How to make any home a smart home

How to make any home a smart home

Find out how to make your home a smart home with smart lighting, smart heating, smart switches, smart plug sockets, smart vacuum cleaners and even smart doorbells.

6 ways you can make your home a smart home


By

The Internet of Things is a term you’ve probably heard before, and it’s certainly a term that describes the way technology is advancing so much that things that were never considered ‘smart’ before are beginning to connect to the internet to potentially enable a whole new way of living. Over the past few years, we’ve seen an influx of new gadgets that can help you make your home smart, from thermostats and light bulbs to switches and door locks. Here, we talk you through how you can make your home a smart home and start living in the future today.

In this article, we talk about smart objects that you can buy and use today, but before long our fridges and freezers will be smart, able to order food and other supplies as you need them, and even that’s just the beginning. The aim of the game is efficiency: maximum comfort for minimal cost to you – and the environment.

How to make your home a smart home: Lighting

Installing smart lighting is a simple first step on your way to a smart home. Smart lighting can be pretty cool. Some of the bulbs we’ve tested allow you to set mood lighting for the different rooms in your house, control your lighting from afar from your phone or tablet, and schedule them to turn on and off at pre-set times. You can even use them as an alarm, gently waking you up in the morning. One of the smart bulbs we’ve tried can even blast out tunes from your ceiling.

If you’re interested in adding smart lighting to your home, see our round-up of 10 best smart lightbulbs.

How to make your home a smart home: Heating

You can also turn your home into a smart home by investing in a smart thermostat or smart heating system. You’ve probably seen the adverts for Hive with its quirky song about how great it is to control your heating from a laptop, smartphone or tablet. And yes, it is a cool thing to be able to do. But more than that, smart heating is likely to be a key part of every home going forward. As fuel costs rise and supplies run dry the ability to heat our homes in an efficient way will stop being a nice bonus, and become an essential part of every home’s economics.

Smart thermostats and smart home heating systems became readily available to almost all homes. If you have a boiler and central heating you will likely be able to fit one of the systems on the market. To find out about the best smart thermostats available, visit our best smart heating systems article.

How to make your home a smart home: Cleaning

You may have already heard of robot vacuum cleaners, which pair with your Android or iOS device via an app and then take it upon themselves to vacuum the house while you get on with other things, intelligently avoiding furniture and other obstacles. Smart vacuum cleaners are undeniably cool, but out of many people’s budget. Also see: Best robot vacuum cleaners

The good news is right now GearBest has a sale on Chuwi iLife robot vacuum cleaners, with the iLife V7 reduced from £248 to £106, the V5 from £101 to £71, and the V3 from £296 to just £74. (Read our advice on buying grey-market tech.)

Robot vacuum cleaner

Robot vacuum cleaner

How to make your home a smart home: Switches

Just as smart thermostats are muscling in on old boiler timers, today’s smart switches are having a good go at yesterday’s twiddly timer switches. A smart switch is basically a switch that you plug into a power socket and then plug another device’s plug into so you can control it via an app on your smartphone or tablet. With the best smart switches, you can set schedules, monitor energy usage on electronic devices and find out which devices are used most often and when. Armed with such data you can start saving on your home’s domestic electricity usage.

Find out more about Smart Switches in our best smart switches round-up.

How to make your home a smart home: Smart doorbell

Yes, you read that right. Next on the list is the smart doorbell. Combine it with a security camera and you’ve yourself a clever entrance system for your home.

In the past, video-enabled entrance systems required a lot of money and expertise to install and maintain. They were the preserve of swanky apartment complexes or spit-drenched local authority housing tower blocks, often in a state of disrepair. But now everyone with a smartphone can have a smart security camera and entrance system.

Find out how to set up a security camera and video entry system with a smart doorbell here. Also check out our review of the Piper nv home security and automation system.

How to make your home a smart home: USB power sockets

These aren’t necessarily smart in the same way as the other gadgets in this article – they’re not connected to the internet – but they do make life easier. We’re talking about wall plates with both power sockets and USB slots. With a daily need for charging, smartphones and tablets end up causing more USB and Lightning cable mess than old-fashioned rotary dial phones with their curly cords. Wall power sockets in every room of the house are being taken over with plugs for USB cables, meaning you need to disconnect the lamp just to charge your smartphone or tablet.

But with wall plates that include both 3-pin power sockets and USB slots, that’s a thing of the past. There are now a few companies selling such wall plates. We’ve reviewed the Group Gear USB charging plate and the USB wall charging flat plate.

How to make your home a smart home: smartphone controlled home cinema system

Yes, you read that right – an accessory that can control every device in your home cinema system, from speakers to DVD players to Freeview boxes to the Apple TV. In fact, the Logitech Harmony smart control can control up to 225,000 devices and if you find one that it can’t control, you can program it in yourself using the remote. You can access Harmony via your iPhone or Android, or via PC or Mac from anywhere in the world, not just from your front room. You can set activities, which are a set list of actions for the Harmony to follow to make your life a little easier, for example: turn TV on, turn Freeview box on, turn speaker on, change Freeview channel to 28 and then turn up speakers. 

If it interests you (and why shouldn’t it?) check out our full review of the Logitech Harmony smart remote here

Go to Source

Hive Active Light review

Hive Active Light review

Hive isn’t only about controlling your heating from your phone. Hive has now introduced additional accessories to add to your Hive Active Heating smart home environment, including smart sensors and active plugs. And then there is the smart Hive Active Light family: a series of bulbs that allows you to control your lighting using the Hive App from anywhere at any time. The range comes in three flavours (or should we say colours). An Active Light Bulb, a Cool to Warm White bulb and a Colour changing bulb. At £19, £29 and £44 respectively in the UK, and $24, $29 and $39 in the US. They all come in screw- or bayonet fittings.

You can get the starter kit if you don’t already have a Hive Hub. But we assume that if you’re looking at the Hive smart lighting, that you already have Hive installed in your home and thus have the Hub connected to your home network.

We tested the £44 Colour changing bulb, and installed it in our existing Hive heating system to see how well it works. (For more on Hive, see our best smart heating systems article.)

Installing Hive Active Light

Installing the Hive Active Light bulb was simple. The quick instructions that come in the pack are worth a read before you start but, basically, you just screw the bulb into the lamp, switch it on – the bulb won’t light up – then launch the Hive App on your mobile, tablet or laptop, and select the option to install a new device. This worked without any issues and we were up and running within seconds. There’s an option to rename the light in the app, to make it something more recognisable. This is a nice touch, especially if you have more than one Hive Active Light bulb in your home. You’ll want to control them separately – that’s the whole point.

Next you can choose to configure to your specific needs your Active Light bulb, using the Hive App. As ours is the colour-changing bulb we have options to change the colour of the light, selecting from a whole spectrum. Or we can keep it white. But as with the cheaper Cool to Warm White bulb we can choose a cool white or a warm white or anything in between. Basically, we are choosing light to suite our mood. There is also a dimmer option to change the bulb’s intensity. Which is a good thing because at 100 percent the light is actually quite strong (also a good thing).

These features may seem somewhat frivolous, but there is a lot to be said for being able to set the temperature of your light. Bright lights in the morning will help you wake up, but may irritate your eyes. When watching TV in the evening you will want a softer light than you do during the working day. (See also: Hive vs Nest thermostats.)

Scheduling Hive Active Light

Apart from colour options, we found one more major configuration that might be very useful: that is the bulb schedule option. You have a weekly calendar where you can set up when the light comes on and when it switches off. You can choose different times for each day, add more times, or keep it simple and copy one schedule for the whole week with a simple ‘copy and save’ option. It is exactly as you might use your smart heating, but for light.

One thing we missed: in the scheduled section, we couldn’t find a way to schedule the light to go from dim to light really slowly. This felt like an ideal use case to us, as it would help us wake up in the morning. We asked Hive to clarify if this is possible, and a spokesperson told us that it can be done, but is a little fiddly and the light won’t automate the process. Basically, you would set a schedule at 7am for 5 percent dimmable, then 7:05 at 10 percent dimmable, then 7:10 at 15 percent and so on. It’s not actually as difficult as it sounds, but not straight forward.

Hive App - light

Hive App - light

The thing to remember is that the lamp needs to be switched on the whole time, and the bulb is controlled by the App or run on the schedule. You can turn it on or off any time, but you need to use the Hive App to do so, not the lamp switch. This does take some time to get use to, and could cause some confusion for family members or guests who reach for the light switch not realising that it is merely an override.

How Hive Active Light worked in our home

We found that overall the smart LED Hive Active Light worked as advertised. However, we had one incident when we were not home and the bulb switched on by itself, scaring a family member that was home. Even though it was not scheduled to be on at that time. Once notified, we were able to remotely use the Hive App from our office to turn off the light again. We’re not sure what went wrong that time. It probably won’t happen to you, but it is only fair to mention.

Assuming you have one of the Hive Motion Detectors as well, you can program the light to come on when it senses movement in the relevant room. (We don’t have this extra device so were not able to test this feature.) For more on Hive, see our best smart heating systems article.

Hive Active Light: Specs

  • Screw or bayonet light bulb
  • Requires Hive Hub
  • 60mmx120mm
  • 116g
  • 806 lumens
  • Power Consumption: 9.5W
  • Energy Rating: A+
  • Operating Voltage: 220-240V
  • Colour Spectrum: RGBW
  • Colour Temperature: 2700K-6500K
  • L70 Lifetime: 25,000 Hrs
  • Beam Angle: 240 degrees
  • For indoor use only

OUR VERDICT

The Hive Active Light Colour changing bulb is an easy and smart way to introduce lighting into your smart home environment. Especially if you already own the Hive system. We found the different coloured bulb more of a gimmick and something we would not use day to day. However, the Cool to Warm White bulb is the one we would recommend, as being able to change the colour temperature of the light is a very handy feature.

Retailer Price Delivery  

Price comparision from , and manufacturers

Go to Source

AMD’s successor to Ryzen CPUs could launch in early 2018

We’ve just discovered that the successor to AMD’s freshly revealed Ryzen chips is expected to be unleashed in early 2018, and the company has already been talking about the sort of performance gains we can expect to see.

Lisa Su, chief executive of AMD, revealed details of what she called the Zen 2 (codenamed Pinnacle Ridge) and Zen 3 processors – the next-generation, and the one after that – in a Reddit ‘ask me anything’ session.

AMD will be concentrating on boosting up the IPC (instructions per clock) for these upcoming CPUs, and we can apparently expect performance improvements of around 5% to 15% with both incarnations.

Those are fairly modest gains, but that’s only to be expected when it comes to refining Ryzen – which itself was a massive jump in terms of performance (over 50% compared to last-gen AMD processors) because it was built from the ground-up.

Actual real-world gains in terms of frame-rates may well be greater, as well, when you consider further improvements will likely be made in terms of optimization for games (currently Ryzen isn’t performing as well as it could in 1080p for many titles), plus improved compatibility with faster DDR4 RAM, and doubtless other things besides.

As Wccftech reports, Su stated: “In new product development, you always learn a lot and we have our list of things that we are adding to Zen 2 and Zen 3 to get even more performance going forward.”

1080p woes

On the topic of disappointment regarding Ryzen’s 1080p performance, Su has previously said: “In 1080p, we have tested over 100+ titles in the labs… And depending on the test conditions, we do better in some games and worse in others.

“We hear people on wanting to see improved 1080p performance and we fully expect that Ryzen performance in 1080p will only get better as developers get more time with Zen. We have over 300+ developers now working with Zen and several of the developers for Ashes of Singularity and Total Warhammer are actively optimizing now.”

As you’ve no doubt seen, Ryzen 7 processors are available now (although stock is thin on the ground), with the midrange Ryzen 5 series due in the next couple of months, and budget Ryzen 3 CPUs are expected to land in the second half of 2017.

Go to Source

Android vs iPhone: which is best?

Android vs iPhone: which is best?

So you want a new phone, but you’re considering jumping ship from Android or iOS. But is the grass really greener on the other side, or should you stick with what you know? Here we outline the pros and cons of Android phones and iPhones. It’s Android vs iPhone: iOS vs Android.

Android vs iPhone: Hardware, software, security and privacy


By

So you want a new phone, but you’re considering jumping ship from Android or iOS. But is the grass really greener on the other side, or should you stick with what you know? Here we outline the pros and cons of Android phones and iPhones. It’s Android vs iPhone: iOS vs Android. See also: Best new phones

Before we get started, we must point out that this guide is intended as a brief overview to help you decide whether to choose an Android phone or an iPhone. It’s not meant to be an exhaustive comparison of every last feature, both in hardware and software, of each type of phone. And we also know that die-hard fans won’t be persuaded to switch – that’s not the aim of this article at all.

Update March 2017: The latest figures from StatCounter show that not only is Android used by way more people than iOS, but it’s also challenging Windows to be the most used OS in the world (for internet access, at least). In February 2017, Windows held a share of 38.6 percent, and Android came within striking distance at 37.4 percent. Apple’s iOS in the same period had a share of around 13 percent.

And according to GSM Arena, Samsung sold the most phones worldwide in 2016 with 308.5 million. Apple sold 215.5 million. Huawei is now no.3 with Xiaomi in fourth place.

Android vs iPhone: At a glance

iPhone

Android vs iPhone

Android vs iPhone

Pros

  • Hardware and software both controlled and optimised by Apple
  • Curated app store, fewer worries of malware
  • Generally good support

Cons

  • No expandable storage
  • Walled-garden ecosystem
  • Limited customisation

Android

Android vs iPhone

Android vs iPhone

Pros

  • Open source, easily customised
  • Expandable storage on many phones
  • Wider choice of phones

Cons

  • Higher chance of malware
  • Interface not the same on all phones
  • Patchy support

Android vs iPhone: Apps

Android vs iPhone

Android vs iPhone

We’ll get to the phones and operating systems shortly, but let’s deal with apps first. A few years ago, developers released their apps for iOS first, and Android users tended to have to wait a while (forever in some cases) before they could get them.

Now, aside from a few rare exceptions, apps are available on both platforms and typically there’s no wait for the Android version. The breadth of choice is excellent on both, and better than you’ll find with the competition: Microsoft’s Windows Phone (now Windows 10 Mobile) and Amazon’s Fire OS.

Most people should choose and Android phone or an iPhone since Microsoft appears to be fighting a losing battle with Windows phones, and Amazon has already given up with the only phone it ever made: you can no longer buy a Fire Phone.

Android vs iPhone: Hardware

The simple fact is that if you want an iPhone, you’ve a much easier choice than if you’re choosing an Android phone. That’s down to the fact that Apple tends to sell only three or four different models at any one time, with screen sizes ranging from 4in (the iPhone SE) up to the 5.5in iPhone 6S Plus (to be superseded by the iPhone 7 Plus in a couple of days. In the middle is the iPhone 6S, with its 4.7in screen.

Android vs iPhone

Android vs iPhone

This also covers most budgets, with the SE starting at £359 from Apple (and cheaper if you shop around), up to the flagship which starts at £619.

Android phones, on the other hand, are so plentiful that it can be tricky choosing the right one. Prices range from £50 to around £800, and there are both well-known manufacturers such as Samsung and Sony, to brands you’ve never heard of.

Are iPhones better than the best Android phones? Not necessarily, no. Some Android phones have better cameras than iPhones, while others have higher-resolution screens, or additional features that you don’t get with iPhones, such as NFC, heart-rate monitors and – crucially – expandable storage.

It’s possible to buy iPhones with a lot of storage, but not all models offer 128GB. And Apple charges a lot for extra storage. With many Android phones, you can insert a microSD card. Even a 64GB card can cost as little as £13, but you’ll pay much, much more for the equivalent extra space inside an iPhone.

There are advantages to having more internal storage, including the fact that you don’t have to worry about where your apps, music, video and other files are stored. You’re guaranteed good performance, too, which isn’t something that can be said about all the SD cards you can buy. In fact, if you’re looking for a memory card, see our Best microSD cards roundup

Android vs iPhone: Software

Android has improved in leaps and bounds and we’re now at the point where both iOS and Android are tied for the best mobile operating system.

Of course, this is much subjective as objective, and there will always be those that prefer iOS and those that think Android is best.

Here’s how they differ at a fundamental level.

Home screens

Most obviously, iPhone apps all sit on multiple home screens, just as they have always done. Sure, you can put them in folders and search for them, but your home screens can’t really be customised.

Android vs iPhone

Android vs iPhone

With Android, there’s a lot more freedom. You can make it like iOS, but equally you can shove all your apps in the app tray and leave your home screen to display a nice photo if you like, or add widgets to show the weather, world time and many other things.

Android vs iPhone

Android vs iPhone

Assistants

iPhones have Siri, Android phones have Google Now. Both do a similar job, but their capabilities differ. Google Now isn’t really a virtual assistant you can have a conversation with, whereas Siri does at least try.

Both can be used to set alarms, reminders, get directions, check cinema times and more and can send text messages and emails using dictation.

However, Siri tends to do a better job at understanding the task in hand and is less likely to dish up web search results for “tell my wife I’ll be home at 7”.

Plus, in iOS 10, Apple has opened up Siri to app developers, so should get a whole lot more useful. As with any voice assistant, though, you need to spend some time learning how to phrase your question or command in order to make it happen quickly.

Flexibility

It’s hard to know what to call this section, so we called it flexibility. It’s about what you can and can’t do: the limitations of each device.

With Android you can toggle an option to install software from unknown sources (so you can install the Amazon Underground app, for example), but on an iPhone you’re limited to what’s available in the App Store in your country. (Yes, you can jailbreak your iPhone to get around this, but it’s not a great idea for several reasons we won’t go into here.)

Plug an Android phone into a PC, and it acts like a hard drive. You can view, copy and delete files just like you would on a USB flash drive. That makes it supremely easy to transfer videos, music and documents from any computer.

Not so with an iPhone. Plug it in to a PC and it’s as if you’ve connected a digital camera. You can copy off photos and videos, but that’s it. The rest of the file system is walled off and you can only add videos, music and other files using iTunes or other specialist software.

The downside of Android’s flexibility is that phone manufacturers (most obviously Samsung and Huawei) change the look and feel of Android to the point where it feels like learning a new operating system when you pick up their phones.

Some manufacturers, including Motorola, and Google’s own Nexus phones have ‘standard’ Android, which many people prefer.

Buy an iPhone and you’re not limited to just Google or just Apple services. Every Google service (other than the Google Play store of course) is available on an iPhone and unlike in the past, there aren’t really any disadvantages of using Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Maps or YouTube on an iPhone. They’re better integrated on an Android phone, and the only real limitation on an iPhone is that – unlike on Android – you can’t choose which app is the default for email, calendar, web browsing etc.

This means you will always be fired off to Safari when you tap a web link in the email app, and not Google Chrome or Opera.

Conversely, very few Apple services are available on Android phones. You can’t use iMessage or FaceTime. Nor can you share photos or your location via iCloud. But there are plenty of cross-platform apps you can install to do all these things between iPhones and Android phones, including Whatsapp, Viber, Skype, Glympse, Google Photos, Facebook and more.   

Security and privacy

Apple is well known for its stance of privacy and – in short – while there’s some data harvesting going on (mostly for reasons of convenience) – it isn’t going to give up your data when the FBI comes calling.

Google, on the other hand, is mainly after your data to make money. So if you value privacy, the iPhone is probably the better choice.

The recent FBI vs Apple case has also highlighted that iPhones are pretty darned secure. Data is encrypted and can’t be accessed without the passcode. And with some of the changes introduced since iOS 8, thieves are more likely to think twice about stealing an iPhone which is unusable without that same passcode.

Android phones can also be secure. As of version 6.0 Marshmallow, full-disk encryption was made mandatory, but phones which shipped with earlier versions may not support this.

Android is also more vulnerable to malware. Not only does Android have a much larger market share than iOS (roughly 80 percent versus iOS’s 20-odd percent) which makes it more attractive to cybercriminals, but it’s much easier to get that malware onto an Android phone because it isn’t locked down like an iPhone.

However, while Android malware and viruses do exist you can protect an Android phone by only installing apps from the Google Play store and by running an antivirus app.

Android vs iPhone: which is best?

You may have come to this article specifically to answer this question, but the bad news is that there’s no easy answer. The best depends on your priorities and needs.

If you need a phone which costs less than £359, you’re going to have to choose Android (or buy a second-hand iPhone).

Sometimes it comes down to the other gadgets you or your friends and family own. If you desperately want an Apple Watch, or you like the idea of a controlled, safe (even private) ecosystem, then buy an iPhone. The iPhone plays very nicely with iPads and Macs, so if you or other family members have these, you’ll (probably) be happiest with an iPhone.

If you want a Google Wear watch, you’ll have the best experience with an Android phone. Similarly, if you’re technically minded or like to customise your phone, you’re going to prefer Android as it’s so much more flexible than an iPhone.

Go to Source

BenQ GW2406Z review

In recent years AOC has been the go-to brand if you wanted a cheap IPS PC monitor. But other manufacturers have been quick to release their own models, and BenQ’s new GW2406Z should prove tempting at just £120.

BenQ GW2406Z review: Price

You can buy the GW2406Z for £116 from Amazon. This is a good price for a 24in IPS monitor, especially one which looks this good.

You can see the other monitors we recommend in our Best monitors roundup.

BenQ GW2406Z review: Features and design

The GW2406Z isn’t aimed at gamers specifically – IPS screens don’t have the fast response rates of TN panels. But for casual gamers it will be fine.

Instead, this is a ‘general use’ screen that’s going after those that want a good-looking monitor and the kind of ultra-thin bezels we’re starting to see on laptops and high-end TVs. Note that the display itself doesn’t go right to the edge of the panel, but stops a few millimetres before it, so the total bezel width is around 10mm, but has the appearance of 5mm.

BenQ GW2406Z review

BenQ GW2406Z review

This thinning down appears to have only one drawback: the power supply is external rather than built in. But it’s a minor inconvenience if you can hide it out of sight somewhere under your desk.

At this price you wouldn’t expect a fully adjustable stand, and you don’t get one. The screen tilts up and down, but that’s it.

It does have three inputs: DisplayPort 1.2, HDMI 1.4 and VGA D-Sub. There’s a headphone output which routes audio from the HDMI or DisplayPort inputs, but there are no built-in speakers. VGA and HDMI cables are bundled in the box.

BenQ GW2406Z review

BenQ GW2406Z review

The 24in panel has the expected 1920×1080 full-HD resolution, but BenQ lists it as an AH-IPS panel. This stands for Advanced High-performance IPS, but essentially it is the same as other IPS screens.

You won’t find a whole lot of image controls in the on-screen menu, such as gamma or colour temperature presets, but the essentials are there.

Using the OSD is a pain because, as with so many monitors, the button labels are almost invisible. And the five buttons in the bottom edge all feel the same to your fingers, so it’s all too easy to press the power button instead of the menu button.

BenQ GW2406Z review

BenQ GW2406Z review

BenQ GW2406Z review: Performance

Considering the price, image quality is decent. Attaching our Spyder5Elite colorimeter, we measured a maximum brightness of 240.6cm/m2 and contrast of 750:1 (lower than the claimed 250cd/m2 and 1000:1), but at least contrast remained the same no matter the brightness level.

At the recommended brightness of 120cm/m2, the black level of 0.25cd/m2 isn’t amazingly inky but – again, for the price – it’s perfectly workable.

The average Delta E of 1.92 is towards the higher end of what we like to see, but in general colours and greyscale are accurate.

Using the Spyder to calibrate the screen we saw a final gamma of 2.26, which is fairly close to the ideal of 2.2. But the out of the box settings are not far off that, so you won’t necessarily need a calibrator.

The 2406Z covers 98 percent of the sRGB gamut, 77 percent of Adobe RGB and 74 percent of NTSC. This, along with the reasonably accurate out-of-box colours, means it’s a good budget choice for editing photos and colour-correcting video, although not if this needs to be done to professional standards. It’s just better than the average TN-based monitor.

Contrast, although not the highest, is good enough and thanks to the IPS panel, viewing angles are very good both horizontally and vertically.

What this means is that, unlike cheap TN monitors, you won’t be tilting the screen back and forward to try to figure out which emails are read and unread – the subtly different shades are easily discernible on the BenQ. It also means minimal colour shift and brightness dropoff if you’re not viewing the display square on.

But if you like to play a lot of fast-paced games, you might be better off with the similarly priced AOC G2460VQ6 which has a 75Hz TN panel.

Go to Source

[Daily Deal] 40% off the Zacro 3D VR Headset

The Zacro 3D is a VR Headset with high quality lens to reduce glare and prevent visual fatigue. With the knobs and buttons you can adjust the focal distance and the ergonomic headband ensures balanced pressure distribution. The Zacro 3D VR Headset is compatible with any 4 to 6-inch smartphone including iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S7. Get it within the next 3 hours and save 40% at £10.19.

You may also be interested in the following offers

£62.88 for the 240GB Goldendisk SDD
Revive any computer with this SSD by Goldendisk. With 240GB of storage space, it’s 10 times faster than a standard 7200RPM hard drive. It’s also totally silent and more reliable as the SSD has no moving components. Get the 240GB Goldendisk SSD for just £62.88.

Get the EFOSHM Fitness Bracelet for £29.99
The EFOSHM Fitness Bracelet can track your daily activities and monitor the quality of your sleep. It counts steps, calories burned as well as distances. The built-in screen displays time and alerts, and vibrations let you know when it’s time so get out your sit. The tracker is compatible with Andoid and iOS smartphones. Get it today for just £29.99 with free delivery in the UK.


45% off the the Mpow Universal Bike Mount Holder.

This smartphone holder can be fitted on any bike, motorcycle or scooter with a handlebar of 1.1″. No tools are required with just a screw on the flipper and it’s designed with a one-button released function. It’s suitable for any smartphone of up to 5.7″. For extra security the clamp automatically adjusts to grip the device that holds in place firmly thanks to a strong adjustable non-slip clamp with silicone band straps. Get the Mpow Universal Bike Mount Holder for just £8.29.

Save 71% and get the Rampow MFI Lightning Cable for £6.29.

Charge and sync your Apple devices with this Rampow MFI (Made For iPhone) Lightning Cable. It’s compatible with all 8 Pin Apple devices including the iPhone 5, 5C, 6, and later, but also iPod Nano 7, iPad mini 2, mini 3, mini 4, iPad Air, iPad Pro and later. The nylon cable provides additional protection against bent damage and the USB and Lightning casings are protected by an aluminium shell.

46% off the Mpow Smart Fitness tracker

The Mpow Smart Fitness tracker can track your daily activities and monitor the quality of your sleep. It counts steps, calories burned as well as distances. It has a built-in screen and connects to the smartphone via Bluetooth to display caller ID and messages. It can also display messages from Facebook, Titter, Whatsapp, and more. The Mpow Smart Fitness Bracelet can also track sleep and wake you up with silent alarms. Get it today for just £21.69 with free delivery in the UK.

Get the Veho M7 Bluetooth speaker for £69.99

With its retro design, the Veho M7 is a Bluetooth speaker to stream music from your smartphone or your computer. The dual acoustic drivers are coupled with two 10W speakers and the rechargeable battery delivers 10 hours of music. The Veho M7 is IPX4 rated meaning that it’s protected against dust and water. It also features a USB port to serve as a powerbank to charge your smartphone. Get the Veho M7 Wireless Speaker for £69.99 on eBay.

Go to Source

Game of Thrones Season 7 news – release date, trailer and how to watch

Game of Thrones Season 7 news – release date, trailer and how to watch

The news we’ve all been waiting for is here: we will tell you when Game of Thrones is next on – and how to watch it. Read the latest news on the GoT Season 7 teasers and UK launch date.

Catch every episode of Game of Thrones on almost any device. Plus, when is Game of Thrones on next?


By

The release date for Game of Thrones Season 7 has been confirmed! Here’s what you need to know if you want to watch GoT, plus watch the Season 7 announcement trailer. See: Best media streamers 2015.

Season 7 of GoT will be the penultimate series, although rumour has it that HBO is in talks with author George RR Martin about a potential spin-off series. 

When is the Game of Thrones Season 7 release date?

While Season 6 aired on 25 April 2016 in the UK, Season 7 is coming a little later in 2017. We’ll see the first episode of season 7 broadcast on Monday 17 July 2017. In the US it will air on Sunday 16 July 2017.

Although there’s little to go on at the moment (unless you want some really filthy spoilers, which you won’t read on this site because we all love GoT far too much to ruin the experience) you can view the official teaser trailer at the top of this page.

How to watch Game of Thrones Season 7 online

When it does eventually arrive, Game of Thrones will be shown exclusively on Sky Atlantic in the UK, so if you’re a Sky customer with the right package then simply tune in via your Sky Box. If you want to watch online with an internet connection then you can do so with Sky Go or other methods.

Sky Go

Sky Go is available through web browsers and a wide range of devices including games consoles, smartphones and tablets. You simply download the app if necessary and log in with your Sky ID and password. Note that on consoles you may need an extra subscription such as Xbox Live Gold.

We imagine Game of Thrones Season 7 will be available on demand at 10pm each week following the broadcast of each new episode, following the schedule of Season 6.

Now TV

If you’re not a Sky customer then don’t worry as there is still an easy way to watch Game of Thrones Season 7 online. Sky Atlantic (and various other channels) is available through Sky Now TV as part of the Entertainment package which costs £6.99 per month.

You don’t have to sign up for a year or anything so you can cancel the subscription after Game of Thrones finishes if you want. If you’re a new customer you can do a 14-day free trial which will cover a couple of episodes.

Like Sky Go, Now TV is available on a wide range of devices including Chromecast, Roku, YouView, Xbox One, PS4, PC, Mac, Android and iOS. Sky also has the Now TV Box which you can buy for just £14.99.

See also: How to reduce ping.

HBO Now

Since Game of Thrones is an HBO TV show you can also use the broadcaster’s streaming service, HBO Now, to watch Game of Thrones Series 7 when it arrives. However, it’s only available across the pond so you’ll need to use a VPN in order to gain access.

Read: What is Sky Q and how much is it?

Go to Source