hands-on

This Smartwatch Is Powered by Body Heat, and That’s Cool as Hell [Updated]

What if, instead of frantically trying to find a power outlet when your smartphone is about to die, you simply had to hold it in your hand and scroll through Instagram for a while? That’s the future the Matrix PowerWatch teases, because it’s able to charge itself using nothing but the warmth of your body.…

Gadgets Andrew Liszewski Nov 13

Sony’s Crazy A7R Mark III Is Way More Camera Than You Probably Need, But That’s What Makes It So Fun

When it comes to mirrorless cameras, especially pro-grade ones, Sony’s full-frame Alphas are king. Panasonic’s Lumix GH5 and Olympus’ OM-D E-M1 Mark II come close, but both of those have Micro Four Thirds sensors, which for a lot of picky people puts them out of the running. And when Sony released the A9 earlier this…

Gadgets Sam Rutherford Oct 26

There’s a Different Way to Get Smart Lights: Replace Your Switches, Not Your Bulbs

Smart homes have finally improved enough that having a home that responds to your every wish and command is almost within reach. The problem, is that unless you are a Hollywood movie star or the offspring of an oil baron, retooling your house to smarten it up is too expensive to do all once, which…

Gadgets Sam Rutherford Oct 26

This Dual-Screen Smartphone Is Weird, Monstrous, and Kinda Cool

Get ready, because rumors are saying that Apple, Samsung, and others have plans to bring actual bendable phones to market within the next few years. But before than can happen, there’s some important prep that needs to get ironed out first. That’s where the dual-screen ZTE Axon M comes in. Featuring 5.2-inch full HD screens…

Gadgets Sam Rutherford Oct 17

Huawei’s Mate 10 Wants to be the Smartest Phone on the Block, But What Does That Even Mean?

As the fall smartphone season starts to wind down, the number two smartphone maker in the world (it’s not Apple anymore) is sending us off with its answer to this year’s batch of iPhones, Pixels, and Galaxies with the Huawei Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro. From the outside, The Mate 10’s specs and features…

Gadgets Sam Rutherford Oct 16

Amazon’s Sick High-End Kindle Got a Serious Overhaul

When Amazon released the Kindle Oasis back in the spring of 2016, we said it was the best e-reader ever made. But that doesn’t mean it was perfect, and in the year and half since it came out, it’s become clear there was room for improvement. With a starting price of $290, the old Oasis…

Gadgets Sam Rutherford Oct 11

Tamagotchi Is Back—And I Already Killed Mine

Just after 11 am on Saturday morning, I became the proud parent of my very first Tamagotchi, freshly hatched from its virtual egg. By yesterday afternoon it was dead; its passing a poignant reminder that the gadgets we adored as kids aren’t always as awesome 20 years later when we’re grownups. To commemorate the 20th…

Gadgets Andrew Liszewski Oct 10

Hands On With the Vibrator That Wants to Be the Smartest Sex Toy in the World

Liz Klinger admits that the Lioness isn’t the world’s greatest vibrator. It won’t work perfectly for every person who uses it. “No vibrator is for everybody. You’d have to have, like, a Play-Doh thing that has a motor in it,” she told me in a crowded coffee house at lunch hour. On August 15th the…

Gadgets Alex Cranz Aug 16

I Drop-Kicked My Beautiful Superhero Son While Playing the First Four Story Missions in Injustice 2

Last week the rain was pouring, the streets were flooded, and I had zero desire to leave the comfort of my home. But the makers of Injustice 2 were offering an intimate demo, and by god I wanted to see what Supergirl looked like in DC’s best murderverse. I did get to see that (she…

io9 Alex Cranz Apr 5

I Just Stroked the New MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar

The first thing I did, when presented with the new Macbook Pro, was reach for that dimly lit display just above the keyboard. The new Touch Bar is the most exciting part of the new MacBook Pro. It’s a Retina strip that sits on top of the keyboard (Retina commonly denotes a super high DPI)…

Tech News Christina Warren Oct 27

Surface Studio Hands On: Touched For the Very First Time

The new Surface Studio is Microsoft’s incredibly over-designed play at capturing the creative class that has been increasingly left behind by mainstream manufacturers (ahem Apple). Its design definitely borrows from the core look behind the iMac, except that it’s also got a touch display, and a hinge that allows it to fold down so you…

Tech News Christina Warren Oct 26

MacOS Sierra First Impressions: What It’s Like to Use Siri on a Mac

The macOS 10.12 beta is now available to developers, and we’ve just spent a day testing out all the new features. Here are our first impressions of Apple’s new desktop operating system that will power Macs for at least the next year. The most noticeable update to Apple’s desktop OS is the addition of Siri.…

Tech News David Nield Jun 15

This Machine Makes Better Chai Than Starbucks

Good chai is transcendent. Strong black tea is sweetened by rich boiled milk and given a pleasant bite from a handful of spices. In South Asia it’s a way of life. Every person has their method of preparation—a ritual after years of boiling and reboiling the ingredients until they coalesce into the drink. Gaurav Chawla,…

Tech News Alex Cranz May 20

What You Need to Know About Amazon’s Weird Ass New Kindle Oasis

I didn’t think I could be surprised by a new Kindle, but, well, Amazon got me with the Kindle Oasis. In more than one way. It’s weird-looking, and the $290 price tag is shocking. That leak earlier this week was bang on, and Amazon’s latest e-reader has an unusual design that’s different from any other…

Commerce Mario Aguilar Apr 13

The New HTC 10 Actually Shows Some Fresh Ideas

HTC is thirsty for your dollars. To that end they’ve announced a new phone, the HTC 10, and despite looking like a rip off of all the other phones out there, it actually has a new idea packed into its glass and shiny metal chassis. The Taiwanese technology company is a business, so it’s a…

Tech News Alex Cranz Apr 12

Roomba’s New Tiny Robot Mops Instead of Sucks

Roombas are, presumably, very cool. Sharing a home with a black lab, a white Persian and a lot of rugs with tassels means I would not know. Roombas are for people with wall to wall carpets. Or rugs sans the tassles. The iRobot Braava Jet 240 (made by them Roomba folks) is for another subset…

Tech News Alex Cranz Mar 15

Galaxy S7 Hands-On: The Six Things You Need to Know

Samsung revealed its new flagship smartphone—the Galaxy S7—today at Mobile World Congress (MWC), and we were lucky enough to get our hands on the device for a short demo. After spending a few minutes testing the device, it became clear that Samsung can still make a great Android phone. The Galaxy S7 is all about…

Tech News Darren Orf Feb 21

The British Columbian Wilderness and the Baddest Water Filter Ever Built

300 miles north of Vancouver lies the Great Bear Rainforest. It’s a huge, rugged, chunk of land with ample diversity of scenery, and the best part is that it is very, very sparsely populated. Think Yellowstone minus the tourists. In a nutshell, you want to go to there. I had a series of places I…

Tech News Brent Rose Nov 13

We Dropped the Droid Turbo 2 Over and Over Again to Test Its Shatterproof Screen

We are in the midst of reviewing the recently announced Motorola Droid Turbo 2, and one of the most interesting features of the phone is its supposedly shatterproof display. Any phone can survive one or two errant drops. But what about seventy? As you can see in our video above, the Droid Turbo 2 does…

Reviews Michael Hession Oct 29

HTC One A9 Is Like an Android-Powered iPhone, At Almost Half the Price

You’ve already heard the jokes about HTC shamelessly ripping off Apple with the design of its newest phone. The truth is, it’s even funnier to hold the new HTC One A9 in one hand and an iPhone 6 in the other. They’re hilariously similar—and that’s not a bad thing at all. There’s more to HTC’s…

Tech News Adam Clark Estes Oct 20

This Smartwatch Is Powered by Body Heat, and That’s Cool as Hell [Updated]

Sony’s Crazy A7R Mark III Is Way More Camera Than You Probably Need, But That’s What Makes It So Fun

There’s a Different Way to Get Smart Lights: Replace Your Switches, Not Your Bulbs

This Dual-Screen Smartphone Is Weird, Monstrous, and Kinda Cool

Huawei’s Mate 10 Wants to be the Smartest Phone on the Block, But What Does That Even Mean?

Amazon’s Sick High-End Kindle Got a Serious Overhaul

Tamagotchi Is Back—And I Already Killed Mine

Hands On With the Vibrator That Wants to Be the Smartest Sex Toy in the World

I Drop-Kicked My Beautiful Superhero Son While Playing the First Four Story Missions in Injustice 2

I Just Stroked the New MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar

Surface Studio Hands On: Touched For the Very First Time

MacOS Sierra First Impressions: What It’s Like to Use Siri on a Mac

This Machine Makes Better Chai Than Starbucks

What You Need to Know About Amazon’s Weird Ass New Kindle Oasis

The New HTC 10 Actually Shows Some Fresh Ideas

Roomba’s New Tiny Robot Mops Instead of Sucks

Galaxy S7 Hands-On: The Six Things You Need to Know

The British Columbian Wilderness and the Baddest Water Filter Ever Built

We Dropped the Droid Turbo 2 Over and Over Again to Test Its Shatterproof Screen

HTC One A9 Is Like an Android-Powered iPhone, At Almost Half the Price

‘Kamen Rider’ Is Ready to Take on the World

Twitter Just Can’t Stop Leaking Movies

The ‘Mass Effect’ Show is Getting Rewritten to Get Greenlit

See the Early Stages of How ‘Project Hail Mary’ Brought Rocky to Life

‘Cognitive Surrender’ Is a New and Useful Term for How AI Melts Brains

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Marshall Acton III Home Speaker Drops to a Record Low, the Deal Countdown Has Already Started

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

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