Mazda's new Miata is all about connecting with the road

 

"Maybe if you rotate it 180-degrees..." my girlfriend suggested in a helpful tone, as I punched the large, wheeled suitcase into the trunk of the 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata.
Returning from a quick weekend trip to Portland, we landed at LAX to find the small, off-white sports car awaiting us. Unaware for the nanoscale size of the Miata, she packed a bag nearly the size the the all-new Japanese roadster's trunk

Eventually, thanks to her ingenious rotation suggestion, much swearing and a bit of elbow grease, we got her bag — and only her bag — in the trunk (my bag rode shotgun with her) and we headed home.
I'd like to report that this battle for space was not indicative of my time with the MX-5. Sadly, it was. At over six-foot-four-inches tall, I was never quite comfortable in the minuscule Mazda. But I won't let that cloud my judgement too much.

Mulholland drive

To juxtapose my discomfort and displeasure with the 2016 Miata, let's revisit the evening I took the car out to Mulholland in the Santa Monica mountains.
Rallying up the hills through dark and deserted switchbacks, the car showed its true colors. Though the engine — which the MX-5 shares with the all-new CX-3 — is an absolute lifeless dog when you’re not pushing it, it comes to life when you pass 3,000 rpm.
Keeping the revs high with the six-speed manual transmission in my righthand palm, I whipped the little convertible back and forth through the slaloming turns with the small steering wheel in my left.

I can tell you, this resulted in much joyous giggling.

I can tell you, this resulted in much joyous giggling.Unsurprisingly, the car felt light in the corners, as it only weighs 2,332 pounds. What did surprise me, however, was its ability to remain planted and on course — even when forced to make evasive maneuvers. You see, it's a lot harder to drive sportily in pitch darkness than in the light (go figure). So there were a couple moments when I had to mash the brake pedal and crank the wheel in order to remain on the road and right side up.
In these instances, where a heavier car might understeer (go straight instead of turn), the Miata reacted eagerly and made quick work of sudden steering inputs. To that end, the Brembo brakes were equally impressive. They absorbed many a hasty stomping without fading or fatigue.



With the wind whipping in my hair, the powerful Bose sound system thumping out a tune from "The Killers," and my right foot pressing the throttle into the carpet, I was a very happy man.
Like the suitcase-punching at LAX, this spirited night drive was not representative of my overall experience with the Miata. After all, I had to live with it for a week.

Live with it

When not forcing large luggage into the trunk or thrashing the car on a mountain highway, the Miata was ... fine.
That's not to say it's not without its fair share of creature comforts. For example, the soft-top was easy to open and close. The suspension was soft over bumps but very flat during cornering — something the Miata has always excelled at. And the infotainment system was easy to use. Heck, callers could even hear me clearly over Bluetooth — even with the top down driving at speed.
Those things said, however, behind the wheel of the 2016 Miata, I couldn't help but feel like

I had sacrificed too much to the driving gods.

I had sacrificed too much to the driving gods.The thing looks like a half-size Japanese Jaguar F-TYPE and drives like one, too. I wonder, though, if not having a trunk or much space inside is really worth the trade-off for inexpensive open-top motoring. And I can't believe I'm going to say this: But I don't think it is.
Let's think about it this way: The 2016 MX-5 Miata I drove was the Club model. Although the base unit starts at $24,915, my press demonstrator clocked in at $32,820, as it added an aerodynamics kit, 17-inch wheels, and the aforementioned Brembo brakes.


Granted, this is still very inexpensive for a rip-roaring sports car. Ignore a few of those descriptors, though, and the cost becomes questionable.
For the same money (or less), you can get a well-equipped Subaru WRX that has more horsepower, two more doors, seating for five, all-wheel drive, and a far, far larger trunk. And I dare say it handles as well — if not better — than the Miata.
Sure, the WRX might not be convertible, but all its windows come down, so you're not losing too much of the wind-in-the-hair allure.

Connected car

Despite it being less practical than a Subaru, there is one realm where I see the Miata standing out: As a connected car.
Now, I don't mean "connected" in the technological sense — quite the opposite, actually. As the digitalization of cars ramps up, the connection between driver and the road is eroded. For most, this isn't a bad thing because stripped-down driving is a pain (even for me, mostly).
Where a novice driver might be able to operate the 2016 Audi TTS very quickly on a track or country backroad, their handling prowess can be fully attributed not to their own hand-to-eye coordination but rather to the onboard computer systems (and German magic).
The same cannot be said of the Miata.

From behind the wheel, you're hardwired to the road

From behind the wheel, you're hardwired to the road. There are no supercomputers doing the driving for you. In order to get the best from it, you'll have to personally wring out every bit of performance. Essentially, you'll have to suffer for your artful driving. Arguably, fewer and fewer people desire this experience from their $30,000 car, as evidenced by the Miata being the only car in its class. I wonder, though, if the market for a stripped-down little two-seater will grow ever so slowly over the next decade, as autonomy takes over.
As new cars — and their drivers — become more and more removed from the driving process, the new Miata is a refreshing if flawed return to being one with the road.

2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata

The Good

Cushy but flat-handling suspension • Micro-Jaguar body lines • Virtually understeer-free

The Bad

Tiny, tiny, tiny

The Bottom Line

Mazda’s new Miata might not offer much occupants space, but it connects them to the road better than anything else for the money.

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Fitbit Charge: A solid fitness tracker you shouldn’t buy

It’s been more than a year since the ill-fated Fitbit Force tracker was pulled off shelves due its allergy-inducing wristband. Despite the ailment, the device otherwise received high praise for being one of the best — if not the best — fitness trackers on the market.

Now the company has introduced a reboot of the Force with a brand new name: the Fitbit Charge, and like the previous model, it’s a solid tracker that covers the basics. The Charge monitors steps taken, calories burned, quality of sleep and even shows you what time it is.

SEE ALSO: 14 health and fitness wearables and gadgets worth giving

The new tracker has a few extra bells and whistles, too: Notably, notifications from your smartphone are pushed to the device’s display, and it has an improved clasp design, which keeps it from mysteriously disappearing from your wrists.

Battery life is improved, too — rated to last 10 days on a single charge.

But fitness trackers have made a lot of advancements since the original launch of the Force. Some devices offer more notifications and features beyond what the Fitbit delivers. Android wear includes your social-network notifications, and the Microsoft Band will let you pay for your Starbucks coffee via the display.

Other fitness-focused wearables like the Basis Peak offer continuous heart-rate tracking, so you can see how the heart handles both workouts and daily stresses. The Charge doesn't do this either.

That's one of the biggest issues with Fitbit’s newest gadget: It’s a perfectly good tracker at $129.95, but 

While the Force was a standout back when it launched in 2013, its Charge reboot is no longer a game-changer. That doesn’t mean, of course, it’s not a viable fitness tracker. It is; you'd just be wise to wait for the Charge HR instead.for just $20, the Fitbit Charge HR (launching in early 2015) will come with continuous heart-rate monitoring, and that alone is worth holding off for the larger investment.

Let’s take a closer look at why:

Design: More of the same

The hardware of the Charge is similar to the Force with a few tweaks: the wristband is more texturized thanks to small ridges that form a subtle pattern. It’s lighter on the wrists, too, and is one of the least-obtrusive designs we’ve seen, especially for one with a screen (such designs tend to be clunkier). It’s not often you’ll forget you’re wearing a tracker until it buzzes with a notification.

But the design is still not as sleek as Jawbone's tracker lineup and, once again, it’s not something you’d want to leave on during a chic dinner. Unlike the Fitbit Flex (the predecessor to the Force that's still popular today), the core system doesn’t pop out of the wristband and can’t transferred into a more fashionable option (like one from high-end designer Tory Burch).

Tory Burch bracelet for the Fitbit Flex.

This means you’re stuck with whatever color you choose (blue or black). The good news, however, is that the clasp is noticeably improved: It fits more snugly around the wrists and didn’t fall off once during testing. In the past, Fitbit device’s have been tricky to secure — the Charge goes on and off in a cinch.

However, you still can’t completely submerge Fitbit products in water. They're water-resistant, but you have to take it off (and remember to put it back on) every time you hop in the shower or go for a swim.

Tracking: better but not best

One of the biggest improvements to the Fitbit Charge is that you no longer have to put the device into sleep mode at night. Yes, just like the jolly guy at the North Pole, it knows when you’re awake and when you’re not. Owners of previous Fitbits (or those with other wristband trackers) likely know the frustration of waking up in the morning with no new collected data because it was never switched to sleep mode in the first place.

The Charge takes this step out of the equation altogether — a small but useful perk. However, it looks more closely at your nighttime cycle (deep sleep vs. light sleep), rather than a 30-minute cat nap you might sneak in during the day.

The Fitbit Charge (left) with the Fitbit Flex

For the most part, steps taken, calories burned and other daily activities are logged just as they were with previous models. At the same time, I encountered some red flags with the accuracy of the data: I reached my 10,000 step daily goal on a day I barely did much at all. In fact, I was alerted to the feat while sitting down (not moving, like you’d expect), and a few minutes later my count had increased to 10,100 steps (I was still sitting down).

Even still, the Charge (like most of Fitbit’s product offerings) is easy to use. It’s now possible to call out workouts and monitor how many calories were burned during a specific period.Clearly, sensitivity to arm movement is still something Fitbit, and other builders of fitness trackers, have yet to perfect. You can trick the device into thinking your moving when you’re merely reading a book or moving your arms during a conversation, so precise accuracy should be taken with a grain of salt. At the same time, activity notifications lagged for me, too: I got an email congratulating me of my 10,000-step victory a day late.

There are a few software updates available, including a new feature called Challenges that lets you go head to head with friends throughout the week, weekend or daily. And of course, the smartwatch-like alerts are particularly handy, which show you who's calling or texting via a message that pops up on the display. The device vibrates each time this happens too, so you don’t need to reach for your smartphone to see who’s contacting you. +1 for not being rude at dinner.

However, you can’t respond to notifications like you could with a smartwatch. All of this is forgiveable, of course, because first and foremost, the Charge is a fitness tracker. The Microsoft Band, another new fitness tracker, packs all the notifications you’d ever want onto its device, but as a trade-off: It’s far bigger and noticeable than the Charge, which is also softer to the touch.

For now, the Charge is truly an improved reboot of the Fitbit Force, but that’s about it. If you’re looking for a comprehensive fitness tracker to give you a bigger picture of your overall health, wait patiently and save your pennies for the Charge HR (again, at only $20 more), due in early 2015.

And if you're willing to spend more, the Fitbit Surge "superwatch" ($249) — a device specialized for runners with more smartwatch capabilities — is coming in the same time frame. The key takeaway: Fitbit has a lot more up its sleeve, so there's no need to settle on the basic Charge tracker now.

Fitbit Charge

The Good

Better clasp • Automatic sleep mode • Lightweight design

The Bad

No heart-rate tracking • Can't withstand immersion in water • Questionable accuracy

The Bottom Line

The Fitbit Charge is a solid follow-up to the recalled Force wristband tracker, but hold off for the Charge HR and its heart-rate tracking features when it launches in early 2015.

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A Cocky Kid's Dream Crumbles in Sobering 'Lenny Cooke' Film

Before YouTube provided endless mixtapes of teenage basketball stars, before LeBron James changed amateur basketball forever to fuel a 24/7 appetite for online updates on hot prospects, Lenny Cooke was basketball's next big thing.
Cooke, a 6-foot-6-inch swingman out of Brooklyn, was the nation's top player, seemingly on the fast track to NBA fame and riches. But he never made it.


That disconnect is the subject of Lenny Cooke, a powerful documentary exploring the dark reality of prodigious promise gone unfulfilled.

Seeing a bloated Cooke rationalize his basketball demise is sobering

Seeing a bloated Cooke rationalize his basketball demise is sobering indeed after watching him confidently interact with future NBA stars including James and Carmelo Anthony as a teen. The film is aided tremendously by the fact that directors Ben and Joshua Safdie are able to use prime footage of Cooke as a high schooler that was shot by Adam Shopkorn in the early 2000s for a never-completed documentary about the young star. That old footage provides a fascinating, surreal and sometimes disturbing window into Cooke's life as a basketball prodigy. We see him treat future NBA stars as peers or younger brothers. (One of his old friends, Joakim Noah of the Chicago Bulls, produced Lenny Cooke.) We see the eye-popping skills that built his reputation. We see the tough neighborhood where he grew up and the white suburban mom with whom he lived in his late teens. But we also see him sullenly brush off coaches' advice and party like an adult while in Las Vegas for a tournament.
The trove of old content makes the film's final 25 minutes all the more powerful. Cooke throws himself a 30th birthday party, ending the night on the couch drunkenly scooping food into his mouth in front of the TV. He briefly reunites with Noah and other players on the Madison Square Garden floor after a recent New York Knicks game, an encounter that contrasts Cooke's current circumstance with what might have been. And an emotional argument with friends he rarely sees anymore is a painful reminder of how much has changed since they were all cocky teenagers.

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'Walking Dead' Game Season 2: A High-Stakes Drama You Control

The world of The Walking Dead is harsh and terrifying. It doesn't care who you are, and it doesn't hold back if you happen to be a terrified 11-year-old girl.

That's the hard reality portrayed in the first chapter of the second season of Telltale's The Walking Dead video game. "All That Remains" will be out on Steam, Xbox Live of Xbox 360, PlayStation Network for PS3 and iOS this week.

Clementine's World

Season two puts us in the shoes of young Clementine, the season one fan-favorite character who influenced much of the player's decisions.

Playing as Clementine leads to a new set of challenges. If you're used to playing as a powerful hero, you'll have to adjust your tactics, as playing a child in this game means you'll have to focus on human interactions. You'll have to rely on your wits and interact with people to help yourself along. That could mean playing guilefully — being manipulative — or just being brutally honest. Some of Clementine's biggest challenges come from other characters who don't sympathize with her age. They'd would rather see her dead.

Clementine has toughened up significantly thanks to surviving months and months in a zombie-infested world. I found my dialogue options for her were wildly varied, giving me a huge freedom on how to play Clementine. I could twist someone's arm with bits of overheard conversation if being a sweet little girl didn't work out. Telltale gives you plenty of room to play The Walking Deadlike a deep role-playing experience.

Of course, this game isn't all talk. Clementine manages to get herself in some very harrowing situations in this nasty world. You'll have to be very quick reflexed to avoid harm, as every single bad situation comes out of nowhere. These gameplay moments aren't like quicktime events entirely, as they now rely on aiming your curser at enemies to launch a perfectly-timed attack, but there are still times you'll have to swipe or tap a button to execute an option.

While failing these events only sets you back a few seconds, there were definitely times I wished for tighter controls. Aiming a curser with an analog stick on a Xbox 360 controller didn't give as much precision as other action games, so I'd usually have to repeat a scenario at least once.

There was also one incident where you needed to control Clementine's very precise actions. Spoiling what it was would be a crime, but it was a scene that will haunt me for a while. Including it will certainly gross out players, while also making them feel very connected to our young protagonist.

All of these violent events added a huge amount of showmanship to the game. When going back and comparing this episode to earlier episodes in The Walking Dead's history, it's clear Telltale has steered this game away from the "adventure" genre — with puzzles and fetch quests — and more toward something entirely different. It's more like a high-stakes drama than ever before, and there was no moment that took me away from the fear of something — human or zombie — coming around a corner.

Telltale has stated this isn't a standalone season; you'll need to have completed season one (and possibly the "400 Days" downloadable content). Your save files and previous decisions will transfer to season two, provided you are playing on the same platform.

"All That Remains" will be out for PC and Mac via Steam and PlayStation 3 on Dec. 17, Xbox 360 via Xbox Live on Dec. 18, and Dec. 19 for iOS. The episode, the first of five, costs $4.99.

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