hardware - page 2

Android Wear smartwatches get the jump on Apple’s iWatch

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With Google showing off Android-powered wearables from Samsung, LG and Motorola at its Google I/O developers conference this week, the smartwatch competition has officially heated up.

The LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live will ship in early July, so Android Wear smartwatches will definitely beat Apple’s rumored iWatch to the market. In today’s video, Cult of Mac shows how these handy, Android-powered devices — which let users access smartphone features from the convenience of their wrists — set the bar high for the iWatch.

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Kickstart HYPER’s new iStick – a USB stick with a Lightning connector

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HYPER by Sanho – the company behind the Hyperjuice batteries for Macbooks and iPads have just launched their latest creation to the world through Kickstarter.

The iStick is essentially a USB stick with the dual use of connecting it to your iPhone 5, 5s, iPod Touch and iPads with it’s Apple certified lightning connector, which is great if you have a internet connection that is too slow in the office for cloud based storage, or if you’re on the road and want to watch a couple of movies without eating into your data plan.

Hot-rod Hackintoshes perform like the latest Mac Pro

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Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
This P280 Hackintosh screams like a Mac Pro. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Although it looks like a vanilla PC in a boxy case, the machine pictured above is a high-performance, custom-built Hackintosh.

This thing is hot! Known as the P280, after its Antec case, this Hackintosh is equivalent in performance to Apple’s latest Mac Pro workstation, but costs significantly less.

Roughly comparable to a Mac Pro costing $3,500, the P280 was assembled from off-the-shelf PC parts costing just over $2,000, including a water-cooling system to chill its chips. The Hackintosh runs Apple’s OS X Mavericks and, according to its builder, bests a similarly configured Pro on many benchmarks.

It has none of Jony Ive’s industrial design magic, of course, but that’s not the point. This is a DIY rig that’s as badass as it gets.

Get A Better Typing Experience With This iPad Keyboard Case Combo [Deals]

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Your iPad is a trusted and essential tool for staying up to date on information, responding to emails, researching for work or school and much more. Now it’s time to take your iPad productivity to the next level – and Cult of Mac Deals can help.

The iPad Keyboard Case combo allows you to convert your iPad into a laptop-like position for faster, more comfortable typing. It also allows for tablet use by folding its hinge, hiding the Bluetooth keyboard out of sight. And Cult of Mac Deals has it for just $39!

The ShaveTech Travel Razor: A USB-Powered Razor You Can Take Anywhere [Deals]

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Finding that close shave while traveling can be frustrating.

The battery on your electric razor will run out and you won’t have the ability to charge it unless you pack up the entire thing – cords, cradle, and all. The ShaveTech Electric Razor is USB-chargeable and is as small as the average smart phone. And Cult of Mac Deals has it for only $19.99 for a limited time.

Keep Your Hard Drive In Top Shape With The Stellar Drive ToolBox for Mac #BlackFriday [Deals]

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Never suffer from a system crash, failed hard drive, or dip in system performance again.
The Stellar Drive ToolBox for Mac is a comprehensive bundle of utilities to keep your system healthy and optimized.

All 14 utilities help optimize hard drive performance, protect your data and provide an easy way to repair your hard drive’s volumes – it’s all you need to optimize, repair, and maintain your Mac. And Cult of Mac Deals has it for just $49.99 – 49% off the regular price of $99!

Should Kids Get iPhones for Christmas?

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Hacking the iPhone 5c probably cost the FBI more than $1 million.
Hacking the iPhone 5c probably cost the FBI more than $1 million.
Photo: Apple

Don’t look now, but kids want iPhones for Christmas. Well, a third of them do, anyway.

A survey of 12- to 17-year-olds conducted by Ebates found that an iPhone tops the wishlist. One third — specifically 32% — of those surveyed want an iPhone. (Some 12% want a Samsung Galaxy phone.)

Ho, ho, hold on a second. Is this a good idea? Should children “own” wireless gadgets?

If not, why not? And if so, which one?

Well, I’m going to tell you.

UE Boom Mini – Tiny Speakers, Huge Sound, Colorful Look [Review]

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Mini Boom

Ultimate Ears, owned by Logitech, makes my favorite portable speaker ever: the UE Boom. The cylindrical powerhouse of a speaker is rugged, stylish, and easy to use.

Mini Boom by Ultimate Ears
Category: Portable Bluetooth Speakers
Works With: iOS, Mac, Any sound source
Price: $99.99 per speaker

Imagine my utter joy when I received Ultimate Ears’ latest entry into the portable speaker market, the UE MiniBoom, and found them to be even tinier and equally rugged and easy to use. Oh, and they sound fantastic, too.

Use The Essential iKlip 2 Any Time You’re On Stage With An iPad [Review]

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Time to come clean: I play guitar and sing in a disco band. I know, I know, the backlash against that kind of music has been going on since 1977. Trust me, I know.

But the way people respond to this still-valid, we-use-real-instruments form of music is so much better than the way they used to when I played guitar in modern or classic rock bands. In those days, the most reaction I’d see in an audience was a foot tap, or maybe–if I was lucky–a head bob or two. Happy, gorgeous people dancing their butts off? So much more fun.

iKlip 2 by IK Multimedia
Category: iPad Cases & Accessories
Works With: iPad 2, 3, 4
Price: $39.99

Now, playing in a cover band requires knowing a lot of music, like the chords for the 50 plus songs that we play. As I also take on half the lead singing duties, so I’m required to know the lyrics as well. I don’t do this for a living; I do it for fun and some beer and gear money. I don’t have tons of time to memorize all those songs, let alone the new ones we learn every few months. So I use lyric sheets. I used to use them on paper, but boy is that annoyingly old school and easily lost.

Now I use my iPad (and an amazing app called GigBook) to organize and keep track of my lyric sheets. And I also use the incomparable iKlip 2 iPad holder to attach that iPad to the microphone stand right in front of me.

First Impressions: NeatConnect Is The Wireless Scanner You’ve Been Waiting For [Review]

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NeatConnect by Neat
Category: Scanners
Works With:Anything with Wi-Fi
Price: $500

I’ve been using Neat products for the past couple of years. I’ve got a NeatDesk for Mac and an active NeatCloud account. So when the folks at Neat reached out to me and asked if I’d be interested in putting the company’s latest piece of hardware – NeatConnect – through the paces, I jumped at the chance.

The Sony MDR-X10 Headphones: Absolutely The Best Bass Bang for Your Buck [Review]

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Anyone dismissing the Sony MDR-X10 headphones as simply yet another bombastic, over-the-top, celebrity-designed fashion statement for teenage bass junkies would be wrong. Easily forgiven, but wrong.

While most of those descriptive terms ring true — the big, lurid cans apparently received design input from none other than big, lurid entertainment personality Simon Cowell, and they’re definitely aimed toward the bass-obsessed — the X10s differ significantly from their brethren, and actually stand out prominently against an ocean of boom.

In other words, if you’re looking for bass-heavy headphones, this is your first stop; but even if you’re not, the X10s are so good they might win you over anyway.

MDR-X10 by Sony
Category: Headphones
Price: $200

Logitech’s UE Boom Is A Seriously Loud, Rugged Portable Bluetooth Speaker [Review]

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Where's the single malt?
Where's the single malt?

When I received the UE Boom in the mail and opened the mailing box, I thought maybe the PR rep had secretly slipped me a bottle of Scotch. Not that I would have minded, of course.

UE Boom by Ultimate Ears/Logitech
Category: Bluetooth Speaker
Works With: Any Bluetooth Audio Source
Price: $199.99

It turns out that this ruggedized little portable Bluetooth speaker by Logitech-owned Ultimate Ears (UE) comes in some slick packaging that I’m loathe to get rid of, it’s that cool. The cylindrical speaker fits snugly in the center portion of the box, and each side has a cute little compartment where the bright yellow power plug and flat premium micro USB cable fit in, each with its respective symbol printed on a little flag. It’s striking packaging, which should go over well with consumers.

Luckily, the actual speaker here, a smallish cylinder made to be set on end vertically as well as on its side horizontally, is a fantastic sounding Bluetooth speaker, with a full, clear tonal spectrum that’s surprising in something so small. The bass response could be a bit punchier, but I don’t find that to be an issue at all, and actually prefer the more balanced tonal approach.

Altec Lansing Ships Verizon-Only ‘The Jacket’ Bluetooth Speaker

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You can’t get Altec Lansing’s new The Jacket iMW455 Bluetooth speaker/speakerphone from anyone other than Verizon, which explains the red and black skins the Jacket comes with.

Don’t like red or black? No problem — because, like a moulting lobster, The Jacket’s special trick is its ability to swap skins. The speaker comes with the two free skins, with more colors available for a price — though we’re not yet sure which colors or how much.

The iKlip Stand Sets The iPad in Front of Your Face No Matter What

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As apparent through the company’s tagline “musicians first,” IK Multimedia generally makes stuff for musicians; but their new iKlip iPad stand should also fit a ton of scenarios that have absolutely nothing to do with music.

The stand combines a wide-stance, stable, metal-reinforced base with a tall neck that ends in a frame that an iPad slides into. There are two adjustable points, both of which lock: an elbow in the middle of the neck, and a ball pivot where the neck meets the iPad frame.

Anker’s New Astro 3 Battery Can Fully Charge an iPad for Just Fifty Bucks

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That’s right, $50 nabs you the Anker Astro 3, an external battery with three USB ports and 12,000 mAh, which is — in theory — enough juice to completely charge any iPad.

Why the in theory disclaimer? Because although the Astro 3’s 12,000 mAh capacity exceeds the 11,560 mAh capacity of the battery in the two latest iPads (the iPad 2’s battery is about half that of its successors), there’s always some energy loss when transferring energy from one battery to another.

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AOC Unveils Its New Cafe-Ready Portable USB-Powered Display

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AOC didn't have an image with a MacBook. Pthhh.

 

AOC’s new USB-powered, 16-inch LCD display may be a godsend for travelers who occasionally need a little extra MacBook screen real estate.

The AOC screen plugs into a USB 3 port (and only a USB 3 port), and just like any other external monitor can either mirror or augment a MacBook’s screen. The screen’s resolution is 1366×768, which covers an area of 15.6 inches — not quite the resolution of the standard 15″ MBP’s screen, but not that far off.

Tile Raises $2.6M, Surpasses Lockitron As Most Successful Selfstarter Campaign

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We were impressed enough with Tile’s unique take on the Bluetooth-enabled tracking device to realize that its little gizmo was going to take off like a Saturn V rocket.

Indeed, Tile has now become the most successful Selfstarter campaign by blowing past Lockitron, who created the open-source crowdfunding alternative after their smartphone-connected door lock was rejected by Kickstarter.