CATEGORIES

BLACK HAT 2020: THE SCARIEST THINGS WE SAW

Every year, hackers and researchers flock to Las Vegas for the Black Hat security conference to see and share the latest in security research. This year, though, everyone had to stay at home because of COVID-19—but there was still plenty to be worried about at this year’s conference.

Your Personal Health Data Is Not Safe

Electronic medical records are an incredible boon to healthcare.

Election Engineering: How US Cybersecurity Experts Are Making Sure Your Vote Will Count

In 2016, we saw how foreign powers could affect US elections. Now the nation is scrambling to secure the system in the midst of a pandemic.

Lenovo Legion 5i: A Smart Refinement

Lenovo rebranded its midrange and high-end gaming laptops into the Legion line a few years back, and we’ve been fans of most of the Legion models since then.

Motorola Moto Edge: Modest but Solid

Motorola has had a busy release schedule in 2020.

Amazon Fire HD 8 Plus: Wireless Charging

Amazon’s Fire tablet lineup has long been a favorite of ours as good, simple value for the money.

10 Things Every Parent With a Connected Kid Needs to Know

Parents reading this story probably remember life before the internet—but your kids don’t.

THE FASTEST ISPS OF 2020

With so many of us working from home right now, the need for a speedy broadband connection is more important than ever. To see which internet service providers offer the most throughput, we took our annual look at the tests performed on our PCMag Speed Test. Let’s dive in and see which ISP comes out on top.

USB-C: AN EXPLAINER

Landing on a single standard to rule them all is an elusive aim in the realm of personal technology. At best, you end up in a format war, and one faction emerges victorious for a few years until an entirely new technology takes it out.

Marshall Emberton: Small but Powerful Portable Speaker

Depending on your priorities, Marshall Emberton is either the ideal portable Bluetooth speaker or a little overpriced. We’ll explain: For $149, the Emberton is a little smaller and less powerful than the competition.

Sony a9 II: A Full-Frame Mirrorless Camera

With the second iteration of its high speed, full-frame mirrorless camera, Sony has concentrated on subtle rather than dramatic improvements.

LG Stylo 6: Falls Short on Performance

Six iterations in, the LG Stylo 6 looks better than ever, with an attractive, modern design and a high-resolution 6.8-inch display. Throw in a built-in stylus for taking notes and drawing, solid stereo speakers, and a battery that can easily get you through the day, and the Stylo 6 seems like a good deal.

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 14: Excellent Value

The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 14 punches far above its weight.

WHAT IS A SMART HOME HUB? AND DO YOU NEED ONE?

The Internet of Things (IoT) initiative that connects smart home devices such as doorbells, lights, locks, security cameras, and thermostats has made it easy for everyone to install and use these gadgets in their homes.

Goldtouch Semi-Vertical Wireless Mouse: Ergonomics First

Vertical mice are an acquired taste. One of the more common types of ergonomic mice, the tall, vaguely L-shaped design allows you to grip the mouse comfortably and access all of its buttons without twisting your wrist parallel to the desk as you would with a standard mouse.

How to Use Vintage Lenses with Mirrorless Cameras

When you buy a camera that can change lenses, you’re actually limiting your choices when it comes to choosing lenses. For the most part, Canon cameras work with Canon lenses, Nikon lenses with Nikon cameras, Sony lenses work with Sony; you get the idea.

Canon Selphy Square QX10: Prints Vivid Smartphone Pics

The Canon Selphy Square QX10 is a departure from the company’s CP1300 Wireless Compact Photo Printer and earlier Selphy models. This photo printer is smaller and lighter than those other Canons, and it’s closer in functionality to the Editors’ Choice HP Sprocket Select or Canon’s own IVY Mini Photo Printer, though it’s still too big to be pocketable.

THE FACE OF DIPLODOCUS: Nostril Placement in Sauropod Dinosaurs

In writing and illustrating our 2016 Johns Hopkins University Press book, The Sauropod Dinosaurs: Life in the Age of Giants, my coauthor Matthew J. Wedel and I sought to explain the most current ideas about the paleobiology and ecology of this enigmatic dinosaur group.

How to Draw Dinosaurs

Putting it all together, the skeleton of Corythosaurus

Neanderthals of the Swiss Alps

For a long time anthropologists believed that the Neanderthal man was more of a brute force simpleton who lived in a few concentrated places such as the valley of the Neander near Düsseldorf (from where he got his name). These views have been modified in more recent years as more becomes known about this ancestor of mankind.

When Giant Arthropods Ruled the Earth

The bones which belonged once upon a time to living beasts, which have been unearthed by curious minds, take on new life in our imaginations. Human beings have frequently dreamt up wild stories around prehistoric lifeforms; some of these were even being told and believed among early paleontology groups. For a while, a mythological aura hung around the study of these titans of a former age.

Dinosauriana Imagined 11

Dinosauriana Austriana (A Tiere-ful Endeavor)

Dinosaur Collector News

In the Cambrian, the arthropods and their allies look like the big winners. The moulesca are important but have not dominated their brachiopod rivals and vertebrates are sparse. Arthropods are invertebrates with an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. They include insects, arachnids, myriapods, crustaceans, and several extinct groups.

Big Time Dinosaur

In general, sauropods rarely appear in dinosaur model collections due to their size and scale but not due to a lack of interest. In 1/20 or 1/15 scale, the average sauropod measures between 45 and 60 inches and is priced like a mid-range laptop.

Sonos Arc: Soundbar Excellence

Sonos continues to expand its home-theater speaker selection with the Arc soundbar. The Arc combines the voice assistant support of the Sonos Beam ($399) with the power of the Sonos Playbar ($599) in a single package for $799, adding Dolby Atmos compatibility with directional tweeters. It’s an impressive soundbar on its own, and you can easily integrate it into an existing Sonos multi-room system or pair it with other Sonos speakers for a truly impressive surround-sound setup. Its terrific audio performance and flexibility earn it our Editors’ Choice for high-end soundbars.

Sennheiser HD 450BT: Best Budget Noise-Cancelling Headphones

It’s no secret that noise-cancelling headphones cost a good deal more than their traditional counterparts. Priced at $199.95, Sennheiser’s HD 450BT headphones are far from inexpensive, but they cost considerably less than leading ANC (active noise cancellation) models such as the $400 Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700. For half that price, Sennheiser’s pair offers above-average ANC performance and excellent Bluetooth audio. Add in adjustable EQ, a comfortable fit, and easy-to-operate controls, and you get the best noise-cancelling headphones you can buy for $200, as well as our Editors’ Choice.

Motorola Moto e: Best Budget Phone

Though it’s been mere months since Motorola released its budget-friendly handsets, the Moto G Power ($249.99) and Moto G Stylus ($299.99), the company is back with an even more affordable model. The Moto e is the company’s least expensive smartphone, with an attractive, durable design, a big display, and admirable performance for the price. Of course, Motorola makes some compromises to get the price this low, but it doesn’t change the fact that the Moto e is the best affordable phone we’ve tested so far this year, and it’s now our Editors’ Choice in that category.

THE BEST FREE PC GAMES

Free-to-play games have become increasingly popular over the years, and it’s easy to understand why. They’re now so robust that you never feel handcuffed for not plunking down real cash. In case you’re wondering why developers wouldn’t charge anything for the game itself, they generally make money with in-game ads and selling virtual objects.

WILL WE EVER BE ABLE TO UPLOAD OUR BRAINS?

We’re in an era of remarkable high-concept situation comedies, with shows such as “The Good Place” using the 22-minute joke-packed framework to explore some of humanity’s deepest issues. Premiering on Amazon Prime in May was “Upload,” a show created by Greg Daniels of “The Office,” and it looks to be a contender.

Microsoft Surface Book 3 (15-Inch): More Work of Art Than Workhorse

If Microsoft-designed mobile PCs are the essence of the Windows computing experience, and the Surface Book is Microsoft’s flagship model, then the Surface Book 3 has a reasonable claim to be the ultimate Windows-powered mobile device. This detachable 2-in-1 laptop certainly offers the best blend of unique features, operating-mode flexibility, computing power, and portability of any Microsoft PC. With an advanced mechanical locking system for the keyboard base, powerful graphics processing, multiple cameras and batteries, and a choice of two screen sizes, the Surface Book 3 is a category-defying device for the few laptop buyers who can afford it and realize its full potential.