Jon L. JacobiFreelance contributor, PCWorld
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
Owl Car Cam review: 24-hour surveillance redefines the dash cam
The Owl Car Cam combines a clever, ground-breaking design with instant video uploads via LTE for 24-hour car security. However, the Android app, HDR for low-light video, and GPS video watermarking are key features it lacks.
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.
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.
Dash cam reviews: Catch the maniacs and meteors of daily driving
The best dash cams can record what's ahead (and sometimes what's behind), and mark it with GPS (or what's the point?). This is what you need on the mean streets of modern life.
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.
The best Windows backup software
The best Windows applications for backing up your system, disks, and data.
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.
Cacagoo CA03 dash cam review: A great bargain for daytime use
The Cacagoo CA03 is a bargain, offering impressive day video, good looks, and a nice out-of-box experience. But there's no GPS, and night video lacks detail.
The Bluesound Pulse Mini sounds great, will mesh with other Bluesound speakers, and plays music from a wide variety of sources. But its out-of-box experience and controls leave something to be desired.
Articles by Jon L. Jacobi
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