Twinkly is an Italian tech company and market leader in smart lighting. Founded in 2016, the business has recently been ranked as one of Europe’s fastest-growing companies and is now a global brand. Twinkly has revolutionised the world of decorative lighting with a range of technologically advanced, patented and internationally awarded products.
Twinkly offers a complete ecosystem of connected LED lights that can be easily controlled via your smartphone. Technologically advanced, a special computer vision algorithm detects the exact position of each light in the room, allowing you to customise your lights and create extraordinary lighting effects.
Fun, advanced and full of endless possibilities, Twinkly Dots can take any man cave from a two to a ten. The lights are easy to install and can spruce up any room with its sleek and small design. All of Twinkly’s lights can be customised to any unique colour or pattern with the free Twinkly app, available on iOS and Android.
Twinkly’s most revolutionary product to date, Squares is a flawless gift for any gamer dad out there. Squares are made up of six wall panels which feature 64 premium, app-controlled LEDs that bring an array of patterns, artwork and colours to life. The panels integrates with Razer’s RGB lighting technology system to take gaming to the next level with stunning lighting effects that react to gameplay
Does your dad spend a lot of time behind the grill in the summer? With Festoon, he will be able to upgrade his outdoor space at the tap of a button. These bold, premium string lights are available in either 20 LED and 40 LEDs, meaning the scope to create vibrant and colourful designs is limitless.
Twinkly Flex is available in 2m and 3m lengths and brings any shape to life. Perfect for the DIY dad, Flex gives you the ability to design your own effects through the Twinkly app from a selection of different patterns and over 16 million colours. Give your dad a hand and help him to sculpt the light to his liking.
For the dad that loves to spend his time listening to his favourite, nostalgic tunes, get your hands on Twinkly Music. This nifty little sound sensor can be paired with any of Twinkly’s lights to make each individual LED dance to the beat of the music.
Another day another scam has just landed on WhatsApp and this time Guinness maker Diageo are apparently giving away free mini fridges full of beer for Fathers Day which is quickly approaching, in fact I got two of these text in succession and you can see the screenshots below as what you will see on your device but do not open the link.
In the so called quiz you will be asked a few questions then you will be given three chance to open a parcel and it is most likely you will be told you won with so many mini fridges left which changes every time you enter, so it is certainly a scam and it should be ignored
We have contacted Guinness for a statement on this and will revert back if we hear back from them. As always you should be vigilant and if it looks too good to be true it most likely is and there is many scams doing the rounds of late so beware. Update! A spokesperson since has stated they have nothing to do with the scam.
Britons have more than a thousand photos stored on their smartphone – all of which are at risk of being lost forever because of laziness and digital confusion.
Research found that millions of Britons don’t backup their pictures and of those who have no digital backup plan, a third say it’s because they simply “can’t be bothered” or they don’t know how to.
The news comes as Britons claim they know protecting digital images is important and more than a third admit they have irreplaceable pictures of passed loved ones stored on their device, making the issue of data loss even more poignant.
The new research has been released by F-Secure, a global leader in cyber security experiences to mark World Backup Day this Friday (31 March). The findings also revealed that losing photos would have the biggest impact on Britons’ lives, more than losing passwords, contacts and login details.
Timo Laaksonen, F-Secure CEO, says: “In today’s digital age, people carry their memories, contacts, and important documents in their pockets. This collection of digital moments is crucial to our lives, yet we are leaving ourselves vulnerable to data loss, which makes no sense.
“World Backup Day is a reminder to take that extra step and protect our digital assets. While 59% of respondents in our survey said they think protecting their digital images is important, they’re not doing it.“
When asked what moments they capture digitally, Britons said holidays and travel were the most common, followed by personal pictures and shots of family and friends. The full list is:
Holidays and travel
Personal pictures
Family and friends
Children
Passed loved ones
Work material
Health and fitness selfies
Timo Laaksonen, F-Secure CEO, concludes: “World Backup Day helps us raise awareness of the importance of data backup and protection and encourage people to take a pledge to back up their digital life, whether it’s personal or professional. It is an opportunity to assess the value of the data that we carry around with us every day and to ensure that the data is protected.”
To help Britons backup, F-Secure offers these five tips:
Follow the 3-2-1 rule to backup – make at least three copies on two different devices, and one kept offline in a different location.
If you backup your data to an external hard drive, disconnect it from your computer when a backup isn’t being done. This will prevent your backup data being stolen or damaged along with your computer.
If you’re using an online cloud storage service, make sure you use a strong password and enable two-factor authentication (an identity and access management security method that requires two forms of identification to access resources and data to add an extra level of security to your data).
Enable automatic backups or schedule regular backups so you don’t have to remember to do it.
Install cybersecurity to avoid malware (a term for any type of malicious software designed to harm or exploit any programmable device, service or network) from erasing your data/photos.
Esri Ireland, the market leader in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), has created a digital map of some of the best parades, festivals and events happening across the country this St. Patrick’s Day.
Get your Gaelic groove on with Esri’s interactive map, which showcases a host of festivities to cater to all ages. Celebrate Ireland’s patron saint and marvel at spectacular floats, peruse the street artists, jig to ceilidh bands, feast at food stands, and have your ears tickled by enchanting yarn-spinners.
Whether you’re dancing in Belfast, going medieval in Kilkenny, or soaking up the culture in Waterford, this map will sham-rock your St. Patrick’s Day!
Google searches for Sleep are at an all time high. How can I fall asleep faster? Why can’t I sleep? How much sleep do I need? Did I sleep well? are just some of the questions people turn to Google for help with everyday. Google Search trends are telling us that phrases like “sleep,” “sleep apnea” and “night routine” are trending more than ever and with World Sleep Day coming up on the 17th March, here is some Google products and features that can help to create routines for winding down, enjoying a deeper rest and waking up feeling your best.
How your Pixel phone can help you rest undisturbed
Many people keep their phone on their nightstand but with that comes the temptation to scroll through emails and social media, or check every notification instead of getting some rest. Pixel 7 Pro, Pixel 7 and Pixel 6a come with features that can help people avoid this. Flip to Shhh puts the phone into Do Not Disturb mode when laid face down, and Digital Wellbeing lets users manage time spent on the phone while setting limits on certain websites and apps. When it’s in Bedtime mode, Pixel can also help people understand the quality of their sleep using AI to analyze audio such as coughs and snores during the night.
How Pixel Buds Pro can tune out the world
Whether it’s bustling city noise or a snoring partner, it can be hard to find peace and quiet when it’s time to wind down. Pixel Buds Pro have Active Noise Cancellation with Silent Seal to help block outside noise. Pair with Pixel Watch or Pixel Phones for a mindful meditation from YouTube Music in the evening. See our Pixel Buds Pro review and pixel watch strap review and if you need a case look here.
How the Pixel Watch and Fitbit Versa 4 detects personal sleep trends
Pixel Watch and the Fitbit Versa 4 are both equipped with sleep tracking features that are powered by Fitbit’s sleep technology. Combining accelerometer data, heart rate variability (the changes in time between beats) and proven machine learning algorithms, Pixel Watch and the Fitbit Versa 4 can estimate how long people spend in light, deep and REM sleep stages, as well as time awake each night. Users can wake up to their Sleep Score and better understand personal sleep trends so they can experiment and make adjustments that work for them.
How Nest Hub (2nd Gen) can sense sleep quality
Prefer not to wear a watch to bed? Nest Hub (2nd Gen) with Sleep Sensing tracks sleep without a camera, using a low-energy radar that analyzes movement and breathing. Wake up with gentle sounds and a soft change in light then check out the sleep summary to see sleep length, disturbances like coughing or snoring and whether the bedroom temperature got too low or high.
How Google Home app can automate the bedtime routine
Setting a consistent routine is one of the best ways to improve sleep over time. By creating a Personal or Household routine in the Google Home app, people can cue actions like turning off the lights or the TV at a certain time and playing relaxing meditation music on the Nest Hub (2nd Gen). If the room gets too hot or cold at night, the Nest Hub can be used the following night to make adjustments like changing the temperature on the Nest Thermostat.
Some people already know exactly what they find so appealing about MMORPGs. Short for massive multiplayer online role-playing games, this acronym contains most of what people need to know to understand the trend. These games offer the opportunity to explore new, often more powerful, roles in an online setting with other real people.
The MMORPG genre is also one of the most diverse in the gaming world, which means players can always find something new to try. Even within the most popular games, players who are able to get ahead can find popularity and success as well as other new ways to play. Of course, for those who want shortcuts, there’s also game boosting services. Check out https://kboosting.com/ for more on that subject.
One of the great things about MMORPGs is that the fun of playing doesn’t come from just getting ahead and winning, as in many types of online games. Good MMORPGs have a lot of excitement to offer along the way too.
Themes and Lore
Most games tell a story on some level, but modern-day MMORPGs go above and beyond when it comes to storytelling. They incorporate entire worlds with both internally consistent themes and overarching lore. Of course, World of Warcraft (WoW) is one of the best-known examples of this. The hugely popular game has established an entire online universe complete with its own lore and traditions, which is part of what makes the gaming experience so immersive.
WoW’s original designers were also smart about how they constructed their online universe. As anyone who has even heard of the game likely already knows, it contains a universe replete with fantasy creatures and recognizable themes. The result is an engaging game that also feels approachable to its target audience, even those that have never played WoW or MMORPGs.
The Old Republic is another excellent example of this technique for world-building. The game is based in the Star Wars universe, which means it came factory-made with a huge fan base. Many people across the globe were already heavily invested in the Star Wars series before the game came out thanks to its well-developed characters and internal lore in addition to the series’ attention-grabbing plot twists.
Given the overlap between Star Wars and gaming cultures, developing an MMORPG that takes place in the same world was a surefire way to catch consumers’ attention and get them excited to play. The proverbial birth of Darth Vader in the series was the icing on the cake, as his inclusion in the game allowed players to experience multiple perspectives and essentially play for both teams. Creating an opportunity to engage with the Star Wars universe’s most substantial stories and lore in this way is what made The Old Republic really stand out.
Active Psychological Engagement
Storytelling isn’t the only thing that successful MMORPGs get right. These games also require substantial player buy-in, in both literal and figurative ways, which means they must compel substantial, active psychological engagement. In most cases, this goal is accomplished using what are known as microtransactions.
Some people assume that the switch from profiting primarily off of hard copies of games to charging small amounts of money for in-game goods and services only benefits the gaming industry. In fact, it’s also designed to grab players’ attention and appeal to the modern consumer’s lust for growth.
If the developers get this detail right, their games appeal to both younger players that enjoy the slow progression of gameplay and adults that already have the expendable cash to simply buy power-ups and items instead of grinding for hours.
Multiple Modes of Play
MMORPGs generally allow gamers to play either against each other or against the game itself. The ability to choose between two different forms of play helps to keep things exciting for a wider number of people, but only if game developers get the details right.
Player-vs-player (PVP) game design requires careful consideration of what options are offered in the course of gameplay. Entertaining PVP MMORPGs aren’t created by offering an ever-increasing number of choices. Rather, they offer properly balanced options that allow players to cater to their strengths and weaknesses without detracting from gameplay or the storyline.
Each choice made in a PVP MMORPG affects not just other decisions and options but also how a player’s character develops, which is very important in this type of game. As a result, an entertaining and well-designed MMORPG balances choice and consistency as a means of offering greater character definition.
In player-vs-environment (PVE) gameplay, the elements of entertainment are somewhat different. Players are generally presented with a scenario that involves working together to solve problems or overcome obstacles, giving them the chance to collaborate instead of competing with each other. As a general rule, successful PVE MMORPGs rely on complexity to create obstacles that require both teamwork and individual skill.
Inherent complexity isn’t enough to create a truly entertaining PVE MMORPG, though. Games that rely exclusively on this component often wind up dividing the player base, as some people will get frustrated.
Creating a diversity of obstacles that require different sets of in-game and real-world skills to resolve is a good way to maintain engagement without alienating players, so it’s common to see PVE MMORPGs with many different skills, challenges, and ways to experiment.
Heavy Focus on Team Play
Every game will eventually be beaten, and while MMORPGs are typically large in scale and take longer to complete than standard single-player games, they’re no exception.
To draw out gameplay and make sure players get their money’s worth in the form of ongoing entertainment, MMORPGs usually include a heavy focus on team play, requiring gamers to find ways to cooperate and work together effectively to progress in the game.
Focusing on team play also offers the opportunity for adding complexity without alienating players. While it’s true that just about every popular MMORPG has its clans of heavily invested and highly skilled players determined to beat others to the finish line, most groups of players consist of people with varying skills and skill levels.
Steep learning curves mean it takes longer to gain true mastery of any skill in the game, but working with others means that less-skilled players can still progress as they learn so that they don’t get bored.
Challenging Gameplay
Keeping new MMORPGs exciting for avid gamers is more of a challenge than appealing to the general masses. Games that do so successfully incorporate challenging gameplay mechanics at the higher levels to make sure that people who enjoy improving their skill and dexterity have opportunities to do so. This aspect of games doesn’t matter to everyone, but there are enough avid gamers out there that need extra challenges to stay interested, the best MMORPGs incorporate complex skill learning to meet their expectations.
What About the Role-Playing?
Role-playing is an integral part of MMORPGs. In fact, it’s right there in the name. The aspect of exploring different roles and personalities is a major part of what keeps people engaged and entertained, but it’s a little-discussed factor because of some negative associations that have popped up over the years in popular culture.
While those who are strictly into the role-playing aspect of gaming tend to prefer tabletop games because of the welcoming and accepting culture around those experiences, there’s still plenty of entertainment value to be found in computer games.
What most people don’t realize is that even the elitist gamers who claim not to be into role-playing tend to forget all about their criticisms when they encounter an MMORPG with a good storyline. Games with established lore tend to appeal more to role players than do alternatives that have strict story progressions, but any MMORPG can offer the tools and environments required to keep these players entertained.
Most MMORPGs appeal to role players by incorporating these elements essentially as metagames. Attempting to incorporate role-playing fully into the thematic design tends to limit possibilities and make games less appealing and entertaining to players who enjoy this aspect of gaming.
Games that successfully appeal to avid role players without alienating other online communities often do so by incorporating extra cosmetic tools such as skins and costumes that keep people immersed and engaged and typically find ways to reward engaging in these aspects of play.
Social Aspects of MMORPGs
For many people, the most entertaining aspect of MMORPGs isn’t gameplay or the story but social engagement. All MMOs are designed to bring gamers together, and online RPGs are no exception.
Plenty of games succeed more because they are effective at helping players adapt to the online social environment that has been created than because they offer anything particularly unique or new in terms of gameplay mechanics, aesthetics, or world-building. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying a relatively simple MMORPG simply because it offers a good outlet for social interaction even without getting all of the factors described above right.
Find a Better Gaming Experience
There’s no one reason to love MMORPGs any more than there is one game that will appeal to everyone. Gamers need to keep trying new things to figure out exactly what they are looking for.
Essential feature phones are making a comeback with people craving simplicity and a way to escape digital fatigue by going back to basics. Not only that, Y2K and retro trends are showing no sign of slowing in 2023 with Google searches for “Y2K” up and on the rise since 2021 according to the latest report on Gen Z by GWI. Nokia have 4 iconic feature phones from HMD Global, the home of Nokia phones to obsess over this National Retro Day (27th February).
To celebrate all things retro you can claim a 10% discount across all feature phones online at https://www.nokia.com/phones using the code RETRO from Monday 27th February until Sunday 5th to March 23:59 GMT 2023.
Adam Ferguson, Head of Product Marketing at HMD Global, the home of Nokia phones says
“Gen Z and Millennials are going back to this style of device for a number of reasons. The clamshell design and retro camera aesthetic are all nostalgic of the 90s and Y2K era that has been so popular of late. Plus, with SMS and calls only, they are great for going back to basics, if you want to reduce screen time and take a digital detox. The iconic Nokia 3310 is still a perennial favourite given its iconic shape and it has that element of fun and feel good about it with classic features such as Snake.”
Nokia 2660 Flip
Starting at €74.99 RRP
Iconic flip design with a big display, big buttons, and zoomed-in interface.
Made of tough polycarbonate with a selection of stylish colours including red, black and blue.
Battery for weeks and tens of thousands of flip cycles endured to ensure superior durability, so you can go about your day with confidence and keep your phone for years.
Listen to FM Radio through earphones or the hands-free speaker and enjoy your favourite sport, music or broadcasts at home or on the move.
Nokia 8210
Starting at €74.99 RRP
Fall back in love with the return of an icon – the Nokia 8210 4G is reimagined for a modern-day audience and provides a timeless classic for today’s retro lovers.
The Nokia 8210 4G is inspired by the classic feature phone, but is now equipped with contemporary features including in-built MP3 player, wireless and wired FM radio, and a camera to capture life’s best bits – alongside a slice of retro courtesy of fan-favourite games like ‘Snake’.
A light and compact design seamlessly carries a massive battery which allows for longer conversations and weeks of standby so users can call, text, and go offline with confidence.
Nokia 5710 XpressAudio
Starting at €84.99 RRP
A completely unique device, this innovative feature phone features built-in wireless earbuds housed beneath a sleek and robust slider on the back of the phone saving you space in your pocket and letting you charge on the go.
A unique and stylish design – available in white/red and black/red colour combinations.
Dedicated music buttons make playback easy, the in-built MP3 player stores thousands of your songs, and wireless FM radio keeps you in the loop at home or on the move.
The big 1450 mAh battery delivers even longer talk time and playback time and lasts for weeks in standby.
Nokia 3310
Starting at €59.99 RRP
An iconic phone, re-designed for today with a reimagined rounded form in a selection of classic colours.
Remember when you could leave the house without a charger? Well, with the new Nokia 3310, you can. Talk all day or leave on standby for up to 31 days with the long-lasting battery.
Beat your high score with the legendary Snake game, updated for the colour screens.
11 February 2023 marks Global Movie Day, which was established to celebrate our favourite films, and sits alongside the Oscars. With smartphones driving the digital world, the film industry is also taking notice of how phones can capture award-winning videos.
As early as 2011, movies like “Olive” which was created on a Nokia N8 smartphone were Oscar contenders; while BAFTA recognised a short film Missed Call shot on iPhone X. More recently oscar-winning filmmaker, Charlie Kaufman shot a short film called Jackals and Fireflies, using Samsung’s Galaxy S22 Ultra smartphone.
Every year on the second Saturday of February, people share their excitement over movies with the hashtag #GlobalMovieDay and you can join in too, with inspiration from gimbal and lighting manufacturer Zhiyun. The firm recently launched its Make It Real short film collection and here outlines 10 must-try tips on taking better smartphone films.
Bring subject and scene to life with natural lighting
Lighting the subject and the scene is everything. This does several things, like drawing the viewer’s attention, establishing the mood, and also ensuring the audience can see what you want them to see. You can do that either using natural light or by creating a basic lighting setup that illuminates your subject sufficiently. Take a test shot after your frame is set to determine how it looks on camera.
The easiest lighting option is to use the sun; both powerful and free. Letting the sun illuminate your subjects provides a beautiful, even light that helps hide blemishes and brings out the colours in their eyes. However, the sun isn’t always available, whether hidden behind a cloud or shooting in the dark, so film makers should use whatever light is accessible to capture the most flattering shots. Shooting on cloudy days or in the shade or using a very sheer white curtain can help soften sunlight if it’s too harsh.
Use LED lighting in indoor and low light set ups
There are key lighting don’ts to avoid if you want the best possible shot of subject and backdrop. While the sun is an awesome tool to illuminate your subject, it can cause unwanted shadows. Ensure your back is to the sun to avoid your subject ending up as a silhouette. On the topic of lighting your subject, avoid heavily backlit-settings. Smartphone cameras without advanced HDR capabilities usually can’t see the same detail that the naked eye can and in playback, will output footage with a bright light haloing a dark figure with often no discernable features. To avoid this situation, try configuring a basic light setup.
If you don’t have access to natural light, it may be tempting to use bright LED flash from a phone. However, this can result in overexposed images and washed-out colours and should be avoided. As an alternative, use some fill lights that are designed to render colours faithfully.
Finally, avoid mixing all your light sources. When setting up video lighting, fight the urge to use everything you have. Using competing colour temperatures (think: warm light from a lamp combined with cool sunlight) isn’t ideal as your camera will try to adjust to the new white balances. As a solution, daylight colour bulbs (5,000-6,000K) are available but when in doubt, stick with natural lighting.
Focus on the detail
Think about your story telling. What do you want to portray and how could that be done through imagery that adds interest and depth to your narrative?
For instance, as well as light, our eyes are drawn to reflections. Look for opportunities to play with them in videos such as puddles, larger bodies of water, mirrors, sunglasses, drinking glasses, and metallic surfaces are just a few. Elsewhere, close-up images that capture small, intricate, and delicate details can add interest to scenes. Explore textures and patterns like peeling paint, rough tree bark, a serrated rooftop or a dirt road.
4. Change up how you frame each shot
Placement of your subject in a film is important. Completely fill the frame with your subject or for added interest film them slightly off-centre to create a more visually interesting scene. Play around and see what looks best. Let’s look at one of the most basic principles of film composition; the rule of thirds.
Picture a 3-by-3 grid laid over the field you’re filming. Instead of placing your subject right in the middle of the shot, you should place your subject along one of the lines of the grid. The points where the lines cross are particularly strong areas of visual focus, so if you can, do place important elements of the video there.
5. Unleash creativity with smart editing
You can edit footage directly on your phone if it already has editing software built in or by downloading an editing app. For those of you using a gimbal, there are plenty of apps with a bunch of clever effects that come with them.
The ZY Cami app for example can provide an intuitive solution for the creation and editing of video content. Why not let your imagination run wild with a 4K video recording at 60 frames per second? Alternatively, explore panorama mode to capture the beauty of landscapes. Timelapse, hyperlapse, and motion lapse modes add dimensions and perspectives to your movie.
6. Accessorise with add-on lenses
There are so many great accessories available now in smartphone video kits which can enhance your footage with new effects.
Add-on lenses are a great place to start. A filtered lens will give a tint to the scene, and incite a certain emotional response from your audience. Certain add-on lenses can bring cinematic depth of field to your shooting, others can create a fishbowl effect, which is often used in action sport filming like skateboard videos.
7. Stabilise your shots
A gimbal is essential for smartphone filmmaking and essential to avoiding shaky footage that looks amateurish and disorienting and will take hours to correct in post-production.
The gimbal head is an accessory you can purchase to add to your tripod, giving you the ability to move the camera around the scene while maintaining that necessary stability. The grip rig is slightly different as it is a handheld accessory with a similar purpose—stabilise the image. This type of device may be better suited for videos that require a lot of movement or action.
For example the SMOOTH 5S gimbal has helped filmmakers simplify their shooting and unleash their creativity, especially for small teams with limited budget. You can also find more film inspiration to help you create here.
8. Create cinematic sound
Sound is crucial if you want to keep your audience engaged. There are many options allowing you to capture quality audio externally for your smartphone footage. The simple addition of an audio recorder, boom mic, and even wireless microphones can make a huge difference to sound quality.
Audio recording devices can pick up every little sound, even an air conditioning unit or a train in the distance. With this in mind, as well as audio enhancing tools, pay attention to the locations where you are shooting. Locations with high background noise such as train stations will mean you have to deal with train and announcements noise. When indoors, check for echo and reverberation from the hard surfaces or other distracting sounds.
9. Bring extra charging power
Be aware that your smartphone battery is not going to last for a full feature film– especially if you’re spending hours shooting footage. The last thing that you want is your phone dying in the middle of a crucial scene.
Before filming, ensure that your phone is fully charged. Pack a backup charger, preferably a wireless one to allow yourself to continue filming even if your battery starts to get low.
10. Back it up
Always back up your footage onto an external device just in case you lose the movie saved to your smartphone. Simply use an external memory card or upload your film to your computer and create a copy of everything for extra assurance. An external memory card will also give you extra storage space if your phone is short on it.
The contest was hosted by Zhiyun, with Nikon as the title sponsor and partners including RØDE, Aputure, YC onion, Desview, SmallRig, iFootage, and Lexar, among others. The 2022 version attracted 1,429 entries, and 25 groups of entries awarded prizes and now we are excited to see what 2023 will bring.
With Valentine’s Day on the horizon, the challenge is on for lovers across the UK to find the perfect gift for their partners. Ten Four Communications has put together a selection of gadgets and accessories for shoppers searching for the perfect presents – no matter who you are buying for. Ranging from £15.99 to £209.99, including a sunrise/sunset simulation clock and affordable soundbars, there’s a great gift for everyone.
Help your loved one start their day a little easier with the Groov-e Light Curve.The light, which mimics natural daylight, will come on at the selected time, starting off gently and gradually getting brighter until it’s at the optimum level, offering a gentler wake-up that leaves them feeling fresher.
When it’s actually time to get out of bed, a chosen alarm sound or radio station will also be activated to help users wake fully. For those who like to read or need the light on darker mornings to get ready, the Light Curve has 10 levels of brightness using its LED lamp. And for those who want to create more of an atmosphere, one of the seven coloured mood lighting options can be selected.
Whether you are crafting the perfect love poem, or penning a love letter, the Rocketbook Mini notebook provides a classic pen and paper experience, yet is built for the digital age. Although it feels like a traditional pocket-sized notebook, the Mini is endlessly reusable and pairs with the Rocketbook app to connect to all of your favourite cloud services. Perfect for shopping lists, quick notes/reminders or to carry with you if you’re out and about. Rocketbook Mini comes in 11 colours.
If your partner is a lover of language and conversation , Pocketalk S is the perfect gift. They can enjoy flowing conversations without language barriers when travelling abroad. This handheld translator utilises the world’s best translation engines allowing for conversations in 82 different languages at the touch of a button. It offers more languages than Google Translate and yields quicker results, it even understands regional dialects and slang. What’s more, the camera offers speedy image-to-text translation, to easily decipher signs, menus and more. Additionally, a two-year roaming data plan for use in 130 countries is included in the cost so they don’t need to rely on WiFi or incur roaming charges.
The perfect gift for him or her, this stylish wireless charging stand makes a great personalised gift as it also doubles up a photo frame! With a blend of modern design and 10 watts of Qi charging technology, PowerPic Mod charges all of the newest, and oldest, wireless charging phones, including phones with cases up to 3mm thick and even AirPods Pro. The acrylic frame on PowerPic mod looks great in its own right or can be positioned vertically or horizontally and customised with any 4×6 photo.
Groov-e Soundbar 20
Price: £29.99
Available from Groov-e now and from Amazon, Curry’s and Robert Dyas from February
This stylish soundbar would make a great Valentine’s Day gift for music lovers. Compact, lightweight and offering 10+ hours playback per charge, it can easily be packed in suitcases, taken to university or used in the garden. The two 10 watt drivers and LED lights make it a perfect portable or party speaker. It’s also ideal for video and voice calls. Connect to a laptop, smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth.
The ideal gift for your tech enthusiast lover, the Bittle STEM kit is a palm sized robot dog that can help teach tech enthusiasts, young and old, learn about robotics and coding. Small but agile, Bittle STEM Kit can be programmed to walk, do tricks and roll around just like a real dog. Differing slightly from Bittle V1, the STEM Kit contains plastic-gear servos instead of metal ones and thus making it lighter and more flexible with different movements. It is more suitable for general STEM education and those who want to enjoy some robotics fun.
Gift your partner a slim profile, stylish wallet which offers easy access to all of their cards. There is also room for cash and a key. Classy, professional, casual, or active — the GOMATIC wallet is right for any situation. Choose your favourite colour or buy multiple colours to match your style.
