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When the sandman calls you never know how things will end.
It all began when you received a letter from an old friend called Agatha. In this letter she reveals that she is worried after discovering another of your old friends, called Hans, who you both though was dead, was in fact alive. Feeling that the other residents of her home town of Mittenwald did not believe her, she was calling on you for help. As Agatha and Hans were your two oldest friends, you set out to visit Mittenwald and see if you can help.
Stuck for a way to completing a task that should be simple then the answer might be a Toolbox.
Operating systems attempt to be all-things to everybody. However it does not always work out that way. Individual users have their own pet needs and ways of carrying out tasks. As a result they develop their own tricks and tips or other companies will step in and develop third-party packages to satisfy the needs of users. One such package is the Toolbox developed by Parallel, now part of Corel's Business unit. Now up to version 4.0 and consisting of 26 individual tools.
This is the latest value offering from Honor, unlike recent offerings from their parent company Honor still seem to have access to Google and therefore no different to other manufacturers and for you the user all the Apps you use are still available from the Google Play Store.
The Honor 9x Lite measures 16x7.5x.8cm apart from where the two cameras and LED flash protrude at the back top left, it weighs 189 grams. The viewable screen is 15x7cm apart from the front facing camera that takes up .5x2cm at the top centre of the screen. The notional diagonal imperial measurement is a tad under 6½inches. The viewable screen has almost no borders as you can see from the dimensions. This looks and feels like a phone that should cost far more than £200.
When moving around as a gamer, you might be looking for an appropriate addition to your kit.
The WD_Black P50 is a portable storage device that has been designed specifically for gamers, especially those of the hardcore brigade, who find it difficult to be separated from their favourite games at any time.
With magic, talking animals, an evil witch and a broken watch, a young girl has plenty to deal with in this next game.
Last year I reviewed Witch Island 2. As the "2" part of the game's title indicated, this was the follow-up offering to Witch Island. Now there is a third title in this series. Adopting the Star Wars concept of delivering prequels and sequels is an out-of-order sequence, this third release is entitled Witch Island Origin indicating it is set prior to the first two offerings. Developed by Itera Labs, Witch Island Origin is a Hidden Object Adventure game.
This looks outwardly rather similar to the Krups Piccolo XS machine published in December 2019 but that was a manual machine and this one is automatic in that all Nescafe Pods now have a number of strokes to represent the amount of water to make the perfect drink. You adjust the dial on the machine and the correct amount of hot or cold water is then dispensed.
The Nescafe Dolce Gusto Genio S measures 26x28x9.5cm with the head where you insert the pod being 6cm taller than the rest of the machine.
Once a fairy tale has ending, its characters still need to continue their lives as Goldilocks discovers.
No doubt you are probably familiar with the story of Goldilocks and her early encounters with members of the ursine family. You might even have imagined what this inquisitive young lady could have got up to next and how the rest of her life was intertwined with those of the big brown family of bears. Whether you have or not taken this route, this next game will reveal how 4 Friends Game have perceived "What Goldilocks did next" with their Hidden Object Adventure title.
The bigger the better so the saying goes. But is that always the case when Darkarta is around.
Approximately three years ago I reviewed Darkarta - A Broken Heart on a Windows-based computer. Now I have discovered there is a mobile version of this Hidden Object Adventure game. Bother versions of the game were developed by TuttiFrutti. The mobile version of the game requires the Android 6 or later edition of the operating system and, unlike the Windows offering, does feature in-game's purchases with prices of between 99p and £3.89 per item.
For less than £500 you can buy a rather nice electronic keyboard from Casio. While I do play a bit this deserved better than my touch so a retired dance band pianist friend of mine tried it in my garden and as I thought he would be, he was rather impressed with the sound.
What you get for your money is the keyboard, music stand, damper pedal and mains lead. The 8watt internal speakers are plenty for a home room and if you are a total novice this can be muted via headphones so the rest of the household do not need to suffer. However for me anyway this is not the total novice’s keyboard others are available at a smaller amount of octaves and lesser quality.
With its collection of puppet-like creatures, you ca visit a world that has the feel of a nightmare.
Bringing the Weird Park saga to a conclusion is the appropriately entitled The Final Show. Like the earlier offerings, this title is a Hidden Object Adventure game and is entirely self-contained so missing out on the first two parts of this trilogy should not spoil your enjoyment of this adventure game. Rather than just offer the player the challenge of the main game, Weird Park - The Final Show comes with a number of bonus items that could well appeal to you.
As the gaming division of Kingston Technology Company, HyperX has been developing gaming products for 16 years. New additions include the Stinger family of offerings.
Recently I reported on the latest gaming eyewear from HyperX. As part of the report I mentioned that the eyewear was designed to fit comfortably with the HyperX gaming headsets such as the company's Stinger line-up. HyperX has recently expanded its HyperX Stinger Headset line-up with a couple of new gaming headsets for immersive players.
A pair of small Bluetooth speakers that contain a pair of earbuds, this is certainly a first for me. Once paired there is no need to turn them on or off, simply pull them apart – held together by magnetism – and they switch on, reverse the procedure and they turn off.
Sitting through a press conference without any audience reaction is strange but is the norm in this period of pandemic.
Over its ten years of existence, Xiaomi has built up an impressive reputation for producing a range of tech consumer products, attractively priced to satisfy the desires of the company's fan base of customers. Xiaomi has recently increased its product portfolio with announcements regarding the release of some brand-new consumer tech products featuring a couple of e-scooters, new fitness band offering and a set of wireless earphones.
This is a filter coffee machine that has a timer built in so you can set it up before you leave the office or in the home before you go to bed. The timer delay means the coffee will be ready to drink when you wake up or arrive at the office.
The full title is Melitta LOOK Therm Timer, the last three words do not seem to be related but when use the machine they start to make sense. It is 36cm tall, 23cm wide and 20cm from front to back. The water tank can hold enough water for up to 10 large cups of coffee (or 15 smaller ones) the scale on the front of the tank is divided into two sides showing both measurements. The amount of filter coffee you place in the filter will depend on the way you like your coffee.
Detective Agency 3 - Ghost Painting is a Hidden Object Adventure game.
Developed by Iteria Laboratories, Detective Agency 3 - Ghost Painting is one of those titles that keeps drawing you back for another session of activity yet, when you finally get to its ending to solve its mystery, if one ever existed, you find yourself scratching your head and wondering what it was all about. There is a story in there somewhere but, I have to confess, it left me confused and certainly bemused.
Last October I had the chance to try some headphones from Adidas, yes like you I thought they only did trainers, here I get the chance to try another of their products, this time a set of earbuds, these are Bluetooth and link easily to whatever your Bluetooth SmartPhone.
The earpieces are attached to a thicker shaped piece that sits around the back of the neck each earpiece and lead is around 30cm so would lie on your chest. The shaped and stiffened middle bit sits comfortably around the back of your neck with the last six centimetres each side at 1cm wide and just over half that thick, three buttons on one arm along with the USB ‘C’ connector to charge its solid battery and one button on the other arm.
Everybody has their favourites. What is your favourite film as seen on the big screen?
Digging deep into my childhood memories (and yes I did have to dig really deep), I can remember that the location where I grew up, and had my early cinematic experiences, had five cinemas. These were the Odeon, Palace, Country, Palladium (sometimes referred unkindly to as "The Bug Hut" and the Picturedrome. I am not to sure about the name of the last cinema but then it was a long time ago. The last I heard, this number of cinemas had reduced to a single offering.
This is quite like the last couple of flat panels that have passed onto my desk however this has one thing to commend it over them a slightly increased resolution as this has 2560x1440 resolution while not a huge amount you can work with more windows open without straining your eyes.
It is 52.5x32x1.5cm. The viewable screen is 51.5x29.5cm; the screen edges are .5cm at the sides and top with the base being 2cm. On the right edge of the bottom bezel are a line of five push buttons the only one you are normally likely to need is the on/off the rightmost which has a white LED when the unit is powered on.
Sitting in on a virtual press briefing, I was introduced to glasses for gamers.
As I may have mentioned previously, I have had to undergo cataract treatment on both eyes. This condition could well have been the result of a combination of age and many long sessions staring at a computer screen whether working on reviews or playing games.
Put together family members and a number of cats can result in a game with various problems to solve and tasks to be completed.
While this may look like just another speaker I can assure you it is not. Just hear the sound quality from any of a range of sources and you will understand, be it Bluetooth, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Optical or even a USB Stick. It is not cheap but if it was then I would know there was something wrong, this is quality.
The Pulse Flex 2i measures 18x12x9.5cm and weighs 1530grams. The top has controls for back a track, forward a track, play/pause/on/off, - volume and + volume. In front of this are the numbers 1-5 these allow you to preset various things like a favourite over the air radio station. The rear has external connectors for USB ‘B’, Ethernet and Service in one line, below this another line of connections Headphones out, USB in, Optical In and Analogue In.
When the shackles are removed, just what are your intentions post-lockdown.
Despite Lockdown, new smartphone handsets continue to arrive, including this model from OPPO.
Adding to its range of smartphone handsets, OPPO has announced the launch of its OPPO A72 model. The company believes that this handset can deliver a premium experience with its combination of large full HD display and long-lasting battery capability. The OPPO A72 will be available in either sleek Twilight Black or Aurora Purple with prices starting at £219.
I have seen several grips some that seemingly defy gravity likewise stands that keep your phone at the correct viewing angle. Here is a device that does both allowing a couple of fingers to slip through a gap or by opening up the aperture to lean or hang in the correct position to view ‘handless’.
The Clckr stand measures 9.5x3cm and as it is ‘Universal’ will stick to the back of most phones. If your phone has a glass back then follow the specific instructions in the small instruction booklet that is stuck to the card that holds the Grip when it first arrives.
When a crime is committed, who else would they send for but you!
Rather surprisingly this next title was released almost simultaneously with its follow-up title. Given a choice of Hidden Investigation - Who did it? or Hidden Investigation 2 - Homicide, I opted for the former game in this new series. I must admit that when I considered "who did it?" while producing this review, I was none the wiser as to who was responsible for developing this game.
Learning through play is a popular concept and Sphero has taken advantage of with its new Activity Kit.
From its base in Boulder, Colorado, Sphero Inc has built up a well-respected reputation as the industry leader in the field of edTech robotics and STEM-based learning (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Adding to its range of products, the company has announced the release of its new Sphero Mini Activity Kit.
Stuck indoors during the pandemic, I took the opportunity to learn about a couple of new interesting products from Polaroid.
With an existence stretching back over more than 80 years, Polaroid has long been associated with innovated products. I can remember using the Polaroid SX-70 camera, which delivered instant monochrome images, back in the 1970s. Since then the company has developed into producing a range of products, such as televisions, hard drives and printers based on thermal technology plus being involved in at least a couple of relaunches.
Strange times not that long ago if you went into a bank or jewellers wearing a mask the alarm would sound. Now if you go on a bus or train and you do not wear a mask then you face an immediate fine. Yes it’s a different kind of mask but when people wore a hijab with just the eyes showing lots of people were very unhappy, now with a Pandemic not only is a mask OK, its required, even in a lot of shops.
When family members go missing, you will make every effort, as does Rose Carter, in this Alawar offering.
Developed by Alawar's Friday's Games, Stray Souls - Stolen Memories is classified as a Hidden Object Adventure excursion. I have been looking at the Collector's Edition of this title. Along with the main game, involving a mother's quest to rescue her daughter and husband from the forces of evil, this package features a number of bonus items. The bonus collection consists of wallpaper, concept art, music, characters, mini games, video and an extra chapter.
Looking for a new handset, then Xiaomi has a new model that might suit.
Xiaomi has announced the launch of the company's POCO F2 Pro in the UK. This handset device has been tailored to meet the demands of the tech enthusiast by prioritising performance over frills while coming with the original price point of £549. As yet I have not has the opportunity to lay my hands or eyes on this handset to check it out. My report is, therefore, limited to the information provided by the company.
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