2022-09-20 - Bill Schweber

Book review: The evolution of consumer electronics

Tony Fadell's book "Build" provides a sneak peek at consumer electronics design while providing accounts of iPod, iPhone and Nest…

2022-09-14 - Brian Dipert

Apple’s (first) fall 2022 announcement event: half-steps provide only prior-gen augment (vs fuller advancement)

Another September brings new Apple iPhones, watches, AirPods and the chips powering them.

2022-04-18 - Brian Dipert

Noise-suppressing headsets and earbuds: Differences, but all telephony duds

Active noise cancellation sounds (pun intended) great in theory, but its reality is underwhelming if not degrading.

2022-02-07 - Brian Dipert

Inevitable demise of the standalone camera

Will standalone cameras completely disappear? Not any time soon. But for the masses, they're increasingly being supplanted by image capture-capable…

2022-01-14 - Brian Dipert

Teardown: Apple AirTag

Bluetooth-based trackers definitely aren’t a "dime a dozen," as this teardown analysis makes obvious.

2022-01-11 - Brian Dipert

Repurposing a HDV camcorder for the home office

Here's how you can use a high-def video camcorder as a webcam for your home office.

2021-12-23 - Brian Dipert

Pixel smartphone progressions: Latest offerings and personal transitions

With less than six months of guaranteed support left on his current devices, the author plans his next Android smartphone.

2021-10-28 - Brian Dipert

Oh little drone, how you have grown…

Drones are something of a design nightmare: the batteries needed for long flight times add weight that shortens flight time,…

2021-08-26 - Brian Dipert

Question your assumptions: Diagnosing computer disruptions

When diagnosing a problem, it's important not to cling too tightly to initial assumptions, based on past experiences and/or incomplete…

2021-07-30 - Brian Dipert

Microsoft Xbox 360 teardown

Following up on the dissection of the original Xbox 360 Elite, this teardown explores the more integrated, cooler-running Xbox 360…