Popular Tech & Gear

Apple’s AirPods Pro ($249, £249, AU$399) first hit the market in late October 2019. A lot has changed in the world since then and new competitors have arrived on the scene. But not much has changed about the way I feel about these earbuds. The AirPods Pro are Apple’s first headphones to offer active noise

The Echo Show 8 is now several years old, but Amazon’s fourth Alexa-enabled smart display still stands apart from the competition as one of the best smart devices around. Squeezed between its high-end 10-inch and budget 5-inch siblings, the Show 8 offers the right mix of features and design perks to justify its middle-child existence —

JBL has had a long history in audio, but its recent soundbars have been a little inconsistent, ranging from the ambitious but deeply flawed JBL Link Bar to the basic but excellent-sounding JBL Bar 2.1 Deep Bass. The JBL Bar 5.0 MultiBeam has ambitions of its own, taking on streaming-centric, compact soundbars like the Sonos Beam. The

The F-Series is the perennial most popular vehicle on the planet. Last year, Ford sold more than 725,000 of the things, and that’s despite supply-chain issues and everything else going on in the world. That fact — the sheer significance of this truck’s success to Ford’s bottom line — made last May’s announcement that the

While it’s hard to doubt that the Ford F-150 Lightning is the most significant electric truck of the moment — outside of Tesla’s hyperbolic (and still nonexistent) Cybertruck – it’s the Rivian R1T that seems to have captured the hearts and minds of most would-be EV truckers. Fast and capable with tons of range, the R1T

Got a lot of cash to blow on a sports car and want to be spoiled for choice? Go get a Porsche 911. There are currently 23 different 911 models on offer, everything from well-rounded base Carreras to blissful GT3s. The new GTS range sits right in the middle and is arguably the sweet spot

The key to that picture is full-array local dimming, which allows the MQ7 series I reviewed to actually deliver on the brighter highlights and superior contrast of high dynamic range (HDR) TV shows and movies. Numerous TVs in this price bracket and some that cost more, like the Samsung Q60A, lack full-array local dimming and

In resurrecting the Integra name, Acura opened the door for enthusiasts to draw comparisons between the new hatchback and its storied predecessors. And while Negative Nancies continue to focus on the fact that the new car isn’t a direct successor to the high-performance, low-volume Type R, the truth is, the 2023 Integra is exactly what

The Genesis G80 has always been good, even back when it was called the Hyundai Genesis. Over the years, the Korean automaker refined and re-refined this midsize sedan into a more competent and comfortable luxury car. Now, Genesis is bringing back an older trim that, while inferring some corner-carving prowess, keeps the story largely the

Way back in 1999 two companies that would loom large in CNET’s test labs got their start: Aperion Audio and Fluance. While Aperion has stayed on its home theater path over the last couple decades, Fluance has branched out to devices such as the RT82 turntable, winner of our Editors’ Choice award. The company is on a

There are only a few disappointments, and they’re minor. It doesn’t quite have the color or razor-sharp detail of its direct competitor, the LG HU810P. That’s not to say the 5050 isn’t sharp and colorful. It is, just a bit less so — although I liked the Epson’s overall picture quality a lot more than

The 2022 Ford Maverick blew me away like lawn furniture in a hurricane. Including destination fees, this back-to-basics compact truck starts at less than $22,000, making it an unbelievable value. But the Maverick’s greatness isn’t exclusively a function of that low starting price: It’s an all-around excellent vehicle and a groundbreaking product. With a simple,

Even in its midtier XLT trim, the 2022 Ford Maverick Hybrid’s design speaks to the point of the truck: simplicity. This no-nonsense aesthetic is devoid of overwrought styling, but it’s still a standout with my tester’s $495 Cyber Orange Metallic paint job. Gray plastic adorns the bed, grille, door handles, mirror caps and lower part

Buick is in a weird spot. The fancier, sportier shadow of Cadillac looms large over this brand, so in order to deliver a product unique enough to earn its own badge, Buick chose to lean in hard on softness, especially with its higher-end Avenir trims. The recently redesigned 2022 Enclave best exemplifies how Buick is

It’s got a new look and some new tech, but not much else has changed for the 2022 Chevrolet Bolt EV. However, combine these smaller quality-of-life tweaks with a more enticing price tag — starting around $5,500 cheaper than last year — and the little Bolt begins to look like a pretty big value. New

The Chevrolet Silverado was fine until it wasn’t. Rival full-size trucks got major makeovers with whiz-bang features and sharp new tech, leaving the outgoing generation to feel fairly low-rent by comparison. But the 2022 Silverado brings Big Bowtie’s half-ton offering back into the fray with some unique tricks up its sleeve and one hell of

TVs this bright, like the Samsung Q90A and Vizio PX, usually cost a lot more than the U8G. Meanwhile TVs at a similar price, including the TCL 6-Series and Sony X90J, measure significantly dimmer — and the Hisense looked better with bright HDR material than those two in my side-by-side comparisons. That extra brightness also comes in handy

Enlarge Image Pictures don’t really convey just how freakin’ big this truck is. Andrew Krok/Roadshow Big boi Crew cab trucks are almost large enough to require commercial zoning, but the Raptor turns the whole shebang up to 11. The fender flares add more width to an already wide pickup, while its face removes any hint

For this latest F-150 Raptor, Ford revised the rear suspension, adding a five-link setup with more travel and longer trailing arms. Larger 3.1-inch Fox Live Valve shocks are installed at each corner. These babies can handle 1,000 pounds of damping force at each corner at high speeds and can change damping rates 500 times per

Cribbing iconic design elements can backfire on a modern car, but the Nissan Z pulls it off. The front end’s eye-like headlights and squared-off grille carry just the right amount of Datsun vibe, while the 300ZX-style taillights look excellent tucked under the hatchback lid. The rear haunches are the right amount of thicc, while the

For the new GTS, the 911’s twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter flat-6 produces 473 horsepower at 6,500 rpm and 420 pound-feet of torque between 2,300 and 5,000 rpm. That’s up 30 hp and 30 lb-ft from a Carrera S and a whopping 94 hp and 89 lb-ft over the base Carrera. For funsies, the GTS is only 29

Like some of its competitors the $40 Fire Stick’s remote has buttons for volume, mute and power, allowing you to control those functions on your TV — and maybe ditch your TV remote. Those remote buttons are the only real difference between the $30 Stick Lite and the $40 Stick, so you’re basically paying $10

This Vantage Roadster is gorgeous in all its leather-clad glory. My tester wears the stunning color combination of Lightning Silver on the outside and Aurora Blue over Ivory Gold Metallic (a fancy way of saying tan) on the inside. New for this year is an optional and much improved front bumper and grille design. It’s

A blocked-off grille, lack of exhaust tips and a couple new wheel designs are the only things that visually differentiate the Recharge from a regular XC40. That’s fine by me; the XC40 is by far the best looking crossover in its class, especially in the Recharge-exclusive Sage Green. The only no-cost color option is black,

First off, I love the way the C40 looks. The roofline is different enough from the XC40’s to make it stand out, and no matter what color you order, the roof is always black. It’s cool how the LED taillights run in segments down the rear window, ending in a solid, squared-off design. The little

For people who trade in their Lexus every couple of years, big jumps in styling or technology aren’t necessarily expected. These customers are more likely to appreciate a model sticking to its core competencies and getting subtly better over the years. The RX is the poster child for that kind of iteration. It’s become the

Sure, the headlights and taillights are cribbed right from Polestar’s Swedish daddy, but everything between them is fresh as all get-out. This coupe is long, low and wide, truly stunning proportions that stand out in an ever-growing sea of SUVs. It’s not a busy design, either; aside from a few major creases to emphasize its

Kyocera Finecam SL400RWith the Finecam SL400R, Kyocera has added 1 million pixels to its groundbreaking sequence shooter, the Finecam SL300R. Not a lot else has changed. There’s still the blazing burst-mode performance that yields 188 full-resolution frames in less than a minute at a clip of more than 3 frames per second (fps). The Finecam

That disappointment is in large part due to the CLS’ styling. As I said, it’s still a great looking car, but the proliferation of the four-door coupe-style roofline throughout every size and class of sedan makes the slippery shape less novel. It doesn’t help that Mercedes’ other four-door coupes, the CLA and AMG GT, look

The SQ7 has a more aggressive look than the standard Q7. The S-specific bumper has larger air intakes, and standard 21-inch wheels give this thing some great curb appeal — as do the quad exhaust tips. Those who want a broody look can opt for the Black Optic package to add a darker vibe to