STACK #202 Aug 2021

LIFE TECH FEATURE

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FATHER’S DAY SPENDING QUALITY TIME WITH DAD

Bill Monroe

Music's past & Present Papas There's an entire web of honorific musical patriarchy spreading across space and time, so if you're looking for a gateway to a new genre, the Father is going to set your sights right. You may know the Godfather of House ( Frankie Knuckles ), but have you considered the Father of Bluegrass, mandolin genius Bill Monroe ? Or the Father of Fado, being Portuguese luminary and transformer of poetry Carlos do Carmo ? The Father of Contermporary A Cappella, Deke Sharon , whose love of barbershop quartets led to his musical directorship of the Pitch Perfect films? Or perhaps the Father of Afghan Music: composer, sitar-player and official singer in Afghanistan's royal court in the 1890s, Ustad Qasim ? Among the padres of music history, you might just find your brand new bag. campfire and you’re sorted for sound for the day (and it’s water resistant, too). You’ll get 360-degree sound from the iconic Ultimate Ears BOOM 3 [7] , too, a speaker “born to get wet” – it has an IP67 water and dust rating. With 15-hour battery life, it’s a great pick for an outdoors dad. But what about the dad who “has everything?” – that hardest of gifts to find, especially if you’re aiming to encourage quality time. Maybe the 21st century version of the legendary Rubik’s Cube [8] fits the bill – a connected version of the Cube that links to a phone or tablet, teaches you how to solve it, and once you’ve beaten the impossible, challenge people around the world for the fastest time. However, it still works just great as one of the most relaxing time-passers around.

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and sporting a more restrained external case design than the ASUS. Dad might, however, be more the music type – and with vinyl records having made a massive comeback over the past few years – and many dads already having a collection of classic vinyl from years ago – a top-quality turntable can make all the difference to that quality time with favourite albums. Audio- Technica has garnered tons of acclaim for their popular LP120XUSB turntable [5] , a direct drive deck with modern features included such as USB connectivity, letting you record vinyl to a PC effortlessly. It’s a fully manual turntable, too, for the true vinyl experience. For music on the go, though, a wireless speaker makes a great gift for a dad who spends his quality time out in the great outdoors. Using Bluetooth to connect to any smartphone, these brilliant

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ASUS, always at the front of the pack for gaming PCs, delivers both power and keen value in its ROG Strix GA15 desktop [3] , which pairs a multi-core Ryzen processor with an Nvidia GTX1650 Super graphics card

in a PC that’s ready for Windows 11 (a free upgrade later this year) and enough grunt for games in a stylish package. Dell, meanwhile, goes with an Intel i7 for its G5 gaming desktop [4] , also Windows 11 ready

portable speakers can deliver music, podcasts or anything else with volume and clarity that’s surprising for their size. Audio experts Bose promise 12 hours of battery life from their SoundLink Revolve II speaker [6] , which puts out 360-degree sound – stick it next to the

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72 AUGUST 2021

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