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

Burson Audio Conductor Stellar on a white tabletop in a neutrally decorated daylit room. It's sat next to a pair of headphones, a teacup and an open magazine

Burson's Stellar headphone amps promise head-fi heaven in spacecraft-inspired Star Wars style

By Carrie Marshall Published 11 March 26

Burson's new Stellar Series promises high-end headphone amplification in a more compact and accessible form

HBO Max is launching a global password-sharing crackdown, just in time to annoy everyone before it gets potentially 'shut down' anyway

By Carrie Marshall Published 9 March 26

HBO Max says its crackdown on account sharing will go global in 2026 — but analysts say the streamer's future is uncertain with the Paramount merger

Lifestyle shot of the Xgimi Z6X 5th Generation projector unfolded on a light marble table. A woman's hand is coming from the top of the image to lift the projector up

Our favorite budget projector maker has a smart new portable model that folds away into a simple 'ornament' when not in use

By Carrie Marshall Published 2 March 26

Xgimi's new portable projector hides itself away to take up less shelf or bag space

Panasonic JZ2000 OLED TV in reviewer's living room

The 'dream OLED' TV tech upgrade may finally be on the way — CEO says it will improve 'efficiency, lifespan and color purity', and it's readying production

By Carrie Marshall Published 1 March 26

South Korean OLED manufacturer Lordin says it's secured manufacturing capacity for its blue PhOLED display technology

LG B5 OLED TV with colorimeter, laptop, test pattern generator and Portrait Display Calman software all connected and on display

LG's OLED TVs get certified as the contrast king even over RGB TV tech in tests, though we have some questions — including why LG says this makes them 'the optimal choice in the AI era'

By Carrie Marshall Published 27 February 26

LG Display has been awarded '100% dimming consistency' by a third-party assessor to show that OLEDs are more consistent than LCD

The Hisense 163-inch micro-LED TV at CES 2025

Don’t expect next-gen micro-LED TVs to get cheaper yet — a new report breaks down the cost to make one, and the 'essential' tech changes that need to happen

By Carrie Marshall Published 26 February 26

UBI Research has published a breakdown estimate of how much a big micro-LED TV costs to make, and it tells you why it's not going mainstream

A photo of the Fire TV mobile app showing information and options for the Fallout TV show. A living room and tv is blurred in the background of the photo

Your phone is now the best remote for your Amazon Fire TV thanks to the new free 'second screen' app upgrade

By Carrie Marshall Published 25 February 26

Amazon has updated its Fire TV app to make it a 'second screen' for your Fire TV

A photo of the front of the FiiO KA15 portable DAC showing its fun cassette-like interface

I reviewed this delightfully retro DAC dongle and at this price, it's a punchy and talented no-brainer

By Carrie Marshall Published 24 February 26

Editor's Choice

FiiO's ultra-portable wired DAC delivers a significant audio upgrade to your computer, smartphone or tablet

2 Comments

Product photo of the MECOOL MEon1 4K GTV Streaming Box on a dark surface in front of what looks like the lower section of a big TV

This new Google TV 4K box not only has Dolby Vision and Atmos, but another nice trick: you can add more storage using a microSD card

By Carrie Marshall Published 24 February 26

A cheaper alternative to Google's own TV streamer

Holding the iFi GO Blu Air in a hand, with a pebbledashed wall behind it

Hit the road, jack? Not at all, iFi's tiny Go Blu Air DAC brings the headphone port back to your phone — and levels up the audio to boot

By Carrie Marshall Published 22 February 26

This tiny Bluetooth DAC brings the headphone jack back to your smartphone, laptop and more. It delivers long battery life and impressive power output for such a small device. It sounds great too.

A rendered image showing the Optoma UHZ78LV projector displaying a live concert in a very large home theater

'Now that's home theater': Optoma's new 4K projector boasts Dolby Vision, HDR10+, hits 5000 lumens, 240Hz, and reaches 300 inches

By Carrie Marshall Last updated 21 February 26

Optoma's new flagship projector is super-bright, super-stuffed with screen tech, and made for big screens

An Amazon TV showing the new Fire TV interface redesign

Your Amazon Fire TV is about to get a free upgrade to make it faster and easier to use — here's what you need to know

By Carrie Marshall Published 19 February 26

Amazon's Fire TV update is rolling out to select models in the US first, and will be available more widely and in other countries soon.

Samsung's Micro RGB TV at CES 2026, with a sign saying Micro RGB 130"

A report details how much more expensive 130-inch TV screens are to produce than 115-inch screens — 27% larger screen for 50% higher price

By Carrie Marshall Published 18 February 26

Massive TVs mean massive price tags for early adopters if you're waiting for next-gen RGB TVs at projector-beating sizes

I'm old enough to remember when musicians wanted to ban synths — is AI music just another anti-tech panic?

By Carrie Marshall Published 18 February 26

Is generative AI a helper for musicians, or an existential threat?

9 Comments

A still from the Jia Zhangke AI generated short, Jia Zhangke's Dance

The internet says Hollywood is cooked — but I think Jia Zhangke’s AI short says something far more interesting

By Carrie Marshall Published 17 February 26

Jia Zhangke’s AI short challenges the idea that Hollywood is finished because of the Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt clip created by Seedance 2.0

Your Roku just got yet more free streaming channels, including a Pokémon channel — but you should expect to see a bunch of AI ads on there in the future

By Carrie Marshall Published 13 February 26

Roku has added nine more free, ad-supported channels to The Roku Channel

Samsung S95H mounted on a wall at CES 2026

Samsung explains the new tech that's making its 2026 flagship OLED TV so much brighter — and promises the screen should last twice as long, too

By Carrie Marshall Published 13 February 26

Samsung has explained the clever QD-OLED Penta Tandem technology that means its 2026 OLEDs will be much brighter and last longer

4 Comments

LG B5 (left) and LG G5 (right) showing crocodile on screen

'I can see many people appreciating this change': LG's new free update to its best OLED TVs is delighting users with brighter Dolby Vision HDR performance

By Carrie Marshall Published 11 February 26

LG's coming to brighten your day with its improvements to HDR in the C5 and G5 OLED TVs

2 Comments

Majority Bowfell Halo Atmos in a neutrally decorated room, shot from behind the sofa. Two satellite speakers are in the foreground and there's a TV on the wall with the soundbar below it and subwoofer to one side of it

There's a new super-cheap Dolby Atmos surround soundbar in town — the Bowfell Halo promises heavenly home theater for small spaces

By Carrie Marshall Published 10 February 26

Majority's new soundbars are extremely affordable, extremely small, and pretty well-equipped

Disney+ has lost Dolby Vision in some countries, and the US could be next — it says 'technical challenges', but a report says patents are to blame

By Carrie Marshall Published 6 February 26

Reports say Dolby Vision is disappearing from Disney+ in Europe

2 Comments

Recent LG OLED TVs are getting a great free Dolby Atmos upgrade — get real surround sound without a soundbar, AV receiver or wires

By Carrie Marshall Published 5 February 26

Some 2025 LG TVs can now work as a Dolby Atmos FlexConnect hub, meaning cinematic wireless sound without a soundbar

Your browser wasn’t always a billboard — this free tool cuts the AI hype and gets back to the web

By Carrie Marshall Published 5 February 26

No more popups, AI nags, or shopping junk – Just The Browser gives you back your space

I’m a writer who won’t use generative AI — here are 7 AI-free tools that actually support real writing

By Carrie Marshall Published 4 February 26

Tired of AI writing tools that rewrite your voice? These 7 AI-free alternatives put writers back in control

A Barco Residential Runar video wall in a dark home cinema setup displaying a northern scene with the aurora borealis in the sky

Is this the ultimate home theater? A micro-LED wall with cinema-certified visual quality, and a 14.8.8-channel built-in sound system — yes, you are reading those numbers correctly

By Carrie Marshall Published 3 February 26

The Luxury Immersion Cinema promises to redefine what you can expect from your luxury home theater

Nvidia would 'love to' make new Shield TV hardware, its senior VP says — so here are the 5 upgrades I'd hope to see to help it beat Apple TV 4K, Roku and Fire TV

By Carrie Marshall Published 3 February 26

Nvidia's hinting about new Shield hardware. Here's hoping you can customize its launcher

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