BTM brings you the latest gadgets to push your technological buttons.
VAONIS VESPERA SMART TELESCOPE The Vespera takes the work out of stargazing. The scope takes the images hitting its sensors and sends a live-view to your smartphone or tablet via Wi-Fi. This means you can set up the telescope outside (it has a four-hour battery life), jump under the covers and tour the Universe. The app presents a list of cosmic points of interest to point the telescope towards, like the birth of a star, and the motors and GPS aboard the telescope point the lens in the right direction. From there you can watch the view live, take stacks of photos to reveal more detail and share what you’re seeing with friends. Available from www.vaonis.com
RING GLASS BREAK SENSOR Need an extra layer of security at home? Ring›s new Glass Break Sensor can detect break-in attempts through glass windows and doors from up to 25 feet away. You›ll need a Ring Alarm or Ring Alarm Pro to use it, and you can configure the sensor to trigger a siren when it detects broken glass. Available from www.amazon.com
BALMUDA THE TOASTER This Tokyo-based tech company specialises in perfecting kitchen gadgets, and it’s gone to town on the humble toaster. Balmuda says its oven uses “steam technology and precise temperature control to bring out the best in every kind of bread”. The oven turns five millilitres of water into steam, and wafts it over the bread in three controlled temperature phases. The first low-temp phase ‘restores interior fluffiness’, the second starts the Maillard reaction, turning the bread golden, and the final phase (220°C) turns it brown.
Available from www.amazon.com
BIRD BUDDY FEEDER This device gives new meaning to ‘bird-watching.’ Not only does this cute little home feed birds, but its battery-powered camera offers a live feed via the connected app. If that›s not entertaining enough, it›ll snap photos of said birds, identify the species, and present a ton of facts about each one.
Available from www.mybirdbuddy.com
SONOS ARC SOUNDBAR Offering up a hard-to-beat balance of features, design, ease of use and performance, the Sonos Arc, the company’s first Atmos soundbar, is an easy product to. No matter what you’re watching, it sounds superb. There’s a stunning clarity to dialogue, a fullness to bass and stacks of detail across the frequency range. But when you listen to an Atmos soundtrack, you really hear the added breadth and depth you’d expect from a more immersive 3D soundstage, with sound effects that are placed precisely around and above you, delivered by the Arc’s carefully angled drivers. Available from www.amazon.com
