★★★★☆
If you’re looking for newer, better charging options than the old adapters you have lying around the house, but without having to spend much, don’t sleep on Ugreen’s new Nexode Pro lineup of four gallium nitride (GaN) wall chargers.
Ugreen continues to go the way of GaN with these “GaNInfinity”-branded gadgets — more charging power in a smaller space with as many USB-C charging ports as possible (without leaving out USB-A ports entirely; there’s always one).
★★★★☆
Put a Prox PRD on your keychain or in your purse and you’ll always be alerted when start to leave without your iPhone.
It’s not an AirTag or a tracker, and doesn’t collect any info about you. The device simply makes sure you don’t walk off without your handset.
I’ve tested the Prox PRD for weeks. Here’s why I’m satisfied with it.
★★★★★
The SwitchEasy EasySelfie is a fantastically clever combination of three products — a selfie stick, a portable tripod and a camera remote — and it pulls off all three pretty well.
It’s cleverly designed and really well-made, and makes for a great mount for using Continuity Camera, among other things. If you’re looking for a portable and versatile way to mount your camera for all kinds of different things, the EasySelfie has you covered. Currently on sale with 20% off, making this $35.99 for a limited time.
The Monarch: Legacy of Monsters season finale reunites old friends and also gives us the kaiju fight people wanted all along.
Read our review/recap for Godzilla-size spoilers about episode ten, plus loads of speculation about the show’s second season.
★★★★☆
You can’t ask for much more than For All Mankind‘s season 4 finale “Perestroika” gives. It wraps up the season in heart-pounding and heartstring-tugging fashion Friday, bringing climax and resolution to the audience along with hope for the future of the space program — and maybe a season 5 of the show.
It’s a satisfying end to the conflict over Mars-based asteroid mining at the heart of the season. But the future development teased as the episode wraps up, which appears to beg a fifth season, could simply make a fitting end to the series (as we wait to see if Apple TV+ will renew it).
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters episode 9 has characters exploring a strange world and making a really surprising discovery.
Read our review/recap for Godzilla-size spoilers about the latest episode, plus speculation about the show’s season finale, coming next week.
★★★★☆
Roll out the mophie 3-in-1 Travel Charger with MagSafe and it’s ready to juice up your iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods. Just drop the devices on their appropriate wireless charging mat. And, to make it easier to take on the road, the accessory comes with a carrying case.
I used the original 2022 model, and mophie introduced a new version in late 2023. I retested the multidevice travel charger to see how quickly it wirelessly powers up a variety of Apple products and how easy it is to carry around. Here are my updated results.
★★★★☆
Season 4 of For All Mankind entered its tense final phase Friday, with action heating up on Mars and on Earth ahead of climactic episode 10. Episode 9, “Brazil,” is all about setting up that endgame (and it really could be the End, as we await Apple TV+ news of season 5 renewal … or not).
But two characters won’t live to see that endgame. And many more lives are at risk as forces on Earth seek to control the fight in space over the Goldilocks asteroid’s vast mineral wealth — and maybe even the future of space exploration.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters episode 8 reveals why Lee Shaw is traveling around the world blowing stuff up, and also hits us with a big surprise. Then it drops some central characters down a huge hole.
Read our review/recap for Godzilla-size spoilers about the latest episode, plus some speculation about the show’s future.
★★★★☆
Hopefully you were already onboard with For All Mankind‘s sometimes brazenly credulity-stretching alternative reality. The first woman president comes out as gay. Homegrown terrorists blow up NASA HQ. Agency director Margo Madison defects to the Soviet Union and then goes to work in its space agency, only to end up partnering with NASA.
If so, then you won’t mind if a Russian ghost comes back to mess with us now, too.
OK, he’s not a ghost. He’s Sergei, the Russian scientist who seemed to fall in love with Margo and got strangled in front of her to get her to give up U.S. space secrets. And as forces now align to mine the Goldilocks asteroid near Mars, he breaks cover on Earth to seek her out — and maybe not just for more romance.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters episode 7 might not be the most exciting entry in the series, but it offers up important backstory for one of the best MonsterVerse films.
Read our review/recap for Godzilla-size spoilers about the latest episode, plus some speculation about the show’s future.
In a world with about 10,000 weather apps — that’s an actual estimate, not a huge exaggeration — how do you choose the best free weather app for iPhone or iPad that you can trust and that includes the features you want most? It’s not easy. But a mix of full-featured free weather apps (most with premium versions) and specialty apps can cover all the bases for you.
We’ll go over some of the best weather apps below, whether you just want to avoid getting wet or if you’re a total weather freak who can’t get enough data, visual or otherwise.
★★★☆☆
For All Mankind, season 4, episode 7 — “Crossing the Line” — wastes no time getting into rancorous strike negotiations between Helios workers and NASA management at Happy Valley, Mars, as forecast by the previous episode.
That “line” in the episode title is a picket line, or maybe a reference to the disastrous result of management trying to bust a strike in space.
Maccy is a fantastic macOS copy-paste manager that supercharges your clipboard history. It allows you to copy … and copy … and copy again, and still paste the first thing you copied. Of course, it works with cut-and-paste too. It’s super well-designed and very easy to use. With a simple keyboard shortcut, you can bring up a small menu to instantly paste something you cut or copied hours ago.
It’s a fantastic utility that will quickly become a must-have on every Mac you use. You can buy Maccy for just $9.99 on the Mac App Store, or build it from its open-source code yourself.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters episode 6 review has Godzilla popping up all over. Plus love and more betrayal.
Read on for kaiju-size spoilers about the latest episode, plus some speculation about the show’s future.
★★★☆☆
Friday’s sixth episode in season 4 of For All Mankind, “Leningrad,” ranks low on the deaths-and-hanky-panky scale of soap-opera criticism, but it’s not without a few revelations and highly emotional moments.
Namely, as plans unfold to capture the Goldilocks asteroid for lucrative mining, Mars may be getting its first union. Nice-guy Miles plays hardball with Ilya Brezhnev. And former NASA director Margo Madison reveals to the world she’s alive and working for the Soviet space agency.
★★★★☆
The espresso 17 Pro checks every box in a premium portable display. It sports a 4K resolution, touchscreen with stylus support, and a sleek design ready for on-the-go use.
The 17-inch screen is brilliant as a productivity enhancement when away from the office, but it’s also intended for digital artists to use everyday. Or just anyone who’d like a touchscreen Mac.
I tested the espresso 17 Pro in my home office and while traveling. Here’s why I love it.
Backup Status is a simple app that puts a Time Machine widget on your Mac desktop (or stows it away in your Notification Center). If you don’t want the Time Machine icon cluttering up your menu bar, this is a straightforward alternative.
Time Machine, of course, is Apple’s software that makes continuous backups of your files to a separate part of your disk, an external hard drive or network-attached storage. Everyone should use Time Machine.
And, after you set it up, you should try Backup Status, the fun little app that lets you easily monitor your Time Machine backups.
When you buy a new Mac, you will spend a decent stack of cash. So, whether you’re shopping for yourself or someone else, ensuring you choose the best Mac is key. While every modern Mac can handle casual computing with ease, some are a much better fit for certain use cases.
In our Mac buying guide, we’ll look at all of the models offered by Apple today, as well as some of the best Mac accessories you can get to go with them.
Apple Watch is almost an essential for any iPhone owner these days, so it makes the perfect gift for anyone who doesn’t already own one. It’s also one of the more affordable Apple devices you can buy with a range of options to choose from that start at just $249 (or even less if you shop around).
In this buying guide, we’ll help you choose the right Apple Watch for you or for someone else, help you find the best prices, and highlight some of the best Apple Watch accessories you can get.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters episode five focuses on Cate Randa’s backstory from when she survived the battle between Godzilla and two kaiju that destroyed much of San Franciso. Plus, a betrayal!
Read on for monster-size spoilers about the latest episode, plus some speculation about the show’s future.
★★★☆☆
“Ground control, is that a negative on fatal space accidents in this week’s episode? Roger that. Initiate teardrops protocol.” For All Mankind‘s “Goldilocks” episode, number 5 in season 4, pushes plot lines forward Friday under the power of emotional cataclysms more than space-based action.
But it’s a meaty episode nonetheless. The whole season will turn on the importance of a certain newly discovered space rock named Goldilocks.
Blip is a delightful utilty that lets you transfer files across the internet — directly from your Mac to theirs. There’s no middleman uploading to and downloading from a cloud, no pesky web app to sign into. It’s like beaming your files onto someone else’s computer.
It’s the easiest and most straightforward way to send someone large folders of files or complex projects from your Mac. And best of all, it’s totally free and secure.
Tired of getting caught in the rain? Startup Rainbow Weather released its hyper-local rain-alert and hurricane-tracking app Rainbow Weather in November, giving you a great way to track weather tied to your precise location at all times via your iPhone.
★★★★★
In Stray, you play as a cat wandering through a cyberpunk version of the Kowloon Walled City, the most densely populated city in the world (and a fascinating footnote of history). In this future, though, the city teems with robots who dream of visiting the outside world.
It’s been out for PC, Xbox and PlayStation for a while, but the Mac version is out now on the Mac App Store.
Stray is a gripping game in an exquisitely designed and immersive world that proves gaming on the Mac is on the rise once again.