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USE UP AND TRADE LOYALTY POINTS If you’re anything like me, you’ve amassed a glut of frequent flyer miles, loyalty points and vouchers from different stores and services, most of which just sit there until they expire. You can use Swapi as a place to consolidate all your cards, trade in your points and earn new ones at a variety of stores and websites all over the world. There’s even ways to reclaim expired points. This single loyalty app has an impressive range of rewards. Available from app stores. www.swapi.global


MEETING HOST AND TRANSCRIPTION The Anker PowerConf S330 is a great work-from-home gadget that wouldn’t be out of place in the office either. The S330 turns your computer into a Zoom Rooms certified huddle room, with four microphones and a speaker powerful enough for everyone to hear. A strength is its extra software that uses AI to transcribe a whole meeting, which costs £9.99 for 1,000 minutes. On sale at £69.99. https://uk.ankerwork.com/


GOOGLE BRINGS OUT ITS IPHONE RIVAL Last up, I have to give a nod to Google, which has finally got its iPhone equivalent in the form of the Pixel 6 range. Because Google has designed the microchips, the prices have come right down, with a flagship specced phone starting at £549. https://store.google.com/ product/pixel_6


HEARING GLASSES F


orget Google Glass – today’s smart specs are a much simpler affair, with a focus on providing hands-free listening rather than a flickery head-up display.


Soundcore has already earned a stellar reputation for its portable audio products and now it has come up with a great collection of smart glasses with interchangeable frames. It works like this: you buy the arms, which contain the


clever bits, then choose from a range of frames to snap into them. These include sunglasses and blue-light blocking styles, and all can be reglazed with your prescription if you prefer. Then, connect to your phone or laptop and you’re wired for sound.


Because there is nothing in your ears, the music can sound a bit tinny – but, if you’re on a conference call or tuned in to a product launch, or just want to take a few phone calls, it’s a very liberating experience. What’s surprising is that, in most respects, Soundcore Frames look and feel like regular glasses – there are no ugly lumps on the arms, and the choice of frames is both wide and pretty stylish. What makes them such a boon, though, is the fact that you can get on with your day in a way that feels seamless. Prices start at £149.99. uk.soundcore.com


> Say no to irritating printer things This is especially so with


A


s we spend more time working at home, equipment


manufacturers are responding with hybrid products designed to bridge the gap.


printers, with low-priced, all-in-one machines that look and behave more like those in the office. I’ve played with a few, and the Brother MFC-


J4540DW multifunction is my favourite, because it’s the only one that doesn’t do any of those irritating printer things like chewing up the paper or claiming to be offline when it


isn’t. With two paper trays and a scanner, copier and fax machine(!), it’s a great way of getting office performance at home. You can print straight from your mobile in one click. It costs £238.80. www.brother.co.uk


Chris Merriman on technology for journalists


Strong signals in ‘not spots’ O


ne of the impacts of Brex... well, you know, ‘that’, is that using a phone to roam is suddenly a lot more expensive, which for globe-hopping journalists is a bit of a pain.


KeySIM offers a solution with a SIM card that can roam on any


network – all four here in Blighty (O2/Virgin, Vodafone, EE/BT and Three) – meaning it’s also great if you find yourself in a ‘not spot’. In Europe, it can latch on to 92 networks across the continent and, if you’re working on the move, it intelligently switches to the strongest network without you needing to do a thing. It’s not cheap at £4/minute and £3.75 per gigabyte, but pop it into a mobile broadband dongle and it’s a great travel companion, whether you’re on foreign shores or just in a building where you can’t get your usual network. I tried it in a notorious signal


black spot near me and got a strong signal for the first time ever. www.keysim.co.uk


theJournalist | 23


A SOUND BARGAIN BUY


Big-value earbuds


I’m always a bit loath to include earbuds because of the sheer volume


of new models being released. However, Earfun Free II Earbuds have cut through the noise, if


you’ll pardon the pun, because they sound on a par with models from bigger names such as Jabra and Sennheiser. Tiny buds, great sound, long battery life, IPX5 water resistance, active noise cancelling and wireless charging – all this would normally cost well over £100, but it’s £69.99 from Amazon, plus there are usually heavy discounts on offer (30% at the time of going to press). A great budget buy.


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