I don't mind telling you I have three Roku boxes in my house.
That's not me being boastful; it's me revealing how much I love
Roku boxes.
The new $99.99 Roku 3 takes the place of the Roku 2 XS as the
high-end model in the line, and it's without a doubt the company's
best box yet. But questions remain: Is it worth the extra cash, and
does it beat the Apple TV at its own media-streaming game?
For the uninitiated, a Roku box plugs into one of your TV's
HDMI ports, then serves up nearly every video and audio service
known to man: Amazon Instant Video, Hulu Plus, HBO Go, Netflix,
Pandora, Slacker, Spotify, TuneIn Radio, Vudu, and literally
hundreds of others.
By Rick.BroidaGuest Blogger
at 10:30AM,
a month ago
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under
Product Review
About a year ago I told you about
PowerBag, a really cool line of backpacks,
briefcases, and messenger bags that have built-in batteries for
charging your mobile devices.
The
MyCharge Peak 6000 is like a PowerBag--without
the bag. It's a lightweight, portable power pack that can charge
and recharge just about anything you travel with: smartphone,
e-reader, tablet, Bluetooth speaker, and so on.
Though it weights just half a pound (8.5 ounces, to be exact), the
Peak 6000 packs a 6,000mAh battery--much larger than you what you
find in a lot of portable chargers.
By Rick.BroidaGuest Blogger
at 6:55AM,
4 months ago
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under
Stuff We Like
This year's Consumer Electronics Show is over (for me, anyway), and
I did not come away disappointed.
Quite the opposite: I saw some really cool tech that got me
excited about new products, some of which are available now, some
that are coming soon. And that's the whole point of the show,
right?
Can't figure out which tablet to buy for the kids? Archos just
made the decision pretty easy: the GamePad offers a robust,
Android-powered tablet experience, but with built-in game controls
on either side of its 7-inch screen. The price: a very reasonable
$169.
By Rick.BroidaGuest Blogger
at 6:00AM,
4 months ago
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under
Stuff We Like
True story: My sister once left her Kindle e-reader on an airplane.
By the time she realized it was gone, well, it was too late.
Whoever found the Kindle--assuming they were honest enough to want
to return it--had no way of determining who owned it.
This happens all the time. According to Look Mobile
Security, some 9 million cell phones were lost in 2011. The Ponemon
Institute reported in 2008 that travelers lose more than
12,000 laptops per week in U.S. airports--and 8,000 are
never returned because the owners can't be found. (Those numbers
are probably even higher now.) And don't get me started on kids who
lose their iPods, tablets, and other gadgets.
By Rick.BroidaGuest Blogger
at 9:30AM,
5 months ago
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under
Stuff We Like
Apple just took the wraps off the heavily rumored
iPad
Mini. As I expected, it starts not at $249 or even $299, but
$329. The big question: Is it worth the money?
That's a tricky question to answer when you factor in
competing tablets like the Amazon Kindle Fire HD, Barnes &
Noble Nook HD, and Google Nexus--all of which start at $199.
For many buyers, especially those looking for a tablet to go
under the tree, that's too big a difference to ignore. Heck, the
original Kindle Fire currently sells for just $159, literally less
than half the price of a Mini.
That said, I think Apple's new baby offers enough added value
to warrant its higher price. Here are five reasons why I think the
iPad Mini is a good deal:
1. Bigger Screen
The Mini has a 7.9-inch screen. The Fire, Nook, and Nexus all
have 7-inchers.
By Rick.BroidaGuest Blogger
at 12:01PM,
7 months ago
|
under
Stuff We Like
I thought the original Amazon Kindle Fire was a pretty good tablet.
It benefited from a decent, if slightly slab-like, design, a rich
ecosystem of apps and media, and, most of all, an iPad-stomping
price tag ($199, or $249 for the model with more storage.).
A year later, Amazon unveiled the
Kindle Fire
HD -- another pretty good tablet. It has a laundry list of new
and improved features that make it even more tempting, especially
considering that it still starts at $199.
But you know what? Having lived with one for the better part
of a week, I've found that the Kindle Fire HD is far from perfect.
In many respects it's one step forward, two steps back. Before you
decide to buy one for yourself, consider these five surprising
discoveries:
1.
By Rick.BroidaGuest Blogger
at 8:43AM,
7 months ago
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under
Newsworthy
