The best gadgets from our favourite tech trends of 2017

NEW YORK: Will we look back on 2017 as the year we lost our faith in the belief that technology can “do no harm?” Whether it was the reports of toxic workplace culture found in Silicon Valley darlings, much-hyped products that failed to deliver, the risks of artificial intelligence, or the omnipresent conundrum of fake news, the tide seems to be turning against the digital apologists.

Bluetooth sound can look good. It’s no secret that for less than a hundred dollars, you can get a perfectly decent-looking, decent-sounding bluetooth speaker. This year, New York-based startup Master & Dynamic threw down the gauntlet with its release of the MA770, designed by architect David Ajaye. Created with custom-made concrete, this speaker weighs 35 pounds and makes a strong impression, even with the sound off.

But striking as the form is, function comes first. The sound is rich and fills the room, making it the rare work of stereo architecture that’s as impressive in the dark as it is in daylight.

Portable gaming can have console-level quality.

The company that invented the Game Boy has upped its on-the-go trademark with the Nintendo Switch. Sure, it doesn’t have robust online features such as those found in Assassin’s Creed or Call of Duty, but that’s also kind of the point: The pared-back approach pays immedi- ate dividends for its bestselling franchises, such as Mario and Zeld.

The two games have gotten significant upgrades – and new storylines – that will appeal to longtime fans while drawing in younger ones who aren’t ready for the intensive environment of Xbox or Playstation but have outgrown Temple Run and Candy Crush.

There’s a faster way to decant your wine.

You work hard. You come home late with take-out. And you want a glass of wine. Good wine, though, because you’re not an animal. But good wine needs time to breathe. The Breville Sommelier is a stylish glass decanter sitting on a compressor base that forces oxygen-rich air through the vino. Voila: An hour’s worth of breathing done in one minute.

A recent test on a bottle of Chateauneuf-du-Pape mellowed that particular wine’s polarising black walnut notes without sacrificing complexity.

You don’t need a PhD in coffee to make good espresso.

The look of the Mina, the new espresso machine from Italy’s Dalla Corte, is pure class, all chrome piping and analog dials. But the old world design and construction are fused with such high-tech features as a proportional integral derivative-controlled boiler that can regulate water temperature down to the tenth of a degree and an app interface that gives the user unprece- dented control of the rate at which that water flows through the ground espresso.

Crowning the machine is an industrial-style lever for manually controlling water flow-providing the espresso-making equivalent of the mechanical satisfaction of driving a stick shift. It’s also available in 11 colors.

High-quality phones can cost less than US$1,000.

It was a big year for flagship phones that pushed pushed the envelope, both in terms of price and technology. On the numbers alone, the Google Pixel 2 and the iPhone X were indeed hard to beat. But for a combination of performance, price, and stunning industrial design, nobody came close to the Essential this year.

Yes, the dual camera system’s software was woefully under-baked when released, but it has improved to the point that photos are now a draw, not a drawback. This is a phone that has to be held to be appreciated, though. The glossy, ceramic back and satisfying heft and solidity that come from its titanium frame make it feel like no other.

Streaming video hits the big screen at home.

Big things do come in small packages. In this case, a bright, vivid, high-definition image, up to 140 inches diagonally, from a projector the size of a loaf of Wonder Bread. The best part? The LG Laser Smart Home Theater Projector doesn’t sacrifice features in the name of portability.

The WebOS interface is easy to navigate among online media and it sources like a laptop or phone. The Flexible Keystone Alignment feature ensures a properly squared image, whatever the projection angle.

A tiny stove can revolutionise your next outdoor adventure.

A well-cooked campsite meal is not just a reward at the end of a day of strenuous activity; it’s also fuel for the next. The BioLite CampStove 2 lets campers use small stick and twigs to quickly create blazing-hot fires, and it can bring a litre of water to boil in less than five minutes, thanks to an attached fan that controls air flow, allowing for complete, smoke-free combustion.

As a byproduct of your cooking heat, the CampStove 2 generates and stores electricity, which, via an onboard USB port, can charge a phone or power reading lights.

Keeping your eyes on the road just got much easier.

Eyes on the road. It’s the first rule you learn about driving, and the first rule you break. Not just because of your phone, but also your radio, GPS, even speedometer. Heads-up displays aim to feed you the streams of information you need, transparently, at eye-level. But many cars – luxury and otherwise – don’t offer this technology. That’s where the Navdy comes in.

This easily installed device sits on the dashboard, feeding you everything you need to know in a slick, well-designed interface that appears to hover over the hood of your car. Who knew safety could look so cool?

Home improvements can come in the smallest of packages.

The Flir One Pro makes an already incredible device-your smartphone-into something nearly miraculous, or at least superpowered. It is an infrared camera the size of a pack of gum that attaches to the lightning or USB-C port of your phone, rendering the world thermally, often in Predator-like rainbow hues.

Finding overloaded circuits, leaky pipes, and cold air drafts (even hidden behind walls) is easy – dare we say fun? – even if fixing them isn’t.

There’s a way to keep your watch safe – and wound – when it’s not on your wrist.

While it’s not unheard of for watch aficionados to wear more than one timepiece at a time, odds are you don’t. For keeping the watches that are left home safe and wound, the Rapport Watch Winder is a brass-studded, black leather-trimmed trunk with two drawers lined in suede and brass corner reinforcement.

Included with it are a pair of Rappaport’s Evolution range watch-winding cubes-each fitting snugly in its own port-available in nine colors of lacquered wood.