Zath

UK Tech Blog - Hi-Tech Gadgets & Gaming

RBS 6 Nations Live Challenge App Review (iOS & Android)

by - Last Updated:

rbs-6-nations-logoThe RBS 6 Nations Rugby Championship is now well and truly underway and now thanks to their collection of apps for various platforms, you can keep up-to-date with the very latest team news and live scores whichever of the popular smartphones or tablets you might have. For the purposes of this review, I’ve been testing out different versions of the app, iOS (on iPad) and Android (on Samsung Galaxy S3).

However, in addition to just doing the usual job of providing live game information and news between games with their standard app, the RBS 6 Nations Live Challenge App takes watching the live game on TV to a whole more interactive experience!
[Read more…]

The Path of Zath: Technology Roundup #1

by - Last Updated:

The Google+ Long Game Is Brilliant – could Google+ eventually win out over the social network competition? They do keep adding good new features such as Hangouts and Communities and I’d rather use it more than Facebook…if only we could all agree to just move over from Facebook!

How Google Author Rank could change content marketing and journalism – as much as I’m not a fan of some of Google’s algorithm changes over the past couple of years (one hurt Zath pretty badly), I do kind of like the idea of good authors getting deserved recognition in search results, obviously it’s just another ploy to make you use Google+ and get more social signals.

Wikipedia hoax about a war that never happened deleted after 5 years – it makes you wonder just what else might be up on Wikipedia that has no basis in fact?
[Read more…]

The Path of Zath: Gaming Roundup #1

by - Last Updated:

The Best PC Games being released in 2013 – a great list of pc games due for release this year broken down by type of game, it looks like it’s going to be a great year for PC gaming! (UPDATE: PC Gamer have included updates of how the games turned out with quick summaries and links to their full reviews, quite cool to see how the year turned out!)

Amazing Chinese-style Assassin’s Creed artwork – I’m a real fan of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, while admittedly these are far from perfect yet, still very enjoyable and a great way to virtually experience some history from around the world. From looking at this artwork, I think Medieval Chinese assassin would definitely be an interesting setting for a future game.

This fantastic aerial photo of NYC turns Manhattan into ‘Sim City’ – I used to love the first two Sim City games back as a kid, so this view of New York looks amazing!
[Read more…]

The WIRED Pop-Up Store Appears In London – #SamsungWIRED

by - Last Updated:

A couple of months ago I bought myself a Samsung Galaxy S3 (which was a rather pleasant and substantial upgrade over my iPhone 4), so when I was offered the chance to attend a preview event of the WIRED Pop-Up Store, I was certainly looking forward to seeing what kind of technology a respected magazine publisher and Samsung could assemble into a temporary high street space in the run-up to Christmas!

The whole idea of this collaboration is to present the concept of the “New Industrial Revolution” – where creative thinking is meeting new technologies to inform new manufacturing techniques, product customisation and SMART business innovations – and give a glimpse into the world in 2013.
[Read more…]

Win A Three Mobile PAYG 3G Broadband Dongle (Competition)

by - Last Updated:

three-mobile-huawei-e367-3g-broadband-usb-dongleHere on Zath we’re obviously a big fans of the Internet and like to be able to access our favourite online services wherever we might be. In the past we’ve looked at various ways of doing that including using a MiFi, tethering with your mobile phone or using a 3G broadband dongle.

Well now we’ve teamed up with Three Mobile to bring you a competition for our UK-based readers to win one of the latter, specifically Three’s PAYG Premium 3G Broadband Dongle (Huawei E367) which we recently reviewed.
[Read more…]

Three Mobile MiFi Review

by - Last Updated:

3-mobile-mifi-wireless-mobile-internet-accessDuring the last couple of months I’ve been testing out one of the Three Mobile MiFi devices (the Huawei E585 wireless modem to be exact) which allows you to create your own personal internet-enabled Wi-Fi hotspot wherever you may be.

I initially had mixed feelings about its potential usefulness given my current HTC Desire Android-based smartphone allows you to setup wireless tethering to share your mobile phone’s internet connection — however, I was pleasantly surprised with how I ended up using the MiFi in practice.
[Read more…]

Win An Xbox Kinect Sensor & Games (Competition)

by - Last Updated:

xbox-kinect-sensor-motion-controller-kinect-adventures-kinect-sportsHere on Zath we’ve been interested in Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect Sensor/Motion Controller ever since it was first announced as Project Natal at E3 2009, the idea of Wii-style games without the need for a controller interested us greatly, however it was the potential for truly different kinds of gaming that this gaming accessory could provide us with.

One specific example of this was demonstrated by Peter Molyneux’s Milo artificial intelligence concept, which although the concept won’t see the light of day as its own game, the technology will no doubt be used in future games.

Anyway, you’ve probably had chance to read our recent Kinect review in which we asked whether you should buy one, and also found out what we thought to Kinect Adventures and Kinect Sports, well now we’re going to give you the chance to win an Xbox Kinect motion controller for yourself in our latest competition here on Zath!
[Read more…]

Win A Q-Waves Quicklink TV Kit – Watch Online TV On The Big Screen Without Wires (Competition)

by - Last Updated:

q-waves-quicklink-tvHere on Zath we recently wrote about the Q-Waves Quicklink TV which is recently released product that allows you to wirelessly connect your laptop to your TV which really takes most of the hassle out of hooking up your computer to your big screen to watch online catch up TV services such as the BBC iPlayer, 4OD, Seesaw and Sky Player, afterall do you really want the cables trailing all over your living room? You know one of these times you’re just going to trip over them! Or at least I would anyway!

Well here at Zath we’ve now teamed up with Q-Waves to help make your online TV watching that bit easier by offering you the chance to win one of the Quicklink TV kits for yourself in our latest competition.
[Read more…]

Nintendo 3DS Preview Event Review – Is This Handheld 3D Console A Game-Changer?

by - Last Updated:

nintendo_3dsThis weekend has seen a number of preview events for the upcoming Nintendo 3DS handheld gaming console in cities around the UK and I had the opportunity to attend one (thanks to Dom “The Hodge” Hodgson), so I went along to one of the Manchester sessions.

The Nintendo 3DS has been long-anticipated ever since it was first announced and will be the latest in the long line of handheld gaming console updates from the iconic gaming company, some of which include the Game and Watch LCD games, Gameboy(s), DS, DSi, DSi XL — they even had a few of these historic gaming devices on show at the start of the event.
[Read more…]

Humax Foxsat HDR Freesat HD TV Digital Recorder Review

by - Last Updated:

humax-foxsat-hdr-freesat-hd-tv-digital-recorder-set-top-boxOver Christmas I was lucky enough to receive the Humax Foxsat HDR Freesat Digital HDTV Recorder, having had chance to play with it over the last few weeks I thought I was high time it got a review.

For those of you that don’t know (now that you’re surfacing from underneath that rock) Freesat HD is effectively the free version of Sky HD, much like Freeview, except that a satellite dish is used rather than the traditional aerial. However, unlike with Freeview HD set top boxes, you can get a decent signal pretty much anywhere which offers a view of the sky, fantastic for those people who live in the back of beyond. It also offers a larger range of channels and can be used to simultaneously watch and record different programs.
[Read more…]