ALL THE BIGGEST STORIES FROM PLANET TECH
HOT FIVE #1
Amazon Kindle Scribe
First Amazon came for the regular books; now it wants to make jotters feel like something from the olden days too. The Kindle Scribe comes with a special stylus that allows you to draw on its 10.2in 300dpi E Ink screen, whether that’s annotating a book with digital sticky notes, marking up a PDF or Word doc you’ve imported via the Kindle app or a web browser, or using the built-in notebook to a create a list of every person who has ever wronged you and how you’re going to get revenge.
Chuck Jeff Bezos an extra £30 (and boy does he need it) and you’ll get an upgraded Premium Pen, which has an eraser on the end and a shortcut button that can switch between writing and highlighting, or open up a new note.
At more than 3in bigger than any other Kindle in terms of screen size, the Scribe will feel more like a tablet to hold than a normal e-reader, but it only weighs 433g (the same-sized iPad is just over 50g heavier), and of course you get access to the same vast library of books. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’ve got some vendettas to plan.
As hot as… Lady Chatterley’s Lover annotated with drawings of willies from £330 / amazon.co.uk
HOT FIVE #2
Teenage Engineering PO-80 Record Factory Kit
In the neverending battle to be the alpha hipster in your local artisan vape cafe, it’s no longer enough to have the most painstakingly groomed ’tache, smoke the most unusual pipe or have the most esoteric collection of Laser Discs. No, the arrival of Teenage Engineering’s PO-80 means you’re going to have to start producing your own vinyl too.
Despite its Fisher-Price vibes, this little USB-powered gadget allows you to cut 5in records with up to four minutes of music on each side – all you need to do is connect an audio source to the 3.5mm input, whether that’s an instrument like one of TE’s pocket synths, or an iPad or laptop containing a fully formed track. There’s even a web-based mastering machine that gets your tunes ready for their analogue debut.
Obviously you won’t impress any audiophiles with the lo-fi sound quality of your monophonic cuts, but the kit also comes with an adaptor that allows you to play pre-recorded 7in vinyl on it, so you can stick on something obscure by Hairy Terror and pretend it’s one of your own. Planet of the Vapes won’t know what hit it.
As hot as… your deconstructed chai latte £149 / teenage.engineering
HOT FIVE #3
Logitech G Cloud
To our eternal dismay, Microsoft has never made a handheld Xbox. We’d pretty much given up hope of ever clasping one in our mitts until the Android-powered G Cloud came along, because this is likely to be the closest we’ll ever get.
Built for streaming games over the internet and arriving with Xbox Cloud Gaming pre-instal
