/lifestyle/rss 九一星空无限 Read the latest lifestyle news at 九一星空无限talk ZB. We have the latest in reviews, competitions, events, home & garden, motoring and more.     Wed, 15 Oct 2025 17:58:31 Z en /lifestyle/technology/dyson-airwrap-co-anda-2x-licensed-to-style/ /lifestyle/technology/dyson-airwrap-co-anda-2x-licensed-to-style/ Remember when Dyson launched the original Airwrap in 2018? Hot off the success of the Dyson Supersonic hair dryer, suddenly this was the must-have hairstyling accessory everyone was talking about. Well... everyone with hair, anyway. Even blokes who had no interest in - or indeed any use for - a tool that could produce salon-style curves and waves in just a few minutes, soon learned they'd be very popular with the long-haired ladies in their life if an Airwrap found its way under the Christmas tree that year. It turns out, moving streams of either fluid or air have a tendency to attach to curved surfaces, pulling other things into their slipstream with them. By harnessing the power of the Coandӑ effect, Dyson literally invented a whole new way to style hair and boy, was it popular.  But Dyson has never been a company to rest on its laurels. Over the proceeding years some minor updates have been made but now there's a whole new game in town. And it comes in a beautiful presentation box.  The latest Dyson Airwrap is called the Airwrap Co-anda 2x - and that box is just full of surprises. It's a large box, with a luxurious, soft-touch feel to it. Not only will it keep the new Airwrap and its associated accessories safe inside, the upturned lid becomes a velvet-covered beauty console, complete with a little stand for your smartphone. That's not so you can keep up-to-date with your social feeds. The idea is to pair with your new Airwrap Co-anda 2x via the MyDyson app. Not only will the app then serve you a selection of instructional videos on how to get the most out of your new styling toy, it will literally guide you, step by step, if that's what you need. I've unleashed a few willing volunteers on the Airwrap Co-anda 2x and they all assure me, without exception, you'll definitely need a few tips and pointers. After all, if you want your hair to look like it's been styled by a pro, you're going to have to learn one or two actual techniques. At least the Airwrap Co-anda 2x is light, well-balanced and its oval profile is extremely comfortable to hold, so you won't get a tired arm while you figure out how to use it. Especially since there are more attachments included than ever before - and these have been dramatically reimagined too. To begin with, there's not one but two curling barrels, a 30mm and a 40mm option. Improving on the original Airwrap, these barrels (like the more recently updated ones) are bi-directional; a simple twist at the top changes the direction of the air-flow so your curls don't end up going the same way on both sides. (This is a major fashion faux pas. Everyone knows that). The curling barrels are now straight cylinders, not cone-shaped as before. This means you can curl more hair at once, more evenly. And obviously, using the larger 40mm barrel means looser, more wave-like curls. There are two styling brushes; First, the round volumising brush 2x, to help you plump up your style without the frizz you'd encounter with old-fashioned teasing. Dyson has tapered the bristles so you can focus the brush's attention on one section of your hair at a time. Secondly, the anti-snag loop brush 2x let's you pull your style into shape without pulling uncomfortably on your scalp. It's all thanks to Dyson's clever little loop bristles. Because great hair shouldn't give you a headache. Before I started reviewing Dyson hair care products, I didn't know what a flyaway was. In fact, I'd never even heard of them. What an amateur! Now I'm experienced enough to know these are those rogue hairs that just won't fall in line with the rest, ruining your otherwise pristine do. Unless you use the Airsmooth2x attachment, of course. This is kind of like a set of mini-straighteners - except without the searing hot heat-plates - so no risk of scorching your lovely locks. Instead, a precisely controlled dual-flow of high-speed air forces those rogue flyaways back into line, resulting in a healthy, shiny and above all, smooth finish. But it's the new fast dryer 2x that's caused the most comment, because it's just so damn good. The Dyson Hyperdymium 2 motor provides twice the air pressure - thus the 2x on the end of everything. That means you can now dry your hair faster than ever, still at tightly regulated temperatures to prevent any damage. Each attachment is RFID chipped so the Airwrap can remember exactly which setting you used last time around. Still, it's curls you came for and it's curls you shall have. But as I mentioned earlier, it will take a bit of practice and perseverance.  As clever as the Airwrap Co-anda 2x is, it can't do everything for you. More attachments means more techniques to learn but don't worry, the MyDyson app has you covered. From what I've seen in my observation of my test subjects in action, it's a good idea to master as much of what the new Airwrap has to offer before you let your 20-something daughters have a go. Their youthful ability to pick up new technology and make it work perfectly on their first attempt is impressive - but also infuriating and annoying. From what I've seen, anyway. You may not be aware, but Dyson now also has a range of oils, creams, sprays and serums to help you achieve an even greater range of styles - the right combination of which will undoubtedly assist in solving the one general complaint my test subjects have had to offer; the curls don't stay in. I've tried giving advice. "Did you leave your hair slightly damp before styling?" I have asked, helpfully, "Are you sure you used a blast of cold air to set the curls in place?" "That happens automatically," I was told. In no uncertain terms. It seems I might be somewhat out of my depth here. All I know is, everyone now looks very beautiful and I think the Airwrap Co-anda 2x definitely had something to do with it.      Click here for more information and pricing on the Dyson Airwrap Co-anda 2x. Wed, 15 Oct 2025 00:02:46 Z /lifestyle/travel/mike-yardley-on-the-streets-of-kathmandu/ /lifestyle/travel/mike-yardley-on-the-streets-of-kathmandu/ It was a dramatic time to pay a visit to Kathmandu. The Gen Z protests in mid-September sparked two days of rioting, violence, and destruction on the streets, culminating in the killing of over 70 people, particularly students and police officers. The student-led uprising was firmly focused on the corrupt government and its cronies, who had arguably over-reached by seeking to curb access to social media platforms. It was a lightning-fast revolution that ousted the rulers and saw an interim female Prime Minister installed, who deftly and swiftly calmed the farm. I arrived into Kathmandu just as the night-time curfews had been lifted by the military.   The newfound sense of peace and calm was palpable, as we taxied from the airport to the Radisson Hotel, in the heart of the tourist district. There was a reassuring sense of celebration on the streets, as people returned to their daily routines and got on with life. It was stunning to see the city metaphorically dust itself off and embrace the new dawn. The most confronting spectacle was the widespread damage and destruction to government buildings – the parliament was scorched, police stations had all their windows smashed, and the incinerated mangled remains of buses and cars had been pushed to the roadside. Freshly painted graffiti shouting out for “Democracy!” liberally plastered the frontages of many government properties. But these visible scars of civil strife were the only calling cards left over from the week’s mass-uprising. Kathmandu was open, welcoming and embracing.  Street scenes in the wake of the Gen Z protests. Photo / Mike Yardley  I locked in my Kathmandu city-break with Booking.com, tapping into their one-stop-shop travel offering, which enables you to sort flights, accommodation, attractions and car hire, all on the one site. An attraction I highly recommend you experience is a personally guided street-food walking tour. We met up with Deepak, a delightful local guide, outside the serene Annapurna Temple in Asan district. The three-storied pagoda style temple is dedicated to the Goddess of Grains, towering over the ever-lively bazaar. Deepak deftly initiated us with a crash-course in temple etiquette. We rang the bell to disperse evil spirits and negative energy; we circumnavigated the temple and then made a flowering offering (puja) to the deities. Deepak also placed a bindi on our foreheads before plunging us into the tangle of buzzing lanes in Thamel district.   Be sure to go hungry, because the profusion of street food that Deepak had us devour over the course of several hours soon represented a rolling banquet of lavish proportions. Here’s a round-up of our favourite local tastes. We tucked into panipuri from a street vendor. These hollow crisp puris are filled with spicy potatoes and tangy water, creating a zesty, crunchy snack. Another flavourful street snack was chatpat, made with puffed rice, vegetables and spices. A huge highlight are the vegetarian steamed momos. These tender dumplings are crammed with seasonal vegetables – light, savoury and comforting. We also tucked into vegetarian chatamari which is a thin rice crepe topped with spiced vegetables. Very satisfying.  Panipuri. Photo / Mike Yardley  Street drinks featured as well, headlined by Kathmandu’s fabulous sugarcane juice. A young man freshly pressed the juice from the canes. It’s naturally sweet. So simple, cooling and refreshing. I also became very partial to Nepali sweet lassi. The drink consists of smooth yoghurt blended with sugar, topped with condensed milk and dried fruits. It’s a stunningly cooling treat, creamy and indulgent. If you’re a tea drinker, definitely sample a cup or two of Nepali masala milk tea. (Chiya) It is strong, milky and spiced. I would prefer an English Breakfast.   Finally, my favourite dish was thukpa. This hearty mountain noodle soup is enriched with chicken, egg and vegetables. It was such a nourishing meal and is the quintessential comfort food in Nepal. Booking.com has just released the findings from its Taste of Home Asia-Pacific research which reveals that “Trolley tourism” is booming. More than four in five Kiwi travellers enjoy visits to local supermarkets, food markets, and foodie festivals on holiday. And almost three-quarters of us have chosen a destination solely to visit a particular restaurant or food spot. Lock in a guided street food tour in Kathmandu, via the attractions tab, on booking.com  A bowl of Thukpa. Photo / Mike Yardley  Bidding Deepak a fond farewell, we took our bulging-bellies on a stroll through Thamel district’s frenetic lanes, abuzz with scooters, shoppers and traders. As imposing as the prospect of crossing the road may look, there is an unspoken semblance of percussion, rhythm and synthesis to how traffic movements occur. Look the scooter rider in the eye before you step out, don’t make any sudden or surprise movements and they will harmoniously weave around you. It’s quite intoxicating.   In a city with a surfeit of temples and stupas, the runaway favourite sightseeing attraction is Kathmandu’s Durbar Square. This vast public plaza served as the epicentre of political, religious, and social life during the Malla period, from the 12th–18th century, prior to Nepal’s unification. The striking architecture reflects a rich blend of Hindu and Buddhist influences. The square is also known as "the Museum of Temples" because there are over 50 temples here, many multi-tiered wooden marvels soaring into the sky.  Colour of Durbar Square. Photo / Mike Yardley  The Taleju Temple is the tallest of all structures, built by King Mahendra Malla in 1549 AD. Built in the 16th century, the Jagannath Temple is another head-turner, acclaimed for the fascinating erotic figures carved on the wooden struts. The 17th century Kumari Temple, or the temple of Living Goddess is a stirring example of the intricacy of Nepali craftsmanship. This is the official residence of the Living Goddess Kumari of Kathmandu, revered by Buddhist and Hindus, alike. The latest goddess is a two-year-old, who was chosen at the start of October and will live in the house until puberty. She is considered as the living incarnation of the goddess Taleju. Visitors can get a peek of her and seek blessings during special hours.  From New Zealand, it’s just a one-stop connection to Kathmandu with Singapore Airlines, on their daily services from Auckland and Christchurch, with well-timed connections from Changi Airport on to Kathmandu. Across all classes of travel, the award-winning carrier has not only fostered a world-beating reputation for its exceptional customer service and in-flight product, but also its innovation. Become a KrisFlyer member and enjoy complimentary in-flight WiFi. For best fares and seats to suit head to singaporeair.com  Mike Yardley is our resident traveller on Jack Tame Saturday Mornings.  Tue, 14 Oct 2025 22:45:10 Z /lifestyle/technology/apple-watch-series-11-no-major-shake-up-still-the-best/ /lifestyle/technology/apple-watch-series-11-no-major-shake-up-still-the-best/ There are many reasons why I consider Apple Watch to be the best smartwatch available. The interchangeable bands are genius. The rotating crown is useful. Even the simple fact it has a square display means information is shown in a more familiar and easier-to-consume way than on smartwatches that use a round face. Lastly, what many people consider to be Apple Watch's greatest downside, is actually the best thing about it... It still only works within the Apple ecosystem. You can't pair an Apple Watch with any phone that isn't an iPhone. So yes, of course, if you're not an iPhone user, that's a bummer. But if you are, then you know that like every other Apple product, the Watch will just work. Flawlessly. Notifications will appear reliably and in a timely fashion. You can reply to emails, texts and messages. Media controls won't just mysteriously stop working for no reason. And when it comes to interacting with other Apple gadgets, what a delight. Turn your lights on and off with your Watch. Start an Apple Fitness workout on your Apple TV with your Watch. Unlock your Mac with your Watch. Sync all your health, fitness and sleep data to your iPhone with your Watch. Apple's (essentially) closed system means a controlled system - if they can't make a feature work first time, every time, it stays in Beta. So when the Watch Series 11 launched last month and some critics claimed it hadn't changed much from last year's model, I said, "Good." Apple Watch Series 11 is available in four aluminium finishes and three polished titanium options, although you could definitely argue the seven colour choices are somewhat muted this year, most of them varying shades of silver or gold - with the exception of the Jet Black option. Although I don't mind a reasonably chunky bit of wrist-wear, a large, heavy timepiece isn't everyone's cup of tea, so it's great to see Apple has kept the design as slim and light as the Series 10 - so it's still the thinnest Apple Watch we've seen. This is made more impressive by the fact the Ion-X glass covering the display on the aluminium models is bonded with a new ceramic coating, making it twice as scratch resistant than the Series 10 faces were. With the introduction of "Liquid Glass" in iOS 26, making the icons on your iPhone's home screen look transparent and 3D, Apple has replicated those effects in WatchOS 26, and there are some rather beguiling new watch-faces that really take advantage of that eye-catching effect. If you had any doubts about how much more dazzling the display is on the Series 11 when compared to its much less expensive stablemate, the SE 3, let me lay those to rest. The useable part of the screen stretches right to where the edges curve away, so there are almost no visible bezels at all. In fact, the general curviness of the device makes it so comfortable to wear to bed for sleep tracking, I'm hardly aware I'm wearing it at all. Another important element of using your watch for sleep tracking is the battery. I used to just put whatever smartwatch I was using on to charge overnight. Now, with Apple claiming up to 24 hours "normal use" on a single charge, I typically just top it off just before bed and thanks to fast-charging, the Series 11 is usually close to 100% by the time I'm ready to put it on again and go to sleep. While you're sleeping is when a lot of the Series 11 health tracking kicks in too - not just detecting how long you spend in each sleep stage but also monitoring for sleep apnoea and unusual fluctuations in wrist temperature. You can check all these stats out on the Apple Health app in the morning. But this year's big Apple Watch breakthrough is Hypertension Notifications. Don't ask me how this works exactly, because you can't actually take a specific blood-pressure reading using the Series 11. However, after you've entered 14 days of BP information, compatible Apple Watches can then monitor for abnormally high blood pressure and notify you that you might be experiencing hypertension. That's great peace-of-mind for someone like me, with a family history. Apart from the Liquid Glass business, WatchOS 26 isn't a wild departure from the previous version, although I certainly appreciate the little tweaks Apple has made to the workout screens and you now have the option of rating how challenging you found your workout - more useful data that I assume contributes to the new "Vitals" section in Apple Health - an overall summary of your health and fitness trends that grows more accurate over time and can alert you if things start going off the rails. A lot of these new tricks and features are thanks in no small part to the latest S10 chip, which powers all three of the Apple Watch models launched in September. With its 64-bit dual-core processor, 4-core Neural Engine and 64GB of built-in storage, you could be forgiven for assuming I'd just listed the specs of a phone, not a watch. Of course, the cellular variants of Apple Watch Series 11 basically work like they're an independent phone anyway, especially with the improved, dual antenna design. More and more New Zealand carriers are introducing inexpensive addon-plans for cellular-enabled smartwatches, and from my experience, it's very freeing to be able to leave your phone behind when you're off exercising or walking the dog. As you can tell, I'm a fan. Even so, I'm not going to try and convince to upgrade if you only just bought a Series 10 Apple Watch from last year. The 2025 model is an upgrade - but I wouldn't have thought the tougher screen, new chip and improved battery life would compel many people to trade up. On the other hand, if you're still rocking something from 2023 or before, it might just be time to treat yourself to some new wrist candy.      Click here for more information and pricing on the Apple Watch Series 11. Sun, 12 Oct 2025 23:38:23 Z /lifestyle/travel/new-caledonia-sees-first-signs-of-tourism-recovery-after-2024-unrest/ /lifestyle/travel/new-caledonia-sees-first-signs-of-tourism-recovery-after-2024-unrest/ New Caledonia’s tourism sector is showing early signs of recovery after a dramatic collapse in visitor numbers following violent riots in May last year. Figures from New Caledonia Tourism show arrivals from New Zealand plummeted to just nine people in June last year - a stark contrast to usual Kiwi visitor numbers. The data shows in April last year – the month before the riots started – there were 813 New Zealander travellers, and in 2023, between 750 to 1,700 Kiwis arrived on New Caledonian shores each month. Australian arrivals also bottomed out in June last year, to just 54. But momentum is starting to build – with New Zealand visitor numbers rising to 244 in July this year – up from 96 in May. Australian visitors reached 1,331, more than doubling the 660 visitors from May. Overall international visitor numbers hit nearly 6000 in July - more than doubling numbers from the start of this year. The riots in May 2024 were sparked by proposed voting reforms from the French Government, which aimed to change conditions that currently prevent up to a fifth of the population from voting in provincial elections. The protests led to at least 13 deaths, a declared state of emergency, deployment of the French army, and the blocking of social media platform TikTok. New Caledonia Tourism’s Australia-New Zealand Representative Caroline Brunel, said the impact on tourism was immediate and severe. “When the riots started, visitor numbers collapsed almost overnight.” “In April 2024, we had close to 800 arrivals from New Zealand and by June that fell to just nine which was extremely difficult.” Brunel said the riots hit the tourism sector at a fragile time, following years of disruption and uncertainty from the Covid-19 pandemic. “Many operators and businesses had no choice but to close, after being pushed to the brink,” she said. Brunel said the New Zealand Government’s travel advisory, warning people to avoid non-essential travel, was kept in place for a full year after the riots. “That meant travel insurance wouldn’t apply, so it was too risky for people to book a holiday,” she said. That advisory was downgraded to “exercise increased caution” on May 5 this year. Brunel said a lack of direct flights from Auckland to Nouméa also slowed recovery. Air New Zealand suspended its service last June, with flights resuming next month. New Caledonia’s National carrier, Aircalin, also cut weekly flights to just one last year and then increased that to two in April. Brunel said capacity remained low on these flights, as seats were largely filled by New Caledonian residents travelling to and from New Zealand. Despite the challenges, Brunel said the region is cautiously optimistic. “With the travel advisory lifted and flights resuming, we’re hopeful that New Zealanders will start returning to New Caledonia. It’s been a long road, but we’re beginning to see the first signs of recovery.” Kate Rickard is an Auckland-based Multimedia Journalist for 九一星空无限talk ZB covering tourism, immigration, and general news. She previously studied journalism at AUT before joining ZB full-time in April 2025. Sun, 12 Oct 2025 16:00:05 Z /lifestyle/travel/mike-yardley-delving-into-india-with-wendy-wu-tours/ /lifestyle/travel/mike-yardley-delving-into-india-with-wendy-wu-tours/ For even the most intrepid of travellers, India can be a sensory assault – confronting and riveting in equal measure. If you’re a first-timer to the subcontinent, the Golden Triangle which threads together New Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur offers the best crash-course in getting to grips with India. I first tripped around the Golden Triangle fourteen years ago and I’ve recently completed a return visit with Wendy Wu Tours. It was fascinating to discover the remarkable changes and dramatic swing in living standards, while many aspects to the allure of the Golden Triangle remained unchanged.  The World Bank estimates around 171 million Indian people have been lifted out of extreme poverty in the past decade. The booming middle-class has doubled in size in the past 20 years and continues to grow, as is exemplified by the forests of gleaming apartment towers sprawling across New Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur. Road travel is significantly faster, with major highway projects slashing travel time to Agra and Jaipur from New Delhi. The capital city struck me as decidedly cleaner than I recall from 14 years ago, with far less litter on the streets.  Colour and chaos in New Delhi. Photo / Mike Yardley  However, the mounds of rubbish polluting the roadside are still depressingly conspicuous on the highway and in smaller towns. Tragically, many wandering cows who famously enjoy sacred status in India, succumb to choking on plastic while foraging for food scraps among the heaving piles of litter. Hordes of street children begging at busy traffic intersections is still a common encounter, as is the sight of people blithely taking a dump on the footpath. But beyond those confronting everyday spectacles, India immeasurably rewards the eager visitor, whether it’s your first foray or if you’re returning for a fresh dollop.  Here's a round-up of my top pointers and suggestions on how to make a swing through India as seamless and stress-free as possible. I hugely rate Wendy Wu Tours and their local expert operators as the go-to touring company. Their week-long Classic India Private Tour showcases the Golden Triangle, encompassing three historically and culturally significant cities: Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur. India's rich heritage takes centre-stage, including the iconic Taj Mahal in Agra, the historic forts and palaces of Jaipur, and Delhi's blend of old and new, with stand-out landmarks like the Red Fort and Qutub Minar.   Monument touring in India. Photo / Mike Yardley  Over the course of seven days, you will feel fully immersed in the diverse splendour of Indian culture, history, and architecture. You’ll enjoy complete flexibility because you can travel on any day you wish, year-round. The itineraries are expertly crafted and can be tailored for parties as small as one. Because it’s a private trip, you are choosing who you’re travelling with, whether you’re tripping on your own, as a couple, with friends or as a family. What I particularly enjoy about this is that a private tour undeniably delivers a far more intimate and authentic travel experience. All of our private guides fast became friends – and we swapped social media addresses. And our delightful driver, Mr Singh, who spirited us around the entire Golden Triangle route, was the consummate, seasoned, and unflappable pro behind the wheel – no matter how many reckless motorists unleashed their heart-in-your-mouth overtaking and undertaking manoeuvres! Red Bull should sign up Mr Singh for the F1. With Wendy Wu Tours, you can also opt for a tailor-made private holiday to optimise your itinerary and accommodation preferences, as much as you wish. The itinerary can be as active or as laid back as you are, with full flexibility over included meals and excursions.  When should you go? For the Golden Triangle circuit, the optimum time is from mid-September, just after the monsoon season, until April when the mercury can boil fiercely. Days are generally warm, but nights can be chilly, with temperatures in New Delhi sometimes dipping as low as 7C at the end of the year. November and February are regarded as the peak travel months, dovetailing with the best weather and wedding season, so expect bigger crowds and higher prices, especially for hotels.  Shopping the bazaars in India. Photo / Mike Yardley  Tipping is customary and expected in restaurants, hotels and for services, but amounts can vary. Generally, 10% in restaurants and small change for porters and drivers. Although credit cards are widely accepted, I would definitely recommend converting some currency into Indian rupees, particularly for tips, and when visiting small shops and local bazaars.  What about food hygiene and keeping healthy? You will soon notice that eating with your hands is a deeply rooted custom in Ayurveda, believed to enhance mindfulness and digestion. The right hand is typically used, as the left is considered unclean in many traditions. Care is taken to scoop food with the fingers, using the thumb to push it into the mouth while keeping the palm clean. To enjoy street food safely, stick to popular stalls with high turnover, opt for freshly cooked items, avoid uncooked ingredients, and be super cautious of water sources by choosing boiled or bottled drinks.   Street foot in New Delhi. Photo / Mike Yardley  My guides with Wendy Wu Tours were a trusty font of wisdom and comfort as to where to buy street-food and where to give the wide berth! Chilled bottles of water were always available from Mr Singh. I had no brushes with the dreaded “Delhi belly”, but as a precaution add a packet of Imodium tablets to your toiletry bag in case you have a tummy turbulence. Delve into India with the award-winning tour specialists across Asia and beyond. You’ll be in the best of hands with Wendy Wu Tours. wendywutours.co.nz/india  Golden Triangle tours start and end in New Delhi with airport transfers all part of the Wendy Wu Tours experience. I would strongly recommend you stay by the airport when you return to New Delhi, prior to your flight the following day. AeroCity is a major new precinct just minutes from Indira Gandhi Airport and I stayed a night at the fabulous Pullman Aerocity. Far from being just another soulless, airport hotel, Pullman Aerocity is not just one of New Delhi’s best five-star hotels, but it pops with personality.   Forgettable functionality far too often defines the airport hotel experience, but luxury and comfort take precedence at the Pullman New Delhi Aerocity. From the eye-catching art installations to the state-of-the-art amenities, this property has fast cultivated a following among not just discerning business travellers but holidaymakers seeking a little pre-flight pampering, in addition to local guests craving an indulgent staycation (it’s very busy on the weekend).  The contemporary architecture and interiors set the stage for a splendid layover from the moment you step inside its expansive, art-filled lobby. Feast your eyes on the paintings and sculptures from famous Indian artists. Designed by renowned architect Meriem Hall, Pullman Aerocity’s architectural concept stems from a world brimming with poetic curves, full of elements that walk the fine line between definite and abstract. Geared at titillating the senses, the adorned spaces are a culmination of nature, business and leisure; where movement, energy and music create a harmonious rhythm of space and design.   Push the boat out and reserve an Executive Suite. The spacious rooms are equipped with plush bedding, spacious bathrooms, WiFi, TV and floor to ceiling windows overlooking the runway, which ticked all the boxes for this plane-spotter. The suites also provide access to the Executive Lounge for extra indulgence, complimentary drinks and snacks.  Accommodation at Pullman New Delhi Aerocity. Photo / Suppled Foodies will find themselves spoilt for choice with Pullman's eclectic dining options. Farmers’ Basket At Pluck, the all-day dining restaurant, offers farm-to-table experiences with a focus on fresh, locally sourced ingredients. The lavish buffets and Sunday brunches are deliciously curated. The in-house bar, Pling, is the go-to spot for expertly crafted cocktails and a bubbly ambience perfect for unwinding after a long day. Pan-Asian food lovers can relish a meal at Honk, where the Peking Duck, handcrafted sushi and the extensive Dim Sum menu is mouth-watering.  Pullman New Delhi Aerocity also excels in the wellness stakes. The Fitness Centre is generously loaded up with the latest fitness technology to keep you active, while the serene Pullman Spa offers rejuvenating treatments to melt away stress. I particularly liked the outdoor swimming pool, flanked by stylish cabanas and lush greenery. It adds a resort-like feel to the property, making it easy to forget you're just by the airport. With its luxurious offerings, innovative amenities, and an unwavering commitment to sparkling hospitality, this property and its fabulously outgoing staff exemplifies what every great lifestyle hotel should strive to be like. all.accor.com   Pool time at Pullman New Delhi Aerocity. Photo / Supplied From New Zealand, it’s just a one-stop connection to a multitude of destinations in India, including New Delhi, with Singapore Airlines, on their various daily services from Auckland and Christchurch to Singapore. Enjoy well-timed connections for an easy transit in Singapore. Across all classes of travel, the award-winning carrier has not only fostered a world-beating reputation for its exceptional customer service and in-flight product, but also its innovation. Become a KrisFlyer member and enjoy complimentary in-flight WiFi. For best fares and seats to suit head to singaporeair.com  Mike Yardley is our resident traveller on Jack Tame Saturday Mornings.  Fri, 10 Oct 2025 23:38:16 Z /lifestyle/technology/motorola-razr-60-come-for-the-bend-stay-for-the-ai/ /lifestyle/technology/motorola-razr-60-come-for-the-bend-stay-for-the-ai/ I know we should probably be taking them for granted by now, but I still find bendy phones a bit of a novelty. And that's coming from a guy who's reviewed a fair few of them. In many ways, I feel like 2025 is the year they really started to come of age, moving from the category of pricey gimmick, with limited real-world specs, into a more mainstream, well set up, productive tool. If you're considering a new phone, now's the time to consider a foldable - not just because it bends in the middle, but because it's just a good phone. A fine example is the motorola razr 60 - a handset I was determined to judge objectively as a phone first, then a clamshell foldable second. I need to start with the box. Have you ever heard the expression, "There's nothing like the smell of a brand new phone?" No, of course you haven't. Why would anyone say that? Well, it turns out, Motorola literally adds a "Signature Packaging Fragrance" to enhance the unboxing experience, so the razr 60 definitely makes an impression before you even start flipping and calling. It's available in Parfait Pink and Gibraltar Sea (dark blue) and you'll find a matching cover/bumper in the box. Initially I used this extra layer of protection but eventually I felt like it made the phone look and feel cheap and plasticky, so I took it off again. Although this means I run the risk of having to explain a damaged review unit when I send it back to Motorola, at least I feel cool when I slip it out my pocket to use it. Besides, the razr 60 is more durably constructed than ever before; a stronger, titanium-based hinge plate, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protecting the external display and an easy-grip, soft-touch faux-leather back panel, embossed with reflective Motorola and razr logos. I'm a fan of the Motorola UI, because it's about as close to the stock Android 15 OS as you can get. Very little bloat and the settings are comprehensive without being overwhelming. However, unlike some other brands, I always find setting up a new Motorola is a bit more of a mission. You can transfer some settings, files and apps from your previous device but I was frustrated to discover not all my apps installed automatically and very few were pre-logged in for me when I opened them. But if you're looking for AI options, you've definitely come to the right place. Motorola parks its own moto ai prompt on screen as a floating button (assuming you decide to use it). This means interactive AI is always just a tap away, no matter which app or browser window you have open.  As far as I'm concerned, right now there's two types of AI available to you on most premium smartphones; one is this kind - where you consciously have to summon it, like a genie from a bottle. On the razr 60, this option gets confusing quickly because depending on what's on your screen, you're met with several inquiry prompts including the option to use Co-pilot Vision or perhaps to "Ask Perplexity." To muddy things even more, as an Android device, you also have the option to use Google's AI, Gemini, as your virtual assistant and general font of all knowledge. So is moto ai it's own entity? Or just a portal to other AI services? Maybe both. You see, the second type of AI is much less in-your-face. It's the AI that works away in the background, assisting you with your photos and videos without you even realising it. Taking note of your interactions and notifications so when you ask it to, "Catch Me Up" it knows what you mean and is able to sift through the spam, advertising and other fluff to provide you with information you actually need. I'm sure, in time, I can keep fiddling with moto ai's settings to make it a little less intrusive and a lot more productive. Let's just say I can assure you the razr 60 has all the AI options you could currently ask for - an then some. None of that works without the right chip, of course. Although the MediaTek Dimensity 7400X chip is not the latest or greatest currently on the market, the "X" in its name means it's been specifically tweaked to run folding handsets like this one as efficiently and smoothly as possible - and that's certainly been my experience. Features like face unlock and the fingerprint reader work so fast, most times the phone has opened to the home screen before I've thought about unlocking it. That applies to both displays by the way, and here, I will have to wax lyrical for a bit about my favourite feature on the razr 60; the external display. While the pOLED outer screen is only 3.6-inches and some of it is obscured by the twin lenses of the primary camera array, you can still use it just like any other phone screen. For some reason, other clamshell folding phone producers insist on limiting the functionality of their external displays to showing the odd notification and giving you a limited choice of device-specific widgets to interact with.  I've never understood that. If I want to open my browser and scroll down a web page on my 3.6-inch screen, I should be allowed to. After all, it's my screen. If it's not a very satisfying experience, guess what? I probably won't do it again and I'll open the razr 60 up and use the 6.9-inch internal display instead. But I should at least have the choice. That's exactly what the razr 60 offers; the choice to use the small, outer screen however you want. Rotate it. Put widgets on it. Reply to emails with it. Whatever. Of course, the true advantage of this form factor is the ability to use that main camera to shoot selfie. The razr 60 has now added a fun "Photo Booth" option that fires off a series of four shots, one every three seconds, then compiles them in a snapshot-style collage. Motorola is also pretty proud of its gesture-based video controls; wave to start shooting, close your fist and hold to pause, or just show your fist to stop recording. You see? This is that behind-the-scenes AI at work. The razr 60 is a phone full of little tricks like that; give the phone a little double twist and the camera app opens. Double-tap the back of the phone to launch your choice of customisable shortcut. But back to the cameras. Those two outside lenses are a 50MP main shooter and a 13MP Ultra-Wide, giving you a selection of 24mm, 35mm or 50mm options for portraits, sharp macro shooting and decent optical zoom. Here are a couple of shots using different zooms and lenses... Interestingly, the razr 60 is very well equipped when it comes to the internal selfie-cam too. The 32MP sensor provides incredibly clear footage in all lighting conditions. Selfie videos can be taken at 30fps and 60fps in FHD, or 30fps in 4K.  There are also a few other interesting camera options like Dual Capture and Tilt Shift - the latter creating interesting effects with light and mixed focus. Or you can shoot video in handy-cam mode - with the phone open at right-angles. This is fun to do but despite the more robust redesign of the hinge, I would have preferred one that's a bit stiffer. I found it didn't really stay at the angle I wanted it to, especially if I was on the move. Battery life from the 4,500mAh battery is terrific. I guess that might be because a lot of time you're using the device, you're doing it on the smaller, external display. I also love that you can charge wirelessly at 15W. See? There's a lot more to this handset than just the fact it folds - although it does that very well too. If you thought foldables were just a fad, it's time to think again.      Click here for more information on the motorola razr 60. Fri, 10 Oct 2025 00:15:18 Z /lifestyle/technology/apple-iphone-17-as-close-to-pro-as-you-can-go/ /lifestyle/technology/apple-iphone-17-as-close-to-pro-as-you-can-go/ In the wake of September's massive launch of Apple devices, I sense a trend. The base model devices and even the "entry-level" Apple Watch SE 3 are almost too good. Not too good for the consumer. Too good for Apple's more premium, Pro and Ultra offerings. What I mean by that is we now seem to be getting more high-end features than ever for a lot less cash. The iPhone 17 is a classic case in point. In fact, for a start, the base model even offers more colours. The iPhone Air comes in four colours, while the 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max only come in three. With the iPhone 17, you get to choose between Lavender, Sage, Mist Blue, White and Black - that's five options, although as I pointed out in my iPhone Air review, the Black one is more of a reflective gun-metal than plain black. My review unit is Sage, and I've been reliably informed by my resident Gen-Z consultant that it looks very pretty. Certainly, the new green, purple and blue options lean towards the subtle, pastel end of the scale. The 6.3-inch Super Retina XDR display is protected by Apple's latest Ceramic Shield 2, which bonds to the glass at an atomic level. That certainly sounds very impressive and allegedly makes the screen harder to scratch than ever before. It's brighter - so no problems using outside in the sunshine - especially when there's a new level of anti-reflection built into the screen as well. For the first time, the base model iPhone sports a 120Hz, ProMotion display, so you'll get the same, silky smooth response only Pro-users have enjoyed up until now. Not only does this make navigating the new iOS 26 user interface as fluid as its "Liquid Glass" moniker suggests, but mobile gamers will really notice the upgrade. That also means this is the first base-model iPhone to offer Always On Display - so you can keep an eye on incoming notifications while it's sitting on your desk. Another follow-on effect of the display upgrade is that the iPhone 17 will now display a bedside clock in StandBy mode if you're charging it in landscape. Surely all this extra screen-on time must seriously eat into your battery life? Remember when non-iPhone owners used to make fun of "Apple people" for their handsets' appalling battery life? These days, that issue has been well and truly put to bed. Not only will the iPhone 17 coast through a heavy day, with AOD activated - if you use the right charger it'll juice up super fast too. But perhaps the number one reason this year's base-model iPhone feels so Pro is the camera setup. You get not one but two 48MP Fusion cameras on the back, which means the option of incredible high-res images, not to mention crystal clear 2x telephoto zoom and fantastically well-balanced Ultra Wide shots. It's the selfie cam that could be the real star here though. This year, all the iPhones feature an 18MP Centre Stage front-facing camera which now houses a square sensor. The squareness gives you the ability to change the aspect-ratio of the shot in real time. This makes shooting a 16:9 landscape selfie video much easier because you no longer have to hold the handset sideways. Apple has now brought Dual Capture to iPhone too, utilising both front and rear cameras so you can record your reaction to your subject simultaneously. And as part of Apple Intelligence in iOS 26, the selfie camera will now automatically detect how many people are in shot and adjust the zoom accordingly, to fit you all in. I tested this out at the theatre the other night and it was so refreshing to be able to just line up the shot, point and shoot and end up with a perfectly framed, low-light pic. That seems to be the way Apple is going with its AI features. Rather than bash you over the head with them, they're just there, quietly working away in the background without you having to physically summon them with a particular button or dedicated app. That's what iOS 26 is all about; harnessing the sheer power and efficiency of the new A19 chip to run this phone in the way that suits you best. That starts with cosmetic things like the much-vaunted Liquid Glass makeover of the app icons and widgets - I have mine tinted red obviously - then leads to a host of AI tweaks that make your day more productive in countless ways. For example, take the way Apple Intelligence prioritises things for me. It started by separating my emails into different categories so I could focus on the important ones and leave the fluff till later. Now my messages and notifications are all prioritised, sorted and summarised too. Nothing makes you feel more productive than ignoring a bunch of advertising and subscription updates. If the base model is this good, I can only imagine what's in store for me with the iPhone 17 Pro Max. But that's another review for another day. In the meantime, I couldn't be happier with the plain old iPhone 17... because there really isn't anything plain about it. Click here for more information and pricing on the Apple iPhone 17. Wed, 08 Oct 2025 00:15:31 Z /lifestyle/technology/dyson-pencilvac-fluffycones-silly-name-serious-clean/ /lifestyle/technology/dyson-pencilvac-fluffycones-silly-name-serious-clean/ It's a problem as old as vacuum cleaners themselves. In fact, I assume it dates back to the manual floor-sweeping machines that came before them. Tangles. If you, or someone close to you has hair of any length, sooner or later some of it's going to end up on the floor. If you have some hairy breed of pet, they're also contributing to your vacuum cleaner's next tangly ambush. But it's just the physics of floor cleaning, right? If you have a rotating brush of any kind, tangles are just an inevitable part of it. Well, not according to Dyson. The PencilVac Fluffycones is a hard-floor cleaner like you've never seen before. How many times has Dyson caused us to say, "Like you've never seen before," over the years? As usual, the fabled Dyson engineering team has taken the tangle problem, and instead of adapting current technology to it, they've essentially built a solution starting from scratch. Well, not quite. We have seen a couple of recent Dyson products with tangle-free heads and they seem to work one of two different ways. Some heads are fitted with a special comb that pulls hair from the brush before it can get all wrapped up but then there's the second, even more elegant solution. Telling the hair to get screwed. Much like an Archimedes screw, the device he invented to get water to flow uphill, Dyson looked to a rotating cone to force long hair to one end of the brush head where it gets sucked away. But why have just one cone when you can have four? Now you begin to understand what makes the PencilVac Fluffycones so good at its job. The four cones have been mounted in pairs and the mechanical head rotates them towards each other, so there's no escape for any dust, dirt and yes, hair. Long hairs are simply "coned" out to the edges of the brush head where they can be sucked up by the startling power of Dyson's fastest motor yet. But why just solve one problem at a time? What about cleaning the edges of your floor? In my experience, the only way to vacuum along skirting boards is to use some kind of specific brush attachment and that's probably after you've already scratched the paintwork with years of vacuum heads running pointlessly along it. The Fluffycones are indeed fluffy - and they stick out slightly past the brush head housing so you CAN actually butt them up against the skirting, leaving no corner unvacuumed. Problem three? How about how heavy and bulky conventional stick vacuums are? Sure, they may come with attachments for brushing away cobwebs from walls, ceilings and light fittings, but have you ever tried waving one around over your head for any length of time? Which is why Dyson made this the world's thinnest vacuum. The handle, battery and dustbin is just 38mm in diameter - about the same as Dyson's Supersonic and Airwrap haircare devices. One reason hairdressers and consumers love using those tools so much is how light and comfortable they are to hold - even for long periods of time. So yet again, Dyson has completely reinvented the form-factor of a stick vacuum so it's essentially the size and shape of a broom handle. Unfortunately, that means the dustbin only has a 0.08 litre capacity, which would be an issue except thanks to that groundbreakingly fast hyperdymium motor, the bin fills from the top down, with the contents compacted by a continuous blast of compressed air. This not only means you can fit more icky stuff into less space, it also results in much less dust when you empty it out. Oh... about that; yet another problem solved. Bagless vacuums of the past always seem like a good idea right up until you open them over your bin, attempt to shake the contents out and end up having to dig half of the mess out with your fingers, while a helpful breeze blows all the dust back in your face. The PencilVac Fluffycones eliminates those hazards with its unique "syringe" emptying system. It literally squeezes the contents of the dustbin down into the tube when you slide it open - then it falls gracefully into the bin without ever touching my delicate digits. So it's tangle-free. It's slim. It's light. And there's absolutely no mess when it comes to emptying. What more can you ask for? Well... it's probably the most flexible head of any vacuum I've ever used. It rotates 360° and because the Fluffycones spin towards each other, it can be used in any direction.  The head is also equipped with green LED lights front and back (if there IS a front or a back) so you can detect every speck of dust, every crumb and every strand of hair. When it comes to hard floors, the Dyson PencilVac Fluffycones certainly cleans up. The funny thing is, because Dyson is essentially my personal benchmark for great design, there are a couple of things that have made me ask, "Why haven't they done this as well?" The first thing I'd like to see is even more ability to get under things. Dyson claims the Fluffycones head will reach under anything more than 95mm off the ground - which is crazy - but in fact, the head itself is even slimmer. If the handle joint - which, as we've established, is probably the most flexible I've ever seen - if it could somehow lie down flush with the head itself, there wouldn't be many pieces of furniture you couldn't vacuum under. The next thing I'd change if I could would be an extra set of controls on the other side of the handle. This is because the PencilVac is so manoeuvrable, you end up holding the handle "backwards" about half the time. That means I often reach for the power button, only to find it isn't there and I have to twist everything around again to get at it. By the same token, the magnetic charging stand also only works one way - and it never seems to be the way I first attempt to dock the PencilVac - so again, another twist is required. I'm sounding high-maintenance now, aren't I? So one more then; I would also like to be able to leave it standing upright in the middle of the floor, without having to lean it against anything. When you're moving mats and small pieces of furniture out of the way to clean under them, it's kind of annoying to have to lie the PencilVac down on the floor or lean it against a wall - especially because being so twisty and turny, it's actually quite difficult to lean it against the wall without the totally round handle sliding down and clattering to the floor anyway. Please, Dyson engineers - if you're reading this, don't take these comments as complaints, take them as suggestions for the next model. If your past performance is anything to go by, you've probably thought of all this stuff anyway and you're already working on the next prototype.           Click here for more information and pricing on the Dyson PencilVac Fluffycones cleaner. Tue, 07 Oct 2025 03:39:49 Z /lifestyle/technology/apple-watch-se-3-worthy-of-your-consideration/ /lifestyle/technology/apple-watch-se-3-worthy-of-your-consideration/ If you're reading this it's likely you... a) Have never owned a smartwatch before and you're wondering where to start. b) Are considering upgrading from an older Apple Watch and you're checking out all the options. Or... c) You're just an uber-fan of mine, you really dig my writing style and you'll read pretty much anything I publish. Okay, option c) isn't all that likely, so let's stick with the first two. As is often the case with Special Editions, or Fan Editions or whatever other name has been given to the more budget-friendly option, for the uninitiated it can be hard to see exactly where the cost savings have been made. So the question is, if it's that hard to tell the difference, does it even matter? The first compromise you'll have to make if you choose the Apple Watch SE 3 over the new Series 11 model is colour. You still get a choice; Midnight - which is kind of a bluey-black, or Starlight - which isn't really silver but isn't really gold either. Both versatile colours sure, but you get to choose from a range of seven with Watch Series 11. Then there's the screen size - it's a complicated calculation because the Series 11 is altogether slightly larger and has a new, wide-angle display - it has a much higher peak-brightness rating too. In saying that, I've had no issues reading my SE 3 inside or out, and the Retina display is now protected by a new grade of Ion-X glass which Apple claims is 4 times more crack-resistant than the face of the Watch SE 2.  That's good news, because I actually own an SE 2, and as much as I love it, it is pretty scratched up. It'll be interesting to see how the new generation fares over time but I certainly haven't managed to knick it yet - and I've been wearing it everywhere; working out, sleeping, gardening - you name it. For the first time you also have the option of AOD - keeping the screen on even when your wrist is down. This gives you the opportunity to keep an eye on the time and your notifications without having to make a big song and dance about it. In terms of sensors and health tracking, the SE 3 is a giant step up from its predecessor, and although it can't run ECG scans and isn't capable of monitoring hypertension or blood oxygen like its Series 11 stablemates can, it does now have a temperature sensor which means it'll notify you of unusual skin-temp fluctuations and can provide retrospective ovulation estimates too. The SE 3's sleep tracking is also more advanced than ever. You'll be notified if any nocturnal breathing irregularities look like sleep apnea so you can go and get checked out right away. Another significant compromise between the Series 11 and the SE 3 is battery life, although this is probably only going to be an issue if you're a particularly demanding user. I have had no worries getting through my long, breakfast radio day on a single charge. The best thing is, that single charge happens faster than ever - with the right charger a 15-minute top-up should be good for about another eight hours use. Because I wear my watch for sleep tracking, I tend to stick it on to charge for half-an hour or so before I go to bed. That seems to be all I need to get it back to 100% or close to most nights. As well as taking phone calls, the SE 3 is now capable of playing audio from any installed apps through its speaker. I don't quite know why you'd choose this method over a good set of wireless earbuds (don't miss my AirPods Pro 3 review in the next couple of weeks) but I guess if you've left them behind somewhere, it's good to have a backup. What's impressed me most about the Watch SE 3 is how I've just never found myself frustrated by the lack of something it doesn't have. All my widgets, apps and shortcuts work, just the same way as any other Apple Watch I've ever used and when tracking my exercise, the display is bright, easy-to-read and shows all the metrics I want it to. If my workout is one of the many excellent classes available through Apple Fitness, the SE 3 pairs with the iPad or Apple TV I'm watching my instructor on and shows all my data on-screen, along with other useful info, like how much time is left in each exercise or set. As part of watchOS 26, my watch now asks me to rate how hard or easy my workout was, and this added into my other collated metrics in the health app, to give me a more accurate summary of exactly where I am on my health and fitness journey. watchOS 26 also means new faces and that "Liquid Glass" effect that has had Apple fans raving. Just like other late-model Apple Watches, you can also use Double-Tap and Wrist-Flick gestures to make using the SE 3 a one-handed operation. Double-Tap (a quick repeated pinch of thumb and forefinger) let's you do a variety of things, depending on what app you're using at the time. Maybe it plays or pauses your podcast, for example. Meanwhile, the Wrist-Flick helps you to toss away incoming notifications so you can deal with them later. Incredibly, the SE 3 has exactly the same S10 chip as the Series 11 and Ultra 3 models - that includes a 4-core neural engine that allows you to do things like chat with Siri "on device" - no data connection required. See? Talk about blurring the lines between the watch that starts from NZ$469.00 and the one that starts at NZ$749.00. With the latest chip, faster charging and a stronger build, the SE 3 isn't just a huge improvement on the SE 2, it out-performs many other, older Apple Watches too. That's why I recommend to give it a serious look if you've decided to upgrade, or you're starting out with a smartwatch for the very first time.      Click here for more information and pricing on the Apple Watch SE 3. Mon, 06 Oct 2025 01:15:19 Z /lifestyle/travel/mike-yardley-rock-star-escape-to-penang/ /lifestyle/travel/mike-yardley-rock-star-escape-to-penang/ Whether you’re looking for a beachfront break in Southeast Asia or a flavourful side-trip to enrich your adventures, Penang is a getaway that sure hits the sweet spot. Just a few hours drive from Kuala Lumpur, or a one hour flight from Singapore, the island of Penang is pinned to the Malay Peninsula by some seriously impressive bridges, spanning the Strait of Malacca. One of the bridges includes a 17km stretch over the water! Blending the best of Penang’s allure, I savoured the stirring cuisine and cultural heritage of Georgetown, while basing myself at one of Malaysia’s best beaches. Gracing the northern shores of the island, Batu Ferringhi is Penang's premier beach destination, edged by a vast 7km-long sweep of blonde sand, beloved for its luxury resorts, water sports like jet-skiing and parasailing, and bustling night market.   I highly recommend you make the Hard Rock Hotel Penang your holiday base. As much as I enjoy an ocean swim, the resort-style hotel is pitch-perfect for languid swimming in its sprawling complex of pools. The child-friendly water park area is a family favourite with water slides and a lazy river, but you won’t be struggling for space in their gorgeous pool – the biggest in northern Malaysia. I loved how the entry point into the free-form pool is like a shallow lagoon with a sandy base, seamlessly transitioning to a deep blue pool, all lusciously bracketed in vibrant tropical gardens and swaying palms.  Underwater music, a swim-up bar and private poolside cabanas accentuate its allure.  Hard Rock Hotel Penang. Photo / Supplied Hard Rock Hotel Penang is a perennial hit with families looking for a fun-in-the-sun vacation that blends modern styling, contemporary music, with a winning assortment of upmarket amenities. But whether you’re a loved-up couple seeking a luxury escape or travelling with the kids in tow, Hard Rock Hotel Penang is the complete, all-encompassing package. Boasting 250 rooms and suites, there’s a variety of configurations to choose from, including lagoon deluxe suites, serving up direct access into that dreamy pool from your own sunbed deck. Roxcity Kids Suites are equipped with a separate kid’s area, with books, toys, and Playstation 4.   If you want to push the boat out, lock-in a stay in a Rock Royalty Seaview Deluxe Suite. Perched on the highest floor, the sense of privacy is accentuated, with glorious birds-eye views across the resort and of the Andaman Sea. Creature comforts are laid on thick including free Wi-Fi, turn down service, Nespresso Pod Machine, VIP Rock Spa bathroom amenities, Bed Sleep Like a Rock bedding, free in-room HD blockbuster movies on demand, complimentary streaming music channels and Bose Sound System.  Accommodations at the Hard Rock Hotel Penang. Photo / Supplied My mood-lit suite tingled with X-factor, with so many artful touches. It was only after I’d taken a photograph of my accommodation that I realised the wall art formed a stunningly stylised rendering of Marilyn Monroe. The music-inspired theming permeates the hotel, including the Rock Royalty Lounge, which is the hotel’s club lounge.  A daily gourmet breakfast is served here, along with afternoon tea and best of all – evening canapes and cocktails. Order up a Blue Mirage! It’s the ultimate chill lounge. The memorabilia tours around the resort are hugely popular, with a vast array of cabinets showcasing some legendary stage costumes from a galaxy of music stars, spanning Taylor Swift and Madonna to Elvis and Elton John. It is eye-popping.   The on-site Hard Rock Café brims with more epic rock memorabilia while also hosting regular live music. I dined here for lunch which was like a temple to holiday comfort food indulgence, with a signature Hurricane cocktail in hand. Don’t miss the spicy shrimps and the Buffalo Chicken Sandwich, made with buttermilk-marinated fried chicken. Delish! A full buffet breakfast is served in Starz Diner, which pleases all palates. Why not start your day their fabulous nasi goreng with kataifi prawns and pandan chicken?   Another great dining venue is LENA at Pizzeria, headlined by its smash-hit pizza, but also serving up zesty salads, nachos, spring rolls and popcorn chicken. Throughout the hotel, staff have nailed the art of upbeat, perky hospitality, always going out of their way to ensure you have the holiday of your dreams. Hard Rock Hotel Penang is a class-act. hotel.hardock.com/penang  LENA at Pizzeria. Photo / Supplied Sunsets on Batu Ferringhi Beach are particularly special because it is the only populated sandy beach that faces west (northwest to be exact) on Penang Island. Most of the year, the sun sets over the peninsula of Penang National Park. Your best chances of catching an over-the-water sunset are in June, but whatever the time of year, it’s a spectacle to raise a few glasses to.    Batu Ferringhi Beach. Photo / Mike Yardley Located just 7 km west of Batu Ferringhi is a nature lover’s paradise and the island’s greatest natural asset: Penang National Park. Teeming with birds and long-tailed macaques, you could easily spend an entire day hiking around the park and all its glorious jungle greens and only run into a handful of people. If you really want to fill your insta-feed with hordes of those long-tailed tearaways, Penang National Park’s Monkey Beach is the go-to – it’s exactly what it says on the tin.  Penang Island’s legendary food scene is widely regarded as one of the best in Southeast Asia. Historic and bustling George Town may be the heart of the culinary action in Penang, but Batu Ferringhi has plenty to offer even the most discerning foodies. The hotel showcased the full flavour range, from Penang’s mythic offerings fusing Malay, Indian, Chinese, and Peranakan flavours, visitors will also touting top-notch European, Middle Eastern, and North American fare as well.  If you’re craving street food and cheap eats, join the locals and head to the Batu Ferringhi Night Market for some of the best street food stalls in town. It’s just a short walk from the hotel.   From Batu Ferringhi, we whistled up a Grab ride (the equivalent of Uber in Southeast Asia) and for just NZ$10, our driver whisked us to the beating heart of George Town. With its UNESCO-protected streets flanked with heritage shophouses, temples, a sizzling dining scene, awesome street art and great shopping, this cultural and religious melting-pot, is one of those places that instantly seduces you. Back in the day, it was a global centre for trade on the Straits of Malacca, established by the British in the late 18th century, and luring traders from China, India, and the Middle East to this hub. The British East India Company took control of Penang, principally to challenge the Dutch who had a virtual stranglehold on the spice trade at the time.   Colours of George Town. Photo / Supplied The protected old town is pedestrian-friendly and decidedly more relaxed than the frenzied throng of traffic navigating the streets of the wider city. Make your way to Armenian Street (named after an influx of Armenian traders) and treat yourself to a self-guided walking tour of the old town, ticking off the cherished landmarks at leisure. If you want to cover ground more quickly, there’s no shortage of trishaws eagerly jostling for your attention. But I thoroughly exploring George Town on foot. Over the past 15 years, the buildings and streets of George Town have been used as a vast canvas for wall murals and stencil art structures, creating an open-air street art gallery.  The stencil art consists of over 50 steel-rod sculptures retelling Penang’s quirky history, with their own peculiar wit. I admired one piece that illustrated how early astrologers from South India would use green parakeets to foretell the future.   The numerous pieces of art dotted around can sometimes appear in the most unexpected of places, but they’re guaranteed to make you stop, smile and appreciate a new perspective to the city. “Kids on a Bicycle” is the runaway favourite wall mural. For an Insta-explosion of colour, head to Jalan Kek Chuan, which is regularly ranked as one of the prettiest streets in the world. The architectural eye candy blends Eastern and Western designs, bathed in cheerful colours, and housing ornately detailed shops.  Fabulous street art in George Town. Photo / Mike Yardley Focusing on the old town’s heritage, culture and history, some street artworks are slowly fading away while others offer a radiant splash of colour. Check out the Clan Jetties, to see how the traditional Chinese communities live and work in Penang. Built by Chinese immigrants in the 19th century, traditionally each jetty belonged to one family (clan). Chew Jetty is the most touristy. Neighbouring Tan Jetty offers a more rustic feel with stunning open views at the far end. The wooden buildings built on stilts jut out into the water, bookended with pint-sized temples at either end of each jetty. You can sample local food at the small, family-run restaurants.  There’s a myriad of landmarks to admire, but two of my favourites? Khoo Kongsi is one of the grandest Chinese clan community centres in Malaysia. The temple, which is the focal point, is a splendidly ornate structure to walk around. I also loved Kapitan Keling Mosque, the largest mosque in George Town, built in the 19th century by Indian Muslim traders.   Khoo Kongsi Temple, George Town. Photo / Supplied Penang’s red-hot reputation as a foodie destination is not in doubt. But your Kiwi dollar buys a lot of Malaysian ringgits, guaranteed to deliver plenty of cheap eats. You’ll get plenty of bang for your buck. Char Koay Teow is revered in Penang. Charred and aromatic, the rice noodles are fried in high heat with prawns, cockles, eggs and bean sprouts in a fiery display over a charcoal fire. I also loved Penang Assam Laksa, a sour and spicy noodle dish with a tangy fish broth. My bowl of thick rice noodles brimmed with finely sliced onions, cucumber, pineapple, red chillies, mint and torch ginger buds. For add flavour, order up a spoonful of thick prawn paste. Need a cool down? You can’t beat Cendol. This sweet icy delight consists of green jelly noodles served over shaved ice with kidney beans and slathered in copious amounts of coconut milk and palm sugar syrup. It’s a lifesaver when the heat and humidity hits fever pitch.   I do have a fetish for funiculars and Penang comes to the party on that score with the Penang Hill Railway. Just west of George Town, the hourly funicular train ride zips you up the 800-metre-high summit of Penang Hill, which is packed with enticements, beyond just the salivating panorama. The sprawling complex on the summit of Penang Hill has been a hilltop resort for over two centuries. British colonists established a retreat here in the late 18th century, seeking respite from the heat and malaria of the lowlands.  Penang Hill Railway. Photo / Supplied The earliest British visitors arrived by horse track up until the opening of the funicular 102 years ago. Most development on Penang Hill is strung along a ridge that stretches for several miles, ranging from eateries, a mosque, a colourful Hindu temple to a tropical spice garden and a butterfly farm. But it’s the elevated panorama and hiking trails that really is the cherry on top. For steamy, sensory holiday pleasure, Penang ticks all the boxes for a great getaway.   Mike Yardley is our resident traveller on Jack Tame Saturday Mornings.  Sat, 04 Oct 2025 00:10:17 Z /lifestyle/technology/logitech-mx-master-4-the-mouse-you-love-just-got-more-loveable/ /lifestyle/technology/logitech-mx-master-4-the-mouse-you-love-just-got-more-loveable/ I'm sure I'm not alone when I say the Logitech MX Master 3 is my favourite mouse. Here's a quick recap why... Long-lasting, rechargeable battery. Durable, super-ergonomic build. Fully programmable controls. Horizontal scroll wheel as well as a vertical one. Forward/back buttons. Extra thumb rest button. I use it every day, constantly, from about 3:45AM to 9:30 or 10:00. It's never let me down. I fire off music with it. I edit audio with it. It's essentially an extension of my hand. And now it's even better. The Logitech MX Master 4 looks similar - but not exactly the same - as its predecessor. On close inspection, the surface is slightly grippier. The whole thumb rest is now a button, instead of having a tiny one set into it, and there is now a new button entirely, just in front of the forward and back ones. Other than that, ergonomically it feels very much the same. That is to say, it feels sublimely natural in my relaxed hand. The "skates" - the smooth patches on the base that ensure the mouse slides around as frictionlessly as possible - are much larger on the new model. They also seem to be more protected around the edges which is helpful because that's one of the few places where my previous MX Master is showing signs of wear and tear. Like the MX Master 3, the new edition features an Easy Switch button that toggles the connection between up to three devices. This is really handy for me because I'm often reviewing several gadgets at once and it's so much more convenient to use the same mouse for all of them.  This time around there's a new Logi Bolt USB-C dongle for an even faster, lag-free wireless connection - not that I've ever experienced any noticeable lag with my old MX Master. It pays to plug this dongle into something though, because it's tiny, and if you're anything like me, if you don't use it, you'll literally lose it. There's another, even more seamless way to swap between devices, called Flow. All you have to do is install Logi Options+ on each device and assuming you're logged in with the same account and connected to the same Wi-Fi network, the MX Master 4 will now work across each screen, even allowing you to drag and drop items from one device to another. Oh, and there's another way to switch, but we'll get to that shortly. Battery life is pretty crazy - Logitech claims you'll get up to 70 days on a full charge. Obviously I haven't been able to prove or disprove that yet. Come back to me in two months. Logitech also claims left and right button clicks are now 90% quieter. Who knew loud clicking was an issue? Well... I guess now it isn't. What really unlocks the MX Master 4's productivity boosts is the Logi Options+ app. This is available for both Mac and PC and not only will this show the mouse's current charge level and give you access to any firmware updates Logitech pushes out, more importantly, it's how you customise any of the 8 different buttons. The list of operations you can assign to each control seems to have grown exponentially over the years. From things like play/pausing media, opening favourite apps or taking screenshots, to setting off a dialogue with your preferred AI, here's not much that can't be put on a button and yes, that includes changing devices. In fact, if you have a compatible Logi keyboard like I do, you can transfer it over to the other device, along with the mouse, in one single click. There's also a growing number of 3rd-party programs that are compatible with MX Master, meaning you can have a different set of controls depending what app you have open at the time - think zooming in and out in Adobe Photoshop, for example. And if the choice of eight buttons isn't enough, now Logitech has introduced Action Ring - an on-screen circle of eight more programmable options, another eight virtual buttons if you like. This is set to provide a haptic vibration when you hover over or select any option. That vibration is felt mostly through the new, much larger thumb-rest button and you can alter the intensity of the haptic feedback and even when it happens. One option is to get a little vibration when you move the cursor from one screen to another in a multi-display setup. Mystifyingly, Logitech claims all these enhancements, additions and updates can save up to 33% of your time. How that could possibly be measured, I have absolutely no idea. What I can tell you is I do a lot of copying and pasting from one folder to another. Now, not only can I open my most commonly used folders with the touch of a button, I can also copy or paste with single click. I don't know about making my workflow a third faster, but it's definitely more efficient. And that's before you get to the fact this is just a great mouse to use; it feels super comfy, it's beautifully crafted, has excellent precision and can work on practically any surface - including glass. And have you heard how quiet the clicks are? No? Exactly.      Click here for more information and pricing on the Logitech MX Master 4. Fri, 03 Oct 2025 00:02:23 Z /lifestyle/baby-name-consultant-taylor-humphrey-charges-up-to-50k-to-help-parents-pick-names/ /lifestyle/baby-name-consultant-taylor-humphrey-charges-up-to-50k-to-help-parents-pick-names/ Baby names have never been so lucrative, with one United States woman claiming she charges as much as $50,000 to help expecting parents name their bundles of joy. Taylor Humphrey, 37, is a professional baby namer and self-professed “name nerd”, the New York Post reports. Describing herself as a baby name consultant, she offers an extensive array of services through her company What’s in a Baby Name. Prices range from $345 (US$200) for personalised recommendations to “concierge” baby naming services that can cost $52,000 (US$30,000). The brand has helped name 500 newborns. Like Nameberry, which regards itself as the world’s largest baby naming site, Humphrey is capitalising on a growing trend of parents fretting over the “perfect” name. Pamela Redmond, chief executive of the website, told the San Francisco Chronicle curated services help parents deal with the pressure to pick something special. “A lot of people say they want a name that’s unique or individual. But, when it comes right down to it, they really don’t. Most baby name consultants are selling a vast idea of what constitutes good taste.” But Humphrey said her work goes beyond name selection. On her Instagram, the trained doula wrote “I don’t name peoples babies; I help them craft legacies that will stand the test of time”. Her full-service offering is limited only to prospective parents “own imagination” and can include benefits like baby name branding or a naming think tank. While she started out charging a flat rate of $172 (US$100), over the years, Humphrey increased her prices as her customer base expanded to the uber-wealthy. A New Yorker profile published her starting package price of $2590 (US$1500) in 2022 - to much public ridicule. “I had to come to terms with the fact that people often find me through content that pokes fun at me,” she told the San Francisco Chronicle. “At the same time, I’m like, ‘Well, it is silly.’ I come up with baby names for a living.” But it seems Humphrey is having the last laugh. While she wouldn’t say what she was currently making a year, the New York Post previously reported she made an estimated $221,000 (US$150,000) in 2020. Wed, 01 Oct 2025 02:04:49 Z /lifestyle/technology/apple-iphone-air-so-this-is-new/ /lifestyle/technology/apple-iphone-air-so-this-is-new/ What I've learned from watching the world of tech pretty closely for a number of years now; Things generally evolve steadily, bit by bit. Devices gradually improve - honing some features, adding new ones - and while the difference between one generation and the next may be slight, overall, when you compare most gadgets to their predecessors from four or five years ago, the improvements are thrown into stark relief. But every now and again, a device launches that's more out-of-the-blue - even revolutionary. Most of the time, that means a lot of excitement and hype - but also a lot of bugs and teething issues for early adopters to deal with. What's rare is for something genuinely new to come along and for it to just work, straight out of the box. The iPhone Air might just be the most significant iPhone since Steve Jobs showed off the first one back in 2007. The way Apple has pretty much started from scratch to come up with the world's thinnest phone is so much more groundbreaking than it seems to be getting credit for. Okay, at 5.6mm the iPhone Air is not actually thinner than a couple of folding phones out there (when they're unfolded) but for a conventional handset, this is definitely Apple's least conventional yet. It really is quite breathtaking when you see it and hold it for the first time - in fact, I've yet to meet anybody who wasn't impressed when I showed it to them. It's not just that it's noticeably thinner than other phones, at just 165 grams, it weighs almost nothing. It exudes sci-fi movie vibes - you know; when they pull out a wafer thin piece of glass and use it as a phone. There are four colours, Sky Blue, Light Gold, Cloud White and importantly, Space Black - making it the only black iPhone you can buy this year. (The "black" base model iPhone 17 isn't really black - looks more gunmetal to me) The grade 5 titanium frame helps keep things light - and flexible. And this is one of the first big surprises about this remarkable handset; its durability. I've seen footage of drop, water ingress and flex tests that just about made my eyes pop out. The front of the phone is protected by the new Ceramic Shield 2, which offers multiple times more scratch resistance than ever before. There's also a Ceramic Shield coating on the back panel to prevent cracks. This is good news because the iPhone Air is one phone I can't bring myself to hide away in a case. Which is not to say there aren't cases available, of course. Apple also offers a bumper which protects the Air's edges without obscuring any of its unique design. This can be paired with the new Crossbody strap so you can wear the phone like a tiny handbag. I usually just stuff it in my pocket - then have to keep checking if it's still there because it really is that slim. Except for the "camera plateau" of course. This is a new design feature Apple has carried across to the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max as well - a raised camera bump that stretches all the way across the upper section of the rear panel. Intriguingly, I understand this new plateau houses more than just the camera; the vast majority of the iPhone Air's components are squeezed in there, with the rest of what's left of the phone mostly filled with battery. Unfortunately, the camera is indeed one area where obvious compromises have been made to achieve the Air's final form. Although Apple claims the 48MP Fusion camera "puts the equivalent of four lenses in your pocket" in the end, there's only one physical sensor there and like the iPhone 16e camera before it, there are limitations. There's no Ultra-Wide functionality and no real macro shooting for extreme close-ups either. However, that's not to say it's a bad camera. With the option to shoot at full 48MP, you get exceptional low-light performance and you also get respectable 2X optical zoom. Action mode offers the stable video iPhone has become famous for and as part of the new iOS 26 upgrade, Apple now joins the Dual Capture club - so you can shoot from the selfie and primary cameras simultaneously. Speaking of the forward facing camera, there's absolutely no compromise there. Just like the 17 Pros, the iPhone Air boasts an 18MP Centre Stage camera that has a square sensor - a bit like what you find on some dedicated action cameras. This enables you to change aspect ratio from portrait to landscape without having to awkwardly hold your phone sideways - very handy for group selfies. In fact, the new Centre Stage camera automatically senses how many people are in the shot and zooms in and out automatically to compensate. This is a great demonstration of Apple's brand of AI (Apple Intelligence). Apple has been criticised for being slow off the mark when it comes to AI but I don't think that's the case at all. Instead, many AI features (like the auto-adjusting selfies) are so integrated, so baked-in that you won't specifically identify them as AI in itself. When you first set up the iPhone Air (or any new iPhone) you're asked if you want to opt in to certain AI options - like prioritised notifications, for example. From that point on, that's exactly what happens; the important stuff is brought to your attention first. It works so well, you might not even realise how many pointless taps and swipes it's saving you.  As the fourth member of the 2025 iPhone family, the iPhone Air has replaced the absent iPhone 17 Plus by default. It's not a like-for-like comparison of course; the Plus versions were only ever the base models with bigger screens and batteries. Other than the camera, in terms of functionality, the Air works much more like a Pro - it's fast and silky smooth to use. But yes, in yet another surprise, the 6.5-inch display is larger than the 6.3-inch screen on the iPhone 17. Better chip too - the all-new A19 Pro as opposed to the base A19 version. For me, the biggest surprise of all is battery life. As part of its new host of accessories, Apple included a MagSafe Battery customised specifically to fit the iPhone Air. Inevitably, most of us assumed this meant the Air's battery life would be terrible and we'd need to supplement it with this magnetised external power supply. Except, I haven't had to use it. Not once. Typically, I get up at 2:50Am and don't go to bed until around 8:30PM - that's a long day by smartphone standards but the lowest I've seen the Air's battery go is 48%. Apart from one morning when I left Apple Maps running in the background. Then it drained like bathwater down a plughole. For superusers, I guess that MagSafe Battery provides great piece of mind - especially given once its attached, the iPhone Air actually has the BEST battery life of ANY iPhone. Oh - cool hack BTW; if you plug the Air into a USB-C charger while the MagSafe Battery's attached, you'll charge extra fast, from both sources simultaneously. So battery just hasn't been an issue for me. Despite how slim the Air is, it still has all the cool buttons - including the Action button for programmable shortcuts and Camera Control for quick access to photo settings. The only thing that's missing completely is a physical SIM tray - eSIM-only here and as far as I'm concerned, that's a bonus, not a drawback. The sooner we all move to eSIM the better - it's more secure and easier to transfer from handset to handset. I love this phone. I didn't think I would. I loved the idea of it but when does a great, truly innovative idea like this ever work so well first time out of the gate? Kudos, Apple. You got me.      Click here for more information and pricing on the Apple iPhone Air. Wed, 01 Oct 2025 00:00:35 Z /lifestyle/technology/chargecore-safecharge-max-10k-and-laser-dual-port-45w-usb-wall-charger-time-to-rethink-your-charging-habits/ /lifestyle/technology/chargecore-safecharge-max-10k-and-laser-dual-port-45w-usb-wall-charger-time-to-rethink-your-charging-habits/ We all have them. Most of us have far too many of them. In fact, some us have so many, we're not even sure what they're all for. So we stash them in a drawer or a cupboard thinking they'll probably come in handy one day. And maybe one or two did. But let's be honest; most of them are still in that drawer. Chargers and cables. Some of my drawers are so full I can't open them properly. Even when we throw away the thing the charger charges, we often still keep the charger and the cable. In fact, because we did that, for many products, the tech brands stopped including chargers in the box. So that equation will probably correct itself, right? Eventually we'll end up with the right amount of chargers per device and we're bound to have the exact cable required. Hmmm. I think you can see where I'm going with this. Looks like Laser has brought its range of high-quality - yet reasonably priced - charging accessories to New Zealand at just the right time. We'll get to one of the best power banks I've ever used shortly but first, it's time to have a serious talk about chargers and cables. For a long time there it was true; those little bricks you plugged into the wall, with a USB slot for your cable, were pretty much the same. They cranked out 5V at somewhere between 1A and 2A and it was pretty unusual to find anything different. Then, not only did the charging demands of the devices we were buying change, so did the cable standards. Goodbye, microUSB. Goodbye USB-A. And yes, after far too long, goodbye to Lightning cables too. If you don't know the difference between any of those, don't worry, you're not alone. Luckily, thanks to the EU's somewhat heavy-handed regulations, pretty much everything now charges via USB-C. So that means the same cable for everyone, doesn't it? Not by a long shot. If anything, things have become even more confusing because different cables now look essentially the same. What's worse is phones, laptops, tablets, watches, speakers and earbuds all charge at different speeds - many faster and faster every generation. But only if you have the right charger and the right cable. That's right, not all USB-C cables do the same things - some can carry large amounts of data at sizzling speeds while others are for power only - and possibly not even as much power as you would like. As for those old wall chargers, give them a good hard look - maybe under a magnifying glass. There'll be some tiny print on there - often not even in a contrasting colour - to tell you how many Volts and how many Amps you'll be getting. If you're charging a toothbrush, it probably won't matter much. If you want to charge your phone, your watch and your earbuds all at the same time... forget it. For about NZ$45.00, you can save yourself at least two headaches by snapping up the Laser Dual Port 45W USB Wall Charger. If you just use the USB-C port on its own, it'll charge at 45W - that's even enough for some laptops and means "fast charging" for any capable phone. USB-A ports are more limited but at least the one on this charger puts out a 20W charge with enough voltage to run the majority of those three-device wireless chargers many people have on their bedside table for buds, watch and handset. Even when both ports are in use, you'll get up to 25W from the USB-C and 18W from the USB-C - making this a very compact and convenient travel buddy, providing plenty of juice for at least two devices simultaneously. But what about when there's no wall to plug into? Nothing worse than being out and about watching your phone go flat. That's where Laser's ChargeCore SafeCharge Max comes in. Again, like wall-chargers, you might be thinking, "Why are you telling me about this? I already have a power bank."  Well, if it's anything like the majority of power banks I've tried over the years, your old one is next to useless - and possibly even dangerous. The ChargeCore SafeCharge Max is different in a number of ways - starting with how many devices it can charge at once. There are two USB-A slots, a USB-C and a three-way cable included in the box. That cable is USB-A at one end, then splits into two USB-C and a Lightning plug at the other. This makes it another handy travel tool. Not only does it come in a variety of colours and capacities, it also features a digital LED display so you can see exactly how much charge is left as a percentage. This is so much more useful than a set of three lights that could mean low, medium or high charge. Or even worse, a single LED that might change colour when charge is getting running out. But probably the most important thing to know about Laser's ChargeCore SafeCharge range is what they're made of; Lithium Iron Phosphate - known as LiFePO4. Not only will a LiFePO4 power bank charge up faster and charge other devices more efficiently, it'll last much longer - up to five times the lifespan of conventional lithium-ion products. LiFePO4 is safer too - the ChargeCore SafeCharge Max stays cool and won't swell. And the best feature of all? Once charged, it stays charged. How often have you reached for your power bank only to discover it's gone flat since you last charged it? Not helpful. For the last few days I haven't used my ChargeCore SafeCharge Max 10K but I've checked the battery level (by pushing the button on the side) regularly. It's still on 100%, ready to go. The point to all this is not all charging devices are created equal. Some are useless and others might be downright hazardous. My advice is to use the chargers and cables that came with your device wherever you can. But if you can't, always read that tiny fine print on the plug or better still, maybe just empty out that jammed drawer and treat yourself to some nice, new chargers and cables from Laser.         Click here for more information and pricing on the Laser ChargeCore SafeCharge Max. Click here for more information and pricing on the Laser Dual Port 45W USB Wall Charger. Mon, 29 Sept 2025 22:51:50 Z /lifestyle/christmas-in-a-cost-of-living-crisis-consumer-nz-s-tips-on-how-to-save-money-and-avoid-traps/ /lifestyle/christmas-in-a-cost-of-living-crisis-consumer-nz-s-tips-on-how-to-save-money-and-avoid-traps/ How do you shop for Christmas presents amid a cost-of-living crisis? Take your time, know your rights and avoid falling short with a gift card. With the holiday fast approaching, Kiwis will be shortening their sights on what to buy their loved ones in the coming months. Yet soaring inflation in recent years has left a large hole in many people’s wallets, which may be adding undue pressure on their wish list. Consumer NZ’s Sahar Lone joined Herald NOW this morning to discuss ways in which New Zealanders can avoid unnecessary spending and stretch their dollars further this Christmas. Lone said while gift cards may seem like an easy present, they tend to come with an expiry date, “which often gets people in trouble and means that they don’t use them”. Furthermore, if a company enters voluntary administration, receivership or liquidation, the external administrator appointed is not legally required to honour gift cards from the store. Consumer NZ's advice is to avoid the traps and know your rights, especially when buying Christmas presents while under financial pressure. Photo / Alex Burton This was seen in January when baby product retailer Baby City went into liquidation, leaving more than $300,000 worth of gift cards and loyalty points worthless. “That’s why cash in an envelope can be just as good,” she said. Lone also reminded consumers of what rights they have under protection laws such as the Consumer Guarantees Act and Fair Trading Act, as businesses that “don’t live up to their promise” can face substantial fines if they’re found to have breached them. People should avoid paying for extended warranties on new items as well, because “they’re pretty much null and void” given there is already a standard for how long a product should last. “The Consumer Guarantees Act effectively does the same thing,” she said. “It means that you’ve got that back-up and that the company should take reasonable care.” Consumer NZ's Sahar Lone discussed ways in which New Zealanders can avoid unnecessary spending and stretch their dollars further with Herald NOW. Consumer NZ shares guidance on how long such appliances should last based on product testing, which should be referred to before an extended warranty is considered. Furthermore, complaints can be taken to the Disputes Tribunal “if things do go wrong”, Lone said, noting that the fee to make claims only starts at $61. “That’s money perhaps better spent than the extended warranty. “They use our results as well to determine how long something should last.” Some retailers may use tactics that try to pressure you into acting quickly and making a quick purchase, so Lone recommends ignoring the countdown timers and pop-up messages warning of limited stock. “Airlines do that from time to time. So that’s something to be wary of,” she said. If there’s a product you’ve already set your sights on, price comparison sites such as PriceMe and PriceSpy can be helpful indicators of whether you would be forking out more or less at your chosen retailer. Mon, 29 Sept 2025 01:57:56 Z /lifestyle/product-safety-nz-orders-urgent-recall-of-aspect-sun-spf50plus-sunscreens/ /lifestyle/product-safety-nz-orders-urgent-recall-of-aspect-sun-spf50plus-sunscreens/ Two sunscreens are being pulled from shelves in New Zealand after testing revealed they may not offer the level of sun protection advertised. Product Safety NZ issued an urgent recall of several batches of Aspect Sun’s Physical Sun Protection SPF50+ and Tinted Physical SPF50+ products. “Preliminary results received from an independent laboratory show that the SPF level in these two products is unlikely to meet the labelled SPF rating,” the regulatory body said in a statement. “A low SPF rating may increase the risk of sunburn during use and reduce the long-term effectiveness of preventing skin cancer.” The recall encompasses Aspect Sun’s Tinted Physical SPF50+ with batch numbers A2451, A2191, A1976 and A1629 and Aspect Sun’s Physical Sun Protection SPF50+ from batches A2450, A2190, A1958 and A1492. Consumers should stop using these products. “Customers may return their product, along with proof of purchase, to the place of purchase to request a refund or online.” The products were known to be sold at 283 retailers between November 2022 and November 2025. Other clinics and retail partners with stock of these batches are being advised to “cease the sale of the impacted products”. Aspect Sun said it was taking the matter seriously. “As a brand committed to sun safety and skin health, we are not satisfied with these outcomes and wish to act immediately. We have been working closely with the TGA and are now implementing an urgent recall.” Sunscreen products sold in New Zealand must meet the AS/NZ 2604:2012 Sunscreen products standard which requires sunscreen products to be tested for safety and efficiency, specifically around their SPF protection. Under the standard, sunscreen products must provide the protection advertised on the label and must label products clearly with: the SPF in durable and legible characters, clear instructions for product use, such as how to apply the product, other additional information depending on the product type as required in the AS/NZ 2604:2012 standard. In August, beauty retailer Mecca pulled a Naked Sundays sunscreen off shelves in its New Zealand stores after controversial test results released in Australia. Ultra Violette also urgently recalled its mineral sunscreen after it failed f tests. Both came after consumer advocacy group Choice reported in June it had tested 20 of Australia’s most popular SPF50 and SPF50+ sunscreens and found 16 failed to deliver the level of the protection they advertised. Eleven were available to purchase in Aotearoa. Mon, 29 Sept 2025 00:08:30 Z /lifestyle/huntington-s-disease-treated-for-the-first-time-in-uk-gene-therapy-trial/ /lifestyle/huntington-s-disease-treated-for-the-first-time-in-uk-gene-therapy-trial/ UK researchers said on Wednesday that they had slowed the progression of the fatal neural condition Huntington’s disease for the first time with a groundbreaking new gene therapy. Some patients who took part in early-stage clinical trials at University College London (UCL) saw the speed at which their condition developed reduced by 75% after three years, according to uniQure, a gene therapy company based in the Netherlands and the United States. The study tested a new gene therapy, AMT-130, which is delivered through an injection directly into the brain. Researchers said that AMT-130 works by permanently introducing new functional DNA into a patient’s cells. “This result changes everything,” said the lead researcher, Ed Wild of UCL’S Huntington’s Disease Centre. “On the basis of these results, it seems likely AMT-130 will be the first licensed treatment to slow Huntington’s disease, which is truly world-changing stuff,” he added. Twenty-nine patients took part in the trial with the 12 who were given the highest dose experiencing the greatest slowing of the disease. There is currently no cure for Huntington’s, a fatal neurodegenerative disease caused by a single genetic mutation. Around 8000 people in the UK live with the condition, which affects movement, thinking and mood. Wild said the patients who took part in the trial were now stable “in a way I’m not used to seeing in Huntington’s disease”. “One of them is my only medically retired Huntington’s disease patient who has been able to go back to work,” he added. Professor Mike Hanna, director of the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, hailed the results as a “new chapter in gene therapy development for Huntington’s disease” with “clear relevance” for other neurodegenerative disorders. UniQure said it planned to submit an application to the US Food and Drug Administration early next year requesting accelerated approval to market the drug. Applications to market it in the UK and in Europe would follow. -Agence France-Presse Thu, 25 Sept 2025 01:13:37 Z /lifestyle/technology/samsung-galaxy-a17-and-samsung-galaxy-buds3-fe-for-fans-on-a-budget/ /lifestyle/technology/samsung-galaxy-a17-and-samsung-galaxy-buds3-fe-for-fans-on-a-budget/ If you regularly read my reviews, you could be mistaken for thinking we all live in a high-end, premium, flagship world where we only have access to the latest developments in tech and only the most powerful, fastest and long lasting will do. That's not real for most people, of course. As a reviewer, I get to play with the coolest of the cool toys but if I was shelling out my own hard-earned coin, I'd certainly be prepared to compromise on all sorts of features and addons that aren't what you'd call, "Strictly necessary." So today, I'll try and go some way to answering the classic question; do you really get what you pay for? To do that, I paired the almost entry-level Samsung Galaxy A17 handset with the new Samsung Galaxy Buds3 FE. At around NZ$229.00, the Buds3 FE are less entry-level than the NZ$399.00 A17 - but both devices are significantly cheaper than their sister flagships. Of course, in the case of the A17, you can pay THOUSANDS more for the highest of high-end Samsung devices and obviously this particular phone doesn't fold, or come with a stylus inserted into its chassis. However, it doesn't really look particularly cheap, with its modern, square edges and light-catching back panel. It feels light in the hand and the 6.7-inch Super AMOLED display is certainly a decent size. It'd be pretty unusual to find a Samsung device with a bad screen and this one certainly isn't. It's bright, it's colourful and it's protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus - not the toughest Gorilla available but still pretty tough. The A17 also carries an IP54 rating which means you'll get away with splashing it although perhaps not dunking it. The camera setup is a bit hotchpotch - a respectable 13MP selfie-cam paired with a triple-sensor primary shooter on the back; 50MP Wide, 5MP Ultra Wide and 2MP Macro. I guess a 5MP Ultra Wide is better than no Ultra Wide and to be honest, I've been pleasantly surprised by the quality of the pics and vids I've been shooting. Here's a demo... The camera also performs fairly well in low light... up to a point. And here's the main rub with this phone; it's weak. It's run by the same Exynos1330 chip found in last year's A16 and with just 4GB of RAM, the actual operation of taking a pic in low light is hit and miss because of the lag between button press and the shutter actually firing. In fact, I found this was the case when taking most kinds of photos. This is a frustration that followed through to anything that was even remotely resource-heavy. Apps seem to take an age to load, even native apps like Samsung Health. So this isn't the phone for me - especially given there's no wireless charging and there's not even a built-in screen recorder. However, for some users, they're not going to care about that stuff. They just want a durable, reliable phone with good battery life that will keep working after the 3G shutdown. The A17 probably isn't the worst option. My experience with the Fan Edition Galaxy Buds3 was infinitely more pleasurable. They're a very similar size and shape to the Buds3 Pro, but without the light-up LED strip along the stem. Samsung often changes up the form-factor for its earbuds but I'd suggest there was a lot of positive feedback to this hybrid sealed-fit/external stem design so they've kept it going here. As I suggested when I reviewed the Pros, the stem means an extra point of contact which not only leads to a more stable, snug fit but a more balanced, comfortable wear as well. Alas, unlike the Pro version, the Buds3 FE case only charges via USB-C - not wirelessly. That would usually be a dealbreaker for me except these guys sound rather good. While I'm not convinced these Buds have quite the dynamic range of the Pros, and I'm certain the ANC isn't quite as effective, there's a lot to love about what I'm hearing. I tested the Buds3 FE using the new lossless audio option on Spotify and it rocked. "Wish You Were Gay" by Billie Eilish is already a fantastic track but the production values shine through dramatically when listening on the Buds3 FE. The mix is so stripped back, yet has a lot of elements - from acoustic guitar to crowd sound effects. Each piece of this sonic puzzle has been meticulously placed in the recording and now those pieces are precisely re-placed in my ears. The gentle L.A.B. ballad, "Monica" also starts with a simple acoustic guitar, accompanied with a lonely cabasa to keep the beat. (Okay, it might be one of those egg-shaped shaker things, but in my mind it's a proper cabasa) Again, the baredboned-ness of this mix is transmitted so accurately by the Buds3 FE. Then, as the song builds and soaring lead guitar and crashing drums come to the party, I can still make out the original components with crystal clarity. You even get 360 Audio for fully immersive surround sound if you're listening to the right content on the right app. The pinch and swipe controls mimc those on the Buds3 Pro and the battery life is pretty good too. I love these and if I had to choose between the $229 FEs and the $399 Pros, I'd probably save my money. So I guess you could say there was a winner and a loser here - the cost-saving compromises were too many on the phone but with the Buds3 FE, the features that have been missed haven't been missed nearly so much.      Click here for more information and pricing on the Samsung Galaxy A17. Click here for more information on the Samsung Galaxy Buds3 FE. Wed, 24 Sept 2025 17:27:07 Z /lifestyle/expert-tips-on-how-to-adjust-kids-bedtimes-for-seamless-daylight-saving-transition/ /lifestyle/expert-tips-on-how-to-adjust-kids-bedtimes-for-seamless-daylight-saving-transition/ Our mornings are getting lighter, evenings longer, and BBQs are slowly coming out of hibernation. The changes can only mean one thing – daylight saving is upon us. This Sunday, at 2am, clocks across Aotearoa will spring forward by an hour, meaning that a 6.30am wake-up will feel like 5.30am. For parents, this means the dreaded switch where children wake earlier, and are then being coaxed to bed when it’s still light out. While adults feel the burden of losing an hour of sleep, kids and their behaviours often need some grace as they try to regulate. Cue the outbursts, chaotic bedtimes and a period of adjustment that feels like it will last until the next daylight saving switch. For those with babies on sleep schedules, it can be even more disruptive and feel like a full-time job figuring out how to shift multiple day naps. But there’s some welcome relief for parents – it turns out it doesn’t have to be that hard, and with a little planning, it can be less painful than getting your kids to put their shoes on for school. Whānau Awhina Plunket chief nurse Dr Zoe Tipa shares with the Herald her top tips in getting it right and making life easy for the whole household. Plan ahead Rather than dealing with the effects of daylight saving for the weeks that follow, get a head start on it now, says Tipa. Keeping evening routines relaxed and predictable makes a big difference in the lead-up to the time shift, and after. “Keep calm and be kind to yourself, and try to remember, it’s a short-term disruption. Sticking to familiar routines, making small, gradual changes, and getting plenty of natural light in the morning will all help everyone settle back into a healthy sleep rhythm. Consistency is key,” Tipa notes. Try the 15-minute rule Many parents have heard of the 15-minute rule, by which, instead of adjusting suddenly by an hour, you adjust by smaller increments. Tipa says that it can help some children with the transition and create a sense of calm in the home. “Shifting bedtime gradually around 10-15 minutes earlier each night in the week leading up to daylight saving can help some children adjust more easily.” While some tamariki adjust quickly, others take a little longer; every child is different. “Some whānau find it easier to make the change all at once and ride out a couple of days of challenging mornings. Both approaches are good; ultimately, it’s about what works best for your tamariki and your whānau,” says Tipa. Avoiding devices before bedtime can help children prepare for sleep. Photo / 123rf How to create a good bedtime routine A consistent bedtime routine is key to getting kids into good sleep patterns at any time of the year. This starts with helping them wind down before bed. Tipa recommends avoiding loud or energetic play right before bedtime and turning off all electronic devices, including the TV, an hour before bedtime. Plunket recommends a routine similar to the below: 6.30pm: Go to the toilet, put on PJs and a night nappy if needed, brush teeth. 6.45pm: Story or book. 7pm: Into bed, kiss goodnight, and time for sleep. A consistent bedtime is also key – for under 5s, before 7pm is optimal. It can also be helpful for children to have a soft toy or special blanket to make them feel comforted and safe. However, Plunket says it is crucial to make sure the item is sleep-safe and age-appropriate. “Check their loved thing isn’t too small and doesn’t have pieces that could be pulled off and become choking hazards. It also shouldn’t be so big that it could smother or strangle them. It’s also a good idea to check there are no hazards on, near, or around their bed, like hanging blind cords.” Lastly, make sure your child has everything they need before you leave the room, and remind them they need to stay in bed. How much sleep do they need? There’s growing evidence that poor quality sleep – or not enough sleep – can harm children’s health and wellbeing, weight, behaviour, and learning. Plunket notes that the amount of sleep children need as they get older changes. Some need lots of sleep, while others require less. The key is in the quality of sleep, not so much the duration. For newborns, the recommended amount of sleep is between 14-17 hours across the day and night. For 4-11 months, 12-15 hours of sleep is optimal. For 1-2 year olds, aim for 11-14 hours, and for 4-5 year olds, 10-13 hours is suitable for most. For parents concerned about their children’s sleep, Plunket recommends giving them a call, on their free, 24/7 PlunketLine service on 0800 933 922. There, parents and caregivers can speak more in-depth to expert nurses who can provide more specialised advice. Wed, 24 Sept 2025 04:31:36 Z /lifestyle/technology/laser-smart-gaming-projector-recapturing-old-school-fun/ /lifestyle/technology/laser-smart-gaming-projector-recapturing-old-school-fun/ Right, this is going to age me. Dramatically. I still remember the first video gaming console my family ever owned. I can't tell you the year. I can't tell you how old I was. I can't even tell you what make it was - if indeed it had a brand. And yet I can still clearly remember the weird, boxy controllers with the chrome joysticks and the hours I spent playing the games that were hardwired in - all slightly different variations on the original "Pong". You could move a line around the screen to hit a "ball" over the net (a long line) to another line, who would try and hit it back. That was tennis, apparently. Or you could hit it against a wall. Squash, obviously. Anyway, you get the idea. I didn't just spend hours doing this. I spent days. Perhaps even months. You know; gaming. So what if you could recreate that experience for your kids?... I think that's kind of what the Laser Smart Gaming Projector is all about. To start with, I was very impressed with how much stuff was in the box. Not just the projector itself but a remote control, two wireless controllers and a large fabric screen, complete with stick-up hooks and a couple of lengths of rope to allow you to hang it up pretty much anywhere. All that for under NZ$400 - not bad. The second thing to impress me was how simple the plug-and-play setup was. All I had to do was insert batteries into the remote and controllers, plug the projector in and switch it on. I was surprised to see the projector find the screen and automatically adjust keystone perfectly with no input from me, other than to finetune the focus using the physical ring around the lens. Although the device does take a minute or two to boot up, once it does, you're presented with a simple - yet functional - home screen, similar to what you might find on any basic Android TV streaming device. Tiles for Netflix and YouTube take front and centre, although you can install any other streaming app from the Google Play Store, once you've connected to Wi-Fi via the settings menu. I really wasn't expecting this to be a fully functional streaming device and while the resolution is only 720p, it's definitely sufficient for a family movie night - the fabric screen is a lot larger than your average telly. Just like a movie theatre, you will need to turn the lights off though - this is not a high-end multimedia projector, capable of the extreme brightness and contrast required for acceptable daytime viewing.  There's a reasonably powerful built-in speaker, which won't set the world on fire in terms of audio quality - but there are both HDMI and AUX outputs, or the option of bluetooth, so you can easily attach an external sound system if you want. That might be a good idea because there's no escaping the fact that the fan on this thing is super loud, so whatever you're watching or playing will need to be super-er louder to drown it out. There are 80 "Classic Retro" games pre-installed on this device, taking up next to no space on the included 64GB microSD card. These are accessed via the GAME BOX app on the home screen and then the built-in emulator takes care of the rest. Laser claims you can download your own ROM games to add to this library, being careful to save them in the right format and folder as per the instruction guide included in the box. I haven't tried this as I've been entertained enough by the library of 80 pre-installs so far. It's honestly like being back in an amusement arcade in the 80s. Some games are two-player, some are not. Most of them look pretty pixelated - especially if you've zoomed the projection out past 100-inches. The pixelation and midi-based soundtracks are all part of the retro charm, of course - but if you want to, there is a way to smooth things out a little. The first time I fired the Gaming Projector up and started playing Street Racer, I was having a great time getting used to how touchy the controls were but wanted to try out a few other games before dinner. Trouble was, I couldn't figure out how to exit the game. I spent ages pushing buttons on both the controllers to no avail and ended up pressing the home button on the remote - only to discover when I selected GAME BOX again, Street Racer was still running! Eventually, I resorted to turning the whole projector off. When all else fails, read the instructions. The next day I found the crucial line, "To exit a game or the games app altogether, press the SELECT and START buttons at the same time." Sure enough, that paused the game and not only gave me the option to save it or exit it but to adjust the resolution too. On some games you can add 3x the pixels and there are others where you can improve it 4x. This makes a huge difference and changes things like cars from abstract blobs to blobs with wheels that might actually be cars. Just like the arcades of old, some games get repetitive as you go on, while others are a bit better thought out. The pre-installed selection covers a lot of bases though - from racing, to fighting, to sport and platform games. Needless to say, I've already wasted a lot of time carrying out the appropriate research to write this review. It's been a blast. If you've got a favourite Mega Drive, SEGA Genesis, N64, Game Boy or Atari game from decades ago, now's your chance to boot it up on a virtual screen as big as your wall. And retro gaming is definitely what this device is best at. Although you can watch Netflix or Disney+, it's worth remembering the whole operation is running on Android 13, which is getting on a bit now and I've noticed some compatibility issues with some of the more modern apps. Netflix plays fine - but good luck navigating the app when there's no way to scroll down the home screen. (NB: I got around this by simply searching for the show I wanted to continue watching) But quite honestly, if you're looking for hours and hours of simple fun in a box, this is a package that's hard to go past. There's virtually no setup required and everything you need is in the box, including two pre-paired, wireless controllers. I think this is fantastic value, especially given the inclusion of the large, cloth screen and I reckon it'd make the perfect family gift come Christmas time.      Click here for more information and pricing on the Laser Smart Gaming Projector. Tue, 23 Sept 2025 22:33:42 Z /lifestyle/sam-the-trap-man-how-ambitious-plan-to-recloak-papat%C5%AB%C4%81nuku-restoring-native-forests-could-future-proof-nz/ /lifestyle/sam-the-trap-man-how-ambitious-plan-to-recloak-papat%C5%AB%C4%81nuku-restoring-native-forests-could-future-proof-nz/ East Coast conservationist, influencer and Gisborne council candidate Sam “The Trap Man” Gibson has fronted a new documentary in an effort to highlight the urgency of restoring and future-proofing Aotearoa’s most fragile landscapes. Think Like a Forest, which premiered at the Beehive last month before being released on TVNZ, follows Gibson as he meets with farmers, scientists and communities to learn more about the environmental initiative “Recloaking Papatūānuku”. Recloaking Papatūānuku aims to re-establish native forests throughout New Zealand by working with landowners to return crucial ecosystems to climate-vulnerable areas. The plan’s goal is to protect New Zealand’s biodiversity, mitigate flooding and drought, and build resilience against increasingly severe weather events. Gibson, speaking to the Herald after the documentary’s release, said he was drawn to the programme by its kaupapa. “Resilience is what we need in our landscape, and that became really clear to me after [Cyclone Gabrielle].” Vehicles sit amid debris and floodwaters from Cyclone Gabrielle in an orchard on Puketapu Rd, west of Napier, in February 2023. Photo / Mark Mitchell Auckland, the Coromandel, the Bay of Plenty and parts of the East Coast were ravaged by extreme weather events in 2023, with the likes of Cyclone Gabrielle and the Auckland Anniversary Floods collectively costing Kiwis billions in damage and losses. “Getting these forests back on these really erodible and high-risk hillscapes, it is urgent if we’re going to be looking to mitigate increased flooding and fire risk over the next ... 90 years.” Recloaking Papatūānuku isn’t about reviving one large forest but about restoring the right pockets of land to protect it for future generations, Gibson said. “It’s those steep gullies, it’s those wetlands, it’s that class seven and eight hillside that should never have been cleared in the first place. “It’s all of those really unproductive pockets across our entire landscape.” More than 32,500 people follow Sam "The Trap Man" Gibson’s conservation, trapping and foraging work online. Photo / Alistair Guthrie, PureAdvantage Contrary to public perception, farmers, foresters and scientists have been largely aligned on the approach. “Farmers want this too,” Gibson said. “They’re really aware that the unproductive parts of their farms should be in forest and should be fenced ... They just need the financial mechanisms to be able to do that.” More than 32,500 people follow Gibson on Instagram for his foraging, conservation and trapping content, which testifies to the popularity of his work at hand. But collaborating with Pure Advantage – the group behind Recloaking Papatūānuku – provided him with an opportunity to bring the work he’s involved in to homes throughout the motu. “I would like New Zealanders to see the roles that forests play every day in regulating those high-intensity rainfall events, and droughts as well,” Gibson said. Think Like A Forest, the documentary fronted by Gibson, is now available on TVNZ+ after premiering at the Beehive on August 20. Photo / Alistair Guthrie, PureAdvantage He hopes people who watch the documentary will “understand and value our forest systems in their landscapes” and feel inspired to “go out and plant in those high-risk areas”. Planting at scale was achievable if people worked together and acted locally, he added. “It’s not real difficult to do in those small little bush gullies and those small urban parks, like they actually hold a lot of value,” Gibson said. “Trees are super generous to us with what we do. Maybe it’s time to be a little generous back.” Gibson started off in conservation at just 12 years old, when he was sent into the thick Te Urewera bush to train as a trapper. “The classroom wasn’t necessarily the best classroom for me,” he said. “[Conservation is] a space where I can be me. It’s a space that rewards hard work, and over time, you can also see some really incredible changes and shifts.” Alongside his conservation work, Gibson is standing for the Gisborne District Council in this year’s local body elections.  Tom Rose is an Auckland-based journalist who covers breaking news, specialising in lifestyle, entertainment and travel. He joined the Herald in 2023. Sun, 21 Sept 2025 03:45:22 Z /lifestyle/the-reality-of-caring-for-someone-with-dementia-in-new-zealand/ /lifestyle/the-reality-of-caring-for-someone-with-dementia-in-new-zealand/ In her book The Unexpected Journey: Finding Strength, Hope and Yourself on the Caregiving Path, Emma Heming Willis quotes a sobering statistic. “Caregivers die at a rate that is 63% higher than people their age who are not caregivers, and 30% of caregivers die before the loved one they are caring for,” she writes. Willis has been caring for her husband, actor Bruce Willis, since his diagnosis with frontotemporal dementia, which the family shared in 2023. And she’s right: being a caregiver or care partner of someone with dementia comes with its own health risks, according to Dementia New Zealand senior educator Winifred Henderson. “Generally, the care partners are on 24/7, and that affects sleep quality, and when you’re fatigued, you’re not as good, you burn out,” Henderson tells the Herald. “When you burn out, care partners are at risk of developing a chronic condition themselves, and that’s where the respite is so important in trying to get care partners to realise that they are actually priority No 1 and then the person they’re responsible for.” Henderson is speaking from experience. “My mum and dad used to live with my husband and me, and my mum developed dementia,” she says. “I was her care partner for eight years.” While caring for her mum, Henderson experienced something called “ambiguous loss”. Rather than grief over a loved one dying, it’s grief over slowly losing parts of them as their disease progresses. “Things happen and things drop away, but the world doesn’t acknowledge us... society doesn’t acknowledge the grief and the losses that a care partner of someone with dementia goes through,” she says. Dementia New Zealand senior educator Winifred Henderson recommends care partners take regular breaks from the caregiving role. Photo / Supplied As a result, caregivers often experience depression and anxiety. Henderson wants them to know that support is available through organisations such as Dementia New Zealand. “Mental health services will provide that support if necessary... [it’s] important to have a big support network around you – family, friends, healthcare professionals.” She advises care partners that they need to take regular breaks from the caregiving role, for several hours a week, one weekend each month, and a 10 to 14-day break at least twice a year. “It’s really important that people understand what resources and tools are available, that they reach out and make use of them fairly early on... so you can cope for longer and better than if you say, ‘I will cope on my own’. This is often the attitude people have, which is misplaced when you’re on 24/7,” she says. “The more understanding and knowledge there is, that way we reduce stigma, because stigma is very often what isolates or excludes people, and that leads to loneliness. We know that if somebody’s lonely, cognition will drop off a lot quicker.” September is World Alzheimer’s Month and advocates say more knowledge is needed to help reduce the stigma around dementia in general. Dementia is an umbrella term encompassing several syndromes affecting memory, behaviour and cognition. The most common type is Alzheimer’s disease, followed by vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia and frontotemporal dementia, while 30% of people have a mixed dementia. There are about 200 different causes for dementia, with secondary causes from diabetes to head injuries, heart or kidney disease and more. Dementia New Zealand CEO Cathy Cooney says it's important for people to keep their brain active for as long as possible. Photo / Supplied Dementia New Zealand CEO Cathy Cooney estimates there are 80,000 Kiwis living with dementia. By 2050, that number could reach 180,000 – or higher. Henderson suggests that number could be doubled because so many people don’t get a diagnosis. “That may be either because they believe it’s part of normal ageing, or for cultural reasons they don’t get a diagnosis, or the stigma surrounding dementia prevents people from getting a diagnosis.” The person with dementia needs to be aware of their condition and willing to get that diagnosis, drawn from various medical and cognitive tests, family history and mental health assessments. That’s why dementia is “unique to each individual”, Henderson says. “We always say if you’ve met one person with dementia, you’ve met one person with dementia.” It can take years to get a diagnosis, particularly for early-onset dementia. “When someone in their 30s or 40s develops dementia, physicians don’t necessarily immediately think about it. They look at stress, they look at mental health issues, or menopause,” Henderson says. The symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease specifically include short-term memory loss and difficulty learning new things. As it progresses, it can affect a person’s moods, behaviour, language and communication, and later on, mobility and motor skills. That’s why it’s important to keep them engaged in different activities, “to keep their brain active for as long as possible”, Cooney says, adding cognitive stimulation therapy has a growing interest within the community. It’s a non-pharmacological treatment for dementia aiming to provide stimulation by engaging people in group activities and discussions, with proven cognitive benefits. Cooney notes it works best in the early to middle stages of a diagnosis, as there comes a time when it’s no longer of benefit to the person. “There’s support there to journey with people and that’s what we’re all about. We’re about people being socially connected and engaged and having a sense of purpose and keeping involved in their community for as long as possible. “Encourage friends to keep in contact with the person and with their family and their carer so that they know that people love them and care about them.” Local advisers from Dementia New Zealand or Alzheimer’s New Zealand can help the care partner navigate the health system, referrals, practical matters like wills and financial planning, and more. Dementia NZ also runs support groups for care partners. “There’s definitely a need for more respite choices [for carers] right across the country, and they are a really important part of a total package of support that then allows people to stay living in the community for longer,” Cooney says. You can learn more and access support and resources on the Dementia New Zealand website here. Sat, 20 Sept 2025 21:31:14 Z /lifestyle/technology/samsung-galaxy-tab-s11-ultra-the-overachiever/ /lifestyle/technology/samsung-galaxy-tab-s11-ultra-the-overachiever/ When it comes to tablets, I'm biased. Against them. Personally - and this really is just me - I struggle to come up with a genuine use case for a tablet that isn't something I could do just as well, if not better, on a laptop. Or even a phone. Often tablets end up the poor stepchildren in any given range of tech... under-powered, aesthetically anonymous and usually running an operating system that's been half-heartedly ported across from something that was initially designed for a handset. Well, it's safe to say, Samsung obviously doesn't feel the same way. The Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra is definitely not just a giant phone with worse specs.  For starters, it'd be a particularly giant phone, with a display that measures in at an unbelievable 14.6-inches. That's huge. When I got married (a million billion years ago) someone gave us a 14-inch TV for the bedroom. The Tab S11 Ultra is wider than that - especially given its cinematic 16:10 aspect ratio. The display itself is a magnificent, 120Hz Dynamic AMOLED 2X with an anti-reflective surface - just like you might find on the latest flagship Samsung TVs. The toned-down reflection paired with a searing peak brightness of 1600 nits makes for fantastic viewing, whatever the lighting conditions. There's a booming, yet accurate, quad speaker setup to match, which really does make this a genuine contender for a second TV in your house, be it in the kitchen, bedroom or study. The study might be the most useful option because Samsung has now tweaked DEX mode, which essentially transforms the user experience of the Tab S11 Ultra into a PC-like desktop, complete with multiple windows and a taskbar along the bottom. The latest version now allows you to share your DEX mode setup to other external compatible displays to create a genuine multi-screen environment. This means you now have the ultimate portability of this high-powered tablet complete with the option to display your big presentation in the office boardroom - no bulky laptop or messy cables required. And I do meant "ultimate" when it comes to portability. The Tab S11 Ultra is a mere 5.1mm thick (or thin). Think about that for a minute. That's a 14.6-inch display on a tablet slimmer than any non-folding phone on the market. Talk about jaw-dropping design. What's more, it feels perfectly rigid and robust in your hands - probably due to its enhanced Armor Aluminium chassis. It's even rated IP68 against water and dust. Only weighs in at 692grams, by the way. I've called it powerful, so let's talk a few geeky details. The chip is MediaTek's Dimensity 9400+ - a true flagship by anyone's standard, based on TSMC's 3nm process which is pretty much as nano as it gets. This also means high-end graphics for premium gaming performance and speedy rendering of video and 3D animations. Not to mention Samsung's latest neural processing power to bring you all the cutting-edge tools and tricks from Galaxy AI and Gemini. The Tab S11 Ultra ships with an S Pen stylus in the box but unfortunately, because I was reviewing a pre-release device, I wasn't sent an S Pen and couldn't fully test some of the cleverest AI features, like Drawing Assist, which literally cleans up your rough sketches and turns them into shareable works of art. The S Pen makes for a more accurate Circle to Search too - simply circle anything on screen and let Google Gemini find out all about it for you. In a short time, we've come to expect this kind of enhanced productivity from Samsung's flagship handsets, so it's only natural to find it all enlarged for our convenience on this device. Even the camera setup out-performs almost any other tablet. The rear shooter is a dual-lens affair comprising a 13MP main lens backed up with a 10MP ultra-wide. Need to capture some UHD 4K footage for your next project? No problem. I don't fully understand why the 12MP selfie-cam is also ultra-wide, although it does tend to mitigate the trap many users often fall into when joining online meetings via a portable device; exposing the other attendees to an extreme closeup of your nostrils. The ultra-wide selfie shot immediately drops you back into context. So, despite my protests in the introduction, it's starting to sound like the Tab S11 Ultra has won me over, right?  And here's what unexpectedly, really brought it home. Fitness. Or my lack of. I've recently been forced to acknowledge I'm overweight, out of shape and have lost almost all my flexibility. So I've been using the Samsung Health app as a catalyst to make some changes. Apart from all the other things it excels at, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra is the most comprehensive health tracker I've used to date and I've already made improvements to my sleep routine and found a way to deal with my snoring (much to Domestic Manager's relief). So what's that got to do with the Tab S11 Ultra? Well, the Samsung Health app can link you to a comprehensive selection of guided workouts, specifically tailored to your unique fitness goals. I've never really paid much attention to this feature before because I've usually come across them on my watch or phone and couldn't quite see the point. But with the Tab S11 Ultra mounted in a stand, suddenly I was back at the gym, working out with a professional instructor. The 14.6-inch screen is plenty big enough for me to see exactly how to perform each exercise correctly and the quad-speaker sound system pumps out the beats plenty loud enough to push me through those last few sets. At the risk of sounding like an infomercial, I've already lost 2kg in two weeks. Still a way to go though. Wish me luck. So there you have it; the device that converted me from tablet agnostic to relying on one for my general health and wellbeing. It's flagship fast and the screen is huge while the rest of it is super slim. Even the battery life is great. There's simply no way to mark this tablet down.      Click here for more information on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra. Thu, 18 Sept 2025 00:17:46 Z /lifestyle/technology/hp-omnibook-x-flip-14-maximum-versatility-minimum-compromise/ /lifestyle/technology/hp-omnibook-x-flip-14-maximum-versatility-minimum-compromise/ People often ask me how much they should expect to pay for a decent laptop. Obviously, no two users are the same so there's no right or wrong answer. I usually get them to qualify what they'll be doing most often... Browsing, answering emails and creating presentations? That's a very different set of requirements to someone who likes to edit a lot of video and plays games all night long. Or maybe it's just another screen you're after? Albeit a portable one that connects to Wi-Fi so you can watch the latest episode of your favourite show. Generally, if you have between $2.5K and $3,000.00 to spend, you should end up with a decent machine that'll be relatively future-proof too - as much as any piece of tech ever can be. But right now there's an option in that price range worth considering that caters to almost every situation... The HP OmniBook X Flip 14" is at least three devices in one. Primarily, it's a 14-inch Copilot+ laptop with an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor, 16GB of RAM and 512GB SSD storage. However, fold the very impressive touch display right over (or the keyboard right under) and you now have an extremely powerful - and quite large - tablet. Or that's the idea, anyway. I'd love to know how many X Flippers out there ever use the device in tablet mode. Technically, there's nothing but up sides - all that storage and processing power; you'd never get close to that kind of performance on a tablet-only device. In practice though, while 1.3kgs is light for a laptop, it's reasonably substantial for a tablet. Also, with the keyboard folded away, it's a pretty bulky tablet - feels weird to hold too, with all those keys underneath. I mean, I guess you could read your eBook this way but at 14-inches, that's a damn big book to take to bed. No, the other configuration I prefer is "Tent Mode" - where you perch the partially unfolded device on its edges, effectively using it as a standalone smart screen. This is the position most suited to watching YouTube recipes on the kitchen bench or a bit of late-night Prime Video from the bedside table. What they never tell you though, is there's a fourth way to use the OmniBook X Flip - very useful when standing at your desk or collaborating with others... Just lie it down flat. Or close to. For me, that's the true bonus of this form-factor; if you've ever wanted to open your laptop lid just that much further, with this one, you can. But it's not all about the 360° folding lid - the OmniBook Flip X 14" has got a lot else going for it too. Like all the HP laptops I've reviewed in the last year or so, the keyboard is excellent - nicely spaced out, clicky, decent travel and yes, it has a dedicated Copilot key so you can summon the ever-present AI from any window with a single click. Also, like other HP devices, there's a fair amount of pre-installed software - although I wouldn't go so far as to write it all off as "bloatware" because some of the utilities are pretty useful. The pick of these might be Poly Camera Pro - a genuine video editing suite that can even connect to external cameras so you create multi-view content, right from the laptop. Some things are less useful. A Windows search for "HP" under Apps brings up a choice of no fewer than nine different apps and tools, some of which do almost the same thing and one, mysteriously just called, "HP" doesn't seem to do anything at all, other than show you how much battery life you have left over the top of an animated background. Yes, I wasted about three minutes of my precious time logging into that one so you wouldn't have to. The the IPS touchscreen is bright, clear and although it's quite shiny, I haven't found it overly reflective in most situations. Battery life is sufficient without setting any records - although it's almost getting to the stage now where all-day battery life should just be a minimum expectation. I think I'm going to stop mentioning it unless it's exceptionally good or woefully disappointing. I'm not sure the OmniBook X Flip 14" is exactly a gamer's go-to. Generally, I've found using it to be a real pleasure - it's reliable, Windows 11 does all the things it's supposed to, Copilot seems to work quietly and efficiently - but when I tried streaming games from Xbox Cloud Gaming, things took a long time to load and I experienced a few freezes that required restarts. Hard to say if that's a connectivity issue, a processor issue or a graphics issue - but it was an issue that happened more than once. In fact, overall I've found many apps to be quite slow to launch - although most things seem to work fine once they're up and running - and changing aspects when using the screen in portrait as a tablet or even upside-down in tent-mode, all rotated into place slickly enough. The deep "Atmospheric Blue" casing looks classy and feels premium. In fact, given its literal flexibility, the device seems super solid and durable. I'm also impressed by the selection of ports; two USB-A slots, two USB-C and a full-sized HDMI connection which makes linking to an external display so easy. Unfortunately, the two USB-C ports are both on the left-hand side which can be a bit limiting when it comes to plugging in your power cable - but I'm quibbling here. Another wee feature I wanted to highlight isn't really specific to the OmniBook X Flip as such, although its Bluetooth 5.4 connectivity certainly helps. Microsoft Phone Link has suddenly got really good. This is the pre-installed app that essentially mirrors your connected phone with your laptop. I haven't seriously attempted to use it for a while because it always used to be so limited and unreliable but I've given it another go while testing this device and whaddya know? It started sending me notifications from all my apps in a timely fashion and in a way I could deal with usefully. Productivity upgrade? Tick. If the OmniBook X Flip 14" was just a "normal" laptop, I'd say its performance doesn't quite live up to its current NZ$2,848.00 asking price. But it isn't normal. It's so much more adaptable and although it may not be as lightning fast as some similarly-priced machines, those can't transform into a tablet or a free-standing smart screen. Besides which, I saw it on special much cheaper earlier in the week so keep your eyes peeled for a hot deal.      Click here for more information and pricing on the HP OmniBook X Flip 14". Tue, 16 Sept 2025 23:42:56 Z /lifestyle/travel/mike-yardley-pleasures-of-prague/ /lifestyle/travel/mike-yardley-pleasures-of-prague/ Magical, golden, and steeped in mystique, “The City of a Hundred Spires’ is one of my favourite European capitals. Prague lays on a smorgasbord of stunning architecture, from Gothic, Renaissance and baroque to neoclassical and cubist. Unshackled from the claws of Communism, the capital of the Czech Republic’s rock-solid status as a powerhouse tourist destination continues to shine.   Prague’s cultural appeal and fairytale architecture undeniably remains the biggest crowd-puller. Free of traffic and surrounded with spectacular historic buildings, Old Town Square would have to rank as one of Europe’s finest public spaces. The medieval square has played host to some remarkable moments in history including Hitler’s arrival address and the announcement of the communist takeover. The delightful Old Town Hall was first built in 1338 and features a variety of architectural gems from over the centuries. The soaring tower will give you the best panoramic view across the city.   Old Town Square. Photo / Supplied At the base of the tower, be sure to admire the colourful, curious and highly complex Astronomical Clock. Constructed in the 15th century, it is one of the oldest functional astronomical clocks in the world. The clock has been modified, destroyed, and repaired many times since its creation in 1380.  In addition to telling the time, it also can also tell the date, as well as the relative positions of the Sun, Moon, Earth, and Zodiac Constellations. The clock depicts the sun revolving around Prague (When astronomers later discovered that our globe actually revolves around the sun, thanks to Coperincus, Prague’s rulers refused to have the clock changed. So it remains an Earth-centred view of the universe). Every hour on the hour, a procession of 12 wooden apostles emerges from the trap doors to march in another hour, culminating with a crowing golden rooster. The procession begins with the grim reaper ringing a bell and reversing an hourglass, symbolising the limited time of life. 75% of the clock’s parts are the originals from the 1300s. It is medieval theatre at its finest.  Astronomical Clock in Prague. Photo / Mike Yardley  Charles Bridge would have to be a leading contender for the world’s most photogenic bridge. Built for Prague’s much-loved King Charles IV in 1357, the bridge is festooned in sculptures. Most of the statues pay homage to the greatest saints, including John the Baptist, Joseph, Christopher and Francis of Assisi. But unless you time it right, trying to encapsulate the gracious glory of this bridge is mission impossible given the swarming crowds that pack it out across the day. Get here by 7am to enjoy the bridge in relatively unpeopled solitude. By 8am, she is busy and crowded.    Havelsky Market is one of Prague’s oldest surviving markets and is hugely popular with tourists. Traditionally a fruit and vegetable market, most of the fresh produce has been squeezed out by the demand for hand-made marionettes. Puppet theatre has a rich history in Bohemia, and Prague still has a vibrant puppet-making cottage industry. This market is definitely the place to buy one. Nearby, the National Marionette Theatre presents regular child-pleasing puppet shows and explains the history and development of these puppets over the centuries. Definitely take a stroll around Wenceslas Square, the city’s new beating heart. Flanked with a vibrant boulevard, it’s home to a swag of swanky hotels, restaurants and cafes, plus the State Opera, National Museum and the main train station.  Prague’s history began with the Castle, founded in the 9th century high above the Vltava River. Spanning seven rugby fields in size, it’s the largest ancient castle in the world. The sprawling complex of churches, chapels, halls and towers has remained the seat of power for Czech rulers over the centuries, from the powerful Habsburgs and Nazi invaders to today’s president. Needless to say, exploring the castle can be an endurance test. Grab a guided tour. Changing of the Guard also takes place at the main gate every hour. (The main parade is staged at noon.) The starring attractions within the castle district are St. Vitus Cathedral and the Old Royal Palace.  Changing of the guard at Prague Castle. Photo / Mike Yardley  The latter was the home of six centuries of kings, with a trove of artworks and royal furnishings on show. Beneath the magnificently vaulted ceilings of the palace, Vaclav Havel was sworn in as the democratically elected Czech leader, following communism’s collapse in 1990. This Christian bastion of Bohemia, is exemplified in the Christmas carol, Good King Wenceslas. He was later canonised, and St. Wenceslas is buried here. Occasionally, on state anniversaries, the saint’s skull is put on public display.   The insta-friendly Nerudova Street is Prague’s famously steep, narrow thoroughfare that leads up to the castle, and is named after Prague’s famous short-story writer, Jan Neruda. Until the introduction of house numbers in 1770, the city’s dwellings were distinguished by signs. Nerudova’s houses have a splendid selection of these, featuring symbols, emblems and heraldic beasts. They are fascinating to peruse, as each sign indicates the profession of the occupant in 1770. As you head out of the castle district, don’t miss the Golden Lane, a slinky cobblestoned alley lined with small colourful houses that were built in the 16th century and occupied until WWII. The street used to be called Goldsmiths Lane as it served as the dwelling of Goldsmiths. Today the houses have permanent exhibitions showcasing life on the lane since the 1500s.  A perennial insta-star from Prague is the John Lennon wall is arguably one of the most Instagram famous spots in Prague. During the Communist era, John Lennon’s “Make Love Not War” slogan was especially popular among the Communist opposition. After his death in 1980, a Czech artist decided to pay his respects by making graffiti dedicated to John Lennon. Many locals supported his initiative by adding quotes from his songs and sharing their hopes for peace. The John Lennon wall has been a pivotal part of the political protests against the Communist regime and the oppression of freedom of speech.  John Lennon Wall. Photo / Supplied It's fair to say that Prague’s plethora of quirky and eccentric museums scratch every itch, from steampunk and alchemy to magicians. Then there is the Sex Machines Museum. Near the Old Town Square, this museum is choc-full of sexual devices and contraptions all designed to make the pleasures of the flesh a little more mechanical. If that all sounds rather impersonal, rest assured, the museum has been kind enough to wrap a flexible dummy around each gadget to further demonstrate its use. It is the only museum in the world dedicated to sex machines.  Prague has a very sweet tooth, and their patisseries are a do-not-miss cultural experience. Here’s my favourite sweet treats. Try a Buchty – a soft, pillowy yeast bun, filled with jam, poppy seeds, or a sweet cheese. They are nostalgic comfort food for the locals. I adore Medovník – a traditional Czech honey cake, made with thin layers of honey-infused dough separated by a creamy caramel or condensed milk filling. Yum! Then there’s Větrník – a traditional Czech pastry similar to a cream puff but larger and more decadent. It’s essentially a choux pastry filled with a rich combination of vanilla and caramel whipped cream, then topped with a glossy caramel glaze. It’s a staple in Prague’s best patisseries. Sample a slice of Bublanina – a traditional Czech sponge cake infused with seasonal fruits like cherries or plums in its airy batter.   Treats galore in the Chimney Cone Shop. Photo / Mike Yardley  Finally, despite being Hungarian in origin, Prague has elevated the Trdelník onto the highest pedestal. This cinnamon-sugar-coated pastry is also known as Chimney Cake. The dough is wrapped around a cylinder-shaped spit and cooked until the exterior is crispy, while the inside is perfectly soft. While still warm, it’s then doused in sugar, cinnamon and nuts. The cylindrical pastry also serves as a cone, so why not go the whole hog and top your cone with a scoop or two of ice cream, coated in more nuts! Delicious!!  I recently visited Prague as part of Trafalgar’s 10 day Imperial Europe tour. Tour Differently. Travelling with Trafalgar means you won’t just see the world – but you’ll experience it with authenticity to the fore, from the must-sees to hidden secrets, and those priceless encounters with the locals. Plus, you’ll have plenty of flexitime for your own personal discoveries. Call 0800 484 333, visit trafalgar.com or see your local Travel Agent.  Mike Yardley is our resident traveller and can be heard on 九一星空无限talk ZB at 11.20am on Saturday Mornings with Jack Tame.  Sat, 13 Sept 2025 00:56:24 Z /lifestyle/technology/samsung-galaxy-s25-fe-yes-im-a-fan/ /lifestyle/technology/samsung-galaxy-s25-fe-yes-im-a-fan/ Sometimes I find myself thinking, "How much phone do I really need?" Because I review phones, I'm in the privileged position of being able to use most of the latest and greatest pretty much the moment they hit the shelves - sometimes even before. (Humble brag) But do I actually need a phone with a terabyte of storage? Probably not. Am I going to use that pop-out stylus on a daily basis? Unlikely. Am I making the most of that folding display or do I just like to casually flip it open and see if anyone notices? I think we know the real answer.  So once again, I'm trying out a mid-range handset and I'm thinking, "This would probably do the trick." The Samsung Galaxy S25 FE has fit directly into my daily life, pretty much seamlessly. Like I say, when I'm not actively reviewing a phone, it's a pretty safe bet I'll be rocking on of the best of the best in my pocket as my everyday device. What I can tell you straight off the bat is the S25 FE has slipped right into that same pocket and I've noticed zero compromises or shortfalls in my regular routine. Without currently having an S25+ to compare the FE directly with, I think I'd be hard-pressed to spot the difference. Both devices have a 6.7-inch AMOLED display (so larger than the base-model S25). Both feature Armor Aluminium frames and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus for durability, although admittedly the S25+ does go one generation stronger with its display glass and the screen is a higher resolution. However, the S25 FE still sports a 120Hz refresh rate for smooth on-screen response and also boasts a larger vapour chamber than last year's model to keep things running cool - especially when gaming. Both the FE and S25+ also have the same sized batteries, a generous 4900mAh - which will cruise through even the longest day on a single charge. And yes, the FE charges fast - at up to 45W - and it charges wirelessly too.  The FE comes in four colours; Icyblue, Jetblack, Navy and White and it's slim and light - just 190 grams. And here's the kicker; the S25 FE starts at just NZ$1199.00 - $400 cheaper than the least expensive S25+. To be fair, the S25+ has more RAM, a more powerful processor and the option of 512GB internal storage - but as I keep saying, those are differences I'm just not noticing. Oh, and just to really pull the rug out, I'm not usually using an S25+, typically its an S24 Ultra I'm pulling out of my pocket - surely one of last year's finest phones. Honestly, the S25 FE just keeps stacking up - okay, the camera module doesn't quite match that of this year's Ultra but again, it's not much different to what you get with the next model down, the S25+. The primary shooter is a 50MP Wide sensor, teamed with an 12MP Ultra Wide and an 8MP Telephoto, capable of 3x optical zoom and digital zoom up to 30x. The selfie cam is a very respectable 12MP lens and there are all the premium video settings you could wish for; 8K UHD recording, slow motion, great stabilisation - it's all there. The other thing that's all there is Galaxy AI. And Gemini AI. Well, both. I still can't really tell which is which but the important thing is all the clever tools like Circle to Search, the Now Bar, Audio Eraser and Instant Slow-mo can be found on this phone, just like any other late model Samsung flagship. The best thing is, the latest version of Samsung's operating system, One UI 8.0, integrates all these AI features seamlessly into various apps, settings, options and even the on-screen keyboard. This means when I was discussing when we should walk the dog with the Domestic Manager online yesterday, I was able to send her a picture of him being flown like a kite. (It was very windy and he has large ears) I don't know if it was Gemini, Galaxy AI or a combination of the two. But it was easy as. Which pretty much sums up my experience using the S25 FE; so easy. No problems. Well, one problem - but it's not my problem. Is the FE too good? If too many people buy one, are those the same people who might have considered upgrading to an S26 or S26 Ultra when they come along in just a few months time? Is Samsung running the risk of cannibalising its own market? Perhaps not. As much as we all love these Fan Editions and although they've been regular additions to Samsung's lineup in recent years, there's no guarantee Samsung will release a Galaxy S26 FE around this time next year - they've only been doing FE iterations since the S20 and there wasn't one at all in 2022. That's the cool thing about it; it really does feel a bit special when an FE release comes along - almost as though there's part of the market who would definitely consider a flagship handset if it was in their budget but usually have to compromise on the latest style, camera capabilities or AI features. This one's definitely for them. And for me, as it turns out.      Click here for more information on the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE. Thu, 11 Sept 2025 00:29:45 Z /lifestyle/technology/trend-micro-security-suite-pro-plus-almost-too-secure/ /lifestyle/technology/trend-micro-security-suite-pro-plus-almost-too-secure/ If there's one thing I've learned the hard way, it's that you can't take cyber security for granted. As someone who's seen my entire PC encrypt itself and shut itself down before my very eyes, I can assure you, there's nothing more stressful than discovering all your data - from photos and documents right through to logins, passwords and financial information is now in the hands of someone else. Whether or not something like that has happened to you or a family member, if you've been putting off securing your devices, I'm imploring you to act immediately. Somebody once told me alarm systems and security cameras won't necessarily prevent your home being broken into, but if your house is more secure than the one next door, guess which one will be targeted first? At the very least, we should all be locking our front doors. Well, I think I've found a product that doesn't just secure the doors, it bars the windows and locks your place down under 24/7 surveillance as well. Security Suite Pro Plus is Trend Micro's top-of-the-line consumer product and as such, I don't think I've ever come across a set of cyber-safety features this comprehensive. Confusingly, Trend Micro's entry level package is called Maximum Security and while it certainly has a lot of the same tools included, it's nowhere near as "Maximum" as Security Suite Pro Plus. There are so many settings, tools and extensions I'm not going to do a deep dive on every single one - but rest assured, when it comes to the latest antivirus, malware, ransomware, spyware and any other-ware protection, Trend Micro has you well and truly covered. As you would expect. What I also need to point out straight off the bat is an old piece of advice but a good one; don't try and run two different security regimes on the same device simultaneously. Trend Micro does not seem to play well with others and I discovered one or two options wouldn't work at all until I'd fully uninstalled my previous security apps. This isn't surprising; for me, one of the most important things about running a cyber defence as all-encompassing as this one is how much processing power it's using up in the background. If you've got two opposing apps fighting against each other to carry out the same task, chances are things are going to crash (or at least slow down) pretty quickly. That bit of prep out of the way and I was able to carry on with my installation and setup - at this point I've installed Security Suite Pro Plus on an iPhone 16, a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and a Windows 11 PC. Although there are indeed too many features to list, setup is surprisingly user-friendly. The default settings for most options seemed to work for me without any tweaking at all. The Android and iOS user interfaces are pretty similar, while the desktop version is laid out slightly differently, dividing the many features into categories and hiding them behind the appropriate, clickable icons. However, all versions of the home screen present you with a big, friendly "Scan" button to press. Not only does a scan filter through all your files for anything suspicious, it also looks for any opportunities to optimise your device - perhaps listing obsolete or duplicate files that can be deleted, right through to OS updates you may have missed. At any time you can consult your latest security report which lists... well, everything really. Wanna know how many text messages and emails have been scanned for phishing attempts and other security risks? No problem. Security Suite Pro Plus even monitors notifications from your apps, before you actually open them. Shopping online? Trend Micro is keeping an eye on things to make sure you're paying someone real, not a scambot. You can set up browsing protection, although not for every browser - I use Arc on most of my devices and being a more minor player, it's not covered. You can also monitor the Wi-Fi network you're connected to in real time - you'll soon be notified if there are any security flaws, things like default passwords being used for example. And of course, you get access to Trend Micro's excellent VPN, which can be set to activate automatically if you join an unknown network - or perhaps even a regular one you're not feeling totally safe with. But here's where things get a bit clunky. Although the VPN is included as part of the Security Suite Pro Plus package, you have to download it as a separate app; it integrates with the main program but must be set up independently. This is different to other security suites I've used where the VPN is just another option to click on or off. I've also found it to be very bossy as VPNs go - especially the Windows version. The PC I've installed it on is the one I use for my Plex media server. This means I want other devices on the same network to be able to access it in order to play my stored files. I'm sure there must be a way to make this work but I haven't figured it out yet. Scam Check is another Trend Micro app that's included but must be installed separately. What a good app it is though. Like other, similar services, you can copy links, images and screenshots into the app to check if they're legit but (as with everything else) Trend Micro seems to go several steps further. You can set Scam Check as your default SMS app to filter out scam texts in real time. Perhaps most impressively, you can check video calls for deep fakes. Yup, what a sad indictment on society that technology has now progressed to the point the person we're talking to on a video chat might not be that person at all. Never mind, just let Trend Micro check that for you. This just goes to show Trend Micro is right on top of all the latest trends in cyber trickery. I'm definitely in favour of a belt-and-suspenders approach when it comes to cyber-security, and if you've ever been scammed, had your ID stolen or data compromised, I'm sure you feel the same way. With Security Suite Pro Plus, you're not just getting a belt and suspenders, Trend Micro throws in handcuffs, a straightjacket, a padded room and seals it all inside a Faraday cage for good measure. As stifling as that sounds - and yes, as my experience with the VPN goes, the combination of all these tools may be a little over-the-top - interestingly, I haven't found any significant drain on the resources of any of the devices I've been testing this suite with. In fact, thanks to the optimisation options available, one or two of them are now running even better. This is the kind of set-it-and-forget-it protection I feel like I can trust, absolutely. If you like the sound of it too, I'd act quickly. Trend Micro is now offering customers the opportunity to subscribe to Security Suite Pro Plus for two years for only NZ$238.00 - that works out at less than $10 a month. Not much to pay to keep yourself safe, no matter how sophisticated the scammers become.      Click here for more information and pricing on Trend Micro Security Suite Pro Plus. Tue, 09 Sept 2025 01:11:55 Z /lifestyle/air-nz-adventure-beyond-sale-discounted-flights-to-new-york-tokyo-london-and-more/ /lifestyle/air-nz-adventure-beyond-sale-discounted-flights-to-new-york-tokyo-london-and-more/ Thousands of international airfares have been discounted in an Air New Zealand promotion considered their “widest reaching long haul sale for the year”. For a two-week period beginning today, seats to 40 international destinations will be discounted as part of the airline’s “adventure beyond sale”. Popular international destinations included are Honolulu with one-way fares starting at $499, New York starting at $799, and Tokyo starting from $679. One-way flights to the Big Apple start from $799. Photo / 123RF Air NZ general manager long haul Kylie McGillivray-Brown said the sale aims at sparking wanderlust. “We know Kiwis love to dream big when it comes to travel – and this sale is about making those dreams easier to reach." The national carrier has worked with connecting partner airlines to open up destinations beyond its own flight network across the United Kingdom, Europe, Southeast Asia and India. This includes one-way flights to London or Paris from $1060, Ho Chi Minh City from $697 and Delhi from $742. “At these prices, we expect seats to fly out the door – so we encourage customers to get in quick.” Live now, the sale runs until midnight on September 22. Seats are limited and subject to availability. A card payment fee, selected travel periods and further conditions apply. In August Air NZ announced earnings before taxation of $189 million for the 2025 financial year, compared with $222 million in the prior year. Net profit after taxation was $126 million. However, passenger revenue declined by 2% to $5.9 billion, which the airline attributed to a 4% reduction in overall network capacity from engine availability constraints. The airline expects earnings before taxation for the first half of the 2026 financial year to be similar to or less than that reported in the second half of the 2025 financial year. Air NZ’s adventure beyond sale fares include: Shanghai from $570 Bali from $579 Tokyo from $679 Taipei from $685 Hong Kong from $695 Singapore from $795 Honolulu from $499 Los Angeles from $699 San Francisco from $739 Houston from $779 New York from $799 Vancouver from $999 London from $1060 Paris from $1060 Bangkok from $697 Ho Chi Minh City from $697 Phuket from $771 Delhi from $742 Mon, 08 Sept 2025 02:41:19 Z /lifestyle/travel/mike-yardley-breezing-through-bratislava/ /lifestyle/travel/mike-yardley-breezing-through-bratislava/ Pint-sized Bratislava has the unique distinction of being the only capital city in the world wedged by three countries. Just inside the border of Slovakia, the city is also sandwiched by Austria and Hungary. You can lay your eyes on those three countries from various perches around town.  Bratislava’s old town is a little bon-bon, a perfectly formed tangle of twisting cobbled streets, studded with pastel-hued 18th century buildings. But far from simply being an urban relic from a bygone age, the Slovakian capital has an unmistakably cosmopolitan, contemporary feel and quirky personality, best exemplified by its infatuating public art installations.   Introducing Kumil the Watcher. It’s my favourite piece of street sculpture, a headliner in the old town’s well-studded art trail. Installed nearly thirty years ago, Kumil is a road worker peering out from a manhole, all rendered in bronze. After coming close to being beheaded by several cars who inadvertently drove over him, a “Man at Work” road sign was added for Kumil’s self-preservation. The sculpture speaks to the city’s cheerful demeanour, as it emerged from the long shadows of the Iron Curtain.    Kumil the Watcher. Photo / Supplied A similarly unexpected and unforgettable folly is the UFO Tower – perhaps the Communists’ greatest contribution to the city, in contrast to their swathe of brutalist tenement blocks. Bratislava straddles both sides of the Danube, and rising above the southern bank is the UFO, a futuristic statement tower, crowning the Novy Most (New Bridge), and proud to be the tiniest member of the World Federation of Great Towers. You can zip up the shuddering elevator to the roof-top observation deck, to see Austria and Hungary, before retreating inside the UFO disc for a drink. Locals advised me not to bother with the food in the restaurant. “The view is great, but the food is lousy.” Another brazen hand-me-down from the Cold War era is the Radio building. It’s the most bizarre Soviet architectural statement, an upside-down pyramid, descending into a massive concrete block. Built between the 1960s and ‘80s, the Slovak Radio building is a brutalist scene-stealer.  You’ll be looking directly across the river to the leading city landmark, Bratislava Castle. The original foundations were laid in the 9th century, although fortifications on the hill-top site reach back to the Roman age. The castle is home to various museums, but it’s the ornate gardens that are particularly eye-catching. Aside from the castle, scale the hill, which strategically lies between the Alps and Carpathians, or the knock-out view. On a clear day, you can actually see Slovakia all around you, Austria to the west and Hungary to the southeast. Bratislava has the unique distinction of being the only capital city to be flanked by three countries. The current building, a boxy four-towered rectangle, is a 1950s reconstruction of Emperor Sigismund’s fifteenth-century castle, which was destroyed by fire in 1811.   Bratislava Castle. Photo / Supplied But it’s the Old Town where you’ll want to linger most, a showcase of the mastery of Slovak town planners, who somehow jam-packed a whole city’s worth of churches, shops, palaces and museums into a handful of blocks. The district is smaller than Prague's Old Town, but uncannily similar, with winding cobblestone lanes hiding gothic churches and elegant residences. I loved the Primates' Palace, a stirring architectural monument, worth an exploratory for the glinting Hall of Mirrors and the adjacent English tapestries which date to the 17th century. The Hall of Mirrors is where Napoleon and Austrian Emperor Franz I signed their peace treaty in 1805. It was only when the palace was being restored in 1903 that the English tapestries were discovered, concealed behind the plaster. The palace also brims with large oil portraits of Hapsburg royalty, including one from 1742 of Maria Theresa at her coronation.   The showpiece entry point into the Old Town is St. Michael’s Gate, with its onion-domed copper tower. Look carefully and you’ll notice that gracing the top is a statue of archangel Michael slaying a dragon. Originally built in Gothic style in the 14th century, it was later adapted to Baroque style 300 years later, and is the only surviving medieval gateway, which is adjoined by stately Baroque buildings, including Mozart House, where the six-year-old Mozart performed for the city elites.   St Michael's Gate in Old Town. Photo / Mike Yardley It’s a great street to enjoy a restorative plop at a pavement café, where exotically flavoured fizzy drinks are all the rage like lavender lemonade. Try it - you might like it. Other essential sights include St. Martin’s Cathedral, with its distinctive blue spire. It’s where 19 Hungarian kings and emperors had their coronation, when Bratislava became the Hungarian capital, following the Ottoman conquest of Budapest. Present-day Slovakia was part of the Kingdom of Hungary for nearly a thousand years up until the end of WWI, when it became part of Czechoslovakia.  You’ll also enjoy admiring the neo-renaissance magnificence of the silver-roofed Slovak National Theatre, a beautiful building, bracketed by frothy fountains. An art nouveau landmark for the tick-list is the Blue Church, officially known as the Church of St Elizabeth of Hungary. Just over 100 years old, both the interior and exterior of the church are painted in shades of pale blue and decorated with blue majolica tiles; even the roof is tiled with the soothing blue-glazed ceramics.   Local hospitality? Here’s a few taste tempters that I happily grazed from across Bratislava. On the main road to Bratislava Castle, you’ll find Kava Bar, an eclectic hangout that looks part-hipster, part Viennese coffee house. Housed on the ground floor of a Soviet-era apartment block, it sports an expansive coffee menu, with a fun and quirky décor, complete with vintage cups and saucers. Slovakia’s national dish would have to be Halušky, gnocchi-like potato dumplings smothered in melted sheep’s cheese and a sprinkling of fried bacon. It’s not exactly Michelin-star material but undeniably satisfying. You’ll easily find the dish on the menus of most cheap and cheerful pubs.   I’m a walkover for anywhere that offers great cakes and pastries, but if there is one unmissable stop in Bratislava, it would have to be Konditorei Kormuth, which turns 200 years old next year. With a full-size mannequin of Hapsburg Queen Maria Theresia, this cake and coffee shop resembles a rococo jewel box, with vivid wall and ceiling Renaissance frescoes, antique furniture, exquisite carvings and retro china. The sumptuous interior is just the start of the sweet seduction. It’s the cakes that people come for, freshly baked every day and steeped in traditional recipes from the Austro-Hungarian empire. My eyes drooled over the vast cabinet of confections, intricate edible art works like the swan-shaped choux buns, which are composed of choux pastry and caramel cream. Officially known as Saint Honore Creams, these delicate treats look almost too good to eat – but I happily did. Two other recommendations - the Dobos torte with its six layers of chocolate and buttercream; and rum cake crowned with berries.   Cake heaven at Konditorei Kormuth. Photo / Mike Yardley Beyond the city, take a side trip on Slovakia's wine trail which stretches north of Bratislava through the small Carpathian mountains, which fringe the city. The wine route has morphed tremendously in recent years. If you’re short on time, but wish to sample the local vino, head to the city’s Museum of Viticulture. It actually beckons more like a potential binge-drinking spot than a museum, because the basement tasting room boasts the chance to taste 72 wines in 100 minutes, for 30 Euro. Host responsibility seems to have missed Slovakia. One of the best grape varietals worth a sample is Tokaj (pronounced toe-kai), very popular in Hungary, and also widely grown in Slovakia. It is a rich, sweet dessert wine. Salute!  I recently visited Bratislava as part of Trafalgar’s 10-day Imperial Europe tour. Tour Differently. Travelling with Trafalgar means you won’t just see the world – but you’ll experience it with authenticity to the fore, from the must-sees to hidden secrets, and those priceless encounters with the locals. Plus, you’ll have plenty of flexitime for your own personal discoveries. Call 0800 484 333, visit trafalgar.com or see your local Travel Agent.  Mike Yardley is our resident traveller and can be heard on 九一星空无限talk ZB at 11.20am on Saturday Mornings with Jack Tame.  Sat, 06 Sept 2025 00:56:57 Z /lifestyle/giorgio-armani-whose-streamlined-fashions-ruled-the-red-carpet-dies-at-91/ /lifestyle/giorgio-armani-whose-streamlined-fashions-ruled-the-red-carpet-dies-at-91/ Five years after the launch of his luxury fashion house, Giorgio Armani secured his place in fashion history when he created the scene-stealing wardrobe for actor Richard Gere in American Gigolo.  The 1980 film – with Gere as a bare-chested ladies’ man pawing his collection of Armani suits, shirts and ties – forged a vivid link between clothes and seduction, and forever made the designer’s relaxed style of tailored dressing part of the fashion vernacular.  His signature wide-shouldered, double-breasted, broad-lapeled blazers came to embody success, sophistication and self-assurance – and became the uniform of the power crowd from Hollywood to Wall St to Fleet St in London. His made-to-measure suits and couture gowns were a staple at premieres and awards shows, so much so that Women’s Wear Daily dubbed Oscar night “the Armani Awards”.  Armani, who has died at 91, was the president, chief executive and sole shareholder of his self-titled company. He was one of the highest-earning fashion designers in the world, with a net worth estimated at US$12.1 billion, according to Forbes magazine. He had not designated a successor, but the Financial Times reported last week that he expected to oversee a “gradual transition” in which responsibilities were handed over to family members and longtime collaborators such as Leo Dell’Orco, the company’s head of men’s design.  Across a half-century career, Armani brought elegance and refinement to the art of the power suit and revolutionised the way modern men and women dress. He reinterpreted and softened men’s clothes – notably the classic American business suit – and pushed the boundaries of women’s fashion, projecting an understated confidence perfectly fitted to a new generation of women intent on climbing the corporate ladder or entering politics.  A dresser, a buyer - then a designer  The steel-blue-eyed, perpetually bronzed Italian designer debuted his first collection at age 40 in 1975. Armani, a former window dresser and menswear buyer, felt that the bulky, trendy suits of the era failed to properly complement and flatter men’s bodies. He also believed their uniformity stifled the customer’s personality and individuality.  Giorgio Armani at work. Photo / Getty Images  “When I began to design, men all dressed in the same way. American industry called the shots, with its technicians scattered all over the world … all impeccably equal, equally impeccable. The Mao syndrome,” Armani once said. “You couldn’t tell them apart. They had no defects. But I liked defect. I wanted to personalise the jacket.”  Tired of suits’ constriction, rigidity and heaviness, he began to “deconstruct” them by removing their stiff interlinings, football-size shoulder pads and any excess bulk. The result was a leaner, more free-flowing silhouette that skimmed the torso and flattered the body without constricting it.  Celebrities such as John Travolta, Warren Beatty and Mick Jagger were early converts. Affluent, style-conscious stockbrokers and executives followed suit – literally. And when women started to covet Armani’s designs, he reinterpreted his menswear classics in women’s sizes.  “An Armani suit steeled the nerve of women without masculinising them, just as it disarmed men erotically without unmanning them,” New Yorker culture and fashion writer Judith Thurman observed in 2000.  Armani was widely credited as one of the first designers to recognise and harness the value of the red carpet in popularising his brand. He offered his services and demure, figure-flattering designs to rising starlets who were worried about making a fashion faux pas in the spotlight of a million paparazzi flashes.  Fittingly, fashion arbiter and actress Diane Keaton was the first to wear his tailored design – a deconstructed beige blazer – on the red carpet in 1978. In 1988, Armani opened a 1207sq m (13,000sq foot) boutique in Beverly Hills to cater to his celebrity fan base and hired a former society columnist as the company’s publicist.  Celebrities – including actor Jack Nicholson, director Martin Scorsese and pop star Beyoncé – flocked to Armani’s flagship store to be outfitted in his tuxedos or gowns for star-studded events. The designer also courted influential public figures, such as NBA coach Pat Riley, whose collection of custom-made Armani suits earned him the nickname “GQ” and gave the label plenty of prime-time exposure.  Over time, Armani grew the company into a lifestyle empire, expanding his label to include jewellery, accessories, housewares, hotels, restaurants, chocolates, perfumes, florists and even yachts. He also created several sub-labels – offering haute couture, denim, children’s wear and activewear – and owned hundreds of stores worldwide.  Creating styles that endure  Giorgio Armani was born on July 11, 1934, in Piacenza, Italy, an industrial town southeast of Milan. His father was an accountant for a transport company, and he said his mother’s sense of style – “rejecting artificiality, ostentation and caricatures” – influenced his taste.  Armani enrolled at the University of Milan’s medical school, at his parents’ behest, but dropped out to enlist in the Italian army as a medical assistant.  After returning to Milan in 1954, he decided to quit medicine and took a position as a window dresser in Milan at La Rinascente, one of Italy’s largest department store chains. “I used to do life drawings and take photos. I was interested in the form of the human body, whether it was something to cure or something to dress,” he told Playboy in 1993.  At La Rinascente, Armani’s ambitious window displays flopped and he was transferred to the fashion and style department, where he worked his way up from an assistant menswear buyer to fashion coordinator. The switch turned out to be a blessing in disguise.  Fashion arbiter and actor Diane Keaton (L) was the first to wear his tailored design on the red carpet in 1978. Photo / Getty Images  “I began to understand about fabrics and the importance of rapport with the public,” he told Time magazine. “It’s one thing to design clothes, but it’s something else again to hang around the salesrooms watching the public react to them.”  Armani left La Rinascente in 1964 and later worked as a freelance designer before his companion and later business partner, Sergio Galeotti, convinced him to strike out on his own.  They established the fashion house with US$10,000, the profits reportedly garnered from the sale of all of Armani’s possessions, including his beloved Volkswagen Beetle. Galeotti managed the business and mechanics while Armani served as creative head.  “At the time, he was completely radical,” British designer Paul Smith told W Magazine decades later. “Soft tailoring. Rounded shoulders. No front crease in the pants. He used incredible fabrics, like textured crepes, and completely new detailing.”  Barneys New York began exclusively selling Armani’s wares in 1976 and two years later, he signed an exclusive licensing deal with one of the world’s biggest fashion conglomerates, GFT. In 1982, he made the cover of Time, which noted that his “clothes show wit instead of frivolity, refinement of detail instead of great experimental expanses”.  In 1985, just as Armani’s company was experiencing explosive growth, Galeotti died at age 40 of complications from Aids. It was a devastating loss for the company and for Armani personally, but he continued to approach business with a steely determination.  Giorgio Armani poses for photographs with a group of models in Milan, Italy. Photo / Getty Images  Colleagues often described him as a workaholic and a micromanager. He proved just as regimented in his personal life – he was a vegetarian, nonsmoker and nondrinker.  “I’m introverted and reserved: I have always preferred my studio to parties and social events,” he told the Telegraph in 2015. “Even today, I’m still the first to arrive at work in the morning and the last one to leave at night.”  In 1996, Armani agreed to a plea-bargain settlement in connection with charges that he had bribed Italian tax inspectors in exchange for lenient audits. He said that the settlement, which included a nine-month suspended jail sentence and US$64,000 fine, was not an admission of wrongdoing, but was instead an effort to “close a chapter that has upset my professional serenity”.  Armani’s death was announced on Thursday (local time) in a statement by his company, which did not say when he died. Additional information, including on survivors, was not immediately available. His younger sister, Rosanna Armani, is a former model, actress and Armani employee.  In balancing glamour and restraint, Armani’s fashions were widely considered timeless in an industry often subject to hype and short-lived trends. “Elegance,” he once said, “doesn’t mean being noticed. It means being remembered.”  Fashion designer Giorgio Armani has died aged 91. Photo / Getty Images  - Megan McDonough, Washington Post  Thu, 04 Sept 2025 20:41:55 Z