Small Bluetooth speakers, as abundant as they are, sometimes pack a lot of punch for their size. But loud doesn’t mean great, and much of what’s out there is primarily aimed for smaller spaces anyway. Canadian startup Mass Fidelity is trying to buck the trend with the Core, a speaker that is mobile, yet loud and versatile enough to spread out further than anything in its class.

Remember when young males cruised the streets with massive aftermarket speakers – from Clarion, Alpine and Pioneer – rattling the trunk of their vehicle? Those days are long gone.

If you’re not familiar, Popcorn Time was a streaming entertainment platform that looked a lot like Netflix to the end-user, but in reality was a sort of front for a torrent system. In other words, Popcorn Time made what many consider an illegal activity — downloading copy-protected content — look as legit as streaming Netflix.

Now streaming into the homes of nearly 75 million users in 190 countries, Netflix is a disruptive force. Not only does it influence the shows and movies we watch, it also helps dictate how that content is displayed. Netflix helped usher in the era of 4K streaming with House of Cards back in 2014, and now its top product executives have set their eyes on another technological leap: HDR, or High Dynamic Range.

There is an irony — albeit a bitter one — when a company expands to virtually every corner of the globe, yet begins rolling out a policy of stifling access. This is the peculiar situation Netflix has found itself in this month, as it is now in 190 countries, yet begins to restrict browsing through foreign catalogues using VPN services.

Virtual reality is a real thing now. Yes, it has existed for some time, but the concept of immersing yourself in it in a portable way at home and on the go is one major difference. As is the quality of content. Samsung’s Gear VR is a headset with the imprint of Oculus, arguably the most popular company in the VR space today. It’s not the Oculus Rift, of course, but the Gear VR can open up some new worlds with the right smartphone inside.

Why pay attention to only one football game, when you can have three or four going at the same time on one screen? That’s one of the scenarios the 4SeTV can bring to any TV or tablet in your home, using free over-the-air (OTA) broadcasts and the Internet.

Meet the Axon, a watered-down version of the Axon Pro (itself a slightly watered-down Axon Elite, available internationally), which is the most complete smartphone the company has brought to market on this side of the Pacific yet. Stripping away speed and features rarely makes for a good phone, so what’s the mid-range Axon like to live with? We find out.

Laundry day shouldn’t take an entire day, should it? That’s what happens when you let clothes pile up for a week, two weeks, or month. This is the cycle Toronto-based startup Yirego is looking to stop with the Drumi, its portable washing machine that uses little water and works off the grid.

First the Sport Pulse, then the Sport Coach, and now the Sport Pace. Jabra’s repeated forays into sport-centric Bluetooth earbuds could be likened to a mechanic who keeps tweaking an engine until it sounds just right. An apt analogy, if only because the Sport Pace Wireless exist almost exclusively to correct one particular issue: sound leakage.

Feel like changing the color or tone of your kicks? Want to add some funky design that only you would come up with? ShiftWear aims to make that a reality with its “badass sneakers” that can display custom designs on a whim, using an E Ink display and an app.

Samsung has tried and tried again to get it right with its smartwatches, having come to market with no less than six different iterations in about two years. All failed to really capitalize on what was then a wide open market looking for a trendsetter. The Gear S2 marks a turning point in both design philosophy and performance, making it the most complete wearable the company has made to this point.

It used to be that buying a TV was easy, but it’s become almost agonizing with all the new technology and features entering the fray. Don’t fear, though, this may be a good time to buy a new set, particularly a 4K TV.

The Platinum system doesn’t set out to right those wrongs or kickstart a revolution, but it does present an interesting set of circumstances where the primary music source — smartphones — clashes with the expensive layout inside the cabin.

Smartwatches running on Android Wear have had a tough go of it since first launching to some fanfare last year. Part of it has to do with the slow appeal of the category as a whole, but the rest can be chalked off to a platform that needs to grow up. With the second-generation Moto 360, Motorola has made a case for putting out a serious contender to win over some hearts and wrists.

Infotainment packages are infamous for driving up car prices sharply, but with better smartphone integration coming, there may not be a need for all the upgrades.

Sonos is back, and it has brought a new-and-improved Play:5 speaker to market that promises to deliver bigger, bolder sound in an elegant package that could fit in almost anywhere. The results are highly encouraging, and may be good enough to woo both current Sonos users and newcomers.

While its competitors were clamoring over themselves to produce a sound bar, French audio manufacturer Focal took a more reserved position, waiting to see how the landscape would develop. Having built its reputation on high-quality bookshelf and floorstanding speakers, the company wasn’t interested in producing just another slim sound solution. The result of its patient efforts is the Dimension sound bar and subwoofer, a pairing that aims to match exquisite sound quality with functional form.

When it comes to home theatres, choosing the right TV is only the start of the process. Recent advances in TV technology have made other components including sound, networking and lighting more important than ever. Here are a few things to consider when building a home theatre.

Car owners will have to wait till 2016 to see Apple’s CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto become more ubiquitous in next year’s fleet of vehicles, but for now, the pickings are slimmer, and Honda’s new 2016 Accord is among them.