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
Samsung and LG are bringing 8K smart TVs to market
Samsung and LG both announced 8K TVs at IFA; Samsung the 85-inch Q900 with picture tweaks and a database of upscaling templates, and LG an 88-inch OLED
Aukey DR01 Dash Cam review: Great video on the cheap, but no recording off of 12-volt
Aukey's DR01 takes great day and night video. The optional GPS can take a while to initialize, but the big issue is that the camera won't record at all after 12-volt power is removed. That means it may not capture all of an incident so if a poor choice for legal protection.
Soundcast VGtx Bluetooth audio transmitter review
Though it's expensive, the Soundcast VGtx can broadcast Bluetooth for a moderately greater distance than the average transmitter. It also has an optical pass-through, which can be handy in home audio systems.
Edifier S2000 Pro review: Bluetooth speakers on a whole other level
The excellent-sounding S2000 Pro speakers have more in common with studio monitors than your average bookshelf or Bluetooth speaker. Top notch stuff at a very reasonable price.
Samsung Q9FN 4K UHD TV review: Top-tier goodness, now significantly more affordable
Samsung's Q9FN TV offers better blacks than last year's model, and is arguably the best TV on the market. The series is also a lot less expensive than it was last year.
Apeman C550 dash cam review: Nice day and night video, but forget the rear camera
The Apeman C550 offers good daytime and night video and an optional $13 GPS module. But the included rear camera is a throw-in that doesn't cut the mustard.
Nuheara IQbuds Boost review: Fine tune and augment your hearing experience
These Bluetooth headphones sound great with music, and they can help compensate for minor hearing loss. Think of them as hearing aid lite.
Polk Audio Command Bar soundbar review: Good sound, with Alexa at your service
The Polk Audio Command Bar mixes well-balanced and beefy sound (the latter courtesy of the included subwoofer) and Amazon Alexa. It works, but Alexa can be recalcitrant when the bar is producing sound.
Intel SSD 660p review: Quad Level Cell (QLC/4-bit) NAND makes its debut
Intel's SSD 660p is considerably cheaper and a better performer than anything else we've seen at the low-end NVMe SSD market so far. Easily the best bang for the buck on the market unless you regularly write large amounts of data.
Thinkware F800 Pro dash cam review: A great product with unwieldy cloud features
The Thinkware F800 Pro takes great video and has a boatload of features, but the cloud connectivity relies upon a cell phone connection. That makes it a nice feature, but unsuitable for serious use.
The Tascam 202 MK VII USB cassette deck is the best we've seen for digitizing audio cassettes (in good condition), but at $500, it's a very expensive option.
Seagate Barracuda 2.5-inch SATA SSD review: Great performance—with caveats
The Barracuda 2.5-inch SATA SSD tests as fast as any we've seen and carries a nice warranty. But there are occasional performance dips.
Aukey SK-S1 Bluetooth speaker review: Classy looks and sonic goodness (at least at low volume)
This pretty little near-field speaker will sound great on your desk, but it's not the right choice for parties or taking your tunes outdoors.
MiniTool ShadowMaker Pro 2.0 review: Fast image and file backup, with minor foibles
MiniTool ShadowMaker Pro 2.0 backs up files and creates images of your hard drive. Bootable rescue media and disk cloning sweeten the deal.
TCL 55R617 4K UHD Roku TV review: Great color and HDR for a very modest price
The 6-series' color and HDR are astounding for this price range, but weak motion handling and problematic backlighting remind you this isn't a high-end TV.