Yes, I already wrote about the new Apple TV but I had a little more to say now that I’ve been using it a few months.

So far Siri has not been as useful as I thought it would be. The main failing is that we use Netflix profiles a lot and Siri doesn’t understand them. I might tell Siri that I want to watch, say, House of Cards but if it’s currently logged into the kids’ profile it either won’t let me watch it or wants to start it on the first episode. If you’re going to have to switch profiles with the remote anyway…

On the other hand, gaming has been far better than anticipated. The biggest hit so far has been two player Crossy Road. I’m sure my son would enjoy it on the iPhone but playing with someone else, on the big screen, gives it that little extra zing. Not Apple’s fault, but the two player mode feels very much an after thought right now, as it’s not super-easy to activate.

Some other games show a lot of potential, too. Asphalt 8 has the occasional frame rate issue but otherwise looks great. Not that I’m a heavy gamer or necessarily a good judge of these things.

So, overall, still a great set top box.

I needed a replacement for a failing Time Capsule, used to back up two MacBooks. The obvious solution would have been a new Time Capsule but I did a little investigation and found that I could get a two disk Synology (a NAS, or network attached storage) for less than the equivalent from Apple. More features for a lower price? Yes please!

The downside? It’s not plug and play in the same way that the Time Capsule is. I had to install the disk, download the operating system, set up the disks, create users… None of which were really hard but still need to be done.

At this point, the Time Capsule and NAS are roughly level pegging. Apples solution is easier, the Synology cheaper. For some that might already make the latter the obvious solution.

But the Synology also does more. I set up a VPN and a Plex server. I configured quotas so that both me and my wife both get 1Tb of space for backups each, rather than 2Tb of space both both of us (where the person with most, biggest backups tends to get the most space). And it switches itself off overnight, saving power and wear-and-tear on the disk.

And while it’s certainly harder than the Time Capsule, the UI is well presented and powerful. The admin interface does so much that I’ve not felt the need to enable to the ssh interface.

It’s easy to recommend as a Time Capsule replacement for the more technical user. For everyone else, Apple’s solution is easier but it might still be worth considering the Synology if any of the extra features might be useful.

Buying the Mpow Swift Bluetooth Headphones was an experiment to see if there was a solution to a very first world problem: tangled headphone cables.

Good bluetooth headphones easily go into the hundreds of pounds. These were less than £20 and, considering that, are surprisingly good.

They’re in-ear and block enough sound that I can listen to podcasts on the tube which is my main requirement. The sound quality is fine for music if you’re not too picky.

My main gripes are the colour (bright green) and the battery indicator which drops from a claimed 30% full to zero in milliseconds. In practice I don’t let it drop much below 50% before re-charging.

Overall it’s difficult to argue for the price.

The Amazon Fire 7″ falls very much into the “good for the money” category. If you compare it to an iPad you’re going to come away disappointed. The screen is terrible. Viewing angles are not great, the colours are washed-out and it’s low resolution by modern standards. Battery life could be better. The case feels cheap and it creaks a bit when you squeeze it. And the app selection is nowhere near what you get in Apple’s (or even Google’s) eco-system.

But — and it’s a big but — it’s a tenth of the price of an iPad. And, if all you want to do it watch Netflix and BBC iPlayer, it’s perfectly adequate and well worth £50.