Audio gear in July didn’t move in one clean direction. It split into desk setups, gaming headsets, student earbuds, creator microphones, collectible speakers, and one tiny record player that made a questionable format feel oddly reasonable. That mix is what made the month interesting. The best audio stories weren’t only about better sound. They were […]
10 Audio Gear Essentials That Ruled Last July Read More
A smart lock that recognizes your face sounds like a party trick until your hands are full of groceries, a sleeping child, or a muddy garden hose. I don’t need my front door to feel futuristic. I need it to open for the right person, keep working when the phone stays inside, and give guests
Face Unlock vs Keypad: Does a Smart Lock Need Your Face? Read More
Most retro watch revivals bring back a case shape, a dial color, or a logo. The Seiko HFL001 Rotocall brings back a stranger idea: using the bezel to change modes on a digital watch. Price: $595 Where to Buy: Seiko That is the hook here. The HFL001 is a Seiko 145th Anniversary Limited Edition based
Seiko Turned a 1982 Digital Watch Trick Purple Read More
The Smith & Wesson Extreme Ops SWA24S looks more aggressive than its job description. Under the black coating and tactical styling, it’s really a compact, inexpensive utility folder for packages, cord, straps, glove boxes, and backup kits. Price: $16.85 Where to Buy: Amazon At $16.85 on Amazon, this knife makes more sense as a simple
Smith & Wesson’s $16 Folding Knife Makes More Sense as a Kit Tool Read More
Corsair’s recent keyboard releases have centered on Hall effect switches and high polling rates, going by the company’s own catalog, and those boards carry prices to match. The two new keyboards go the other way. The Corsair SKIFF 100 and SKIFF 100 Plus are membrane boards aimed at people setting up their first gaming PC,
The $59 Gaming Keyboard Built for Dorm Rooms and Shared Walls Read More
Phone makers settled on a safe answer years ago. A screen should be big enough to watch a show on, and small enough to use with one thumb. The nubia Neo 5 Max ignores that rule, with a 7.5-inch display and controls built for two hands. Price: About $427 Where to Buy: Nubia nubia calls
The 7.5-Inch Phone That Wants to Be Your Handheld Console Read More
Good nugget ice usually means a trip to the gas station or a four-figure undercounter machine, so I didn’t expect a countertop box to win me over. The Silonn SLIM41T-US did anyway. It’s a Portable Pebble Ice Maker that dropped its first batch of soft, chewable nuggets in about the time it took me to
Silonn Smart Nugget Ice Maker Review: A Week With Pebble Ice Read More
Phone cameras keep adding pixels, but pixels aren’t the real problem anymore. The harder job is keeping color, shadows, and detail clean when the light gets tricky. That’s the idea behind the new Samsung 200MP ISOCELL HPC Sensor. It’s a 200MP phone camera sensor, but Samsung isn’t selling it on the pixel count. The pitch
Samsung’s New 200MP Sensor Wants to Fix the Pixel Problem Read More
Open-ear earbuds usually sell comfort first, then ask you to accept the tradeoff. You keep your ears open to the room, but you often give up fullness, bass, and a design that feels like something you’d choose rather than tolerate. CMF Clip Pro Earbuds is Nothing’s attempt to make that compromise look smaller: a clip-on
CMF Clip Pro Makes Open-Ear Earbuds Look Less Awkward Read More
Most retro digital watches are chasing the same feeling: the first cheap watch you actually liked wearing. The risk is that nostalgia can make a new watch look like a costume, especially when the category is full of small rectangles, low-price impulse buys, and designs that treat the past as the whole pitch. Timex Retroware
The Timex Retroware Digital Isn’t Playing the Cheap-Watch Game Read More