If you’re going to hunker down in a corner of a room and work until you’ve earned an MBA, you might as well do it on an M1 MacBook Air and have a nice view of passing trains. Except both of those things might help you procrastinate.
If you’re tired of the meh charging speeds you’re currently getting for your iPhone and other gadgets, you might consider Nomad’s pair of new products. The company rolled out a new USB-C PD wall adapter with iPhone fast-charging support and a collection of braided Sport Cables on Wednesday.
Social media site Reddit unveiled several new features Wednesday that let users immediately see how others are reacting to content in various ways. The changes should give users a better idea of what’s most popular — or unpopular — on the site. The company said they should increase engagement across Reddit.
Nothing released its first Ear 1 earbuds in late summer 2021 with a partially transparent design, a cool transparent case, good sound quality, active noise cancellation (ANC) and wireless charging. Now the company’s rolling out the new Ear 1 “Black Edition,” which retains the interesting design and tech elements in a cool new look.
And Nothing, created by OnePlus founder Carl Pei, added the product is now carbon neutral and you can buy the product — still $99 — with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. So there’s that.
Not long ago we wrote about a person who fashioned an ergonomically healthy computer setup with little more than an M1 Pro MacBook. At the time, their fancy new display was still to-be-delivered, so they made-do without it. Now all the screens are in place and they make a magnificent workstation, with the MacBook running with one landscape-mode display and two portrait-mode monitors. It took some special connectivity tricks to make it happen.
Beats released a new version of its Beats Studio Buds on Tuesday in a joint effort with the trendy mens fashion store Union. The limited-edition wireless earbuds commemorate Union’s 30th anniversary. You can snap them up at the store’s Los Angeles and Tokyo locations and, as of Wednesday, online.
This post on fast chargers is presented by Kovol.
This holiday season, consider giving the gift of power. Accessories-maker Kovol offers two compact yet powerful USB-C chargers that might make the perfect gift for some tech-savvy person in your life. The 120W and 65W Kovol Sprint chargers, which employ the latest gallium nitride (GaN) technology, are perfect for quickly powering up MacBooks, iPads, iPhones and other devices. And right now, you can get deep discounts on these exceptional chargers.
The Gotham Independent Film Awards handed Apple TV+ film CODA two wins on Monday. Stars Emilia Jones and Troy Kotsur each took home a trophy for their roles in the movie, the story of a child of deaf adults (CODA) who must choose between family obligations and her dream of being a singer.
The stars received their awards in person November 29 at the 31st annual Gotham Independent Film Awards in Manhattan. In its film category, the Gotham Awards feature several categories recognizing feature-length American movies made for less than $35 million. Apple spent $25 million to get the streaming rights for CODA, a Sundance film.
Ever wonder what to do if you damage your laptop’s screen? If you have no insurance or warranty coverage, is it simply time to lay that laptop to rest? No. Not necessarily. The rest of that laptop’s body can be reanimated like the creature from Frankenstein — only more productive, as you would expect from a Mac whose time has not yet come. Call it a “SlaBook” or maybe “MacStein.”
Your winter festivities just got a little brighter if you’re looking for smart holiday lights to use with HomeKit. Thanks to a firmware update, Twinkly smart holiday lights have gained HomeKit support, allowing control with Apple’s smart-home system for the first time.
Twinkly’s new update — firmware version 2.8.3 — brings long-awaited HomeKit support to select models of smart holiday lights. The update is available through the Twinkly iOS app.
Bacioiu Constantin Ciprian, known online as “Zapa,” was born in Buzau, Romania, in 1991, not long after a revolution toppled communist rule there. He loved technology as a kid, but it was expensive and hard to get. And soon enough he realized how much he loved Apple products — especially those around in his youth.
Now a longtime resident of Bucharest, he designs and develops games to run on vintage equipment. And get a load of that retro setup!
This post on leather iPhone 13 cases is brought to you by Journey.
With the holidays looming, great gift ideas are in high demand. Luckily, we have one. You probably have someone in your life who could use a premium leather iPhone 13 case that’s also MagSafe-compatible. Or maybe you could use one yourself. Either way, look no further than Journey’s iPhone Leather Case, offered at 30% off for Black Friday with the code BLACK30.
Apple noted on its website that a planned iOS 15 and watchOS 8 feature letting users add a driver’s license or state ID to an iPhone and Apple Watch in participating U.S. states is delayed until early 2022. Previously, the Cupertino tech giant pegged late 2021 for the launch.
In my recent review of Earfun’s Air Pro 2 wireless active noise cancellation (ANC) earbuds, I said they packed good enough features — sound quality, active noise cancellation, comfortable fit — to be worth their affordable price tag. With the new EarFun Free Pro 2 wireless ANC earbuds, that’s even more the case. Especially because the same high quality comes in an even smaller package.
An exceedingly rare wearable from 1988 called a “WristMac” is currently on auction at ComicConnect. Seiko and partner company Ex Machina made this ancestor of the smart watch, not Apple, but it could connect to a Macintosh and perform certain functions — and a version of it even did so on a Space Shuttle mission. It’s expected to fetch anywhere between $25,000 and $100,000.
We’ll have to see it if goes that high. Bidding started on Monday at $1. It stood Tuesday at $950 with 30 bids in. The auction runs through December 18.
Smart home equipment provider Aqara rolled out a new security camera that works as a Zigbee 3.0 home-automation hub while supporting HomeKit and HomeKit Secure Video. The new G3 camera features 2K resolution, the ability to pan and tilt, and facial and gesture recognition.
The new camera serves as an upgrade to Aquara Camera Hub G2H, adding 2K video recording and more.
Andrew, a customer service experience manager for an internet service provider in Minneapolis, shared his computer setup with Cult of Mac after a big revamp. He replaced a 27-inch 2017 iMac with a 14-inch 2021 M1 Pro MacBook, which he runs alongside his work laptop, a Lenovo ThinkPad T480S. He uses his Apple gear mostly for photo editing and music production.
“With work from home, I needed the ability to use the screen with both my personal computer and my work device,” Andrew told Cult of Mac (he requested we use only his first name). “I had been running Windows on the iMac via Boot Camp and using Miracast to wirelessly extend to the iMac screen from my ThinkPad. When it worked it was great, but it became unreliable over time, and I decided that a monitor with multiple inputs are the way to go.”
Andrew said the Miracast connection with the iMac became unreliable when he got a mesh network. It would sometimes work great, but often fail to connect, despite rigorous troubleshooting. So it was time to do a little shopping.
On Thursday, accessories maker Belkin introduced its new Boost Charge Pro Portable Fast Charger for Apple Watch, one of the first third-party releases to support the fast charging speeds of the Apple Watch 7.
You see a lot of people busting on each other for “flexing,” or bragging, about their computer setups shown in social media posts. We came across a doozy today with a dual-display setup bathed in a cool wash of color. But it’s not really about the double luxe displays; lots of people have that. It’s about the two expensive Mac Pros tucked under the desk.
Satechi rolled out a new 3-in-1 MagSafe-compatible charger on Thursday to help users power up their iPhones, AirPods and Apple Watches. The sleek black Satechi 3-in-1 Magnetic Wireless Charger features a hands-free, adjustable, MagSafe-compatible mount for your phone, plus solid steel-and-aluminum construction.
The new OWC miniStack STX hub stacks seamlessly with a Mac mini, adding storage capacity and a trio of Thunderbolt 4 ports. But it can be used to expand connectivity and add storage space to any Mac or iPad.
Accell launched its newest Thunderbolt 4 Docking Station on Wednesday. The company said the Intel-certified hub provides high speed data transfer, dual 4K or 8K external display capability and 96W of power delivery (PD) to quickly charge multiple peripherals.
If you want to be a helpful elf after the holidays — always ready to help charge up people’s devices and open their bottled beverages — you can be. Just carry the nifty little Vonmählen High Six 6-in-1 keychain charging cable in your pocket, with or without keys.
The review sample I received didn’t look flawless or work exactly as advertised, but the company said it will address some issues before it commences shipping the High Six in January 2022, as described below.
I wrote recently about the shameful squalor of my previous “setup” — basically a borrowed PC laptop perched on a pile of junk — and my effort to build something worthwhile around a gleaming new 14-inch M1 Pro MacBook. Well, like a lot of people in the throes of building a computer setup, I found that second-guessing haunted me into buying a whole lot of alternative gear.
You know, for testing purposes. Trial and error. Not because of my apparent shopping addiction. Or not much, anyway.
Apple hired Sam Jadallah in February 2019 to lead its smart home initiatives as head of the Home Services department. Last week, he posted word of his departure on LinkedIn.
Neither Jadallah nor Apple has given a reason for the departure. After two years and nine months on the job, Jadallah wrote:
That’s a wrap with Apple. I’m so grateful for the friendships that will endure and the opportunity to shape and create new capabilities for people and homes around the world. As a corporate exec, investor and entrepreneur, it was a treat to be an entrepreneur within Apple and to create products at scale.