Earlier this month, Virgin both surprised and impressed us with broadband and TV bundles that included up to 16 bottles of wine. Now the provider is back with another bundle which includes a free Google Nest Hub smart display worth £119 . The Google Nest Hub smart display, which received 4/5 stars in our review and comes recommended by our editors, offers a compact design and helpful visual feedback to searches – something you don’t get with audio-only smart speakers....

Getting work done on a computer is easily within reach of the blind and physically disabled thanks to a number of new and updated tools. We’ve rounded up the 14 best gadgets to improve computing for the disabled. Using a PC for work or play may seem like an easy, every-day activity to you and me. But for people who are blind, paralysed or otherwise physically disabled, using a computer can be an exercise in frustration....

At a Glance Expert’s Rating Pros Impressive 1080p gaming power Superb AMD processor Comfortable keyboard Very affordable Cons Underwhelming display Mediocre battery life Not that many extra features Our Verdict The Acer Nitro 5 has good core power, a solid keyboard and a low price, so it’s a tempting option if you want a gaming laptop on a budget. You will have to put up with some sacrifices, though. Best Prices Today: Acer Nitro 5 (2021) The Acer Nitro 5 is the latest addition to the competitive mid-range gaming laptop market, and Acer is always a contender – the firm always builds impressive, effective machines at surprisingly low prices....

At a Glance Expert’s Rating Our Verdict You probably shouldn’t buy the Acer Predator Orion 9000. It’s a luxury purchase for those with enough money to throw at a PC which will exceed reasonable requirements for almost every gamer. But we certainly can’t blame you for wanting one. If you know you will be able to make use of its immense multi-tasking capabilities and still want superb gaming performance, then you may be able to justify the purchase....

If you haven’t figured out what all the air fryer fuss is about, you might be wondering: it all just hot air? Of course, that’s the point: an air fryer uses circulating hot air to cook all kinds of delicious dishes in no time at all. Efficient convection technology produces crispy results without the oil bath of a traditional deep fat fryer, plus it requires less effort and saves time and energy....

At a Glance Expert’s Rating Pros 300Hz display Bags of power Robust, eye-catching design Top-class keyboard Cons AMD’s CPUs can be better Overkill for many Middling trackpad and speakers Short battery life Our Verdict The Alienware m17 R3 is very quick, with a top-notch 300Hz screen, a great keyboard and typically impressive design, but it’s middling in some areas, it’s expensive and the high-end hardware will be overkill for lots of users....

At a Glance Expert’s Rating Our Verdict The Amazfit Pace is a solid smartwatch if you’re after GPS tracking without breaking the bank. It records runs and walks very well, is a passable notifications device and is very good looking. However, it’ll force you to view all the collected data on the watch screen only and might miss a few notifications. The need to press the small button to wake the screen so much is also annoying....

After an explosive and inventive first season, American Gods is confirmed for a second season. After all, we are only part way through Neil Gaiman’s mammoth fantasy novel that follows the exploits of ex-con Shadow and the mysterious Mr Wednesday. It was thought for a time that the 2001 novel might be too difficult to film given the expansive descriptions of the meetings of gods, but with Gaiman himself closely involved, the first season delivered....

At a Glance Expert’s Rating Our Verdict The Anker Astro E5 is a decent power bank at a good price, but there’s nothing here that particularly stands out among other portable chargers. The second-generation Astro E5 looks to be a far more attractive option, both aesthetically and technologically. Best Prices Today: Anker Astro E5 Anker’s Astro E5 is a dual-output power bank that’ll keep your phone or tablet going for several days on the road....

At a glance Expert’s Rating Pros USB charging Full colour screen Supports multiple users Cons No Wi-Fi connection No manual Some oddities with features Our Verdict Anyloop’s Smart Scale Pro is well priced, easy to use and provides a wealth of data. However, it has a couple of quirks and its app isn’t as helpful or polished as those linked to premium smart scales. Best Prices Today: Anyloop Smart Scale Pro A smart scale will give you access to health data beyond weight, so you can get fitness information without getting too hung up on a single metric....

At WWDC 2024, Apple announced a truckload of new iPhone software features that’ll be available when iOS 18 rolls around. Some are straightforward and long-awaited. Finally, we can customise the position of icons on our iPhone home screen and change their colour to match the wallpaper. (Take that, Android users! We’ve finally caught up.) But it’s a mixed bag where communication is concerned. Let’s take a look at how iOS 18 will change and upgrade Mail....

At a Glance Our Verdict Music streaming is maturing nicely, and the wealth of choice available to customers at the moment is truly impressive. Apple Music has made a good start, with enough content to satisfy even the most picky audiophile. We liked Beats 1, although we’re not sure how long it will be before the novelty wears off. The app is clean, reasonably easy to move around in, and offers enough new and tailored music to keep you coming back for more....

At a Glance Our Verdict The Apple Watch will surely generate all the hype, but if you are not an iPhone user at this range we can’t see that there is any reason to desire that watch over the better Android watches. The LG G Watch R is certainly one of the latter. Of course we need to spend more time with the G Watch R and some time with a finished Apple Watch before we can say for certain, but right now the circular watch face and additional compatibility swings us toward the LG G Watch R....

At a Glance Expert’s Rating Our Verdict Arlo’s latest security camera system provides a cheaper option to the 4K Ultra while still improving a lot on the 1080p Pro 2. It’s one of the best you can get if you can afford it, providing 2.5K resolution along with loads of handy features including a spotlight. Best Prices Today: Arlo Pro 3 The Arlo Ultra might be the ultimate camera in the range, but the Pro 3 offers something more affordable with still excellent quality and many of the same features....

At a Glance Expert’s Rating Our Verdict The three-piece Lyra kit is probably a case of overkill for most homes, so the forthcoming Lyra Mini might be a better – and more affordable – option for many people. The app and set-up process have a few rough edges too, but it’s worth persevering as the Lyra provides significant improvements in both speed and reliability in homes where conventional routers may struggle....

Take the oddball-but-excellent Asus ZenBook Pro Duo, dress it up in the company’s Republic of Gamers ensemble, up both the graphics and the processing to the latest and greatest, and you’ll come close to what the company’s new ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 brings to the table. Sporting a similarly unorthodox dual-display form factor to the ZenBook Pro Duo , this new Zephyrus laptop is geared towards high-intensity gaming and creative work, with room to spare....

At a Glance Expert’s Rating Pros Rock-solid Nvidia graphics Impressive 1440p screen Fast and versatile AMD processor Reasonable battery life Cons Middling build quality Mediocre connectivity Poor trackpad Our Verdict The Asus TUF Gaming A15 deploys a rock-solid Nvidia GPU, impressive AMD processor and a high-quality screen to deliver a great mainstream gaming experience at a decent price – even if connectivity, trackpad and speakers are all mediocre. Best Prices Today: Asus TUF Gaming A15 (2022) The Asus TUF Gaming A15 has been around for several years, but Asus has never been complacent with its most affordable gaming notebook – the firm has kept refining the design and beefing up the internals....

Asus has announced the new Zenbook Pro 15 Flip OLED, a convertible version of last year’s regular clamshell model. However, arguably the most significant change comes under the hood, where you’ll find the option for Intel’s Arc 3 discrete GPU. The 15 Flip isn’t the first device using Intel’s new graphics card – that award goes to the 15.6in model of Samsung’s Galaxy Book 2 Pro . But it is the first time we’ve seen it included in a device with a 360-degree hinge....

At a Glance Expert’s Rating Our Verdict Overall, we think that the Basis Peak is a great fitness and sleep tracker. The amount of data it processes provides you with a holistic overview of your fitness and sleeping habits. The accuracy of the tracker itself is great – we tried to fool it into thinking we were walking by shaking our wrists, which is a trick that many fitness trackers fall for, but not the Basis Peak!...

This simple device is basically battery-operated clock that you can hang anywhere in the house. The magic happens when you pair it with an Echo device, as you’re then able to set multiple timers and alarms that can let you know when it’s time to take the chicken out of the oven, leave to pick up the kids, or stop watching Netflix. Each timer can be given a name so that they can be differentiated from each other, and the clock face shows minute markers so you can tell at a glance how long is left....