Lewis Wallace is the managing editor of Cult of Mac and author of our weekly newsletter, The Weekender.
He's a San Francisco-based writer and editor specializing in technology and culture. He loves his iPhone, hates Siri, and appreciates any hardware that combines form and function.
Prior to Cult of Mac, he juggled words and ideas as culture editor at Wired.com, homepage editor at TechTV, news product manager at NBCi, copy editor at PC World, reporter at The (Hayward) Daily Review and editor in chief of EveryBody's News in Cincinnati.
He earned a bachelor of general studies degree with a journalism certificate from the University of Cincinnati. While in school, he worked as the entertainment editor of The News Record and as editor in chief of Clifton Magazine.
Winning a black AmpliFi HD Mesh Router on Star Wars Day is easier than a trench run. Photo: Ubiquiti Networks
If the Death Star had Wi-Fi, it would run on something as powerful (and ominous-looking!) as this limited-edition black AmpliFi HD Mesh Router from Ubiquiti Networks.
Assuming you’re ready to surf like a stormtrooper, you’re in luck. Cult of Mac and Ubiquiti are giving away three of these amazing mesh routers in honor of Star Wars Day. How can you win? Glad you asked, buckethead!
Belkin used Kevlar to make the new DuraTek USB-C cable practically bulletproof. Image: Belkin
Tired of fraying and failing cables? Belkin just launched the Mixit DuraTek USB-C cable, a brawny cord built with Kevlar and a special strain-reducing design that should put an end to premature cable death.
Measuring 4 feet long with USB-C connections on each end, the new DuraTek cable sounds perfect for the latest MacBooks and MacBook Pros.
The UE Wonderboom is totally ready to party. Photo: Ultimate Ears
The world’s most lovable little Bluetooth speaker just got some cute competition. It’s a case of sibling rivalry, too: The new Wonderboom from Ultimate Ears splashes onto the scene next month just in time to challenge its “big” brother, the UE Roll 2, for the title of ultimate summer speaker.
While the UE Roll looks like a flying saucer, the Wonderboom more closely resembles a hedge apple. About the size of a softball, it will make you want to pick it up and toss it around. In fact, it’s hard to keep your hands off the cute little bugger.
Ugreen's magnetic charging station for the Apple Watch. Photo: Lyle Kahney/Cult of Mac
Let’s get the obvious out of the way first: When it’s standing there all by itself, the Ugreen Apple Watch Charger Stand looks like a giant joystick. For me, it triggered an instant flashback to the ’80s and the golden years of gaming.
That nostalgic blast wasn’t necessarily a positive, though: I didn’t find the Ugreen Apple Watch charger’s design instantly appealing. In fact, it was almost game over before I even gave it a try. I’m glad I did, because it’s ultimately a handy little charging hub.
A document in WikiLeaks' massive Vault 7 release holds a key to deciphering CIA jargon. Image: WikiLeaks
A secret document buried in WikiLeaks’ “Vault 7” data dump serves as a sort of Rosetta Stone for the CIA’s extensive hacking operations targeting iOS devices and other consumer electronics.
You really shouldn't be holding your smartphone while you're driving. The Belkin Car Vent Mount is here to help. Photo: Lyle Kahney/Cult of Mac
You’ve got your car. You’ve got your iPhone. You want to use your iPhone in your car, but driving with a smartphone in your hand is supposedly dangerous — and can get pretty pricey if you get caught doing it in California and other states that mandate hands-free driving.
The Belkin Car Vent Mount is a low-cost, low-profile way to keep your phone within reach (and you on the right side of the law, depending on where you drive).
Devote 10 minutes a day to the CultFIt Home Workout, and you'll be in shape in no time. Image: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac
You don’t need a pricey gym membership to get in shape. With the CultFit Home Workout routine, you’ll use simple exercises, common household items and your iPhone (and Apple Watch if you’ve got one) to build muscle and increase flexibility.
It’s free, it’s easy and it takes only about 10 minutes a day. So what are you waiting for? Get started with the complete CultFit Home Workout using the four lessons below.
Tim Cook is living the Jetsons lifestyle — minus the jetpack and flying car — thanks to Siri and the growing number of HomeKit devices on the market.
The Apple CEO offered a rare glimpse into his private life Tuesday during Apple’s quarterly financial report, painting a picture of techno-utopian comfort and ease. It was Cook’s most personal world-beating earnings call ever, and it sent a message: Apple is serious about home automation.
This is not your typical ugly router. Photo: Lyle Kahney/Cult of Mac
For years, “the last mile” earned the title of broadband’s biggest boogeyman. Now that most of us benefit from having a fairly fat pipe to our houses, it’s more like the last 10 feet — Wi-Fi dead spots can drive you crazy.
The AmpliFi HD System, one of a new pack of mesh systems that pave the way to our trouble-free Wi-Fi future, solves the problem. With a charming little router and a couple of mesh points, AmpliFi HD makes it possible to get a strong Wi-Fi signal to your basement, your attic or that awkward back bedroom where you can never stream anything. It also eliminates the sort of nerdy pain points typically associated with setting up and managing a home Wi-Fi network.
How will Apple fare in the Trump era? Image: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac. Original photo: Michael Vadon/Flickr CC
In case you hadn’t noticed, the United States has a new leader — and President Donald Trump has a bone to pick with Apple. Several, actually.
Will Trump’s “America first” stance and pro-business policies help Apple or give Tim Cook a series of premium headaches? Cult of Mac editors Leander Kahney and Lewis Wallace come out swinging in this week’s edition of “Friday Night Fights.”
Nuheara IQbuds work like regular wireless earbuds, but add "augmented hearing" to the mix so you can focus on a conversation. Photo: Lewis Wallace/Cult of Mac
SAN FRANCISCO — Apple packed some amazing tech into its weird-looking AirPods. But to Nuheara co-founder David Cannington, Apple’s white-hot wireless earphones are just “dumb wireless.”
Sure, AirPods let you listen to music, take phone calls and tap into Siri, but they represent a missed opportunity because they don’t solve a crucial problem faced by many people in the modern world: hearing what’s going on around them.
As you might have guessed, Cannington’s company tackled this problem with a new product that launched at CES this week. Nuheara’s IQbuds are smart, truly wireless earbuds that do more than just make calls and deliver high-fidelity audio to your ears. They make it possible to carry on conversations in noisy environments like restaurants, bars and even massive Las Vegas trade shows.
2016 wasn't all missed deadlines and mysterious battery problems for Apple. Image: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Apple pissed off a lot of people in 2016. In hindsight, some of Cupertino’s moves look clumsy, and others seem truly clueless, but Tim Cook and Co. also made some brilliant moves during this turbulent year.
Let’s go to our happy place and relive the smartest moves made by Apple in 2016.
The MacBook Pro's battery life problems drag the laptop down. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Consumer Reports just unloaded a mighty smackdown on the new MacBook Pro lineup, citing “highly inconsistent” battery life as the reason the latest Apple laptops failed to earn a coveted recommendation.
It’s the first time the well-regarded reviews organization flunked an Apple laptop. And the test results should give serious pause to anybody who is considering buying a new MacBook Pro.
We got a glimpse of Pokémon GO for the Apple Watch during the iPhone 7 event. Photo: Apple
Pokémon GO is finally ready for Apple Watch. The iOS game, one of 2016’s biggest breakout hits, got an update today that includes the long-awaited Apple Watch app.
According to the game’s maker, Pokémon GO is a perfect match for Apple’s wearable.
The DART-C is a USB-C travel charger that's as thin and light as the new MacBook Pro. Photo: FINsix
Apple’s “thin and light” approach for its latest laptops totally breaks down when it comes to charging, due to the sizable power adapter that ships with the computers. Luckily, a tiny new USB-C charger will let you leave Apple’s ungainly charging brick at home.
The AirMode Bluetooth headphone adapter lets you cut the cord on your wired headphones. Photo: Audio Nation
If you’ve got high-end wired headphones and want to make them wireless, AirMode might do the trick. The short cable comes with standard audio connectors on either end that replace the detachable cords found on many headphones.
Packed with features and reasonably priced, AirMode could be the perfect Bluetooth dongle for retrofitting your gear for Apple’s wireless future.
With a sharp screen, a fast processor and 4GB of RAM, the new LeEco Le Pro3 is a bold shot across the bow of Apple and other premium smartphone makers.
While the hardware nudges the phone toward the high end of the spectrum, the rock-bottom pricing should send shivers through Cupertino. At just $399 — or $299 if you get in on LeEco’s generous instant rebate, which starts today — the Le Pro3 is a steal when compared to the iPhone 7 Plus.
The Valet Charger solves a first-world problem: Keeping your Apple Watch elegantly charged on the go. Photo: Belkin
If you’re traveling with your Apple Watch and desperately want to eliminate a cable from your bag, Belkin’s new Valet Charger power pack could do the trick.
With its built-in round magnetic charging module, this 6,700mAh battery pack lets you jettison the single-use cable that comes with every Apple Watch.
You wanted the best, you got the best. The hottest laptop in the world ... MacBook Pro! Photo: Apple
Anybody watching Apple’s “Hello Again” event probably suspected we’d get “one more thing” in addition to the long-rumored Touch Bar and the recently leaked TV app. Or maybe a couple more things.
Underwhelming! And cruelly disappointing to all the Apple faithful hoping against hope for new hardware. Here are all the other things we wanted — but got so viciously denied — during Apple’s MacBook Pro event today.
Jaybird's X3 wireless earbuds sing like two birdies in your ears. Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac
SAN FRANCISCO — Rene Oehlerking is positively stoked that Apple killed the headphone jack on the iPhone 7.
That’s because, as chief marketing officer of Jaybird, he’s been touting the winning combo of killer audio and wireless freedom for years. With its controversial move, Apple made Bluetooth headphones the new normal virtually overnight.
“We’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time,” Oehlerking said during a demo of his company’s latest headphones, the Jaybird X3. “It puts pressure on everyone to just buck up.”
PowerHouse Charge Dock for Apple Watch and iPhone includes a built-in Magnetic Charging Module for Apple Watch.
Photo: Lyle Kahney/Cult of Mac
If you’re an Apple Watch and iPhone owner, there’s a good chance you suffer from cluttered-nightstand syndrome. There’s only so much surface space on your standard bedside table, and plugging in multiple devices for overnight charging can mean a tangle of wires and general disarray.
The Belkin PowerHouse charging dock, which juices up an iPhone and an Apple Watch at the same time, will cure you instantly of this 21st-century malady.
Another Chinese tech company, LeEco, shows off its autonomous electric concept car in San Francisco. Photo: Lewis Wallace/Cult of Mac
SAN FRANCISCO — Apple does things one way. LeEco chooses a radically different path — in fact, you might call it the Anti-Apple.
What, you’ve never heard of LeEco, the Chinese company with the French-sounding name that’s gunning for American millenials?
After a big, splashy press conference on Wednesday that unveiled a raft of Android-based products, you’re about to hear a lot about LeEco, which calls itself “the best-kept secret in tech.” And if you’re working for Cupertino, you might be getting a little bit anxious as LeEco storms into the U.S. market.
They say we’ve all got a book in us. And while not all of us will write that whole book, the internet makes it exceedingly simple for anybody with something to say to self-publish. Start a blog and you can say as much or as little as you like, at whatever pace suits you.
Blogging obviously isn’t new, but it hasn’t gone away either. And the tools for creating your own platform of online expression have never been easier to get hold of and use.
Under CEO Sundar Pichai, Google is betting big on AI. Photo: Google
After decades of showing us the best ways to interact with computers, Apple is lagging on the UI of the future — voice controls powered by smart, conversational AI.
Google, on the other hand, is placing artificial intelligence, in the form of Google Assistant, at the center of its new Pixel smartphones and Google Home smart speaker.
Cupertino’s mastery of the user interface is legendary: Macs, iPods and iPhones made the GUI, the mouse, the scroll wheel and multitouch mainstream. But Apple needs to get into the AI conversation if it’s serious about securing a place in our gabby future.
Ultimate Ears' new PartyUp mode is capable of seamlessly linking "more than 50" of the company's brightly colored Bluetooth speakers. Photo: Ultimate Ears
A free software update for Ultimate Ears’ popular Boom and Megaboom speakers lets you connect dozens of the Bluetooth devices to create a massive wall of sound.
The over-the-air update, coming today to the “life-proof” speaker line, enables a new feature called PartyUp that can connect “more than 50” of UE’s popular tube-shaped speakers. “More than 50” is the party line, but UE product manager Jim Saraco said his team connected 130 of the speakers at the company’s HQ.
“In reality, we’re still trying to find a cap,” Saraco told Cult of Mac.