Author: Chris Singh

Chris Singh is an Editor-At-Large at the AU review, loves writing about travel and hospitality, and is partial to a perfectly textured octopus. You can reach him on Instagram: @chrisdsingh.

Rex is now offering $79 flights between Sydney and Melbourne

As part of their ambitious level-up to the “Qantas service, Jetstar prices” they’ve been promising this year, Regional Express (REX) are officially graduation from small country airline to a capital city-hopping carrier as of 1st March 2021. While we’ve expected it for some time, Rex now has now acquired a number of next-generation Boeing 737-800NG…

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Reolink Argus 3 Review: Cost effective scalable solution for smart security

As far as affordable, no-fuss smart security goes, Reolink is a name that deserves a lot of respect. Balancing a very attractive price point with quality is hard no matter which tech sector you’re prying open, and it’s clear the designers behind this smart home company know a thing or two about value propositions. This…

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Bose Frames Tempo Review: Second-generation wearable audio fares much better for the audio giants

When Bose first released their wearable Bose Frames, I was a bit sceptical. The dependable audio company opting out of the bone-conduction approach many other competing open-ear headphones use was an odd choice. On the other hand, it’s Bose – good sound is expected. The company said that they avoided the prevailing approach to wearable…

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Darlinghurst barber shop UNOIT is an ambitious play for grooming in Sydney

Sydney has some incredible high-concept barber shops for when you need that necessary touch-up, or complete remodel, but the city has never seen anything like “UNOIT” before. Positioned between a wine shop and a gym, where Crown meets William at the edge of Darlinghurst, this ambitious, newly opened unisex barber shop is the brainchild of…

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Win a Hydragun for your portable premium percussive massage needs

With percussive massage guns now becoming more popular in Australia, it’s good timing for Hydragun to enter the market. The flexible massager, with six different speeds and six different attachment heads, was designed by a Muay Thai enthusiast and offers users a well-designed, super premium recovery tool for various uses such as deep-tissue massage, preventing…

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Hydragun Review: Percussive massage at a whim

As the cross-section of wellness and tech continues to grow, we’re bound to find more percussive massage guns on the market. That’s a good thing, since to this point the market has been dominated by Therabody and their high-end theragun, with their latest top-tier model asking for an ambitious $899. At over half the price,…

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JBL Quantum One

JBL Quantum One Review: Motion-tracking gaming headphones perfect for PC

As JBL’s new flagship gaming headphones, the Quantum One packs a lot of punch into a hefty price tag. And although it asks a lot, it gives quite a bit in return, performing well across comfort, audio, and versatility both as a PC and console set. For players who have just picked up a PS5…

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Win a pair of germ-busting LG Tone Free HBS-FN6 Wireless Earphones

Not every pair of truly wireless earphones come with a charging case that uses UV to kill 99.9% of bacteria (that cause S. aureus (staph) and E. coli). Yet LG and luxury audio partners Meridian have achieved greatness with the new Tone Free HBS-RN6 buds. Along with a heavily customisable sound signature, capacitive touch controls,…

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Fitbit Charge 4 Review: Plenty of value with this reliable fitness tracker

Fitness trackers are steadily adding more sensors to the bank of wearable stacked stacked on your wrist, and while that’s now led to a healthy amount of competition in the market, the pioneers aren’t to be counted out. That’s Fitbit mind you – the company that got the world into fitness trackers to begin with,…

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LG Tone Free HBS-FN6 Wireless Earphones Review: Hygiene is a unique selling point for these excellent buds

Hygiene concerns with wireless earbuds aren’t often discussed, but there are important points to be made for the potential harm they can can cause. They are, after all, fitting right inside of your ear canal. Films of dirt and dust can form on the tips that often touch the outside of your ear drum, trapping…

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Grill’d squares off with KFC by launching Healthy Fried Chicken (HFC) bites

Continuing down the path of healthier offerings, Grill’d has this week launched Healthy Fried Chicken (HFC) Bites on their nationwide menu. And its quite an explicit dig at the most obvious competition, KFC, especially with a launch campaign that involves offering the colonel’s workers free HFC if they rock up to a Grill’d store in…

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Bon Fromage Festival of European Cheese goes digital for 2020, with produce boxes available online

A year of virtual wine tastings and relentless Zoom meetings has built up quite the appetite for digital-only events. This is especially the case with festivals trying to adapt to current health protocols in the face of an ongoing global pandemic, the latest making the – yep, here it comes – pivot, is the always…

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Single O bring back the famous Sugarplum coffee for Christmas 2020

With Christmas zooming closer, we’re bound to see some of the country’s most innovative brands come up with themed released. Beloved coffee purveyors Single O have thrown their deliciously caffeinated hat in the ring, as dictated by yearly tradition, by releasing a new version of their beloved Sugarplum blend, this time sticking it to this…

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Western Digital’s WD_BLACK NVMe Solid-State Drives will be crucial to gamers as titles get more demanding

With gaming only getting more demanding, and titles only larger, it’s time to think long and hard about storage expansion. That’s the most widely discussed issue surrounding the next-gen gaming right now, and will likely be the main concern for gamers as we move into a world where Microsoft and PlayStation have both levelled up,…

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Mario Kart Home Circuit Review: Nintendo push AR further with an inventive new way to play

Anyone can see what Nintendo is trying to do with Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, and for all it’s faults, the experiment feels necessary as we move forward in the gaming industry. The console wars between Xbox and PlayStation are just about to explode, and from what we’ve seen, the competition will be fiercer than…

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Black Star Pastry now has a Summer S’more pastry on the menu

Following the introduction of dramatic new cake Chocolate Mirage to their acclaimed menu, Black Star Pastry has once again expanded its inventive range to include the “Summer S’more”. Inspired by the good ol’ fashioned tradition of toasting marshmallows over an open fire, the Summer S’more boosts the beloved brand’s pastry selection with a light croissant…

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DJI release ultra-light and accessible Mini 2 drone in time for Christmas

I don’t know how competing brands are going to catch up to DJI after this announcement. The leading civilian drone company has now put out the ultra-light Mini 2 ahead of the Christmas rush, effectively making drone piloting and the unique creation tool the sector brings much more accessible than ever before. A sequel to…

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Sennheiser CX 400BT True Wireless Earphones Review: Drops the price, keeps the superiority

When I reviewed Sennheiser’s Momentum True Wireless 2 earphones earlier this year I wondered if they were the best in the bloated sector to date. They made a solid case for that position, and though I still think the Sony’s WF-1000XM3s sound slightly better, the high-end earphones remain some of the best money can buy….

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Withings Steel HR Sport Review: Still holding strong in 2020

Although it’s been available for roughly two years now, Withings’ Steel HR Sport should see some renewed interest now that the company has a new flagship to fawn over, the recently released – and impressively specc’d – ScanWatch. We’re hoping to go hands-on with one of those before Christmas rolls around, but for now we…

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Pikmin 3 Deluxe Review: Revisit one of the Wii U’s greatest moments

Pikmin 3 is an excellent game. An exceptional one even; perhaps the best possible expression of the cutsey, puzzle-strategy since the first one was released in 2001. Any Nintendo owner worth their salt scrambled for a copy when the original Pikmin 3 when it was released for the Wii U in 2013, and hold fond…

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Nighthawk (MK63) Mesh WiFi 6 Review: Point black power, but lacks strength at a distance

Although Netgear is better known for the Orbi when it comes to mesh WiFi, Nighthawk is proving just as viable for the company as the demand, and need, for preping homes/offices for WiFi 6 continues on an upswing. Like all others on the market, this is a mesh system primarily designed to boost a WiFi…

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Track of the Day: Snotty Nose Rez Kids & Drezus “Where They At?” (2020)

Canadian First Nations rappers Snotty Nose Rez Kids and Drezus have teamed up to turn up the energy with “Where They At?”. Tapping into the vein of modern trap beats, the bouncy single sticks out amongst the flood of modern hip hop for the vibrant styles that bring this production to life. Sounding like they…

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Win a new LG XBoom Go PL5 bluetooth speaker

With domestic travel kicking off, you’re going to be wanting to take some tunes with you on the road. For that, you’ll need a trust Bluetooth speaker, and lucky for you, we’ve got one to give away. LG’s new Xboom Go series has gotten a few new iterations recently, with the LG Xboom Go PL7,…

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This Melbourne hotel has been refreshed for staycationers with retro games, karaoke and a cinema

With some aspects of Melbourne’s lockdowns easing, some of the city’s hotels are bracing for the inevitable influx of staycationers who really need to get away from their homes for a few years. The relatively new Element Melbourne Richmond is one such property, launching what they are calling the “Ultimate Sleepover Experience” by turning the…

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Motorola Edge Review: An attractive display can’t atone for those mid-range shooters

With strong entries from the likes of Oppo, Google and Samsung, the Android market is as competitive as ever in 2020. It’d be foolish to count Motorola out, especially since the stalwart company has put out what is perhaps their finest, value-conscious smartphone to date with the Motorola Edge. With the “+” version sitting at…

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Cocktail Recipe: The Smashing Pumpkin from I|O Godfrey, Chicago

The richness in Chicago’s historic cocktail scene is endless, and the innovation knows no bounds. Just go take a look of our roundup of cocktail recipes from some of the best bars in the Chi for a taste of just how diverse this city can get when it comes to bar hopping for some exceptional…

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Ring Video Doorbell 2020 Review: Fantastic value but a few compromises

Although Ring has introduced a multitude of video doorbells for what is now the most complete range in the market, the original Ring Video Doorbell is still a winner. And it’s been updated too, taking the original and updating it to modern standards while still keeping the price point low and affordable. As it stands,…

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Here’s everything you can eat at the new $3.2 billion Parramatta Square precinct

Though it’s gone through many iterations over the past few decades, Parramatta Square has been given a mammoth refresh to bring the precinct up to modern tastes. With the Western Sydney hub increasingly turning into its own viable city, the transformation has huge implications for the suburb’s hospitality scene. Some key names in the city’s…

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LG XBoom Go PL5 Review: A mature take on light-up Bluetooth speakers

While I’ve been particularly impressed with their TV range this year, I wasn’t expecting the company to race towards the end of 2020 by bolstering their modest but mighty range of portable Bluetooth speakers. Adding a new layer to their LG XBOOM Go PK series, a trio of XBoom Go PL speakers has just been…

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Audiofly AFT2 Headphones Review: Looks good, lasts long, sounds restrained

Perth-based company Audiofly has already proven dependable when it comes to personal audio devices, with their overhead headphones in particular getting over thanks to smart, ergonomic design and excellent, varied sound signatures. The brand’s second-gen true wireless in-ear headphones, the AFT2, looks to continue that great reputation, sitting at a very affordable price tag of…

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