Gadget Guru
WWW.T3INDIA.COM APRIL 2019 T3 Tomorrow’s Technology Today 33
RUPESHPANDE
RAMNARAYANH.
SHANKARRANA
NOW PLAYING
NEW MEDIA
Guru finds the finest
media you need on
yourvariousscreensDREAM PLAZA
Mélonade’s neat album
imagines a world where we
are all trapped in a mall.
Thankfully, it’s a bouncy,
glitchy mall with some of the
smoothest muzak going.SLAY THE SPIRE
Guru’s daily Steam game of
choice: climb a tower, build
a deck of deadly cards as you
go, and use them to beat up
monsters. Properly addictive,
and brilliantly balanced.NIGHTFLYERS
Netflix science fiction space
spooks based on a George
RR Martin novella – less
Game Of Thrones, more
Game Of Oh God What Is
That Thing And What Does
It Want.How do I get
more mileage
from my car?
What’s the best
Blu-ray setup?
What can I do
with a smart
button?
There are so many
mechanical things that
could affect your car’s
efficiency, but here’s a few things:
replace your air filters and spark
plugs; pump your tires up to the
correct pressure for your load;
reduce that load wherever
possible; always use the correct oil.
In terms of your driving, use the
pulse and glide technique, where
you accelerate hard to the speed
you need to go (which helps your
engine work closer to its maximum
efficiency) then coast for a while
before repeating the process. On
the highway, stick as close to
60kmh as you can, and use cruise
control to keep yourself from
going gung-ho with your right
foot.The real question is which
metadata-rich video format
you opt for, be it Dolby
Vision or the almost-ready HDR10+.
The former works with 12-bit colour
(HDR 10+ only does a paltry 10-bit)
and the metadata it depends upon
is painstakingly created by hand by
professional colourists at studio
level. HDR10+, on the other hand,
has its metadata cooked up by a
vice-free robot using an upscaling
algorithm, making it much easier to
produce. So get yourself a player
that supports both, like the superb
Panasonic DP-UB9000EBK. This
means that even if your TV only
supports one now, when you
upgrade it, you’re ready for any
amount of exciting metadata.With the tiny bluetooth-based
Flic button you can do a whole
host of phone related
shenanigans through its over-
enthusiastic app, while Logitech’s
Pop button does a little less but
is also less likely to get
swallowed by a child.
Look for HomeKit integration
(the version of the Pop sold
through Apple’s store, a Hue
switch of some kind, or the
Fibaro button) if you want to
trigger scenes and automations
on Apple’s platform – Guru
would suggest not relying on a
button to fire off IFTTT applets,
because it’s very slow and
unreliable recently. Who knows
why.A
A
ABOVE
Turn your whole
house on and
off with a smart
button; great for
arguments with
the kids