There are lots of options for cell phone users, and over the past years consumers have sought out lower cost options. Certainly apps like Skype have made it possible for folks to save on their data plans as long as they have a Wi-Fi network available. A new entrant into the pay-as-you-go cell phone space is TextNow who have combined several different technology approaches to save consumers money. Read on to discover if the TextNow can save you money while meeting your communications needs.

Harris Fogel, with editorial input from Nancy Burlan, Posted 6/21/15

As tax time approaches and departs, we are reminded how many expenses we have, often on crumpled up pieces of paper, or business cards from conferences. The solution? Well, it’s generally held to be a scanner that captures the info, freeing you from paperwork. But most of those products pretty much stop short after capturing the data. Neat has been building a reputation for taking the data past the scanning phase and making it organized and accessible. Their latest product, the NeatConnect Wi-Fi Scanner + Software offers a scanner, the cloud, organizational tools, and mobile access in one product. Will the NeatConnect Wi-Fi Scanner + Software make your life easier? Read our full review to find out!

Harris Fogel, with additional research by Nancy Burlan, Posted 6/19/15

There aren’t too many software products that can boast still having its original development team after 25 years, or having started first on the Amiga platform, migrated to Windows, Alpha NT, and the Macintosh OS. But it’s all true for Cinema 4D, Maxon’s venerable 3D application. The latest version is Cinema 4D R16, and boasts a slew of new features, a worldwide following, and strong interoptibility with Adobe After Effects. If you are interested in the current state-of-the-art of animation and 3D software, read on for our full review!

James Van Metre, with additional reporting by Harris Fogel and Nancy Burlan, Posted 6/12/2015

In this third part of our series on storage, we knew that it wouldn't be the real world if we didn’t discuss the fact that drives do occasionally fail. In 2005 Maxtor introduced an exciting drive for its time, the Maxtor OneTouch III, Turbo Edition drive series which paired two hard drives in a single Firewire enabled enclosure. But, our two units stopped working and sat on a shelf for almost a decade gathering dust. We wondered if our pair of dead systems had any chance of recovery? To test this we turned to Seagate Recovery Systems. Read our full review to see if rescuing your dead drive makes sense.

Harris Fogel, with additional reporting by Nancy Burlan & Ken Kramar, Posted 5/26/2015