David Snow - page 59

xMEMS Labs is bringing what it calls breakthrough technology to the wireless earbuds market late next year after a CES 2024 debut — the Cypress ultrasonic speaker. It turns ultrasonic waves we normally can’t even hear into full-frequency, hi-res audio with remarkable detail, the California-based semiconductor company said Tuesday.

The solid-state microspeaker, which will find its way into various companies’ earbuds and headphones — hello, AirPods? — generates low-frequency sound pressure for a full bass response, according to xMEMS Labs.

That makes the ultrasonic speaker a true replacement for legacy speaker technology that has only been refined, not replaced, since your great-grandparents rocked the Victrola.

A New York City-based magazine editor showed off a beautiful computer setup that serves up twice the fun because it boasts two of everything. Well, not everything.

But it doubles up on a lot of the main gear — two M3 MacBooks Pro, two Studio Displays, two sets of Philips Hue smart lights, a pair of Yamaha speakers on stands and, believe it or not, two Magic Trackpads and a Magic Mouse.

Read more about the setup’s whys and wherefores below, and check out that gear list of links at the bottom of the article.

Alternative-history space-race drama series For All Mankind returned to Apple TV+ Friday with a season 4 opener that handled two tough jobs pretty well — painfully looking back at past tragedies and peering ahead with trepidation to probable new ones. After all, space is dangerous and so are people.

In an episode called “Glasnost,” set 8 years after the end of season 3, For All Mankind sets its sites on asteroid wealth and a joint mission led by the United States and Russia to get it. And it doesn’t take long for people to start dying up there.

If you love the synth sounds of the ’80s, we have something for you. AudioKit Pro launched a brand-new hybrid synthesizer app for iPhone and iPad Wednesday for those who love the sounds of the 1980s, ’90s and early 2000s.

And while the developer said the synth app usually costs $19.99, right now you can get it for $3.99. And by the way, it’s currently rated #1 in Music on the App Store.

If you take a lot of calls via Microsoft Teams, Google Meet or Zoom — and if you like to save big on gear — new discounts on the Microsoft Audio Dock might be hard to pass up. You can get up to 86% off the normal $250 price.

Both Amazon and its bargain site Woot! offer deep cuts on the price. The lower price is just $35.

If you use an M1 Max MacBook Pro bristling with 64GB of unified memory to drive two of Apple’s top Pro Displays XDR as well as off-the-charts audio gear in a Mission Control-looking workstation, can your computer setup accurately be described as “cozy?” That’s what today’s featured setup user said, improbably.

And while the user’s MacBook is still formidable despite Apple moving on to M3 chips, it’s not necessarily the workstation’s star. It almost pales in comparison to the AV components, including two of Apple’s $5,000-plus displays, incredible headphones and mounted KEF speakers that bring massive audio.

After months of cryptic hints and teasing demos, startup Humane finally put its supposedly iPhone-killing Ai Pin on sale Thursday for $700, plus subscription costs.

You pin it to your clothes and interact with it through voice, touch control, gestures, and laser projections on your hand. However, despite its ambitious goals, the reality of AI pins has been met with skepticism due to performance issues and limitations.

The question is, will this thing really kill the iPhone? To those who don’t like talking to devices except when absolutely necessary, it must seem unlikely.

An iPhone photography exhibition called “I Remember You” debuts Friday in Paris — but here’s your chance to scope out some of the fantastic iPhone 15 Pro Max photos online.

The two-day exhibition at the Salon Corderie showcases work by five esteemed photographers, Apple said Thursday.

Not only did Apple announce next year’s Swift Student Challenge early to give coders more time to prepare — it put the word out Wednesday for the February 2024 competition — it also added a new “Distinguished Winners” category and a raft of new coding resources in “Everyone Can Code Projects.”

You may have your charging needs pretty well covered at the office, but what about in your car? Nomad launched three new items Wednesday it hopes can help you out on the road — Mount, Charge Mount and 70-watt Car Charger.

Any fan of old-school song-and-dance numbers has a lot to look forward to this Yuletide season, judging by the trailer Apple TV+ dropped Wednesday for its upcoming special, Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas.

The big, star-studded show debuts November 22, along with a companion album on all music streaming platforms, Apple said.

It might seem unlikely that a computer setup could take 2 years to build and idealize — until you see just how loaded and beautiful it is. Today’s M2 Pro Mac mini went through many iterations in the past couple of years, its user said, and now they’re finally happy with it.

And they should be. The setup rips through gaming and streaming tasks using an awesome lineup of gear. Read more below and check out that gear list.

Many people associate leather and stainless steel with watch bands for both analog and smart watches, but nylon seems to be on the rise for a lot of good reasons. Straps like the Carterjett Nylon Apple Watch Band offer lightweight comfort, flexibility and waterproof durability that looks good in a lot of situations.

And you can get the Carterjett Nylon Apple Watch Bands in 11 color choices from just $32.99 in the Cult of Mac Store.

When Elgato rolled out an affordable teleprompter recently for video streamers, it included a USB-C cable. No big deal, right? Well, this one got people’s attention.

Apple is developing greatly improved batteries for its future devices, according to a new report. It appears the iPhone-maker wants to create a custom process in-house and own it — rather than outsourcing — just like it did with Apple silicon chips.

Apple TV+ is cranking up the action in espionage-thriller series Slow Horses, if the season 3 trailer it dropped Tuesday is any indication.

Dissipated Cold War-era spy Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman) sees his Slough House crew of remedial MI5 agents come under major attack, and one of them is kidnapped by an elite military unit. Is it an inside job? Per previous seasons, the Slow Horses tend to get in trouble with their more-accomplished MI5 colleagues.

Nice-guy dad. Loving wife. Eye-rolling teens. Cute and happy baby. The trailer Apple TV+ dropped Monday for action-comedy film The Family Plan really has it all — including tons and tons of killing.

Mark Wahlberg stars as assassin-turned-straight-arrow husband and dad whose past rushes back in a hail of bullets, even as he still tries to hide everything from wife Michelle Monaghan and the kids. The movie premieres December 15 on Apple TV+.

Apple said Monday it updated its Logic Pro music software to help spark users’ creativity and let them produce pro-level tracks.

New features for Mac include Mastering Assistant, 32-bit recording, Sample Alchemy and Beat Breaker. And Quick Sampler Recorder adds to the slate of iPad features.

To paraphrase many of the M3 MacBook Pro reviews coming out Monday, Apple’s new lineup is like new car models that look like the old ones but have much better engines under the hood.

Other than the inclusion of blazing-fast M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max chips, reviewers made note of the new Space Black color for the M3 Pro and M3 Max MacBooks. And some poked a little fun at Apple for even having a MacBook Pro with an option for only 8GB of RAM (the 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro model).

If you’ve got an old or damaged iMac lying around, why not make use of it? You can find plenty of guidance online to help you turn that dead weight into a version of Apple’s classic Cinema Display and use it with other Macs.

The owner of today’s setup talked about doing just that, plus using open-source software to make his old Macs run recent macOS versions.

If you’re fan of alternative-history drama series For All Mankind — in which the space race never ended — Apple TV+ has a treat for you. It’s 15 minutes of fake news clips showing you relevant (fictional) events between season 3 and season 4.

Consider it a teaser that gets you ready for the next 10 episodes, debuting November 10.

Apple previewed its 56th retail location in China Thursday, saying Apple MixC Wenzhou will open to customers on Saturday as the company’s first in that city of more than 9 million people, and its fourth in Zhejiang province.

The iPhone giant also emphasized the new store’s accessibility and sustainable design incorporating plan-based materials.

In Cult of Mac‘s Setups coverage, we often come across users wondering on social media about how to easily switch between personal and work computers using the same display, keyboard and other peripherals. A solid solution is a KVM switch, and StarTech rolled out five new ones recently.

The devices’ compact designs could suit home setups — especially elaborate ones that folks are proud enough of to flaunt online.

Apple replaced leather in its accessories with a twill fabric it calls FineWoven, but for those who still want classic leather, Nomad just rolled out new leather folios for iPad.

They’re similar to Apple’s Smart Folio cases, but with animal skin.

With computer setups we often talk about placing gear properly for healthy, ergonomically correct usage to avoid problems like neck pain. But some folks viewing today’s featured MacBook Pro workstation said they suffered neck pain just looking at the photo.

That’s because the setup’s dual Studio Displays sit on a mount that spreads them out, leaving a big gap in the middle unless the displays are pulled far forward toward the user.