Life & Technology – 2GB 30th August, 2014

Father's Day is just a week away! This week we've taken a look at some of the best gifts for dad!

 

Jawbone's Up24 is one of the best fitness trackers on the market. It looks slick, does a great drop of tracking your activity, measures your sleep and has brilliantly designed app – perfect for the dad who's always on the go.

 

Does your dad love his electric guitars? If so, the iRig is a great gift. The iRig lets you plug a guitar straight into your iPhone or iPad and use it is as an amp – and it almost sounds as good.

 

Garmin's Approach S6 Golf Watch is perfect for the dad who likes to spend his weekends playing golf. Not only can it give you a bird's eye view of the golf course on your wrist, it can also help you with your swing! Check our complete review on CyberShack!

 

Sometimes dad just wants to left alone, so Sony's MDR-ZX750BN Wireless + Noise Cancelling Headphones are just the thing he needs. Bit of a mouthful! I had sat down with Andrew Hughes, a Sony Product Specialist, to learn a bit more about these headphones. A great thing about the headphones is that while they're wireless, they also come with a cable that turns them into regular headphones, and handy travel kit that includes a portable charger and an adapter for in-flight entertainment systems – great if your dad is constantly on the go.

 

Drone manufacturer Parrot have released two products known as MiniDrones – and they're certainly at the top of our Father's Day list. I had a chat to Chris Roberts, Parrot's Managing Director for the JPAC region, about these cool new gadgets. The Rolling Spider is the first of Parrot's new drones, and is a smaller versions of the fearless flyers its known for, but with a few twists of its own. The Jumping Sumo is a completely new creation, and Parrot's first jumping drone – this little guy can jump up to 80cm high! Chris said that Parrot wanted to open up drones to more than just enthusiasts with this affordable new range. We've had a lot of fun with both of the new drones in the office, here's our review of the Rolling Spider, and here's our review of the Jumping Sumo

 

For our complete Father's Day gift guide, head over to CyberShack!

 

In non-Father's Day news, iPhone 5 users may be eligible for a battery replacement. If you're experiencing shorter than expected battery life on your iPhone 5, CyberShack has the full details of Apple's program.

 

In other phone news, MobileMuster, Australia's official mobile phone recycling program, has committed to recycling 560 tonnes of phones by 2020. That's equivalent to over 3 million phones, and is the equivalent of planting 273,000 trees! Pretty impressive!

 

And to finish off, a great new app for kids has come out of Sydney! Reading Jets A to Z is designed to help children aged 3 to 7 who are learning to read and write. I had the pleasure of talking to Kath Watson, the co-creator of Reading Jets A to Z. Kath designed Reading Jets A to Z with her sister, Zoe. Both Kath and Zoe are primary school teachers, and saw there were very few apps available that made use of Australian accents – the majority use American, which can be confusing for children. Reading Jets A to Z can be downloaded from iTunes – click here to check it out.