GADGET GURU’S MAGIC BOX

We begin with a rare practical tip from Guru, who is usually more inclined towards ridicule and rants. Did you buy the cheapest monitors possible from a brand that will remain unnamed, and then find one start to develop lines of dead pixels right about the same time you decided you could not be bothered with the hassle of a warranty return? Funnily enough, that happened to Guru, too. A £2 plastic clamp from Amazon, positioned to squeeze the bit of the monitor where the ribbon connector had started to detach itself, will sort the problem right out, look terrible, and make you question whether ingenuity is really all it’s cracked up to be.

GaGu spent a good portion of his supposed-to-be-working time this issue resurrecting one of the several PlayStation 2s he found littering his loft. Its iffy laser makes running game discs a slow and painful experience, but a little upgrade leaves Guru able to install his old games for smoother experience. Or not: installation is painfully slow at around two hours per game, so Guru would not blame you if you, like him, insisted on downloading rips of games you legitimately own from those darker corners of the internet.

Finally, Christmas is coming, Guru is getting fat, so his semi-annual fitness drive has begun again in earnest. This time he’s going down the VR track, if only because it’s slightly more engaging than running: an Oculus Quest 2 (£299) is perfect for getting sweaty, though GaGu recommends you avoid subscription-based fitness apps and go straight for high-energy rhythm games. Just make sure you maximise space before thrashing around, lest your TV become a casualty – as good as Oculus’ Guardian system is at alerting you when you reach your virtual boundary, the heat of the moment is a funny thing.