portability

LAS VEGAS--You probably won't notice the improved image quality on the small screen, but portable Blu-ray players still serve those who want to watch their high-def disc collection on the go.

Keeping that niche of travelers in mind, Sony announced the BDP-SX910 portable Blu-ray player at CES 2012, available this spring. Like any Blu-ray player, it can handle both Blu-ray discs and DVDs. It has a 9-inch, high-resolution screen with a 180-degree swivel, utilizing the same "flip-screen" design virtually all portable Blu-ray players use.

Sony claims battery life of 4.5 hours, which should be enough to … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Mobile Mac users now can finally say goodbye to their USB or FireWire portable drives.

Elgato showed off today at CES 2012 the first bus-powered Thunderbolt drive, the Elgato Thunderbolt SSD.

While bus-powered--a feature that allows storage devices to draw power directly from the peripheral port, negating the need for a separate power adapter--has been widely popular with USB portable drives, it has been a challenge for the Thunderbolt connection. The Thunderbolt port is slated to offer up to 10 volts of power, but because parts and pieces of the Thunderbolt interface, such as the cable itself, require energy … Read more

Managing collections of books (we'll call them "libraries") used to be easier. E-books introduce new complexity. Thanks to competing formats and technologies, e-books that play on one e-reader might not on another, even when it's supposed to be compatible. Calibre Portable is a free e-book manager that not only serves as an e-library but also converts electronic text between various formats. It also handles a wide range of e-readers.

Since it's portable freeware, you can save Calibre Portable's program folder virtually anywhere, though we had to relocate the database folder after saving the program … Read more

The data on your hard disk becomes fragmented over time, slowing access and wasting disk space. The defragmentation tool built into Windows does a fine job, but no one should be surprised that we think there's room for improvement. IObit's Smart Defrag is a freeware disk defragmentation utility that offers various improvements over the Windows tool, including what is described as "the world's fastest defragmentation engine." That's probably enough for many readers; with hard disks in terabyte territory, fast isn't just good, it's critical. We've used Smart Defrag many times, and … Read more

The Soundmatters FoxL v2 Platinum speaker already uses an apt-X signal to dramatically improve the fidelity of wireless sound from your smartphone or Bluetooth-enabled computer, but the company just announced its newest sidekick: a compact subwoofer with industrial flavor that injects your music with 25 watts of extra-tight bass.

Judging by the press photos (Soundmatters will show me in-person at CES), the FoxLo by SoundMatters isn't much bigger than the FoxL speaker itself, and builds in similar ports for USB charging, a knob to adjust the bass, and a 3.5mm audio out jack for hooking it up to non-FoxLo sources.… Read more

Windows is full of fonts, and many programs have their own fonts, too. Keeping track of all those typefaces can be a challenge, especially if you like to use different fonts for various special needs. FontViewOK Portable is portable freeware that displays your fonts in twin identical views, allowing quick side-by-side comparisons. It includes useful features that set it apart from the competition, such as the ability to access any folder containing fonts, a print preview feature, and the ability to manage Windows fonts.

FontViewOK is completely portable, so it runs without having to be installed. It features nearly identical, … Read more

Right Click Enhancer Portable combines two of our favorite things: context menu enhancements and portable freeware. This simple tool lets you customize the menus that appear when you right-click things in Windows. It adds a variety of menu items, including cascading menus with as many submenus as you need as well as custom items you create and configure. This version is completely portable, running from a USB drive or other portable media without having to be installed. You don't need to restart the application every time you reboot, though; the changes it makes persist until you change them back.… Read more

Watermarking helps secure your images and documents from unauthorized use and theft. TSR Watermarking Image Software Portable is a totally portable version of TSR's basic watermarking package. It's free for individuals, but commercial users must buy a license when their 30-day trial expires. Since it's totally portable, it can run from a USB drive, compact flash drive, and similar media. That makes it a great choice for on-the-go photographers since it can watermark images from any compatible PC.

TSR Watermarking's user interface is businesslike, with few frills, if any. Three tabs handle the program's functions: … Read more

We appreciate software that tells you exactly what it's all about. For example, take Efficient Reminder Free Portable Edition. The name says it all: it's portable freeware that creates efficient reminders, and does so efficiently, too. All that's left is to tell you how it works.

Efficient Reminder is completely portable, so you can save it anywhere and run it on any compatible PC without having to install or register the program. We clicked the extracted executable, which opened the interface with an optional tool tip. The program's interface is indeed efficient, with a format based … Read more