Paying for something online or sending money to someone quickly has taken new meaning in the Internet age, thanks to online payment services that not only hold money received, but also link to bank accounts and credit cards to make transactions online that much easier.

It’s early days, but the fact that the two marquee game consoles launched this month before the holiday shopping season raises the question of whether the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One can claim the crown as the best between them. The truth is, there is no easy way to determine who might even be in the lead, much less win outright.

In the space of less than two years, Samsung’s Galaxy Note line has gone from a tenuous upstart to arguably the true flagship device the company offers (sorry, Galaxy S4). Its mix of a large vibrant display and pen input has always been its calling card, and with the Note 3, those two standout features have gone through some incremental improvements. The phone is also a step up in design (though not a big step) and offers a pretty solid experience on a number of levels, making it one of the most appealing Android handsets available.

Nobody actually wants to pay for a bunch of channels they don’t watch. Yet, for years now, that’s the paradigm cable and satellite services have stuck us with: For every one ESPN, you get  ten QVC’s. It’s a service model that has consumers defecting to the Internet in search of a TV utopia in which they pay only for what they want. It’s a concept that’s been branded: a la carte TV.

The term cord-cutting is becoming a familiar refrain when it comes to the now contentious relationship you might have with your cable company. The average cost of a cable bill has doubled in the last 10 years, and it seems digital alternatives are having an impact on getting people to cut that cable cord and go it alone with the likes of Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime (among other options, some of which probably fracture a copyright law or two). There are  numbers that now show a steady trickle downward, suggesting the “urban myth” of cord-cutting isn’t so mythical anymore. But then again, was it ever really a myth in the first place?

You may not have known this, but Logitech almost sold off its Harmony remote line earlier this year as part of a plan to retool and refocus the company’s assets. In the end, it spared the popular universal remote from an acquisition (or the guillotine) and is now committed to making it better. Where it once had no serious competitors, the game has changed with smartphone and tablet manufacturers thinking they’ve got the goods to take them out. Logitech doesn’t think so.

Drones tend to be in the news for sobering reasons that involve geopolitics and terrorism, but there is a fun side to drone technology that shouldn’t hurt anyone, and that’s where Parrot's AR.Drone 2.0 Power Edition comes in. An incremental upgrade from the original 2.0, the Power Edition lengthens the amount of flying time on one battery charge and improves the drone’s performance in a few areas for a better overall balance.

Robots have always been cool, no matter what form or medium you find them in, and the Sphero is no exception. It’s equal parts functional, colourful and cute wrapped up in the form of a ball — a ball that you can control with your iOS or Android smartphone (plus iPad and iPod Touch) via Bluetooth. The first one introduced consumers to the concept, but the new Sphero 2.0 has been designed to be better in all respects, from its weight and noise, right down to how seamlessly it works. We took it for a good test run to see how it performed.

It wasn’t that long ago that LG wasn’t even in the race for a top-notch smartphone in the Android arena, but after moderate success with the Optimus G and Nexus 4, the G2 takes the best of those two handsets and adds some useful features and design tweaks that propel it amongst the best of the best.

Photos are usually static images that capture a frame of a moment in time, but there are apps that take that concept a little further by capturing photos and short clips that create unique videos to share with others.

Vine and Instagram's new video feature initially come to mind under that description. Vine lets you capture six-second clips, while Instagram video ups that to 15 seconds. Other apps like Viddy, Keek and Klip offer similar features, but they don't necessarily take a stack of images and turn them into a unique video.

Smartphones can be many things to many people, given their capabilities as digital Swiss Army Knives, but the litany of accessories for the iPhone makes it stand out just a little bit more — including as a POV action camera.

Whether you realize it or not, your smartphone keeps tabs on your location almost all the time. That may not be an issue for you under most cases, but if you’re connected to an unfamiliar Wi-Fi network, or you just like fly under the radar, SurfEasy Mobile VPN might be the right app for you. And the bonus? You get access to U.S.-only and U.K.-only content, like American Netflix and even Spotify and BBC iPlayer.

The Moto X is one of the most intriguing phones to launch this year because it’s the first Motorola has manufactured under Google’s unique footprint. The phone isn’t meant to ‘wow’ with a sublime design or eye-opening spec sheet, but it is meant to be effective, user-friendly and purposeful in a way others aren't. That’s a lot for a phone that doesn’t necessarily match up with the best Android has to offer, but after using this for a while, you start to appreciate what it brings to the table.

Sennheiser already scored a winner with the over-ear Momentum headphones, but now, they’ve slimmed down the profile and slightly changed the design materials to create an on-ear version that are considerably more portable. These won’t have the noise isolation of the bigger model, but the components inside are virtually identical, all but ensuring music will sound great on these.

Now that two-year contracts have essentially become the norm before the new wireless code of conduct goes into effect in December, the incumbent carriers have released their latest voice and data plans. Are they cheaper than they were under the old three-year terms, or still more expensive than they should be?

Steve Ballmer surprised the tech world by announcing his resignation, effective sometime in the next 12 months, and while his tenure saw some incredible change, he was almost always on the wrong end of that evolution.

If the success of Netflix, Roku and Apple TV were just handwriting on the wall for a coming revolution in the way we watch TV, then headlines from the past couple of weeks have been colorful billboard-sized murals spitting the same message. Samsung's purchase of Boxee, Netflix's nine Emmy award nominations, and Google's recent Chromecast debut are all, in their own way, signs that the TV industry isn’t just about to change; it’s already in the midst of a full-blown metamorphosis. 

Streaming media boxes are slowly growing in popularity as their capabilities grow and consumers become more aware of what they can do, and the Roku 3 may be on its way to the top of the list, thanks to its impressive mix of simplified software and developer support for more content.

Compact point-and-shoot digital cameras are being cannibalized by smartphones, but better price points for mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras means that it’s becoming a little easier to ramp up your photography skills. Fuji's X-M1 offers the company’s smallest and lightest body with a level of performance that could compare favourably to a DSLR.

AirPlay is an Apple protocol that lets you stream media between compatible devices, but those generally don't include Android phones, tablets or Google TV, unless you're using the right app to make it work.