Opinion: Missed ending of ‘Breaking Bad?’ Thanks, corporate greed

Breaking Bad
I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore. I’m addicted to my DVR, and it’s betrayed me once again. Settling back to watch Breaking Bad last night, the episode played beautifully on my Dish Hopper DVR, almost. But almost only counts in horseshoes and nuclear weapons, because last night, the recording stopped right at the pivotal moment of the entire episode. I was seething, and still am.
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Review: Tiny Boombot Rex speaker rocks your palms off

The hot competition for the best Bluetooth speaker rages on, and now designers are trying to see who can create the tiniest wireless boombox that still sounds good. When I first held the Boombot Rex in my hands, I doubted there was any way it could possibly sound better than a tiny transistor radio.

Would I be surprised? Let’s fire it up and give it a listen. Continue reading

Instagram 4.1 straightens pics, imports video

Instagram 4.1

Instagram 4.1 rolled out Wednesday, letting you straighten photos within the app. As you can see in the pic above, you’re presented with a unique interface when you press the “straighten” icon. You do the straightening after you’ve taken the pic in Instagram, or you can choose any photo in your image library.

The straightening tool is smart. Available only on the iOS version of Instagram 4.1, it first tries to automatically estimate the amount of straightening needed, and then it’s a simple matter to finish the job to perfection with a two-finger multitouch twist. Continue reading

Review: Netatmo weather station adds additional modules

Netatmo additional module

There’s no shortage of ways to monitor the weather inside and outside your house, but Netatmo goes a couple of steps further, letting you measure air quality and sound levels in addition to the usual humidity, temperature and barometric pressure. Now you can add up to three extra modules to gather data about the climate and air quality in additional rooms. Join me as I put one of these new modules to the test.
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