Tech Tools

UPC Horizon set top box
From free to €49
UPC unveiled its new Horizon platform for digital TV customers last week to great fanfare. The company has overhauled everything: the programme guide is more visual and faster to respond, the storage space on the box itself has been expanded, and you can record four programmes at the same time while watching another.

If you’re a broadband customer you can ditch the modem and have only the one box because it’s also a wifi router. And you can use your mobile devices – phone, tablets – to watch TV around the house too. For a full review go to Irishtimes.com

Upc.ie

Voice Post-its
€16
Post-it notes are so 2001. The more up-to-date version is a magnetic voice memo pad that will allow you to record your reminders in a more personal fashion and save a few trees while you're at it.

You can record up to 10 seconds of audio with the pad that can be played back by your recipient; we’ll leave the content of the message up to you.

The magnetic pad is made from silicon rubber and comes in red or blue.

Firebox.com

Cookoo watch
€130
Apple and Samsung may be fighting to beat each other to the smartwatch market but some companies are already there. Take the Cookoo Smartwatch for example. The device uses Bluetooth to connect to your iPhone or iPad, providing you with a more socially acceptable way of keeping an eye on missed calls and texts than checking your phone every five minutes. Its alerts will let you know of an incoming call or text, emails and Facebook interactions. You can control music, check in on Facebook and remote control your camera.

cookoowatch.com

Wild Planet Lazer
Tripwire $30
When you were a child lasers were cool. Now that you're a responsible adult, lasers have a more grown-up purpose. In this case security. The Lazer Tripwire has a bit of both. It's aimed at a younger audience – designed to encourage "imaginative play" – but it's also a cheap way to keep people out of your things. It allows you to essentially create a security perimeter that will alert you if someone breaches it. The sensors will generate an alert when someone breaks the beam, giving you plenty of time to react and hide whatever it is you're squirrelling away.

Shopwildplanet.com