ESCAPE 2020 THIS XMAS!
SELF-CONFESSED NERD PAUL BROOKS IS SICK OF 2020. LUCKILY, THERE ARE PLENTY OF GEEK-CHIC TECH TOYS TO HELP TAKE HIS MIND OFF THE PAST FEW MONTHS…
RUDOLPH The Red-nosed Reindeer’s famously bright conk is usually a sign of seasonal cheer. Thanks to 2020, however, it could be mistakenly interpreted as early symptoms of an airborne-transmitted pathogen taking hold, prompting a cull of all flying, sleigh-pulling quadrupeds.
But with a vaccine roll-out under way, there are reasons to tentatively start looking forward to Yuletide and beyond. So if you’re in the mood for a bit of retail therapy to cheer you up – or distract you from the past ten months – here are a few suggestions for cool prezzies with a geek-chic tech twist.
CHRISTMAS PAST
One way of escaping the woes of the world is to revel in the fuzzy glow of nostalgia. If that’s you, look no further than GoCube (£49.95, amazon.co.uk).
The original Rubik’s Cube was the brainchild of Hungarian architecture professor Ernő Rubik, whose hit puzzle featured six coloured sides, each made up of nine squares. These twisted and turned out of place and the goal was to return the cube to its original state of six-sided perfection.
GoCube is the app-connected 2020 version of this 1980 hit. Once charged, it links to an app that recognises whatever pattern GoCube is in. Give it a twist and the app will reflect this movement on-screen via 3D rendering.
The app walks you through solving the puzzle, teaches you moves to help solve future puzzles and lets you compete against others to see who’s fastest. It also means I may finally be able to solve the blasted thing 40 years after buying the original.
XMAS PRESENT
Another way of escaping the world is to find an alternative one. If so, the
Oculus Quest 2 (£299, oculus.com) can help you.
Facebook’s virtual reality offering is a standalone unit, meaning you don’t have ve to tether wires to a PC and the headset. Don the headset, hold the two controllers and, nd, following a simple set-up, you’re up and running in no time.
The gaming is where it gets cool. Beat Sabre (£22.99) is a sort of Jedi training meets Guitar Hero where players have to slash incoming objects and av avoid obstacles. C Creed Rise to Glory (£22.99), meanwhile, mea packs a punch if you feel like s stepping into the ring to emulate Michael B Jordan as the star of the most recent R Rocky movie.
I particularly enjoyed this because I finally had the honed physique I’ve always wanted… albeit virtually.
You’re co-hosting a tech podcast called Whatever Next? Did anything you see really blow your mind?
I was quite wowed by the remote surgery. Doctors can do operations just by cutting in thin air. But the thing that really blew my mind was that they had haptic feedback of what it would feel like. It was like doing surgery but it’s happening to someone across the other side of the globe. It’s really democratising healthcare. People now have access to surgeons in other countries. I came into this podcast assuming I would learn a bit and be wowed by a lot of the fun lifestyle things but what I took away more than anything was how much tech there is for good.
What else did you discover?
I got into VR. I’ve got the new Oculus Quest headset. There’s a boxing game called The Thrill Of The Fight that I really like. It also feels like a bit of a workout. I play ping-pong a lot and I like Vader Immortal, where I’m a Jedi. It was terrible being in lockdown but it did mean I could work on my lightsaber skills.
You do a couple of other podcasts as well. How do you make those?
Like Minded Friends, the one I do with Tom Allen, we just hit record and don’t really edit it. The idea is that you’re overhearing two best friends having a conversation. The Out podcast has a little bit of editing. I just use my laptop and I’ve got a gaming microphone made by Trust. I’ve also used software such as Zencastr and Cleanfeed to record people online.