I'm an audio obsessive and gigging musician, and these are the 5 best Bluetooth speakers we've tested in 2026 — from portables to party speakers and everything in between
THE SO WHAT
The Bluetooth speaker market is maturing into tight, well-understood segments—portable, party, prosumer—where differentiation is now about tuning, battery, and ecosystem fit. Hardware builders need to assume buyers are reading expert shootouts and optimize for a clearly owned use case, not generic “better sound.”
READ THE SOURCE
MORE FROM THE WIRE
Tech & Innovation‘Simple but reasonably effective’: This Joy-Con 2 grip is good value for money — but one feature prevents me from recommending it wholeheartedly
Accessory spend around Switch-class devices is now about ergonomics and session length, not just aesthetics. If a low-cost grip still has a deal-breaking flaw, it underlines how unforgiving the market is for anything that touches core comfort or control.
Sergey Brin and 11 other billionaires and tech elite lined up against California's proposed billionaire tax
An $82M spend to fight a state tax is a reminder that high-net-worth founders will actively shape the fiscal environment they operate in. For operators in California, long-term planning around equity, compensation, and HQ location should assume continued volatility in state-level tax policy.
Tech & InnovationD-Link G572 review: This SIM-ready 5G router is a valuable fallback for my weak home internet
Consumer-grade failover with SIM-ready 5G and Wi‑Fi 7 means resilience is creeping into the edge without IT in the loop. If your workforce is even partially remote, you should assume home networks can be dual-homed and design access, security, and support policies around that reality.
Tech & InnovationA profile of Kaley Glenn-Mills, the plaintiff in K.G.M. v. Meta et al., who was awarded $6M in damages in a landmark LA jury trial over social media addiction
A $6M jury award for social media addiction moves "engagement harm" from PR risk into litigation precedent. Any product that optimizes for time-on-platform with minors in the loop now has to treat dark-pattern UX and safety controls as liability surfaces, not just brand issues.