Articles by Carrie Marshall

Contributor

Writer, broadcaster, musician and kitchen gadget obsessive Carrie Marshall has been writing about tech since 1998, contributing sage advice and odd opinions to all kinds of magazines and websites as well as writing more than twenty books. Her latest, a love letter to music titled Small Town Joy, is on sale now. She is the singer in spectacularly obscure Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind.

Articles by: Carrie Marshall

Two adults and a child are very happy that they have a Lepro STV1 lightstrip on their TV. The adult man and woman are waving their arms in the air

This TV backlight promises simple setup and AI extras for a lot less than Philips Hue — and without an HDMI box

By Carrie Marshall Published 19 May 26

Lepro's STV1 lightstrip promises more immersive entertainment without expensive hardware thanks to its camera-based setup and AI enhancements

Yamaha RX300A AV receiver on top of a wooden sideboard

Yamaha's new budget AV receivers mean you can build a Dolby Atmos system with 4K 120Hz passthrough for the price of a decent soundbar setup — and it's even offering a bundle with a 5.1 surround setup to prove it

By Carrie Marshall Published 18 May 26

Yamaha has announced two new AV receivers, the RX300A and RX500A, and they start from just $399

A man sits on a sofa, playing the TemPolor Melo-D guitar

A lot of musicians will be infuriated by this 'world's first generative AI guitar', but I think its automatic tabulation and learning features sound genuinely smart — but only if the AI's ethical

By Carrie Marshall Published 15 May 26

The Melo-D is a smart guitar that comes with useful AI features. It looks particularly good for beginners but I have a few concerns.

A room lit in multiple colors from various Philips Smart Lighting products, with the TV lightstrip mirroring the on-screen colors

There's a new alternative to the Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box 8K for immersive smart lighting synced to your TV — it's way cheaper, it still supports 4K 120Hz passthrough, it works with WiZ bulbs, and it comes from… Philips

By Carrie Marshall Published 14 May 26

The new Philips Smart Lighting sync box works with your TV to mirror the on-screen colors in your smart lights, and it's a lot less than you'd pay for the Hue version.

Govee Outdoor Solar String Lights on a fence and on a pergola in a very nice and expensive looking back yard

Don't settle for supermarket solar lights: Govee's made smart strings that look great outdoors

By Carrie Marshall Published 14 May 26

Govee's first solar lighting product is a smart string light designed to be great outdoors

A smart display and smart speaker with the Google gemini glyph in the center of the display

Gemini on Google Home just got way faster for common tasks in its latest update, and can now answer more useful questions without pushing you to the Home app — oh, and it'll finally tell you how to mix cocktails

By Carrie Marshall Published 12 May 26

The Google Home app has been updated with significantly faster Gemini performance when you're using voice commands or asking questions

Samsung's 140-inch micro-LED at CES 2026. showing the screen on the side of the TV panel as well as the front TV panel. A night-time image of a city is shown, with brightly lit buildings spilling from the front onto the side screen

Will micro-LED ever really replace OLED? The next-gen TV tech takes a blow as Samsung's TV boss pulls back from investing in making it — it's a bad sign, but will TCL and Hisense keep the flag flying?

By Carrie Marshall Published 11 May 26

Micro-LED TV looks amazing, but it's seriously expensive – so much so that Samsung appears to be scaling back its plans

Ninja Slushi Twist on a light colored countertop with a red drink in one chamber and a yellow in the second. There are four brightly colored drinks in cocktail glasses in front.

I love my Ninja Slushi drinks machine, but this new version is twice as ice — how can you resist cool twisted multi-colored slushies at home?

By Carrie Marshall Published 11 May 26

Ninja doubles the freezing fun with the new Ninja Slushi Twist and its two drinks compartments

I spent 10 days testing the iFi GO Link 2 — and this little DAC delivers an enormous audio upgrade for your phone or laptop audio at a great price

By Carrie Marshall Published 9 May 26

iFi's tiny DAC is smaller and lighter than the first generation and delivers an excellent audio upgrade to phones in particular

I tried the lossless audio test and couldn't believe my ears. Can you really tell the difference between lossless audio and plain old MP3 versions of your favorite tunes?

By Carrie Marshall Published 8 May 26

At higher bitrates it's hard to tell the difference between lossy and lossless

TCL QM7K Google TV home screen with hand holding remote in front

Google TV is getting the exact home screen update you don’t want: more clutter — vertical social videos from YouTube will be piped right to your eyes along with the TV and movie recommendations

By Carrie Marshall Published 8 May 26

Because there's nothing better than Tik-Tok-style vertical video on a widescreen landscape TV…

A new report says inkjet-printed OLED could be 30% cheaper to produce than current methods, which I'm hoping is great news for laptops and monitors soon, and OLED TVs in the future — and it's on top of the other big advantages of IJP tech

By Carrie Marshall Published 7 May 26

Inkjet-printed OLED panels could reduce manufacturing costs by as much as 35%, according to a new report. But there are still challenges to overcome

Older Amazon Fire TV devices are set to lose support for HBO Max, due to a lack of software updates as Amazon switches to its new 'Vega' operating system, and it could affect 'millions' — I hope you already caught up with The Pitt…

By Carrie Marshall Published 6 May 26

HBO Max is no longer supported on older Fire TV devices that run version 5 of the Fire OS

Looks like Valve's Steam Machine might finally be on its way after a huge importing effort — and despite our fears, it might actually support full-fat 4K 120Hz and VRR in the end, making it a full PS5 and Xbox replacement

By Carrie Marshall Published 5 May 26

Valve's Steam Machine may be close to launch – and a post-launch firmware update may deliver HDMI 2.1

Bose Lifestyle Ultra soundbar in white below a TV with purple ambient lighting

Bose releases new 'Ultra' Dolby Atmos soundbar and wireless speaker range, with a serious subwoofer option — and this lineup has Sonos right in its crosshairs

By Carrie Marshall Published 5 May 26

Bose's Lifestyle Collection features a new flagship soundbar and multi-room compatibility — including with other firms' speakers

An old CRT TV with Amazon's Fire TV interface on it

Someone found a Chinese retailer selling super-cheap CRT TVs, but don't get too excited, retro gaming fans — every new piece of information about them seems to reveal more mysteries

By Carrie Marshall Published 1 May 26

A Chinese company is offering newly made CRT TVs — but with some debate over exactly what's being sold

Image of a woman looking at records in a record store

Be careful buying hard-to-get vinyl: UK police just seized thousands of 'counterfeit' records, which were being sold for as much as £1,000 each — and there are more 'secret underground record factories' where that came from

By Carrie Marshall Published 30 April 26

Fake vinyl is big business: the latest UK raid seized over £250,000 of counterfeit records. Be careful out there!

A large black speaker with a big driver and two bass ports. It's not very aesthetically pleasing, implying it's meant to be hidden

Does a home theater speaker need to be beautiful? Scottish hi-fi great Fyne Audio is banking on 'reference-level' sound with a high SPL being enough for its new line-up — they more for hiding in the wall than displaying proudly, and that's okay

By Carrie Marshall Published 29 April 26

Fyne Audio's new monitors and sub deliver very high SPL in a design made to "visually disappear"

The Cambridge Audio Melomania P100, Sony WF-C710N, AirPods Pro 2 and Nothing Ear (a), which all feature in this student headphones guide, on a wooden table next to a stack of exercise books, a diary and a pen

The best headphones and earbuds for students: the top buys to help you study, all tested by our experts

By Becky Scarrott Last updated 29 April 26

We've picked out the best headphones for studying based on price, comfort, portability, sound and more.

A diagram showing how a Samsung display can switch from 2D to 3D display mode

The rise of glasses-free 3D light-field displays: Samsung has created a 2D/3D switchable screen using a 'metasurface lenticular lens' with 'nanoscale structures' for no-compromise viewing — and it follows impressive demos from TCL and others

By Carrie Marshall Published 28 April 26

Samsung has developed an electronically switchable display that can deliver glasses-free 3D

Samsung S95F (left) and Sony Bravia 8 II (right) displaying an orange butterfly on screen

QD-OLED's long-rumored 83-inch TV size and 24-inch monitor size look like they're coming at last: Samsung Display registered them with display certification program UL Solutions to prove how good the panels are — now we just need them to launch

By Carrie Marshall Published 27 April 26

Samsung Display appears to have included an unannounced 83-inch model in the QuantumView certification of its QD-OLED TVs

Data Search Technology Search Engine Optimization. man's hands are using laptop to Searching for information. Marketing ranking traffic website, SEO search engine optimization concept.

Best People Search Finder Service of 2026: Top Services Reviewed & Ranked

By Pawan Singh Last updated 24 April 26

Updated The best people search finder service can help you scour public databases to find friends and family.

JMGO N3 Ultimate projector on a coffee table in a neutrally decorated living room

A new 4K projector with the ‘world’s first 3-in-1 optical system’ is now available — and it can remember your walls

By Carrie Marshall Published 23 April 26

The new N3 Ultimate projector from JMGO combines lens shift, gimbal and optical zoom in a single system

A promotional photo of the Deus Invicta 60 subwoofer on a dried lake bed underneath a late evening sky

That's not a sub, THIS is a sub — Deus Audio's 60-inch infrasonic bass driver is nearly 6 feet tall, can hit 8Hz, and handles 20,000W of power. This would be the ultimate home theater upgrade…

By Carrie Marshall Published 22 April 26

The Invicta 60 is a ludicrously powerful infrasonic subwoofer delvering 20,000W of peak power

Dolby Atmos is coming to free-to-air TV more broadly at last — no internet, no fee, and no next-gen tuner, but still immersive audio

By Carrie Marshall Published 21 April 26

There's life in free broadcast TV yet, and you won't need ATSC 3.0 to get it

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