The Zeiss Cinemizer OLED

What you should know: 
The Cinemizer is the Sony HMZ-T1 Lite. It's more than three times lighter -- 120 grams versus 420 for the Sony -- and therefore more portable. Design-wise, it's a lot less like a helmet (Sony) and more like a pair of glasses -- albeit it a freaky all-white pair of glasses. Like the ones the Doc wears when he comes Back from the Future.
The headset includes a battery rated at 6 hours when playing back from an iPod and 2.5 hours when using the HDMI port. The battery test found that the rating was a little conservative with the iPod though, running out after 6 hours and 43 minutes -- almost enough for two Lord of the Rings: Extended Editions!
While the Cinemizer can take an input of up to 1080p, the native resolution is a much smaller 870×500 pixels (compare that to Sony's 1280x720). The headset has a pair of OLED screens inside that simulate an image of 40 inches at a distance of 6.5 feet.
The headpiece has a set of adjustable clips that hold the glasses on behind your ears.

What it offers: 
While it looks like it came from the future, the Zeiss Cinemizer OLED headset offers performance from the Dark Ages.
The advantage: 
The Zeiss Cinemizer OLED is a lightweight and portable 3D headset with very good battery life. The headset is stylish looking and appears well-made. The headset supports iPhone
The unfavorable: 
Image quality is poor, plagued by blue and red crosstalk and minimal shadow detail, draining images of impact. The 40-inch simulated image is way to small. The earbuds sound terrible and the headphone jack only works with the iPhone attachment.

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The 2013 Nissan 370Z

What you should know: 
The Z's 3.7-liter V-6 is essentially untouched, outputting the same 332 horsepower and 270 pound-feet of torque. That power still flows through a six-speed manual transmission before heading to the rear axle. (A seven-speed automatic gearbox is available.) The Z still sports the same classic sports car proportions. Even the 18 city and 26 mpg EPA-estimated fuel economy is unchanged over the last four years.
For your money, you get a set of "Euro-tuned" sport shocks that firm up the Z's ride and reduce roll when cornering, Nissan sport brakes with red-painted calipers that shave off the MPHs at a staggering rate, and 19-inch Rays forged aluminum-alloy wheels with staggered and sticky tires. A viscous limited-slip differential helps with getting power to the road and a front chin deflector and rear spoiler augment the aerodynamics at speed. The Sport Package also adds the SynchroRev Match function to the manual gearbox -- a feature that you'll either love and praise or hate and curse depending on your driving style and mood at the moment.

What it offers: 
The 2013 Nissan 370Z makes many comfort compromises in the name of performance. If that's what you're after, skip the pricey Touring trim level and grab a base model with the Sport package.
The advantage: 
The 2013 Nissan 370Z is a fantastic performer with great power and handling. The Sport Package further sharpens that edge, enhancing the Z's handling.
The unfavorable: 
The Z's ride can be brutally rough over road imperfections. Cabin tech options that should be standard are bundled into expensive packages and trim-level upgrades.

The price:
$33,120.00

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The Yamaha RX-V473

What you should know: 
The Yamaha RX-V473 looks no different from other mainstream AV receivers. It's big and boxy, with a two-tone look of glossy black on the top and matte finish on the bottom. If you're looking for something more stylish, Denon's AVR-1913 has better looks, while the Marantz NR1603 is attractively compact.
The RX-V473's remote is as bad as it gets. It's covered in tiny buttons, most of which are unnecessary and many are poorly labeled. Even something as simple as a power button is confusing. There are two identical power buttons at the top, one to power off the receiver and one that can power off other devices if you program the remote to do so.
The RX-V473 has four HDMI inputs, which is definitely on the skimpy side for this price range.
The RX-V473's Ethernet port allows for all kinds of networking functionality, including firmware updates, AirPlay, smartphone control, and media streaming via Internet radio.
If you own an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, the RX-V473's built-in AirPlay is a nice bonus, although it's not essential since you can always add AirPlay later with a $100 Apple TV.
What it offers: The Yamaha RX-V473 is a serviceable 5.1 AV receiver, but with only four HDMI inputs, competing models offer a better value.

The advantage: 
The Yamaha RX-V473 has built-in networking functionality, including AirPlay and Internet radio. It can also be controlled with a smartphone app available for iOS and Android. And its sound quality is solid with both music and movies.
The unfavorable: 
Nearly every competing receiver offers more HDMI inputs at this price level. The included remote is difficult to use, and the user interface looks painfully dated.
The price:
$349.00 to $399.95

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The Slingbox 350

What you should know: 
Slingbox is a personal video broadcaster. It takes any video signal you send into its AV inputs -- such as your cable/satellite box or DVR -- digitizes it, and streams it to you, live and in real time. Think of it as Netflix, but instead of streaming a catalog of on-demand title, you're streaming your TV programming, in real time.
Streaming alone is impressive, but the Slingbox (and its remote viewing software) lets you also remotely control the source TV, via on-screen controls (for PCs, phones, and tablets) or the hardware remotes of the streaming video boxes (like Boxee and WD TV).
The Slingbox 350 is a black box that’s about the size of three standard DVD cases stacked on top of another. The box has a diamond mesh design.

What it offers: 
Slingbox 350 is an excellent way to watch your TV or DVR video content anywhere.

The advantage: 
Slingbox 350 streams video from your TV or DVR (or any analog source) to your PC, tablet, smartphone, and some streaming boxes at resolutions up to full 1080p HD. IR blasters are built into the box’s body, eliminating the need for annoying extra external wires. There are no monthly charges or fees.
The unfavorable: 
Smartphone- and tablet-viewing apps cost extra. Unlike the step-up Slingbox 500 model, this one lacks Wi-Fi and HDMI support. It duplicates some of the features found on TV anywhere apps you may already be using. As always, streaming capabilities are only as good as your home bandwidth.

The price:
$173.38 to $179.99

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The Roku 2 XD

The Roku line breaks down:

Roku LT ($50): The entry-level Roku includes all of the features above, and retails for just $50. HD video output is limited to 720p, and it includes standard RCA (yellow/red/white) jacks for connecting to older analog TVs.

Roku HD ($60): The Roku HD is basically identical to the LT, except for the color scheme (black instead of purple). Unlike the LT (mostly an online-only product), the HD is available in many brick-and-mortar stores. The list price is $60, but it's sometime discounted to as low as $40.

Roku 2 XD ($80, our item): The Roku 2 XD is a slightly smaller box than the LT/HD models, and it adds full 1080p HD video output. It supports an optional Bluetooth motion remote, but only a standard infrared remote is included in the box. Analog video output (for pre-HDTVs) is enabled via an included breakout cable.

Roku 2 XS ($100): The top of the line Roku also offers 1080p video output, an Ethernet port, and a USB port for limited local file access. It includes a Bluetooth motion remote and a free copy of Angry Birds.

Roku Streaming Stick ($100): This is a "Roku box on a stick." It offers the same basic functionality as the XS (including the motion remote), but it adds dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi. Note, however, that the Streaming Stick is only compatible with TVs that offer an MHL port.

All of the Roku models can turn any TV -- an HDTV or an old analog model -- into a "Smart" TV, with the ability to stream hundreds of online video and audio channels and services, including Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, HBO Go, Vudu, Crackle, Pandora, Mog, Rdio, and MLB.TV. (Most of the best channels require separate subscription fees, but some -- Crackle, Pandora, and others -- are completely free.) All models offer wireless Wi-Fi streaming and a universal search function (for finding content across multiple video providers). Rokus can also stream photos, music, and video from smartphones and tablets via the free Play On Roku app (which can also double as a remote control), and stream media from PCs and Macs with the Plex app.

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The Drobo Mini

What you should know: 
Measuring 7.3x1.8x7.1 inches, and weighing just about 3 pounds (with the four drive bays fully loaded), the Drobo Mini is the most compact four-bay storage device. This is mostly because it's designed to house 2.5-inch laptop hard drives and not the regular 3.5-inch desktop hard drives. The Drobo Mini is not exactly "the size of a deli sandwich" as described on Drobo's Web site, however; rather, it's about the size of a Mac Mini, slightly thicker and heavier, in fact.
Generally, there's basically nothing to the setup process of a Thunderbolt drive. For most of them, you just have to plug the drive into a power outlet and the computer, using a Thunderbolt cable, and that's it. Within a few seconds you can use the drive. With others, you might have to format the drive using the Disk Utility (Mac) or Disk Management (Windows), a process that takes less than a minute to do.
It's got a slew of unique little features including an mSATA drive bay, a built-in emergency battery, a cool magnetic drive bay door, and many colorful LED status lights. There's also a little bit of money-saving: like most recent Thunderbolt drives, the Drobo Mini comes with the necessary Thunderbolt cable included.
On the down side, the Drobo Mini bears a crazy price tag of $650 with no storage included; it takes a long time to start up; and it's noisier than most Thunderbolt drives. In terms of performance, when hosting four high-speed 2.5-inch hard drives, the drive fell short in my testing when compared with its peers, using both Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 connection types.

What it offers: 
The esoteric Drobo Mini seems unique mostly for being unique's sake, and offers very little in terms of usability considering its crazily high cost.
The advantage: 
The Drobo Mini is compact, can host four drives with dynamic storage scalability and protection, supports both Thunderbolt and USB 3.0, and offers an excellent drive bay design.
The unfavorable: 
The Drobo Mini is very expensive, comparatively slow, hot, noisy, takes a long time to start up and overall proves to be a cumbersome storage device to use.
The price:
$569.00

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