Nokia Lumia 520 (AT&T)

The most positive trend in the smartphone industry is not the advent of ever-larger devices, but the arrival of budget-priced phones that still get the basics right. Nokia's Lumia 520, $99.99 at AT&T's GoPhone prepaid service, represents one of the better examples of this entry-level genre.

It's not a good fit for app enthusiasts, videophiles or shutterbugs—or anybody in a hurry on the mobile Web—but if you just need an affordable phone that brings you simple Web access and helps you stay on top of your schedule and your social circles, this Windows Phone 8 model deserves a look.

Size, Screen, and Storage
The compact, relatively thick dimensions of the phone—4.72 by 2.51 by 0.38 inches—vaguely remind me of the first iPhone. Like that pioneering model, the 4.37-ounce 520 feels right-sized for single-handed use in a way that today's enormophones never could.

The grippy plastic back peels off to reveal an easily replaced battery, plus micro-SIM and microSD slots. You need to pop out the battery to get at either of the card slots, and the sideways orientation requires wiggling the card back and forth before you can extract it.

The 4-inch display, at 800 by 480 pixels, falls short of Retina standards and seems unnecessarily small given the wide bezel around it. But you have to hold the phone pretty close to your face before you can discern individual pixels, and it's fine overall. All of the buttons line up on the right-hand side: Volume, Power and Camera. A headphone jack is up top, and there's a micro-USB port is at the bottom, but you have no video-out jacks.

An advertised 8 GB of storage space translates to a theoretical upper limit of 7.23 GB, with 4.52 GB available in a fresh configuration.

Call Quality, Battery Life, and Bandwidth
The 520 works well at reproducing the human voice. Voice Mail messages left in standard and speakerphone modes sounded equally clear, although the latter failed to capture a whispered segment. The phone's integrated noise cancellation effectively hushed an arriving subway train, and the correctly recognized most voice-dialing instructions made through a Plantronics Bluetooth hands-free kit. 

An observed eleven hours of talk-time battery life beat Nokia and AT&T's estimates by more than an hour and exceeded what we saw on the 520's T-Mobile-specific sibling, the Lumia 521, by almost two and a half hours.

The 520, however, fared worse than the 521 at delivering mobile broadband. Ookla's Speedtest.net application clocked a peak download speed of 5.3 Mbps on AT&T's signal in the Washington, D.C. area. Wi-Fi can be much faster, but the 520 didn't detect a nearby 5GHz network.

Camera, Connectivity, and Apps
The 520's photo and video capabilities also evoke the original iPhone: You have one camera on the back (sans flash) and no front-facing camera. That 5-megapixel sensor can take decent photos with good lighting and a bit of luck, but too many showed an off white balance or a distracting, gauzy glow around illuminated areas. Indoors, you'd better have an extremely steady hand as you gently press the shutter button.

The camera does better at moving pictures than still images, keeping close to 30 frames per second in wildly varying lighting, although the footage quickly got grainy as the scene got dimmer.

Nokia throws in some useful photo apps. Cinemagraph lets you quickly crank out a looped, animated image, while Smart Shoot combines  a series of photos to craft an improved group portrait, and PhotoBeamer allows you to drive a slideshow on the screen of an adjacent device. The clumsy Panorama app, however, requires you to aim at a series of circles on the screen instead of simply panning in one direction.

(You can also access most of these apps through the lens plug-in button in the main camera app, which should reduce the odds of users ignoring them in a long line of apps.)

AT&T throws in a few of its own apps. Make the redundant, $9.99-per-month AT&T Navigator the first you uninstall. Unfortunately, the carrier has yet to support Microsoft's Data Sense app, which helps you track your bandwidth usage—a key concern given the limited allocations of most GoPhone plans.

Windows Phone 8 handles all of the major audio and video formats except for QuickTime. The 520 also supports one audio format unmentioned in AT&T's spec sheet: FM radio, which is available as long as you have a headphone cable connected to serve as its antenna.

The Windows Phone app inventory continues to trail that of Android and iOS, forcing users to look for more obscure alternatives to some name-brand apps. The platform's increasing popularity—it's now broken past 10 percent in some European markets—suggests this gap will narrow, but you have to be prepared to live with it today.

Conclusions
Were the Lumia 520 on AT&T's subscription service, this phone would be an awful deal. Its low price would soon vanish in higher monthly rates set to subsidize the purchase of pricier hardware. Instead, you can easily get by with a $60/month bill. The camera and battery life could be better, and the mobile-broadband speeds should be faster, but you could do far worse in a starter smartphone.

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OKI B721dn

Pros Prodigious monthly duty cycle. Good standard and optional paper handling. Solid output quality.

Cons Slow for its price and rated speed. Somewhat high running costs for a printer of its price Bottom Line The OKI B721dn is a workhorse monochrome laser printer capable of anchoring a mid-sized workgroup, though it is a little slow for its price and rated speed.

By Tony Hoffman

The OKI B721dn, a workhorse mono laser-class printer geared to mid-sized workgroups, has a voluminous monthly duty cycle and a copious standard and optional paper capacity. Although it matched the speed of its faster-rated sibling, the OKI B731dn, in our testing, it was still on the slow side for its price and rated speed.

The B721dn uses an LED-based engine (essentially the same as a laser, but using LEDs instead of a laser as a light source). LED printers are considered laser class. This two-toned (off-white and brown) printer measures 16.1 by 17.1 by 19.6 inches (HWD), larger than you'd want to share a desk with, and weighs 59.5 pounds. On the front panel is a 5-line backlit monochrome display and an alphanumeric keypad for password-protected printing. On the printer's side is a forward-facing slot for a USB thumb drive.

The B721dn has good paper handling features and options. Its standard paper capacity is 630 sheets, split between a 530-sheet main tray and a 100-sheet multipurpose tray, and it has an automatic duplexer for printing on both sides of a sheet of paper. Maximum paper capacity is 3,100 sheets, when you add a second 530-sheet tray ($223.99 direct) and a 2,000-sheet feeder with casters ($700.99). Alternately, you can add up to 3 optional 530-sheet trays if you don't go with the feeder. The printer has a prodigious monthly duty cycle, with a maximum of up to 250,000 pages per month and a recommended duty cycle of up to 20,000 pages.

The B721dn offers Ethernet (including Gigabit Ethernet) and USB connectivity. We tested it on an Ethernet network with its drivers installed a PC running Windows Vista.

Printing Speed
I timed the B721dn, rated at 49 pages per minute, on our business applications suite (using QualityLogic's hardware and software for timing), at an effective 9.5 pages per minute (ppm), essentially tied with the OKI B731dn's 9.4 ppm despite the latter's 55 page-per-minute rating. (The rated speeds are based on text-only printing, while we test with a combination of text pages, graphics pages, and pages of mixed content.) It's also slower than its still available predecessor, the OKI B720dn, rated at 47 pages per minute, which I tested at 11.5 ppm.

The speed is considerably less than that of the Editors' Choice HP LaserJet Enterprise 600 Printer M601DN, rated at 45 pages per minute, which I tested at 13.4 ppm, as well as the HP LaserJet Enterprise 600 Printer M602DN, which is rated at 52 pages per minute and tested at 14.1 ppm. And compared with the Editors' Choice Dell B5460dn, fuhgeddaboutit—that speedster, rated at 62 pages per minute, zipped through our test at 18.7 ppm.

Output Quality
The B721dn's output quality was typical of a mono laser across the board, for text, graphics, and photos. Fortunately, average text quality for a laser is still very good, fine for most internal and external business needs, though I'd hesitate to use it for demanding desktop publishing applications.

Graphics output was average for a mono laser, good enough for internal business use, but whether you'd consider them good enough to, say, distribute as PowerPoint handouts to a client you were seeking to impress depends on how picky you are. Very thin lines in one illustration did not show at all, and the printer could have done better at distinguishing between similar shades of gray.

Photo quality was also typical of mono lasers. The printer is capable of printing out recognizable images from Web pages, but whether you'd consider the output good enough for use in a client newsletter depends on how picky you are. It did well in showing detail in relatively dark areas, but there was a loss of detail in bright areas, and several prints showed mild banding (a regular pattern of faint striations).

Running Costs The B721dn's running costs, based on the price and yield of its most economical toner cartridge, are 1.7 cents per page, a little on the high side for its price. That matches the costs of the HP M601dn, but is trumped by Dell's claimed costs for the B5460dn, a mere penny a page. The OKI B731dn can use higher-capacity cartridges than the B721dn, bringing its running costs down to 1.3 cents per page, while the HP M602's costs are 1.2 cents per page.

Surprisingly, the B721dn was effectively tied in speed with the OKI B731dn—finishing 1 second faster—despite its lower price and rated speed. (The OKI B731dn was slightly faster in photo-printing speed, but that's a non-issue in a mono laser for the vast majority of businesses.) The B721dn has slightly higher (0.4 cents per page) running costs. It would take printing 75,000 pages with the B731dn for its lower running costs to compensate for its higher list price. If your printing volume isn't massive but merely heavy, the B721dn may be a more economical choice, which at least in our testing didn't lose any speed to its faster-rated sibling.

The B721dn has the same list price as the Editors' Choice HP LaserJet Enterprise 600 Printer M601DN and the same running costs, and they have similar paper capacity. The M601dn is significantly faster; the B721dn has slightly better text quality. The B721dn has higher running costs than the Dell B5460dn, which zipped through our business applications test at warp speed. The Dell did lag the B721dn on graphics and photo quality, however.

The OKI B721dn is a reasonable choice as a workhorse mono laser printer. It has a solid set of features, good paper handling, and average output quality. It's a bit sluggish for its price and rated speed, and its running costs are a bit on the high side. But it provides a good balance between price, print quality, and features while being able to print the prodigious volume of documents that some businesses demand.

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OKI B731dn

Pros Good standard and optional paper capacity. Solid output quality across the board. Built for very high-volume printing.

Cons Slower than expected for its price and rated speed. Bottom Line The OKI B731dn is a monochrome laser capable of churning out massive quantities of printed matter, though at somewhat slow speed.

By Tony Hoffman

The OKI B731dn is the new flagship model of OKI's B700 line of mono laser-class printers, and is capable of printing a prodigious volume of documents for a mid-sized workgroup. Intended for mid-sized workgroups, it offers a high maximum monthly duty cycle, good standard and optional paper capacity, and solid output quality. One downside is that in our testing, it was slow for its price and rated speed.

The B731dn uses an LED-based print engine, which is essentially the same as a laser, except that it uses LEDs instead of a laser as a light source. The printer measures 16.1 by 17.1 by 19.6 inches (HWD), larger than you'd want to share a desk with, and weighs 59.5 pounds. The front panel houses 5-line backlit monochrome display and an alphanumeric keypad for password-protected printing. On the printer's side is a forward-facing slot for a USB thumb drive.

Paper Handling
The B731dn has good paper handling features and options, befitting its massive monthly duty cycle (280,000-page maximum, with a recommended maximum of 30,000 pages). Its standard paper capacity is 630 sheets, split between a 530-sheet main tray and a 100-sheet multipurpose tray, and it includes an automatic duplexer for printing on both sides of a sheet of paper. Maximum paper capacity is 3,100 sheets, when you add a second 530-sheet tray ($223.99 direct) and a 2,000-sheet feeder with casters ($700.99). Alternately, you can add up to 3 optional 530-sheet trays if you don't go with the feeder.

The B731dn offers Ethernet (including Gigabit Ethernet) and USB connectivity; I tested it on an Ethernet network with drivers installed on a PC running Windows Vista.

Speed and Output Quality
I timed the B731dn, rated at 55 pages per minute, on our business applications suite (using QualityLogic's hardware and software for timing), at an effective 9.4 pages per minute (ppm), essentially tied with the OKI B721dn's 9.5 ppm despite the latter being only rated at 49 pages per minute. (The rated speeds are based on text-only printing, while we test with a combination of text pages, graphics pages, and pages of mixed content.) It's also slower than its predecessor, the OKI B730dn, rated at 52 pages per minute, which I tested at 12 ppm in 2011; the B730dn is still being sold.

The B731dn was considerably slower than the Editors' Choice Dell B5460dn, rated at 62 pages per minute, which zipped through the same test at 18.7 ppm. The Editors' Choice HP LaserJet Enterprise 600 Printer M601DN, rated at 45 pages per minute, turned in a speed of 13.4 ppm, while the HP LaserJet Enterprise 600 Printer M602DN, rated at 52 pages per minute, tested at 14.1 ppm.

Graphics output was typical of a mono laser, good enough for internal business use, but whether you'd distribute it as, say, PowerPoint handouts to a client you were seeking to impress depends on how picky you are. Very thin lines in one illustration did not show at all. The printer did poorly in an illustration that contains a gradient from very dark to very light tones, showing little distinction between them. Some backgrounds looked slightly blotchy.

Photo quality was also typical of mono lasers. The printer is capable of printing out recognizable images from Web pages, but whether you'd consider the output good enough for use in a client newsletter depends on how picky you are. There was frequent dithering in the form of graininess. In certain prints there was a loss of detail in bright areas. Two photos showed slight banding (a regular pattern of faint striations).

The OKI B731dn's running costs of 1.3 cents per page, based on price and yield figures provided by the company, are reasonably low; lower than the OKI B721dn's and HP M601dn's 1.7 cents per page and just higher than the HP M602dn's 1.2 cents per page.

The OKI B731dn brings a lot to the table: A prodigious monthly duty cycle, good standard and optional paper capacity, solid output quality, reasonably low running costs. But if you're in need of the high-volume printing that the B731dn affords, speed will likely be a factor, and in our testing it was slow for its price and rated speed. If that's not an obstacle, the B731 is a capable and otherwise well-rounded workhorse mono laser capable of anchoring a busy workgroup.

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Outdoor Technology Privates

Pros Distortion-free wireless Bluetooth audio with boosted bass response. Attractive retro design. Detachable audio cable for wired listening.

Cons Audio could be a bit more crisp in the high-mids. Swipe-based controls not always effective. The name is a little ridiculous. Bottom Line The Outdoor Technology Privates are solid Bluetooth headphones with deep bass response and a cable for wired listening.

By Tim Gideon

We're not going to discuss whether Outdoor Technology has come up with the most unintentionally hilarious name in the history of headphones (the Jays v-Jays still hold that crown). Still, while it's possible the vaguely retro-military style of the Outdoor Technology Privates is the inspiration for the name, it just sounds funny. This pair of $99.95 (direct) Bluetooth headphones provides a significant bass boost without going overboard, and while high end could be a bit more crisp, bass lovers will likely enjoy the sound signature. A detachable cable allows you to listen in wired, non-Bluetooth mode, which is a great extra touch. You are now free to giggle like a child every time I mention the name Privates in this review.

Design
The canvas headband and the square-shaped earcups of the supra-aural (on-ear) Privates evoke something out of Battlefield or Call of Duty. Each pair is available in military green (of course), turquoise, black, or mustard yellow, and is outfitted with black, well-cushioned earpads. The headphones collapse at hinges above the earcups and fold down flat for easy storage, though they do not ship with any sort of carrying pouch.

One great aspect of the Privates' design is the optional audio cable. It's removable and though it has no inline remote control for mobile phones, it allows you to use the headphones as a traditional wired pair when the battery power is low or dead.

Speaking of pairing, the process is very simple—we had no issues pairing with the iPhone 4S in a matter of seconds. The flashing blue status light that tells you the headphones are paired is quite bright, which is a minor annoyance found on many Bluetooth headphones. In a darker room, it lights things up, and in a brighter room, it still catches the eye.

The capacitive touch surface of the panels on the earcups uses swipes up and down to control volume, and sideways to navigate tracks. The same button you use to pair the headphones controls playback, as well as answering phone calls. The swipes didn't always seem to work, or required repeated swipes to skip a song. Aesthetically speaking, the lack of multiple buttons is nice, but it's not quite as efficient for controlling your music.

The Privates ship with a USB charging cable and the aforementioned 3.5mm, canvas-lined audio cable. Outdoor Technology estimates the battery life to be about 10 hours on a full charge.

Performance
The audio quality of the Privates doesn't change much whether they're connected through Bluetooth mode or the audio cable. On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like the Knife's "Silent Shout," the Privates do not distort and they pump out a powerful bass response. The low-end will appeal to fans of big bass, but things aren't boosted to insane levels.

On Bill Callahan's "Drover," his baritone vocals get a nice richness from the low frequency response, but they could use a bit more treble edge. The drums receive a nice added low frequency presence, but it's not so over-the-top that they compete with the vocals for the spotlight. Things could be crisper overall, but the mix is never muddy.

On Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," some added high-mid edge could help the attack of the kick drum loop cut through the mix more. The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate this beat are boosted, but not as intensely as you might hear on other pairs like the Beats by Dr. Dre line-up.

Classical tracks, like John Adams' "The Chairman Dances," sound quite crisp and well-defined through the Privates. Classical tracks tend to retain a decent treble presence to begin with, and typically have less intense bass response that pop mixes, so the bass boosting adds a little richness to the lower register strings and percussion while keeping the spotlight on the higher register strings and the growls of the brass section.

For $100, the Privates are a solid offering, but it's worth perusing the competition, particulalry if you're looking for more presence in the high-mids and highs. If you'd prefer to spend less for sporty design and solid performance, the Outdoor Technology DJ Slims and Editors' Choice Plantronics BackBeat Go 2 both offer a decent Bluetooth experience but not exceptional audio fidelity. If you can spend more on your headphones for audio fidelity, consider the Sennheiser MM 100 or JayBird BlueBuds X. 

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Phiaton Fusion MS 430

Pros Well-balanced, powerful audio performance with rich lows and well-defined mids and highs. Removable cable with inline microphone and remote control for mobile devices. Stylish design.

Cons Uncomfortable over long listening sessions. Light on accessories. Bottom Line Phiaton's Fusion MS 430 headphones provide both quality bass response and solid balance, but wearing them for long periods can get uncomfortable.

By Tim Gideon

Phiaton's headphones have always looked like a luxury version of the Beats by Dr. Dre lineup, despite typically being less expensive. At $179 (list), the Phiaton Fusion MS 430 is neither cheap nor overpriced, delivering audio quality that stands prominently in the crowded sub-$200 field that has such greats as the Editors' Choice Marshall Monitor. With a solid bass response that delivers deep lows and excellent high-mid and high frequency presence, it maintains a wonderful balance for just about every genre you can throw at it. This headphone pair could join some elite ranks, but over long listening periods it can get quite uncomfortable.

Design
As usual, Phiaton uses leather and other luxurious (non-plastic) materials to create a stylish-looking, (initially) comfortable design. The Fusion MS 430 features leather earpads with carbon fiber panels on the earpieces. The dominant color here is black, though the removable cable (which can be plugged into either earcup) is bright red, adding some flair to the design.

Phiaton describes the Fusion MS 430 as an over-the-ear, circumaural pair, but it's on the cusp of being a large on-ear (supra-aural) pair. I didn't find that the earcups really fit around my ear to create a seal against my head like a typical circumaural pair does. Instead the pads pressed against my ears, with the tops and bottoms of my ears hanging outside of the circular earpads' borders.

Regardless of nomenclature, the earpads are comfortable and well-cushioned at first, but they exert enough pressure on the ear that wearing them can be quite fatiguing over time. The headband has a rubberized lining that isn't very plush and gets a bit uncomfortable over time, and seems to collect dust and pet hair with the effectiveness of a Swiffer. Though it is a handsome headphone pair, the Fusion MS 430 simply isn't very comfortable over long listening sessions, and if you wear glasses, it tends to press them into the side of your skull.

The cable features an inline remote control and microphone for mobile devices. A single button controls playback, track skipping, and answering incoming calls, depending on how many times you tap it and what you mode you're in (playing music versus receiving a call). Instead of buttons to control the volume, the remote uses a slider, which can sometimes be a bit more sensitive than you might want; it's harder to make minor volume adjustments than it is with buttons. The cable's detachability adds value to the Fusion MS 430, since cables often are the first thing to malfunction on a headphone pair and replacing them is easier than replacing the headphones themselves.

The Fusion MS 430 folds flat and fits into an included drawstring protective pouch, but there are no other accessories like adapters for different headphone jack sizes or extra cables to go with it. The pouch and the one cable are all it comes with.

Performance
On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like the Knife's "Silent Shout," the Fusion MS 430 delivers a well-defined, powerful low frequency response that never distorts, even at top volumes. At reasonable listening levels, the bass response possesses richness and definition—things are boosted slightly but not ridiculously, and the presence of crisp high-mids and highs allows the overall sound signature to remain balanced.

Often with bass-boosted headphones, Bill Callahan's "Drover" gets a little muddy, with his voice receiving too much low-end and not enough high-mid clarity. This isn't the case with the Fusion MS 430, which gives his baritone vocal delivery a nice treble edge and favors the mids over the lows. This means the drumming stays pleasantly in the background instead of doing thunderous battle with Callahan's vocals for the spotlight.

The Fusion MS 430's balance is also apparent on Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild." The attack of the kick drum loop on this track gets a nice amount of high-mid grit to slice through the mix, while the sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are delivered with a healthy amount of power.

Classical tracks, like John Adams' "The Chairman Dances," sound balanced and flat through the Fusion MS 430. The bass boosting adds a bit of richness to the lower register strings and percussion without sounding over the top, and the higher register strings, brass, and percussion maintain a nice, bright forefront in the mix without ever sounding harsh. For fans of flat response (in the sense that flat response can also include deep bass, just not overwhelmingly-boosted gobs of it), the Fusion MS 430 is a solid option. It may have a bit more bass and treble sculpting than a truly flat response pair would have, but the balance maintained here, and the unwillingness to allow the bass to overtake the mix, makes for compelling listening.

At $179, the Phiaton Fusion MS 430 is a great pair of headphones with only one real downside: They become uncomfortable over long listening sessions. That's a pretty substantial downside for some listeners, and enough to keep us from giving it our Editors' Choice award. From a purely sonic standpoint, though, the Fusion MS 430 is a winner. In this price range, there are plenty of excellent options to consider. The Editors' Choice Marshall Monitor brings a clear mix to a stylish design, and the Harman Kardon CL with its refined sound signature is another solid option. If you're looking spend less but still want decent balance, the Editors' Choice Griffin WoodTones Over-the-Ear Headphones and Sennheiser HD 429s exceed expectations for their price range. 

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Snapfon ezTWO (Unlocked)

Pros Sturdy build. Large buttons. Loud earpiece. SOS button offers quick access to emergency services.

Cons Menu system could be more intuitive. Mediocre battery life. Low-resolution camera. Bottom Line The Snapfon ezTWO is a solid no-frills phone geared toward seniors. We like its handy SOS button for emergencies, but some flaws prevent it from nabbing our Editors' Choice award for simple phones.

By Patrick Austin

Cell phones can be complicated. Android or iOS? Samsung Galaxy S4 or iPhone 5s? Which apps to get? If you don't need a smartphone, or just want a barebones phone to make voice calls, the Snapfon ezTWO ($79.99 unlocked, $19.99 with service plan) is one of many streamlined options. The phone attempts to appeal to seniors with its emergency features, and it aims to outshine its predecessor, the ezOne-c, which was an Editors' Choice when we tested it two years ago. Unfortunately, some issues hold the ezTWO back, and the Samsung Jitterbug Plus remains our top pick for simple phones.

Design
Measuring 4.6 by 2.2 by 0.6 inches (HWD) and weighing 2.3 ounces, the ezTWO is easy to hold, at least compared with current smartphone giants. Despite a plastic build, the handset feels sturdy enough; I had no fear of it breaking apart if it hit the pavement. The face of the phone is dominated by large, rubbery, easy-to-see, and simple-to-push buttons that engage with a satisfying click. You get a basic numeric keypad along with Answer and End Call buttons, a selection rocker, and two selection keys. The tiny 320-by-240 LCD measures 1.8 by 1.5 inches. It's a full color display, but numbers and text are in white on a black background.

On the right panel is a pair of plastic sliders that control the underpowered LED flashlight, and a keypad lock, which prevents accidental key presses. The volume rocker and a dedicated camera button can be found on the left side of the phone. A standard 3.5mm headphone jack and a micro USB port for charging and connecting to a computer are on the bottom of the handset. There are also two electrical contacts on the bottom panel for charging the phone with an optional charging dock ($9.99). Inside, underneath the bottom rear panel, is an empty microSD slot and a removable 1000mAh battery. The ezTWO has 1.26MB of onboard storage, so if you're planning on taking many photos, you'll need a memory card.

The top portion of the back panel of the phone holds the camera lens, and a large, red SOS button. Holding it for a few seconds connects you to a trained OneCall Mobile Response Agent who, in the event of an emergency, will call 911 and alert the contacts you designate. The 24/7 service is available for an additional $15 per month

In the box you get a micro USB cable, a USB wall charger, and a user manual.

Connectivity, Service Plans, and Call Quality
The Snapfon ezTWO is a Quad Band GSM world phone running on the 850/900/1800/1900MHz bands. There is no LTE or Wi-Fi, but the phone integrates Bluetooth, so you can use a hands-free headset. I paired it with a BlueAnt Connect Bluetooth headset with no problem. The ezTWO is also compatible with M3/T3 hearing aids.

The ezTWO can be purchased unlocked for use on other GSM networks (like AT&T and T-Mobile here in the states), but using OneCall's operator service requires a voice and OneCall plan. So if you want the full benefits of the phone, you're better off with the accompanying service. Snapfon is in talks with other service providers to make the OneCall service available for use on other carriers, however.

Snapfon provides service using PureTalk USA (which runs on AT&T's network). Plans start at $14.95 with 150 minutes and unlimited rollover, and can get as expensive as $54.95 for unlimited minutes and texts and the OneCall service. To compare, the Samsung Jitterbug's GreatCall service offers a $14.99 per month plan with 50 minutes, and a $79.99 per month plan with unlimited minutes and text messages.

As for call quality, the lack of earpiece volume in the ezOne has been resolved. It's loud enough here, but sound quality isn't great for a phone that concentrates on voice calls. On a busy street in New York, clarity wasn't too bad, but the constant light static noise made my voice sound distant. The person on the other end sounded clear enough, but still a bit muffled. Noise cancellation is nonexistent, with the sound of every passing car getting picked up by the phone's speaker in my tests. Outdoors, the speakerphone was too quiet, and I had to hold the phone near my ear to hear anything clearly.

The ezTWO's battery lasted for 3 hours and 33 minutes of talk time. Which is fine for a phone that, more than likely, won't be too far away from a charger. But it's one of the shorter times we've seen for simple phones. The Jitterbug Plus lasted 5 hours and 37 minutes.

Software
What you won't find here is an app store. Or a Web browser. Or even simple games. You can choose from six polyphonic ringtones and store up to 200 text messages. Navigating the menu isn't as easy it should be for a phone that's marketed as "the cell phone for seniors." The black and white menu scheme is straightforward enough, but can be confusing when only two choices are available and either one looks as though it's selected. I would have liked to see an arrow to clarify my selections. When dialing, numbers appear clearly on the screen. The keypad can also provide clear audible feedback, so you're sure you're pressing the right buttons. There's a 250 contact limit and contacts can hold one number each. Assigning speed dial contacts is done in the settings menu, and is easy enough. Just pick a number slot and choose a contact. Holding the corresponding number on the main screen dials that contact.

Camera
The Snapfon ezTWO has a 0.3-megapixel rear camera. Needless to say, photos are grainy, and lack detail, but you can send them in text messages. You can adjust filters, white balance, continuous shooting and there's a timer. These settings can be adjusted using the selection keys, but again, it's not simple as you'd expect. The ezTWO does not record video.

Conclusion
The Snapfon ezTWO attempts to appeal to seniors, and it does just well enough if safety is your main priority. The camera is poor, the flashlight is dim, and call quality could be better, but if you need help in an emergency, you've got it. Sure, there are options like the Editors' Choice, the Samsung Jitterbug Plus, with its slew of features geared towards senior citizens like medication reminders and free 24-hour operator assistance. The Plus also has two extra hours of battery life. But if all you need is a cheap phone with emergency services and an easy setup, the ezTWO may be the phone you're looking for.

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Sony 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 Standard Zoom

Pros Good center sharpness. Optically stabilized. Solid build quality. Includes lens hood.

Cons Noticeable distortion. Weak edge performance. Narrow aperture. Bottom Line The Sony 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 Standard Zoom is a solid starter lens when bundled with the a camera, but it's priced a bit too high when purchased separately.

By Jim Fisher

The Sony 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 Standard Zoom ($299.99 direct) is the entry-level zoom lens for Sony's E-mount camera system, which includes mirrorless NEX and Alpha models. Like most zoom lenses that are offered in kits with cameras, there are some compromises to its optical design. If you're getting it bundled with a camera at a $100 premium it's a solid value, but if you're starting with an E-mount body and in search of a zoom lens, the 16-50mm Retractable Zoom is worth serious consideration.

The 18-55mm covers a 28-80mm (35mm equivalent) field of view. It's optically stabilized, and its build quality is impressive. The lens barrel is metal, with a large zoom ring towards the base and a smaller, but comfortable, manual focus ring near the front element. It's available in silver when purchased on its own, but if you buy an Alpha 3000 or NEX-7 it can be had in black. It measures 2.4 by 2.4 inches (HD) and weighs 6.9 ounces. A reversible hood is included. The 16-50mm is tiny in comparison—it's 1.2 by 2.6 inches when retracted and weighs just 4.1 ounces.

We used Imatest to check the sharpness of the lens when paired with the 20-megapixel Alpha 3000. It just misses the 1,800 lines per picture height we require for an image to be sharp at 18mm f/3.5. It scores 1,744 lines using a center-weighted test, but as is typical with entry-level zoom lenses, the edges are a bit soft at 1,350 lines. Stopping down to f/5.6 improves performance; the average sharpness is 2,052 and the edges top 1,600 lines. Barrel distortion, which causes straight lines to appear to curve outward, is very noticeable at 4 percent. The 16-50mm isn't quite as sharp at 16mm; it manages 1,666 lines, and also suffers from softer edges. When shooting in Raw the 16-50mm shows a fish-eye level of barrel distortion (9 percent), but that's automatically corrected when working in JPG mode. There's no autocorrection available for the 18-55mm, so you'll have to deal with the curvature of lines at wide angles, or apply corrections in software as you see fit.

Zooming to 35mm eliminates the barrel curvature, but introduces some pincushion distortion (2.4 percent), which makes straight lines appear to curve inward. Sharpness at the maximum f/4.5 aperture is 1,735 lines, again with a sharp center and edges that are a bit soft (1,154 lines). Stopping down to f/5.6 improves things a bit (2,042 lines across the frame, 1,470 lines at the edges), but you'll get the best performance at f/8. When you narrow the aperture to that setting you'll get images that average 2,129 lines, with edges that are a very respectable 1,700 lines. We tested the 16-50mm at 33mm and found it to outperform the larger lens here—it's just shy of 1,800 lines, but edge performance was still an issue.

At 55mm the maximum aperture narrows to f/5.6 and the pincushion distortion drops to 1.3 percent, a figure that's just a bit noticeable in field conditions. The sharpness here is 1,713 lines, with just a slight drop-off at the edges (1,629 lines). You'll get a bit better performance at f/8; the center-weighted sharpness is 2,069 lines, and the edges are just shy of 1,800 lines. The 16-50mm is a little bit softer at 50mm; it shows 1,663 lines.

Your choice of kit lens for your E-mount camera comes down to which you value more—absolute sharpness, or a compact design. Both the 18-55mm and 16-50mm are optically stabilized, and even though we found that the 16-50mm isn't quite the performer, we give it a slightly higher rating. It's only $50 more, is a heck of a lot smaller, and JPG shooters will appreciate the in-camera corrections that knock out distortion. Raw shooters using either lens can eliminate distortion with a few clicks in Lightroom, making it less of an issue for folks who spend time post-processing photos. Neither lens delivers the edge-to-edge sharpness or the ambitious aperture that we expect from top-end glass. If you're an E-mount shooter, but aren't willing to live with the compromises that come with a kit lens, patience is required. Sony is releasing the Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar T* E 16-70mm f/4 ZA OSS ($999.99) later this month, and the E PZ 18-105mm f/4 G OSS ($599.99) will follow in December.

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Sony Alpha 3000

Pros Inexpensive. SLR-like design. Built-in EVF. Built-in flash. Short shutter lag. Focus peaking. 1080i60 video capture. Excellent image quality at high ISOs.

Cons No eye sensor. Low-resolution EVF and rear LCD. Limited burst shooting. Bottom Line The mirrorless Sony Alpha 3000 cuts a lot of corners to hit its low $400 asking price, but there are no compromises in image quality.

By Jim Fisher

Have you grown out of your point-and-shoot, but can't spend a fortune on an interchangeable lens camera? Sony's Alpha 3000 ($399.99 direct with 18-55m lens) is the least expensive mirrorless camera you can buy. Sony made some compromises to deliver the 20-megapixel APS-C model at this price point, but image quality isn't one of them. We're impressed with the quality of its images, and the fact that it includes an eye-level electronic viewfinder at this price. On the other hand, the low-resolution rear LCD and limited burst-shooting capability are a bit of a letdown. If you have a bit more money to spend, consider a more refined mirrorless camera like our Editors' Choice, the Samsung NX300 or Sony's own NEX-6. But if you're on a tight budget and want the the ability to change lenses along with the image quality that a big image sensor delivers, the Alpha 3000 is worth a serious look.

Design and Features
Most entry-level mirrorless cameras are designed to resemble beefed-up compact cameras. The Alpha 3000 takes the opposite approach, looking more like a scaled-down SLR. This is the same aesthetic that Panasonic chose for its G and GH bodies, including the top-end GH3. The A3000 measures 2.3 by 4 by 1.5 inches (HWD) and weighs in at 9.9 ounces with no lens attached. Adding the kit lens increases the depth by about two inches and ups the total weight to just over a pound. Compare this to Sony's smallest interchangeable lens camera, the NEX-3N, which measures 2.3 by 4.4 by 1.4 inches and weighs 9.5 ounces; its collapsible kit lens increases the depth to about 2.8 inches and the weight to 13.6 ounces.

The SLR body style means that the camera has a deep, comfortable handgrip that's absent from many mirrorless cameras. There's some sacrifice in compactness here, but it's a worthy trade-off, especially when you pair the camera with a telezoom like the 55-210mm E-mount lens. A pop-up flash is built into the body, as is an eye-level EVF, and there's a multi-function hot shoe so that you can attach an external flash or another accessory as needed.

The control layout is a little sparse when compared to an SLR, but is on par with other E-mount bodies. Up top you'll find the Finder/LCD button (there's no eye sensor, so you have to toggle between the two manually), a mode dial, the image playback button, and a power switch that surrounds the shutter release. On the rear there's the movie button, two programmable function buttons, and a control wheel that doubles a four-way joystick with a center select button. By default the bottom button is set to bring up an in-camera guide that explains some photographic concepts and provides shooting tips. If you're comfortable behind the lens you'll want to reprogram this to activate a feature you'll use more often, like Sony's Auto Object Framing, which works to improve the composition of images, or the Clear Image Zoom function, which can effectively double the reach of your lens.

The tile-based menu system is familiar to experienced NEX shooters, but if you're moving up from a compact camera it will take getting used to. When you enter the main menu you'll be greeted by five icons: Camera, Image Size, Brightness/Color, Playback, and Setup. There are a ton of features that can be customized, but menu organization is sometimes unintuitive. For example, you'll need to go into Image Size to control the direction in which you move the camera to grab a panoramic photo; but make sure you're in Panorama mode, or that option will be grayed out.

The 3-inch rear LCD boasts a wide 16:9 ratio, just like the displays on other Sony mirrorless cameras like the NEX-5T. But it only packs a 230k-dot resolution, and looks noticeably pixelated. It can't match the 460k-dot display that Olympus packs into its entry-level PEN Mini E-PM2, and it doesn't incorporate the touch control that both the E-PM2 and NEX-5T offer.

The 0.5-inch, 768k-dot EVF is the best one you'll find in a $400 mirrorless camera, but that's because it's the only EVF you'll find in a $400 mirrorless camera. Compared with other offerings it's not very sharp, and gives you a bit of a tunnel vision effect when peering into it. There's a diopter, so you can tune it to match your eyesight, and it will get the job done when it's too bright to use the rear LCD for image framing.

The Alpha 3000 does support peaking as a manual focus aid; that system outlines in-focus parts of an image in red, yellow, or white to make manual focus quicker and more precise. But if you're serious about using the EVF, you'll be better suited with one that is a bit sharper—especially if you plan on using third-party manual focus lenses. The NEX-6 has a built-in OLED EVF, and the Panasonic G6 has an LCD EVF. You buy an add-on EVF for the Sony NEX-5T, and all Olympus PEN models support the VF-4. Since the Alpha 3000 is a budget-priced camera, it's not surprising that its EVF isn't top-quality.

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Sony VAIO Flip 15 (SVF15N190X)

Pros Glorious screen. Innovative flip mechanism. Comes with ArtRage Studio and other touch/pen-based apps.

Cons A little bulky in hand. Form factor needs time to mature. Average battery life. Bottom Line The Sony VAIO Flip 15 supersizes the convertible laptop, with a large screen that can work in various poses. It's starting to approach the convertible sweet spot, but it needs a few more iterations to become lighter and easier to hold.

By Joel Santo Domingo

The Sony VAIO Flip 15 ($1,199) totally belongs on the set of a high-budget, high-concept science fiction movie. Its mid-lid hinge design lets you perform the convertible tablet/laptop acrobatics that seem clunky on other designs. It's a power users' system, to be sure, and is a good fit for those who sketch, edit, shoot video, and paint as their profession or passion. Once they work the few kinks out of this design, Sony may have something great here.

Design and Features
The VAIO Flip 15 measures about 1 by 15 by 10 inches (HWD) and weighs 4.84 pounds. Its aluminum and glass construction imparts a feeling of sturdiness even though the screen itself is quite thin. The VAIO Flip 15 has a hinge in the middle of the screen, allowing the screen to flip around the lid, giving you the same sort of screen position options that you can get on the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 ($999) and Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11S ($999), but since the acrobatics are limited to the lid, the VAIO Flip 15 still covers its keyboard and trackpad when the lid is closed. A manual switch on the laptop controls the latch, so you're not inadvertently flipping the lid around every time you close the laptop. Unlike the Yoga laptops, the keyboard stays in the same protected orientation, while on the Yoga systems the keyboard flips over to the bottom of the laptop, where you can feel it in tablet mode. While more complex than the Lenovo Yoga, the innovative hinge lets users quickly perform the acrobatics while the laptop itself lies flat on a table. You have to pick up the Yoga brothers to do the flip maneuver.

You can hold the VAIO Flip 15 in your arm while the system is in tablet mode, but with an almost 5 pound system weight, you won't be holding it for long. The 15-inch length of the system also compounds arm fatigue a bit. On a flat surface, you can use the system easily in tablet mode. Also, you can flip the screen around and use it in viewer mode, which is equivalent to the Yoga's stand mode. This mode is where the screen is close to you, and the keyboard is on the other side of the screen, away from you. The built-in accelerometer makes sure the screen is in the correct orientation. The only mode that the VAIO Flip 15 doesn't have that the Yoga laptops have is the so-called tent mode, but that mode is of questionable utility, especially when stand/viewer mode is more useful. Like the Yoga laptops, the VAIO Flip 15 has the most options for finding a comfortable and ergonomic position to use the PC.

The screen on the VAIO Flip 15 is a bright and clear 15.5-inch IPS display with a standard 1,920-by-1,080 resolution, though you can buy VAIO Flip 15 configurations with a higher than 1080p (2,880-by-1,620) resolution. The screen on the VAIO Flip 15 is one of the cleanest and smoothest looking in terms of quality for a visual arts student or professional. To get a higher quality screen, you'd have to look at professional workstation displays. The screen has 10-point capacitive touch and a digitizer built into the panel, which means users can use capacitive or active digitizer styluses in addition to your fingers. The $39.99 Sony stylus is standard on 2,800 by 1,620 resolution models, but is an added option on our test unit. The stylus is more accurate than a capacitive stylus on drawing and paint programs like the ArtRage Studio 3 app that is pre-installed on the system, and Sony has an app it calls Sony Paper that lets you write and sketch as if you were using pen or pencil on paper.

The VAIO Flip 15 has good connectivity, including three USB 3.0 ports, HDMI, SD, and NFC. The system comes with a few pre-loaded apps like Amazon, Kindle, Skype, Evernote Touch, etc. However, the notable pre-loaded software includes the aforementioned ArtRage Studio, Sony Movie Studio Platinum, Acid Music Studio, and SoundForge Audio Studio. This system is ready to go out of the box for the budding creative student or hobbyist, and thus rivals systems like the Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (Mid 2012) ($1,799) and its siblings in terms of being well suited to photo, music, video, and graphics art production. The system's keyboard is LED backlit as you'd expect, and the keys are relatively easy to get used to, with only a little bit of slipperiness. The keys are the same bright silver color as the keyboard deck without too much contrast, so you may want to give it a tryout in a store if you're a hunt-and-peck typist.

Performance
The specs on this system are impressive. It includes an Intel Core i7-4500U processor with Intel HD 4400 graphics, 1TB hard drive with 16GB cache solid-state drive (SSD), and 8GB of DDR3 memory. These specs gave the system competitive benchmark scores, particularly on the multimedia benchmark tests like Handbrake (1:12) and Photoshop CS6 (5:07). The VAIO Flip 15 is faster than the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 14 ($999) which has a Core i5 processor and SSD combo, though the VAIO Flip 15 is left in the dust by the Editors' Choice for midpriced desktop replacement laptops, the Asus N550JV-DB72T ($1,079), which has a faster Core i7 processor and enthusiast level Nvidia GeForce discrete graphics in it. On the whole, however, you'll be happy with the VAIO Flip 15 as a multimedia creation laptop.

On the battery life test, the VAIO Flip turned in a respectable five hours (5:07), which is an hour longer than the Asus N550JV-DB72T. However, the IdeaPad Flex 14 lasts three hours longer (8:06), and it's not hard to find a touch-based system that also lasts all day in the $1,000+ price range, like the Vizio 15.6-inch Thin + Light Touch (CT15T-B1) ($1,350) (8:40). The VAIO Flip 15 will get you most of the day battery life, though you may be able to stretch that with judicious use of the sleep command.

On the whole, we are bullish on the way Sony handles the convertible laptop conundrum with the Sony VAIO Flip 15. The mid-lid hinge solves a lot of the problems that the Yoga-style flip introduces, and is much more modern than the old swing and pivot hinge on older convertible tablet/laptops. The overall weight and bulkiness of the unit needs to improve if this method is to become the form factor that users accept.

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The Elder Scrolls Anthology (for PC)

Pros Beautiful bound book. All games and DLC in a single package. A better deal than purchasing all the games separately.

Cons No new content. Old content not remastered. Bottom Line This gorgeous collection will appeal to nostalgic longtime fans of the series who want to relieve their greatest moments of fantasy and to newcomers who want to explore the origin of the series.

By Matt Sarrel

The Elder Scrolls Anthology puts the entire Elder Scrolls series, Elder Scrolls Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim, and all of the downloadable content in one convenient and beautiful package. The full series is assembled into an elegant book. Each game gets its own folded page, and unfolding each is like a journey into that particular title. Each side of each folded page is designed to convey the mood and aesthetic of each particular game and still they all fit together into the larger aesthetic of the entire book (and series). Merely unboxing the anthology was a journey through the vast and varied landscapes already familiar to me from playing each game as it came out. Physical maps, alas printed on a page not on cloth as in days of yore, complete the scene and bring to life the lands of Tamriel, Iliac Bay, Morrowind, Cyrodiil, and Skyrim.

While this is by no means a necessary purchase for those who already purchased each game separately, it is awfully convenient to have all of them together in one box, and even more so to have all of the downloadable content at hand. This includes the Tribunal and Bloodmoon expansions for Morrowind; Shivering Isles and Knights of Nine are included for Oblivion; and Dawnguard, Hearthfire and Dragonborn are there for Skyrim. This is a lot of gameplay in one box.

The Elder Scrolls is a bundling and a re-release, not a remastering or an upgrade. All of the games appear in their original format – Arena and Daggerfall run within a DOS emulator. Sure, they don't look great, but this is where it all began. Seeing this almost made me gasp with nostalgia.  Seeing all of the games together showed me a much larger and more cohesive storyline than I had noticed previously. Subtle connection became more apparent, and the amazing depth and scope of the individual stories and worlds are even more spectacular than the first time through.

The Elder Scrolls Anthology contains a mind-bogglingly insane amount of exploration. The whole series must be hundreds of hours of gameplay. If you're an RPG fan, then it would be hard to go wrong purchasing this anthology.

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WD My Cloud (for Android)

Pros Well-designed interface, plenty of management features. Easy to connect with My Cloud device. Free.

Cons Security a little lax. Bottom Line With the WD My Cloud mobile app, you can quickly share files, add folders, and really manage your My Cloud device. It's a must-have app for mobile My Cloud NAS users.

By Samara Lynn

WD My Cloud is Western Digital's companion app to its new My Cloud NAS, a device for sharing and streaming data. With the WD My Cloud app, users can access data stored on My Cloud from anywhere they may be via iOS, Android, or Windows Phone mobile devices. I tested the Android version. While My Cloud is an excellent device on its own (save for a few minor annoyances, such as no USB printer support) the app is a must-have addition for remotely accessing and managing My Cloud. It's easy to set up and use, provides almost full management over data remotely from a mobile device, and is free.

The app is available from WD's Learning Center site, or from each mobile operating systems' respective app store.

Download and install was a breeze on my Motorola Droid Razr M running Android's Jelly Bean. The app opens with two options onscreen: Connect Now and Demo Drive. The latter, as the name indicates, provides a demo of how the app works and the various views you have of data stored on a Western Digital networking device. By the way, WD My Cloud app not only allows remotely accessing the My Cloud NAS, but WD's My Net N900 and My Book Live devices.

Clicking "Connect Now" presents the option of choosing a device from my local network, from the Web via the WDMyCloud.com service, or from Google Drive. You can also manually connect a device.

Users who already have a WDMyCloud.com account can log in and access their My Cloud device or any WD device registered with the service. If you don't have an account, you can go into the management interface of the My Cloud NAS and generate an activation code. This is the route I chose. I entered the code into the appropriate field within the app and once I did, I saw an image of the My Cloud NAS. Tapping on this image opened a listing of all my folders residing on the My Cloud NAS I have set up in the testing lab.

App Usage
I was impressed by how much data management I could perform with the app. I tapped open a folder and then tapped a menu icon in the upper right. The menu exposed several choices including upload a file, create a new folder (or sub-folder), and "Add," which, when tapped, let me take a photo or video with my mobile device on the spot, and then place the file in the folder I opened in the app. Files in folders are represented by icons based on file type. Images have tiny thumbnails as their icons. Videos are represented by a video camera icon, and docs have papers as icons—these icons make it easy to quickly see the file type.

I did notice there is no in-app editing or file viewers; you must have the appropriate software installed on your mobile device.

You can select individual or multiple files in a folder. When a file is selected, another menu pops up on the bottom of the screen allowing you to download the file; email to someone; and cut, copy, delete, or rename it.

App Settings
There is another menu for the app's settings. One setting controls auto-syncing, that is, how often the app checks the My Cloud device for changes. Auto-sync can be set to always-on, or to happen only when the mobile device is connected via Wi-Fi.

Other app settings include controlling the app's cache size, warning when data plan limits are approaching, upgrading firmware, unlinking the mobile device from the My Cloud service, and setting a passcode.

You will want to pay particular attention to the passcode feature. One aspect I found disturbing about this app is that you can double-tap the app open and immediately get into the My Cloud data. There is no authentication prompt, by default. So once someone is in your mobile device they could potentially get into your data. While not a great security measure, other cloud syncing services such as Dropbox and SugarSync also work the same way: You can set a passcode but can't configure the app to require authentication every time you fire up the app. Western Digital is trying to make the access as easy as possible but as I found with the My Cloud NAS and now the app, security is a bit lax because users aren't even advised in the interface or setup process to set password protection to get into the management interface of the NAS or into the app although the option to do so is available in both.

At the bottom of the app's screen in the home view, are three icons. One is of a cloud, which when tapped, takes you to the main folder listing view from whichever screen you are on in the app; another is labeled "Downloads" and will show a list of all files you've downloaded from the My Cloud NAS to the mobile device; the third display an activity log.

Must-Have for Mobile My Cloud
I noticed a big discrepancy between the tasks you can do with data when you access your My Cloud NAS through the WDMyCloud.com service on a desktop and when you access it from the My Cloud app. From a desktop, you are merely shown a list of folders on the My Cloud, but then you have to use the desktop's file manager to do anything with the data.

The app is a lot more flexible because you can do much more inside the app. You can quickly share files, add folders, and really manage your My Cloud device. I asked Western Digital why accessing My Cloud remotely from a desktop is so limited. A spokesman said that I was actually using the browser version of the remote My Cloud interface which only mounts the My Cloud's drive locally so users can interact with the device as they would any other drive in their system. Western Digital also offers a desktop app which functions in much the same way as the mobile app.

However, you do want the robust management in the mobile app since you have a file manager in a desktop operating system already. The WD My Cloud app delivers that level of data management and access. It's a must-have software addition for users of the My Cloud NAS especially as we comfortably nestle into the post-PC era and need our mobile devices to interact well with our home networking devices. While I would like to see more emphasis on guiding users in setting up security, the app has a well-designed interface and a great feature set. WD My Cloud is a four-and-half out of five-star Editors' Choice Android app for networking utilities. 

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WD My Cloud (for Desktop)

WD My Cloud (for desktop) is Western Digital's companion application to its new My Cloud NAS—a device for sharing and streaming data to a variety of WD mobile apps and the Web. With the WD My Cloud desktop application, users can access data stored on a My Cloud from any Windows or Mac OS X. With the WD My Cloud desktop app, you have quick and easy remote access to the data on your My Cloud device.

Availability and Installation
The WD My Cloud (for desktop) app is available from WD's Learning Center site. Download and installation was a breeze on my Windows 7 laptop.

The installer places a WD My Cloud shortcut on the desktop. If the desktop PC and the My Cloud device are on the same network, the app will detect the My Cloud device and display the device's IP address. My laptop and test My Cloud were on the same network, and the app picked up the device right away.

If you want to access the My Cloud's network remotely, you can connect to the device manually by entering your WD MyCloud account credentials (Western Digital's remote cloud service for customers to access their network devices) or you will need to access the management interface of My Cloud and create an activation key. The key has to be entered into the appropriate field in the My Cloud desktop app. You do need to access the local management interface of the My Cloud to get this key.

Launching the program opens a listing of all the folders residing on the My Cloud NAS I have set up in the testing lab.

Using the My Cloud Application
When I first opened the My Cloud program, I was offered a walk-though demo of using basic features such as adding shortcuts to favorite files and folders. A link to WD's Learning Center site is also displayed for additional help.

Files in folders are represented by icons based on file type. Images have tiny thumbnails as their icons. Videos are represented by a video camera icon and docs have papers as icons—these icons make it easy to quickly see the file type.

Folder shares are in a listing on the left pane of the interface. A dropdown menu next to each individual file and folder offers Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete, Rename, Email, New Folder, and Add to Favorites options.

Adding a file or folder to Favorites places a shortcut at the top of the folder listing for quick access to that data.

I did notice that the program offered no editing or file viewers; you must have the appropriate software installed to open a file.

While there is no specific command presented in the interface to upload data. I was able to drag and drop a file from my local desktop into a share on the My Cloud.

The interface is simple and uncluttered, which aligns with Western Digital's goal of making the My Cloud management and access experience very simple.

Settings
Another menu on the upper right corner of the main folder list screen is for settings. One setting lets you disconnect your My Cloud device from the WDMyCloud.com service, while another shows you the status of syncing—that is, the updating of changes made to the My Cloud disk as reflected in the app.

With syncing, you don't have as much control in the desktop application as you do with the mobile app. In the mobile app I was able to specify how often I wanted to sync with the My Cloud device.

One aspect I found disturbing about this application (as I did with the mobile app), is that when you open it, you can immediately access the My Cloud data. There is no authentication prompt, by default. So once someone opens the program from your desktop he or she could potentially get into your data. Western Digital is trying to make the access as easy as possible, but as I found with the My Cloud NAS and now this application, security is a bit lax because users aren't even advised in the interface or setup process to set password protection to get into the management interface of the NAS or into the app, though the option to do so is available in both.

While not a great security measure, other cloud syncing services such as Dropbox and SugarSync also work the same way: You can set a passcode but can't configure the app to require authentication every time you fire up the app. Of course, you probably want to lock the mobile or desktop when you're away from it anyway, but the WD apps and programs should steer users to a tighter security setup.

Simple Remote Access
The WD My Cloud application makes access to a My Cloud NAS simple from your desktop PC. It provides more functionality that just accessing the My Cloud data through a browser, which you can do as well (although that only gives you access to the folders, you then need to use the operating system's file manager for data management).

Although I think security could be tightened and I would like to control syncing in the desktop app as with the mobile app, the WD My Cloud desktop app is a very good way to remotely connect to your My Cloud NAS. It's a 4 out of 5 star app for networking utilities.

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Webroot SecureAnywhere Internet Security Complete (2014)

Pros Super-fast installation includes full scan. Powerful malware removal and antiphishing. Tough outbound firewall. Can protect PC, Mac, and mobile. Lastpass-based password manager with form-filling. Impressive online management console. Tiniest performance hit. Online backup and sync. File shredding.

Cons Completing malware cleanup required hours of remote-control tech support. Not compatible with some lab tests. Password manager doesn't have every LastPass feature. Online backup lacks file sharing. Bottom Line Webroot SecureAnywhere Internet Security Complete (2014) is a tiny powerhouse that offers the usual security protection plus password management, backup and sync, and more. As long as you don't need antispam or parental control it's a great choice.

By Neil J. Rubenking

Microsoft's OneCare pioneered the concept of enhancing a security suite with backup and system tuneup components. OneCare is long gone, but its memory lives on in mega-suite products like Webroot SecureAnywhere Internet Security Complete (2014), which includes all the features of Webroot's entry-level suite plus a system optimizer and an impressive backup and sync feature.

Just looking at the product's main window, you really can't tell it apart from the entry-level suite or from Webroot's antivirus product. The main difference is that Backup & Sync is actually available in the accordion-style panel at right. Open the Utilities panel below it for access to the System Optimizer.

The product costs $79.99 per year direct for five licenses, but you don't have to use all five licenses on PCs. You can also use them to install protection on your Mac or Android devices. New in this edition, the Mac version has just about everything the PC version does. The program's designers have also brought the user interfaces for the Mac and PC editions into line and, as much as possible, the Android edition too.

Oddball Antivirus
I tested the heck out of Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus (2014) and wrote an extensive review. You'll want to read that for full details about the antivirus; I'll summarize here.

While Webroot does maintain an online database of signatures for common viruses and other threats, its main thrust involves detecting malware based on program traits and behavior. A program doesn't have any behaviors until it actually has a chance to run, so this system is bound to let some malicious programs launch and start functioning. An unknown program is presumed innocent until its behavior reveals otherwise.

Webroot journals all activity by unknowns, so if at some point its analysis pinpoints the process as malicious, it can roll back everything that the process did. This delayed-reaction style is decidedly incompatible with many of the tests performed by third-party labs. The chart below summarizes recent lab tests, most of which don't include Webroot. For more about the labs, please read see How We Interpret Antivirus Lab Tests.

Webroot SecureAnywhere Internet Security Complete (2014) lab tests chart

In my own hands-on testing I found that Webroot installed in a flash, even on malware-infested systems. A quick remote-control session using a bootable Webroot utility cleared up ransomware that made installation tough on one system. Two systems needed a couple hours of remote-control tech support help to fully complete the cleanup process, but in the end they did succeed.

Webroot's detection rate of 89 percent and overall malware cleanup score of 6.6 points are both tops among products tested using this same malware collection. F-Secure Internet Security 2014's 86 percent was the next-best detection rate. F-Secure and Bitdefender Total Security (2014) also scored 6.6 points. The chart below summarizes results; for an explanation of what goes into that chart, see How We Test Malware Removal.

Webroot SecureAnywhere Internet Security Complete (2014) malware removal chart

As noted, Webroot won't necessarily detect an unknown malicious program until it actually does something bad, like trying to upload your personal data. Even so, it did a decent job in my malware blocking test. Webroot detected 91 percent of the samples and scored 8.8 points, putting it about in the middle of current products. Norton 360 (2014), which also isn't fully compatible with all current tests, scored 8.5. To learn more about my malware blocking test, see How We Test Malware Blocking.

Webroot SecureAnywhere Internet Security Complete (2014) malware blocking chart

I repeated the test with the Internet connection initially cut off. Cut off from its brains in the cloud, Webroot had to treat all the samples as unknowns. After loading the samples I restored the connection and watched Webroot get to work identifying the malware and rolling back its effects. Webroot's scores came out roughly on par with the previous test. Of course a direct comparison isn't sensible because some of the samples themselves don't function without an Internet connection.

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Webroot SecureAnywhere Internet Security Plus (2014)

Pros Super-fast installation includes full scan. Very good malware removal score. Very accurate antiphishing. Firewall manages outbound Internet access. Resists termination. Can protect PC, Mac, and mobile. Lastpass-based password manager with form-filling. Impressive online management console. Tiniest performance hit.

Cons Completing malware cleanup required hours of remote-control tech support. Not compatible with some lab tests. Password manager doesn't have every LastPass feature. Bottom Line Webroot SecureAnywhere Internet Security Plus (2014) offers protection for PC, Mac, and mobile devices. It doesn't include every common suite feature, but the features it does include are dandy. And it is tiny!

By Neil J. Rubenking

A typical security suite includes antivirus, firewall, spam filtering, parental control, and some kind of privacy protection, often antiphishing. Webroot SecureAnywhere Internet Security Plus (2014) ($59.99 direct for three devices) skips spam filtering and parental control, since many users don't need these. The security components it does include are uniformly impressive, and it's the smallest suite around as far as disk space and resource usage goes.

Webroot's standalone antivirus includes an outbound firewall (relying on Windows Firewall for inbound protection) and a powerful antiphishing component. The most visible thing that the suite adds is a full-featured password manager, powered by LastPass. What you don't see immediately is you can use your three licenses to install the Webroot suite on any combination of PCs, Macs, and Android devices. A handy online console manages all your installations and lets you access your passwords from any Web-equipped PC.

Unusual Antivirus
The typical antivirus relies on a combination of signature-based detection and behavioral or heuristic detection, but Webroot isn't typical. It does include signatures for common threats in its cloud-based system, but its primary means of detecting malware involves tracking hundreds of program behaviors and traits. I put extra effort into testing, to verify that it does what it says. You really, really should read my review of Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus (2014) to fully understand the antivirus, as this review will simply summarize my findings.

Webroot installs in minutes and immediately performs a full scan; it's done with that scan before most products would have finished installing and updating. It installed in a flash on all but one of my malware-infested test systems, and a quick session with Webroot's bootable remote-control diagnostic system solved a ransomware problem on that holdout.

At the end of any scan that found malware, Webroot re-scans to make sure no traces remain. On two systems it advised contacting tech support for manual removal. The process took hours of remote control by tech support and involved threat-specific tools from Webroot and third parties, as well as one-off cleanup scripts written by the support agents.

Webroot detected 89 percent of the samples, more than any other suite tested using the same sample collection. It scores 6.6 points, sharing first place with Bitdefender Internet Security (2014) and F-Secure Internet Security 2014. For more detail on how I conduct this malware removal test, please see How We Test Malware Removal.

Webroot SecureAnywhere Internet Security Plus (2014) malware removal chart

Webroot's handling of unknown programs just isn't compatible with most independent lab tests, though the company has announced that AV-Test is working on switching to a compatible test regimen. The chart below summarizes recent test results, but there's just not enough info from the labs to help evaluate Webroot. For a description of the third-party testing labs I follow, please read see How We Interpret Antivirus Lab Tests.

Webroot SecureAnywhere Internet Security Plus (2014) lab tests chart

Webroot doesn't flag an unknown program as malicious until it performs a malicious action, so after my baseline malware blocking test I let it run overnight. In the morning it had detected a few more samples. To check its claimed ability to journal activity by an unknown program and roll it back upon detecting it as malicious, I repeated this test with Webroot cut off from the Internet, then reestablished an Internet connection after launching all samples. The results were comparable.

Webroot detected 91 percent of the malware samples and scored 8.8 points in this test. That's roughly in the middle of the pack, and a bit higher than the 8.5 points earned by Norton Internet Security (2014). Note that Symantec, like Webroot, isn't entirely compatible with some current tests. If you're wondering how I evaluate a product's malware blocking skills, see How We Test Malware Blocking.

Webroot SecureAnywhere Internet Security Plus (2014) malware blocking chart

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Woody Harrelson Admits He Was So Hungover He Could Barely Stand at Free Birds Premiere

Folks, take note: Tequila and children's movies do not mix—just ask Woody Harrelson.

The actor appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night to promote his upcoming flick Free Birds, an animated children's film, but instead of keeping the conversation G-rated, Harrelson opted to share a story from the film's recent Los Angeles premiere, shamelessly admitting that he was so hungover he could barely stand on the red carpet.

"Well, unfortunately, you know, yesterday morning. Actually I think the premiere was at noon and I went to bed at 6:30 or 7:00 a.m. Having stayed up all night, drinking tequila and playing pool with my brother, which, uh, didn't go well," he confessed with a laugh. "And you know, being waken up, like, three and a half hours later was terrible. It was like a betrayal."

VIDEO: Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson partner up in HBO's True Detective

The 52-year-old actor then struggled to the film's premiere where he enlisted pal and costar Owen Wilson to take the lead on every interview.

"You know, it's for kids and stuff, and I'm like walking around...not pretty," he said, spinning his head. "But what was terrible was, Owen, you know. We're doing these interviews together and I told him ahead of time, 'Dude, you're going to be...doing all the heavy lifting here.' I can barely stand up."

Cue Harrelson's mean Owen Wilson impression (seriously, dude's a pro):

"No problem buddy, just leave it to me," the Wedding Crashers star told Woody.

WATCH: Tom Hiddleston does a great Owen Wilson impersonation too!

"So we'd be in the middle of the interview and luckily he'd be fielding the questions," Harrelson continued. "And they'd ask him a question and talk for a while and then he'd go, 'What do you think, buddy?'" the Hunger Games star admitted. "And I'd be like, 'Well, I agree with you."

Or maybe that was just the tequila talking.

Free Birds, which also stars Amy Poehler, Dan Fogler and Keith David, hits theaters Nov. 1.

PHOTOS: Woody Harrelson and more of the Catching Fire cast

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Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus

Pros High-resolution display boasts 3,200-by-1,800 resolution and 10-finger touch. Slim lightweight design. Premium materials. Fourth-generation Intel Core i5 processor and 128GB solid-state drive keep things speedy. Long battery life. Dual-band Wi-Fi. Hinge stands up to touch but still opens wide.

Cons Limited storage capacity. Marquee software options have limited appeal. Dongles for VGA and HDMI not included. Bottom Line The Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus goes toe to toe with the best premium ultrabooks, then tops it off with a jaw-dropping high-resolution display.

By Brian Westover

With few exceptions, the current crop of premium ultrabooks are all about the three Ps: Portability, Performance, and Pixels. The Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus delivers on all three. The design is carried over from Samsung's proto-ultrabook, the Samsung Series 9, which helped define the new thin and light category, and it's bolstered with one of Intel's high-performance, highly efficient fourth-generation Core i5 processors and a speedy solid-state drive (SSD). And when it comes to pixels, the Book 9 Plus wins hands down, thanks to an impressive QHD+ 3200 by 1800 display that tops everything else in the category, making it our new Editors' Choice for premium ultrabooks.

Design
The obvious place to start discussing the Book 9 Plus is the display, since it so easily grabs your attention the moment you power on the laptop. The 13.3-inch display boasts a whopping 3200 by 1800 Quad HD+ touch screen. The high-resolution display isn't just better than HD, it's better than just about anything. The most immediate comparison to come to mind is the Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch (Retina Display), with its Retina display, but there have also been a couple of premium laptops sold in recent months with higher than 1080p displays, like the Toshiba Kirabook, which ramped the display up to 2,560-by-1,440 resolution. Unlike Apple's Retina display, the ATIV Book 9 Plus also has 10-point touch, an essential feature for Windows 8.

While the display is comparable to the MacBook Pro with Retina, the more apt comparison for this svelte ultraportable is the Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (Mid 2013). Both share a similar sliver-thin design, a minimalist aesthetic, and an aluminum all-metal chassis; though Samsung largely eschews the bare metal look with a dark coat of paint and only a glint of metal along the edges of the chassis. The slim ultraportable measures 0.54 by 12.58 by 8.78 inches (HWD), which is about the same size as the Apple MacBook Air 13-inch, but just a bit heavier, weighing 3.06 pounds.

The ATIV Book 9 Plus has a full-size chiclet keyboard, complete with backlight. Joining the keyboard is a fairly large touchpad, measuring 4 inches wide and 2.7 inches high. The buttons are incorporated into the touch surface, and the touchpad also supports Windows 8 gestures.

To provide a firm backing for the touch screen, the laptop hinge opens smoothly to just past 90-degrees, and then requires more force to open further, similar to the dual-friction hinge used on the Editors' Choice Acer Aspire S7-392-6411. The result is a touch screen that holds firm against all of your poking and prodding while still opening and closing without issue. The one oddity of the ATIV Book 9 Lite is the decision to use a 180-degree hinge. This lets you open up the ultraportable to an extremely flat 180 degrees, but though you can, I can't for the life of me think of any circumstances in which you would actually want to.

Features
The narrow edges of the Book 9 Plus don't leave a lot of room for ports, but there's still a pretty good selection. On either side of the laptop is a full-size USB 3.0 for use with external drives and peripherals like mice and keyboards. On the right is a combination headphone and microphone jack, and a tiny connector that converts to full-size VGA with an accessory dongle ($39.99, not included). On the left, a microHDMI port lets you connect to a second monitor or HDTV, and a minuscule LAN port offers Gigabit Ethernet when using a different adapter dongle (also $39.99, but which is included with the laptop). Also on the left is an SD card slot, which is concealed by a spring loaded cover. However, unlike most port covers used on laptops, this one doesn't pull out, but instead swings in, revealing the card slot when in use and automatically protecting it as soon as the card is removed.

There are also a number of wireless options, with dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi providing 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz Internet connectivity that does better in crowded areas than 2.4GHz alone, and Bluetooth 4.0 + HS for use with smartphones and wireless peripherals. Finally, when you want to skip the dongles and cables, WiDi 4.1 lets you stream HD content wirelessly to WiDi-equipped TV or WiDi adapter.

The ATIV Book 9 Plus is equipped with a 128GB SSD, which helps keep the performance speedy and the boot times short, but doesn't provide a lot of local storage. If you tend to save images and video, you'll definitely want to pick up an external hard drive, preferably something that takes advantage of the USB 3.0 connections on the laptop.

Preinstalled on the hard drive are several programs and applications to accompany Windows 8, but two unique offerings from Samsung stand out. The first is Samsung SideSync, which lets you automatically sync files between the Book 9 Plus and several current Samsung Android smartphones, like the Editors' Choice Samsung Galaxy S4 (Verizon Wireless). When docked, files sync automatically and can be easily transferred back and forth from phone to PC, but the real magic comes in with goodies like the Virtual Phone, which puts your phone's screen on your laptop and lets you access the phone's functions (like text messaging) without leaving the desktop, and also lets you use your mouse and keyboard with the phone. Samsung also includes HomeSync Lite, which lets you use the PC as the central hub of a personal cloud, syncing files between multiple devices. While it skips the fees associated with paid cloud storage, it also is limited by the fact that it's tied to the laptop's local storage, which is still fairly small.

Other apps preinstalled on the ATIV Book 9 Plus include Skype, Netflix, iHeart Radio, Plants vs. Zombies, BitCasa, a 30-day trial of Norton Internet Security, and a free copy of Adobe Photoshop Elements 11. Samsung covers the Book 9 Plus with a one-year warranty.

Performance
The Book 9 Plus is outfitted with 1.6GHz Intel Core i5-4200U processor, the same fourth-generation processor seen in the Acer Aspire S7-392-6411 and the Sony VAIO Pro 13. As a result, the Book 9 Plus has strong performance in tests like PCMark 7 (4,907 points) and Cinebench (2.50 points), where it fell right in line with the similarly equipped Acer Aspire S7 and the Sony VAIO Pro 13. In multimedia tests, the Book 9 Plus finished Handbrake in 1 minute 23 seconds, and cranked through Photoshop in 5:51, edging ahead of the Acer Aspire S7 in Photoshop (6:01) and topping the Apple MacBook Air 13-inch, (3:15 Handbrake, 7:07 Photoshop).

The Book 9 Plus makes the most of Intel's integrated graphics solution (Intel HD Graphics 4400), squeezing out 3DMark 11 scores of 1,655 points (Entry) and 271 points (Extreme), just behind the Acer Aspire S7 and just ahead of the Sony VAIO Pro 13. While the performance in gaming tests doesn't indicate any sort of gaming aptitude--the Book 9 Plus could manage playable results at any settings--they do present an improvement over third-generation Intel integrated graphics.

With a 55Wh battery sealed in the chassis, the Book 9 Plus lasted 8 hours 15 minutes in our battery rundown test. This puts it right alongside the Acer Aspire S7, which lasted only 7 minutes longer (8:22), and well ahead of the Sony VAIO Pro 13 (6:23), but none of these hold a candle to the Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (Mid-2013), which nearly doubled the competition with 15:33 of battery life. Regardless, the Book 9 Plus still holds its own against other super-slim Windows ultraportables.

Conclusion
In terms of performance and battery life, the Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus is in line with other premium ultrabooks, both in performance scores and pricing. What the Book 9 Plus offers that others do not, however, is a higher-than-HD screen that rivals Apple's Retina Display. About the only thing I can knock the Book 9 Plus for is the use of ports that require dongles, but that's not so uncommon on thinner ultrabooks. For the price, it matches the portability and performance of the Editors' Choice Acer Aspire S7 and offers the sort of resolution you'll prize when working with photos or enjoying movies. Add it all up, and the Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus is the new Editors' Choice for premium ultrabooks.

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How Damascus Steel Is Made

Have you seen a Damascus steel blade? The steel bears a pattern of light and dark watery or wavy lines. There are fake Damascus blades where a pattern is etched or painted onto the metal, but the pattern in Damascus steel goes all the way through the metal. The steel is famed not only for its appearance, but because it is keen-edged, strong, and flexible. This photo shows a modern Damascus steel sword, made in the 21st century using a different technique from the original Damascus steel blades made from 300 BC up to the 1700s. Do you know how Damascus steel is made... Learn moreif(zs>0){if(zSbL250)gEI("spacer").style.height=Math.floor(e[0].height/12)+17.5+'em';else{var zIClns=[];function walkup(e){if(e.className!='entry'){if(e.nodeName=='A'||e.style.styleFloat=='right'||e.style.cssFloat=='right'||e.align=='right'||e.align=='left'||e.className=='alignright'||e.className=='alignleft')zIClns.push(e);walkup(e.parentNode)}}walkup(e[0]);if(zIClns.length){node=zIClns[zIClns.length-1];var clone=node.cloneNode(true);node.parentNode.removeChild(node);getElementsByClassName("entry",gEI("articlebody"))[0].insertBefore(clone,gEI("spacer"))}}}};zSB(2);zSbL=0

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On This Day in Science History - October 16 - Chinese Atom Bomb Test

October 16th is the anniversary of China becoming a nuclear power. They successfully detonated a 22 kiloton warhead codenamed 596. 596 was chosen after June 1959, when the Soviets stopped assisting China with their nuclear program. After the Korean War, China began their nuclear program and had an agreement with Moscow where China would supply uranium in exchange for technical assistance and a sample atomic bomb. The Soviets helped China build a gaseous diffusion plant and missile technology, but stopped short of providing the sample bomb. China was forced to continue their program on their own and made rapid progress and built their bomb in another five years. It would only take them less than three years to develop a hydrogen bomb.

While I was researching China's atom bomb test, I ran across this video clipped from Peter Kuran's "Trinity and Beyond". Trinity and Beyond is an excellent documentary of the beginning of the atomic age and development of nuclear weapons from 1945 to 1963. This clip shows what looks like a typical propaganda film with not just the explosion, but soldiers and horse cavalry wearing anti-radiation suits charging into the mushroom cloud with guns blazing. Many parts look as if they were staged at a different time, but I wondered if the Chinese military actually had soldiers running towards the blast. If anyone knows more information about this test, please leave a comment. Find out what else occurred on this day in science history.

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On This Day in Science History - October 17 - Kirchhoff Spectroscopy Laws

October 17th marks the passing of Gustov Kirchhoff. Kirchhoff was a German physicist who outlined basic laws of electronic circuits and blackbody radiation, but he is also known for his work in spectroscopy.

Kirchhoff formulated three laws to describe the individual spectral bands that are observed when looking through a prism at a hot gas. The first law says a hot, solid object will produce light in a continuous spectrum. The second law states that a hot gas will produce light of discrete wavelengths which are unique to the gas. The third law describes the opposite effect where a hot object surrounded by a cool gas produces light in a continuous spectrum, but with distinct wavelengths missing that are unique to the gas. Since these spectral bands are unique to each element, identifying the elements in a gas is like identifying people by fingerprints. This made identifying or discovering elements a lot easier than before.

Kirchhoff and Robert Bunsen used this technique to discover cesium and rubidium. His three spectral laws were a step towards a new branch of science that would become quantum mechanics. Find out what else occurred on this day in science history.

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On This Day in Science History - October 18 - Ozone

October 18th is Christian Friedrich Sch?nbein's birthday. Sch?nbein was the German chemist who discovered ozone while investigating the electrolysis of water. He noticed a distinct smell while the system was operating and traced the source to a new type of oxygen.

Ozone is made up of three oxygen atoms, O3, instead of the more stable O2. It is a corrosive, poisonous substance and is considered a pollutant in many cases. Ozone is generally created by lightning discharges in the atmosphere and high energy radiation. It can be generated by electrical equipment that has high capacitance or sparks from televisions and large motors.

Ozone is not considered a pollutant in the upper atmosphere. The highest concentrations of ozone appear in the stratosphere to form a layer known as the ozone layer. This region of ozone filters out the part of the ultraviolet radiation that is harmful to many forms of life.

Ozone has many uses and many dangers, but to Sch?nbein, it was an interesting stinky new gas. Find out what else occurred on this day in science history.

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Potion Recipes

Some of the most toxic household chemicals are the pretty fragrances in perfumes and cleaners. They might smell like delicate flowers, but most of these scents originated in a lab. If you have an interest in organic chem, you might enjoy mixing up some scented potions of your own. A website called "Making an Ester" has a useful table of potions. Did you know you can make banana scent by mixing pentanol and acetic acid? How about mixing benzanol and acetic acid to make jasmine-scented benzyl acetate?
if(zs>0){if(zSbL250)gEI("spacer").style.height=Math.floor(e[0].height/12)+17.5+'em';else{var zIClns=[];function walkup(e){if(e.className!='entry'){if(e.nodeName=='A'||e.style.styleFloat=='right'||e.style.cssFloat=='right'||e.align=='right'||e.align=='left'||e.className=='alignright'||e.className=='alignleft')zIClns.push(e);walkup(e.parentNode)}}walkup(e[0]);if(zIClns.length){node=zIClns[zIClns.length-1];var clone=node.cloneNode(true);node.parentNode.removeChild(node);getElementsByClassName("entry",gEI("articlebody"))[0].insertBefore(clone,gEI("spacer"))}}}};zSB(2);zSbL=0

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Safe Self-Carving Jack-o'-Lantern

The traditional version of the self-carving jack-o'-lantern demonstration involves a chemical reaction that produces acetylene gas, which is ignited to blow the face out of a pumpkin. It's a spectacular demonstration, but it's also dangerous.

You can produce the same effect, minus the danger, by producing non-toxic carbon dioxide gas inside the pumpkin. I've got a couple of ways you can do this. You can get enough pressure performing the reaction in a plastic baggie to 'carve' the jack-o'-lantern without producing a dangerously loud noise or explosion. So, if you've wanted to try the self-carving jack-o'-lantern project, but didn't want to take the risk or didn't have the materials, this version may be just what you need.

Self-Carving Pumpkin Instructions | Watch the Video

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