I have fond memories of the cassette tape. The first album I ever bought was on cassette — I won’t tell you what it was — and I used to spend hours taping songs off the radio so that I could listen to them on my cheap Bush walkman, which had just three buttons and a volume control.
Cassette Case by Rocket Cases Category: Cases Works With: iPhone 5 Price: $14.99
The cassette’s pretty much dead now, of course, but you can help it live on with this cool cassette case for iPhone 5 from Rocket Cases. Priced at just $14.99, it’s made from a sturdy TPU plastic that provides your device with all-over protection from drops and scratches.
I’ve been testing it for a few weeks to find out whether it is worth its price tag, or whether it’s as useful as an actual cassette tape.
There are a ton of Bluetooth headsets on the market today, and because I prefer talking hands-free, I’ve tried a lot of them. But as a Bluetooth enthusiast (yes, we exist), I’ve been continually frustrated. That’s because all the headsets I’ve tried thus far have missed the mark, especially when paired with an iPhone, delivering callers’ voices as muddy and hard to decipher, or making me sound like I live under the sea (I don’t).
Voyager Legend UC Bluetooth Headset by Plantronics Category: iOS and Mac Accessories Works With: iPhone, iPod, iPad, Mac Price: $200
So when I got my hands on the Plantronics Voyager Legend UC, with its promises of excellent audio, call routing touch technology, and the ability to work on both my Mac and iOS device, I was dubious. Not anymore. This little Legend hasn’t just proved my first impressions wrong, I’m now convinced it’s the best Bluetooth headset I’ve ever used.
We’ve reviewed a lot of Bluetooth speakers here at Cult of Mac, and yet to this day, the easiest one to recommend is still the speaker that launched the category: the venerable Jawbone Jambox.
Well, Jambox, move over: there’s a new king in town. We’ll be hard pressed to recommend you anymore after getting our hands on the JBL Flip, a Bluetooth speaker that has better (and louder) sound than the Jambox, at a cheaper price, and a killer trick up its sleeve: it’s also an external battery pack, capable of charging your iPhone on the go!
Smarter Stand by SmarterFlo Category: Stands Works With: iPhone 5 Price: $12-ish
Don’t you hate it when your earbud cable gets tangled? I know I do (but not as much as I hate Apple’s stupid earbuds themselves). Luckily, Dotan Saguy has come up with the Smarter Stand for the iPhone, a pliable plastic widget which not only acts as a place to wrap your earbud cable, but also as a handy-dandy stand for the iPhone.
I have been using one for a little while now and it turns out to be a pretty useful little gadget.
Do you ever worry that your beloved MacBook’s sleek aluminum shell will get damaged when it’s packed inside your bag with the rest of your gadgets and gizmos. This handmade, wool felt sleeve from MyBanana aims to give your notebook a home of its own, away from sharp keys, USB cables, chargers, and all the other things you might need to pack into your bag when you’re on the road.
Wool Felt Sleeve by MyBanana Category: Sleeve Works With: MacBook Air, MacBook Pro Price: £48+
Its slimline design holds your MacBook Air or Retina MacBook Pro — depending on which size you go for — plus smaller items in a pocket on its front. This is ideal for carrying Lightning cables, an iPhone, or even an iPad mini.
Anything you stick inside the sleeve is secured by two vegatable tanned leather traps with snap fasteners.
Pricing starts at £48 ($56) for the 11-inch MacBook Air sleeve, then rises to £54 ($63) for the 13-inch MacBook Air or Retina MacBook Pro models. If you have a 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro, it’ll cost you £58 ($68).
Status Board Made by:Panic Category: Productivity Works With: iPad, iPad mini Price: $9.99
So many apps are designed first for the iPhone, and the iPad is more or less an afterthought. Not so with Status Board, a brand new app from Panic that is designed meticulously with the iPad’s larger display in mind.
If you know Panic’s pedigree (Coda, Transmit, etc.), then you know what kind of app to expect: something incredibly powerful, focused, and impeccably designed. Status Board is no exception. And although the app won’t appeal to most iPad users, it is perhaps Panic’s most consumer-friendly app to date.
Rechargeable, portable, and built to live on or under your Mac or iDevice, the Sound Cylinder (SC) speaker is a first from audio maker Definitive Technology (DT), who usually focuses their acoustic talents on high-end home theater equipment.
Sound Cylinder by Definitive Technology Category: Wireless Speakers Works With: iPhone, iPod, iPad, Mac, or anything with Bluetooth Price: $200
But can Definitive Technology, with its years of experience engineering coveted boutique audio, create a portable speaker that usurps the top spot of the much-loved and most-excellent sounding Jawbone Jambox?
amPhone by VOX Category: Headphones Works With: Anything with a jack hole. Price: $99
As one who aims to have a daily shred session, I have a love-hate relationship with guitar amps. I love the way they look and sound, especially the vintage ones, but they’re so big and unruly, I often find I’d rather practice without one than head to the lonely room in my house where they reside.
Vox’s amPhones ($99) aim to give you the best of both worlds; the portable headphones plug right into any guitar, amplifying its sound, and include effects like reverb, chorus, and delay. And though they’re built to emulate the sounds of some of Vox’s most popular boxes, they can also be used as regular headphones.
Sounds likes a winning combo, right? I plugged a pair into my best electric guitar to find out.
Ulysses 3 by Soulmen Category: Text Editor Works With: Mac Price: $40
Ulysses 3 is a superstar text editor which takes a whole new approach to, well, to editing text. I love it – it’s my favorite new piece of software in a long time – but there are one or two gotchas which could stop me using it full-time to write posts for the web.
X100S by Fujifilm Category: Cameras Works With: Uh, hands? Price: $1,200
First, remember one thing: this isn’t a full review of the Fujifilm X100S, even though I had to write it up there in the title to please our CMS. I’ve only had the thing for a few days, and even though Cult of Mac isn’t DP Review, a few days isn’t enough to evaluate an iPhone case, let alone a camera like the X100S.
On the other hand, the X100S is So Hot Right Now, and I’ve been staying up tip 3AM since I got it because I can’t stop playing with the thing. Combining those two interesting facts leads me to think that an in-depth first look might be a good idea — especially as you can now convert the RAW files on your Mac using the just-released Lightroom 4.4.
Let’s take a look — You might want to go make a cup of coffee first.
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