The perfect retro gaming controller? It doesn’t exist. But, as I write for Stuff, companies came close at CES 2026. If only GameSir and Hyperkin had taken their new collab a couple of steps further… Keep your iPhone photos safe. Most people don’t. But not a month goes by without … | Continue reading
It’s 2026. Hello. Things are already looking rocky, but let’s all hope that improves. In the meantime, here’s some writing from me. Tech resolutions: I do this every year. I should probably stop. But here are 5 tech and gadget New Year’s resolutions I will fail to keep in 2026. W … | Continue reading
Handmade Pac-Man? I have one now, courtesy of my 11yo. She also crafted a suitably terrified-looking blue ghost! Amazing! There is no Screen Time Wrapped. Which is a surprise, given that seemingly every other app and service has been determined to hurl stats my way about how ‘wel … | Continue reading
The new Pebble wearable is designed as e-waste. I’m getting fed up of this kind of thing. Hence my latest Stuff column: I want more eco-friendly tech, not gadgets that will die in two years. The best iPhone apps and games of 2025 – at least as I see it. The rules: new apps only a … | Continue reading
The Xperia Play has returned! Sort of. The Ayaneo Pocket Play is a modern take on a smartphone that has slide-out controls that turn it into a handheld console. Again, sort of. As someone who’s loved smartphone gaming since the iPhone 3G, I ask myself over at Stuff why the Ayaneo … | Continue reading
Your iPhone already has iPhone Fold Software, but Apple won’t let you use it. I’m not sure why I was surprised about this, but iOS and iPadOS aren’t really distinct, as recent hacks have shown by getting iPadOS running on an iPhone. My latest piece for WIRED explores the ramifica … | Continue reading
Games should not be ephemeral. Yet they are. Notably on iPhone and iPad, where Apple cares more about revenue and pushing people to the next thing than preservation. It’s this that pushed Simogo to release its entire mobile collection for Nintendo Switch. Over at Stuff, I outline … | Continue reading
Microsoft Windows hit 40. Over at Stuff, I wrote about its path from wonky beginnings to world-domination. Bubble Bobble is excellent. Hammering the point home is the new Evercade Alpha Taito unit, which I wrote about for Stuff in my column called ‘I always wanted a full-size arc … | Continue reading
Apple reinvented iPod Socks. But because this is 2025, they’re now ludicrously expensive fashion items. Read more in my column about iPhone Pocket for Stuff. Apple will soon sell a Mac that uses an iPhone chip.Which makes it even more absurd that, unlike Android 16, you can’t use … | Continue reading
My iPhone 16 Pro battery isn’t great. And yet it’s also healthy, according to the Settings app. Still, it’s disappointing that I often head towards the end of the day with the phone gasping for a charge. Which is why, for once, a spec on an Android phone excited me, leading me to … | Continue reading
Affinity is now free. Early in October, photo editors and designers rightly lost their minds as the Affinity suite was pulled from sale. Cue: catastrophising about inevitable enshittification – perhaps by way of a subscription or Affinity being mashed into Canva with a fork. Nope … | Continue reading
Ikea’s tiny smartphone bed isn’t as stupid as it sounds. The company’s weird little bed for your phone received a mix of ridicule and love online. In this week’s Stuff column, I outline how psychological tricks such as this really can help you combat smartphone overuse. I reviewe … | Continue reading
I simplified my audio setup some years back. In my column for Stuff this week, I dig into the reasons why – and find validation in the excellent new Ruark MR1 Mk3 speakers – along with offering a dash of audiophile baiting for good measure. Want to give your brain a workout? Here … | Continue reading
Slide Over is back. Apple has resurrected its popular ‘stashable’ iPad window – ish. It now only holds one app (albeit one per display) but it can now be resized. I wrote about this for Stuff, noting how it gives me hope Apple will fix other aspects of its revised operating syste … | Continue reading
I stole Fairphone’s Moments switch. I was at a tech event last week, where bemused journos are herded into an underground space to bounce around between PRs. Fairphone was the main brand that caught my eye, especially when the Moments switch was demonstrated to me. When I got hom … | Continue reading
Xiaomi’s Game Boy-style retro case is bonkers. For Stuff, I suggested it was the maddest smartphone accessory I’ve ever seen. Because it is. Want some premium Pi? The Raspberry Pi 500+ tries something new, bringing a properly clacky keyboard to its all-in-one. This and the intern … | Continue reading
Design is how it works. Liquid Glass doesn’t. At least, that’s the broad consensus in my latest for Wired, Liquid Glass Could Be One of Apple’s Most Divisive System Designs Yet, which includes comments from several app creators and designers. Elsewhere, I’m seeing plenty more con … | Continue reading
The iPhone Air reveal was a load of hot air. That’s the central premise of my column for Stuff, which explores what Apple said and what it delivered. Now, it’s not like Apple isn’t prone to hyperbole. Yet for this phone, the gap between spin and reality was greater than we’ve see … | Continue reading
My camera is an iPhone. It has been for years. And so with new iPhones – with new camera systems – arriving early next week, I decided to explore what was coming next in my Stuff column, ‘Zoom and gloom: The iPhone 17 Pro camera rumours I love – and hate’. Longplay is great. If y … | Continue reading
The iPhone Air is imminent. If the rumours are right, the result is going to be an odd duck. I dig into that in my latest Stuff column, I want the iPhone 17 Air to slim down the iPhone – not dumb it down. Secure your stuff! When it comes to iPhones and data, I outline how in the … | Continue reading
Soundwave superior! For once, my Stuff column is a properly light-hearted one, rather than me griping about something. Well, apart from chastising teenage me for selling his toys, the massive idiot. Still, I get to revel in a chonky Transformers Soundwave that’s also a Lego set. … | Continue reading
Apple finally destroyed Steve Jobs’s vision of the iPad. Good. That’s my thinking in my latest for WIRED, which explores how Cupertino has done the thing it swore it never would: turn its tablet into a full-blown window-wrangling, compromise-abandoning computer. Yes, it’s better, … | Continue reading
Google AI Mode arrived in the UK. I’m not a fan. My column for Stuff this week talks about why. Stop-motion animation on a phone? In these days of AI prompts, putting in the effort to make animation might seem quaint – even foolhardy. But I’ve long thought it feels like magic tha … | Continue reading
Could Apple convince me to spend $2000 on an iPhone Fold? Probably not. But my Stuff column this week says what Apple would need to do to tempt me. Age verification in the UK is a disaster. I predicted this in my column last weekend. But I’m nonetheless surprised by how badly it’ … | Continue reading
Commodore is back. Sort of. I wrote for Wired about the latest comeback from the once iconic brand, and the hurdles the new owner faces that could impede success. It’s also been interesting to compare Ultimate C64 presales and marketing to the ZX Spectrum Next. And to see ‘anothe … | Continue reading
My town’s schools just banned smartphones. I think that’s a bad idea. Which, as I’ve discovered this week, isn’t a popular take. But there’s too much blaming of tech itself rather than how it’s supplied, managed and used, and less attention paid to the benefits it can bring. The … | Continue reading
Today’s consoles are cheap. Seriously. Over at Stuff, I remark how the Neo Geo Super Pocket finally gives me the console I could never afford as a kid. The starting point for this column was remembering that my first true gaming love, the C64, cost 400 quid back in the early 1980 … | Continue reading
Very long-time readers of this blog may remember my first encounter with vestibular triggers in software. OS X Lion had full-screen animations, and they made me sick. Alas, I was no John Gruber or Jason Snell. I received a few emails and notes of concern, but the post got no real … | Continue reading
One device to rule them all‽ That’s the subject of my Stuff column this week: I’ve used Android 16’s desktop mode – and now I’m frustrated with my iPhone. I’ve written about ‘phones as desktops’ before, and it’s a subject that somehow manages to annoy just about everyone. But I r … | Continue reading
Microsoft is killing the Blue Screen of Death. In my piece for Wired, I take a trip down memory lane to wave goodbye to the iconic screen we all love to hate. (Spoiler: there will still be a BSOD, but the B will stand for something new.) Even Hades couldn’t save Netflix Games. Is … | Continue reading
I have issues with Apple’s current design trajectory. There’s a lot of gloss – style over substance – with Liquid Glass. While I appreciate some refinements, like the quiet exit of the Home indicator, the more I use macOS 26 and iPadOS 26, the more I question where Apple’s headin … | Continue reading
A piece in the i Paper today – “Reddit is ugly and utilitarian – but it’s the best space left on the internet” – sings the praises of Reddit. It does so through the lens of writer Zing Tsjeng enjoying a site that doesn’t demand you “market yourself as popular, attractive or palat … | Continue reading
Sega killed loads of mobile games. You can save them. But, as I write for Stuff, you shouldn’t have to. This piece looks at how Sega Forever became ‘Sega For About Eight Years’, the ephemeral nature of digital games, and how (and why) the industry should embrace emulation. 5 reas … | Continue reading
You might have seen reports about a heatwave in the UK. Then you might have looked at the temperatures and thought: what? What? Readings this week have been in the high 20s, and where I live are predicted to top out at 31°C on Saturday. (That’s high 70s to high 80s in old money.) … | Continue reading
I’m open to work. Sorry to start this weeknote with a blatant plug, but it is what it is. A long-term engagement ended last week, and I’m now looking for what’s next. If you or anyone you know needs someone to smash some words into shape (articles, case studies, press releases, A … | Continue reading
To say iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 have been divisive is putting things mildly. Much of that is down to Liquid Glass, which at best needs a lot of optimisation before these operating systems ship later this year. But look beyond that and there’s a lot to like, the most notable revamped … | Continue reading
The keynote for Apple’s developer conference was held yesterday. Much of it involved Apple executives hyping Apple’s “delightful and elegant new software design”. In short, it’s like Windows Vista, visionOS and the interfaces in Minority Report had a baby. As I explain in a colum … | Continue reading
iCloud Photos sync is a joke. So my Stuff column this week is: All I want from WWDC25 is for iOS 26 and iCloud to finally sync my photos properly. Although after I wrote this, I discovered Apple Music had eaten half of one of my uploaded digital-only albums. And that iCloud Drive … | Continue reading
Apple is reportedly working on an Apple Games app. But we’ve all played this game before, and I’m not sure it warrants an extra life. So over at Stuff, my column this week is ‘What I think the Apple Games app needs to work – and why it won’t’. Arc browser is dead. A blog post out … | Continue reading
“I almost threw out all my old USB cables. This week proved why I never should” is this week’s Stuff column. It was based on (or inspired/horrified by) sagely thoughts from Tom Berry and Ian Dunt, which I duly ignored. For reasons. Judging by the Bluesky discussions, Team Cables … | Continue reading
What should new Apple leadership do? That’s the question posed in Apple Turnaround by John Siracusa, which explores a new deal for developers, better software reliability, and harder paths to growth. It’s a great post, and the developer side of things especially gets me. I rememb … | Continue reading