A recurring theme across computer setups everywhere is the need for better cable management. It’s all about how well the careless, disheveled slob throwing together the gear — here we’re referring mainly to ourselves, not you — deals with the thorny mess of electrical cords and connectors that help make the workstation go.
Along with a photo of an extremely spare, or even bare, computer setup, Redditor Leftover_Waffle titled their recent post with the question, “Do you guys like minimalism?” Then they walked away and let the comments pour in.
Ikea has launched the Starvkind smart air purifier, which can stand alone or double as a side table. And it supports Apple’s HomeKit smart home system, with one small caveat. You must connect it through Ikea’s Tradfri gateway system.
Ikea and Sonos unveiled their latest collaboration recently — a Symfonisk Wi-Fi speaker embedded in a picture frame that blends into your home’s decor. But sorry, you won’t be slipping your oil painting of Steve Jobs in there. It’s not actually a picture frame.
The classic writer’s garret, a small room where a tortured scribe toils over lonely hours to put words on the page — using a quill or a fountain pen or maybe a Smith Corona typewriter — has been tastefully updated.
Now it’s all about a 12.9-inch iPad Pro locked hard into the Ulysses text editor to prevent any distractions. There’s also a highly customized mechanical keyboard and really nice noise-canceling headphones. At least that’s how Scottish novelist Matt Gemmell limits his gear in a minimalistic setup, he told Cult of Mac.
It helps him focus on writing. That, and sitting his ass down in the chair for hours a day. The chair is a Herman Miller Aeron, by the way. The spartan surroundings need not lack comfort, after all. It’s about limiting distractions.
Redditor UGenya806, who works in marketing for San Francisco-based DocuSign in Germany, takes appearances on Zoom calls seriously. After all, their job has always been remote and will remain so, even when others return to offices following the COVID-19 pandemic.
UGenya806’s setup centers on an M1 Mac mini tethered to dual Dell 24-inch 4K monitors and a CalDigit TS3 Thunderbolt 3 Dock. The mini is connected wirelessly to a Magic Keyboard and a Magic Trackpad.
A stand-mounted MacBook Air rounds out the mix, but is usually used separately as a standalone machine, not with the peripherals.
After working remotely as a digital marketer for a startup for more than a year, EU-based Redditor WMR2 decided it was time to upgrade the ol’ MacBook Pro-based work/podcasting/gaming setup. Enter new desk, chair and external display.
What, you were expecting a new computer? That’s not always necessary.
Apple is teaming up with Amazon, Google, and the Zigbee Alliance to create a new open and royalty-free standard for smart home devices.
Project “Connected Home over IP” aims to increase compatibility among smart home gadgets and make development easier for device manufacturers. It should also simplify smart technology for consumers.
This is the Livboj, an inexpensive but hard-to-find Qi charging pad from Ikea. Last week, I visited my local Ikea to stock up on frozen cinnamon buns. I got lost, and found a stack of these amazing devices instead.
Despite its dirt-cheap price tag of 5 euros ($5.50), the Livboj is pretty great. So far I’ve experienced none of the problems other people report from far-more-expensive Qi pads. You should snap up one of these elusive chargers — if you’re lucky enough to spot one next time you’re at Ikea.
The new Mac Pro sure looks a lot like a cheese grater, but it turns out that it’s pretty bad at grating cheese.
YouTuber machinist Winston Moy painstakingly re-created the complex circular structure of the new Mac Pro grille using his Shapeoko mill to put Jony Ive’s work to the test. The video of the entire process proves quite fascinating. However, the end result kind of disappoints.
Skip to the 5:30 mark to see it in action:
The cheese grater jokes will eventually die down, so Ikea’s Bulgaria stores this week quickly joined the fun of teasing Apple for its new Mac Pro.
The Ikea ads feature, of course, a four-sided metal grater against a white backdrop under the headline, “Designed for apples.” But the joke doesn’t stop there.
Owners of late-model iPhones (starting with iPhone 8) can stash all their old Lightning cables in a desk drawer and start charging their phone more easily with a wireless charger. Instead of sticking a wire into your phone and attaching it to a power adapter, you just place the phone on a small charger pad — or on a stand-up charging pad — and you’re good to go.
Now that Apple officially killed off its AirPower charging mat, it’s time to take the plunge and get yourself a third-party wireless charger. And if you’ve got one of those newfangled AirPods wireless charging cases, a charging pad is even more essential to your setup.
Here are our recommendations for best wireless chargers.
Too lazy to get up and close the drapes? Then you need Ikea’s new HomeKit-enabled blinds, Kadrilj and Fyrtur. These new powered blinds have already launched in Germany, and can be integrated with your home hub, your Alexa, or your Google Assistant.
Ikea, the Swedish-based “affordable” home furnishing company, is looking to expand its lineup of Trådfri smart home accessories to include an affordable smart switch. The report, which was first published on reddit and reported by Swedish tech site Teknikveckan, shows a pair of smart plug accessories that would allow your to control “dumb” devices with your smartphone or connected speaker.
Ikea’s new Eneby speaker may not pack the smarts of a HomePod or an Amazon Echo, but it’s great-looking and it’s pretty cheap. The new range of Ikea Bluetooth speakers starts at $49. If all you want is a nice, easy speaker for the living room, kitchen, or even the backyard, you should take a look.
Augmented reality is still waiting on its “killer app,” but a new demo from Toronto designer Adam Pickard shows off a use-case we could likely all get on board with: turning paper Ikea manuals into animated demonstrations.
For anyone who has ever looked, with growing bafflement, at the blueprints for assembling their coffee table or new chest of drawers, this proof-of-concept demo is enough to have you gratefully reaching for your iPhone.
If you have an iPad, you will probably need a stand at some point. Unlike the iPhone, which is almost always used in the hand, an iPad is equally good handheld, or on a desk. Thankfully, there are a zillion different kinds of stand and dock to fit almost any need. Today we’ll look at the best non-specialized stands. These are all-purpose docks and supports that don’t pack anything other than clever design, and maybe the odd charging plug.
Update: Apple added faster 7.5-watt wireless charging in iOS 11.2, which is currently in beta. We’ve updated this guide and placed compatible fast-charging pads at the top of the list.
Apple’s new iPhone lineup finally supports wireless charging. Both the iPhone X and the iPhone 8/8 Plus use the Qi standard that’s been popular for years. That means you can choose from an endless list of compatible charging pads, mats and stands already on the market.
So, which one(s) should you buy? We’ve rounded up some of the best iPhone wireless chargers to make your buying decision a little bit easier.
The first wave of ARKit-powered apps is crashing into the App Store this week to change the way you use your iPhone.
With iOS 11, Apple has turned the iPhone and iPad into the world’s biggest augmented reality platform and some of the first offerings from developers are pretty mindblowing. You’ll need an iPhone 6s or above to take advantage of ARKit’s incredible powers, but these apps might convince you it’s worth the upgrade.
Here are 7 ARKit apps you should download right now:
Ikea’s smart lighting range is now compatible with HomeKit. The company rolled out an update for its wireless hub today that adds the feature, as well as Google Home and Amazon Alexa integration.
Ikea has revealed a few new details about its augmented reality collaboration with Apple that lets customers test out virtual pieces of furniture in their homes before they buy them.
Tim Cook recently discussed the app briefly in an interview in which he said that, We’ve talked to Ikea, and they have 3D images of their furniture line. You’re talking about changing the whole experience of how you shop for, in this case, furniture and other objects that you can place around the home.”
Good cable management is harder than it looks. I should know: Both my home office and my work office are a mess of wires, despite trying to sort things out numerous times.
Unlike my failed attempts, this week’s three iSetups submissions get it down to a fine art. iSetups is our new show that highlights the best Apple-centric setups submitted by our viewers. (You’ll also get plenty of tips and tricks for how you can improve your own setup.)
Here’s good news for anyone who has had to carry a heavy couch up or down several flights of stairs and/or through narrow doorways: You can now pre-order a sofa that will fit into easily portable boxes.
This is Campaign furniture, and the company’s head is Brad Sewell, a former supply base engineer for Apple who worked with the iPod and iPhone manufacturing design team and clearly picked up a few tips while he was there. And right away, the company is taking on the big names in affordable home furniture.
Four years ago, Apple debuted the iPad with the first of what would soon become a widely parodied style of video, in which Apple’s Senior Vice President of Design Jony Ive said of Apple’s first tablet: “It’s true that when something exceeds your ability to understand how it works, it sort of becomes magical, and that’s exactly what the iPad is. It’s hard to see how something so simple, so thin, and so light, could possibly be so capable.”
As Apple knew it would, the video made a huge impact on people… so big an impact that it soon became a well-worn format for parody. Now, even Swedish furniture retailer Ikea is getting in on the game with their latest ad, which uses all the same beats and breathless rapture of Jony Ive talking about the iPad, but to promote the 2015 Ikea catalog instead. Well done.
See Apple’s original iPad introduction video below.
When I first got my iPhone 5, I was desperate for a dock. As time has passed, and as the iPhone has picked up a few scratches and dents, I find I don’t really care anymore whether the phone is docked or not when it charges.
And I expect I’ll soon be saying the same about my new iPad mini. But that doesn’t mean I don’t need a place to prop it, especially when watching movies. Which is why I’m pretty impressed by Swedish Peter’s Ikea hack, which turns the Ribba picture ledge into a tablet stand.