T3 - UK (2021-07)

JULY 2021 T 3 25

Gadget guru

A

Guru loves nerdy trinkets,

a well-appointed home,

and an oddly specific

question. Allow him to direct you

to thumbsup.com, which has

worked with Stormtrooper designer

Andrew Ainsworth to knock out a

number of appropriate products

based on his original helmet design.

Start your posh Cantina get-

together by filling the Stormtrooper

decanter (£25) with something

strong, pour your guests a good

slug of blue milk into the

Stormtrooper-shaped glass (£12)

and switch on your Stormtrooper-

shaped wireframe lamp (£19.50) for

the ultimate in alien atmosphere.

If you’re looking to wow friends

with your drinks-mixing skills,

Sharon Powell’s unofficial cocktail

book (Drink Me, You Must!, £8.99)

contains such recipes as Qui-Gon

Jinn and Tonic, the Fuzzy Tauntaun

and, er, ‘Yoda drink’, though Guru

supposes you could probably get

away with mixing anything up if you

give it a Star-Wars-y name. Here,

have a good sip of his Sarlacc Pit.

GADGET GURU’S MAGIC BOX

A

Wireless charging is sorcery
that few truly understand,
so let Dr Gauss offer you a
quick explanation in anapestic
tetrameter: In the back of your
phone a flat coil of wire lies / Find
the same in your Qi-charging
power supplies / When the coil in
the charger is given some juice /
It excites the phone’s coil with a
magnetic boost / If you have a new
hob which features induction /
The tech is a similar type of
construction / But be warned – do
not try charging phones on your
hob / (Unless fire is your aim – to
turn phones to a blob).
To be honest that probably
didn’t help you understand it any
better, but it did amuse Guru for a
few minutes. Let’s leave it at ‘it just
works’ and move on. Step one is
improving your aim. The better
the coils are aligned, the more
efficiently they’ll be able to transfer
their power. Apple’s newer devices
mostly make this a non-issue with

the new generation of MagSafe,

which gives the alignment some

exacting precision; many charging

stands will do the same, force-

aligning your phone for ultimate

performance; Belkin’s Boost Charge

TrueFreedom Pro (£149) solves the

problem simply by hurling a whole

load of individual charging coils into

a single mat, meaning wherever you

put your phone you’ll always be

sort of right.

Secondly, power can be an issue,

particularly if you’re trying to charge

a newer phone. Most Qi-charging

devices draw a maximum of 5W,

but iPhones and Samsung phones

contain tech that can take a little

more. Give them a charging pad

with 10W output – maybe even

something frivolous like Numskull’s

flux-capacitor-shaped Charging

Matz (£20) – and they should be

a lot happier. And consider a

thinner case, because bulky

silicon numbers can reduce the

proximity between coils.

How can I get the best from

wireless charging?

CHARLOTTEHOUSE,BROMLEY

Can I combine

Star Wars and

booze?

‘PADAWAN’,

VIAEMAIL

Guru recently reached a milestone birthday,

the one at which one’s life supposedly

begins – life apparently being a

combination of constant crushing malaise

and the inability to stand up without going

‘oof’. In a losing effort to retain at least

some of his fast eroding youthfulness, GaGu

has invested in a number of tinctures. These

range from The Body Shop’s £2 8 ‘Drops of

Youth’, a pre-moisturiser gel only slightly

less expensive than printer ink, to Origins’

Plantscription Multi-Powered

Youth Serum, which passes the

printer ink mark at £42 for 30ml

and sounds like a punishment

handed out to naughty children

by Monty Don. Whether these

things are working is a

question for Mrs Guru, who

refuses to answer on the

basis that she does not wish

to encourage Guru’s latest

mid-life crisis.

You might expect that it

is now time for Guru to

pick up a nice sports

car to spice up the

twilight of his years,

but you would be

wrong: he’s

much more

the type to

hurtle

around the

grounds in an electric go-kart. Admittedly

he literally tops the 22 0lb, 6 ft 3 in upper

limit of the Ninebot Gokart Pro (£1,750) and

is well aware that the increasingly older

junior members of Clan Guru will likely not

even allow him a go once they set eyes on

it, but he can’t help pretending he is still

cool enough to do skids.

Perhaps leaning into it and somehow

clearing the funds for the Zero SR/F EV

motorcycle (from £ 17 ,490) might be a better

choice. It’ll do 12 4mph (of which Guru may

use no more than 30) and cover 100 miles

on a charge, enabling your favourite uncle to

fly far away from his responsibilities before

trundling home with his tail between his legs.

ABOVE

Green Lantern

may be no

Superman,

but he’s got a

cracking charger