REVIEWS

Raspberry Pi

Bottom Line: Aimed at the adventurous or the learning oriented, the Raspberry Pi provides an outstanding platform for the small-scale system or other project of your dreams.

Amped Wireless High Power Wireless-N Directional Dual Band USB Adapter UA2000

Price: $84.06 - $89.99

Bottom Line: Amped Wireless' UA2000 USB adapter is good for range and performance improvement in the 5 GHz band, and it offers some useful additional features.

Cozi

Bottom Line: The Cozi Web app is a family management center with some decent shared calendar and list-making functions, but it ultimately not a website we recommend.

Famjama (beta)

Bottom Line: Modern families looking for help running their households won't find a better Web app than the free Famjama.

VuPoint Solutions Magic Wand Wi-Fi PDSWF-ST44-VP

Bottom Line: The VuPoint Solutions Magic Wand Wi-Fi PDSWF-ST44-VP wand scanner lets you both scan and confirm scan quality without a computer.

VuPoint Solutions Magic Wand PDS-ST415-VPS

Price: $57.99 - $85.12

Bottom Line: The VuPoint Solutions Magic Wand PDS-ST415-VPS combines portability, ease of use, and a capable optical character recognition program.

Samsung Galaxy S III (Verizon Wireless)

Bottom Line: With state-of-the-art everything, the Samsung Galaxy S III edges out the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx as our top touch-screen smartphone for Verizon Wireless.

Canon LV-8320

Price: $893 - $960.14

Bottom Line: The Canon LV-8320 is an LCD business projector with decent data and above-par video image quality.

Google+ (for iPad)

Bottom Line: The Google+ iPad app won't attract new users to Google's social network, and doesn't provide a good way for current users to get into their content beyond light browsing.

Dropbox

Bottom Line: Dropbox is a superbly implemented, cloud-based, automatic, file-synchronization service that's ideal for working with files you can store in a single folder.

HP 2011xi

Price: $149.99

Bottom Line: The HP 2011xi is a reasonably-priced IPS monitor offering rich colors and wide viewing angles, but there are better deals out there.

Jawbone Jambox

Bottom Line: The Aliph Jawbone Jambox Bluetooth speaker has a great feature set and packs a lot of punch for its size, but it's still pricey for what it is.

Dane-Elec Marvel Avengers USB Drive

Price: $15.46 - $15.79

Bottom Line: Marvel fans will love the Avengers USB Drives' detailed figures of Captain America, Iron Man, The Hulk, and Thor, even if the performance is a little slow.

Jumala

Bottom Line: Editor's Note: This product has not yet been reviewed. The following coverage is based on information provided by the manufacturer or developer.

Engenius XtraRange ESR600H

Price: $109.99

Bottom Line: For those looking for an affordable, dual-band wireless-N router, the ESR600H's relatively low price is still not low enough to justify its poor 2.4 GHz performance, weak range and some software issues.

Pentax 645D

Price: $9994.95

Bottom Line: At close to $10,000, the Pentax 645D's price tag might shock you, but this medium format digital camera produces superb images, and it's a bargain compared with competing systems.

Civilization V: Gods & Kings

Price: $24.25

Bottom Line: With its first major expansion pack, Gods & Kings, Civilization V takes major steps toward becoming what it always should have been.

Think (for Mac)

Bottom Line: Think (for Mac) is a free Mac utility designed to eliminate distractions while you work, but frequent crashes ruin the experience.

NetSpot (for Mac)

Bottom Line: NetSpot is an excellent free Mac utility that lets you scan your area for Wi-Fi signals, and create floor plans best suited for delivering strong wireless connections to your gear.

Lenovo IdeaTab S2109

Bottom Line: The Lenovo IdeaTab S2109 is an Android tablet with low-end specs, but a midrange price tag, making it a hard sell when compared with some less-expensive and better-equipped alternatives.

Lenovo D186 Wide

Price: $99.99 - $110.99

Bottom Line: The Lenovo D186 Wide is a no frills 18.5 inch monitor for users on a tight budget. Color and text performance are decent but it lacks features and can't display the darkest and lightest shades of gray.

Apple Aperture 3.3

Bottom Line: For under $80, Apple's Aperture gets you capable pro-level photo workflow and editing software for your iPhoto library.

Panasonic DMP-BDT220

Price: $134.99 - $149.99

Bottom Line: The Panasonic DMP-BDT220 is a fast, full-featured Blu-ray player with a pleasantly low price.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX150

Price: $248 - $249.99

Bottom Line: The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX150 is a svelte point-and-shoot with a long 10x zoom lens. It produces sharp photos and does well at high ISOs, but more serious shooters may be turned off by the lack of physical control buttons.

Nikon Coolpix P310

Price: $279 - $329.95

Bottom Line: The Nikon Coolpix P310 is a point-and-shoot camera that delivers excellent image quality and a fast f/1.8 lens. Serious photographers will love its physical control layout, but more casual shooters may scoff at its bulky design and limited zoom range.

Viewsonic VA2231wm-LED

Price: $137.44 - $144

Bottom Line: The Viewsonic VA2231wm-LED is a bright, energy efficient 22 inch monitor offering good color quality but subpar light grayscale performance. Like most affordable monitors, it comes up short in terms of features.

NEC AS221WM

Price: $174.24 - $199

Bottom Line: The NEC AS221WM is an affordable business display that delivers solid performance and is easy on your utility bill. Features are scarce, however, and the panel?s resolution could be higher.

Maingear Potenza Super Stock

Bottom Line: The Maingear Potenza Super Stock midrange gaming desktop PC has a great combination of innovative design, powerful components, class-leading benchmark numbers, and a price that undercuts the competition by hundreds of dollars.

Caffeine (for Mac)

Bottom Line: Caffeine is a handy, free Mac utility that keeps your computer in an active state when it would normally slip into powered down state.

Coby Kyros MID9742

Price: $195 - $198.88

Bottom Line: The Coby Kyros MID9742 is about as inexpensive as 10-inch Android tablets get, but it makes too many compromises in performance and has no access to the Google Play app market.

Doxo

Bottom Line: For centralizing bills, financial documents, and other important family files, Doxo presents an innovative solution. It's not quite a one-stop shop for managing a household, though.

Vizio VHT215 Home Theater Soundbar

Price: $283.19

Bottom Line: The Vizio VHT215 sound bar boosts your home theater's audio quality, but if you want surround sound, look for a model with actual rear speakers.

Priority Matrix (for iPad)

Bottom Line: The iPad app Priority Matrix puts a novel spin on the to-do list app by using a four quadrant method of prioritization. It has good customization options, but may be a bit too unconventional for organization traditionalists.

HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE (Verizon Wireless)

Price: $198

Bottom Line: The Droid Incredible 4G LTE for Verizon Wireless is a powerful, sensibly sized smartphone, but it isn't quite a 'One.'

Secure Virtual Desktop

Bottom Line: This free tool will protect your security in the event you must connect to sensitive websites over an untrusted network. The catch: you can only use it for five minutes at a time. It's not for day-to-day browsing, but in an emergency situation it can be a lifesaver.

Secunia Personal Software Inspector 3.0

Bottom Line: The news is full of reports on data breaches caused by unpatched security holes, but keeping all your programs updated can be tough. Secunia Personal Software Inspector 3.0 takes care of the job for you, identifying outdated programs and, when possible, updating them automatically.

Focus Booster (for Mac)

Bottom Line: Focus Booster is a free Mac utility that uses the Pomodoro Technique to help you complete projects, but a few issues keep it from being a must-have utility.

Philips Fidelio SoundRing

Price: $299.95

Bottom Line: The good-looking Philips Fidelio SoundRing offers decent audio quality at moderate levels, but it doesn't perform like a $300 speaker system.

Monster Inspiration

Bottom Line: With super-crisp highs and booming lows, the Monster Inspiration pair of headphones offers a very sculpted sound signature that never distorts.

Netgear R6300 WiFi Router 802.11ac Dual Band Gigabit

Price: $199 - $199.99

Bottom Line: Although the Netgear R6300 supports the latest 802.11ac standard (in draft form); an odd design, and surprisingly underwhelming performance running in 11ac mode does not make this router one of Netgear's best.

Afloat (for Mac)

Bottom Line: Afloat is a free Mac utility that gives your OS X machine (running Leopard or Snow Leopard) extra window-manipulating functionality not natively found in the operating system, but people who aren't proficient with the keyboard may find it a bit clunky.

Fujifilm FinePix F770EXR

Price: $309 - $319.99

Bottom Line: The compact Fujifilm FinePix F770EXR offers up nice physical controls, a GPS, a long 20x zoom lens, Raw support, and very sharp images, but noisy low-light photos hold it back.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V

Price: $358 - $359.99

Bottom Line: With its Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V, Sony packs a long 20x zoom lens and GPS into one decidedly svelte camera. It's one of the more expensive compact superzoom models you'll find, but all those features along with high performance warrant the price.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX30V

Price: $378 - $379.99

Bottom Line: With its Cyber-shot DSC-HX30V, Sony packs a long 20x zoom lens, Wi-Fi, and GPS into one decidedly svelte camera. It's one of the more expensive compact superzoom models you'll find, but all those features along with high performance warrant the price.

Nikon Coolpix S9300

Price: $260.87 - $279.99

Bottom Line: The Nikon Coolpix S9300 is a compact shooter with a sharp 18x zoom lens and a GPS, but slow start up time and muddy image quality at higher ISOs make it a tough camera to recommend.

Samsung WB850F

Price: $341.49 - $379.99

Bottom Line: The Samsung WB850F is a compact superzoom camera with a wider-than-average lens, GPS, and Wi-Fi, but its a little slow to start and shoot, and image quality suffers at higher ISO settings.

Fujifilm FinePix F750EXR

Price: $289 - $289.95

Bottom Line: The compact Fujifilm FinePix F750EXR offers up nice physical controls, a long 20x zoom lens, and very sharp images, but noisy low-light photos hold it back.

Fitbit Aria Wi-Fi Smart Scale

Price: $129.95

Bottom Line: The Fitbit Aria Wi-Fi Smart Scale may live in your bathroom, but its excellent syncing capabilities put your health stats online, where you can reap greater rewards from data it collects over the long-term.

Withings Wi-Fi Body Scale

Price: $159

Bottom Line: Though pricey, the Withings Wi-Fi Body Scale and complementary Web account pack a lot of value into an everyday health and fitness device, and the scale's display is one of the best we've seen.

Magellan RoadMate 5230T-LM

Bottom Line: The Magellan RoadMate 5230T-LM GPS device simply isn't accurate enough, even though its 5-inch screen and budget price make it seem like a good value.