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The Black Friday shopping craze is almost here, and Bose is already out of the gate with some early headphones’ deals. With some help from Spending Lab, a firm who monitors the world of online retail and e-commerce, here are the top picks from the Bose line of devices. Try Bose noise cancelling headphones for peace and quiet First up for grabs is the Bose Quiet Comfort 25 Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones designed for Apple devices, such as the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch 2nd generation or the later iPod classic and iPod Nano. The headphones, with rotating earcups, also include an inline mic/remote to control music functions. For noisy environments, such as the roar of an airplane, Bose says all you’ll hear is a whisper. When listening to music, you’ll be surprised at the subtle details you may have not noticed before. You can pick up a pair at this link for under $200. Active lifestyles call for the Bose SoundSport in your ears If you’re looking for some snazzy in-ear headphones, t...

Anytime you can combine two functions into one is a plus in the technology world. That's why having a charging cable and battery together is probably going to be a big hit. The Jackery Jewel 2-in-1 Lightning Power Cable with an integrated battery is being pitched as the first ever Apple certified product to have this capability for extending iPhones' and iPads' battery power. The innovative cable from this Silicon Valley company can be charged from any USB outlet and also can be used to transfer files to computers or other devices. If you have an Apple device low on power, the Jackery Jewel can muster up an additional 20 percent of extra power and is rated at keeping an iPhone 6S charged for up to three extra hours of standby time. The cable is 39.4 inches in length, with the battery and circuit board inside a rugged plastic shell. A built-in LED gives battery information with red, green or blue levels, while also flashing in charging mode until completely char...

When it comes to charging your smartphone or tablet, it’s just another mundane task with a skinny cable. There is not much to see there and certainly nothing to get excited about. But the Toddy Cable, a new charging cable coming down the pikes from Toddy Gear, Inc., is about to add some spice to charging your electronics. The idea behind the Toddy Cable includes personalization options to make your cable unique and less likely to be borrowed and not returned. Getting personal with the design for a Toddy Cable is easy enough by simply choosing from a selection of popular patterns and colors created with a 3D modeling process. You can also add a name, favorite quote or logo. For even more creative possibilities, you can upload your own design. The cables I’ve been testing has an eye-catching design with alternating shades of purple, blue, green and orange colors, intertwined with white slashes and has my name engraved on the flat USB connector. It’s quite jazzy and there are hu...

The Apple Watch is just around the corner and it’s time to get serious about how Apple’s latest technological wonder is going to fit into our lives. Just like all the other “Apple iDevices,” a lot of us didn’t know we’ll need an Apple Watch until Apple told us so. The one thing I can say is the Apple Watch is going to be some much more than a device to let us know the time or the date. We’re talking about an entire ecosystem of tech synergy and this device could be the world’s first truly wearable computer. But we’re skeptical at this point, or at least I am, and Apple has some convincing to do in several areas. I’m sure security measures will be at the top of the list for those considering the Apple Watch. One question is will it work on a wrist that didn’t shell out their hard-earned cash? The answer is the device will know if it’s on your wrist or has been taken off and it’ll need a lock code to be activated again, much like the iPhone lock screen. That should give some peac...

As I got into my car for my daily commute to work, my latest iPhone app tells me there are 25 other drivers nearby ready to assist me with real-time traffic reports and commuting information. The commuting information is from Waze, a traffic and navigation app that I have been testing over the past few weeks. I can truly say that it works and also has very impressive GPS capabilities. The technology behind the Waze app is based on a community of other drivers with the Waze app, or "Wazers" as they like to call themselves. The beauty of the concept is that these drivers are local to your area and drive some of the same routes that you would take every day. Once in your car, just fire up the Waze app, type in your destination and leave the app open. You'll notice right away that your location is accurately displayed and a little icon tracks your route on a three-dimensional map, or 2D if you prefer. As you drive along, you might notice alerts on traffic jams or si...

If you ever lose your iPhone, it's really a bad feeling and more than likely, you'll replace with it another iPhone. Then your thoughts will quickly turn to recovering all your contacts, calendar, notes, photos, videos and even a log of text messages that were on the iPhone that is missing in action. If you're lucky, there will be a backup in iTunes if you have been syncing regularly, or there might be a backup in iCloud. If not, then your next best option might be some free iPhone data recovery software from EaseUS , a software development company located in the Sichuan Province of China that specializes in backup and security solutions. According to the company if you had been using their backup software, you'll just need to connect your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to a PC and launch the free EaseUS MobiSaver software. The program will scan your iDevice and list recoverable files. Then it's simple matter of clicking the "Recover" button. The MobiS...

Well now, just when it seemed that Apple's innovation has slowed down, as the Android camp was full-steam ahead, the guys from Cupertino dealt what could be a winning hand at the start of the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. Apple unveiled the mysterious and tightly-held-to-their-chest iOS 7 software update, stamped with the work of the possibly soon-to-be-famous Jony Ive, Apple's senior vice president of design. Already, it is being called "the most significant iOS update since the original iPhone that took the stage in 2007. After watching the video, I believe them, or they did a good job of snookering me and probably a lot of other Apple fans. I can't keep this to myself any longer; this update that is due this fall is going to be one fine upgrade, as every nook and cranny of the current iPhone software has been redesigned. The appearance is clean, minimalist, simplistic and very appealing. The icons for apps look fresh and not overdone, with cr...

If you ever worry about the security of sensitive email message, a new technology called Vaporstream might be what you need. For those confidential conversations, company officials say Vaporstream communications cannot be copied, forwarded, printed, saved or intercepted. This James Bond senario is created with a Secure Recordless Messaging Service, or SRMS, which transmits messages without leaving behind any Electronic Stored Information, which is also known as the ESI factor. Once you hit send on a Visper message, it vaporizes to leave no trace in the inbox, server or archive. In addition to messages, recordless photos also disappear from the sending device, as well as the recipient's device. According to the company behind Vaporstream, this technology "is the messaging tool of choice for critical discussions about mergers & acquisitions, research & development, litigation, and other confidential matters." If you are a busy executive or professional with a ...

Now that the iPad Mini has finally been unveiled, the real question is how it will fare among all the other small tablets on the market. Apple has given us a mini version of previous iPads, with an A5 dual-core chip, a 7.9-inch display, and a starting price of $329 for the 16 GB version. For the 32 GB and 64 GB models, you’ll need $429 and $529 for the latter. It also has a 10-hour battery life, LTE network capability, updated Wi-Fi performance, and as expected, the new Lightning connector that made a debut on the iPhone 5 and the new iPods announced on Sept. 12. It’s also around 24 percent less in depth than the most recent iPad. All of these features will certainly attract some attention, especially Apple fans, but the mini Apple wonder does have a few shortcomings. The resolution, which is 1024 x 768, doesn’t stack up with competing tablets and the A5 dual-core processor is from older hardware, being last used in the iPad 2 and the iPhone 4S Another area of concern is as...

Windows 8 will be available for sale on Oct. 26 and can be pre-ordered now. So it’s time to start thinking about your game plan for upgrading your existing computers or pondering what kind of device you’ll want in a new purchase. But there is some confusion about which version of Windows 8 will work for you and the price you’ll pay, along with a long list of choices for new Windows 8 hardware coming down the pikes. Windows 8 will be available in several versions — one for tablet devices running ARM processors, which will be called Windows RT, and another for desktop PCs that’ll be known as Windows 8 Pro. A consumer version is also in the works and will just be called Windows 8. As for the price, it’ll depend on whether you per-order the Windows 8 Pro DVD package now and pay $69.99, or wait until the release date on Oct. 26 and pay $39.99 using the Windows 8 upgrade Assistant online. If you have purchased a new PC after June 2, the upgrade price from say Windows 7 will be arou...

I believe Samsung Electronics of America might have a winner with the new Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet, which was announced on Wednesday and available for purchase the next day. That's about the shortest roll out of a product that I've seen. So let's get right to it. The iPad is standing ready to defend any challenger and the Galaxy Note 10.1 just might be a threat, or at least earn a lot more respect than some of the other challengers like the Galaxy Tabs, the Motorola Xoom, the G-Slate and several other contenders. Just to refresh your memory, the first Galaxy Note that arrived on the scene around February with a 5.3-inch display, was more smartphone than tablet. The Galaxy Note 10.1 seems to be more tablet than smartphone. The Android 3.2 operating system, or Honeycomb, on the previous Galaxy Note is now Android 4.0, or Ice Cream Sandwich, on the new Galaxy Note. The old and new share still share the unique S Pen stylus, but it has been redesigned on the Galaxy Note 1...

The Google tablet is no longer a rumor. Now we'll have the Google Nexus 7 by mid-July, or you can pre-order right now on Google's website for $199. According to Google, pre-ordered tablets will ship in two-three weeks and for a limited time, you'll get $25 to spend in Google's Play store on apps, games, books and movies. Google is also throwing in a free copy of Transformers: Dark of the Moon. The Nexus 7 will have a 7-inch display and weigh about 0.75 pounds, which is right in line with other tablets of this size. It'll use Android's latest operating system, which is Jelly Bean, or Android 4.1, if you keep track of the version numbers. Google on their website has the battery rated for 10 hours of web browsing or 10 hours of e-reading, as well as over 8 hours of HD video playback. The Nexus 7 was built to work with Google Play, or Google's app store, where they're pitching over 600,000 apps and games and over four million books. Online storage a...

Microsoft choose Hollywood as the location to unveil Surface, a windows tablet computer designed and engineered completely by the guys at One Microsoft Way in Redmond, WA. While the Surface is unique in appearance, with an integrated kickstand to help prop it up and a Touch Cover with a built-in keyboard, the big question quickly comes to mind. Is this tablet the iPad killer? Various tablet manufacturers have been trying to build a serious iPad competitor since the Motorola Xoom arrived on the scene in early 2011. The Xoom wasn't it and neither were the Samsung Galaxy Tabs. The Acer tablets, Asus, the Amazon Kindle and a few others have gained traction, but the iPad remains on top. Microsoft has probably thrown every punch they've learned in their 30-year history of building hardware and developing software to make the Surface attractive to savvy consumers. It even has a few strong point and features not found in the current crop of tablets and can one-up the iPad in a few ...

After using the new Yahoo! Axis search tool and browser for a while, I think it's worth exploring. But I'm not sure if it'll be a game changer for Internet searching and browsing. I installed the desktop version for the iMac and immediately noticed the search box in the lower left corner of my Safari browser window, along with icons for favorites and a home button. What's important here is that the search box is always there and waiting. You can say Google has the upper right corner of your browser window for searching and Yahoo! has the lower left corner for their search box. When you start a search, the difference between - let's say Google or Bing - and Yahoo! is that Axis give you miniature Web pages of your search results instead of links. A nice horizontal-scrolling pane of results appear across the bottom portion of your browser window. The Axis approach to search results is much more visually appealing than the other search-engine guys. You can als...

When the BlackBerry Playbook first arrived on the tablet scene a little less than a year ago, a few other tablets, such as the iPad, the Motorola Xoom and the Samsung Galaxy Tab were already on the shelves. It was going to be tough to gain some attention. But the PlayBook was different in that it shunned the Android operating system favored by the iPad competitors and instead choose a spiffy OS from QNX Software Systems. QNX is best known for their in-vehicle and infotainment systems. The PlayBook was good-looking, but it had a unique trait among other tablets in that it needed to be tethered to a BlackBerry smartphone in order to use the calendar, email and contacts features. It was depended on a Bluetooth connection between the PlayBook and the smartphone, with only a range of about 30 feet. The fan base didn't latch onto the PlayBook as expected, maybe because of the tethering process and the difficulty in setting it up, especially with all the security steps involved. The...