Kitchen Gadgets - Tech Report Review!!

(forgive the facial expression in the above screen-grab...not my most flattering moment)

The recent phenomenon of reality cooking shows has made millions realize that being a dab hand in the kitchen is not necessarily as hard as it looks…And as the general population gets whisking, baking, grilling & poaching, we thought it was time to augment the skills needed to deliver great dishes with just a little technology…

  

We start simple… how to boil an egg…

What could be more useful than a boilable egg timer. Simply pop it into the pot of boiling water along with your eggs and just follow the indicator depending on how you want your eggs boiled, soft, medium or hard. (see video for results) At R80 it's a little expensive to tell you when the egg is ready but it does work.

So you’ve had the egg, now it’s time for a bit of refreshment. This nifty little gadget called the Zoku Slush Maker does just that by making a slush and it’s so easy. Place the inside cup section into the freezer for around 8 – 12 hours, then pour any liquid into the cup and start scraping down the sides. Within minutes you have a slush. Clever and refreshing! However, it’s R250 and can only make one slush at a time so it’s quite expensive and if you think about it, selfish too, well unless of course you share...but I don't think you'll want to :)

Then it comes to that time of the day when you feel like a quick pick me up coffee but with a twist, or in this case a whisk. The aerolatte will whip up some beautiful milk froth to put on top of your coffee. Put the milk into a glass, grab your aerolatte, start whipping and within seconds you'll have a professional looking coffee ready to serve at a restaurant near you…well, almost. It’ll set you back R150 but will make you look like a million bucks when you serve a frothed coffee to your guests.

On the topic of coffee, let’s take a look at these 2 beauties. The new Nescafe Dolce Gusto (on the left) and the Nespresso UMilk (on the right). Both work on a coffee pod system that produce single coffees at the touch of a button. The Nespresso uMilk uses a single pod to make your coffee to which you can then add your own warmed, delicious, frothed milk using the integrated aeroccino machine. The dolce gusto however uses 2 pods to make a coffee because the one is a milk substitute. Ugh! Not great! The machines and pods are relatively the same price. The Nespresso uMilk with aeroccino is R2550 with a R300 voucher for coffee and the Nescafe Dolce Gusto is R2490 with no vouchers. The Nespresso coffee is slightly cheaper and in my opinion, MUCH better and because of that reason alone, I’d buy the Nespresso no question!

So with a bounty of gadgets to make you look impressive in the kitchen, what are you waiting for? Go get 'em, Gordon/Jamie/Nigella/Nigel/Guy/Ina/etc etc 

Some fun water game apps!

With summer well and truly here you’re likely to find most South Africans  outside braaing, sun tanning and swimming. But what if you can’t swim? Or if being in the sun has left you red and lobsterlike…Or what if it’s raining – that means you Cape Tonians - but you’re dying to get back into that water? Well, we have the perfect solution.

Smartphones are nothing without apps… Education apps, work apps, cooking apps and perhaps the most successful of all, game apps! In particular, due to our location today, I thought I'd touch on some water based ones.

There’s no better feeling than being all by yourself… and owning the ocean as you surf, jetski, swim or drive boats. Drown out all the ambient noise and focus on beating that time. In this case however, we’re setting our sights on pelicans, people & other fish, in the cute but angry app called, Hungry Shark!

So, sharky here will have you addicted from the first level as you hungrily gobble up seagulls, other fish and my favourite, people all in order to gain coins to upgrade your shark to the ultimate, The Great White! It's a pleasant way to just pass the time cruising the ocean but be warned, you better not get stung by jellyfish, blown up by mines or get eaten by things bigger than you or it's down to Davey Jone's you go... the best part...it's free!

Next up is a Fish out of water! As the title suggests, you’re out of the water a lot.

This is the aim of the game as you have to fling your little fish across the ocean across the waves in various missions that’ll have you seeing how far you can go, how fast you can go & how many skips you do. In-app purchase upgrades are available so that you can slowly build up your fish’s momentum enough to skip across the entire ocean! Well, not really, but you get what I’m saying. It’s also only available on iOS and also R10  It’s easy to master but is left a little high and dry because there’s not much to the game and the in-app purchases are way too expensive but it does look nice though…

And finally, my favourite...

Made famous by that silly American show where you see people wipe out in the funniest of ways, if you’re a fan or not, this app will have you dodging sponges, swinging on poles and of course trying to make your way across the big balls! You get wipeout style points, unique characters and a barrage of various challenges that’ll have you slo-moing your wipeout and saving a snap shot to send to your mates! It’s $1.99 in the app store but so far, I’m loving the game and in my opinion, it’s worth it! Besides, when you do the conversion, it’s only like R20!

So with an absolute wave of apps to keep your head above the swell, wait… another few water puns coming up… you’ll be delighted to know that even if it’s raining outside… you can still have a whale of a time…

Drumming to a new beat!

1^st project is a name that became synonymous with high energy performances that saw shirtless men with six packs drum away to a beat of their own entertaining crowds of thousands! Their sets included beating on drums with lights, drums with water and even chairs, buckets & ladders, but something was missing. Their fans were looking for something that they didn’t even know they were looking for…enter ‘Drum Machine DJ’!

Drum Machine DJ is a technological masterpiece utilising a one-of-a-kind 55'' transparent Holoscreen, accompanied by 13 light drums and cymbals, this state of the art, custom designed machine was built to rock dance floors around the world.

The leader & creator of 1^st Project, Shannon Ellinas decided that having to drum half naked and have women throwing themselves at him had become a tad boring and he needed a challenge. A challenge that has since changed the way you and I will look at drumming forever.

The human need and desire for something new and exciting is a difficult one to quell but I can say that with confidence, the drum machine is a proudly south African export that will no doubt subdue those impulses to go elsewhere to stimulate our senses!

Jetovator - A water rider with a difference!

Ever since I can remember all I’ve wanted to do is swim like a dolphin. I mean think about it! You can dive deep and then shoot, rocket-like, out of the water and twist and flip and soar…before diving back into the water! Sadly unless an  animal morphing serum gets cooked up in a mad professor’s lab somewhere, it’s not gonna happen. However, I have stumbled onto the next best thing… Ladies & gentlemen, I give you, the Jetovator!

Looking like a contraption from Star Wars, this machine adds a whole new dimension to water sports… meaning you can now have your jetski and eat it too! Attached to the jetski by a 40 foot hose, the Jetovator uses power from the craft to force water out through outlet pipes whereby you control in which direction you want to travel. Up, down, forward, in a corkscrew and even under water!

So, naturally, being a Tech Report reporter, I was forced into going to the Vaal to have fun. They make me do such awful things. But before I go twisting and turning and laughing and thoroughly enjoying myself, let’s find out how it works. (watch video clip)

At R85,000 excluding the cost of a jetski, which you need to have, it is expensive but if you can afford it then get it and if you can't...you can always hire it.

Drift HD Ghost vs Sony HD Action Cams

The age of the humble betacam hand held recorder was indeed a pleasant one filled with images of bad fashion, bad hairstyles but the best music. Well in my opinion anyway. However an age it was and my goodness have we come full circle. From only being able to record a home movie with a machine resting on your shoulder to the state of the art action cam that’s no bigger than a small rock. With that said, I give to you the brand new Drift HD Ghost & the Sony HDR As15!

The evolution of extreme sports saw the evolution of the action cam, with them becoming smaller, more durable and being tested to their limits on a daily basis. The need to record yourself pushing yourself so that you can put it up on youtube is becoming an absolute addiction and I need to see if it’s as exciting as it looks. 

So I’ve stuck them both on my helmet and am now bike ready to hit the trails of the cyclepark to see which of these make my ride look that much more spectacular and that much more dangerous! Here we go!

I’ve finished my extreme rush ride and now to look at the footage before I put it up on Youtube! Before we do that though, let’s take a look at some of the features of both cameras.

Drift HD Ghost Camera

·      Full HD 1080
·      2 inch Gorilla glass with lcd display screen
·      Waterproof without housing up to 3 metres for 30minutes
·      Built in wifi to play back your videos through the drift app on your smart phone and watch it live 
·      4 hour battery
·      remote control
·      R4650

Sony HDR AS15

·      Waterproof to 60m with supplied housing!
·      Carl Zeiss Tessar wide angle Lens
·      Built in wi-fi (will only work to import videos, pics, etc through the downloadable software off of Sony’s website called: Play memories BUT: if you’re a MAC user then sorry for you. Obviously Sony’s in bed with Microsoft only – ah, monogamy is such a blissful thing hey?) – HOWEVER: you can download the play memories app for your smart phone incl. iPhone.
·      Full HD 1080
·      R3499

At the end of the day they both have their pros & cons and for an extra thousand odd rand, I'd buy the Drift purely because of it's playback screen and it's ruggedness! I mean, I am a man after all...and I am rugged... *ahem*

Apps to help you keep your New Year's Resolutions!

You’ve worn the outfit… done the countdown… popped the champagne and dealt with the January first hangover…  but what do you do now that 2014 is a reality… and those New Years resolutions are looking ever so challenging? We’ve looked into that for you and found a few free apps that could keep you on track for living a successful 2014.

Lose it

We’ve seen these before. An app that tracks your diet and helps you to lose weight. However Lose It! Has made it a fun and simple process with restaurant menu integration and a full database of foods & ingredients. It also lets you see how your friends are doing with their diet & keep up to date with their progress. What I also like about it is that you start to learn the caloric value of foods before choosing them so that you can make healthy choices.

Snapguide

Using a peer to peer system, Snapguide will get you started on a new hobby in minutes. With a wealth of guides within the Snapguide community you can learn something new every day like how to make your kitchen smell amazing in seconds or how to naturally clean your drains and help you discover a talent you never even knew existed! However, there is a slight drawback, the guides don’t go into too much detail but hey, it’s a great starting point!

My Last Cigarette

You know you want to quit smoking but you just can’t. I know the excuses that come with that but My Last Cigarette will help helps users quit smoking by mapping out the changes in their health as they quit. Simply enter in your smoking habits, and the app keeps you informed on how you're bettering your life through quitting. For example, since I stopped in June of last year, I’ve saved over R16,000 and almost all the levels are at green. My lung health is only improving slowly but it’s improving nonetheless! By seeing these improvements in your quality of life, the app can be used as a reminder each time you feel the need to light up.

All I can say from here is, good luck! It’s up to you to keep your resolutions and here’s hoping that these little apps might make life just a little bit more joyful, better & easier! Happy 2014!!