Small Kit, Big Ambitions: From Living-Room Games to Backyard Astronomy | Vol. 40

Nex Playground does not attempt to resolve the family argument about screen time by removing the screen. It changes what happens in front of it. This is an active play system built around body movement, making the television a reason to get up rather than another reason to perfect your position on the sofa.

The defining feature is its motion system, which tracks 18 points on the body and supports up to four players simultaneously. The useful part is not the number of tracking points in isolation; it is the prospect of several people physically participating in the same game. For a family evening or a playdate, that is a more interesting proposition than three children offering increasingly urgent advice to the one holding the controls. It also means choosing somewhere people can move, rather than assuming the usual viewing arrangement will do.

Five starter games are included: Fruit Ninja, Go Keeper, Party Fowl, Starri and Whac-a-Mole on Nex Playground. That gives the console a usable starting library without requiring Play Pass. The distinction matters: Play Pass unlocks the rest of the library, so anyone expecting the console alone to provide the complete catalogue needs to adjust that expectation. Think of the starter pack as the basis for deciding whether this kind of play belongs in your household, not as access to everything.

Connection is through HDMI to a television or projector, with the cable included. Downloaded games can then be played offline, a practical benefit when you want a game session rather than a discussion about the internet connection. A projector is an option, not a requirement to turn the sitting room into a small leisure centre.

The appeal here is specific. Nex Playground suits families who actively want movement and shared participation woven into their games. It is not a substitute for every kind of console gaming; if settling down with a controller is the point of the evening, this is answering a different brief. But the central idea earns its place: keeping the screen, changing the posture, and giving up to four people something to do together beyond negotiating what to watch.

A practice amp is only useful if switching it on feels easier than finding another excuse not to play. The Positive Grid Spark GO makes its argument through scale: at 125 × 85 × 45 mm, it is a small, rechargeable box that can live near your guitar rather than become another piece of furniture. For short sessions between other things, that is a meaningful advantage. Not every attempt at learning a chord needs a dedicated music room.

The interesting part is how much tone control sits behind that modest exterior. There are 33 amp models and 43 effects, with four customisable onboard presets. That gives you scope to build different sounds for different material, then keep a handful ready on the amp. The numbers are not a guarantee that every option will become a favourite; the useful proposition is being able to explore without assembling a separate collection of pedals.

There is also a welcome distinction between playing and configuring. You can use the four factory presets without the Spark app, so a phone is not compulsory for every session. Creating or accessing additional tones does require the app. That is the main workflow compromise: the little box offers immediate playing, but its deeper personality lives on a screen. If guitar practice is your deliberate escape from phone time, decide how much editing you actually want before committing.

Its built-in speaker is mono, while the headphone output is stereo. The latter matters for quiet practice: you can keep playing without making everyone else in the house a compulsory audience. Bluetooth audio adds another practical route for playback, while the rechargeable battery is rated for up to eight hours at mid volume or lower. That suits moving between rooms or taking the amp somewhere without arranging the session around a socket; higher-volume use should not be planned around that maximum.

Keep expectations of the speaker in proportion. The stated maximum sound pressure level is 82 dB SPL at one metre, and this is a personal practice proposition, not something we would choose to compete with a loud band. Its passive-radiator cabinet design is part of the compact speaker arrangement, not a licence to expect a shrunken stage rig. The drummer is unlikely to be impressed by your efficient use of shelf space.

USB recording gives the GO a useful second job. Its one-input, two-output interface runs at 44.1 kHz and 16-bit, providing a route for recording guitar without making a separate interface the starting requirement. Taken together, these features make it an appealing companion to a larger setup, or a compact starting point for someone whose real goal is regular practice. Choose it because it lowers the effort of getting a guitar heard—not because small equipment somehow abolishes the need for larger equipment.

The Xiaomi Portable Electric Air Compressor 2Pro makes most sense as a small household maintenance tool, not a heroic expedition accessory. If your week involves car tyres, a bicycle and a ball that has become suspiciously easy to squeeze, there is a useful argument for keeping one pressure-controlled inflator within reach. Its defining attraction is simple: set the pressure, let it inflate, and it stops when that target is reached. One less task requiring you to hover over a gauge as though supervising a soufflé.

That automatic shut-off matters more than a long list of modes. It gives routine top-ups a clear endpoint, rather than leaving the whole job to your timing. Bicycle, motorcycle, car, electric scooter and ball modes cover the obvious uses, while custom mode lets you choose outside the preset boundaries. This is convenience for repeatable maintenance, not an excuse to ignore the pressure your particular tyre requires.

There is an important distinction for cyclists. Bicycle mode adjusts from 30–65 PSI, so a road-bike tyre needing more than 65 PSI requires custom mode instead. The overall stated inflation-pressure range is 0.2–10.3 bar, or 3–150 PSI. That makes higher-pressure settings possible, but it is a pressure range, not a promise of inflation speed. Xiaomi also says low-pressure items such as swim rings and inflatable boats inflate slowly and are not ideal uses. Being able to pump air does not automatically qualify a device to open a seaside leisure centre.

The supplied accessories help explain the broader household appeal: a Presta valve adapter, needle valve, fast-connecting air valve and high-pressure hose extension accompany the compressor. At approximately 152 × 100 × 63 mm, excluding the hose, it is compact enough to consider for vehicle or garage storage. At approximately 905 g, however, it is a substantial addition to a cyclist’s kit. Portability here means movable between jobs, not something you forget you are carrying up a hill.

Its operating manners also deserve attention. Xiaomi warns that noise can exceed 85 dB(A), and that the compressor and high-pressure hose can become very hot during prolonged operation and need time to cool. A full charge takes approximately 3.5 hours, so keeping it charged is more useful than discovering it flat just before departure. More decisively for outdoor use, it is not waterproof and should not be used in damp environments. British roadside weather is unlikely to respect your maintenance schedule.

For a driver or mixed-transport household, the 2Pro is a convincing convenience tool: pressure presets, automatic stopping and useful adapters address an ordinary job that is easy to postpone. I would choose it chiefly for planned top-ups in dry conditions. Cyclists seeking minimal weight, or anyone shopping primarily for bulky leisure inflatables, should look elsewhere rather than asking this small compressor to lead a different life.

Not every drinks station needs to revolve around coffee. The Hotel Chocolat ALL-NEW Velvetiser makes a fairly persuasive argument for giving chocolate its own appliance, particularly if your idea of an evening drink involves a favourite mug rather than a corkscrew. Its purpose is narrow, but at least it is narrow in an enjoyable direction.

The defining feature is the combination of a custom-designed whisk and a ridged InnerPod, which creates a vortex effect to prepare drinking chocolate. That is a more specific proposition than simply warming a drink: the machine has a dedicated mixing mechanism built around the task. The appeal is a repeatable preparation routine rather than standing over a pan and providing the stirring department yourself. It is not grounds to promise a particular texture, but it does explain why a chocolate enthusiast might want this rather than another general-purpose kitchen gadget.

A preparation cycle takes 2.5 minutes. That gives the ritual a useful boundary: enough time to choose a mug and briefly consider whether a biscuit is necessary, without turning the drink into a small cooking project. For a regular user, this is the important convenience. A dedicated appliance earns its worktop space through repeated use, not through the ambition expressed when it first comes out of the box.

Hot and cold drinking chocolate support also gives the Velvetiser a purpose beyond winter evenings. If you enjoy chocolate drinks throughout the year, the cold option makes this less of a seasonal fixture. It broadens the kind of drink you can prepare without pretending to turn the machine into an entire café. Chocolate remains the point, which is refreshingly clear in a kitchen full of appliances claiming to do seventeen things.

Capacity is the practical constraint. At a listed 8 fluid ounces, this is an individual-drink proposition, not a batch machine for serving a gathering. Several people wanting chocolate together means successive preparations. That matters much more for a household-wide breakfast routine than for one person's evening treat; choose it for the latter and its scale makes considerably more sense.

The metal construction and New Pewter finish give it a decorative role as well as a functional one. Whether that earns a permanent place beside the kettle is a question of your kitchen and your habits, not simply how handsome a specialist appliance looks.

Our case for the ALL-NEW Velvetiser is therefore quite specific: buy into the drinking-chocolate routine, not just the object. For someone who genuinely wants hot and cold chocolate regularly, its dedicated mechanism and short cycle make an appealing proposition. For the occasional cocoa drinker, it risks becoming a rather distinguished monument to good intentions.

The DWARFLAB DWARF 3 is for the person whose interest in the night sky has progressed beyond pointing upwards and saying, confidently, ‘probably Venus’. Its appeal is a compact route into astronomical imaging, with enough specialised controls to make this more than a passing gadget diversion. The crucial distinction is that compact does not mean effortless.

At 22.2 cm wide and weighing 1.35 kg, the telescope is a manageable object to take outside rather than a piece of equipment that needs its own corner of the house. A carrying bag is included. That matters for a hobby in which the decision to go out can be made rather late, often while wearing entirely the wrong jumper. The size lowers the physical commitment without pretending to remove the photographic one.

The imaging hardware combines a telephoto camera using Sony’s IMX678 STARVIS 2 sensor with a separate fixed-focus wide-angle lens, listed as 45 mm equivalent. These provide different framing options, rather than asking one lens to do everything. The lens assembly can rotate 340° horizontally and 240° vertically, giving it considerable freedom to point without constantly repositioning the whole unit.

More interesting than the sensor name is the provision of three built-in filters: VIS, Astro and a Duo-band filter for Hα and OIII wavelengths. Those are meaningful tools for exploring astronomical imaging, not merely a selection of flattering colour presets. They give the DWARF 3 a reason to remain interesting once the initial novelty of photographing the sky has worn off. You may only want a new hobby; the telescope has quietly allowed for a syllabus.

The main buying qualification concerns deep-sky exposures. Auto Mode stops at 15 seconds. Longer exposures require Manual Mode, while EQ Mode is mandatory at 30 seconds or longer and recommended from 15 seconds. In other words, the more ambitious end of its imaging capability asks you to learn the controls. It also asks for a stable platform: light wind, tripod movement and ground vibrations can elongate or blur stars. A standard 1/4″-20 UNC tripod connection makes mounting straightforward, but the ground beneath it still gets a vote.

Built-in 128 GB eMMC storage and a 10,000 mAh battery keep the device self-contained, with external USB charging available too. Neither figure tells you how an entire evening will unfold, but both are useful provisions for a telescope intended to leave the house. The included magnetic solar filters add another imaging possibility; they must be used when photographing the Sun.

We would choose the DWARF 3 for someone interested in making astronomical images and willing to acquire a little technique along the way. Its strongest argument is the combination of modest physical size and genuinely specialised features. If your enthusiasm extends to filters, exposure settings and a carefully planted tripod, there is plenty here to engage with. If it stops at pressing one button, the longer-exposure side is unlikely to be your favourite evening activity.