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If you don’t already deal with a condition called presbyopia, you probably will by your mid-40s. It’s when the lenses in your eyes lose elasticity making it hard to focus on objects up close, like the words in a book. The solution is to occasionally wear reading glasses or glasses with progressive lenses that can limit your focal range. But researchers at Stanford University have come up with another solution; glasses that detect and automatically focus on whatever someone’s eyes are looking at.

Gadgets & Gear

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The first smart home gadgets from a few years ago weren’t actually very smart, but times have changed, and there’s now plenty of good reasons to upgrade your vacuum cleaner, your sound system, and even your microwave, with some AI-powered voice-detecting smarts.

Gadgets & Gear

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Several years and several billions of dollars after first getting Silicon Valley investors excited about virtual reality all over again, you’ll finally be able to walk into a store and buy a Magic Leap headset as starting next week, AT&T flagship stores in Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco will start carrying the Magic Leap One Creator Edition.

Gadgets & Gear

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Hey—there’s a new iPod Touch in town, and it’s in line to get the latest iOS 13 upgrade later this year (dark mode and all). But why on earth would you want a hobbled iPhone? Apple wants to sell it to you because it’s committed to services like the App Store and TV+ and a cheap iOS device lets it get those services into the hands of more people.

Gadgets & Gear

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It’s hard to know precisely when the electric fan was invented, but Thomas Edison was probably involved. In the century-plus since then, the basic idea hasn’t changed: spin a propeller really fast, wind results, room cools down. The performance of your average table fan, however, has evolved quite a bit. Now, something slightly larger than a basketball can make your summer less hellish. If you pick the right fan, that is.

Gadgets & Gear

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In today’s world, it feels like every company is trying to spruce up old tech with the power of the internet. We got smart locks, smart lights, smart vacuums, so why not a smart alarm clock? But with so many people opting to set alarms on their phones rather than manage yet one more device, what’s that point? Well for one, because snoozing an alarm with a smack is a hell of a lot more fun (and easier) than trying to hit a random software button on the phone you just knocked onto the floor.

Gadgets & Gear

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Sony just released a more affordable set of noise-canceling headphones called the WH-XB900N. The new wireless headphones sell for $250 and are an update to the company’s popular MDR-XB950BT Extra Bass headphones. At the same time, they also represent a cheaper version of Sony’s excellent $350 WH-1000XM3 noise-canceling headphones. From afar, Sony’s more affordable new noise-canceling headphones look almost identical to the price model. Up close, it’s evident that they’re not as good as Sony’s flagship, and that doesn’t matter to me at this price.

Gadgets & Gear

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The Wonderboom is one of my favorite gadgets. It’s a round little Bluetooth speaker that’s easy to use and sounds terrific. The Wonderboom is even durable enough that you can bounce it on the ground or throw it in the toilet, which I do not recommend. Ultimate Ears, the creators of this affordable gadget, just made a handful of improvements to Wonderboom. Meet the Wonderboom 2.

Gadgets & Gear