My kids also enjoyed Save the Bloogs, an obviously Lemmings-inspired platformer, where you use the pieces as ladders, bridges, and canons to guide the cute wee Bloogs away from impending death. Board Arcade is the only one that reuses pieces, with spaceships and robots adding physical controls to versions of classics like Snake and Asteroids.

Most of the games are marked as age 6 and up, and I’d expect young kids to love this. The dull digital pet Mushka is clearly aimed at wee ones. Sadly, a couple of the more interesting titles, international mystery Spycraft and strategy face-off Thrasos, are still marked as “coming soon.” The Tetris and Chess-inspired Strata is a bit more challenging and makes for a fun two- to six-player battle for territory. I also quite liked the sushi-themed Omakase, a head-to-head battle to build the best bento boxes.

The quality and depth of the launch titles vary, but they feel more like examples of what you could do with the tech than must-have games. It’s telling that the best of the bunch are clones. It will be interesting to see what third-party developers might come up with. While I applaud the lack of a subscription, it’s not yet clear how much the 10 new incoming titles will cost, when they will land, or how many more might follow. You’ll be able to download the titles digitally, and the physical component packs will be shipped.

Mixed Reception

I really like Board, but my teen kids (13 and 16) weren’t impressed. They both found Board’s games boring. Other family and friends had similarly mixed reactions. We play a lot of video games and board games, but I was the only one pushing Board over the holidays. It lacks that killer addictive hook that keeps you coming back for more. I suspect it would go down a lot better with younger kids (6 to 10).

Board is big, and I struggled to find a spot to store it. While it has survived mostly unscathed so far, I can’t help wondering about long-term durability, as the frantic nature of some games could lead some, especially younger kids, to be a bit rough with the screen. It has already sustained a faint scratch from a wayward cat claw, as one of my cats has the unfortunate habit of sitting on board games when we gather to play.

Plugged into my father’s 20-year-old Arcam amplifier, powering a pair of equally vintage Mordaunt Short floorstanding speakers, the Streamplayer works smoothly. It did require a 3.5mm to RCA cable (more in this below) but dad’s box of old cables is a tech treasure trove. On first listen I was impressed by the ease of it all, and switching between Qobuz and Spotify Lossless certainly didn’t offend. But when playing the same song side-by-side using a mid-range Cambridge Audio CD player, the difference was obvious.

Playing the album “Music from Big Pink” by The Band, and the power and scale from the CD version easily eclipsed that of the Streamplayer. Rick Danko’s bass lines soared and the layering of the instruments was wonderfully pronounced via CD, while they were noticeably subdued when streaming. Same speakers, same amplifier, very different DACs.

It’s by no means a disaster, and the streaming convenience—in lieu of a large CD collection—is difficult to argue with. Even with quality components, the performance is only ever going to be as good as the audio quality played.

Cables and Connectivity

Atonemo makes a big deal over being able to power “all” legacy speakers. Included in the box is a single 3.5mm to 3.5mm audio jack, giving the ability to plug into active speakers, old radios, cassette players, boomboxes, and anything with a 3.5mm aux-in port.

But to power analogue speakers, you will need a separate amplifier and alternative cables, whether that’s a 3.5mm to RCA or SPDIF RCA to 3.5mm jack cable. Atonemo told WIRED they toyed with the idea of including multiple cables in the box, but opted for the 3.5mm audio jack because most hi-fi people would have one already. They also plan to sell a range of cables to suit “all” legacy speakers. I think including a couple of cable options would have been a good idea, especially at launch, just to avoid any friction points with first-time installation, as not everyone has a box of old cables as comprehensive as my Dad.

Competition

Photograph: Chris Haslam

Atonemo isn’t the only option when it comes to breathing new life into older hi-fi components. The WiiM Mini Music Streamer ($89) is cheaper, offers AirPlay/Chromecast/Spotify Connect streaming capabilities and a XX DAC. Similarly the FiiO SR11 Desktop Streaming Music Receiver ($110) also copes with Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal, FiiO Music and PCM 768 kHz/32 Bit and DSD256 (DOP) quality. And for a further boost in audio quality plus one of the finest hi-res streaming multiroom platforms, the $379 Bluesound Node nano streamer is hard to ignore. There are also plenty of basic Bluetooth dongles available too if audio quality, or the ability to enjoy multi-room audio, isn’t important to you.

But what Atonemo has done well is remove any technical barriers to use. The app is incredibly simple—in a good way—with no bloat, or pretence it is doing anything other than facilitating streaming between your old speakers and a modern streaming platform.

Yes, it could (and probably should) squeeze in a better DAC, and a more comprehensive collection of cables, but these are deliberate omissions, not glaring mistakes. Anyone looking to tweak and tune, and generally nerd-out about bit rates, are already well served elsewhere.

The Police Digital Service (PDS) is set to be the subject of at least two employment tribunals this year, with former staffers making claims of harassment, sexual discrimination and unfair constructive dismissal against the organisation, Computer Weekly has learned.

Three PDS senior executives, including a director, are also understood to have been dismissed in recent weeks, according to sources with a close working knowledge of the Home Office-funded organisation, which is responsible for overseeing the development and delivery of the National Police Digital Strategy.

PDS has previously been described to Computer Weekly as being a “really unhappy place to work”, with sources within the organisation reporting low staff morale, amid a promise from the organisation’s senior leaders that the workplace would undergo a “cultural reset”.

This vow is understood to have been made to staff following the completion of a “through review” of PDS, following the arrests of two employees in July 2024 for suspected bribery, fraud and misconduct in public office.

This event led to the resignation of then PDS chief executive Ian Bell, and a subsequent restructure and streamlining of the rest of the company’s senior leadership team over the past year, which is now almost exclusively staffed by interim hires.

It has now been brought to Computer Weekly’s attention that at least two employment tribunals against PDS are getting underway this month, with PDS facing claims of harassment and victimisation by one former staff member.