Logitech Bluetooth Music Receiver review

THE GOOD- The Logitech Bluetooth Music Receiver streams audio from nearly any mobile device to any stereo or powered speakers with an open input. It's easy to connect via either 3.5mm or RCA and you can link multiple devices to it at once. The wireless range extends up to 50 feet (15 meters) away and it holds a strong connection within reasonable distance.

THE BAD- The Chromecast Audio offers better sound quality and multiroom options via Wi-Fi, making it a better option for Android users.

THE BOTTOM LINE- Forget the aux cord -- this Logitech Bluetooth Music Receiver is the easiest way to stream audio from your smartphone or laptop.

Acer Predator G1 review

The Acer Predator G1 is a speedy, reasonably priced gaming desktop with a fun sense of design and an optional custom briefcase for on-the-go gaming.Performance is slower than other similarly equipped gaming desktops; limited ports; requires two bulky external power bricks, and you've got to really like the sci-fi tank tread design.The Acer Predator G1 isn't the fastest or even smallest VR-ready desktop, but it's powerful enough for new games and VR headsets, and has a sense of fun missing from other gaming PCs.The compact Acer Predator G1 desktop isn't the fastest or most powerful system in our roundup of gaming PCs with Nvidia's new GeForce 1080 graphics cards. It's also not the smallest, nor is it the least expensive or easiest to upgrade. But in testing and using it alongside many of its bigger and more powerful competitorsI found it had a better sense of -- for lack of a technical term -- fun. It's a gaming desktop that doesn't take itself too seriously, and that's a rare thing. Plus, it playsnew 2D and VR games just fine, and is reasonably priced, making it easier tooverlook any performance and design issues.This is a newer, smaller version of the massive Predator G6 desktop we reviewed earlier in 2016. But that system was a floor-hogging monster that looked like a sci-fi  movie prop, with its tank tread design and overblown online marketing copy which promised to "crush 4K gaming...and power-up for galactic domination."While the Predator G6 was a very capable VR-ready desktop, and decently priced one, it was also too big and goofy to fit into most homes or apartments, especially if you have to consider the spousal approval.

How MacOS Sierra gives back gigs of storage space

Apple's new MacOS Sierra software introduces two ways to help you offload files from your Mac to iCloud. It lets you reclaim storage space on your local drive, while also making those files accessible from your other devices.

The first way lets you sync your Desktop and Documents folders to iCloud Drive, so that files in either location are more easily accessible, as long as you have an internet connection. The second way lets you move to iCloud Drive or simply delete older files to reclaim some space on your Mac's cluttered drive or, as Apple calls it, optimize Mac storage.

Before we jump in, you should know that some of the options below require you to set up an iCloud Drive account, namely uploading your Desktop and Documents folders and your Photos library to iCloud. Apple provides a meager 5GB of space for free, a limit you must share with any of your iPhones or iPads that use iCloud and will most certainly exceed in short order, even if you don't opt to upload your photos. If 5GB of space won't cut it, you will need to upgrade to an iCloud Drive paid plan.

Let's take a look at how you might optimize your Mac's storage with Mac OS Sierra.

Oculus Rift: What you need to know about high-end VR

Oculus Rift is a PC gaming peripheral, meaning you need a pretty serious gaming PC to plug it into. It's meant to be tethered to your gaming system. But the new Rift headset not only looks sleeker, it's significantly lighter than previous prototypes. It still houses a 2,160x1,200-pixel display, lenses, removable earphones with positional 3D audio and surface-mounted sensors that allow motion tracking, via a small IR camera-stand that sits on your desk or TV.

This is similar to previous builds of the Oculus Rift, but the new design is easier to take on and off, and feels more invisible. There's also a new dial that adjusts the lens distance between both eyes, to accommodate different faces.

Unlike other times I tried the Rift, I didn't stand: I played while sitting in a chair, with an Xbox One wireless controller. The Rift will be packaged with an Xbox One controller and adapter when it debuts next year. Luckey thinks it's the best gaming controller around: I'm inclined to agree. It's also a controller that's already made to work seamlessly with PCs.

Google’s Pixel hardware event is really about software

Later this week, Google is expected to unveil a bevy of new products: phones, a smart home hub, a Wi-Fi router and possibly more. It's all stuff you can touch and pick up -- objects made of atoms.

But don't let the hype around the new hardware fool you. The launch event, taking place in San Francisco on Tuesday, isn't really about hardware. As is almost everything Google does, this is firmly about code.

Think of hardware, whether it's the rumored Pixel phone or the previously unveiled Google Home speaker, as the physical gateway into the company's software, which can't exist on its own. That's how Google makes money -- by using software to collect your data, which advertisers covet. These products ensure that once you wrap yourself with Google software, you stay that way.

Google is expected to unveil a new 4k Chromecast.

Samsung to Note 7 owners: Here's an extra $100 for your phone

 Turn in your phone for an extra $100

Samsung really, really wants you to turn in your Galaxy Note 7.

The Korean electronics titan said it will give $100 in credit at "carrier or retail

 outlets" to customers who turn in their Note 7 for another Samsung phone,

starting Thursday afternoon

The offer comes after Samsung and the US Consumer Product Safety

Commission once again issued a recall for the Galaxy Note 7 -- including

for replacement units. Two days earlier, Samsung confirmed that it had

killed off the Note 7 and warned consumers to power down and turn in

 their phones.

"The Galaxy Note 7 recall has proven to be a real challenge for Samsung.

 I am very concerned that consumers who exchanged their phones for

replacement Galaxy Note 7s are now at risk again," CPSC Chairman

 Elliot Kaye said in a statement.

Google doodles with a ballpoint pen

Before the ball-point pen, writing in ink was a much messier affair. The fountain pen, which had a reservoir filled with ink, was much easier to write with than a dip pen, but still prone to smudging and taking valuable time to refill. This is where László Bíró, born 117 years ago today on 29 September 1893, came in. A Google Doodle commemorates the occasion.

Bíró was a newspaper journalist in Budapest, Hungary, who found these aspects of the fountain pen frustrating. Having noticed that the ink used to print newspapers was fast-drying, he attempted to use it in a fountain pen, only to find it was too thick to flow into the nib.

Previously, American inventor John Jacob Loud had patented a design for a ballpoint pen in America in 1888, with a ball in a socket that evenly distributed ink as it rolled. Loud had been unable to refine his invention to work on paper. Bíró, however, had a secret weapon: his brother György, a chemist. Together, the pair developed an ink that was viscous enough to work evenly with the ball-socket pen design, yet wouldn't dry out in the barrel.

The pair filed a British patent on June 15, 1938. In 1945, Marcel Bich, co-founder of Bic, bought the patent, and the ballpoint pen soon became the company's flagship product. However, in memory of its inventor, the pen is still referred to as a biro around the globe.

BeatsX earphones may be the cheaper, better AirPods alternative you want (hands-on)

The funky wireless AirPods got all the attention when Apple unveiled it alongside the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus on September 7, but it was only part of the company's new headphones lineup. It also showcased three new wireless headphones from its Beats brand: the PowerBeats Wireless 3, the Solo3 Wireless and the BeatsX.

But only the BeatsX ($150, £130, AU$200) is a truly new headphone and the first one designed with the help of Apple's design and engineering teams. (The PowerBeats Wireless 3 and Solo3 Wireless just updated the previous models in their respective lines with a new wireless chip.) You probably won't see it in stores until November, but I got an early listen, and was impressed with both the fit and sound of Beats' first neckband-style headphone.

The band itself, which Beats calls a Flex-Form cable, has two wires running through it that are made ofnickel titanium alloy or nitinol, which was developed by the US Navy in the late 1950s and is very malleable, durable and lightweight. The key to it here is that it gives the band just enough rigidity and allows you to roll up the headphone so it fits it in an included compact carrying case. You can't do that with an LG Tone headset.