Soundbyte 370 – December 2025

ChristopherNews, SoundByte

Seasons Greetings and Welcome to Soundbyte!

For the third year-in-a-row this issue is dedicated to gift-giving. 8 exceptional gifts at different budgets but all very tech-focused.

Christmas Party

This month we’re meeting in-person on Monday, December 8th at 7pm for a Christmas Party. This is a members-only event happening in the London Docklands (the nearest tube station is Canary Wharf on the Jubilee Line).

Members will have received an email in November with the details and these can be found in our Slack #meetings channel.

Winners of Apple’s Christmas Art Competition! (© Apple)

In this issue:

Extra buttons for your mac

If you’re a serious Mac user, you know the importance of keyboard shortcuts. It’s also the thin edge of the wedge for productivity. At the more ostentatious end are programmable keys. One button to do a complex action or workflow in one go. Here’s a product that does this that came out recently from Elgato. The Steam Desk Neo (£100):

A handheld turbofan?

You know those small powerful motors in the Dyson handheld vacuums? What if they blew instead? Well we already have that for hair in the Dyson Supersonic (from around £300). But there are many other potential uses for a powerful handheld blower. Blow-drying wet windows; blowing dust from under the sofa or bed; blowing dust out of clogged radiators; cleaning your Mac; blowing dry leaves out of crevices. I’m sure you could think of something else to do and here’s the product: the Wolfbox Air Duster (£40: MF50->>MF200: £165):

A new way to stay warm in your garden office?

A bit of energy advice here if you have central heating. Some experts say the best strategy for a warm house (using a gas boiler or heat pump) is low and slow heating . That means as far as possible running your heating all the time, but at a low temperature. Here’s a quick video explaining this theory:

But if you don’t have (or want) central heating where you’re working, you’ll need to think different and here’s a new spin, literally, on heating that has some smart tech built in: the Dreo Smart Heater (£99).

The latest technology mini drone

Drones are a world changing innovation, from home inspections, to aerial videography, to live tracking of sports and who imagined they would transform the battlefield? This year saw on-going development from one of the main leaders in drone development, DJI. Their cheaper model, the DJI Neo 2 mini drone got some big upgrades (£209). Here’s an extreme test of its capabilities:

One charger to power everything

Where Apple leads others tend to follow and several phone makers no longer include a charger in the box. This isn’t necessarily bad, the idea is to reduce duplication and electronic waste. So if the question is to have one charger to charge everything, Apple has an answer: the 40W Dynamic Power Adapter with 60W max [eh? ED]. This means it can boost to 60 watts, and can charge basically all Apple Devices except for desktop Macs. That means, AirPods, Watches, iPhones, iPads, Vision Pro and all MacBooks (£40).

Meta’s sport glasses

I’ve mentioned the Oakley Meta Vanguards previously in Soundbyte. These are not at all cheap, but they might also be quite unique both in design and function for their intended purpose. These are sport glasses with an artificial intelligence chat bot, a camera and speakers built-in (and all associated social issues), but with integration with sport tracking apps. £499 – oomph! But if you’re serious about your sport – this might be the best way to record it.

The latest high fashion accessory for iPhone

It is not news for Apple to partner with a high fashion house. We all know about Hermès, but this new one harks back to a much earlier collaboration. The fashion house concerned here is that of the late fashion designer Issey Miyake. It’s a pocket/sling. Before you laugh, apparently it’s a thing in Asia to literally wear your iPhone, on your body. Perhaps not so weird given the lanyards you can buy from Apple, like on this Tech21 case (£55) and Apple’s lanyard (£59). So here’s Issey Miyake’s take: the iPhone Pocket (£139)

This year’s Microsoft Christmas sweater

Saving the worst for last, Microsoft have released a new Christmas sweater and like previously it sold out quickly as a collectable, but this time there’s a second run for delivery in the new year. It features artefacts from Microsoft Windows, including the bemoaned Clippy icon. I can’t speak for international shipping but the Artifact Sweater is available from Microsoft here ($79).

Merry Christmas and seasons greeting to all our readers!