Todd Bernhard

I am not usually a fan of earbuds as it's hard to get a good, comfortable fit, but the Portable 2-in-1 Music Pill ($69) that Vissles sent me to review are lightweight and comfortable, and stay put. Most importantly, they sound good, with nice stereo separation, touch control, and an integrated voice assistant. They are made of plastic, which does help keep them light. The real distinction is that when the earbuds are placed in their charging case, the case itself becomes a speaker!

The folks at iHome have a wide variety of speakers that offer a variety of features like Qi-based wireless charging, Alexa integration, radio, alarm clock, etc. but they sent me one, the Zenergy Bluetooth Speaker ($35.08) that has none of those features. Still, for many people, the features it does have will be greatly appreciated. It is a Bluetooth speaker that charges via microUSB but that's not what makes it stand out. The Zenergy is designed to help you sleep better. This is accomplished by an impressive 15 distinct sleep sounds. Unlike traditional mechanical sound machines, this plays recorded and engineered sounds and even incorporates a gentle voice guiding you to sleep or a meditative state with yoga-inspired guided breathing. 

As a native of Rochester, NY, home of Kodak, I always have a soft spot for Kodak gear. The company created the photography industry but then watched as competitors like Polaroid and later smartphones took over. It looks like Kodak is back in the game with its new Kodak Smile Classic ($149.99) which the folks there sent to me to try. I own the latest Fuji and Polaroid instant cameras so I was pleased to see several enhancements that those devices don't match.

MOFT recently shipped me the crowdfuned X Invisible Foldaway Stand (starting at $17) for both phones and tablets. MOFT has been selling similar items for laptops for some time, so in spite of being a Kickstarter project, this is the real deal. So what is it? It's a compact stand that is so thin it could fit in an envelope, but it expands to support a three different angles and accommodates both portrait and landscape modes.