Thursday, November 29, 2012 - 3:26pm
Fitbit recently refreshed its popular Fitbit Ultra with two new trackers: the slimmed-down Fitbit Zip and the full-featured Fitbit One. We brought both in for review.
reviews stories
Wednesday, October 31, 2012 - 2:14pm
Back in the old days, if you wanted to take your music to go, you shouldered a giant boombox and went. But kids today are spoiled and have a bevy of pint-sized options at their disposal. Whether they're picnicking in the park, laying out at the beach or hanging out with friends, they can easily pull out a compact Bluetooth speaker from their bag to belt out their favorite tunes.
Since Jawbone introduced the Jambox in 2010, we've seen an explosion in the portable speaker market, with more options for mobile music than ever before. To help you wade through the choices, we're going hand-on with six Bluetooth speakers.
Monday, October 8, 2012 - 3:15pm
Criticism comes with its fair share of hyperbole, so take the following with the requisite amount of salt: Dishonored is quite likely the most inspired game since the original BioShock.
Yes, both games share a quasi-steampunk, war-torn retro vibe, and there's a fair argument to be made that the title feels so inspired because it wears its inspirations so evidently on its sleeve, but there is a thoughtfulness present in each aspect of Dishonored that makes it feel not only completely original, but infinitely enjoyable.
Warning: Some plot spoilers ahead, though we'll talk around them as generally as we can.
Friday, October 5, 2012 - 7:28am
If one was faced with describing FTL: Faster Than Light concisely, the words "sparse," "evocative" and "random" could easily spring to mind. What's interesting about those terms is their non-sequitur nature. Subset Games fits the disparate puzzle pieces together, and the result is more than meets the eye.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012 - 3:57pm
The elegant bamboo box before me looks like an heirloom passed down within a family for generations. Among the engravings in the blond wood is a dragon, a Chinese symbol of prosperity. When I open it up, I'm greeted with a lovely soft black pouch that surely holds something precious and delicate.
Reaching in, I pull out a pair of Bruce Lee-branded steel headphones, leading me to wonder: Are these high-end cans that pack a punch like the action star they were named for, or are these something I can pick up at Chinatown?
Tuesday, August 7, 2012 - 8:24am
If you took a look at Nerf's 2012 blaster lineup and felt it was a step back from last year's bold new disc-based Vortex guns, I'm right there with you. Hasbro's back to redeem itself before the summer is over with the Vortex Pyragon — a pump-action blaster that's capable of firing 40 discs in succession from its drum. Get ready for disc-ageddon!
Friday, December 16, 2011 - 11:15am
There's no shortage of 3D displays and TVs available for purchase these days. To many, the extra couple hundred — or sometimes thousand — bucks isn't worth the extra "D," but prices are slowly coming down from a year ago.
Sony isn't giving up the 3D dream, though. The company is gambling hard on 3D tech, this year releasing the 3D TVs you'd expect, as well as some crazier options in the Personal 3D Viewer or 3D binocular camcorder or 3D cameras. Now with store shelves full of 3D-enabled PlayStation 3 games, so something like this only makes sense.
The PlayStation 3D Display is Sony's latest 3D consumer goodie and it's aimed squarely at college dorm rooms. Think of it as the startup kit to suck non-believers into the 3D vortex. So, will it claim you, too?
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 - 2:22pm
Nokia's Lumia 800 leaves a solid first impression. I had a few minutes to play with it when the phone was first unveiled, and I came away from that thinking that this was finally it. The Nokia Lumia 800 was Windows Phone 7's killer smartphone.
That prototype Lumia 800 felt great in the hand, ran the latest Windows Phone 7.5 Mango and was lightning fast, even without any fancy dual-core processors. The Lumia 800 felt like the best Windows Phone 7 device to ever arrive.
I finally had a chance to use it for a few weeks (this review would have arrived sooner if not for a battery charging-related software update that couldn't be done manually and Wi-Fi issues that required us to get a replacement) and I'm sadder than I was that brisk October morning.
Read on to find out what happened.
Monday, November 21, 2011 - 1:24pm
Motion control gaming really has grown into its own shoes over the last couple of years. Nintendo's Wii jump-started the trend and Sony and Microsoft arguably improved on the formula with their own solutions: the more accurate PlayStation Move, and controller-less Kinect.
Released quietly with little marketing blitz, Microsoft's Wireless Speed Wheel (WSW) is a motion controller that most people have never even heard of. If Move is an advanced version of the Wii Remote, then the WSW is a turbo-charged Wii Wheel.
Does the WSW one-up the Wii Wheel, or is it just another piece of plastic that nobody asked for, but Microsoft's selling anyway? Find out in our test-drive.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - 12:23pm
Last month, GM decided that it would be kinda fun to send some journalists from Vermont to Maine in a squad of Chevy Volts. For some reason, they decided that I would be one of those journalists.
They couldn't have known that I've been following the Volt for years, from the introduction of the original, awesome concept to the toned-down production model through all the powertrain and battery controversy to the ultimate commercial release.
So now that you can actually go out and buy a Chevy Volt, should you? It's a unique type of car: not quite gas, and not quite electric. Or maybe it's both. Either way, we'll be taking you through all 500 miles of our impressions, so let's get started.
