JBL Boombox is a superb portable Bluetooth speaker sans assistant [Review]

Nowadays, many manufacturers seem to think all speakers should contain a virtual assistant. Yeah, having Siri, Cortana, Google, or Alexa can be convenient, but not everyone wants one of them integrated into their speakers. From a privacy perspective, these always-listening assistants can be a nightmare. Not to mention, these virtual "beings" can complicate something that should be very straightforward and relaxing -- listening to music. The largely panned (non-portable) $350 HomePod, for instance, doesn't currently support Bluetooth and only works with Apple Music. That's one of the reasons I was intrigued by the JBL Boombox -- no gosh darn integrated… [Continue Reading]