What was the last bit of tech/software that impressed you?

[bloomen]

For me it was OBS Studio. I've fiddled with screen capture stuff in the past but it was always agonising and never came up with usable video. This was incredibly effective, watching the video on a big TV and you could hardly tell its origin, and free to boot.

What of yourself?

[Monkeylegend]

The wheel.

[sparkyhx]

Sonos never ceases to surprise me. It just works and so so well.

[Gojira]

Monkeylegend said:

The wheel.

But what colour should it be?

[bloomen]

sparkyhx said:

Sonos never ceases to surprise me. It just works and so so well.

Heard the name. Never really bothered to check what it does. What is its party trick?

[sgtBerbatov]

Personal tech would be the Bose sunglasses I tried in Currys. Was weird that I could hear the music clearly with nothing on my ears, and I could hear my wife moaning at me clearly too.

Other than that, suppose it'd have to be the Wii U.

[feef]

Got a Piq0 projector. It's smaller than a Rubik's cube but projects a decent sized area and as it runs Android, supports Prime, Netflix and airplay as well as an HDMI input. Sound isn't great but I can imagine taking it travelling along with my bluetooth speaker which works really well.

[DaveTheRave87]

The Amazon/Alexa software is really impressing me at the moment. So simple to set up and seemlessly integrates across multiple devices.

I'm looking to upgrade to smart lights next year and I'm really impressed with the ability to remotely switch lights on and off after dark if I'm out.

[abzmike]

Office365 - It's like magic having access to everything wherever you are, on any device.

[steveatesh]

Sony A7iii eye tracking and focus abilities.

The ability to point the camera at a moving subject and for it to lock focus on the eye so accurately really impressed me every time I use it.

It does dogs too now. Brilliant.

[rdjohn]

abzmike said:

Office365 - It's like magic having access to everything wherever you are, on any device.

I have decided to quit next year. Works well most of the time, but this year something went wrong and their friendly adviser totally screwed things up, without my consent. I now have duplicates of every email and contact.

Whenever I need to look at something in Word, or Excel on my iPad it wants me to log in with 2-stage authentication. Life is just too short so I am going to Google docs / sheets.

I find the most useful app is a Google Maps - checking routes, destinations and the ability to ride / catch public transport easily, or drive with real-time data / travel information is just perfect.

I have used a Gmail since 2000, yet what does surprise me is that Google still can’t get its head around the fact that I retired in 2005 and live between 3-countries. So it does not need to offer me my best commute route the the workplace that I don’t have.

[bonerp]

Nest cameras - the hello and IQ specifically. I love the fact it provides full coverage, instant alerts and zooms in when it spots an unknown. Apart from that my Note 10 plus. Hugely powerful device linked in with Hue, Google mini and alexa (still can't decide which I prefer), and smart plugs! Finally my BT broadband set up - quick, full house coverage and added extras on my mobile too!

[AmosMoses]

DJI Spark - amazing bit of kit.

[mouseymousey]

Not new, I've been using it since you had to dial 2580 to use it, but Shazam always impresses me.

[alorotom]

Pixel Ambient services, specifically the Now Playing and Recorder elements

I love that the phone listens all the time and shows what's playing and keeps a log ... I have no to foil hat and nothing to hide.

Recorder is awesome. Set it down on a table in a meeting, hit record and it records the audio and transcribes it to text on the fly ... Astonishingly good software with zero vocal training!

[ben5575]

alorotom said:

Pixel Ambient services, specifically the Now Playing and Recorder elements

I love that the phone listens all the time and shows what's playing and keeps a log ... I have no to foil hat and nothing to hide.

Recorder is awesome. Set it down on a table in a meeting, hit record and it records the audio and transcribes it to text on the fly ... Astonishingly good software with zero vocal training!

Recorder looks great. Can you save the transcriptions into Word etc? Can it distinguish separate voices as well or does it just transcribe everything it hears?

[GetCarter]

Tech I've bought this year that has exceeded expectations.

Brennan B2

https://www.brennan.co.uk


Canon G5X Mk2

https://www.canon.co.uk/cameras/powershot-g5-x-mar...


Oppo PM3

https://www.oppodigital.com/headphones-pm-3/

[sparkyhx]

bloomen said:

sparkyhx said:

Sonos never ceases to surprise me. It just works and so so well.

Heard the name. Never really bothered to check what it does. What is its party trick?

Stable, never needs re-connecting rebooting etc
I run mine with a NAS drive and some streaming services (daughter Apple), wife Spotify (on a free trial)
Speakers can play individually or in groups at will.
Each speaker can play music from its own source at the same time (this used to be the main USP, but not sure if its still unique)
Sound is reasonable (i'm an audiophile and have highish standards)

Its several years since I started with Sonos (2xPlay1, 2xPlay5 1xPlay3 and a Connect) and at the time its ease of use, connectability, stability etc was unparalleled. Like I said things have changed and there may be alternatives that meet the same criteria. The Bose version (of the Play5) at the time sounded better, but was more expensive and couldn't do the "play from different sources at the same time" trick.

[sparkyhx]

alorotom said:

Pixel Ambient services, specifically the Now Playing and Recorder elements

I love that the phone listens all the time and shows what's playing and keeps a log ... I have no to foil hat and nothing to hide.

Recorder is awesome. Set it down on a table in a meeting, hit record and it records the audio and transcribes it to text on the fly ... Astonishingly good software with zero vocal training!

yeh, it is impressive - good call

[anonymous-user]

Last tech I bought, for my Mum, and then consequently for a mate , Netgear Orbi.