PC Magazine - January 2014 USA

THE

PREDICTIONS

ISSUE

DIGITAL EDITION

JANUARY 2014

d a e h A r a h e c Y e e T h T m r w o f s Ho n a r T l l i W

CONTENTS

JANUARY 2014

COVER STORY

2014 TECH PREDICTIONS PC Magazine analysts and industry experts weigh in on how 2014 will transform technology forever.

FEATURES 4K IS FINALLY HERE The greater-than-HD display technology has been elusive for consumers—until now. Here’s a look at why 4K is here to stay.

REVIEWS CONSUMER ELECTRONICS Basis B1 Band Sennheiser HD 25 Aluminum iRobot Roomba 880 Pentax K-3

HARDWARE Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 2 Pro Nokia Lumia 2520 (Verizon Wireless) Dell P2714T Linksys EA6900 AC1900 Smart Wi-Fi Router

SOFTWARE LastPass 3.0

Nokia Lumia 2520

Sennheiser HD 25 Aluminum

WHAT’S NEW NOW AMAZON TESTING DRONE DELIVERY SYSTEM By 2015 you may get your Amazon packages in 30 minutes—via air delivery.

WATSON SUPERCOMPUTER OPENED TO DEVELOPERS The Jeopardy! champ is heading to the cloud to supercharge app creation.

STANENE: FOR WHEN COPPER ISN’T CONDUCTIVE ENOUGH This new material could change computer chips forever.

TOP GEAR GADGET LUST

Top Gear: Netatmo Personal Weather Station

OPINIONS DAN COSTA First Word

SASCHA SEGAN AT&T’s New Plans Show That Competition Works

MICHAEL MUCHMORE Windows Phone: It’s Still About The Apps

Now I have to make too many U-turns. JOHN C. DVORAK Last Word

SEBASTIAN ANTHONY How Homegeneity Could Kill The Game Console

DIGITAL LIFE GET ORGANIZED Managing Your Digital Family Documents

CONNECTED TRAVELER The Best Connected U.S. Airports, Airlines, And Terminals

GAMING Windows Phone Games For Xbox One Fans

APPSCOUT Our Favorite Apps For January

PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION

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FIRST WORD

F Looking Forward To It

DAN COSTA

or those of us who cover the technology space, the end of the year comes with two competing trends. First, the pace of technology news slows way, way down; no one launches a new product in December. The end of the year is also when people go out and actually buy all those products we’ve been reviewing over the course of the preceding year. Visit any tech site these days—including ours—and you will encounter page after page of gift guides and listicles prompting you to buy this or that gadget. It is necessary, if not always particularly satisfying work. But there is a second trend: speculating wildly about 2014. That is much more fun. And it is to that trend that this issue is dedicated. Our cover story presents provocative predictions from both the PC Magazine staff and a collection of industry leaders, including executives from Cisco, Intel, Mozilla, McAfee, and more. With predictions ranging from the security implications of Bitcoin to the capacity of computers to cure cancer, these insights can serve as a roadmap for 2014. Some of these predictions won’t come true, but many will. And they will change the world. As with any issue of PC Magazine, it isn’t hard to spot trends. This month, we review the Basis B1 Band ¿tness watch. If you liked the Fitbit but wished it had more functionality, this is the watch for you. And it ¿ts nicely in the overall shift toward digital health that we have been tracking for years. You should also look to Sascha Segan’s latest report on how the U.S. wireless industry is ¿nally

Some of these predictions won’t come true, but many will. And they will change the world.

bene¿tting from healthy competition. Two years ago, AT&T was going to purchase T-Mobile, leaving just three nationwide carriers. Today, a rejuvenated T-Mobile is forcing AT&T to offer more consumer-friendly plans to retain customers. That is a trend we can all get behind. Finally, a small housekeeping note. We have tweaked the way we distribute the magazine. If you download PC Magazine in the Apple App Store, you will be able to read the most recent issue for free. That may not mean much to you as a loyal subscriber, but it will make it a lot easier to send and share the latest issue with friends. Enjoy the issue.

[email protected]


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AMAZON TESTING DRONE DELIVERY SYSTEM WATSON SUPERCOMPUTER OPENED TO DEVELOPERS STANENE: FOR WHEN COPPER ISN’T CONDUCTIVE ENOUGH TOP GEAR GADGET LUST

WHAT’S NEW NOW

NEWS

Amazon Testing Drone Delivery System

A

mazon is experimenting with drones that will provide half-hour, sameday delivery, though a formal introduction of the service, dubbed PrimeAir, is years away. Amazon chief Jeff Bezos showed off an early version of Amazon PrimeAir during a recent broadcast of CBS’ 60 Minutes. “I know this looks like science ¿ction, but it’s not,” Bezos told Charlie Rose. In a video demo, an Amazon user is shown ordering an item online. That item is placed in a plastic container and locked into an awaiting drone, which buzzes away and drops the package at the customer’s doorstep.

Photo courtesy of Amazon

BY CHLOE ALBANESIUS

Bezos said PrimeAir containers can carry objects up to 5 pounds in weight, which covers as much as 86 percent of the objects Amazon delivers.

Photo courtesy of Amazon

Bezos said PrimeAir containers can carry objects up to 5 pounds in weight, which covers as much as 86 percent of the objects Amazon delivers. “We’re not going to deliver kayaks or table saws” with PrimeAir, Bezos quipped. The devices use electric motors, so they will be more environmentally friendly, Bezos continued, as fewer trucks would be on the road. PrimeAir would have an approximately ten-mile radius, so in urban areas, its coverage range could be “very signi¿cant.” No word on how deliveries to apartment or of¿ce buildings might be handled, but Bezos said they would be autonomous and follow GPS coordinates. The “hard part,” Bezos admitted during the interview, would be reliability. A PrimeAir drone, he said, “can’t land on somebody’s head.” One major impediment to Amazon—or any other company—using drones is the Federal Aviation Administration, which currently bans the use of drones for commercial use. In 2012, however, President Obama signed the FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act, which includes a mandate to loosen up the restrictions and integrate commercial drones into the National Airspace System. In November, the Transportation Department revealed its long-term plan for making that a reality, but it won’t happen until at least 2015.

INTO THE WILD BLUE YONDER A look at one of Amazon’s PrimeAir drones, which could be delivering packages for the company within just a few years.

Amazon is not the only organization experimenting with drones. Last June, Dominos teased the “DomiCopter” for pizza delivery, though that was really more of a marketing gimmick. In October, PETA kicked off a project to use hobby-class drone planes to monitor hunters and capture any “illegal or cruel hunting practices.” And any company considering use of drones may have to look out: In December, hacker and security analyst Samy Kamkar published details about SkyJack, which he said “is a drone engineered to autonomously seek out, hack, and wirelessly take over other drones” within Wi-Fi distance, “creating an army of zombie drones under your control.” Whether Amazon will be successful, or whether the project will crash and burn, remains to be seen. We may not know for sure for a while yet, however. Bezos told Rose that he is an “optimist” and hopes that PrimeAir could get off the ground in four to ¿ve years. “I don’t want anyone to think this is just around the corner,” he said.


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WHAT’S NEW NOW

NEWS

Watson Supercomputer Opened To Developers BY STEPHANIE MLOT

I

t’s not every day that a celebrity makes house calls. But IBM is making its famous Watson supercomputer available to software developers as a cloud-based platform. Since the Jeopardy! champ ¿rst made headlines for beating Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter in 2011, Watson has tried its hand at health care and worked as a smartphone-sized virtual assistant. Now it is giving back to the community. “By sharing IBM Watson’s cognitive abilities with the world, we aim to fuel a new ecosystem that accelerates innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurial spirit,” Michael Rhodin, senior vice president of the IBM Software Solutions Group, said in a statement. “With this move, IBM is taking a bold step to advance the new era of cognitive computing.”

WATSON, COME HERE, I WANT YOU

The launch of the IBM Watson Developers Cloud marketplace opens the doors to developers of all sizes and industries to tap into the supercomputer’s technological resources, including a developer toolkit, educational materials, and access to Watson’s API. Initially, IBM has partnered with three businesses to develop early versions of Watson-powered apps, expected to enter the market in 2014. Consumers who use the Fluid Expert Personal Shopper app will interact in a dialogue with Watson—your new “cognitive, expert personal shopper,” according to Fluid. The application incorporates user data and questions to help people make smart purchases “by putting a knowledgeable sales associate in the hands of consumers, on demand.” Meanwhile, health care solution provider MD Buyline is developing an app to allow clinical and ¿nancial users to make real-time decisions about medical device purchases. Dubbed “Hippocrates powered by IBM Watson,” the service provides users with access to a research assistant that provides fast, evidencebased recommendations. A second health-and-wellness service is under development by Welltok, which aims to harness Watson’s ability to learn from interactions to create personalized health itineraries for customers. “CafeWell Concierge” will provide tailored activities and management programs, and reward users for engaging in healthy behaviors. “The signi¿cance here is that IBM will enable other companies, large and small, to embed access to Watson into their products and services, or better yet,

Video courtesy of IBM

Executives at IBM, including Senior Vice President of the Software Solutions Group Michael Rhodin, and other companies expect Watson to have a positive impact on the next era of cognitive apps.

INVESTIGATING WATSON


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Photo credit: Jack Plunkett, Feature Photo Service (top); IBM (left)

to build applications on top of it,” Welltok board member Mohamad Makhzoumi said in a statement. “This could bring about a paradigm shift not only in how people interact with computers, but in how we live our lives.” Powered by Big Data, IBM will give app developers the option to use their own data, or access the IBM Watson Content Store. “Together with our partners we’ll spark a new class of applications that will learn from experience, improve with each interaction and outcome, and assist in solving the most complex questions facing the industry and society,” Rhodin said.

Michael Rhodin explores Watson-powered apps with Brooke Aguilar, vice president of global development at Fluid, and Welltok CEO Jeff Margolis.

WHAT’S NEW NOW

EXTREMETECH

Stanene: For When Copper Isn’t Conductive Enough Move over, graphene and carbine: Stanene wants to replace the high-resistance copper wires that are a big limiting factor in current computer chips. BY SEBASTIAN ANTHONY

A SINGLE LAYER OF TIN

M

odern computer chips have over one billion transistors, each of which must be connected up to form an actual logic device—which, these days, can mean more than 60 miles (100km) of copper wiring. Though copper is usually good at conducting, things get more complex when connecting wires are just a few atoms apart. Not only are copper wires very fragile, but as they get thinner and thinner, quantum physics takes over from classical physics and throws a wrench in the works.

Photo credit: Brad Plummer/SLAC

Stanene is theorized as a perfectly conductive material that could be fabricated from one layer of tin atoms.

FLUORINE ATOMS

Stanene is a theorized material fabricated from a single layer of tin atoms. Researchers at Stanford and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory say that, unlike the stupendously conductive graphene, stanene should be a topological insulator: an insulator on the interior but conductive along the edge and/or surface. According to the researchers, when a topological insulator is just a single atom thick—such as stanene—the edges can conduct electricity with 100 percent ef¿ciency. The Stanford and SLAC researchers say that stanene should have 100 percent ef¿ciency edges at room temperature—but more important, by adding a bit of Àuorine, that ef¿ciency can be retained at operating temperatures up to 100° C (212° F). This is very important if stanene is ever to be used in computer chips, which have operational temps between 40° and 90° C. We’re not entirely sure how the researchers reached their ef¿ciency claim— which we’re pretty sure is technically impossible—but perhaps they really mean “near-perfect ef¿ciency,” which is certainly possible if you straddle the classical-quantum physics divide. There’s no word yet on when stanene will be fabricated for the ¿rst time. It probably won’t be dif¿cult to fashion on a small scale, using scanning tunneling microscopes and other non-scalable techniques. But it will likely be a while until stanene is used in the production of computer chips. PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION

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Photo credit: Yong Xu/Tsinghua University; Greg Stewart/SLAC

It is believed stanene could be created by adding fluorine atoms (yellow in this diagram) to tin atoms (gray).e ni

WHAT’S NEW NOW

TOP GEAR

What We Love Most This Month BY MEREDITH POPOLO

BEDPHONES Before you settle in for your winter hibernation, slip on a pair of Bedphones. These foamcovered headphones are less than a quarter-inch thick and are designed to be worn comfortably for extended periods of time—a full night’s slumber, for example. The cable runs down your back, not front, and the memory wire earhooks mold to ears of all sizes. With the free Bedphones app for Android and iOS you can set a timer to fade out your music as you drift off to dreamland. $39.95 bedphones.com

WHAT’S NEW NOW

TOP GEAR


BOWBLADE Embrace your inner archer any time you want with this augmented-reality gaming device. Mount your smartphone on the contraption and play one of more than 70 apps to practice shooting at stationary targets, moving targets, yabusame, and more. It also connects with Apple TV, Wii, and other streaming devices for bigger-screen game play. The bow-and-arrow experience is not entirely authentic, but it offers a respectable 1 to 17 pounds of resistance. $119.95 bowbladegaming.com

WHAT’S NEW NOW

TOP GEAR


NETATMO PERSONAL WEATHER STATION Be your own weatherman with Netatmo, a personal atmosphere-monitoring system for both indoor and outdoor use. It measures and lets you track over time humidity, temperature, air quality, carbon dioxide, noise pollution, and barometric pressure, and can send real-time updates to your Android or iOS device to help you plan your activities. $179 netatmo.com

WHAT’S NEW NOW

TOP GEAR


WEMO LIGHT SWITCH Let there be light! This Wi-Fi–enabled light switch lets you turn lights on and off via your Android or iOS device from anywhere—be it the next room or the other side of the country. The easy-to-install switch replaces your standard light switch and works with the standard faceplate. Schedule lights to turn on when the kids come home, turn off at a certain time of day to reduce power consumption, or even respond to sunrise and sunset. WeMo also works with ceiling fans and can be integrated with Ifttt for a truly connected home. $49.99 belkin.com


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WHAT’S NEW NOW

Catching Fire

GADGET LUST

BY CHANDRA STEELE

IFLOOR TWO If your home didn’t come with the fireplace you’ve always wanted, this freestanding model is just what you need to light your fire. $4,600 fancy.com

Place the iFloor Two where you want to heat things up: You can put it on the floor, or use the two included omega bars to hang it on the wall.

You can get the iFloor Two in black, white, or a combination of the two colors, so you can perfectly match your home’s décor.

The iFloor Two runs on environmentally friendly bioethanol fuel. Each can lasts 12 hours; one is included with your purchase (and so is a lighter).


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SASCHA SEGAN MICHAEL MUCHMORE SEBASTIAN ANTHONY

Competition works, as long as there’s competition. SASCHA SEGAN AT&T’S NEW PLANS SHOW THAT COMPETITION WORKS

OPINIONS

AT&T’s New Plans Show That Competition Works

A

T&T is ¿nally starting to edge out of the phone subsidy scam, and we have T-Mobile to thank for it. For many years, carriers would charge the same monthly rate whether you were paying off a subsidized phone or not—if they weren’t recouping the subsidy, they’d just reap extra pro¿t. With AT&T’s new Mobile Share Value plans, that’s over, to some extent. If you aren’t paying off a subsidized phone, you pay $15 per month less. That effectively neutralizes a $360 subsidy. Whether you come out ahead or not depends on the phone you buy. If you pick up a BlackBerry Z10 ($339 subsidy), then you’re better off buying it up front. If you’re going for a Nokia Lumia 1520 ($385 subsidy), you’ll still save a little money on a two-year contract. No, AT&T isn’t doing this out of the goodness of its heart, or out of some religious conversion. It’s doing this because of competition: speci¿cally, the rise of the new T-Mobile and the boom in lowcost prepaid plans in the U.S. AT&T knows which way the wind is blowing. Under CEO John Legere, T-Mobile killed all phone subsidies, lowered its monthly rates, and added more than a million customers in the last quarter. AT&T also added customers, but most of those were tablets rather than more pro¿table smartphones. To grab the smartphone buyer of 2014, AT&T knew it needed to shake off the

Sascha Segan is the lead mobile analyst for PC Magazine. His commentary has also appeared on Fox News, CNBC, CNN, and various radio stations and newspapers around the world.

shackles of old thinking and compete. The big question is whether Verizon will step up now and do the same. Verizon’s CEO said in April that the company could consider ditching contracts, but Verizon also positions its network as a less-price-sensitive, luxury choice. I wonder if its reputation for quality will continue to insulate it from price pressures, especially with Verizon’s problems in New York and Los Angeles. T-Mobile, by the way, isn’t a magic saint, much as Legere would like you to think otherwise. T-Mobile’s new free 200MB data plan for tablets is clearly a response to AT&T crushing its smaller competitor on tablet sales. Competition works here in all directions. KEEP UP THE PRESSURE If AT&T had been allowed to buy T-Mobile back in 2011, we wouldn’t be seeing any of this. Competition improves everyone’s lives, and new FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler needs to keep up the pressure on the carriers. Wheeler seems to be on the right track. Looking at the upcoming critical 600MHz auction, he’s thinking of setting aside some spectrum for smaller competitors so AT&T and Verizon don’t snap it all up. Spectrum below 1GHz is most coveted by wireless providers, and because AT&T and Verizon are the oldest carriers and have deep pockets, they own most of it. In its report about the AT&T/T-Mobile merger, the FCC said that we need four viable national carriers to ensure competition. The experience up north in Canada seems to bear that out. There are three nationwide carriers there, and although coverage and speeds are solid, prices tend to be pretty high. The Canadian government is struggling to cobble together a fourth competitor.

To grab the smartphone buyer of 2014, AT&T knew it needed to shake off the shackles of old thinking and compete.

Yes, the wireless industry naturally tends towards consolidation. If the industry were to be completely deregulated, all of the wireless carriers would simply merge into one large, monopoly carrier, which would charge the highest possible prices. That’s why constant vigilance is needed to keep smaller competitors such as Sprint, T-Mobile, and U.S. Cellular vital. If you ever doubt why we need to stop further large wireless mergers and support the little guys, take a look at this move from AT&T. Competition works, as long as there’s competition. So let’s keep it working. [email protected]


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The wireless industry naturally tends toward consolidation.

OPINIONS

Windows Phone: It’s Still About The Apps

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was recently in a cab with PC Magazine’s mobile tech guru, Sascha Segan, on the way to a meeting with Microsoft execs about new apps coming to the Windows Phone platform. Our cab driver overheard our discussion and pulled out his Nokia Lumia 1020. That alone was indicative that the platform has gone beyond theoretical and into the hands of real-world, regular people. The driver had just one complaint about the best camera phone on the planet: “When is it going to get more apps?” For the most part, Windows Phone users are no longer left out of the conversation. There are already of¿cial Facebook, Twitter, Pandora, Kik, Skype, Vine, Instagram, Foursquare, and Yelp apps, just to mention a few. A large selection of games is available, including casual favorites Bejeweled, Angry Birds, Cut the Rope, and Words with Friends, as well as more intense 3D titles such as Assassin’s Creed, Asphalt 8: Airborne, and Halo: Spartan Assault. YouTube is a much-discussed exception, but there are scads of unof¿cial YouTube apps for Windows Phone, most of which let you enjoy your subscriptions and discover viral videos. The one thing lacking from the of¿cial client is the ability to shoot and upload your own videos from within the app, but you can do that right from Windows Phone’s built-in camera app.

Michael Muchmore is lead analyst for software and Web applications for PC Magazine, and has also covered Web 2.0 and other software for ExtremeTech.com.

THE PROBLEM But if the app your iPhone-Àaunting friend is tapping on is probably either now available or coming soon, there are catches. In nearly every case, you don’t get all of the functionality you do on iOS or Android. And new apps generally come out after they do for other platforms. With Windows Phone, the feeling of being a secondclass citizen is unmistakable. The Facebook app doesn’t let you create a group or edit a post. Words with Friends doesn’t let you purchase in-app extras. With Vine you can’t rearrange or save subclips. The most glaring example of an app missing a feature is MLB At Bat: You can see the Gameday view, which shows you live pitches and results, in a Web browser, so why can’t you in the app? Then there’s the issue of new apps coming later. The hot new apps almost always appear on iPhones and iPads well before they’re available for Android devices; there’s just something about building apps for iOS that appeals to developers. Perhaps it’s that the coders know that their app only has to work on one manufacturer’s devices, or perhaps it’s the quality of the developer tools. But the delay of new apps getting to Windows Phone far outdistances the move from iPhone to Android. Vine for Windows Phone appeared nearly nine months after its ¿rst release on iPhone. And we’re still waiting for Dropbox, Nook, and SnapChat. IT’S NOT ALL BAD One good thing about Windows Phone apps is that the major ones frequently take advantage of some unique Windows Phone capabilities, such as live tiles; you can often create tiles for particular app functions or users. Many can also

With Windows Phone, the feeling of being a second-class citizen is unmistakable.

take advantage of Windows Phone’s “Tap + Send” feature, which uses NFC for wireless phone-tophone sharing. Photo apps can adjust ISO, aperture, and White Balance—something not possible in iOS. There are other advantages to Windows Phone, too. One it has over iOS is that you can remoteinstall apps from a browser on your desktop via a Windows Store link. An advantage it has over Android is that, like iOS, it has only one app store—Android’s multiple sources of software make it the riskiest mobile OS from a security standpoint. Over both competing phone operating systems’ stores Windows Phone’s has the advantage of enabling trial installations of apps, in case you’re not ready to pay. IS THERE HOPE? The big apps have arrived on Windows Phone for the most part. But will they get full functionality? That, of course, is up to the developers, but I’m optimistic about it, and here’s why: Getting the app on the platform is the big hurdle, and updating it to include a few extra goodies is a small task by comparison. Many apps I last looked at just a few weeks ago already have updates in the Store. Windows Phone isn’t going away: It’s already topped 10 percent market share in the U.K., and it’s passed BlackBerry in the U.S. Market research ¿rm Gartner even called it the winner of the quarter in its latest report, noting a 123 percent gain in shipments. That’s nearly nine million new users just in one quarter. Hopefully that will be enough to spur the big mobile service to deliver the marquee apps—with all the features. [email protected] PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION

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Windows Phone isn’t going away.

OPINIONS

How Homogeneity Could Kill The Game Console

A

fter a protracted battle that lasted seven years and resulted in what can best be described as a dull stalemate, a new battle in the Console War has ¿nally begun with the release of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The last few months, with the slow, dribbled release of information from Microsoft and Sony, and dramatic revelations from insider leaks and developers, have seen some of the most heated arguments in the recent history of technology. These are occurring for a good reason, though: The hardware, software, commercial, and ideological decisions that have been made during the development of these consoles will affect the face of gaming, and thus personal computing, for the next decade. It’s not just hard-core gamers who care about the Console War. Over the last six months, I’ve seen people from every walk of life wade into the fray. I’ve seen frothing, mouth-breathing basement dwellers argue about Microsoft’s decision to use embedded SRAM—but I’ve also seen core gamers ask which console will be better for playing Battle¿eld 4, and casual gamers wondering which console will make the best living room media center. The fact is, the capabilities of the Xbox One and PS4—and more important, the lack thereof—will play a key role in global media consumption for many years to come. It is thus very important to analyze both

Sebastian Anthony is the senior editor of ExtremeTech.com, where he regularly writes stories about computing, space, and emerging technologies.

consoles, and to discuss (often heatedly) which features will have the biggest and/or most signi¿cant impact. Considering the huge out-ofthe-gate sales enjoyed by both consoles (double that of the previous generation), the impact of the PS4 and Xbox One might turn out to be even larger than expected, too. NEW DIRECTIONS In its original form, the Xbox One was a brave reimagining of the living room of tomorrow. Microsoft had gone back to the drawing board and delivered a console that was very different from the Xbox 360 and PS3. As it turned out, though, the media and consumers thought the Xbox One was too different: That mandatory Kinect and an always-on Internet connection were simply too divergent from society’s archetypal concept of a game console. This is a shame, because the original vision of the Xbox One had a lot of cool functionality—and a lot of potential—that has now been stripped out. The ¿nal, launch-day version of the Xbox One is basically the Xbox 360, but with the ability to side-by-side TV programs and games/apps: neat, but hardly revolutionary. Sony, on the other hand, had decided from the outset that its eighth-generation console would be more of a gradual evolution (devolution?), with a strict focus on games and an actual reduction of features when compared with the PS3. In Sony’s own words, it switched from the PS3’s highly customized hardware architecture to x86 and a known GPU on the PS4 so that developers would have an easier time creating terri¿c games. For some unknown reason, however, many other features that were much loved by PS3 users, such as the ability to play back local media and capture

In its original form, the Xbox One was a brave reimagining of the living room of tomorrow.

photos and videos with the PlayStation Camera, fell by the wayside. HOMOGENEOUS The end result, despite wildly different conceptions, is two consoles that are shockingly similar in their functionality and capabilities. You could argue that the Xbox One’s HDMI input and (eventual) app ecosystem give it more potential for future awesomeness, or that the PS4’s larger GPU will eventually result in superior games, but that’s splitting hairs. At best you might say that the Xbox One is marginally better than the PS4 for watching TV, and vice versa for games—but even then, we wouldn’t be surprised if Microsoft’s decision to go with ESRAM instead of more GPU cores results in both consoles posting very similar game performance. When everything’s tallied up, this actually leaves Microsoft’s console with a slight edge over the PS4. Hardware-wise, except for the HDMI input, both consoles are functionally identical. The problem with homogeneity is that, though it’s fantastic for developers (porting games between the two x86 consoles and the PC will be very easy), it’s awful for progress. The previous generation of the Console War was so fruitful because the consoles were incredibly different to begin with, resulting in a huge variety of games, game play, and other non-game uses (media streaming, Kinect hacks, Linux on the PS3, and so on). As the seventh generation matured and the delta between the consoles narrowed, so did developer creativity. Really, in the past year, there has been very little excitement or boundary pushing on the PS3 and Xbox 360, and I’m worried that this trend will continue with the PS4 and Xbox One. Microsoft had the opportunity to

At best you might say that the Xbox One is marginally better than the PS4 for watching TV, and vice versa for games.

differentiate the consoles with mandatory Kinect and the always-on Internet connectivity requirement, but squandered it to appease the baying hordes. Right now, we’re looking at ¿ve to ten years of gaming that are fundamentally unchanged from the last seven. Games will be prettier in accordance with the new consoles’ bee¿er hardware, and there are still a few new features that might crystallize into new types of games and game play, but it’s presently looking as if the eighth chapter of the Console War will conclude with millions of people buying consoles that are ultimately just dumb, crippled PCs capable of playing the latest sequel from EA or Activision and not much else. [email protected]


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We’re looking at five to ten years of gaming that are fundamentally unchanged from the last seven.

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS Basis B1 Band Sennheiser HD 25 Aluminum iRobot Roomba 880 Pentax K-3

HARDWARE Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 2 Pro Nokia Lumia 2520 (Verizon Wireless) Dell P2714T Linksys EA6900 AC1900 Smart Wi-Fi Router

SOFTWARE LastPass 3.0

REVIEWS

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS

Basis B1 Band $199 L L L L H

The Basis for Better Fitness When I ¿rst got my hands on the Basis B1 Band ¿tness watch, I was Àoored by how much information the activity tracker captures. It continuously gauged my heart rate, and measured my skin temperature and perspiration (all helpful in estimating calorie burn). EDITORS’ CHOICE It was able to automatically distinguish between walking, running, and bicycling—something that’s been my number one missing feature in ¿tness trackers. It even kept an eye on me while I slept. If you’re excited about ¿tness technology, you should buy a Basis B1 straightaway. BASIS DESIGN The black Basis B1 Band is available with either black or white straps, which I found popped off occasionally while I was riding my bicycle; you can purchase a variety of other bands ranging in price from $34.95 to $49.95.

Pressing either of the silver right-side buttons on the face of the watch scrolls through the collected data: real-time heart rate, total calories burned for the day, steps taken, and a summary of your most recent autologged activity. Although the B1 does measure perspiration and skin temperature, you can only see those details in your Web account. The bottom-left button toggles the display back to showing the time or date. And the top-left button illuminates the screen, but only barely—it’s really dim (it looks better at night). A row of four round connection points on the Basis dots the left edge of the watch, where it attaches to its base station for charging and syncing. The underside has six raised metal sensors that touch your skin to collect data, and an optical sensor that takes your pulse by measuring the volume of blood Àowing through your veins. Every so often, you can see it glowing green. Several wrist-worn activity trackers, such as the Jawbone UP and the Larklife, don’t include readouts on the device itself, which is part of what makes the Basis so much more useful. The Basis is water-resistant, but not waterproof, so you don’t have to worry about it getting wet if you get caught in the rain, but you do need to remove it for swimming and other in-water activities.

Basis B1 Band PROS Auto-detects running, walking, bicycling, sleeping. Sophisticated, comprehensive measurements. Zeroes in on habits rather than raw numbers. Excellent Web interface. Wirelessly syncs over Bluetooth. CONS Doesn’t measure distance. Default wrist straps could connect more securely to unit. Screen is dim.

DARK TIME

SYNCING AND CHARGING With Basis, you have two options for uploading data: wireless syncing via Bluetooth to the iOS or Android app, or connecting the watch to your computer with the included USB cord. The same USB cable used for syncing doubles as the charger. It’s a proprietary design, though, so if you lose it, you can’t just replace it with any other cord. I tested the iPhone app, but I experienced some trouble syncing, particularly when

The display on the Basis B1 Band is on the dim side and can be difficult to read during the day. But you can still get a lot of information from this device.

outdoors and not connected to Wi-Fi. Out of the box, you’ll need to charge the battery by removing the top wrist strap and sliding the watch into the included plastic cradle, which connects via a USB cord to your computer. During setup, you’ll install software on your machine that uploads data from the watch to your Web account, where you can see your ¿tness habits over time. You can also sync data via Bluetooth to the mobile app for iPhone and Android, but the Web account is where you’ll see amazingly detailed data. I found the watch needed a solid two hours of charging about every three days. Given the dimness of the screen, the outlook for better battery life any time soon seems grim. In all fairness, the Basis does a lot of work all day long, using an infrared light to measure your heart rate frequently. Diving into the details of your data, you can analyze metrics about your body down to the minute. I dislike that Basis doesn’t measure distance the way the Fitbit One does. It’s much harder to verify the number of steps taken because it counts well past 10,000 on most days. But whether the step counts are accurate or not, you quickly learn whether the device gets a consistent baseline for you, and to me, that’s more valuable and meaningful. You get a sense for how many steps you take in an active day, lazy day, highintensity day, and so forth.

BETTER WITH A BAND The B1 Band comes with either black or white bands, but they’re on the cheap side. Consider paying to upgrade to a sturdier and more stylish band.

The auto-detection for running, walking, and bicycling worked well in all but one instance: a short bike ride that Basis mistook for a run. When I asked about the miscategorization, a Basis spokesperson told me that the team is continuing to re¿ne the algorithms as they get feedback from users. PERSONAL METRICS The online account you use to access your data, MyBasis, shows not just how many steps you’ve taken and other raw metrics, but whether you consistently meet thresholds you set for yourself. In other words, it focuses on habits, rather than numbers or single events. This really sets MyBasis apart from every other ¿tness dashboard and app I’ve tested. When it comes to making use of your data, Basis is less concerned with the total number of steps you take in a day and more focused on whether you get enough movement day after day. The way Basis homes in on habits starts out with cards. When you create an online account, the home screen shows a card that challenges you to wear the Basis for at least 12 hours on two days. You can add new, customizable “Habit Cards,” such as

POINT BEYOND THE POINTS Basis’ focus on habits over time makes it one of the most powerful tools for managing your fitness that you can purchase.

Get More Sleep, Don’t Be a Sitter, Run Club (for runners), and Let’s Ride (for cyclists). At ¿rst, Basis only lets you have a limited number of cards, but you can unlock more as you meet existing goals. And Basis automatically adjusts your goals every week based on whether or not you reached them. POISED FOR PERFECTION The Basis B1 Band delivers everything I want in personal ¿tness data reporting and then some. There are a few minor drawbacks: the display, the strap, and the fairly steep price. But Basis has the potential to radically change how other activity trackers handle personal data collection and analysis. Its formula is innovative, inspiring, and downright practical, and its features, mobile apps, and wireless syncing are excellent. For half the cost, many people will be pleased with the Fitbit One or the Withings Pulse, our top two picks for clip-on trackers, and the new $129 Fitbit Force is stellar for anyone who wants a wristbased tracker, but is on a budget or doesn’t care about 24/7 heart rate data. The Basis is by far the most interesting activity tracker I’ve set sights on yet, and a well-deserved Editors’ Choice. JILL DUFFY


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DESIGN The HD 25 Aluminum’s ¿rst victory is its audio performance, but a close second is the simplicity of its design. A removable cable (with no phone controls) detaches from both ears—so the user chooses which earcup is left and which is right. Soft, supra-aural (onear) earpads and the well-cushioned underside of the headband make for an exceedingly comfortable ¿t. The earcups themselves slide up and down along the ends of the quite Àexible headband, and the cups have just enough give so that they’re easy to bend away from the other ear at any time. The headband is split down the middle and connected by hinges, so it can be adjusted to look and feel like a single headband or two thinner bands for an extremely stable ¿t. Somehow, these headphones stay comfortable and simultaneously almost completely stationary on the head, even when you’re moving around quite a bit. The detachable cable terminates in 3.5mm, so there is a quarter-inch adapter for pro-gear and stereo receivers—but aside from the soft, zip-up carrying case, the headphones ship with no other accessories. For the price, an extra cable, perhaps one with phone controls, or an extra set of earpads would have been a nice touch.

Sennheiser HD 25 Aluminum PROS Excellent audio performance, with well-defined bass response, articulate mids and highs. Comfortable over long listening periods, with an ideal design for DJ use. Removable cable. CONS Light on accessories.

PLAY ALL DAY With a removable cable, flexible and well-cushioned headband, and good earcup design, the HD 25 Aluminum pair is comfortable to wear for long periods.

PERFORMANCE On tracks with intense sub-bass content, such as The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the HD 25 Aluminum behaves as you’d expect a pro-level DJ headphone pair to. It delivers the low end cleanly and clearly, with no distortion even at top, unsafe listening levels. Although there is certainly a serious bass presence, it’s not overly exaggerated, and the lows are also matched by highly articulate mids and highs. On Bill Callahan’s “Drover,” this balance delivers a near-perfect mix of rich lows and high-mid edge. His baritone vocals are crisp enough to stand out in front of the mix, while the drumming gets an ideal amount of rich bass—but not so much that the drums compete with the vocals, as they often do on overly bass-heavy pairs. Sometimes, if the drums on this track don’t receive much low-end boosting, however, they can also sound thin and weak. Through the HD 25 Aluminum, they get enough richness and roundness to sound natural. Every instrument seems to occupy its own space—the strumming of the guitar doesn’t ¿ght with the vocals, and the lows in Callahan’s voice don’t get lost in the drums or the spare bass playing. On Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild,” the HD 25 Aluminum delivers the mix with a focus on the mids. The kick drum loop’s attack isn’t quite as sculpted in the high-mids and highs as it can be on other pairs, and the sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are still an important part of the mix, but they don’t overtake it as can happen with very bass-heavy headphones. When these synth hits venture into slightly higher notes (that are still quite low), they seem to get a bit more of the spotlight—so the lows seem to have more presence than the sub-bass lows. But overall, the focus is on the midrange

presence of the drum loop, and the clarity of the vocals. On classical tracks, such as John Adams’ “The Chairman Dances,” the balance of the HD 25 Aluminum is once again on excellent display. Lower-register strings are lent a subtle richness that helps add a bit more range to a mix that on some pairs can sound a bit too bright. The higher-register strings and brass still run the show, but they are never harsh or overly bright as they can be on some heavily sculpted pairs. I wouldn’t call these Àat response headphones— there’s a little more bass response here than a truly Àat pair would have—but they are so wonderfully balanced, I would call them ideal, whether you’re a DJ or just a music lover. For the money, the Sennheiser HD 25 Aluminum doesn’t come with much— just a cable, adapter, and carrying case. You can get more features (and deeper bass) with something like the Beats Pro by Dr. Dre, and the Numark Electrowave and Panasonic Technics RP-DH1250 are solid options for lessexpensive DJ headphones. But when you get such a quality sonic experience, the accessories or lack thereof hardly seem to matter. It’s expensive, but the HD 25 Aluminum earns our Editors’ Choice award. TIM GIDEON


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iRobot Roomba 880 $699.99 L L L H m

A Powerful But Overpriced Robot Vacuum

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he original iRobot Roomba amazed us when it ¿rst came out, and 11 years later it’s still a pretty impressive piece of technology for your home. It has become the go-to name for robotic vacuum cleaners, and it’s still the biggest brand. Now iRobot is upgrading the line to what it calls the 800 series, starting with the Roomba 880. This vacuum is powerful enough to pick up most big dry spills, and there are plenty of ways to make it vacuum where you want, when you want. But despite its cool factor, it’s still incredibly expensive for a device that does a job you could do yourself faster with a much cheaper upright model.

DESIGN Aside from the coloration of the body you’d be hard pressed to tell the Roomba 880 from the Roomba 790 or other 700-series models. It’s a large circular puck with a Àip-up handle in the center for carrying, a large Clean button to start it, and several touch-sensitive buttons for programming its schedule. It comes with two Virtual Wall Lighthouses, just like the Roomba 790. These small, black devices can be set to either Virtual Wall mode to project a boundary across doors or other spaces to keep the Roomba from crossing, or to Lighthouse mode to give the Roomba a navigation point to help it move between rooms. The Virtual Wall Lighthouse can be set to three different ranges of virtual wall, up to eight feet in length. You can also put the Virtual Wall Lighthouse in a Virtual Halo accessory that projects the wall in a circle around objects you don’t want the Roomba to bump into. CONTROL Like the Roomba 790, the Roomba 880 comes with a remote control so you can directly guide your vacuum. Unfortunately, the 880’s remote is a step back from the Roomba 790’s admittedly clunky controller. It’s shaped like a conventional television remote, but with

iRobot Roomba 880 PROS Powerful vacuum for its size. Can be controlled, scheduled to fit your needs. Brushless design helps prevent tangles. CONS Very expensive. Complicated home layouts require planning and accessories, or watching the vacuum and controlling it manually.

noticeably fewer buttons. It has a large rubber circle with Forward, Left, and Right directions, and three additional silver buttons below it for telling the Roomba to clean automatically, spot clean, or automatically dock. The rubber direction controller is very uncomfortable, and it’s easy to make the Roomba swerve left and right instead of move forward, or completely stop when you want it to go in a certain direction. The larger Wireless Command Center that came with the 790 (and is available as an accessory for the 880) has three distinct direction buttons that make controlling it and getting into small areas much easier. When you turn the Roomba 880 on by pressing the Clean button on the body, it automatically starts vacuuming the room. The Virtual Wall Lighthouses, remote control, and Wireless Command Center help

you direct it to different places, but you still have to manually turn it on to use it this way. If you just want the Roomba to sweep up after you regularly without going into every last corner, you can program it to vacuum at certain times and on certain days. This can be easily set by tapping the touch-sensitive controls on the Roomba’s body, selecting which days of the week and what times you want the vacuum to start cleaning without you.

Unfortunately, the 880’s remote is a step back from the Roomba 790’s admittedly clunky controller.

FEELING REMOTE The poor remote control can make it difficult to precisely control the Roomba 880 in all situations.

CLEAN LITTLE SUCKER Sporting a new brushless intake system, the Roomba 880 is more efficient at cleaning than previous models.

PERFORMANCE The Roomba 880 sports a new brushless intake that iRobot claims prevents tangles from occurring when vacuuming and increases the vacuum’s suction. According to iRobot, the Roomba 880 can remove 50 percent more dirt, can hold 60 percent more dirt in its bin, and is ¿ve times more powerful than previous Roomba models. We can’t precisely test these claims, but the Roomba 880 picked up smashed Wheat Thins scattered across our news bullpen when I used it. It picked up most of them when told to either clean the general area or spot clean the really messy part (the bullpen is rather large, and the Roomba started wandering away before it noticed the majority of the crumbs placed behind its starting point). A few stray crumbs in corners were picked up with manual control, though the vacuum kept stopping under the radiator whenever infrared remote contact was broken. The suction de¿nitely seems improved. The iRobot Roomba 880 vacuums with gusto; has plenty of features; and if you have pets that shed, the new brushless system might be worth it. But it’s still incredibly expensive for a vacuum, even if it’s one that does most of the work for you. For half as much, you can get the cordless upright Gtech AirRAM. It’s a vacuum you have to steer yourself, but it’s more powerful and is surprisingly easy and convenient to use. The Roomba might vacuum without you, but the AirRAM will let you vacuum much, much more quickly, without setting up virtual walls or otherwise babysitting it. WILL GREENWALD


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The Pentax D-SLR, Faster And More Refined The K-3 takes a lot of what Pentax cameras are known for—robust weather sealing, excellent control layout, and fantastic highISO image quality—and couples it with the EDITORS’ CHOICE best-yet Pentax autofocus system and an impressive burst shooting mode. When coupled with a weather-resistant lens it’s a go-anywhere 24-megapixel SLR capable of capturing outstanding images. It’s not perfect: Video autofocus is speedier than we’ve seen in past Pentaxes, but you’ll have to initiate it manually; and the camera is a little slow to start and grab a shot compared with some others in this class. But those minor complaints aren’t enough to keep the K-3 down.

Pentax K-3 $1,299.95 (body only) L L L L H

DESIGN AND FEATURES The K-3 is on the small side for a camera of this class, measuring 3.9 by 5.2 by 3.1 inches and weighing 1.8 pounds without a lens. The added weight is likely due to the K-3’s weather sealing; every button and port is protected against dust and splashes. When you pair it with a sealed lens it can be used safely in the elements, though it’s not submersible. The view¿nder is a solid glass pentaprism that covers 100 percent of the frame with 0.95x magni¿cation. If you use the K-3’s in-camera distortion correction you’ll want to take a little care when framing images tightly, as that correction can slightly narrow the ¿eld of view of the attached lens. It’s applied to JPEGs only, so it’s not a concern if you’re working in Raw. The K-3’s body is rife with physical control options that will delight demanding photographers. A few controls are on the left side, adjacent to the lens mount, including a toggle switch to change between manual and autofocus operation, a button to adjust the autofocus mode, and the programmable Raw/Fx button that can be used to toggle Raw image capture or reprogrammed to perform other functions. The top plate features a locking mode dial—you can set it to freely turn at all times, or lock it so a button needs to be pressed to change the shooting mode. The power switch, with integrated depth of ¿eld preview, shutter release, front control dial, and buttons to adjust exposure compensation and ISO are at the top right of the camera, integrated into the handgrip. There’s also a monochrome information LCD that shows the active settings.

Pentax K-3 PROS Excellent highISO image quality. Shoots at 8.1fps. Fast 27-point autofocus system. In-camera shake reduction. Selectable simulated low-pass filter. Weather-sealed design. Pentaprism viewfinder. Sharp rear display. Top-notch control layout. Dual SD card slots. PC sync flash socket. CONS Limited autofocus during video recording. A little slow to start. No built-in GPS, Wi-Fi.

Running along the top of the rear of the camera are a Play button for image playback and a button to adjust the metering pattern. To the right of the eyepiece you’ll ¿nd the Live View/Record button, the rear control dial, the Autofocus button, and the Autoexposure Lock (AE-L) button. Below that, to the right of the LCD, is the Green button (it handles a variety of functions when used in conjunction with other controls), and a toggle switch to change between still and video modes. Four directional buttons can be used to move the active focus point and navigate through menus, and those buttons double as controls for the drive mode, white balance, Àash mode, and color output. There are also the standard OK, Menu, and Info buttons. Two IR sensors on the camera, one on the rear and one on the grip, let you use a wireless remote to trigger the shutter. The rear LCD is a ¿xed 3.2-inch panel with an impressively bright and sharp 1,037,000k-dot resolution, though it’s not hinged. There’s no Wi-Fi or GPS here, which isn’t uncommon for this class of camera. The K-3 is compatible with the Eye-Fi Mobi memory card, and its dual card slots (SDHC and SDXC are supported) make it possible to simultaneously record Raw images to a fast SD card and JPEGs to an Eye-Fi. There’s also a special version of the Flucard Pro Wi-Fi SD card on the horizon that is tuned for use with the K-3. In addition to ON DISPLAY The rear LCD on the Pentax K-3 isn’t hinged, but it looks bright and sports an incredibly high resolution.

sharing with a smartphone, it will support remote control via an iOS or Android device. PERFORMANCE AND CONCLUSIONS The K-3 is a little slow to start and shoot, at 0.9 second, but it’s speedy once it gets going. It can rattle off shots at 8.1 frames per second (fps) and its burst capabilities are quite impressive; it captures 24 Raw+JPEG, 25 Raw, or 27 JPEG images before slowing down. The 27-point autofocus system is quick. All save the leftmost and rightmost points are cross-type, which means that they analyze focus vertically and horizontally. With ample light the K-3 can lock focus and ¿re its shutter in as little as 0.05 second, but in very dim light the focus speed can slow to about a second. Contrast detection autofocus takes over when you switch to Live View, and the K-3 puts up impressive marks for a traditional SLR. In ample light it locks focus and ¿res in about 0.9 second, and it slows to 3.1 seconds in very dim light. The K-3’s 24MP image sensor omits an optical lowpass ¿lter, so if you’re shooting a scene where moiré is

IN CONTROL With an excellent layout of many physical controls, the Pentax K-3 has a lot to offer demanding photographers.

going to be an issue, simply Àip a setting in the menu and its shake reduction system will move the sensor just enough during the exposure to blur your image the same way that an OLPF would. I used Imatest to check the K-3’s images for noise. When using JPEG output at default settings, the K-3 keeps noise nicely under control, recording images with less than 1.5 percent—and solid image detail—through ISO 3200, though there is some loss of punch compared to a Raw image at the same settings. There’s a little more JPEG noise (1.9 percent) at ISO 6400, but details still hold up. Only when you get to ISO 12800 do JPEGs really start to suffer. If you reduce or disable noise reduction, or shoot in Raw, output is shockingly good at ISO 12800 and detail-rich at ISO 25600, despite noticeable grain. At the top sensitivity, ISO 51200, noise takes on a large, chunky pattern. Still, the K-3 delivers the best high-ISO output I’ve seen from a 24MP APS-C camera. The camera records HD QuickTime video at 1080i60, 1080p30/25/24, or 720p60/50/30/25/24 quality. Footage is crisp and sharp, and the visual evidence of the rolling shutter effect is limited to very fast pans if you opt to shoot in 60fps; at slower frame rates it’s evident in slower pans. There are some

LARGE LENS LIBRARY Though you just get the camera body for your purchase price, the Pentax K-3 supports a number of lenses, including classic manual-focus K-mount lenses.

pro features, including audio level control, an external mic input, and a headphone jack for audio monitoring. Available video capture modes include program, aperture priority, sensitivity priority, or full manual, all of which let you adjust settings during recording. On the K-3 you’ll ¿nd Pentax’s fastest-yet video autofocus, though it’s not continuous; the Canon EOS 70D’s autofocus is the best we’ve seen from any D-SLR, and the Sony Alpha 77 turns out better video still (complete with fast autofocus and 1080p60 capture). With the K-3 you’re better off pulling focus manually, especially when working with a lens with a nice, long focus throw or a classic manual focus K-mount lens. And focus peaking, which highlights infocus areas of the frame in white on the rear LCD, is available at all times. The K-3 joins the full-frame Nikon D800 in sporting USB 3.0. The port is located under a Àap on the left side of the body, along with a micro HDMI output port and a DC input connector, and a port for a wired remote control is on the right. There’s also a standard PC sync socket which, along with the ability to run the camera directly off of a wall outlet via an optional AC adapter, makes the K-3 a solid choice for studio use. An outstanding take on the traditional D-SLR, the Pentax K-3 has a top-notch optical view¿nder, quick focus, and outstanding image quality even in dif¿cult lighting situations. If you really need to shoot video, the Canon EOS 70D and Sony Alpha 77 are better choices. But if you’re in the market for a serious APS-C D-SLR, the K-3 is our Editors’ Choice—and a no-brainer if you’re already a Pentax shooter. JIM FISHER


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Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 2 Pro $999 L L L L m

This Hybrid Ultrabook Has More Than One Twist

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enovo’s IdeaPad Yoga 2 Pro is the follow-up to last year’s IdeaPad 13. As a hybrid ultrabook, it has a screen that swings around so you can use the system in a variety of con¿gurations ranging from clamshell notebook to tablet. The Yoga 2 Pro’s higher-than-HD-resolution screen makes it attractive for early adopters and graphics arts mavens, but the system falls a bit short of earning our highest recommendation.

DESIGN AND FEATURES Our Yoga 2 Pro review unit had a bright silver top and bottom lid, and black-colored keyboard deck, screen bezel, and side edges. The system looks a little like a reverse Oreo when viewed from the side, but on the whole it works. The black keys on the keyboard have white lettering and are backlit for use in darkened rooms. The keyboard is extremely comfortable to type on; the bottoms of the keys have a very slight bowing. A touch-sensitive Windows key on the bottom of the screen is always active and is especially helpful in navigating the non-laptop modes. About the only quirk that remains is that the keyboard is still exposed and keys can still be pressed (though they don’t register) when the system is in Tablet mode. Though it’s lighter than the Yoga 13, the Yoga 2 Pro is still fairly heavy and bulky. The system measures about 0.61 by 13 by 8.75 inches (HWD), and weighs just over 3 pounds—too heavy to use in Tablet mode full-time unless it is resting on a surface. Detachable or smaller systems are really the way to get ultra-mobile. The Yoga 2 Pro improves on older Yoga and quirkier models (such as the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 14) by including a 3,200-by-1,800-resolution screen—four

Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 2 Pro PROS Lid folds all the way around. Higherthan-1080p display. Excellent backlit keyboard. CONS Only one USB 2.0, USB 3.0 port. Battery life a bit weak. Some older apps will give you problems with scaling. Keys still exposed, clickable in Tablet mode.

LOOKING SHARP With a resolution of 3,200 by 1,800, the screen on the Yoga 2 Pro offers incredibly crisp visuals for almost any task.

times the size of 1080p HD. This matches what you ¿nd on our high-end ultrabook and ultraportable Editors’ Choice–winning Samsung Ativ Book 9 Plus and 13-inch Apple MacBook Pro. What do these extra pixels get you? When using photo-editing programs you can see more detail without having to zoom in, and you can view 4K (UltraHD) online videos closer to their native resolution (up to 4,096 by 3,072). (Granted, these videos take much longer to download to the laptop than regular 1080p HD videos.) The IPS screen on the Yoga 2 Pro is very bright, and watching 4K videos on it gives you that hyper-real feeling that used to Àoor people when they ¿rst saw 1080p HD once upon a time. One of the downsides of this screen is that when you run programs that don’t automatically scale them, text and UI elements look tiny. (We saw this with Adobe Photoshop CS6 and Internet Explorer 11 menus.) Lenovo included a program called Yoga Picks, which suggests different apps for the four different screen con¿gurations: for example, video apps for Stand mode, touch-screen games for Tent mode. Thankfully, most of the tiles in Yoga Picks are links to downloads on the Windows Store so they don’t automatically consume precious space on the 128GB SSD. That said, there are still a handful of preloaded apps, including Evernote Touch, Zinio, Hightail, Kindle, eBay, FilmOnTelevision, rara music, Accuweather, a trial version of Microsoft Of¿ce, and Dragon Assistant; and Lenovo has also included a bunch of Lenovo Yoga– branded apps including Yoga Phone Companion, Lenovo Veriface, Lenovo

Motion Control, and Lenovo Companion. As a result, out of the box the Yoga 2 Pro has 80.9GB of storage space free. The system comes with a one-year warranty. PERFORMANCE The Yoga 2 Pro is powered by an Intel Core i5-4200U processor with Intel HD Graphics 4400 and 4GB of DDR3 memory—a combo that gives the system brisk, if not earth-shattering performance. It turned out ¿ne results in our PCMark 7 benchmark, which measures prowess with everyday tasks, and 3D performance is the best we can hope for with integrated Intel HD graphics (though older and casual games should play ¿ne). Our video editing test, Handbrake ran a little slower than on other systems we’ve seen (3 minutes 53 seconds), pointing to a slower SSD. That said, you should be able to keep this system around for three to ¿ve years. Battery life was average: 5 hours 42 minutes. The MacBook Pro is the class leader at 11:26, but even better ultrabooks will make it to almost 9 hours: The Samsung Ativ Book 9 Plus lasts 8:15 and the Dell XPS 12 8:22. Its overall weight and bulkiness set back the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 2, making Samsung’s Ativ Book 9 Plus the better all-around touch-screen ultrabook for regular usage scenarios. But if you like the Àexibility that its innovative hinge provides, and you want the brilliant screen to go with it, the Yoga 2 Pro is worth trying—just don’t expect to get an Apple iPad-like experience from it in Tablet mode. JOEL SANTO DOMINGO


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The Yoga 2 Pro is worth trying—just don’t expect to get an Apple iPad–like experience from it in Tablet mode.

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Windows RT Holds Back This Colorful Nokia Tablet

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he Windows RT tablet hasn’t yet made its last gasp. Nokia’s answer to Microsoft’s Surface 2 is the Lumia 2520, a slick little remix of tablet and smartphone. The result is a bright-colored alternative to the somewhat drab Surface 2, but it isn’t the best tablet out there, and no clever hardware design can remove the aftertaste of Windows RT. DESIGN The Lumia 2520 is quite slim, measuring 0.35 by 10.5 by 6.6 inches (HWD) and weighing 1.35 pounds—the

Nokia Lumia 2520

(Verizon Wireless) $399 L L L H m

same thickness as, but slightly lighter than, the Surface 2, and thicker and heavier than Apple’s iPad Air. The light yet durable polycarbonate chassis is a single seamless shell that boasts the same bright colors and enamel-like ¿nish as the Nokia Lumia 1520 smartphone, giving it an elegant look but not the luxurious feel you get from the Surface 2’s magnesium or the iPad Air’s aluminum. Verizon’s unit comes in red or black and AT&T’s in just black, though Nokia says white and cyan versions will also be available. The ¿ve-digit multitouch display measures 10.1 inches and is covered with a layer of glossy Gorilla Glass 2 to prevent scratches and shattering, but it doesn’t do much to ward off ¿ngerprints. It has a resolution of 1,920 by 1,080 and wide viewing angles, thanks to an IPS LCD display panel. This is far better than the 1,366by-768 resolution offered by the Asus Transformer Book T100TA, and a match for the Microsoft Surface 2, but it falls well behind the iPad Air’s 2,048-by-1,536 touch screen. Where most tablets have rearor side-mounted speakers in order to maximize the display real estate on the front of the tablet, the Lumia 2520 features two almost invisible forwardfacing speakers concealed at the bottom edge. This arrangement means that the sound will actually be projected in your general direction, instead of away from you as is the case with

Nokia Lumia 2520 (Verizon Wireless) PROS Good-looking design. Colorful polycarbonate shell. HD display with Gorilla Glass 2 covering. Terrific battery life. CONS Full-size USB 3.0 adapter, keyboard case sold separately. Mediocre sound quality. Limited software selection.

rear-mounted speakers. Although the con¿guration is nice, the sound quality does leave a lot to be desired, with only a hint of audible bass and a pronounced buzz at high volumes. The Lumia 2520 does not come with a keyboard, though Nokia will soon be offering a separate dockable keyboard and case combination, which adds a second battery and two full-size USB ports, for $149. SOFTWARE The Lumia 2520 comes with Microsoft Of¿ce RT 2013, which gives you RT-friendly versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote, and Outlook. Common apps, such as NetÀix or Amazon Kindle Reader, don’t come preinstalled, but are available for free through the Windows Store. Remember, though, that regular Windows 8.1 apps won’t run on this operating system, and that although more apps for Windows RT have appeared over the last year, many popular titles are still not available.

Although more apps for Windows RT have appeared over the last year, many popular titles are still not available.

APP TIME Though Nokia includes its own apps on the Lumia 2520, the overall selection on Windows RT is still severely limited.

That’s not to say that there are no other extras on the tablet, however. The Lumia 2520 comes with several Nokia-branded apps, like Nokia Camera, Nokia Storyteller, Nokia Video Director, and My Nokia, and games like Dragons Adventure, set in the world of Pixar’s How to Train Your Dragon, and HERE Maps, which offers trip planning and travel directions using integrated GPS. Verizon includes My Verizon Mobile and VZ Connection Manager for customers. FEATURES On the right edge of the chassis you’ll ¿nd a micro USB 3.0 port and micro HDMI out port. On the left are a headset jack and a charging port. On the bottom is a docking connector, for use with the wraparound Power Keyboard, and on the top there is a shared card slot, along with buttons to power on the device and adjust volume. The decision to use a micro USB 3.0 port is puzzling—with the same width as the Microsoft Surface 2, there’s certainly room for a full-size port. With no adapter dongle included the customer must either purchase a USB 3.0 OTG adapter dongle (or a compatible USB 2.0 adapter that won’t be as fast) in order to use the port. Internally, the Lumia 2520 features the usual tablet sensors (ambient light sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity sensor, and magnetometer) along with GPS and an NFC sensor for easy pairing and sharing. For pairing to wireless devices, the tablet has Bluetooth 4.0, and for Web connectivity both 802.11n Wi-Fi and 4G LTE through Verizon. The Lumia 2520 tablet also has both front- and rearfacing cameras. The former offers 2-megapixel photo and wide-angle 720p video capture for Skype or Google Hangouts. The rear-facing camera is quite a bit better: 6.7MP and featuring Zeiss optics and 4x digital zoom. Though its resolution is lower than that of its smartphone counterpart, the Lumia 2520’s camera does

offer better resolution than you’ll get from the iPad Air’s and Surface 2’s cameras, which both top out at 5MP. You’ll only be able to access 25.5GB of the Lumia 2520’s 32GB of solid-state memory; should you want to bolster this meager storage you can use the microSD card slot, which accepts cards up to 32GB in capacity. This SD card slot uses a card tray to insert the card into the tablet, and it shares the tray with the microSIM card slot for 4G LTE. If you want to swap out memory cards, you’ll need to remove the microSIM as well, temporarily leaving without you mobile broadband connection. Nokia covers the Lumia 2520 with a one-year warranty on parts and labor. PERFORMANCE The Nokia Lumia 2520 is out¿tted with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, the same processor found in the Google Nexus 5 and the Nokia Lumia 1520. The Surface 2, on the other hand, is equipped with the competing Nvidia Tegra 4 processor, and the difference in hardware resulted in slightly slower performance—

FOUR-COLOR TABLET The Lumia 2520 is available in four different colors that mimic those of Nokia’s phones.

the Lumia 2520 was notably faster in both Browsermark 2.0 and simple hands-on testing. (Because of Windows RT, I couldn’t run our usual batch of performance benchmark tests.) Aside from other RTbased tablets, however, it gets left behind, with both the iPad Air and the Asus Transformer Book T100TA offering faster, smoother browsing. The battery is sealed into the tablet’s chassis, and isn’t serviceable by the customer. Although this is par for the course among current tablets, it does mean that if there is a defect or the battery simply wears out over time, you will need to contact Nokia about getting it serviced. In our battery rundown test, the Lumia 2520 lasted 12 hours 6 minutes while playing a 24-hour video ¿le. This easily indicates all-day battery life, but it still falls short of the Surface 2, which lasted an impressive 14:51. Asus’ Transformer Book T1001TA lasted 11:20 and the iPad Air 6:14. CONCLUSION The Nokia Lumia 2520 is a pretty good Windows RT tablet, but that makes it second best in a category of only two new devices. The Microsoft Surface 2 keeps the Editors’ Choice title thanks to Microsoft’s complimentary services and the Àexibility afforded by a full-size USB port. But though the Lumia 2520 has a few drawbacks, the biggest liability is Windows RT— there are better options available that give you either a richer selection of apps (Apple’s iPad Air) or run the full version of Windows (Asus’ Transformer Book T100TA). BRIAN WESTOVER


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The Nokia Lumia 2520 is a pretty good Windows RT tablet, but that makes it second in a category of only two devices.

REVIEWS

HARDWARE

Add Touch To Your PC With Dell’s New 27-Inch Monitor It was less than a year ago that we started seeing the ¿rst wave of touch-screen monitors designed to optimize the Windows 8 experience. Now Dell has upped the ante with EDITORS’ CHOICE the release of four new models ranging in size from 20 to 27 inches. We got our hands on the biggest one, the Dell P2714T, and were impressed with its overall performance, port selection, and touch capabilities. Yes, its reÀective screen can be annoying, but not nearly as annoying as its $700 price tag.

Dell P2714T $699.99 L L L L m

DESIGN AND FEATURES The P2714T’s 27-inch PLS (Plane-to-Line Switching) panel has a maximum resolution of 1,920 by 1,080, is housed in a sleek 1.7-inch black curved cabinet, and is covered in edge-to-edge glass—it looks like an oversized tablet. The shiny glass coating looks slick but it is highly reÀective and can make you feel as though you have a large mirror on your desk. Like a picture frame, one side of the silver stand folds out to support the cabinet and provides up to 60 degrees of tilt. You can’t adjust the height, however. There are two USB 3.0 ports mounted on the monitor’s left side that are easily accessible for plugging in thumb drives and other peripherals. Around back, facing downward, are two downstream USB ports, one

upstream port, two HDMI ports, a DisplayPort jack, and a VGA port. There’s also an audio output for use with external speakers (the P2714T does not have builtin speakers). The HDMI ports support MHL (Mobile High-de¿nition Link) connectivity and can be used to connect the monitor to devices such as smartphones and tablets. The right edge of the cabinet holds a power switch and four function buttons that are identi¿ed by on-

Dell P2714T PROS Solid performance. Accurate ten-point touch. Generous port selection. Stylish design. CONS Reflective screen. Pricey. Blacks could be darker.

TOUCH TILT You can’t adjust the height of the P2714T, but you can tilt it up to 60 degrees.

screen labels. The Preset Mode button lets you choose one of seven picture presets including Standard, Multimedia, Movie, Game, Text, Warm, and Cool. There’s also a user mode that lets you create your own preset with custom levels for red, green, and blue. In addition to Brightness and Contrast controls you can choose one of two color formats (RGB, YPbPr), adjust the aspect ratio and sharpness, and select an input source. The usual analog settings (clock, phase, position) are available as well. Dell backs the P2714T with a three-year warranty and includes HDMI and USB cables in the box. You also get a resource CD, a cleaning cloth, a Velcro strap, and a quick-start guide.

The P2714T’s ten-point capacitive touch screen worked like a charm.

PERFORMANCE The P2714T’s ten-point capacitive touch screen worked like a charm. There’s plenty of room for swiping and performing gesture commands like zooming and pinching. The screen was very responsive and the onscreen keyboard worked Àawlessly. The PLS panel delivered generally accurate colors right out of the box. Reds and blues were very accurate, though greens are a bit off the mark. Fortunately, the

PICTURES PERFECT Use any of seven picture presets to tweak your display’s look for whatever you’re doing.

greens were only slightly warm and not so skewed as to appear oversaturated. Grayscale performance was also good but the panel was unable to produce really dark blacks, which is necessary for displaying intricate shadow detail. That said, the Blu-ray movie 2012 looked just ¿ne on the big screen and color quality was superb. As with IPS panel technology, PLS panels offer wide viewing angles, and the P2714T is no different; there was no color shifting or loss of luminance from any angle. Small text appeared crisp and well de¿ned. The panel’s 8ms (g-g) pixel response handled video and light gaming duties with aplomb but there was a trace of ghosting with more demanding games such as Crysis and Aliens vs. Predator. You’d have to be actively looking for it to notice it, though. The P2714T used only 17 watts of power during testing while set to the Standard preset, which is quite ef¿cient for a 27-inch panel. At $700 the Dell P2714T is signi¿cantly more expensive than a standard 27-inch monitor, but it’s not the most expensive model of that size. Acer has recently introduced a $700 IPS model and a $1,000 advanced vertical alignment (AHVA) model, and the ViewSonic TD2740 lists for $867.99. We wish the P2714T offered darker blacks and a less reÀective screen, but we were impressed with its color and touch performance as well as its feature set, which is why it earns our Editors’ Choice for big-screen touch-screen monitors. Looking for a less-expensive, midsize alternative? The P2714T’s little brother, the 23-inch P2314T, costs $449.99 and is best in its class, too. JOHN DELANEY


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ANY IMAGE, ANYWHERE The Dell P2714T looks terrific when viewed from any angle.

REVIEWS

HARDWARE

Make Your Home Network As Fast As It Can Be The Linksys EA6900 AC1900 Smart Wi-Fi Router is the best router to come from Linksys since its acquisition by Belkin, providing unprecedented performance in range and EDITORS’ CHOICE throughput. Though you can ¿nd less expensive routers with some superior features, in terms of pure speed, range, and NAS capabilities, the EA6900 offers power worth paying for. DESIGN, SPECS, AND SETUP The EA6900 looks sharp, with a black housing and silver metallic decoration that can get a bit warm to the touch after several hours of uptime. It looks almost

Linksys EA6900 AC1900 Smart Wi-Fi Router $249 L L L L m

identical to its predecessor, the EA6400, save for the addition of three included external dual-band dipole antennas that attach to the device. This is a concurrent, dual-band router with a 3x3 transmit/receive antenna con¿guration on each band. The 2.4GHz band supports up to a theoretical 600Mbps and the 5GHz band supports up to 1,300Mbps. There are four Gigabit Ethernet ports, and two USB ports (one 2.0, one 3.0) let you connect to printers and USB storage devices. Even people inexperienced in working with routers will have no trouble setting up the EA6900; a Quick Start Guide and setup disc guide you through the simple, ¿ve-step process. Once the hardware is ready you visit the Linksys Smart Wi-Fi Setup Page, where a wizard walks you through the con¿guration procedure

(or you may con¿gure the router manually). The wizard is very thorough, and easily detects problems and proposes solutions. INTERFACE AND FEATURES The management interface has not changed since the EA6400, and you can manage the router locally or remotely through the Linksys Smart Wi-Fi cloud service. While testing, I was pleased to see that whether I made setting changes locally or remotely, those changes took affect and were consistent across both the

Linksys EA6900 AC1900 Smart Wi-Fi Router PROS Outstanding performance. Excellent range. Good cloud-based management. Speedy NAS functionality with connected USB drives. CONS Expensive. Runs slightly warm. Some incompatibility with Linksys wireless USB adapter.

GOING NETWORKING The Linksys EA6900 AC1900 Smart Wi-Fi Router offers plenty of connectivity for home users, including USB ports for NAS functions.

NEVER TOO REMOTE The Smart Wi-Fi Router has an intuitive and userfriendly cloudbased management system that lets you adjust the device’s settings from anywhere.

local and cloud interfaces. Linksys has taken the clumsy foundation that its cloud service was built upon, the Cisco Connect Cloud, and made cloud management an evolved, user-friendly, and easy way to remotely manage your home network. The interface lists wired and wireless devices that are connected to the router, guest access, parental controls, media prioritization (a customizable option that lets you load games, video, audio, or other applications and services more quickly), and more. Parental controls work ef¿ciently. You can only control access by device and can completely block Internet access, or selectively block based on a schedule; you can also block by speci¿c website. For the ultimate in router parental controls, look to Skydog: It offers advanced content and Internet access management (though it operates at nowhere near the speed of the EA6900). And the EA6900 is missing two other advanced features that are present in the competing Netgear Nighthawk: full VPN service and the ability to be Àashed with open-source ¿rmware. Still, the EA6900 is ideal for those who want a truly user-friendly network device. NAS CAPABILITY The EA6900 has some NAS functionality, as you can attach a hard drive to the USB port and share data throughout a network. The NAS interface is simple to use and straightforward, letting you clearly see used and free space on (and the correct network path for) your external drive. Management capabilities include enabling secure folder access, setting up FTP, and con¿guring the media server functionality (for streaming multimedia from the attached drive). Write speeds streaming a movie clip from an external USB 3.0 drive to an Ethernet-connected laptop were some of the best I’ve encountered while using a

router’s USB NAS functionality. Write speeds averaged 14MBps (I typically see about 11MBps) and, as usual, reads were even better—27MBps (13MBps is the average). I also noticed a better overall user experience working with the NAS functionality in the EA6900 than with the EA6400, with no strange error messages or disconnecting and reconnecting the USB drive required. PERFORMANCE There’s no way around it: The EA6900 is the fastest router I’ve tested. In 802.11ac mode, using Linksys’ WUSB6300 Wi-Fi Wireless AC Dual-Band AC1200 USB Adapter, the router hit just shy of 400Mbps. I’ve never seen anywhere close to that speed in our testing environment. The closest competitor was the Trendnet AC1750 Dual Band Wireless Router—and that managed just over 300Mbps. Overall, though, the Trendnet holds its own with a standard throughput test using Ixia’s IxChariot testing software when compared with the EA6900: At 15 feet the Trendnet router managed 283Mbps compared with the Linksys at 238Mbps. It’s not a huge difference; for me, it’s that 400Mbps for highthroughput testing that places the EA6900 above the Trendnet when comparing both at 5GHz in 802.11ac mode. The EA6900 also gave superior performance in 5GHz 802.11n-only mode, and sustained range well. In addition, it did ¿ne in 2.4GHz, again giving some of the highest numbers I’ve seen among 11ac routers. I did, however, run into trouble testing the EA6900 in 2.4GHz mode at a distance of 30 feet or more from the router: The connection kept dropping. This occurred only when I tested with the WUSB6300 adapter. When I tested using my laptop’s native on-board Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 AGN adapter I received slower throughput results but I did not see any connection drops.

Linksys representatives told me that connection drops are because the WUSB6300 switches from USB 3.0 mode to USB 2.0 mode when it detects interference. That performance load balancing is ¿ne, but it should not disconnect the client from the router. Until Linksys irons out issues with the adapter with an upcoming ¿rmware update, my suggestion would be to only use the Linksys USB adapter at the 5GHz band, and use your wireless client’s native wireless adapter for connecting to the EA6900 at 2.4GHz. SPEED BEAST If you are looking for a router that is simple to manage and delivers high performance, the EA6900 is a terri¿c choice—provided you don’t need advanced networking features and don’t have the desire to tweak granular settings. The EA6900 is suited for multi-device home networks where streaming video, playing online games, and making Skype calls are among the common activities. It’s more than worthy of being our new Editors’ Choice for consumer routers. SAMARA LYNN


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If you’re looking for a router that is simple to manage and delivers high performance, the EA6900 is a terrific choice.

REVIEWS

SOFTWARE

The Most Powerful Free Password Manager There’s no better way to make your passwords stronger and safer than to use a password manager, and the newest version of LastPass is the best one available. Boasting a freshly EDITORS’ CHOICE redesigned user interface and in-menu search functionality that make it easier than ever to use, LastPass 3.0 is now the strongest and best looking it’s been—and it lets you protect your data with more different kinds of two-factor authentication than any other password manager I’ve encountered.

LastPass 3.0 Free L L L L L

EASY START Creating a new LastPass account is a snap, though you will want to take your time creating the strongest master password you can. You’ll get a warning to remember it, because the folks at LastPass don’t know it, and they can’t decrypt your account without it. LastPass also offers to import insecurely stored passwords from Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome, and from more than 30 competing password managers. Once you’ve installed the plug-in on all your browsers (Opera and Safari are also supported), on all your computers, you’re ready to go. EVEN BETTER PASSWORD CAPTURE Like every useful password manager, LastPass captures usernames and passwords as you type them into secure sites. You can use either the new folder navigation method or the old top-of-the-browser infobar (which you may still have to use for some complex login pages). Weird login styles don’t bother LastPass. If it doesn’t automatically offer to capture what you’ve entered, you can click the browser button and choose “Save All Entered Data.” In testing, I found that some oddball login pages that had needed this feature in the past are now captured automatically by LastPass. LastPass also detects when you change your password or sign up for a new secure site. Clicking a small icon overlay in the password-entry box brings up the powerful LastPass password generator. You set the length and the character sets to use, you can choose to avoid ambiguous characters such as “0” and “O,” and you can generate pronounceable passwords (such as “woradleyeni”) for occasions when you have to remember a password yourself. PASSWORD REPLAY When you revisit a secure site, LastPass can ¿ll in your saved credentials automatically. If you have more than

LastPass 3.0 PROS Improved interface highlights notifications, queries. Search from browser menu. Many multifactor authentication choices. Handles site signup, password change. Fills Web forms. Offers credential sharing. CONS No mobile device support, syncing of shared credentials, family sharing in the free edition.

one login, it puts a menu of choices right below the password entry box. Clicking the LastPass browser button brings up a menu that includes all of your saved sites. The categories you assigned them become submenu headings. One way LastPass differs from most password managers is that it lets you create multilevel categories. Click on a website in the menu to navigate there and log in automatically. In previous editions, if you wanted to search for a site you had to open the full-scale LastPass Vault. Now you can just start typing in the menu’s built-in search bar— much quicker! FORM FILLING CONVENIENCE As is true of most password managers, LastPass lets you create any number of form-¿ll pro¿les, each with personal data, address information, email and phone contacts, a credit card, a bank account, and some userde¿ned ¿elds. You can also create any number of credit card–only pro¿les. When you click a ¿eld in a Web form, LastPass displays a small menu listing your saved pro¿les—click one to ¿ll the form. You can also create a new pro¿le, or select a speci¿c combination of personal pro¿le and credit card pro¿le.

IN THE VAULT LastPass’ password vault makes it easy to navigate, edit, or share your login credentials.

LastPass notices when you manually ¿ll in a Web form. As soon as you hit Submit, it offers to save what you typed as a new pro¿le. Dashlane is the only other product I’ve seen with this handy ability. MULTIPLE LAYERS OF SECURITY If you’re worried that a hardware keylogger may capture your LastPass master password, you can enter it using a built-in virtual keyboard. For iffy situations, such as when you know you’ll have to log in from insecure computers, you can instead generate a collection of one-time passwords to carry with you. If you choose to link Google Authenticator to your LastPass account, then logging in will require both your master password and a one-time code sent to your phone. You can also ring in two-factor authentication from Toopher, Duo Security, or Transakt. LastPass even includes a low-tech authentication method called Grid Multifactor. You print a wallet-sized card containing a grid ¿lled with random characters. After you log in with your master password, LastPass will ask for the characters at speci¿c intersections in the grid. No other password manager I’ve encountered offers this many options for multifactor authentication. SECURITY CHALLENGE For strengthening your existing passwords, the LastPass Security Challenge combs through your stored data and assigns a security score. If yours isn’t 100 percent, you have some work to do. The resulting report lists all of your unique passwords, starting with the weakest, and separately lists duplicates. From each item in the list you can click a link to change the password; LastPass will capture the change.

login to require re-entry of the master password, or choose whether or not it automatically logs in after ¿lling in your credentials. You can separate your passwords and form-¿lls into multiple “identities” (use one set at work and another at home, for example). You can limit your LastPass account to work only in speci¿ed countries, and set it to disallow logins over Tor networks. You can set it to automatically log off after a certain amount of idle time, to warn if you ¿ll forms on non-HTTPS sites, and more. And for any of your form-¿ll pro¿les, you can check a box to have LastPass notify you of any changes that occur in your credit status. It works; I bought a new car this year and the associated credit activity triggered an alert from LastPass. It will also notify you if the email address associated with your account is found in a major data breach. STILL THE BEST Despite its facelift, LastPass still isn’t quite as pretty or as easy to use as Dashlane 2.0, but it has the edge in power and Àexibility. LastPass and Dashlane are our Editors’ Choice products for password management. NEIL J. RUBENKING


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LastPass still isn’t quite as pretty or as easy to use as Dashlane 2.0, but it has the edge in power and flexibility.

2014 TECH PREDICTIONS 4K IS FINALLY HERE

FEATURES

2014

TECH PREDICTIONS

What does the year ahead have in store for computers, mobile devices, and more? PC Magazine’s analysts, editors, and contributors, and a selection of industry experts weigh in on why 2014 will be a transformative year in tech.

roscopes, y g , s n e re c s of touch The addition e tablet form h t t a h t rs e t ome eginning, b and magnet e h t t s ju s ht to PCs wa factor broug uce a laptop d ro t in P H n ady see as we’ve alre uilt in. In the b r e ll ro t n o c p Motion re with the Lea see even mo o t t c e p x e , ths coming mon gestures, eye k c ra t t a h t nsors advanced se biquitous in u e m o c e b d more gaze data, an uting space. p m o c l a n o the pers

BRIAN WESTOVER

ANALYST, HARDWARE, PC MAGAZINE

LAARNI ALMENDRALA RAGAZA

MANAGING EDITOR, HARDWARE, PC MAGAZINE The Leap Motion controller brought to fruition the idea that you don’t have to touch your screen to actually control the interface on it. Elon Musk is already expanding on this. He posted a YouTube video showing how you can design a rocket using gesture controls for the screen. The holographic interfaces you saw in Minority Report, The Avengers, and Iron Man 3 may not be so farfetched after all.

MITCHELL HALL

MANAGING EDITOR, FEATURES, PC MAGAZINE Flexible, interactive screens will start to revolutionize not only smartphones and tablets (a screen you can fold up like a newspaper, or a smartphone that unfolds to become a tablet), but also surfaces from indoor and outdoor walls to roadworks signage and public transport. Such screens are going to become orders of magnitude more ubiquitous than they already are.

RENEE JAMES

PRESIDENT, INTEL

During the next era of personal computing, the biologic problem shifts to a computational problem in the treatment of cancer. Computing doesn’t get any more personal than when it saves your life.

ROBERT WHEADON

DIRECTOR, SSD PRODUCT MARKETING, CRUCIAL Consumers turn to their computers to do just about everything, so tomorrow’s products need to enable them to instantly and simultaneously connect with friends, apps, websites, games, videos, and playlists. In 2014, we expect more consumers to upgrade to SSDs, which offer nearly instant load and boot times compared with hard drives.

Hard drive–based DVRs have been the mainstay of the time shifter since 1999’s introduction of the TiVo. With cloud-based services and online streaming finally commonplace in mainstream homes, the only time you truly need to record and watch later are for live events such as news stories and sports contests. Cable companies and online video providers can fill this niche by replicating the DVR experience, but keeping the storage of the programs on cloud servers.

JOEL SANTO DOMINGO LEAD ANALYST, HARDWARE, PC MAGAZINE

JACK GOLD

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ANALYST, J.GOLD ASSOCIATES How Can I help You?

4k

In the next two to three years, the personal computing model will morph into an “everything computing” model. Smartphones and tablets are preliminary steps down this path. Smart peripherals, embedded systems, and personal assistants (such as medical instrumentation) will change how we communicate, socialize, and operate in business settings. Companies not focused on this EC phase will become obsolete.

WILL GREENWALD ANALYST, CONSUMER ELECTRONICS, PC MAGAZINE

1080p 720p

With no standard for 4K content in physical media and no way to broadcast it through normal means yet, you’re looking at these expensive screens being little more than tech demos. Just as HD didn’t take off until HD channels appeared and Blu-ray won the disc war, 4K won’t prosper without a way to view new, interesting content in native resolution.

STEPHANIE MLOT

REPORTER, PC MAGAZINE Apple will finally launch its ultra-high-def Apple TV set, complete with built-in Kinect-like motion sensors, Siri-esque voice commands, and a DVR capacity (with accompanying iOS mobile app), as well as a dock for attaching an iDevice to play music, videos, and photo slideshows.

RAYMOND SONEIRA

PRESIDENT, DISPLAYMATE TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Improvements and enhancements in displays and display technology will continue accelerating in 2014, resulting in: more displays with full color gamuts using quantum dots; larger, brighter, and more power efficient displays using low-temperature polysilicon technology; screen reflectance falling below 5 percent; dynamic color gamuts and dynamic intensity scales to compensate for image washout in high ambient light; OLEDs with higher power efficiency and improved color management for better color accuracy; smartphone displays with over 500ppi; more affordable 4K and OLED TVs; and significant production of IGZO displays by a number of different manufacturers.

CHANDRA STEELE

SENIOR FEATURES WRITER, PC MAGAZINE

For as ubiquitous as wearable tech is right now, smartwatches are going to proliferate this year and will then disappear until there can be a better UI in that form factor.

ANGELA MOSCARITOLO

REPORTER, PC MAGAZINE Google Glass will be a flop. It looks obnoxious, it’s completely unnecessary, and it’s being banned left and right. When Google first announced Glass, people were really interested in it. But by now that excitement has largely worn off. At $1,500 a pop, Google Glass is just a novelty.

Within the next year we will see the emergence of truly prescriptive devices that not only quantify your data but suggest proactive ways to improve your health and fitness. Imagine a pedometer that proposes an alternate route or a calorie counter that recognizes you’re missing fiber in your diet and advises you to swap beans for pork in your taco.

MEREDITH POPOLO ASSISTANT EDITOR, PC MAGAZINE

MAX EDDY

etrics in 2013 m io b e il b o off m ue Apple kicked ch ID—a uniq u o T ’ s 5 e n o with the iPh martphone s r e h t o e h t none of feature that panies like m o C . h c t a rs can m biometric manufacture e u iq n u e v a EyeVerify h r Bionym and be perfect fo ld u o w t a h t technology h ID could c u o T ’s le p p unch, A phones. At la authenticate d n a e n o h p r ou could play only unlock y s ic r t e m io b ases. But iTunes purch as a second s p a h r e p , 14 in 20 a bigger role ecure logins. s d n a g in k n factor for ba

JUNIOR ANALYST, SOFTWARE AND MOBILE, PC MAGAZINE

GARY DAVIS

VICE PRESIDENT, GLOBAL CONSUMER MARKETING, MCAFEE Security issues such as the introduction of Bitcoin-mining malware, attacks against exchanges, and reports of thefts of virtual currency from online “banks” recently reported in Australia, combined with potential issues yet to appear such as counterfeiting virtual currency (e.g. double-spending), will see a loss in confidence for such currencies, and ultimately they will lose value. That said, I do think digital currency will have a life in the future, but not until better controls and regulatory processes are built.

TIM BAJARIN

PRESIDENT, CREATIVE STRATEGIES Apple will introduce a version of the iPad that is optimized for business productivity. It will sport a larger screen and could be in a unique form factor that is tailored to business use. We could see it by end of the second quarter of the year.

JAMIE LENDINO

ANALYST, CE AND MOBILE, PC MAGAZINE As car manufacturers begin to unveil 2015 model-year vehicles, they’ll feature better smartphone integration, 4G LTE cellular connectivity, and built-in app platforms than ever before. Whether it’s music listening, performance testing, repairs and maintenance, lane assistance, collision avoidance, or crowdsourced GPS navigation, in-car apps are fast becoming a reality.

DOUG NEWCOMB

AUTOMOBILE TECHNOLOGY CONSULTANT Although automobiles have had embedded cellular modems on board since General Motors launched OnStar in the mid 1990s, Audi and GM will offer 4G connectivity for the first time starting in 2014. In the hyper-competitive, me-too automobile market you can expect to see other automakers also add broadband wireless. For everyday commuters, having a big data pipe in the car could make driving more pleasant, more productive, and also safer.

As more and more devices such as connected cars and wearable devices come online, the wireless spectrum is growing increasingly scarce. Strategic small-cell deployments will help cities and service providers combat congested cell towers and ease customer frustrations. Small cells also offer new market opportunities for location-based services.

KELLY AHUJA

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER, SERVICE PROVIDER MOBILITY BUSINESS GROUP, CISCO

CATALIN COSOI

CHIEF SECURITY STRATEGIST AND GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, BITDEFENDER Cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities represent a serious concern when it comes to wearable devices, smart TVs, smart houses, smart cars, smart infrastructure appliances, smart medical devices, and so on. Our prediction for 2014 is that we might witness human casualties generated by such security flaws and it definitely doesn’t matter at this point if it will be during a targeted attack, a brand new APT, or just simply by collateral damage.

DAMON POETER REPORTER, PC MAGAZINE

Intel’s position in the consumer tablet market is dwarfed by semiconductor firms producing ARM-based chips for iOS and Android devices. It’s an even steeper hill for Intel to climb in smartphones. So the guess here is that the chip giant will look to be more aggressive than it’s been to try to jump-start x86based mobile device sales. I predict that Intel will self-brand a third-party-built Android tablet and/or phone, à la Google’s Nexus line of products. Call ‘em the iaPad and iaPhone.

SASCHA SEGAN

LEAD ANALYST, MOBILE, Zero BlackBerries will be sold at U.S. retail in the second half of 2014. BlackBerry has turned to Sybase’s John Chen to sell or rescue the company. It’ll be out of cash by the end of next year. If it survives, it’ll be purely as an enterprise services company. Enterprise phone manufacturers exist (look at Intermec), but the days of picking up an individual BlackBerry at a Verizon store are over.

KEITH NOWAK

FORMER NOKIA COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER AND HTC SENIOR PR MANAGER 2013 was the tipping point where the smartphone overtook the feature phone in sales in the U.S., and the year the wearable began to slowly creep into the mainstream. With a majority of people now potentially paying more attention to their growing arsenal of devices than the world and people around them, we will likely start to see a more organized backlash against the smartphone in 2014. Although the smartphone has brought a host of benefits to people, the industry may need to better address how people can balance interaction with technology versus interaction with society at large.

WENDY SHEEHAN DONNELL MANAGING EDITOR, CONSUMER ELECTRONICS AND MOBILE, PC MAGAZINE

As cell phones and tablets have evolved into true do-it-all devices that are finally affordable, the need for dedicated MP3 players has all but vanished. Diamond Rios, SanDisk Sansas, and Microsoft Zunes are all distant memories. I predict that 2014 is the year that the only real player left will finally bail. Apple has already made its last iPod, and will quietly exit the space, ending the era of the dedicated portable media player.

EMIR ABOULHOSN

CEO AND FOUNDER, ROAM MOBILITY When the next version of the iPhone is released, Apple for the first time will be openly accused of copying Samsung’s and other manufacturers’ breakthrough features on Android phones based on its form factor alone.

As smartphones continue to make low-end compact cameras less and less relevant, digital imaging products will continue the trend of becoming more and more specialized. Expect to see more cameras that lack massmarket appeal, but set themselves apart in different ways. 2014 could bring a more reasonably priced (compared with the Leica M Monochrom) blackand-white digital camera. And neither a prime-lens compact with an APS-C image sensor and a 50mm f/2 equivalent lens, nor a full-frame D-SLR with a 50-megapixel image sensor would surprise me.

JIM FISHER

ANALYST, CAMERAS, PC MAGAZINE

JILL DUFFY ung people o y s a r a e y is inch th Feeling the p “the social n o e im t s s cantly le ew feature spend signifi n a h c n u la l cebook wil under-25 e network,” Fa h t k c a b in to try and w or campaign arning back e t a d e im a , e flashy e crowd. It’ll b -site, and th n o e im t d n a engagement oney into it. m f o t lo a t l pu and social company wil s k r o w t e n ) rivate(-ish Meanwhile, p fiercely and w ro g o t e u in ill cont . chat apps w demographic e m a s e h t g n globally amo

ANALYST, SOFTWARE, PC MAGAZINE

JAY SULLIVAN CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, MOZILLA

2014 will be the year that the Web platform proves itself and when HTML5 offers even more amazing opportunities for mobile developers. Open alternatives such as Firefox OS will gain traction across multiple devices and bring new capabilities that were previously only possible on the desktop. We believe the gaming industry will start to develop and distribute more commercially successful games over the Web using open technology. And video chat and content sharing will become more accessible through the browser, without the friction associated with plug-ins.

SIMON EDWARDS

TECHNICAL DIRECTOR, DENNIS TECHNOLOGY LABS

We’ve already seen malware that can attack both PCs and Macs. It’s not a stretch to imagine that attackers will maximize their returns by making small changes to their attacks so as to include mobile devices, too. Traditionally, Microsoft Windows has been the operating system most likely to suffer malware infections. This is due to its prevalence but not any inherent weakness. As more people use Macs, Android devices, and other types of systems, computer attackers will broaden their reach.

MIKKO HYPPONEN

ANDREW LEE

CHIEF RESEARCH OFFICER, F-SECURE

CEO, ESET

More and more of our backups are in the cloud, which means they are, at least in theory, accessible to trojans. It would be fairly easy for an attacker to use a keylogger to steal your cloud storage password, then take a copy of your online backups before deleting them— and then wipe your devices. Some cloud services (such as iCloud) even offer built-in antitheft functionality that could be used to wipe the contents of your computer, tablets and phones. After such a total destruction the victim would receive an email from the attacker, offering your backups back to you— for a nominal fee.

DICK WILLIAMS

PRESIDENT AND CEO, WEBROOT

In 2014 all of these smart devices, limitless social networks, and personal acquiescence will be used to an extraordinary extent to mine behaviors and identity with the aim of refining cyberattacks, cybercrime and cyber-espionage. As a result there will be some very high-profile compromises of individual, corporate, and government data that will make Snowden and the NSA seem benign. That will produce a privacy backlash that will spawn a host of new security services.


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We predict that agencies like N.S.A. and G.C.H.Q. will double-down on efforts to defeat encryption, ahead of political maneuvers to restrict their activities, maneuvers driven by citizen sentiment, like the 77 percent of Americans ESET surveyed who said it’s not okay “for my government secretly to monitor all of our communications.”

Many more “big data” projects will be tried—and a surprising number will fail. The tools and techniques for doing big data projects are getting easier and cheaper, with companies starting to offer things such as data as a service and cloud-hosted Hadoop instances. As a result, many companies that weren’t able to do big data projects in the past will start them. But the projects with the easiest returns are already underway, so although there will be successes, many organizations will discover that they aren’t getting the return on investment they expected.

MICHAEL MILLER CIO, ZIFF BROTHERS INVESTMENTS

FEATURES

4K

IS FINALLY HERE

From HDTVs to computer monitors and beyond, 4K display technology is finally hitting the mainstream. But this exciting innovation still faces a couple of big barriers. BY JAMIE LENDINO AND MATTHEW MURRAY

I

f you’re still harboring doubts that 4K (aka Ultra HD) is the new 3D—in other words, if you think it’s probably a momentary fad of dubious quality that will soon fade in importance—then banish them. Whether you see it on a TV or a computer, 4K is much better than 3D—its level of detail can only be described as photorealistic. The video format, which displays about four times the amount of content as traditional 1080p HD, has been slow to gain adoption, and the ¿rst TVs that used it cost upwards of $20,000. That’s already history. Now that the big names are involved with televisions in the midfour-¿gure range—still too dear for most of us, but not unlike what big-screen plasma TVs cost in, say, 2005— and computer monitors and systems supporting it are also appearing, it’s time to take a closer look at what 4K gets you, and whether it’s worth getting for yourself.

HDTVS

Like almost all technology products, 4K HDTVs vary widely in price, even among “reasonable” consumer offerings. One of the lowest-priced sets we’ve seen is $1,500, and models that cost $5,000 or more are not

WHAT IS 4K? The Consumer Electronics Association defines 4K as displaying at least 8 million active pixels, with a minimum resolution of 3,840 by 2,160. Though there’s no official standard beyond that yet, most companies have decided to use this resolution rather than others that have appeared in some products (such as 4,096 by 3,112).

Seiki SE50UY04 Price: $1,499.99 LLLhM

It’s tough to find a 4K TV that costs much less than the Seiki SE50UY04, but underwhelming color accuracy and shadow and highlight detail prevent it from being a bargain if you really value picture quality.

uncommon. And, as is also true of technology products, you tend to get what you pay for—especially if you’re an early adopter. The ¿rst 4K HDTV we tested was the 50-inch Seiki SE50UY04, which cost a “mere” $1,500. Though it remains the least-expensive such set we’ve seen, it’s not without display quality problems that make it an iffy choice at best, even if you’re desperate to get one of these bleeding-edge marvels into your home. Far better—and, naturally, far more expensive—is the most recent 4K TV we’ve tested: the LG 65LA9700. Loaded with features and boasting outstanding picture quality, the 65-inch 65LA9700 also sports a punishing price tag of $6,499.99. (You can easily ¿nd 65-inch, 1080p HDTVs for $1,200 or less.) Other companies have also announced sets in recent months that are more innovative still. Both Samsung and LG, for example, have teased OLED 4K sets for even more detailed picture quality. Here again, though, is the price problem: LG’s 55-inch OLED TV is expected to retail for around $10,000.

LG 65LA9700 Price: $6,499 LLLLM

LG’s new flagship 4K set offers outstanding picture quality, and terrific features such as a motorized retractable speaker bar and a full LED backlighting array. There’s some backlight blooming, though, and the TV’s cool-sounding motion-activated commands work erratically at best.

COMPUTER MONITORS

Computer users have been able to operate their systems at resolutions considerably higher than those found on HDTVs for years now, and displays are keeping right up with the 4K trend. But just as with TVs, you’ll pay dearly for the privilege of pushing all those pixels—at least right now. The ¿rst consumer 4K monitor just hit the market: the Asus PQ321. It’s a stylish-looking display with a ¿ne array of features and good viewing angles, but this 31.5inch monster packs a terrifying price tag: $3,499.99. Asus’ display is just the beginning. Just before we published this issue, Dell of¿cially announced three new 4K monitors of its own, ranging in size from 24 inches ($1,400) to 32 inches ($3,500). Chances are it won’t be long until other manufacturers catch up. But will consumers? Even with outstanding display capabilities, price remains a stumbling block. Most newer video cards let you connect four 1,920-by-1,080 monitors, which could cost you as little as $400 for the set—and all you’ll have to contend with are the bezels.

Asus PQ321 Price: $3,499 LLLhM

Geared toward photo and video editors, gamers, or anyone requiring the pixel density and superior image detail 4K affords, this incredibly expensive monitor offers exquisite image detail but substandard color accuracy that may turn off purists.

TABLETS AND OTHER DEVICES The Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 2 Pro we review in this issue is one example of a laptop supporting 4K, but it’s a standard-size system. Panasonic’s Toughpad 4K Tablet, slated for release in early 2014, on the other hand, is a 5.27-pound, 20-inch enterprise-aimed tablet with a 3,840-by-2,560-resolution display with ten-point touch. And, par for the course for the Toughpad line, it’s designed to survive a drop as high as 30 inches. The Toughpad 4K Tablet’s price? A cool $6,000. Samsung also recently announced that it’s planning on integrating 4K into more of its devices by 2015. Given its prominence and popularity in the phone and tablet markets, Samsung could spearhead the 4K revolution almost all by itself.

Panasonic Toughpad 4k Tablet Price: $6,000 The business world can get rough, but the Toughpad 4K Tablet is prepared, with a magnesium-alloy frame and a case reinforced with glass fiber. This “highestresolution display ever sold commercially” is also loaded with an Intel Core i5 vPro processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB solid-state drive.

Sony 4K Ultra HD Media Player

CONTENT IS KING

Even with the hardware now more readily (and affordably) available, one major problem remains for 4K: the lack of content. Plenty of big movies have been shot in 4K over the past several years, but no discs you buy in the store are in 4K. NetÀix has just begun toying with 4K streaming, but it’s very early, and most of what you can ¿nd there and on YouTube are more proofs of concept than things you’d actually want to watch. (NetÀix, however, is promising expanded 4K content offerings in 2014, including episodes of its acclaimed original series, House of Cards.) Sony sells the $699 4K Ultra HD Media Player, which does have several hundred movies available in a downloadable library. But that unit requires a Sony 4K TV, which is a ridiculous limitation. If you’re looking for a monitor, the situation is better: The most recent generations of video cards from both AMD and Nvidia support 4K output, so you can at least run Windows and other programs on more real estate than you probably ever thought possible. And though you can, of course, play games as well, don’t expect to be able to crank the visual details all the way up and still play at Àawless frame rates—not even AMD’s and Nvidia’s most expensive cards can handle that task yet.

SHOOT IT YOURSELF Don’t want to wait for your favorite movies to come out in 4K? Shoot your own with a 4K camcorder, such as the Sony 4K Handycam Camcorder FDRAX1. It has everything you need to take super-sharp 4K video at 60 frames per second. The catch? Its price: $4,499.99. But less-expensive cameras are expected to hit stores within the next few months.

Without greater availability of content, a 4K purchase remains a nonstarter for nearly everyone. Sony 65" Class XBR 4K Ultra HD TV

IS 4K OKAY?

When we ¿rst covered the burgeoning 4K phenomenon a year ago, we concluded that you didn’t need it at that point—and, really, you still don’t. But manufacturers have made it clear that they don’t consider 4K another 3D-like fad. And as new displays and devices in all categories keep appearing, it seems increasingly obvious that 4K is in it for the long haul. The good news is that the hardware problem is mostly solved. The latest group of 4K HDTVs and monitors look terri¿c, and shouldn’t immediately seem outdated in ten years. They have thin bezels, fast response times, tons of features—everything you’d want from 1080p displays, except with a much sharper screen. So it’s just a matter of price now, on the hardware side. Unfortunately, without greater availability of content a 4K purchase remains a nonstarter for nearly everyone—unless you want to get in early and be ready to try each new 4K source that appears, and you already needed a larger TV or monitor to begin with. But if you need a new display now and don’t care about 4K, it’s de¿nitely not worth paying two to four times the price of a good 1080p set. Not even close. If there were, say, 50 or 100 movies currently available, with the promise of several hundred more coming down the pike in 2014, that you could actually buy or stream—the story would be different. Yes, 4K is here to stay. But as things stand, even for the people who have the money it isn’t yet the terri¿c deal it will need to be to supplant HD in living rooms everywhere. PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION

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GET ORGANIZED Managing Your Digital Family Documents

CONNECTED TRAVELER The Best Connected U.S. Airports, Airlines, And Terminals

GAMING Windows Phone Games For Xbox One Fans

APPSCOUT Our Favorite Apps For January

DIGITAL LIFE

GET ORGANIZED

Managing Your Digital Family Documents Looking to better manage household paperwork? These services will help you do it right. BY JILL DUFFY

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eople are desperate to get rid of the paper in their lives. Digital archives come with so many advantages. You can search them ef¿ciently. You can back up electronic documents to multiple locations so you can access them anytime, anywhere. And sharing digital documents with family members, lawyers, and anyone else who needs them is so much easier than photocopying or faxing paper. But before you start scanning the deed to your house and pushing all your monthly bills and statements to email, it’s important to think through what you

hope to accomplish by moving to an alldigital format, as the various services that can help you do so will automate much of the process. You’ll also want to know exactly what these different solutions do because they all give you different outcomes. Whether you’ll ultimately be happy with those outcomes depends largely on your original goals. FILE-SYNCING SERVICES (THE DIY SOLUTION) Using a ¿le-syncing service such as Dropbox, Box, or SugarSync is likely to be inexpensive (you can easily get 5GB for free) and extremely simple for certain kinds of documents (for example, single documents rather than recurring bills or statements), especially if you already have a ¿le-syncing account set up. File-syncing services also offer collaborative features, so you can make the ¿les accessible to others. But if you want to save monthly bills and statements to this account, it won’t be automatic. You’ll have to log in each month to all of your accounts and save PDFs locally in the ¿le-syncing folder. You also won’t receive any reminders to take this action, much less to pay your bills, and you’ll have to check up on the security of your chosen service to make sure that your documents will be safe. One workaround for these problems is FileThis, which connects to your online accounts and dumps all the important documents into a repository that you connect to it. The available options include Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, Evernote, and even your own computer.

SPECIALTY SERVICES: FINANCE FOCUSED There are a number of specialty services for helping you manage household documents paperlessly, but they tend to serve slightly different purposes, so it’s important to begin by thinking through what you really need to do. Manilla is a free online account that you can set up to automatically keep records of all of your monthly statements, as well as remind you to pay your bills. It also has a neat feature that lets you track rewards programs, such as frequent Àyer miles, and it can nudge you to take action on an account before your points expire. Doxo collects your statements and bills, too, but it also lets you upload other important household documents, making it a more general digital ¿ling cabinet. I like that Doxo combines the automation found in Manilla with the DIY method of scanning and uploading all your other documents. But Doxo has fewer partners than Manilla, so it can’t connect to a some major providers, including Chase Bank, NetÀix, and Capital One. Doxo does have one interesting feature Manilla lacks: the ability to export your documents to another location, such as a Dropbox account, so you can back them up. Neat, which makes both NeatDesk and online storage center NeatCloud (from $5.99 per month), focuses on helping you scan and upload the paper documents you have in your house. It’s fast, and very good at identifying tax and ¿nancial paperwork in particular, and you can classify and organize into a cloud-based account everything else. Neat doesn’t offer any automation for pulling in recurring documents the way Manilla and Doxo do, however.

SPECIALTY SERVICES: LIFE FOCUSED TheDocSafe ($5.95 per month) walks you through the personal and family information you might want to centralize, including things you may not have on paper in the ¿rst place, such as emergency contact information. Upon initial account setup, it gives you what is essentially a questionnaire to make sure it covers all your documents: Do you own a home? Are you married? Do you have children? Do you have a last will and testament? For each question, you can input answers and upload the relevant titles, deeds, and legal papers.

PAPERS, PLEASE TheDocSafe helps you centralize all of the most important information in your life, from emergency contact information to titles, deeds, certificates, and more.

Javont Vault is similar in some ways, but is designed more to let you pass on all these details to a bene¿ciary when you die. Still, it works wonderfully for securely centralizing a lot of important family or personal paperwork while you’re alive, too. You can take inventory of your possessions, list all your online account login IDs and passwords, and leave detailed notes to loved ones about what you expect them to do with all this information. Because Javont Vault is locked by a Social Security number, it’s limited to U.S. use. THE MOST IMPORTANT PART? FORETHOUGHT Before digitizing and digitally organizing your household documents you need to think through what you want to do, or what problem you have to solve. If you start going paperless without a clear goal or outcome in mind, your efforts could be wasted, as many of the available solutions offer very different services. PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION

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DIGITAL LIFE

CONNECTED TRAVELER

The Best Connected U.S. Airports, Airlines, And Terminals Make air travel easier (and more fun) by staying online and in touch at every point during your trip. BY MARISSA MELI

1. Virgin America Flying is so much more joyful when you can take your mind off of the likelihood your seat will actually support you as a flotation device. Even the cheap seats on Virgin America come with your own built-in seatback screen, which you can use to watch free satellite television, screen new movies, and play mobile-quality games. Beneath your seat you will find an electrical outlet, absolutely clutch when you want to drain your iPhone without facing the prospect of sitting on the germy airport floor while you attempt to suck power from the one outlet in your layover terminal.

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2. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport ATL is the world’s busiest airport. With 90 million travelers passing through each year, you are bound to end up spending at least an hour or two here if you are flying anywhere on the East Coast. Besides Checkers, which boasts the crown jewel of seasoned fast food fries, you will also enjoy some decent tech access, with lots of charging stations and workspaces. You can also take advantage of a new rewards program that lets you scan QR codes to find the best offers at the airport’s over 200 shops and restaurants. Ten percent off at Fire CZ (the CZ stands for Cubic Zirconia), you’re all mine.

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3. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Terminal D If you are scheduled to fly into DFW, make sure your flight takes you to Terminal D. The Terminal D Theater features ten different screens playing three different video feeds: CNN, TBS, and Turner Classic Movies. Hover over another airport patron until he or she gets uncomfortable and leaves one of the media chairs, then settle in and plug your headphones into the audio jack. Your reward is 18 uninterrupted hours of Everybody Loves Raymond, salt n’ pepper hunk Wolf Blitzer in front of a Washington D.C. green screen, or a black-and-white movie that catapults you into a glitzy Great Depression as only Hollywood could have conceived it. Good times? Great times.

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4. Southwest Airlines One of the last major American airlines standing, Southwest has significantly improved in the realm of tech connectedness. It currently boasts the largest satellite-based Wi-Fi system in the world. Practically, this translates into $8-per-day Internet access for you on your own device, provided your flight has Wi-Fi. (So far, compatible devices are limited to Windows PCs, Apple computers, iOS, and select Android devices.) You will also have access to free live and on-demand TV from Dish. Want to find out ahead of time if you’ll be able to get online during your flight? Visit Southwest’s WiFi Finder within 24 hours of departure and enter your name and confirmation number. If your flight has no Wi-Fi, you’ll still have plenty of time to buy both a Wall Street Journal and the USA Today you’ll secretly be reading inside it.

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5. New York JFK International Airport Terminals 2 and 4 You’re right to want to avoid flying into New York entirely. Some things just can’t be avoided, though, and JFK is always one of those things. Fortunately, it may have improved since the last time you travelled. Terminals 2 and 4, which together make up Delta’s JFK home, boast 180 iPads available for public use. They are pretty popular, so you may need to use the hover method we advised for Dallas/Fort Worth’s Terminal D. If you get one, though, you will be treated to a bonus electrical outlet with USB ports you can use to charge your devices while you sit and peruse your public iPad. The next few years should see a significant increase in the amount of iPad kiosks and tables available.

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6. Sacramento International Airport Terminal B Sacramento makes up for its complete lack of willingness to turn the Kings into the Seattle Supersonics by making your layover there a little more enjoyable. Terminal B’s billion-dollar makeover looks and feels gorgeous, from the solar shading devices and heat-reflecting glass to the actual redwood remnants embedded into the ceiling (take that, trees). It is also a techie paradise—you shouldn’t have to fight with a bunch of world-weary toddlers with iPads and Beats headphones to use one of the 140 tables with USB ports and two-plug outlets. And should you be too lazy to walk from your gate to one of the restaurants in the terminal, a mobile app (B4 You Board) lets you order food and have it delivered to the gate before your plane boards.

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7. Las Vegas McCarran International Airport Terminal 3 The best part about McCarran is watching people on their way out of Vegas trying desperately to win back their money at one of the airport’s many slot machines. If you can avoid the lure of loose terminal slots and the tidal wave of perfume beckoning you into the 10,000-square-foot duty free store, McCarran has tons of tech delights. The outlets are plentiful, and there are even some pay machines where you can rent charging time on every imaginable kind of cellphone charger—should you have left yours on the Strip along with your dignity. Props also for actually decent free Wi-Fi.

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8. Delta Airlines Delta Airlines has made major strides in enjoyability by rolling out a variety of experimental inflight improvements, called Ideas In Flight. Visitors to Delta’s Facebook page are encouraged to submit ideas on how to make flying better, which Delta then selects from and implements on its flights. Experiments include higher-quality headphones for sale during flight, access to TED Talks, and a new Fly Delta app that includes a Glass Bottom Jet view. The best new feature Delta is experimenting with is a special audio channel dedicated to soothe you to sleep. Now if Delta could make the overhead air jets pump out just enough ether to temporarily silence everyone on the plane weighing less than 50 pounds, that channel might actually help.

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9. San Francisco International Airport You are guaranteed to find two things at SFO: overpriced, locally sourced organic foods, and power outlets. So many outlets. What SFO lacks in sloppy chain restaurants it makes up for in averaging 13.6 electric outlets per gate, the most of any large American airport. Whether you are hanging out on plush-cushioned wicker chairs at the newsstand or chilling in the mood lighting of the Virgin America gates, you are guaranteed to find somewhere to plug in. You are also going to find plenty of cubicles, desks, and tables where you can spread out and do some work. One survey counted almost 400 outlets and 144 workspaces in Terminal 2 alone.

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10. American Airlines This one is only for the wealthy people. Although we poors flying in Economy Class will still be able to take advantage of American Airlines’ in-flight Wi-Fi and other treats, such as a mobile app that gives you boarding and baggage alerts, people with First and Business Class tickets really make out. American Airlines treats its sky VIPs by giving them quality Bose headphones and a Samsung Galaxy tablet to use in-flight. The tablet even comes preloaded with a variety of movies to watch. Why, you ask, not just fly Economy and use the money you saved to buy your own headphones and tablet? Because then you wouldn’t get any complimentary beer.


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GAMING

Windows Phone Games For Xbox One Fans

BY SASCHA SEGAN

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art of the thrill of Microsoft’s new Xbox One console is that it ¿ts into a larger Microsoft world. That includes the growing Windows Phone platform, which has been tied to Xbox Live for three years now. Poke through the dozens of Xbox Live–compatible games in the Windows Phone store and some gems will attract anyone psyched about the Xbox One. Some of these games are spin-offs of existing Xbox titles, some are similar to Xbox titles, and some use the Xbox infrastructure for multiplayer gaming. Here are our favorite ten Windows Phone games that Xbox owners shouldn’t miss.

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Asphalt 7: Heat $0.99 Asphalt 8 is already out for Windows Phone—we use it to test new devices—but Asphalt 7 is the one with the Xbox badge, integrating with Xbox Live for achievements and multiplayer mode. Both versions are terrific driving games. We loved Asphalt 7 for Android last year, and the Windows Phone version is even better thanks to being plumbed into the everexpanding Xbox ecosystem.

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Crimson Dragon: Side Story $0.99 Crimson Dragon is one of the Xbox One launch titles: a flying shooter with a really ridiculous and complicated plot that made me keep thinking of Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern. If you enjoy this kind of old-school, high-speed 3D aerial attack, you can drop a dollar for this Windows Phone side-scrolling version: You get the same intricate backstory and configurable dragon attacks, just with much less 3D.

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Glyder: Adventure Worlds $0.99 I have kind of a thing for nonviolent, all-ages games that don’t come packaged with a greedy in-app purchase element. That’s why I’m throwing in Glyder: Adventure Worlds as the kind of title I hope starts appearing on consoles more often: a dreamy, open-world flight game with a female protagonist that has goals, levels, and plenty of challenges— but no bloodshed.

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Halo: Spartan Assault $6.99 Halo is the definitive Xbox game, and the latest title in the series, Halo: Spartan Assault, is slated to hit the Xbox One soon. But Windows 8 and Windows Phone users already have this excellent adaptation, a top-down, touch-enabled shooter that looks a lot more “arcade-like” than the core Halo games. Still, it’s a tasty treat between Halo installments and probably Windows Phone 8’s flagship game.

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Modern Combat 4 $6.99 I included this because Battlefield 4 and Call of Duty: Ghosts aren’t available on Windows Phone—you see what I did there? If you want that sort of modern military shooter, this one is your best bet on this platform. Modern Combat 4 gives you a dozen levels of traditional FPS mayhem, playing either as a U.S. soldier or a terrorist, and there’s a live cooperative multiplayer mode.

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NBA Jam $2.99 Windows Phone’s stand-in for the Xbox One’s two NBA games, NBA Jam is the descendant of a famous 1990s series. The Windows Phone version is casual and easy to play, with two-on-two games between really, really weird NBA avatars with poorly rendered photorealistic heads. It looks like you’re playing basketball with bobbleheads, but that’s okay—the game play is fun, speedy, and engaging.

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Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit $2.99 The Xbox One launched with Need for Speed: Rivals, the latest in a long line of NFS games which I, personally, adore. Rivals is descended from this absolutely seminal and stillawesome game, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, in which you drive cool cars around and get chased by cops. Other mobile platforms already have the next game in the series, Need for Speed: Most Wanted—Windows Phone needs to close this gap.

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Six-Guns Free A huge, gorgeous open-world adventure game, Six-Guns has you roam around the Wild West rustlin’ varmints, saving damsels in distress, and (bizarrely) fighting supernatural enemies. There’s also a Windows 8 version, and a cloud save option lets you move freely between the phone and desktop. There’s a multiplayer mode, too. Unfortunately, the game structure of this free-to-play title pushes in-app purchases on you.

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Skulls of the Shogun $ 4.49 A Windows Phone exclusive, Skulls of the Shogun is a kooky little turn-based strategy combat game in which you play a dead samurai fighting your way through the afterlife. The Xbox 360 version of this quite retro game got excellent reviews, and the turn-based aspect really lends itself to mobile usage, where you may only have a few minutes at a time to play.

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Uno & Friends Free Want something different? This multiplayer card game uses the Xbox Live infrastructure to try to gather friends to sit at your virtual card table. The game is technically free, but you need to use virtual coinage, so it comes out to about 20 cents per game; there are also in-game ways to earn coinage. This one only does multiplayer with other Windows Phone owners, so get those Lumias into your friends’ and family’s hands.


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iPhone

Free

l l l l m Most of us could use help staying on top of the details of our busy lives. The free iPhone app 24me aims to provide just that. It blends aspects of task management, calendaring, and bill-pay reminder systems into one slightly busy interface, and hooks into other apps and services you already use, from credit card accounts to Facebook, in order to deliver the information you need. Once you learn how it works (and how to navigate its interface), it handles many miscellaneous tasks with aplomb.

DIGITAL LIFE

APPSCOUT


Comics

Android, iOS

Android

iPhone

Free

l l l l h Comics is the iTunes of digital comics. It features a wide array of comic books and graphic novels from publishers both big and small, at prices that in most cases are the same you’d pay for the paper versions. Not every publisher is represented and there are some holes in the back catalog, but whether you’re using a phone or a tablet, and whether it’s running iOS or Android (which, thanks to a recent update, EDITORS’ CHOICE supports HD resolution and “Fit to Width” for horizontal reading), reading comics doesn’t get much easier or more fun than this.

DIGITAL LIFE

APPSCOUT


Android, iOS

Kaspersky Internet Security

Android

iPhone

$14.95

l l l l m The latest Android offering from Kaspersky packs top-tier malware protection along with faster scanning, antitheft tools, call and text blocking, and much more—but also boasts a major design overhaul that makes it more friendly for mobile devices. Because some tools are tough to find or activate, it can still be tricky to take full advantage of everything this app can do, but its powerful tools and slick new interface make it a solid choice for owners of Android tablets or phones.

DIGITAL LIFE

APPSCOUT


QuizUp

Android, iOS

Android

iPhone

Free

l l l l m QuizUp pits you against international trivia enthusiasts—and your Facebook friends—in fast-paced, multiple-choice games centered on an impressive range of topics including General Knowledge, Name the Flag, Word Definitions, History, and many more. The app tracks how many games you win in a category to better match you with you opponents, and though you can pay to level up faster with in-app EDITORS’ CHOICE purchases, they are never pushed in your face. There’s no single-player mode and an Internet connection is required, but QuizUp is a wonderful social quiz game.


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LAST WORD

L Bait-andSwitch Marketing

JOHN C. DVORAK

et’s have fun and discuss marketing! (And, in a while, Google and Android.) The top marketing scheme in any business is where you sell a razor at a breakeven price, then slam the customer with expensive replacement blades. But there is more to it. People have always suspected that the blades that come with the razor are the sharpest you will ever get. Each subsequent set of replacement blades is less sharp so the company can milk more pro¿ts from selling them. After a while, the process begins anew with a “better” razor. This has been going on for decades: There’s always some new and better idea that apparently is never good enough to be around long. The same sort of business model is created with cheap inkjet printers. All the money is made in ink. Newer cartridges on newer printers simply have less ink or a lot more cartridges—a way to maximize pro¿ts. All of this falls short of a classic bait and switch, but it’s nothing I like to see. Now Google has swapped out its early, best-ofbreed Android phone navigation software for one that is simply mediocre by comparison. I should mention that this apparent swap happened around the time Apple stopped using the Google product, much to the dismay of the iPhone users. Apple would have been under a non-disclosure agreement and the real reason for the Apple abandonment may have been Google swapping out the software in the ¿rst place. We will never know because nobody is talking. My assumption, based on years of experience, is

It’s kind of like the everdulling razor blades: Google lowered the quality to make more money.

that Google was licensing some core code that was simply too costly over the long run. It’s kind of like the ever-dulling razor blades: Google lowered the quality to make more money. The real loss is that the original navigator was nothing short of fantastic. I was telling people to get an Android phone just for the navigator. The original system would reroute fast. It never demanded constant U-turns when it was apparent you were choosing a new direction (usually for a good reason). It would route you past traf¿c jams in all sorts of creative ways. It warned you of complex maneuvers in advance. And more. All that is gone now. What we’re left with is a pedestrian navigator that is not better or worse than what you’d ¿nd for free on any Apple or Windows phone. So here we are with a devolution right before our very eyes. It’s always possible that Microsoft pulled a fast one and might have the old Navigator now, but again, nobody is talking. One problem is that tech and computer publications do not care to discuss this to any extent. And there is no effort to demand Google talk when it doesn’t want to. The investment community has hounded Google for years as to exactly how it generates ad revenue. It’s still a black box at the end of the day. This is all a great shame as I miss the old Navigator. Now I have to make too many U-turns.

[email protected]


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MASTHEAD

EDITORIAL

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, PC MAGAZINE NETWORK Dan Costa CREATIVE DIRECTOR, ZIFF DAVIS Cynthia Passanante MANAGING EDITOR, DIGITAL EDITIONS Matthew Murray SENIOR DESIGNER Jackie Smith SENIOR PRODUCER Mark Lamorgese

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NEWS MANAGING EDITOR Chloe Albanesius REPORTERS Stephanie Mlot, Angela Moscaritolo, Damon Poeter

PC LABS MANAGING EDITORS Sean Carroll (software, security, Internet, business, networking),

Wendy Sheehan Donnell (consumer electronics, mobile), Laarni Almendrala Ragaza (hardware) LEAD ANALYSTS Jamie Lendino (consumer electronics), Samara Lynn (networking),

Michael Muchmore (software), Neil J. Rubenking (security), Joel Santo Domingo (desktops, laptops), Sascha Segan (mobile), M. David Stone (printers, scanners) SENIOR ANALYST, DIGITAL CAMERAS Jim Fisher ANALYSTS Jill Duffy (software, Internet, networking), Will Greenwald (consumer electronics),

Tony Hoffman (printers, scanners), Eugene Kim (mobile), Brian Westover (hardware), Jeff Wilson (software, Internet, networking) JUNIOR ANALYSTS Patrick Austin (consumer electronics), Max Eddy (software, Internet, networking) INVENTORY CONTROL COORDINATOR Nicole Graham INTERN Jordan Minor

ART, MEDIA & PRODUCTION SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER Yun-San Tsai PRODUCERS Gina Latessa, Whitney Reynolds COMMERCE PRODUCER

Arielle Rochette

DESIGNER James Jacobsen STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Eddie Schneckloth VIDEO PRODUCER Chris Snyder

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Tim Bajarin, John R. Delaney, John C. Dvorak, Tim Gideon, Bill Howard, Edward Mendelson, Fahmida Y. Rashid


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MASTHEAD

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to test and review computer- and Internet-related products and services and report fairly and objectively on the results. Our editors do not invest in firms whose products or services we review, nor do we accept travel tickets or other gifts of value from such firms. Except where noted, PC Magazine reviews are of products and services that are currently available. Our reviews are written without regard to advertising or business relationships with any vendor. HOW TO CONTACT EDITORS We welcome comments from readers. Send your comments to [email protected]

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PC Magazine - January 2014 USA

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