For Chicago Magazine
Eric Benderoff
All Stories

2nd Peek doesn’t change dim view of e-mail device
Every now and again, as a reviewer, I ask myself: Was I wrong about a product? That happened to me during the past holiday season, when several major publications included...

Newest Pac-Man for TV play goes retro, gets a little better
If you're a hard-core gamer, you want a PlayStation 3 or an Xbox 360. But if you just want to share some laughs with friends, Jakks Pacific plug-and-play products work...

Card downloads your memories before you forget
If you tend to forget or neglect to move photo treasures from your digital camera to your computer, an Eye-Fi card should interest you. This clever photo memory card handles...

Ira in tune with world
Tuning in radio stations from around the globe continues to get easier, as companies launch products that bring the world to your rocking chair. I've been using a new Internet...

Video glasses offer new view of films, TV shows
Have you ever looked at a gadget and asked yourself, "Does that really work?" Well, I've got one for you, and to my great surprise, it does. The Vuzix iWear...

Sound quality, cost, features vary in iPod speakers
So many iPod speaker systems are available that finding the "best" could take a year. But you can sort speaker systems by style or function, so today's theme is cute...

Hands-free gadgets pit form vs. function
Thanks to hands-free driving laws, five new choices in a gadget category require our attention. If your primary concern when buying a new Bluetooth earpiece is style, I have a...

From U. of C., a bump joins networking grind
It is fitting that University of Chicago business school students would develop an iPhone app that works by bump. After all, it was a former U. of C. professor, President...

Simple, likable, limited
In a product category dominated by Apple Inc., the portable music players by memory card-maker SanDisk Corp. are often overlooked. On Tuesday, SanDisk, which has delivered affordable and useful players...

In car stereos, one thing’s clear: Messages are mixed
My car was broken into last week. It happened during lunch after I parked in a bustling Chicago neighborhood. Broken was the passenger-side window. Stolen were a GPS unit, a...
