These $20 in-ear headphones are a steal

The MeElectronics M9P 2nd Gen. in-ear headphones (MSRP $39.99, online as low as $19.72) are a revised version of the company's popular portable product, the M9P. They're cheap, and they sound great, making them one of the best values in headphones. What more do you need?

MeElectronics bills these in-ears as a convenient audio solution for mobile devices such as tablets and phones. Thanks to multiple color options, the M9P in-ears aim to stand out as both fashion accessory and premium audio provider.

If you like huge bass emphasis, you can't go wrong with these. They're free of distortion, durable, portable, convenient and provide a healthy soundscape that leans on the low end.

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Unlike on-ear and over-ear headphones, in-ear headphones often champion their potential as fashion accessory. Thus the M9P's visual highlights include the design of the cable and remote as much as the 'buds themselves.

These in-ears are quite comfortable, even over longer periods of time. The hard plastic caps can irritate your outer ears if you push them in too far, and getting used to the way they sit can be annoying for a time. In the long term, however, the M9P in-ears are comfortable enough, even if they lack the ear-coddling plushness of other models.

Listeners on the go will relish this product's single-button in-line microphone/remote combo, which features a highly nuanced volume slider and a button to play/pause music playback or answer calls. The M9P should also work with all Android and iOS mobile devices, although some third-party apps may not be supported by the remote.

Once you find a good fit and get to listening, the first thing you'll notice is that the M9P in-ears tread quite heavily in bass territory. Whether it's a thundering timpani, an upright bass or the heaviest dub-step drops, bass and sub-bass sounds plow through the mix without fail. Unlike many other bass-heavy headphones, however, the M9P in-ears don't stop there.

While treated with a bit more delicacy, middle and high-mid frequencies are emphasized generously, too. The result is a multifaceted, sweeping soundscape that punches well above this product's price tag. Just keep in mind — especially if you're looking for a flatter mix — that these in-ears give ample prevalence to bass frequencies above all else.

Because they're of the in-ear variety, the M9P headphones have plenty of natural advantages in terms of keeping sound in and keeping unwanted noise out. Though they weren't specifically created for noise canceling, a good fit will see everything from honking automobiles to ringing office phones dampened by at least 25% of the original volume.

The M9P in-ears also produce clean, distortion-free audio. You'll notice a healthy lack of distorted elements like clipped high notes and compressed bass tones. This kind of distortion-free performance usually costs much more than MeElectronics is asking for.

The 2nd Generation M9P in-ears are simply a terrific value for consumers. Between the sturdy design, expansive soundscape and distortion-free playback, it's pretty hard to believe you can find these online for as little as $20.

If you're looking for something a little subtler, AKG has some $60 in-ears that offer a less bottom-heavy experience. If you're all about that bass, however, the 2nd Gen. M9P in-ears are an outstanding choice.

Touchdown: 10 tech tips for tiptop tailgating

There's a chill in the air; the leaves are changing. That could only mean one thing — it's prime tailgating season. Fact: Sporting events are at least 10 times more fun with friends, a grill and a few hours to kick back and relax with good company. Here are the best tailgating gadgets to keep you well fed and comfortable, no matter where your weekend adventures take you.

1. The Coolest Cooler is easily the most high-tech beer-chilling accessory ever conceived, which is why it raised a ridiculous $13.2 million during its Kickstarter campaign. Not only will it keep your beverages ice cold, but it also features a removable Bluetooth speaker, which is also waterproof, a USB charger for your phone or tablet, and even a full-size blender. The Coolest will make any sporting event parking lot so comfortable that you might never want to go home, and you can pre-order your own right now by putting a $50 down payment on the official website.

2. Biting into a burnt burger or bloody steak can ruin your terrific tailgate faster than mile-long port-a-potty line. Keep your meaty treats at the perfect temperature with the Range smart thermometer, which connects directly to your iPhone or iPad and provides an in-depth look at exactly how your delicious burger or steak is shaping up, and you can pick up this grilling secret weapon for $69.95.

3. The Bevometer is like an automatic scoreboard for consumption. Every time you slide a new can into the innovative can cooler it adds a tally to the number of drinks you've had in your current session, as well as all-time. Whether you're trying to keep yourself within your limits or show your friends who can put down the most cans, the $14.99 Bevometer will help.

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The Tailgaters' Hammock.(Photo: Hamaccher Schlemmer)

4. Hauling a bunch of awkward lawn furniture with you takes up precious room that you could be using for beer, food and more beer, so leave the plastic chairs in the garage and take along Hammacher Schlemmer's two-person Tailgaters' Hammock instead. It connects to your trailer hitch and sets up in just 10 minutes, and lets you kick back in style with built-in footrests. Oh, and the entire thing — which will cost you $349.95 — rolls up into the included case and takes up way less room than your awkward deck furniture.

5. Here's one for every woman I know who is always shivering through sports seasons. Face it: Not every tailgating excursion is going to go as smoothly as you want, and sooner or later you're going to end up covered in snow or shivering in the cold. This electric blanket will keep you warm wherever you are and it plugs directly into the 12V power outlet in your car. With an extra-long cord, you can cuddle up with it while tailgating outside and watch everyone else be colder than you are. You can pick one up for $28.99.

6. Don't have time to gather all the usual tailgating necessities before heading off to your sporting adventure? I'll tell you about about my last-second tailgating party secret weapon. Deal? OK, it's called Instagate, and it's everything you need to have a great time, minus the food and drink. You'll get all the plates, utensils, napkins and accessories, along with a recyclable cooler and even a grill, all in one box, for the special Kickstarter-only price of just $39.

7. When it comes to sound, why not go big or go home? Brookstone's Big Blue PartyIndoor/Outdoor Speaker ($299) is water-resistant, and fills up a backyard or half a parking lot with massive 360-degree sound. It's wireless and pairs via Bluetooth with all your connected devices from a decent range of more than 30 feet. It also blasts out the beats for a good four to five hours per charge.

8. Flasks have old-school flair, but the MiiR Growler ($59) is like a flask from the future. This crazy beverage holder secures 64 ounces of hot or cold liquid within its steel walls and vacuum-sealed compartment. Its threadless lid means no twisting, while the airtight seal ensures your brew won't just be cool at the end of a long day, it'll still be fizzy, too.

9. Here's a way to one-up the salty chicken wings and typical bean-dip-from-a-can tailgate fare. Sur La Table's Pizzeria Pronto ($299.99) fires up perfect, homemade pizzas in as little as five minutes. And it is portable, so it's easy to pack up and haul around. It runs on propane, and comes stuffed with innovative features like cordierite stones, a reflective heat shield and a moisture vent for perfectly crisp, mouth-watering pizzas every time.

10. While not all that "high-tech" per se, the Fathead Stand Out life-size player cutouts are certainly the "highlight" of our tailgate parties. People love getting their pictures taken with them, ranting at them and even dressing them up for Halloween. They hold up well, with a much more durable material than the standard cardboard cutout. Easy to pop-up and fold down, these are certainly the talk of the tailgate, for $120.

If there were fantasy league for the best tailgate tech — I'd be betting big this year — even without the gadget that lets women relieve themselves standing up, mini drones,singing koozies and iFlask's that I had to cut during the last round of this edits for this column.

Be sure to let us know what your go-to tailgate gadget will be this year, in the comments section.

The promise and challenges facing Apple Pay

NEW YORK — Will consumers cast aside physical wallets and use their new iPhones to pay at the checkout counter? We'll start to get a pretty good read on that in a few weeks with Apple's first big push into mobile payments — an area where others have long competed and not exactly thrived.

Apple Pay is set to launch this month, letting U.S. owners of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus models — and eventually folks who have an Apple Watch — use those devices to transact.

Some view Apple as an important catalyst for mobile payments — perhaps the biggest catalyst. With sales of more than 10 million new iPhones, the company is seeding lots of consumers with handsets that can double as digital wallets.

"It's clear that the era of digital payments is upon us," eBay CEO John Donahoe said after announcing this week that PayPal and eBay would be spun off into separate publicly traded companies next year. PayPal is a pioneer in the mobile payments arena but may find itself on the defensive as the Apple Pay launch nears.

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By 2018, mobile proximity payments in the USA, which include payments made using a phone to make a physical transaction at the point of sale, will reach $118 billion, up from $3.5 billion in 2014, according to eMarketer.

The appealing promise, which has hung out there for years, is that you won't have to fumble for cash or a plastic credit card while standing at the register. Some consumers are quite comfortable using their phones to pay for coffee or a taxi ride, and many mobile pay customers are motivated by reward points and discounts. Millions buy music, movies, books and apps that they pay for and download directly onto their devices.

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Why stop at the phone, or even a smartwatch? How about your refrigerator or your car? "We think every (consumer) device you have is going to be a commerce device," says Ed McLaughlin, the chief emerging-payments officer at MasterCard. "Our lives are moving to these intelligent connected devices and what we do and how we interact and transact moves to them also."

None of this will happen overnight. Only the latest iPhones will be compatible when Apple Pay launches. If you have an older iPhone, an Android handset or another smartphone, you're out of luck, at least under Apple's new system.

OVERCOMING OLD HURDLES

Google Wallet launched in 2011 with a single Sprint Nexus S handset. More phones were added, but for a variety of reasons, Wallet has flopped, though Google hasn't given up.

What's more, shoppers have been paying with cash and plastic for decades, and changing consumer behavior is daunting.

The market has been highly fragmented. Tech and financial giants and under-the-radar startups all jockey in the rush to make paying via cellphone mainstream.

Google has struggled. So has the rebranded Softcard, which recently gave up the name ISIS Wallet because it shared a moniker with a militant group. It was formed in 2010 by a joint venture among AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon.

"There's no silver bullet, no definite winner out there," Dan Schulman, then of American Express and now the guy who will become PayPal's new CEO after the PayPal-eBay split becomes official, told me in an interview in 2011.

Until proved otherwise, his statement rings true.

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Apple CEO Tim Cook introduces the Apple Pay product in Cupertino, Calif.(Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez, AP)

Jim McCarthy, global head of innovation and strategic partnerships at Visa, says, "It's just been the Balkans out there, people competing over the wrong things. Historically, Visa competes with card competitors like MasterCard and American Express, as an example. But we don't compete by confusing merchants and customers at the point of sale."

Consumers fret about security, even though a system such as Apple Pay appears to be way more secure than handing your credit card to a waiter. More than 40% of active users surveyed by the Kurt Salmon global management consulting firm worried that their personal information is at risk when making mobile payments.

“I think it's reasonable for people to always have questions about anything that's new and want to understand it. That's healthy and good.”

Phil Schiller, Apple

"I think it's reasonable for people to always have questions about anything that's new and want to understand it. That's healthy and good," says Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president for worldwide marketing. "I hope that what everyone sees is that we have done more to try to create something that meets what customers most want."

The new iPhones include a "secure element" chip where credit card information (but not your actual credit card number) is stored as a Device Account Number used to process your payment. Apple verifies your ability to pay with a participating bank. When you go to pay, a dynamic number is issued to the merchant, which can be used only for that one-time transaction.

The merchant doesn't have your actual credit card number, and Apple doesn't know what you bought or how much you spent. To complete an in-person transaction, you must hold the phone within a couple of inches of the point-of-sale terminal while pressing against the Touch ID fingerprint scanner on the phone.

Consumers can store credit cards and review recent transactions in the phone's Passbook app. If your phone is lost or stolen, the fingerprint scanner prevents a crook from using it to pay. You can remotely shut down Apple Pay on your device through the Find My iPhone feature. There's no need to cancel your actual credit cards.

LAUNCHING IN THE REAL WORLD

The system worked fine in a demo, but a crucial question — still unanswered — is how smooth the launch will go in the real world.

"A lot of it hinges on not so much Apple but the merchants that are out there and whether or not that consumer is going to have a good experience the first time they try to use Apple Pay," says eMarketer analyst Bryan Yeager. "That's been one of the key issues that every mobile payments provider has struggled with."

Apple has partnerships with MasterCard, Visa and American Express, along with leading banks that handle more than 83% of U.S. credit card transactions. The merchant list includes Macy's, Bloomingdale's, Disney, Walgreens, Staples, McDonald's, ToysRUs and Whole Foods. Apple relies on NFC (Near Field Communication) technology built into the phones and compatible point of sale terminals. Apple says more than 220,000 locations in the U.S. will be able to accept such payments.

Will Graylin, CEO of the LoopPay mobile payments startup, says it will be difficult persuading tens of millions of merchants to assume the expense of upgrading point-of-sale systems. Graylin says even though there are 270 million NFC-capable smartphones in the market, he cannot find a single Google or Softcard user that relies on their mobile wallet for everyday payments. "Putting NFC on the iPhone 6 will likely not get them to change either," he says. One incentive for businesses to upgrade terminals: an October 2015 deadline for companies to shift to a chip-based smart card standard called EMV, lest they assume liability in the case of fraud.

LoopPay sells a key fob and card case that lets consumers with an iPhone 5 or 5s, and certain Android models, pay with their devices at stores that use "magnetic stripe" point-of-sale terminals that have been around for years. It's an inelegant solution.

Apple itself had eschewed NFC before introducing Apple Pay. Why the change? The company has actually been working behind the scenes on this for a while.

"What we tend to do at Apple is typically get a vision for what we think customers would love — in this case the idea of starting to not need to carry an old-fashioned wallet around filled with plastic — and then work on what are all the right ways to do that," Schiller says.

Even if Apple Pay is a monumental success, it'll be a very long time before anyone ditches the physical wallet. Where else for now to carry a driver's license?

Track your health like a future astronaut

SAN FRANCISCO — The team that developed the wearable technology for tracking the vital signs of future NASA astronauts was obsessed with power consumption.

It had to be.

The mission to Mars being planned by the U.S. space agency for the early 2030s will take about 14 months round-trip, requiring any electronic devices used onboard the (still-to-be-built) spacecraft to run a long time between charges.

So Yong Jin Lee, the researcher whose company was chosen by NASA in 2007 to design a predictive health-and-fitness tracking system for Mars-bound astronauts, had to be strict with his developers.

"We had them track each line of code on a current meter," says Lee, who's now designed and built sensors for four U.S. departments: the Army, Navy, Homeland Security and NASA.

“Ten years from now all these devices will be much smaller, more efficient and better-predictive of stress and fatigue.”

Yong Jin Lee

After seven years of research into how to build wearable devices for space travelers, the result is a smartwatch so advanced it can detect a bad mood or health problem before the person wearing it can.

It can also operate for six months without a charge, even with its notifications function turned on, Lee told me this week in San Francisco.

John Shinal, technology columnist for USA TODAY.(Photo: USA TODAY)

"The power consumption was the most significant breakthrough" his team made, says Lee, now chief technology officer of Salutron.

The Fremont, Calif.-based maker of fitness and health-tracking gear acquired Lee's company, Linea Research, in 2012.

"Ten years from now all these devices will be much smaller, more efficient and better-predictive of stress and fatigue," says Lee, who has four engineering degrees from Stanford University, including a Ph.D.

Yong Jin Lee at the CES tech trade show.(Photo: Salutron)

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Starting this month, consumers will be able to buy the current version of Lee's smartwatch technology that will someday capture and analyze the health data of NASA astronauts.

Apart from tracking temperature, heart rate and other common health metrics, the new LifeTrak Brite R450 device has a capability that could not have even been imagined in the 20th century.

In 2001, neuroscientists at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia (working along with a government research hospital in Bethesda, Md.) discovered that the human eye has a receptor that uses blue light to control the body's production of melatonin.

A key brain chemical, melatonin regulates the body's circadian rhythm, or natural clock, and so has a big impact on human sleep cycles.

The new watch has a sensor that knows whether its wearer is getting enough blue light.

If its wearer is an astronaut with a wireless link, the folks back at Mission Control would then know to recommend some sleep — or a dose from a blue-light-emitting panel —BEFORE any grouchiness appears.

That's a good thing for anyone cooped up in a very small space with several colleagues for more than a year, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Or for anyone in a northern latitude who suffers mild depression from a lack of sunlight, an affliction also known as seasonal affective disorder.

Consumers who want that level of physiological tracking can pre-order the watch now at lifetrakusa.com for $129, or wait until it hits retail stores later this month.

An older model, the c410, can go up to a year without a charge and is available for prices ranging from $49 to $99 at retailers and online, including at Amazon.com.

As with traditional watches, both LifeTrak devices will require a replacement battery once the original wears out.

While some later generation of these devices will someday enjoy an epic float through the solar system, the current models face a brutal landscape for consumer smartwatches here on Earth.

Pebble, whose crowdfunded watch helped pioneer the category, cut the price of its watch to $99 on Wednesday.

Samsung earlier this year rolled out watches that also track sleep activity as well as other vital signs.

Jawbone, a start-up, has wearable devices that do the same.

Apple, meanwhile, is preparing to ship its new watch for the consumer market early next year.

For now, though, consumers who want to own a smartwatch with a battery good enough for NASA can only get it from Dr. Lee and his team of power-obsessed developers.