Articles about Review

Music is my favorite hobby, and I am certainly not alone. Technology has enhanced my listening in ways that I never dreamed. As a child of the 80's, I started with cassettes and later upgraded to CD. Collecting CDs and vinyl consumed my life; I even embraced MiniDisc to create my own digital mixes from my newest records.

Nowadays, I have continued my evolution to mp3 and ultimately, streaming. Long gone are the days of collecting and storing; Spotify is the sole source of all my tunes. Whether listening on my PC, tablet or smartphone, I demand a quality speaker -- preferably Bluetooth and portable. My current favorite portable is the UE BOOM. Today, I am looking at the next-generation, called the MEGABOOM. Is it mega awesome?

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Two of the largest network gaming services, Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, took unplanned hiatuses on Christmas Day 2014. And for their credit, both Sony and Microsoft were not the culprits for the outages. Newly infamous hacking group Lizard Squad used DDoS attacks against the gaming networks to chalk up part publicity stunt and part targeted advertising for their new DDoS-for-hire service.

At this point, the who and why of this story aren't anything new if you've been watching IT news the last few weeks. But something that hasn't gotten as much attention is the "how" of Lizard Squad's Xmas Day barrage last year.

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If you've dropped a few hundred dollars on a Surface Pro -- or even if you're one of the crazy few to have put your faith in Windows RT -- you want to protect your investment. One of the delights of the Surface Pro is that it is pleasingly svelte, even with the keyboard cover connected. So while you'll undoubtedly want to keep your Surface safe and secure, you probably don’t want to wrap it in armor casing that triples its size and weight.

Filling the gap in the market between full-blown laptop case and simple slip cases comes the Inateck Surface Pro 3 felt sleeve. Described variously as a Surface Case Cover, Laptop Bag, Felt Sleeve, Surface Pro 3 Sleeve Case Protection, and a Surface Pro 3 Sleeve, the felt case provides a surprisingly protective home for your tablet, and packs a few pleasing extras.

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Working from home has its perks. I don't waste any time commuting. I get to eat home-made food at lunch. And, among other things, I never have to worry about battery life. If the battery of my smartphone is nearly done, I can always find a charger to top it up again. Life is easy in this regard, until I walk out the door.

I don't usually plan my trips so that I go out with a fully-charged smartphone. This is the least of my concerns, to be honest. There's always a charger in the car. And, for the times when that is not an option, I carry either a Lepow Poki 5000 or U-Stone 12000 external battery charger. I'll be reviewing both in this piece.

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I have never used a case with any of my smartphones. When the back is all plastic and there is no metal in sight, the added width and thickness that a case adds is not something that I can justify just to cover some superficial scratches that are not off-color. But then I got an iPhone 6.

With nothing but metal surrounding the 4.7-inch display, I soon had a feeling I would be getting a case after all. On iPhone 6, scratches would look terrible, especially on my Space Gray model. I haven't found it to be as slippery as my colleague Joe Wilcox has, but this has also been of concern, more so than with any of my previous smartphones. Enter Acme Made Charge for iPhone 6.

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Like any new technology, smartwatches when they first appeared were fiendishly expensive. Now that budget manufacturers are getting in on the act however prices are starting to tumble.

The R5 from Chinese company Rwatch costs less than $50 and will work with most Android phones, but can it compete with the pricier offerings from big name manufacturers?

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If you want the features of a smart TV but don't want to have to buy a new set or spend $99 on Fire TV then the MK808B, which offers Google TV for less than $35, might be the answer.

It's basically a tiny Android PC that you hook up to your TV set and your Wi-Fi to allow you to stream media from the web or from another device on the same network or via Bluetooth.

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Well folks, 2014 is almost in the books, and we will soon be in 2015. Outside of tech, the world has been rather crazy; there have been tragic deaths, natural disasters and further division among US citizens. Sadly, the tech world got pulled into the major news with various hacking scandals -- Home Depot customer information was breached, Sony Pictures was brought to its knees and Hollywood celebrities had their naked photos leaked. In other words, there have been many negative things in both tech and non-tech news.

Luckily, not all is bad; the tech community has seen many great devices and software released too. As is customary for late-December, many tech-writers, such as yours truly, begin compiling lists of the best tech of the year. Well, "best" is subjective, I realize that, so instead, I am offering my favorite tech of 2014. Maybe your list is different; my colleague's lists are. Variety is the spice of life however, so please tell me if you agree or disagree with my choices.

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There’s no shortage of cut-price mono laser printers on the market, but the multifunction Canon i-SENSYS MF229dw is the perfect example of why it’s worth paying a little extra to get a printer that can do everything you’d want it to, and more besides.

Obviously it’s a mono printer, so the one thing it can’t do is output color pages, but aside from that it can print single and double-sided, scan (in 24-bit color), copy pages, and fax documents. It’s a wireless printer, and you can send photos and documents to print directly from iOS and Android devices.

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When we took our first look at the original Aorus X7, we were decidedly impressed at how much Gigabyte had managed to fit into a notebook just over 2cm thick.

The Aorus X7 Pro v3 improves the specs further, promising even more performance in an incredibly portable package for a notebook aimed primarily at entertainment.

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If you need a laptop, there are generally two routes you can go -- desktop replacement or desktop companion. In other words, a svelte 11 inch laptop is cute and light, but hardly something you would want to use full-time. Such a small screen can be tedious for doing a lot of work. Sure, you can connect it to a larger monitor for enhanced productivity, but that is an additional purchase, and requires a dedicated work area in the home. What about those of us that want a machine that can be used comfortably anywhere -- including a kitchen table -- with a large screen and full keyboard? Not everyone is just surfing the web on their laptops as the Chromebook crowd would have you think. Some of us need an honest-to-goodness desktop replacement for getting work done.

Luckily, this demographic is not ignored, and good ol' fashioned laptops still exist, even if they don't get the same "oohs" and "ahs" as their tiny cousins. I became quite intrigued by the Lenovo Edge 15, because first of all, it is Lenovo -- a durable and dependable brand. More importantly though, it has a 15 inch screen, and a full keyboard...including a number pad! The fact that it is a 2-in-1 partial-convertible, is just icing on the cake. While everything looked good on paper, the question became, did the real-world experience match up? With a desire to find this out on my own, I obtained one for review.

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PhotoStage Slideshow Producer is a free-for-personal-use video slideshow creator with plenty of unusual extras.

Installation is quick and easy. We politely declined the bundled Google Toolbar, and a few seconds later the program launched.

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I use headphones to listen to music and games on my iPhone a lot. As a result, I often have headphones with me, either wrapped around my phone or just shoved in a pocket. Sometimes though I’ll forget to take them when I go out, which can be a pain.

The successfully Kickstarter-backed Mous Musicase aims to solve this problem by integrating Apple EarPods into your iPhone so they’re always at hand and you don’t have to worry about them getting tangled or lost.

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3D movies might not be as popular (or ubiquitous) as they were a few years ago, but people still enjoy viewing media with a degree of depth. The massive success of the Nintendo 3DS is testament to this.

If you own an Apple iPhone, and want to view images or video in 3D (without having to wear special glasses), you now can thanks to EyeFly3D Nanoglass. This is a screen protector that you attach to your iPhone and which delivers a convincing 3D effect.

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Many of us own multiple devices that charge or are powered via USB. Even though many PCs come with at least two or four USB ports these days, and USB charging adapters that plug into wall sockets are commonplace, that may not be enough. In other words, you may occasionally find yourself needing to charge something, without a spare USB port, or a cable for the task -- especially if you live in a house with teenagers. If all devices used Micro USB life would be simpler, but sadly, they do not.

This is where Hub It comes in. It's a powered sync and charging station that can power/charge up to seven items simultaneously, and includes connectors for all of your devices, including smartphones, tablets, iPhones and iPads, and digital cameras.

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