portability

WSCC stands for Windows System Control Center. It's a free console program that integrates access to hundreds of free system utilities supplied by Microsoft and others. WSCC Portable Edition is a totally portable version of WSCC. It saves all its utilities to local folders, so there's nothing to uninstall: simply delete any program you don't want, or delete the whole folder.

WSCC opened with an automatic update finder. The utilities come from three sources: Microsoft Sysinternals, Microsoft Windows, and NirSoft. It listed all available downloads, more than 250 in total, each with a check box selected by … Read more

Portability is always a big concern and grilling is no exception.

The Cuisinart CGG-240 All Foods Roll-Away Gas Grill adds wheels to make grilling-on-the-go good to go wherever that happens to be. Featuring a framework that acts as a stand while in use and as a rolling cart when it is time to go, the gas grill unfolds to create good times from the backyard to the beach and beyond.

With 240-square-inches of grilling area, its porcelain enamel-coated grilling surface entices grillers without the need to jostle for space. An electric ignition system makes it easy to get the party … Read more

It seems like every time I write about a USB digital-to-analog converter or portable headphone amplifier I get a slew of reader e-mails requesting a review of one of Fiio's low-cost/high-performance audio components.

Pricing may be solidly in the affordable range, but don't for a second conclude Fiio's components aren't beautifully designed little gems.… Read more

Yes, it's a loaded question, but a necessary one with the PlayStation Vita finally making its U.S. release. There's no denying that platforms like iOS and Android have changed the face of portable gaming forever, but do they provide the best experience?

Just like choosing which home console to buy, this is a decision that needs to be made on a personal level, depending on what exactly your budget and preferences are.

In my opinion, the best "gamer's" games are the ones experienced with actual tactile buttons. While touch gaming might be more accessible and ultimately more affordable, I do believe if you limit yourself to that specific medium, you're missing out on a lot that the world of portable gaming has to offer.

With that said, let's look at the current portable gaming landscape.… Read more

Unlike most external drives I've seen, the Silicon Power Armor A80 portable hard drive uses A-male-to-A-male USB 3.0 cable.

This means the drive will not work with the more popular type of USB cable, which has an A male port on one end and a (Micro) B male port on the other. More than making up for this, the new drive offers alpha male performance all the way.… Read more

Apple is once again said to be working on larger models of its MacBook Air line, with a new report making a rather bold suggestion that two new Air models would replace the company's popular MacBook Pro line.

Citing people familiar with Apple's computing roadmap, Apple Insider says Apple is cooking up an overhaul to its MacBook Pro line that involves stripping out components like the optical disc tray and hard drive, and replacing the latter with flash memory like it did on the MacBook Air.

The report suggests Apple is focusing its efforts on making those changes … Read more

We saw iHome's new portable Bluetooth speakers last month at CES, and both models, the iDM8 and iDM11, looked pretty nice.

They're shipping now and available for $59.99 and $69.99, respectively.

The spherical iDM8, which comes in black as well (for some reason iHome's only showing the red version on its Web site), seems to be the more travel- and bag-friendly. But, as you can see from the specs, the iDM11 has a built-in microphone and speakerphone capabilities, a plus.

We'll let you know how both models sound when we get our hands on … Read more

Here's a question for you: Are laptops becoming the ultimate commodity products? And, as such, does sexiness simply not matter anymore?

I say this because of the overwhelming response I got to a piece I wrote on why the 13-inch MacBook Pro needs to go away. I argued in favor of the Air's sleek design and equivalent everyday performance; many readers argued fiercely that the 13-inch Pro has features and functionality--more hard-drive capacity and more robust RAM, not to mention an Ethernet jack--that still make it a strong favorite.

I also say this because, at CES 2012, sexed-up laptops--aka "ultrabooks"--were the Theme of the Day. Everyone seems quick to come up with a New, Cool Laptop.

I've been encouraging forward-thinking laptop design, and yet I understand that laptops, in an age of ever-smaller, ever-cooler smart devices, just might for many be destined for a role as a reliable commodity device. Yes, I've been bored by laptops...and yet, maybe boring laptops are just what many people need. … Read more

Songbird is a free, open-source media player/Web browser. It's built around Mozilla's Firefox browser engine, VLC media player, and SQLite's database engine, with lots of extensions and other capabilities available, and more added all the time. Songbird's capabilities are too many to summarize, let alone describe, but they include dynamic playlists, automatic and manual importing and exporting, integration of Web radio and media streams, CD ripping, song data lookup, feed aggregators, and user-developed extensions of every kind. Songbird Portable is fully portable version of Songbird converted by PortableApps.

As portable freeware, Songbird Portable can be … Read more