People love to put the finishing touches on their computer setups. Some love it so much they just keep doing it. Given the temptations of new gear always coming out and the never-ending allure of the glittering gadgets other people put in their fabulous setups, is the work ever really done?
Nope. For many people, setups are never really finished. People think they’re finished, like the owner of today’s featured MacBook Pro setup. But they usually aren’t.
Concerned about home security? Smart home accessories specialist Aqara just rolled out a more robust HomeKit Secure Video camera. The Aqara G2H Pro adds several important features that the G2H lacks.
If you have a Level HomeKit-enabled smart lock, now you can add a nifty new Level Keypad. It’s an especially convenient way to let others — family, friends, neighbors, the dog walker — have access to your home. And you can control when they can use it.
In a crowded Bluetooth speaker market a few months ago, Apple and its subsidiary Beats by Dre discontinued the Beats Pill+ portable speaker. They gave no word of a replacement. But now, suddenly, it arises from the dead for what appears to be one last encore. And it’s all dressed up in skulls.
The limited-edition speaker crawls from the grave on Friday at the clothing brand Stüssy’s website. But it’s a limited-time offer.
Not all “before and after” posts showcasing computer setups on social media are created equal. Sometimes the description and commentary leave out too much information. Sometimes the photographs are inconclusive. And sometimes the improvements just don’t have much “wow” factor.
Today’s featured setup splits the difference. The “before” photo, below, doesn’t offer much to go on. But the “after” photo, above, shows a well-planned setup with a place for everything and everything in its place. And the gear list, below, supports that.
It might not get a “wow” out of you, but it could be instructional.
Apple TV+ released its first trailer for Slow Horses, its darkly comic espionage thriller series starring Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas. And judging by the 2+ minute preview, the show looks like it will be both hilarious and thrilling — a rare feat — as it depicts the fates of “screw-up” MI5 agents sent to “Slough House.”
“Bringing you up to speed’s like trying to explain Norway to a dog,” section chief Jackson Lamb (Oldman) says to a group of his hapless charges at one point. The scene is intercut with the Scott Thomas character explaining, with characteristic elegance and wit, that no agent has ever returned from Slough House to respectable duty.
If you want a great-sounding portable speaker but don’t care about voice-activated control, Sonos just came out with the Sonos Roam SL. It’s like the highly regarded Sonos Roam smart speaker released last year, but it leaves out the far-field microphone and costs $20 less.
Going mic-less means you don’t get to use voice-activated assistants with the speaker. And you lose a couple of other mic-related functions, too.
In the market for a smart door lock that works with Apple’s HomeKit automation system as well as Home Keys you can keep in the Wallet app? Look no further than the new Aqara Smart Door Lock A100 Zigbee.
It features support for leading home automation protocols and advanced authentication tech, the company said Monday. Trouble is, you can only get it in Malaysia and Singapore so far, with other countries coming soon.
But U.S. availability? As yet unknown.
Fresh off its rollout of a smartphone that can charge wirelessly at 100W, Honor said at MWC 2022 it will offer new earbuds that monitor temperature. The new buds look like AirPods Pro. And temperature sensing is a function Apple has reportedly tested in AirPods.
The former Huawei subsidiary, based in China, said its new $199 Earbuds 3 Pro combine a temperature sensor with an AI temperature algorithm. It has an 80% chance of coming within plus or minus 0.3 degrees Celsius of an accurate reading, the company said.
Feel the need for more external screens to go with your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro? On Tuesday Hyper rolled out its new HyperDrive 4K Multi-Display Docking Station. It’ll help you connect up to three 4K displays with a 60Hz refresh rate.
And what’s more, the dock works with every MacBook made since 2016, Hyper said.
With the right charger, your iPhone 12 or 13 can top up pretty fast. But can it charge to 50% capacity in 15 minutes, wirelessly? Nope. But that’s what former Huawei sub-brand Honor promised Monday at MWC 2022 with its latest flagship handset, the Honor Magic 4 Pro.
Fast charging with iPhone runs about half the speed Honor claims. And though we doubt many folks would ditch their iPhones for the Honor Magic Pro 4, who knows if they’ll be able to get one, anyway. The company hasn’t specified a release date or where the phones will sell.
Is it reasonable to call a computer setup “budget-friendly” if it includes a new 16-inch M1 MacBook Pro? Well, is there such a thing as an Lamborghini economy car? How about a thrift-store Faberge egg? Or maybe a bargain-basement super yacht?
OK, we exaggerate slightly. You don’t have to be a billionaire to afford a nice Mac. But it helps.
Today’s featured setup makes a go of getting some “budget-friendly” cred despite its high-powered centerpiece — with mixed results.
Whether you’re looking to redesign your space with a fresh look or you just want to block out more light on a sunny morning, Lutron’s updates to its smart shades and blinds might help do the trick.
Lutron rolled out its HomeKit-enabled Serena Smart Architectural Honeycomb Shades on Monday with more than 40 fabric choices and some new refinements to block more light.
In the 28th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards held Sunday night, Apple TV+ won two awards apiece for its sports comedy hit series Ted Lasso and its popular and groundbreaking film CODA.
Just in time for the weekend, you can download and play a new farming simulator and adventure game called Sunrise Village. Indie developer InnoGames released it Friday for iOS and Android devices.
Tumblr founder David Karp has said he never wanted advertisements on his social network and microblogging platform, Tumblr. But they came in after a sale of the company in 2013. A lot of people find them tacky and annoying.
Fortunately for those who hate the ads, Tumblr said Thursday you can now pay to make ads go away.
Spoiler alert: For the seventh year in a row, Apple topped consumers’ lists as the most relevant brand to their everyday lives. Seems like the Cupertino tech giant can’t lose in this particular race.
You have to wonder who placed 293rd. That’s how many companies the annual survey evaluated, in 27 categories.
Have you ever seen two big ol’ Apple Cinema Displays mounted vertically, in portrait mode, bookending an iMac? We didn’t think so. Or at least, it seems like a rare sight. But today’s featured setup has that nuevo-retro styling going on, big-time, and folks took notice.
After all, secondary displays in portrait mode seems to be all the rage lately, but not so much back in the glory days of Cinema Displays. Or were they?
A world where Bluetooth rises above compression and delivers full-stream, hi-res, lossless audio remains in the future. But sound specialist Astell&Kern said it’s about the roll out the world’s first Bluetooth speaker with support for the rarefied LDAC and aptX HD codecs — which should at least allow for CD-quality wireless streaming.
The Acro BE100, Astell&Kern’s first Bluetooth speaker, goes on sale March 7, the company said. And it’s not just the codecs that make it special.
On the heels of a big Obscura 3 camera app refresh, another popular and powerful photo app sees major changes this week. This time, it’s the Halide MK II app for iPhone and iPad, from Lux Optics, which also makes the Spectre app for creating long exposures.
The Halide app’s important updates include the addition of batch actions — so you can finally work with multiple photos at the same time — and an improved “Image Rescue” function.
Apple previewed its “dramatic” new Al Maryah Island store in Abu Dhabi Thursday, showcasing design elements never seen before at Apple stores, as well as special programs.
The retail location opens Friday at 5 p.m. United Arab Emirates time.
Long one of the most popular professional camera apps for iOS, Obscura is relatively easy to use. It enables various manual-style controls for shooting photographs using your iPhone.
And with Obscura 3 – Pro Camera, released Thursday, developer Ben McCarthy redesigned the interface, added new capture modes and made other improvements. The last major upgrade to Obscura came four years ago.
In what will surely be welcome news for folks who like to use the company’s peripherals with their Macs, Logitech said it’s rolling out full native M1 support in the latest beta version of its Logi Options+ software.
If you use Logitech products, you may think of it as Logi Options. Logi Options+ replaces that software and features some enhancements in addition to the native support for Silicon Macs.
If you’re ready to start traveling the world again despite the ongoing pandemic, accessories maker Zendure thinks its new, 65W Passport III GaN travel adapter is just what you need. It said the charger works in 200 countries and can top off up to six devices at once.
Citing the success of the device’s crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, the company even suggested Tuesday that the travel industry may be on the mend.
Well, use your own judgment there. But the Passport III does indeed look like it might be a worthy addition to your charging arsenal.
You still rarely see a computer setup with a 3D printer in it. Today’s featured setup is an exception. You can see the printer against the wall on the left in the photo above.
Probably more workstations in the near future will have them. Why? Not only are they becoming more affordable, you can use them to make parts of the setup!