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.
Memory and storage provider OWC rolled out its new Accelsior 8M2 PCIe solid state drive (SSD), calling it the “world’s fastest and highest capacity” storage system of its kind for your 2019 Mac Pro, or any Windows, Linux or PCIe expansion system.
Amazon introduced a native macOS app for its Amazon Prime Video service Monday, offering another option for Mac owners who previously relied on a browser to watch. They can get the app in the App Store.
The new Mac app provides access to all Amazon Prime streaming content. Prime Video subscribers can use the app to stream content or download content on Macs for offline viewing.
Tripp Lite, known for its power strips and surge protectors, released its new Thunderbolt 4 hub, the MTB4-Hub3-01. Capable of 8K video support, it can run two 4K displays in addition to other devices and power your computer.
We see a lot of dual- and multi-display workstations here at Setups Central, but we can’t recall seeing a “dual-display laptop” or a “laptop monitor stack.” Those are terms we made up for a second portable display mounted under a laptop’s screen and on top of its keyboard, as in today’s featured setup.
Lots of Apple fans know the company’s first product was the Apple-1 personal computer. Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs initially put the machines together in a garage in 1976. Now one unit in their early run of 200, known as the “Chaffey College Apple-1” because its first owner taught there, has sold at auction for $500,000.
Is your regular iPhone 12 or 13 case keeping you from enjoying Apple’s MagSafe technology? Anker now offers an inexpensive fix for your case — the Anker 310 Magnetic Ring — so you don’t have to buy a new, MagSafe-compatible one. The ring is $8, whereas a new case would probably cost you well over $20.
Smart home technology provider Zigma launched its Smart Aerio 300 Wi-Fi Air Purifier. The company said the device can analyze air in a home or office in three minutes and clean air in spaces up to 1,580 square feet in an hour.
Over the past several years, Keychron has gained justifiable fame for its affordable mechanical keyboards, which appeal to a variety of users. Now it plans to release its first mouse, the M1 (not to be confused with Apple’s world-beating Silicon chipset).
Keychron said its M1 mouse comes with the “strongest, most competitive grade” sensor chip available — as well as a raft of RGB light effects.
After a couple of years of promises, one of the first consumer smart thermostats to support remote temperature and humidity sensors, the Honeywell Home T9, finally features support for Apple HomeKit and Siri voice control.
Not long ago I sold, gave away or trashed most of my possessions and moved across the U.S. Soon after arrival, I found my computer unresponsive. The ol’ HP Pavilion laptop stopped powering on reliably. So I borrowed a perfectly good Dell laptop from my brother and kept on writing, mainly for Cult of Mac. I just happened to be “between Macs” at the time. But now I have a brand new 14-inch M1 Pro MacBook.
Thanks to the swanky new Apple laptop plus a few other bits and pieces I quickly acquired, as of today I no longer wallow in a PC laptop pigsty (yeah, the photo above is genuine, though I swear it wasn’t always quite that messy). I’ve got a proper Mac computer setup for the first time in a while.
Apple launched a new service aimed at small businesses Wednesday. Now in beta, Apple Business Essentials bundles device management, Apple support and iCloud storage into flexible subscription plans for companies with up to 500 employees.
Cupertino also unveiled an app for the service that enables employees to install apps for work and request support.
Apple’s entrance into comprehensive small business tech services by subscription could spell trouble for companies already in the space, such as Jamf and Hexnode.
Once you get an Apple Watch, you may be tempted to buy a charging dock for it. But folks on Reddit.com are happy to show off how they saved some money by constructing charging docks out of their beloved Lego building bricks.
All you need is the USB charging cable and puck that came with your Apple Watch and the imagination to make something that hides it while charging the wearable.
Coincidentally, our last Setups post concerned itself with proper ergonomics, and today’s sticks with the theme. On Friday we wrote about a person making a comfortable and productive workstation out of little more than a laptop. This time, someone has gone “ergo everything” on an M1 MacBook Pro rig with a big external monitor and a nice set of peripherals, furniture and accessories.
Popular audio gear maker Rode just launched the affordable AI-Micro, a compact, dual-channel interface for recording to a mobile device or computer. Using the small gadget, one or two mini microphones, headphones and a choice of apps, your iPhone, iPad or MacBook becomes a mobile audio recording studio.
If you sweat a lot when you work out — and if your Apple Watch bands barely stand up to the torrent — rejoice. Twelve South rolled out its new ActionBand Thursday. The company designed the soft, absorbent, wide band to keep up with the hardest workouts and resulting perspiration.
From time to time, as you work on making your computer setup all it can be, you order new equipment. And maybe it takes a long time to arrive. Perhaps “supply chain” issues intervene. And if that piece of equipment is your workstation’s visual centerpiece — the magnificent display, placed just so for graphical and ergonomic bliss — then what do you do, when you have no external monitor?
Do you hunch over your laptop until your neck and your back and everything else hurts? Not necessarily.
Game maker Zynga launched FarmVille 3 on iOS and Android Thursday. It’s the newest version in the strategy simulation game series, which first broke out as a hit on Facebook in 2009 with FarmVille and then expanded with mobile FarmVille 2 versions in 2016 and 2018.
German accessory designer Vonmählen is rolling out a 6-in-1 keychain pocket tool called the High Six – which it said is “the world’s most compact key chain charging cable.” In addition to its various adapters for your charging and data-transfer needs, it has a bottle opener. You know, for your refreshment needs.