Main theme: In this podcast episode, the team shares its initial driving impressions of the 2024 BMW X2. One of this redesign’s major changes is a longer wheelbase. Does it add notable room for passengers and cargo? And the new X2 delivers our first exposure to BMW’s latest infotainment system: iDrive 9. Does the latest…
More screen real estate can make you more productive as well. “When I want to sit and do my bills, I use my desktop,” says Richard Fisco, who oversees electronics testing at Consumer Reports. “I don’t have to—I have a laptop sitting at my kitchen table—but my wife and I will go through a big…
Yet this machine’s unforgivable sin is the lack of dishwasher-friendliness. It comes with a veritable stack of parts, yet none can go in the dishwasher. Of course a thermal carafe can’t go in there, but being able to throw the filter basket, either of the metal filters, and the showerhead in the dee-dub sure would…
Just keep in mind that not all inverter generators perform equally well. Under demanding conditions, some models simply fail to deliver the power that’s promised, according to our tests. Our generator ratings (available to CR members) feature brands you’ll see whether you’re shopping at an online retailer, a home center, or a dealer: Briggs &…
Razer has made a name for itself in the gaming space, with robust gear that tackles the high demands and highly particular needs gamers have. The company makes everything from customizable gaming mice to powerful laptops. But can Razer meet the needs of gamers’ butts? With the Razer Fujin Pro gaming chair, it’s looking like…
Another surprising omission was during Thursday’s testimony of Mark Negley, a Boeing engineer. Negley had carried out a preliminary design study for the Titan and assisted OceanGate with testing equipment and advice for nearly a decade. He testified to the challenges of building carbon-fiber structures. The panel did not ask Negley about an email he…
In a marketplace riddled with misleading ads, consumers need partners they can rely on. CR is dedicated to earning that trust by looking out for you. One-third of Americans assume the supplements they find in stores have been tested by the Food and Drug Administration for safety, according to a 2022 CR nationally representative survey…
The biggest nutritional boon for corn is that it’s an excellent source of lutein and zeaxanthin, which give the kernels their yellow color. (White corn has very little lutein and zeaxanthin.) These two antioxidants are often grouped together, but many foods that are considered good sources, such as leafy greens, are actually rich in only…
In addition to shutting off motion smoothing, Filmmaker Mode deactivates or limits sharpening—which can boost fine detail and the edges around objects to the point where they look less natural—and turns off noise reduction, which can make images look soft. It shuts down other dynamic image “enhancements” the TV might apply to the picture, too….
The people of San Francisco haven’t always been kind to Waymo’s growing fleet of driverless taxis. The autonomous vehicles, which provide tens of thousands of rides each week, have been torched, stomped on, and verbally berated in recent months. Now Waymo is striking back—in the courts. This month, the Silicon Valley company filed a pair…