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    Happy New Year (in VR)

    Its the end of another year and this year I made something different to mark the occasion. In the year I bought an Oculus Rift, it seemed appropriate I make an end of year creation using VR. The following creation was made using the Oculus Rift with touch controllers, in the Google Blocks app. When published to Google’s online service, Poly, you also get the opportunity to embed your 3D creation in a website for visitors (like you) to click and pan around, enjoying the work of others, even if you don’t have VR (see below).

    2017 was another amazing year with dozens of new products reviewed, hundreds of industry developments covered and topped off with an amazing trip to Paris, France for the Vivatech conference. 2018 will mark the 12th year of running techAU and I couldn’t do it without the amazing support of you, the readers. Those people who continue to come back, enjoy the content I produce and to help share it with the world through social media.

    While I contribute a lot of time to the site, I find it immensely rewarding in the people I get to meet and the opportunities that come my way, but this year has perhaps been one of the biggest in terms of technology transforming my life. Yes of course I now enjoy the world of VR through the Oculus Rift, but it was the move into a new home, in a greenfield estate that was the most significant. Having FTTP NBN has truly been a transformation for what I do. Armed with an unlimited 100/40Mbps internet plan from MyRepublicAU, my wife and I simply use the internet, never ever pausing to consider if what we do will impact on other video streams, uploads or downloads occurring elsewhere in the home. I know not everyone is in the fortunate position of being able to build a new home, but for me personally, the FTTP NBN delivered on the original promise, much faster speeds and lower cost that ADSl2. While the words ‘game changer’ are thrown around lightly, it accurately represents my new experience with the internet in 2017 and beyond.

    Powered by a high-speed internet connection, I was then confident I could move to 4K and in 2017, I did. There’s a gorgeous new 65″ Samsung Q7F hanging on the living room wall and almost all of the content comes over IP now and it looks amazing. The Xbox One X arrived later this year and delivered amazing 4K gaming visuals, so all things considered, I’ll remember this year as the year I moved from 1080 to 4K and UHD content will only continue to grow over the next few years. TVs of this size thankfully came down to a price point that are now achievable, while only a couple of years ago were comfortable at 5 figures. If your couch is around 4 metres away from the TV, 65″ is a great size.

    This year I also returned to PC gaming which I think went through somewhat of a renascence with so many interesting designs from hardware manufacturers and between Intel, AMD, Nvidia, we’ve got some amazing performance for money right now. The phone market is as competitive as ever, although I think the PCs seen more innovation in 2017 than phones which have become incredibly mature and iterative.

    Whatever technology you’ve enjoyed this year, hopefully you are happy with the value for money you extracted from that device or gadget. Technology continues to impact and benefit our lives in almost every industry and I look forward to once again covering it in detail in 2018. The biggest consumer tech show on the planet, CES is just around the corner, running from Jan 7th – Jan 12th, so expect plenty of exciting new product announcements soon.

    I hope you all had a wonderful, happy and productive Christmas and New Years break, celebrate hard tonight and get your chillout Spotify playlist ready for the hangover tomorrow.

    Jason Cartwright
    Jason Cartwrighthttps://techau.com.au/author/jason/
    Creator of techAU, Jason has spent the dozen+ years covering technology in Australia and around the world. Bringing a background in multimedia and passion for technology to the job, Cartwright delivers detailed product reviews, event coverage and industry news on a daily basis. Disclaimer: Tesla Shareholder from 20/01/2021

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