June 2011

You are part of a complex ecosystem. Not just the one with the birds and the flowers; as a gadgeteer, your various bits of kit form a sphere of coherent functionality around you. The most notorious is the ‘iPod ecosystem’: buy an iPod, buy a proprietary dock, buy iTunes movies that won’t work on any other movie streamer, buy Apple TV.

But don’t be afraid. Gadgets within the same ecosystem maximise one another’s potential – and 
in the emerging 3D ecosystem, that’s especially true. You get a 3D TV, 
then you get Sky 3D, then 3D Blu-ray. You’ve seen everything worth watching, so you get a PS3 for 3D games, a 3D camcorder for your holiday and a 3DS for your commute. Each element of the new ecosystem may not be individually compelling, but taken as a whole the 3D life looks very tempting. Our feature The Great 3D Debate explores all the newest, coolest 3D kit, and cuts through the gimmicks to explain how adding an extra dimension can make things better.

Back in the flat, 2D world there’s also plenty to get excited about - from powerhouse laptops in our Supertest, Stuff's guide to mountain biking and tests of headline products such as Sony Ericsson's PlayStation phone and Fujifilm's ace FinePix X100.

What's inside