For the past couple of months I’ve been reviewing the Thule Escort Daypack on my daily commute across London. I moved to the city a few months ago so I’m now amongst the three million plus commuters who travel the underground network each day. I work the usual office hours which means travelling during the busiest periods. So it’s absolutely crucial to have a bag that is practical for carrying my belongings across London but also surviving the peak time crush.

Thule is a Swedish company that is well known for its range of car transportation products including roof racks and roof boxes but they also offer a range of luggage, bags and case products. The Escort Daypack is Thule’s flagship backpack with multiple pockets and compartments that can fit a 17-inch MacBook Pro or equivalent laptop as well as a 10-inch tablet.

The thing I noticed the most in this review is the number of compartments the Escort DayPack has. This took me some getting used to as I often found myself searching for my things in each compartment. Once you’ve got a system for managing what goes where, you will find it a valuable to have so many compartments.

The compartment at the rear is the largest and can fit laptops as large as a 17-inch MacBook Pro. A secondary padded area is available for your tablet and then an open section that could in fact hold another laptop. At one point I was carrying two bulky 15-inch and 14-inch laptop plus their chargers and an iPad.

On the front is a small compartment that has a hard lining. This is designed for fragile objects like sunglasses or at this time of year, a chocolate bar or two.

The Escort DayPack has a host of straps and buckles that allow you to secure the bag to your body. You’ll find both a sternum and waist belt help with heavier loads – great for a mountain hike.

Shoulder straps are made of a breathable material that are comfortable even with heavy loads. Occasionally I’m caught carrying two laptops – my 15-inch MacBook Pro and a 15-inch HP EliteBook which is built like a tank and weighs like one too. Add to that the power adapters, keys, work mobile, pens, notepads and mouse and what you end up with is a weighted backpack.

Two padded strips line the back of the bag which provides a nice cushioned feel from the contents of your bag rubbing against your back.

Good design thinking and build quality are what make the Thule Escort Daypack a trusty travel companion.

The iO Play2 promises to solve the problem of integrating your phone and music device in your car. Whilst Bluetooth kits and FM transmitters have been on the market for several years now they’ve always been unreliable or difficult to use. They’re certainly never as well integrated as they are in a which comes with connectivity built-in. So that’s the benchmark I will be measuring the iO Play2 against.

The iO Play2 is a handsfree car kit and music streaming device for your car. I had the iO Play2 installed by Armour Auto in my Alfa Romeo Giulietta. The Giulietta already has a music and phone system built-in so it allowed for a good comparison between an after-market installation vs. manufacturer fit. If you’ve ever fitted your own in car entertainment system then you’ll probably be comfortable with fitting the iO Play2 but for most car novices you will likely want to get a professional to fit the system as it integrates with both your car speaker and power wiring. The end result is a system that is nearly as well integrated as a car that comes with a kit like this built-in.

iO Play2 comes with a controller, display, bluetooth mic and an 180-watt amplifier. In the glovebox you’ll have a 30-pin Apple dock connector and a 3.5mm audio input. iPhone 5 owners will need the Lightning to 30-pin adapter to make it work. The iO Play2 is Apple certified so you won’t experience any compatibility problems or annoying error messages like some kits I’ve used in the past have done.

If you’ve got an iPod or iPhone, you can use the dock connector cable to connect to the iO Play2. This gives the added bonus of keeping your phone charged. Alternatively, you can use Bluetooth A2DP for wireless streaming. iO Play2 can also connect up to two phones at the same time – I put this to test recently on a long distance trip where musical tastes varied and we were impressed at how easy it was to flick between music libraries.

Once your phone is paired with the iO Play2, it downloads your phonebook. Using the rotary controller you can operate the menu on the separate OLED screen which displays your phonebook and music library. The intuitive control system allows you to navigate to specific tracks or contacts using alphabetical categorisation. The text to speech feature will read out your track listings from your iPod and iPhone so you can keep your eyes on the road.

Call quality was one of the best I’d used – better than the manufacturer fitted system. When talking to people using the Giulietta’s Blue&Me, callers often find it difficult to hear me, particularly on the motorway. The iO Play2 on the other hand was able to clear up the background noise and provide clear audio quality.

The iO Play2 amplifier gives audio volume a big boost with its 180-watt amplification. However in my Giulietta, it introduced a hissing noise when no music was playing. It’s not a deal breaker since you don’t hear it when your music is playing.

It’s clear that the iO Play2 is designed for car owners who don’t already have an integrated bluetooth or music streaming system. For those that have had to make do with a tangle of cables and fiddly gadgets, the iO Play2 might just be the answer you’re looking for. It removes the mess and simplifies the integration of your music and phone devices in one fell swoop.

Sony’s PlayStation 3 has gone through several redesigns since its launch in 2006. The latest iteration of the popular games console dubbed PlayStation 3 Super Slim comes in two flavours – a basic edition with 12GB of memory, which can be had for around £150 and a 500GB model for around £210. With talk of next-gen consoles hotting up, this must surely be the last time we will see the PS3 in a different guise?

To the naked eye it’s clear that Sony has managed to bring its engineering talent into shrinking the overall package. The PlayStation 3 Super Slim is visibly smaller and sheds about a third of the weight from the previous generation. Compared to the launch model, the Super Slim is less than half the weight.

The changes aren’t just cosmetic though, the PlayStation 3 Super Slim uses less energy – 190W (Super Slim) vs. 250W (Slim) vs. 280W (launch model). Whilst Sony’s gaming console has never been a noisy machine, the Super Slim manages to take an already quiet machine and reduce it to next to no noise. New, more energy efficient components and improved ventilation design means the fans don’t have to work so hard to keep the internals from overheating.

Sony never managed to give the PlayStation a pretty design and the Super Slim doesn’t change any of that. If anything, Sony has taken a few steps backwards with the design of the PlayStation 3 Super Slim. The chassis is made of a cheap feeling plastic with a glossy finish to the front and back edges. It doesn’t look cheap but it doesn’t look as nice as its predecessor. The slot loading Blu-Ray drive has been replaced with a top horizontal sliding cover that makes an inelegant sound when it slides across. The eject button mechanically operates the sliding cover and doesn’t close the cover. There’s an ugly step where the cover is raised slightly higher to allow it to slide across the top surface. The one thing it does have going for the design is that it doesn’t look as bad as the flaws suggest, I can only imagine that the design and materials were chosen to help keep costs down.

Connectivity is the same as the last generation – two USB ports at the front. Around the back you’ll find the power jack, Ethernet, HDMI, optical audio and standard definition output. Wireless networking comes in the form of 802.11b/g and Bluetooth.

Sony only went as far as making hardware changes to give the PlayStation 3 a new lease of life. The XrossMediaBar interface remains unchanged and you can continue to access the same features from media streaming with DLNA and web browsing. Be prepared to do a software update when you fire up the machine for the first time. It seems gamers can’t escape the need to perform this step with any console these days.

Console manufacturers have created a new category of immersive gaming experiences using new controller types. Microsoft did it with the Xbox Connect and Nintendo with their Wii and most recently the Wii U. Sony has had the Move controller and Eye Camera for some time now and it recently combined both devices along with a new form of controller called Wonderbook: Book of Spells. Based in the world of Hogwarts, Wonderbook: Book of Spells comes as a bundle with the game, Wonderbook, Move Controller and Eye Camera for £50 or standalone with the game and Wonderbook.

The three controller elements come together to allow audiences to interact with content using augmented reality technology. Wonderbook is very much targeted at the younger generation who will find casting spells and working through an animated journey a compelling experience. The Wonderbook is recognised by the camera and on-screen you see yourself and the book layered with graphics – progressing through the story requires you to turn the pages. As you turn the pages, the software recognises the page turns and accurately portrays this with graphical overlays. You interact with the book mostly with the Move controller but hand gestures are also used throughout. This is a unique approach to gameplay and is very much centred around the concept of story telling so expect new chapters and games to extend the functionality and use of the Wonderbook as a controller in its own right.

The PlayStation 3 Super Slim is an evolution of the original from 2006 – it continues to be a powerful games console coupled with some great media playback features from its Blu-Ray capability to streaming content over your home network. The slimmer, lighter and more energy efficient design are welcome changes but I don’t think it’s enough to entice owners of the previous generation to upgrade. However for anyone looking to replace their first-generation model now would be a good time to do it.

The Creative ZiiSound D3x, D5x and DSx are a family of wireless speakers for creating a beautiful haven of music that won’t just fill your room but your entire house with your favourite tunes.

The last few weeks have been quite upsetting for my neighbours as I’ve been testing the D5x and DSx at various bass and volume levels. Well, I’ve not had any complaints so perhaps they appreciate my taste in music.

Like most speaker docks on the market, the ZiiSound is designed to work best with iOS devices (with 30-pin dock connector). But fear not if you’re a non-iOS user as the ZiiSound also features Bluetooth and there’s a line-in connector at the back.

On its own, the D5x dishes out more volume than I dare to ask from it and reasonable quality at the low end. Bass lovers will rejoice at the sound of the DSx bass. The added oomph provides a powerful and rich bass. Luckily there is a dial at the back to adjust the bass level to suit your tastes. Even at its lowest level, the DSx provides more bass than the D5x does on its own. Crank it up to max and you won’t just be shaking the foundations of your house, you’ll be moving tectonic plates.

The modular design of the ZiiSound means you can piece together the speaker setup to suit your needs. The flexible system means you can add speakers as you go along – the system can support as many as three D5x units and DSx subwoofer for a 3.1 system.

A docking port on the D5x fits the ZiiSound transmitter fits perfectly so with your iOS device docked the device looks as though its sitting upright on the surface of the speaker. Lift your device up and the transmitter comes with it. Whilst docked, your device does get charged. Whilst Bluetooth streaming is supported, the transmitter uses the aptX audio codec to provide enhanced quality from your device to the speaker – this is the same tech used to stream the audio between speakers. On a practical level I didn’t notice any difference in quality and the transmitter range was about the same.

The ZiiSound D5x has a traditional look and feel with a black fabric design in a rectangular soundbar capped with a touch of flash. In the middle there’s a touch sensitive controller for adjusting the volume and setup for synchronising speakers. Simply slide your finger up and down to adjust the volume and the pretty white LED lights will follow.

Initial setup is done with a combination of touching and holding the synchronise button. It’s something you’ll want to tackle with the manual in front of you – luckily you’ll only need to do it once.

For a wireless speaker system, the ZiiSound range is competitively priced – the setup used in this review can be had for £300 with the D5X around £190 and the DSx subwoofer at £115 from Amazon.

With its peacock blue colour and pixellated design, the Speck PixelSkin HD Wrap provides front and back protection for your iPad.

I’ve been testing the PixelSkin HD Wrap with my iPad 4 for the last couple of weeks, putting it through its paces at home and on my London Underground commutes.

The materials used in the PixelSkin HD Wrap are of a high quality – both to the eye and to the touch. Soft to the touch, the outer shell is pixellated to give it a design aesthetic that serves form and function. This gives the PixelSkin HD Wrap it’s unique look but it also helps to improve grip. The finish of the plastic is high – no sharp edges or parts of the mould that don’t look refined. Ports, buttons and connectors all line up as expected.

Since the iPad 4 is essentially the same chassis as the iPad 2 and 3, Speck are promoting the PixelSkin HD Wrap as compatible with iPad 4 but you will find that the area around the smaller dock connector on the latest generation iPad is left exposed.

Installing the iPad into the case is very straightforward with the soft edges allowing you to easily mould the case around the body.

The automatic sleep/wake function that Apple introduced to us all when the iPad 2 came out is found in the PixelSkin HD Wrap. Peeling back the cover switches on the iPad automatically and shutting it will switch it off. This is a rare feature in iPad cases so it’s nice to see that Speck have integrated the smart magnet into the cover.

The PixelSkin HD Wrap front cover can be flexed and bent to form a stand for your iPad. Whilst a great idea, in practice I found it quite difficult to keep the cover in its stand formation. The cover would always, and often violently, snap back to its natural position.

Overall, I can recommend the PixelSkin HD Wrap as a great option if you’re looking for a form fitting case for your iPad. The high quality materials and build quality sets it aside from some of the tacky cases you can find out there. Speck have achieved a good balance of form and function with the PixelSkin HD Wrap.

This sleek magnesium drive was clearly designed for the MacBook market with its unibody-shaped profile and coloured in the silver that is synonymous with Apple products. The Freecom Mobile Drive Mg is USB powered with a 2.5-inch 7mm hard drive available in capacities from 500GB to 1.5TB.

With a magnesium enclosure, the Mg weighs next to nothing but without it feeling cheap or tacky. It would have been so easy for Freecom to compromise on the build quality and materials, but the end result is a solid and refined drive that could easily be mistaken for being an Apple product. At just 10mm thin, the Freecom Mg is one of the slimmest mobile hard drives available on the market today at 170g one of the lightest too.

The Freecom Mg comes with a variety of port options including USB 2.0, USB 3.0, FireWire 800 and more recently, Freecom updated the drive with a Thunderbolt option.

Out of the box, the drive comes pre-formatted with HFS+ so it’s ready for storing files over 4GB on Mac systems. Windows users aren’t left out as there’s nothing stopping you from reformatting the drive to suit your OS.

Freecom Mg is quiet and performant. Transfer of a 1.2GB file over USB 2.0 takes about 35 seconds giving a throughput of 34MB/s. Considering USB 2.0 throughput is 35MB/s, the drive certainly has more to give. Doing the same test over USB 3.0 gave a very respectable speed of 98 MB/s.

At the time of writing this, the 500GB model can be purchased for around £70. Equivalent drives can be had for nearly half the price but you certainly won’t get it in packaging as beautifully designed and well-made as the Freecom Mobile Drive Mg.

The Roku LT is a small internet connected streaming box which gives you access to a range of on-demand content.

This purple box looks similar to an Apple TV and offers a similar set of functionality albeit at half the price for just £49.99.

Setup

Setting up the Roku LT requires little more than power and a HDMI cable/ Connectivity comes in the form of WiFi, supporting 802.11 b/g/n. Those who prefer Ethernet will be disappointed as this is wireless only. First time users may find that they need to update the software before they can start using it, but otherwise this is a very straightforward and painless setup process.

The black and purple remote is simple but usable. The D-Pad is where you’ll spend most of your time and the Roku LT makes light work of navigating through its menus, keyboard and features. It’s a good remote.

Content

Roku LT comes pre-loaded with Netflix so it’s ready for streaming straight out of the box. You can extend the Roku LT with more channels from the Channel Store with notable options such as iPlayer, Vimeo, Facebook and TED.

But it’s clear that to get the most out of the Roku LT, you’ll need a Netflix subscription. The worlds largest library of videos somehow got missed from the channel list – one wonders what happened to YouTube?

Reliability

On a 20Mbps connection over 802.11g (Roku LT supports 802.11 b/g/n), I didn’t experience any buffering whilst watching Netflix or iPlayer HD streams. The quality of the iPlayer HD streams were impressive given that the Roku LT is limited to 720p. Even for your 40+ inch 1080p sets, you won’t be disappointed with the quality of the streamed HD content.

Power users

Roku has opened up the device enabling developers to add their own applications to the channel store. This has enabled applications like Plex to make its way to the Roku LT. Plex along with the Plex Media Server on your Mac, Windows or Linux computers will allow you to stream your media to the Roku LT. Whilst the interface on the Roku LT could be improved, I was able to access my music, photo and video library without much difficulty.

Verdict

The Roku LT is a delightfully simple streaming box that works straight out of the box and works beautifully with the Netflix store. For less than £50, this is a great option for giving those non-internet connected TVs access to a broad range of content stored locally or streamed directly from the internet.

You might be surprised to learn that there are some good applications which can help you monitor everything, from your heart rate, to the energy you’ve burnt and the distance you’ve run. If you normally use the stopwatch on your O2 or Orange mobile to time how long you’ve been running, before logging onto Google maps to try and work out how far you have travelled, then you might be relieved to discover that there is a much easier and hassle free way of calculating your distance and time. Below are a few fitness and health phone applications and accessories which you might find useful.

Mobile Phone Armband

If you like to listen to music while you jog, but you find carrying your MP3 player or phone inconvenient, then you are sure to find the armband phone holder really useful. Simply secure your phone into the lightweight silicone armband and strap it tightly around your arm. Plug in your earphones and away you go!

Sports Tracker App

This clever application uses the GPS on your phone to track your route. It tells you how far you’ve run, your speed and the energy you’ve burnt. You can also save each run in the ‘My Workouts’ archive, where you can compare your results and even share them on Facebook.

Withings Blood pressure Monitor

This smart piece of technology allows you to measure, track and share your blood pressure directly from your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. The blood pressure device plugs into your phone and the results are instantly shown on screen. In addition, the accompanying application is free to download off iTunes.

The hot hatchback market is a tough one to break in to. Dominated by German brands, any marque will have to offer something special to even register on the radar of the European motorist.

Alfa Romeo kick started a revitalised brand with the launch of the MiTo in 2008 followed by a replacement for the 147, the Giulietta in 2009.

Clocking over 3500 miles in the Giulietta, the 1.4 Multi-Air 170bhp model offers a good balance of performance, economy and comfort. The DNA switch (Dynamic, Normal and All-weather) adjusts the driving style of the car to suit the road and your driving preference. Each setting changes the weight of the steering wheel, throttle and brake response and the various driving aids.

Normal mode is ideal for a relaxed driving style – flooring the throttle gives you gradual acceleration and lower gears gives you control and comfort in stop and start traffic. The steering wheel is light but responsive and makes it ideal for parking or navigating twist and turns on busy city streets. For the most part, Normal mode gives you a car that responds like any other hatchback of this class.

To get the full Alfa experience, you need to flick the DNA switch to Dynamic. If you have your foot on the throttle when you do this, be prepared to be pushed back in to your seat. Dynamic increases throttle response, increases weight to the steering and sharpens up the brakes. The most noticeable difference is how the increased torque transforms the car into a car that desperately wants to accelerate. At that moment, the Giulietta is more than just getting you from A to B but a driving experience that lives up to the Alfa marque. Some will buy the Giulietta just for this.

Ride comfort on a set of 18-inch wheels is decent. The Veloce spec comes standard with 17-inch alloys which will provide better dampening on bumpy roads but even with the 18′s, you won’t find it uncomfortable. Style-wise, the Giulietta looks best on 18′s without looking grotesquely big but for most models you’ll find 17′s as standard.

The cabin is a nice place to be with its half-leather seats finished with red-stitching. The stereo system is integrated into the metal dashboard plate giving a seamless look. All the dials and buttons feel solid with a positive response – I particularly like the dual zone air conditioning controls with its big turn dials and intuitive layout. Alfa have done well to keep buttons and dials to a minimum – something that other manufacturers could learn from.

An original Alfa styling-invention found on the 147 is the hidden rear door handles. The deceptively clever design hides the door handles in the back of the rear windows, retaining the trendy 3-door look.

But this being Alfa, not everything is perfect. A small central arm rest is great for when you’re cruising on the motorway but it will quickly get in the way of gear changes and the handbrake.

The positioning of the pedals don’t feel right – the brake and throttle are too close together. Despite covering several hundred miles, I can still feel myself having to move my foot away from the throttle when I’m reaching for the brake.

Fuel economy is helped with a Stop and Start system which automatically cuts the engine when your foot is on the brake and gear is neutral – starting up as soon as you push down on the clutch. Cruise control helps eat up the motorway miles and although it doesn’t auto adjust to cars in front, it does return to its set speed if you do an overtake.

The Multi-Air engine is the culmination of over ten years of research and development, costing Fiat over $100 million. The investment is paying off as it was winner of best new engine 2010 and the TwinAir variant won best new engine of 2011. Multi-Air is Alfa’s answer to respecting the environment but without compromising performance. The principles behind Multi-Air is its ability to adjust the air intake valves electronically which helps control how it burns fuel. The result is improved efficiency and smoother delivery of performance which saves you money not just on fuel but road tax too. The 1.4 170bhp model tax disc costs just £130. If you go for the low/mid-range Diesel engine, you’ll find even better savings for fuel economy and road tax.

Alfa are pitching the Giulietta as a car with two personalities – it’s sensible and it’s exciting. My 600 miles have proven that to be true and whilst it has its issues, these are overlooked as soon as you give the Dynamic mode a go. The Giulietta’s unique styling combined with clever design and an excellent range of engines combine to make this a compelling hatchback that make the Golf and the A3 drab and dull.