currently stocking the smartphone. It is available in wine red, classic black, and phantom grey colours. AliExpress sold it for as little as US$260 on special so it might be worth shopping around. Remember that these prices exclude local taxes and handling fees that may be levied by third parties. There’s not a lot to write about the design of the S98. It is a…

Not so long ago, uninstalling your antivirus software was considered a reckless and foolish decision – especially if you had decided to rely solely on the protection offered by Windows. Every time you went online, you’d risk your PC being infected with malware and hackers stealing your data, just for the sake of saving a bit of money. Thankfully, those days are behind us and should you disable your antivirus today, it will automatically be replaced by a program that provides equivalent – and often superior – protection against the latest threats. We’re talking, of course, about Microsoft Defender Antivirus, the much-improved security tool that’s built into Windows 10 and 11 and does a sterling job of detecting, blocking and removing malware. Here, we explain why you can now stop…

WHEN IT COMES to audio fidelity, over-ear headphones are almost always going to offer a superior listening experience compared to earbuds. This is due to their bigger size and the fact that their drivers are many times larger, which enables them to move more air and thus achieve a richer soundstage. An over-ear design means that the ear cups completely surround each ear, minimising sound leakage both in and out. Additionally, noise cancelling technology, when activated, analyses ambient sound and then cancels it out, providing you with an even more immersive listening experience. All of this plus wireless operation uses power of course, but these larger bodies are able to house batteries with impressive performance, often going for 20 hours and more on a single charge. These models will pair…

WHAT YOU NEED VT4Browsers extension TIME REQUIRED 30 minutes Google has just updated its VT4Browsers extension, which tests the security of your downloads by uploading them to the VirusTotal server and running them through 60 antivirus tools, including AVG, Avast and Sophos. The benefits of checking files online is that the antivirus engines are always up to date and they won’t conflict with any security software you’ve already installed on your computer. The extension is available for Firefox and Chromium-based browsers, including Chrome, Brave and Edge. 1 If you’re running Chrome, Edge, Brave, Vivaldi or any other Chromium-based browser, visit www.snipca.com/41356. Click the ‘Add to…’ button (this will say ‘Add to Chrome’ 1 if you’re using Chrome or Edge). Confirm that you want to add the extension to your browser…

Microsoft Outlook.com Make room to see your email add-ins Add-ins (not add-ons) are third-party tools you can add to Office programs to make them carry out tasks they can’t do by default. To browse for one in Outlook.com, for example, start a new email, click the three dots at the bottom – to the right of the Discard (bin) icon – then click ‘Get Add-ins’ at the bottom. Once you add one, you should see its icon at the bottom, next to the Discard icon. If you don’t see it, you may have too many other built-in functions there (such as attaching a file or formatting a message), not leaving enough space for the add-in. To fix this, click the Settings cog at the top right then click…

The names Chris Curry and Hermann Hauser are forever linked to Acorn computers, the BBC Micro and the fun BBC TV movie Micro Men, which documents an important era in the home computer wars. But they, and many others, are also linked to a chip that’s in our pockets, TVs and our Raspberry Pis. There was a time when Arm, the CPU platform that powers our world, was a gamble. Launched in 1987, the Acorn Archimedes range of computers were powered by the Arm CPU. Arm stood for Acorn RISC Machine (later changed to Advanced RISC Machines Ltd), and were a departure from CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computing) CPUs common in many machines of the era. The Acorn 300 series ran on an Arm 2 CPU, which performed better than…

REQUIRES iOS 15 or later YOU WILL LEARN How to use the full power of the iOS scanning tool IT WILL TAKE 10 minutes If you want a brilliant example of how far phone technology has come in just a few years, the scanner built into iOS 15 is it. You can scan entire documents and turn them into searchable, editable text in seconds. Remember how hard it used to be to persuade huge flatbed scanners to scan legibly, let alone perform OCR? We used to spend more time fixing the errors in scanned and optically recognised documents than it would have taken to simply retype them. One of the best apps for scanning things into is Notes, because as we’ll discover, images you scan in Notes are automatically recognised…

Wi-Fi 6, we barely knew ye. Although the ‘current’ standard of home wireless, Wi-Fi 6E, is less than two years old, router vendors and chip makers are already talking up the next generation. Wi-Fi 7 is coming next year, and early pre-ratification devices will likely be out before then. Chipmaker Qualcomm is already showing off devices, and expects products next year. So, should you be saving up or holding off buying a new router until the new standard comes out? Is there something in there worth waiting for? Let’s take a look. Know your Wi-Fi As you can probably tell from the name, Wi-Fi 7 is the seventh generation of Wi-Fi. For those who haven’t been paying attention in a while, the generational naming system has been applied retroactively for…

From $2,399, www.lenovo.com The Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 7 takes one of the best 2-in-1 laptops to the next level. New features include a powerful 12th Gen Intel Core i7 processor, a higher resolution camera and a bigger touchpad. Though it doesn’t have the same battery life as its predecessor, the 2-in-1 retains the same stylish design and unique rotating soundbar that impressed us before. The new OLED makes the entire package all the more enticing. This is an overall solid laptop that’s ideal for work and play. It’s light enough to comfortably carry wherever you go and its 2-in-1 functionality makes it double as a competent, if somewhat cumbersome, tablet. Design & display The Yoga 9i has a slim aluminum unibody chassis, measuring 318 x 230 x 15.25cm and…

From $2,499, www.apple.com/au The Apple Studio Display is here, and it looks fantastic. This is the first monitor Apple has launched since the Pro Display XDR in 2019, and the Studio Display delivers many of the same benefits in a smaller, more affordable form. Like the Pro Display XDR, the Studio Display offers useful features for creative professionals, including a range of reference modes and P3 wide colour gamut support. But it also has unique features that any Mac user can enjoy, like a killer (for a monitor) six-speaker sound system and a 12MP ultrawide camera that supports Apple’s Center Stage feature, courtesy of an onboard A13 Bionic chip. Design Even the best monitors on the market don’t offer features like a built-in 12MP ultrawide camera, a six-speaker sound system,…

Antarctic sea-ice coverage was at a record low in February 2022. But the amount of sea ice varies considerably each year and climate change is not necessarily to blame. On 25 February, sea-ice extent around Antarctica shrank to less than 772,000 square miles for the first time since scientists began recording it in 1979. While warming global temperatures may be a factor, sea ice is highly variable. The shrinking is likely natural, and partly due to strong winds pushing some sea ice farther north into warmer waters. Sea ice is frozen seawater that floats on the ocean. Unlike icebergs and other ice formations that break away from land, sea ice forms on the ocean and is usually covered in snow. The new data captured the annual late-summer minimum sea-ice extent,…

$399, us.astellnkern.com The Astell & Kern AK UW100s are the debut true wireless headphones from one of the true heroes of portable audio – or, at least, A&K is a true hero as long as you’re well-heeled enough. Its portable digital audio players are without peer, but unless you’re prepared to spend a significant amount of money to find out, you’ll have to take our word for it. The Astell & Kern AK UW100 earbuds aren’t quite as stratospherically priced as its music players, but they’re nevertheless priced to meet the best true wireless earbuds for audiophiles head-on. And while in some ways they’re specified more impressively than the models they want to usurp, in other features they lag behind somewhat. Design & features You’ve got to hand it to…

No matter how much an owner adores their pet and takes precautions to keep them safe, it’s still very common for animals to go missing. When this happens, it can be distressing for both pet and owner. Some of the main reasons for a pet getting lost include fear or anxiety, curiosity, hunting and mating instincts. An owner only has to look away for a short time before completely losing track of their pet. Even if they spot them chasing something into the distance, dogs are often much faster than their owners, leaving them helpless. Meanwhile, cats, which don’t require supervision and typically do their own thing, may leave an area they know well and struggle to return home. Pet identification (ID) tags are worn by domestic animals to reunite…

Sony plans to sell way more PS5s this year but says it still can’t meet demand Executive deputy president and CFO Hiroki Totoki discussed Sony’s PS5 outlook in the Q&A segment of the company’s latest earnings webcast, following up on its in-depth FY2021 report. As Totoki explained, Sony has actually reduced its PS5 sales forecast due to production constraints, but he says the company is confident it can sell 18 million this year – roughly a 56 percent increase over the previous fiscal year’s 11.5 million. Zelda: Ocarina of Time earns a place in the World Video Game Hall of Fame The Strong Museum, located in Rochester NY, has announced that four games have been inducted into its World Video Game Hall of Fame. As well as Nintendo’s 1998 classic,…

$349, www.lenovo.com The Lenovo G25-10 gaming monitor has a lot going for it. Budget gaming monitors that balance solid performance at a reasonable price aren’t too hard to come by nowadays, and the Lenovo G25-10 certainly delivers, but it’s not without its faults. On the positive side, the G25-10 features a 24.5-inch full HD display with quick refresh and snappy pixel response while remaining agnostic toward GPU video output, so both Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync are supported. The G25-10 features a 24.5-inch full HD display with quick refresh and snappy pixel response while remaining agnostic toward GPU video output, so both Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync are supported. For long gaming sessions, the anti-glare equipped G25-10 features eye-care technology and the TN panel type allows games to look as…

$399, www.razer.com The Razer Leviathan V2 brings a much needed refresh to every PC gamer’s favourite soundbar with one of the best computer audio experiences you’re going to find right now, and it’s not even really close. And while not exactly cheap, the Leviathan V2 offers an incredible soundscape at a reasonable price point, easily making it one of the best computer speakers you can buy right now. It’s not without its faults though, and the loss of 3.5mm and optical input pretty much consigns the Leviathan V2 to your PC for good, though it does have Bluetooth connectivity as well so you still have some flexibility. The THX Spatial Audio is a welcome feature; this goes beyond basic stereo to create a much more surround sound-like experience. It does…

$289, www.amazfit.com The Amazfit GTR 3 is a good-looking entry-level sports watch that delivers impressive performance for its modest price tag – but doesn’t quite live up to all of Amazfit’s lofty claims. The watch has two physical controls: a rotating dial that can be used to access and scroll through the main menu, and start and pause activities, and a button that provides quick access to the list of activity tracking modes. It’s a layout that takes some getting used to (on most sports watches the lower button would take you back to the homescreen), but we appreciated the ability to start tracking a workout without drilling through multiple menus. It has very respectable fitness tracking chops, with a huge selection of workout modes (six of which can be…

Our reviews are based on criteria such as whether the antivirus software was easy to use, if it slowed our PCs while scanning, how well it detected and removed malware, and whether it offers useful extra tools. For malware-detection scores, we used the results of three independent testing labs: AV-Test (www.av-test.org) in Germany, AV-Comparatives in Austria (www.av-comparatives.org) and SE Labs (https://selabs.uk), whose main testing lab is in Wimbledon, London. Each lab subjects the major antivirus brands’ products to tests involving thousands of pieces of malware, including hundreds of previously unseen samples, to award it an overall protection rate as a percentage. The labs also test the software for false positives to ensure they’re not wrongly flagging safe files as threats. As you can see from the tables below, the difference…

Since we clapped eyes on and fell in love with our very first Macs, we’ve been blown away not just by their performance or their power, as impressive as they are, but by the possibilities they offer. Where else can a single device be an artist’s sketchbook and a guitarist’s amp, a writer’s notebook and a photographer’s darkroom, a space cruiser’s cockpit and an architect’s easel? And that’s just scratching the surface of what your Mac, iPhone and iPad can do. In this feature, we’ll discover how you can do all kinds of amazing things on your Apple kit. We’ll discover the apps that’ll elevate your creative projects into something truly spectacular, and we’ll look for the cool tools that’ll make your life easier. We’ll discover how your Apple kit…

WHAT YOU NEED Snappy Driver Installer Origin TIME REQUIRED 20 minutes In theory, your drivers should update automatically via Windows Update, but this may not always happen, especially on older PCs, so it’s a good idea to get a second opinion. Snappy Driver Installer Origin (SDIO) is one of the few driver updaters that doesn’t charge you to identify missing and outdated drivers and install new or superior versions. If you download its extensive set of driver packs, you can even install them when you’re offline. SDIO is a portable tool, which means you don’t need to install it and can run it from a USB stick. 1 Download Snappy Driver Installer Origin (SDIO) from its developer’s website at www.snipca.com/41568. Avoid searching for the program using Google, because results may…

REQUIRES Numbers 11.2 or later YOU WILL LEARN How to use pivot tables in Numbers IT WILL TAKE 45 minutes While Numbers surpasses Microsoft’s Excel in some areas, it is lacking in others. Excel, ahem, excels at slicing and dicing data and allowing you to build scenarios. While Numbers doesn’t… until now that is. The most recent version of Numbers on Mac, iOS, and iPadOS supports pivot tables. And in case you don’t spend your days knee-deep in spreadsheets, pivot tables are tables that allow you to “pivot” data from another table. So, if you have a table that records widgets sales, you might have columns for the type of widget, date sold, price they sold for, quantity, and sales office responsible. Each row would be one sale. You could…

If you’re anything like us, you’ll have bags full of old leads that you’re keeping ‘just in case’ they come in useful. Tied together, they’d probably stretch to New Zealand. What’s maddening is that many of these cables probably became obsolete years ago. So, which ones can you safely dispose of, and which should you keep? Ditch these cables… Apple’s 30-pin connectors and FireWire Apple no longer uses the 30-pin connectors that were common on older iPods and iPhones, while FireWire (pictured at www.snipca. com/41432), which featured on the very first iPods and some high-end drives and camcorders, has largely been replaced by Thunderbolt and USB. FireWire and 30-pin cables could therefore be recycled, as it’s unlikely you’ll find new devices using them. Phono, RCA, or composite cables These cables…

Fisher-Price Laugh and Learn Gamepad Get your baby out of the noob phase way faster. $15 | fisher-price.com/au While most of us are going to be doing our best to limit the amount of time our kids sink into computer games, someone at Fisher Price clearly felt that their three-year-old child should’ve been getting good well before screens became interesting. The Laugh and Learn Gamepad is a console-like controller that lights up and makes funny noises for infants to hone their skills and get ahead of the competition. It’s also great for anyone on a very tight budget since Twitter modder @rudeism managed to turn one into an obnoxious Xbox controller that’ll play PC games. Mouth Haptic VR Headset This Mouthsaber is going to give you something to talk about.…