Compare Top 7 Tote Bags Honorable Mentions Photograph: Kat Merck Peak Design Everyday Tote for $160: The first time I subbed in this tote for my usual bag, at a youth basketball tournament, I disappointed about a dozen parents who had clocked it as a cooler. “I thought you had brought drinks,” a friend said,…
So what is it about the Enhance Select 700 aids that makes them 200 better than the Select 500? The big sell is a new audio feature called SoundScape Auto Focus. This technology is designed to improve speech clarity in noisy conditions, filtering out background sounds and automatically prioritizing human voices. Auto Focus is integrated…
Compare Our Top Picks Honorable Mentions We have tested 100+ mattresses over the years and have removed many that are out-of-stock or out-of-date. Here are a few more products that are still available, which we liked but didn’t love as much as the ones above. Puffy Cloud for $949: This enhanced all-foam mattress offers profound…
If you’ve never toured a whiskey distillery, the experience can be uncommonly old-fashioned. While newer distilleries thrive on automation, many still tout their “by hand” operations as a defining characteristic, a heritage that gives them street cred. Many distilleries are downright smug about the lack of computers or even climate control in any facet of…
The Switch has 10 vibration modes (five internal and five external) with 16 intensity levels. I’ve never been into patterns, but if you are, you have plenty to choose from. But it’s the 16 intensity levels that deserve a round of applause. You can take the Switch from the faintest murmur to such a powerful…
Imagine you’re walking your dog. It interacts with the world around you—sniffing some things, relieving itself on others. You walk down the Embarcadero in San Francisco on a bright sunny day, and you see the Ferry Building in the distance as you look out into the bay. Your dog turns to you, looks you in…
I love losing myself in a good book, and I’m not the only one. Finding great gifts for book lovers isn’t just about testing for the best e-reader (which we have!) or rounding up all the accessories worth adding to your Kindle (we’ve done that too), but rather it’s about setting up your favorite reader…
If I’ve learned one thing from listening to the entire back catalog of the excellent podcast Real Survival Stories, it’s this: Whether you’re mountain biking Californian trails or kayaking the west coast of England, the proverbial, you know, can hit the fan really fast. When an adventure flips unexpectedly into an emergency situation, the one…
Cats are beautiful, interesting, weird creatures. They’re also very picky. Finding cat toys that they’ll actually play with is tough, especially with the sheer oversaturation of the pet market today. Cats require a specific environment to play, scratch, and relax. Based on years of testing with our cats, these are our favorite WIRED-approved, techy cat…
When I started hiking, big leather boots were the only real option. They were burly, stiff, and difficult to break in, but one pair would last you decades. Technology has mercifully caught up, however. If you head to the trails today, most hikers and backpackers are opting for more lightweight, low-cut options. While an influx…
