VR pigs and poker chips, real egg and frozen chips

I TOOK A MAGIC LEAP INTO THE FUTURE

You can’t see it, but on the table in the photo below sits a fortress manned by green pigs, and I’m carefully aiming a slingshot at a box of TNT in the hope I can blow it to smithereens. Rovio’s Angry Birds is the first game I’ve played on the Magic Leap One, an as-yet unreleased mixed reality headset. Unlike VR, which takes you somewhere else entirely, MR projects reactive 3D objects onto the real world, so I’m fully aware of how daft I look.

Matt Tate, Hot Stuff Editor

I LET STRANGERS FERRET THROUGH MY FRIDGE

I moved into my new home this month, and immediately set about installing all of Stuff’s top-rated smart home tech from Nest, Netatmo and Philips Hue. But my favourite upgrade has unexpectedly been Yale’s Smart Door Lock. Why? Because Waitrose is trialling ‘While You’re Away’ in South London, and Yale’s lock allows their delivery team temporary access to my home – and my fridge. Trips to the local supermarket are already feeling so 2017.

Guy Cocker, Global Brand Director

I PLAYED VR POKER AND DIDN’T GO BROKE

I look about as out of place in Las Vegas as Spurs do in the Champions League knockout stages. So PokerStars VR brought the experience to me on an Oculus Rift. Virtual gambling dens such as Macau 2050 and an old-west saloon bar feel more fairground than casino… and though it’s not playing with real money, getting people hooked by gamifying gambling in such a way could be considered morally questionable. Confession: it was ridiculous fun. But, as they say, when the fun stops… stop.

James Day, Contributing Editor

I BUILT THE GAMING PC OF MY DREAMS

Is assembling your own PC a mission impossible for mere mortals? Nope. With so much know-how available online, it’s actually pretty simple these days. I should know, because I’ve just built my own… and wouldn’t you just love to see some specs for my 5GHz beast? It has an Asus ROG Maximus X Code motherboard, an Intel Core i3-8350K CPU, 8GB of DDR4 HyperX RAM, a Corsair Hydro Series H75 cooler, two Nvidia GTX 980 4GB graphics cards… I could go on, but I can hear you snoring already.

Martin Williams, Ad Operations Manager