It’s been impossible to get the Lightning earbuds that come with the iPhone XS, XS Max or XR to work on the USB-C ports of the new MacBook and MacBook Pro. Luckily, Anker is out here doing God’s work and has finally come up with a solutions: another dongle.
Apple might be planning to make it even more difficult to use your old 3.5mm headphones if you buy a new iPhone this year.
New iPhones have included a Lightning port adapter for headphones ever since Apple removed the headphone jack on the iPhone 7. That free dongle is about to go away this year, according to one Apple analyst.
Apple killed its awesome MagSafe power connection feature on the new MacBook Pro, but based on a new patent filing, the beloved port could be ready to make a comeback.
USB-C replaced MagSafe on the MacBook Pro because it can handle both power and data on a single port. It lacks the brilliant safety features of MagSafe. Hwever, it looks like Apple found a workaround similar to Griffin’s magnetic BreakSafe cables.
Apple discounted a whole bunch of its USB-C accessories last November after fans complained about the new MacBook Pro’s reliance on dongles. If you haven’t already taken advantage of the savings, today is your last chance.
If you own an iPhone 7, you now know the pains of having to carry around a dongle. The thing about dongles is they’re terribly easy to use. So instead having to worry if you brought your adapter today, one clever Apple fans has made carrying a dongle as easy remembering where your keys are.
The iPhone 7 was expected to be the most snooze-worthy update Apple has ever come out with, but after busting out a couple of intriguing surprises, the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus look like the greatest smartphones ever made.
Fans will have to wait until September 16 to get their fingers all over the iPhone 7’s bright new display and sleek black exterior. For now, we’ll continue drooling over these seven new features that completely change the iPhone experience:
The headphone jack was killed at the hands of Apple today, but keeping your old 3.5mm earbuds alive won’t cost much.
The grand unveiling of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus is still weeks away, but this year you don’t need to wait for Tim Cook to take the stage to find out all the new features.
Months of leaks have already given us a sneak peek at a lot of the big changes coming to the iPhone. And contrary to early reports that this year’s device will be boring, there’s actually a whole lot to get excited about.
Here’s what to expect from the iPhone 7, based on Cult of Mac’s analysis of everything we’ve seen from reliable leakers and the Apple rumor mill.
The iPhone 7 may not include a 3.5mm headphone jack, but Apple’s going to make sure your old headphones aren’t immediately obsolete by including an adapter with the new device.
Prepare to lose another dongle.
Unlike Apple, Google likes to make its hardware compatible with all of your other gadgets — regardless of which platform they’re running. So you may have purchased a $35 Chromecast dongle to work with your iOS devices. If so, you’ll be interested in Google’s new Chromecast app, which lets you set up and manage your dongle from your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
The makers of Floome, a new breathalyzer dongle that clips into a smartphone’s headphone jack, say their gadget is more accurate than the Breathometer breathalyzer we featured in March, because Floome is equipped with a key ingredient missing from the former: a flowmeter.
Or rather, “have someone drive you home.”
After being vilified so much for contributing to dangerous roads (along with all other smartphones, of course), the iPhone will soon turn Samaritan, and maybe help to make the roads a little safer. That’s thanks to the new Breathometer, “the world’s first smartphone breathalyzer.”
It’s taken three years, but HeartMath has finally responded, in the form of a major redesign, to the concerns we (and probably other critics) voiced over their original emWave stress-management gadget.
Where the emWave required plugging in to a USB port and cost $300, their new Inner Balance system works with pretty much any 30-pin iDevice and sells for just $99.
We caught wind of the Mauz iPhone dongle from Spicebox last week during CES, and promised you a closer look; here it is. You’ll remember that the dongle connects to your Mac over wifi and lets you control it from your iPhone in three unusual ways: by flicking your iPhone, waving your hand over it or making a 3D-model on your Mac mimic the movements of your iPhone in real space.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – Earlier today we posted a snippet about the Mauz dongle, and how it can turn your iPhone into a remote that can control your desktop through gestures, through either waving your iPhone around, or waving your hand over it. Now the Israeli-designed device has hit Kickstarter, with a funding goal of $150,000.
Closing its fourth round of funding, the mobile credit card processing company just raised $200 million, making it worth a staggeringly large $3.25 billion. The company, built by Jack Dorsey of Twitter fame, allows anyone with an iPhone, iPad, or other compatible mobile device, to accept credit cards. Square is widely seen as the industry leader in the mobile payment-with-a-dongle space (I just made that term up), as evidenced by other dongles released shortly thereafter by the likes of PayPal and Intuit, among others.
In what may come as no surprise, the COO of Square, Keith Rabois, is on record at All Things D, saying that the transition from current registers and point of sale devices (like ATM card-swiping devices) to iPads or other tablets will happen within the next year and a half. Square’s partnership with Starbucks is only the first of the steps being taken actively by Square to make this a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Till January of this year, the Wahoo Key for iPhone ($80) dongle pwned fitness on the iPhone. Why? Because the tiny, ubiquitous dongle gives the iPhone access to dozens of ANT+ sensors, and more fitness apps than any other system — turning your iPhone into a fitness-tracking powerhouse.
Then in January, Wahoo one-upped itself and introduced the Wahoo Blue Bluetooth heart-rate strap, which completely bypasses ANT+ and instead communicates via low-energy Bluetooth v4.0. Does this mean the Key is obsolete? Not by a long shot.
Wahoo’s popular ANT+ Fisica dongle, which allows the iPhone to read signals from fitness gadgets like heart-rate monitors, pedometers and bike sensors, is probably most widely used fitness iPhone accessory since its release a little over a year ago. And today, Wahoo took the first step toward killing it.
Last week was just a little more sweet than bitter for Apple devotees who also happen to be fitness junkies. That’s because Abvio’s trio of fitness apps — Runmeter, Walkmeter and Cyclemeter (which we’ve raved about) — have been granted two big upgrades, namely iOS 5-style notifications, and something we’ve been waiting a long time for: the ability to gather data from ANT+ dongles like Wahoo’s Fisica.