We live in the era of gadgets that want to do it all. The typical smartphone of 2012, for instance, isn’t content to just be a phone. It also wishes to be a PC, a still camera, a camcorder, a music player, a gaming console, a …
Reviews
Borderlands 2 Review: Looting with Purpose
The best thing about Borderlands 2 is that it doesn’t feel like an empty, exploitative raid on our dopamine supplies.
You couldn’t say the same about the original Borderlands, which merely proved that the numbers game of …
Torchlight II Review: I’ve Made a Huge Mistake
To quote George Oscar Bluth, “I’ve made a huge mistake” — I chose to play Torchlight II at the maximum difficulty setting. That would be “elite” in Torchlight II parlance, intended for the very best players.
I’m not …
Apple iPhone 5 Review: It’s All About Refinement
Last Wednesday, Apple held one of its traditional media events in San Francisco. The company introduced the iPhone 5, which surprised absolutely nobody. In fact, anyone who’d been paying close attention to the Apple rumor mill …
50 Best Websites 2012
TIME’s annual salute to sites and services that keep you entertained and informed, save you time and money — and maybe even change your life
Vizio Co-Star: Google TV for Cheap, but Not for Everyone
No matter the potential of Google TV, until now the hardware has just been too expensive compared to other set-top boxes such as Apple TV and Roku. The new Vizio Co-Star, priced at $100, is one of the cheapest Google TV devices …
Review: Kindle Fire HD Is a Very Amazon Tablet
From the moment Apple shipped the first iPad back in 2010, pundits started wondering when someone else would ship a tablet that rivaled it for overall appeal. The initial wondering, logically enough, focused on hardware …
Back to the Farm: Zynga Launches FarmVille 2
At the height of the FarmVille craze, back in 2010, there were two kinds of Facebook users: those who were addicted to FarmVille, and those whose friends were addicted to FarmVille.
Zynga’s creation wasn’t the first one to let …
Netatmo Home Weather Station Kit Brings Out Your Inner Meteorologist
I took a meteorology class in undergrad as an elective because I’ve always been into the weather: tornadoes, hurricanes, derechos, ball lightning, supercells, squalls, you name it. Not enough to pursue it as a career, but let’s …
Acer Aspire S5 Ultrabook: Incredible Portability Hindered by Price, Screen
More than a few times, I reached into my bag thinking I was pulling out my iPad but instead pulled out the $1,400 Acer Aspire S5 Ultrabook. It’s that thin.
Indeed, at a hair shy of 0.6″ thick, Acer is laying claim to “the …
Nintendo 3DS XL Review: Bigger, Refined, but Still-Flawed 3D
If the original 3DS seemed a little puny for a games handheld touting “glasses-free 3D,” Nintendo’s new, almost paperback-sized $200 3DS XL expands your range of options to two: pint-sized or big gulp.
If you already own a …
Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 Review: This Tablet’s Mightier with a Pen
When Samsung’s Galaxy Note smartphone went on sale in the U.S. in February, two things made it, um, noteworthy. At 5.3″, its display was the largest one ever offered on a phone. And the Note came with Samsung’s S Pen, a precision …