Jon L. JacobiFreelance contributor, TechHive
Jon is a Juilliard-trained musician, former x86/6800 programmer, and long-time (late 70s) computer enthusiast living in the San Francisco bay area. jjacobi@pcworld.com
PowerDVD 19 review: 8K UHD playback and 4K UHD TrueTheater enhancements
Cyberlink's PowerDVD series just keeps getting better, with PowerDVD 19 adding 8K video playback to its bag of tricks. Don't have an 8K display? The new 4K True Theater color, lighting, and HDR are worth a look.
WiSA, the low-latency, wireless multi-channel audio standard is ready for take-off
WiSA is a wireless audio standard that promises hassle-free setup for up to 7.1-channel surround with latency as low as 2.6 millisecond, lag that's barely perceptible to humans.
R-Drive Image review: Super reliable imaging backup
Focused precisely on task, this reliable drive imaging/backup program is as steady as they come and provides system recovery capabilities for both Windows PCs and Macs (Intel/HFS-only).
WD Blue SN500 NVMe SSD review: Great bang for the buck
WD's Blue SN500 NVMe SSD is available only up to 500GB, but it's hard to beat if that capacity meets your needs.
Cobian Backup 11 (Gravity) review: Free, option-rich and effective file backup
Cobian Backup is an old hand at file backup. The interface isn't fancy, but there's nothing better for the task—or cheaper.
Seagate Backup Plus Ultra Touch review: It's a hard drive! It's a carpet sample!
Seagate's Backup Plus Ultra Touch is an attractive, thin and light USB 3.0 hard drive that performs well, and won't break the bank.
Z-Edge T4 dash cam review: Great video, a touchscreen, and style for miles, but no GPS
Z-Edge's T4 offers a quality of construction you don't normally see in a low-ball market. Throw in a 4-inch touchscreen and great captures, and you've got one heck of a dash cam--as long as you don't need GPS.
G-Drive mobile USB-C review: An external drive that's stylish and fairly fast
G-Technolgy's G-Drive mobile USB-C uses the latest connector, and performs well (mostly) for an external 2.5-inch hard drive. Style-wise, it's a nice match for Macs, though it's a bit pricey.
NVMe SSDs: Everything you need to know about this insanely fast storage
SATA SSDs are old hat. NVMe is where it's at, with 4X or more throughput and 10X faster seeks. Your next PC should have it, or you should add it to your present one.
Crucial P1 NVMe SSD review: Fantastic value for the average user, but not for pros
Crucial's budget NVMe SSD, the P1 is a bargain and very good performer until it runs out of cache.
Seagate SkyHawk 14TB hard drive review: Fast, surveillance-optimized storage
Seagate's SkyHawk 14TB hard drive is optimized for surveillance streaming, with an upcoming AI version is further tweaked to handle the streams from recognition engines. If employed solo, or in a simple mirrored array, that might actually make a difference. Either way, a very fast hard drive.
How to rip (copy) Blu-ray and other movies, so you can stream and archive them
As long as movies have been distributed on home media, buyers have wanted to back them up or copy them to media that's more convenient for playback or streaming. We trace the history, how copy protection works, and how to circumvent it for legitimate purposes.
Bluesound Pulse Mini 2i review: Great sound, plus Alexa and AirPlay 2 support
This second-generation speaker is smarter, more capable, and better-sounding than the model it replaces.
Marseille mCable Cinema Edition review: This expensive HDMI cable is mostly worth it
The Marseille mCable Cinema Edition is great for upscaling DVD, Blu-ray, and even TV, but we can't recommend it for 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray players because it doesn't support HDCP 2.2.
PureCam dash cam review: A clever product that's just a battery and GPS short of perfect
PureGear's PureCam front/interior dual dash cam is great in most ways, but its lack of battery backup and embedded GPS info is disappointing.