LATEST ADDITIONS

Bowers & Wilkins has introduced the Pi8 McLaren Edition, a special iteration of its acclaimed wireless earbuds, developed in collaboration with McLaren Automotive and the McLaren Formula 1 Team. The Pi8 McLaren Edition features a distinctive design incorporating McLaren’s signature Papaya orange and Galvanic Gray finishes.

PRICE $399 (currently $299 on Amazon)

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Colors pop in direct sunlight
Three-hour battery is enough to watch a movie
Comfortable leather handle makes it easy to carry
Easy to connect to a phone hotspot when on the go
Minus
Slow processor results in multiple button presses and long waits for loading
Doesn’t come with a car charger adapter
Picture can be washed out in bright rooms
Only HDTV, not 4K

THE VERDICT
The Skyworth 24P100 Companion Portable Display excels at its purpose. Inside this easy-to-carry, stable unit is a smart display that performs beautifully in the sun with rich color, good sound, and easy internet connectivity wherever you roam.

Certainly not everyone will share my enthusiasm for the Skyworth Companion Portable Display. Even if you don’t regularly camp or take long road trips—or need a display for presentations—its portability makes it easy to carry from room to room or outside to finish watching a game. It’s what the Companion was built for, and it does it well.

It happens every year at this time. The internet is flooded with announcements trumpeting the new films expected to launch in late spring or early summer. The timing is vital. If the scheduled release date is earlier, such as from mid-March to early May, it's likely that the market for the movie has been judged dubious at best. The studio involved won't waste time and money trying to squeeze it into the vital and crowded mid-May to late July window. To soften their likely losses it's thrown to the wolves early to get whatever pennies the filmmakers think they can scratch from it. But there are always exceptions; one can't entirely ignore the possibility of an early season surprise hit.

xMEMS Labs has introduced Lassen, a new silicon MEMS tweeter for 2-way True Wireless Stereo (TWS) earbuds that eliminates the need for a separate piezo amplifier. This design choice, according to xMEMS, reduces cost and power consumption while freeing up valuable space for manufacturers to incorporate additional advanced features. By focusing on the frequency range from 6kHz to 20kHz, Lassen targets clear, detailed highs that bring out nuances in music and immersive audio formats.