I have recently started going to the gym and I have to tell you its an effort to motivate myself to get down there but one thing that makes things a little more bearable is listening to my Ipod while working out and getting lost in the music for 45mins.

The thing is if you have ever tried to do anything active while using ear buds you will know they are prone to falling out your ear and this can be really annoying as not only it interrupts the music but if you are on something like the tread mill it can be really difficult to put them back in your ear without interrupting your workout.

So with this in mind I was quite excited to try the new Pioneer Steez SE-D10E headphones which they say are designed to be used while be active whether it be down the gym, running in the street or dancing!

First of all they have a great hook that goes behind the ears which ensures they feel really secure on your ears, yes you may have seen this before but what you wont have seen before is their uniquely designed ball joint earbud which allows a snug fit and mostly importantly accommodates any moving about without any danger of the buds coming loose.

Sound quality wise I was really impressed, dance high beat music sounds crisp and clear with excellent bass ,  the more guitar based tunes also sound great with good instrument separation, for the price point of £59.99 these headphones are seriously impressive.

The SE-D10Es come in black and Gold  or  White and silver  and can be purchased directly from www.pioneer.co.uk for £59.99

Recently I was in the market for a portable speaker to take with me  while travelling, while my Iphones speakers are ok they don’t really let you appreciate your  music that clearly and I like to play some tunes while getting ready in my hotel room.

So after looking around I decided to go for the WOW Bluetooth speaker and Im really glad I did.

First off the speaker are made out of a durable rubber material ideal to take the bumps and bruises my gear take when travelling,  also the speaker has a built in USB rechargeable battery making it easy to charge and a separate charger isn’t needed as most of us have one already for our phone or can charge via the laptop.

Also one of the main things I loved was the easy connection, my phone found the speaker straight away with no fuss and there was no need to enter a password (another annoyance I find with bluetooh devices!)

all in all this speaker was well worth £49.95 and if you want one yourself head over to http://www.highstreettv.com where you can purchase them in  anyone of six colours.

Its always a pain when the remote batteries go just when you want to change the channel and you have to fumble about for some new batteries ,  well interestingly Duracell have started a new campaign to highlight the fact that some of your batteries arent as dead as you think, in fact  they say a staggering one third of alkaline batteries thrown away may still have up to 67% of usable power left inside which is more than what’s being used in the first place!

To highlight how these these part used batteries can still have some life left in them Duracell kindly sent me this rather awesome box of retro goodies which I’m going to have lots of fun playing around with ( my girlfriend isn’t so impressed!)

Are you jealous?  well there’s no need to be, Duracell have offered to send one of you lucky readers a box of equal battery powered goodies so you too can discover there’s more life left in your batteries than you thought.

Here’s how to enter :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JglYXZgP740

just watch the video above and send us a email telling us how many LEDs were used to build the bunny sculpture to:

enterthecomp@gmail.com

a winner will be drawn on the 16th November so you have a week to get your answers in to us, good luck!

I have been meaning to write about Scottevest for a while,  for several reasons now seems the time to let you know about them.

Scottevest produce tech friendly clothing, their jackets are designed to be loaded up with things like a Ipad, camera , water bottle, sunglasses,  headphones all the usual stuff  but in such a way that the weight is distributed that you hardly notice these things are there.

I carry my Ipad on the train every day in my Scottevest and nearly every day I get a shocked look from a fellow passenger when I produce the tablet from inside my jacket, for me that’s why I bought my first Scottevest product, I don’t like carrying a bag and now I dont have to!

Another big plus of the range is when travelling through  airports, no more am I limited to the space in my carry on, my Scottevest is essentially a whole extra carry on for all my stuff, the above picture shows a xray style image of just the sort of things you can carry in one of the jackets.

I could go into more details on their product range but I really think you will get the best overview by visiting their site, watching a few of the videos and reading some of the feedback, I know that helped me make my mind up.

Scottevest products can be purchased direct from them at www.Scottevest.com  or in the UK they are now selling via Amazon.

For me Scottevest products really are a travel essential.

MINI the car company have developed  its very first bike and in keeping with the MINI tradition it doesn’t take up much space!

The MINI Folding Bike  is available from all MINI dealerships and  is compact enough to fit into the boot of a car  when folded. For commuters, it’s a fantastic ‘Park and Ride’ accessory, enabling you to park out of town and then simply continue your journey in style. With many city centre car parks offering free bike bays, it’s a pocket-friendly, environmentally-conscious transport option featuring MINI’s  design credentials.

The MINI Folding Bike is a genuine high-tech vehicle: with high-quality components, a light-weight aluminium frame and a clever folding mechanism that enables the bike to be folded and unfolded in just a few seconds. The bike is folded along the crossbar and handlebars. In addition the saddle can be retracted and the pedals be folded up. This makes the bike extremely easy to handle whilst saving space. Fitted in a sleeve under the saddle is a practical transport bag. The MINI Folding Bike can easily match the riding characteristics of a “normal” bike. Weighing less than 11 kilos and equipped with 8 gears and 20-inch wheels, it is quick and versatile. The teflon-coated chain prevents annoying soiling caused by chain oil and reduces the wear and tear on the components. The comfortable gel saddle ensures comfort. Thanks to the front and rear mudguards, you can carry on peddling regardless, even in the rain. Good visibility on the road is guaranteed by the accompanying reflectors.
Even on two wheels MINI proves its unmistakable design expertise.

The bike comes in  matt black with Silver highlights that are off  set by the MINI lettering on the crossbar, the brand logo on the handlebars and the Union Jack motif on the rear forks. The absolute eye-catchers are the bike chain and bell in bold neon yellow.

The MINI Folding Bike is available for £499 on the Internet at www.mini.com/shop and from all MINI dealerships. The bike comes fully assembled and ready to ride.

We are increasingly using and carrying around with us  more and more technology,  mobile phones,  Tablets, laptops , mp3 players they all run on batteries and those batteries can only last a certain amount of time.

There are however things you can do to increase the efficiency of your devices and therefore use less juice from the battery thus increasing the time you can work on the go.

I recently addressed this problem with my MacBook by installing a SSD drive  (solid State Drive). A regular Hard Disc drive spins lots of discs or plates around inside it to access data,  a solid state drive has no moving parts so uses alot less less power and also can access your data alot quicker than a standard HDD helping to increase battery life and increase performance. They also tend to be alot lighter than a HDD so my Mac also weighs less than before. Samsung say by using their memory like I have you could potentially enjoy upto 92 minutes more battery life on your device,  think how useful that would be on a long haul flight?  you could watch another movie on the same charge! Samsung have devolped a range of memory and devices and are optimised for battery efficiency  lasting longer and still performing as and when you need it to, to highlight these products they have developed a series fun videos showing the different ways your battery power can get zapped!

sponsored by Samsung

Recently Dialaphone  sent me the new entry level Android phone from HTC  the Wildfire S to have a play with, its been in use for a few weeks now and here are my thoughts.

I have never used an Android smart phone before being up until now a Iphone man, but I have been tempted when I see others shiny devices.  I think the big draw with Android as opposed to the Iphone is the customisation, Iphones are locked down so there are only limited things you can change in them, all of these have to be approved by Apple. With Android phones just about everything software wise can be customised from the clock face to the music player, I didn’t think I would be that bothered about this but i have to say Im kind of sold on Android now, it feels so bright fresh and new, with the advantage of when you get bored you can just change things up, unlike my Iphone which doesn’t look much different from the day I got it three years ago.

The Wildfire S is very easy to use, I picked up the main functions of the phone within ten minutes or so of turning it on and haven’t looked back, I would say this is a excellent phone for someone new to smart phones both on price point and ease of use.

I think the big winner for me coming from the Iphone has been the battery life, I have been using the phone to listen to music to and from the office on my daily commute, as well as playing games and reading facebook and twitter throughout the day and  it seems no matter how much I use the phone the battery hardly takes a bashing, plus of course you can just swap out the battery for another unlike the Iphone, not that I think you will need to with the Wildfire S.

The 5MP Camera on the Wildfire S is great in daylight resulting in some impressive shots ,  it does struggle in low light conditions,  perfectly fine to capture candid moments while out with friends, less impressive if you want a serious shot, but then if you want that I wouldn’t recommend using phone camera anyway!

Overall I would definitely recommend the HTC Wildfire S  for people that are new to smart phones or if you just want a reliable great featured phone.

My review phone was supplied by Dialaphone who have some excellent deals going on right now with the HTC Wildfire S on pay as you go for £139.89

www.dialaphone.co.uk/

So first of all what is a Podcast?

According to Wikipedia:
“A podcast is a type of digital media consisting of an episodic series of files (either audio or video) subscribed to and downloaded through web syndication. The word is a neologism derived from “broadcast” and “pod” from the success of the iPod, as podcasts are often listened to on portable media players”

I love my Pod-casts, perfect to listen to on the train home or the 20 mins you are waiting in the pub for that annoying friend who is always late ( you know who you are!)

So here is my Top Five pick of the Podcasts currently out there :

Ian Collins Wants a Word
I grew up listening to Collins on his late night / early morning talk show and just recently he has entered the Podcast world , with special guests and such regular features as Random Acts Of Irrational Annoyance, the Showbiz Shoebox, Voice-mail Roulette, The Court Of Collins, and more!

http://www.iancollins.com/podcast.php

Answer Me This

Answer Me This! is a weekly comedy podcast in which Helen Zaltzman and Olly Mann answer questions on any subject submitted by their listeners, with the assistance of Martin the Sound Man.
The Show has been nominated for Best Internet Programme at the Sony Radio Academy Awards, winning a Gold in 2011 and Silver in 2010. The show has been named ‘Critic’s Choice’ in The Times, Time Out, The Guardian, Q Magazine, Radio Times, and The Independent , as well as being named one of iTunes’ Podcasts of the Year

www.answermethispodcast.com

WTF Podcast with Marc Maron
American stand up Comedian Marc Maron talks to everyone from Louis C.K. to Conan O’Brien to Russell Brand, not your typical interview either more like two guys chatting about their life and profession.
www.wtfpod.com

The Ricky Gervais Podcast
This podcast is quite possibly the podcast that broke the whole medium and made it the massively popular thing it is today. The Ricky Gervais podcasts have been running for many years now, the consist of Ricky, his writing partner Stephen Merchant and producer Karl discussing a range of topics to great comic effect. My favourite section is of course ‘Monkey News’ I will say no more go download it now! (£ – some of the RG podcasts are free however most do cost to download)

Download Via Itunes

The Steve Allen Show – LBC
Steve Allen is the early breakfast talk presenter on London based talk station LBC. He’s bitchy, he’s miserable and he’s critical, I can’t start my morning without  him! ,To listen to Steves show you have to subscribe to the LBC podcasting service but its quite reasonably priced and you then get access to all the LBC shows on podcast as well as past shows and specials.

www.lbc.co.uk

Beats By Dre are a range of headphones produced by high end cable manufacturer Monster, as the name may suggest they are also endorsed by the rapper Dr Dre.

When I was asked to review the new Beats Pro headphones I have to admit I wasn’t exactly thrilled by the idea, I’m not a rap fan really and with these aimed and designed supposedly for rap music I couldn’t see how much I would enjoy these imagining bass heavy distorting on my indie guitar based music.

Well from the moment I plugged them I was sold, the headphones produced a crisp clear sound on every piece of music I threw at them, instrument separation truly amazed me and I have honestly been rediscovering some of my favourite music.

The build quality is fantastic, the frame is made from a thick metal alloy that could stand up to the toughest situations, there’s no plastic to snap here. Even the cord is thick and durable like nothing I have seen before, I truly am very impressed.

So Im impressed witht he sound, Im impressed with the build quality, what lets these headphones down slightly is the price with a RRP of £349.00  Id say a good £100 of that must be going into Dr Dre’s pocket.  Still well worth a look and if you have the cash why not?

Amazon currently have the Black version onsale for £275 which may be worth a look here