Review

Sony’s Vaio series of PC laptops has always won points for style and design and the company has become a leader in producing Windows 8 hybrid machines —portables that combine Windows 8 PC and tablet capabilities. I’ve spent the past week trying out Sony’s latest take on the hybrid form factor. After putting it through its paces, I can assure you that the Vaio Fit 15A is one of the most useful variations yet on the tablet/notebook convertible hybrid, a real looker (especially in the black finish of the test unit) and an able performer. It’s held back a little by a few details —a loud and persistent fan, so-so keyboard, and not so stellar battery life among them— but offers a solid portable computer experience, along with tablet capability, in a single package that just happens to look pretty smashing.  

Is it a megaphone? A new age showerhead? An updated version of the popular 1990’s toy Skip-It? Nope, the JBL Spark is an exceptionally unique wireless speaker designed to be mounted like a hanging lamp – and I recently had the opportunity to take one for a test drive. 

After having gone through some 100 pairs of headphones, earbuds and gaming headsets in my life, I’m always interested in the next or the latest and greatest.  The Sony MDR-DS6500 Headphones come bundled in the easily largest box I’ve ever seen for a product of its kind.  Fitting, since it promises a big experience within its capabilities.  With 20 hours of battery life from a single charge, and the promise of a 3D 7.1 Surround Sound Experience, this promises to be a new welcome part of your audio experience.  Come check it out.  

As you are no doubt well aware, these days the vast majority of us store our music libraries digitally. True, some of us still have dozens of CD’s that do little more than take up room and collect dust on our shelves – I mean, c’mon, when am I ever going to listen to Chumbawamba’s “Tubthumping” ever again? But when it comes to cranking the tunes, we turn to our smartphones, tablets, and computers. Streaming music through these devices is commonplace, and as such, has opened the market doors for a plethora of wireless speakers.   Unfortunately, devices that use Sonos or Airplay can be quite expensive; however, those that use Bluetooth, which comes integrated into virtually every modern tablet, phone, and computer, are much more affordable, and even better, aren’t platform-specific. I recently had an opportunity to test the Rocketfish Bluetooth Indoor/Outdoor Speaker, and have to say, I was pleasantly surprised.