Reviews - page 16

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.

With an iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max, you can record high-resolution video directly to an external SSD. And the latest version of the iPhone app LumaFusion lets you edit with the video still on the external drive, too. Don’t try that with any other video editor for iOS.

That’s on top of the many other features of the iPhone and iPad application, which offers multitrack video editing with a focus on controlling everything with touch.

The fourth episode of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is out, and anyone who’s been dissatisfied about the amount of screen time kaijus got before will have nothing to complain about.

Read on if you’re ready for Godzilla-size spoilers about the latest episode, plus some speculation about the show’s future.

Not much happens Friday on alt-history space soap opera For All Mankind season 4’s fourth episode, “House Divided.” Let’s see. Two Russians have a shoving match on Mars, almost killing one and nearly causing the return of the Cold War. The former head of NASA goes to work for the Soviets and immediately impresses her frighteningly KGB-connected boss. And longtime space heroes Danielle Poole and Ed Baldwin suffer a major falling out that could threaten peace in Happy Valley, Mars.

And by the way, geriatric Ed — the show wants us to believe Joel Kinnaman’s characters is now in his 70s — finally does get the tender smooch from a young cosmonaut threatened in episode 3. Alas, poor Miles Dale, despite sparks flying on Mars, doesn’t quite get to make out with his burgeoning love interest.

Wrap your iPhone 15 in the GameSir G8 Galileo and you have the physical buttons, triggers and sticks needed for high-end gaming. And it has a USB-C port so it works with Apple’s latest handsets. Plus the game controller includes swappable sticks, pass-through charging, a headphone jack and more.

I tested GameSir G8 Galileo with my iPhone 15. I had a heck of a good time.

Slow Horses, the Apple TV+ spy thriller based on the Slough House novels by British novelist Mick Herron, spices up its twisty-turny plots with witty dialogue and convincing performances.

Lead character Jackson Lamb, a rumpled British spook played by Gary Oldman, runs the misfit spy shop known as Slough House. Everyone on his team (known as the “Slow Horses”) screwed up in a major way professionally, earning them their one-way ticket to Lamb’s dusty, low-rent M15 leper colony. Lamb torments them at nearly every turn with a mordant mix of skepticism and ridicule.

Here are three reasons you should watch Slow Horses the Apple TV+, which fires up its third season today.

Sick of the same old desktop wallpaper on your Mac? Developer Gemoo recently released a free AI Wallpaper Generator app that lets you replace your screen’s background visual with pretty much whatever you can think of in terms of a prompt, and with your choice of artistic style.

With 10 wallpaper prompts per day on the free version, it’s fun to play with. And if you need more, you can get the Pro version — once Gemoo settles on a pricing plan for it.

When I moved to a new place recently, I decided to get serious about an expanded and ergonomically healthy computer setup — including a solid and surprisingly affordable electric standing desk from Fezibo.

Better-known standing desks often go for $600 or more, but my spacious, handsome and practical desk cost me just $261. And so far it’s reliable, with just a couple of small caveats.

iPad makes a spectacular gift. Apple tablets are very popular, and everyone from little Billy to Grandma will enjoy one.

But there’s a wide array of models to choose from. In this guide, we go through all the options to explore their pros and cons as gifts.

AfterShip Package Tracker is a free app that does exactly what it says in the name: It tracks your packages. You can see all your orders in one place, when they will arrive, and how close they are geographically to you. Push notifications are fast and alert you when your items are on their way.

Plus, unlike just about every other package-tracking app for iOS, AfterShip Package Tracker is totally free, with no in-app purchases.

Adonit Note+ 2 is an iPad stylus with all the usual features as well as pressure sensitivity and a pair of programmable buttons. Plus there are writing tips in hard, medium and soft. These make it much better option for digital artists than typical styli. It actually goes head-to-head with Apple Pencil 2.

An iPad Pro is my primary computer, so I took the Note+ 2 for a hands-on test drive.

Your Apple Watch can still be useful, even when you’re not wearing it. The HEDock holds the Watch up at a convenient angle while it’s charging.

This simple, very affordable accessory could be just what your desk or bedside table needs. And it’s on sale until the end of this year in the Cult of Mac Store for just $7.50.

Apple TV+ took its biggest gambles this year as a distributor of theatrical features with gargantuan budgets and run times to match, hoping that America will want to return to the epics of yesteryear in time for the holidays.

With Martin Scorsese’s heartbreaking Killers of the Flower Moon garnering headlines and climbing toward recouping its budget, here comes Ridley Scott’s Napoleon. The Apple Original biopic about the diminutive French emperor — in theaters now, and coming to Apple’s streaming service at some point in the future — proves Apple TV+ is a safe bet for good movies.

Coupling unfliniching violence with a keen sense of the absurd, it’s one of Scott’s finest films.

Which iPhone is the best to buy as a gift? We’ll walk you through some of the best choices below, along with great accessories for new iPhone owners, including tough cases and handy MagSafe chargers.

Sure enough, last week’s hints of looming unrest blossom this week in a full-scale coup against Mikhail Gorbachev in alt-history drama series For All Mankind, season 4, episode 3, “The Bear Hug.” And who’s in the middle of it all? Why, the former head of NASA, of course — Margo Madison.

In the span of one episode — released Wednesday instead of Friday for the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend — she gets horribly tortured and finds herself in a big new space-agency job. But it ain’t NASA this time. I’d say you can’t make this stuff up, but someone did. Meanwhile, another coup unfolds at private space-exploration company Helios Aerospace.

Apple TV+ slipped out the third episode of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters a few days early so Godzilla could arrive in time for Thanksgiving. Here’s a quick recap that puts it in context not only with the earlier episodes and MonsterVerse movies but also events of the 20th century.

Read on if you’re ready for massive spoilers about the latest episode, plus some speculation about the show’s future.

A gift that always goes down well with Apple fans, no matter the time of year, is a brand-new pair of AirPods. But it’s important to ensure you pick the right pair out of the four on offer if you really want to impress.

In our AirPods buying guide, we’ll help you choose between AirPods 2, AirPods 3, AirPods Pro, and AirPods Max — and highlight some of the best cases and charging accessories to go with them.

Almost everything is cooler when you can see right through it. Sadly, Apple stopped making transparent devices when it discontinued the iconic iMac G3. But for those craving that retro look, Elago offers a transparent Clear band for Apple Watch that looks absolutely terrific.

Made from a strong and lightweight thermoplastic, it’s incredibly comfortable to wear all day long. And it’s insanely affordable at less than $13. I’ve been wearing one for months now and it has easily become one of my favorite Apple Watch bands.

Apple’s decision to finally ditch Lightning in favor of USB-C on iPhone 15 means that you now have infinitely greater flexibility when it comes to connectivity. Whether you want to hook up storage drives, an external display, or even an Ethernet cable, you can do it all with USB-C.

But there is a catch. First, you’ll need a suitable USB-C hub or adapter that lets you connect all the peripherals you want to use through one port. Here are the best USB-C hubs you can buy today for iPhone 15.

In this week’s Awesome Apps roundup, we have a way to play Legos without the mess, an app that’ll read aloud almost anything, 700 workouts on your Apple Watch, and the best Safari extension ever.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters stomped onto Apple TV+ on Friday, bringing the biggest star yet to the streaming service: Godzilla.

As a lifetime fan of kaiju films, I’m here to review the first two episodes, and also to remind viewers of MonsterVerse lore brought up in the new series. I even throw in some speculation on what’s coming in later episodes.

The SmartGym app is already well-loved by Apple Watch users, and its recent update adds more than 70 new workouts and loads of convenient new functionality.

And it’s considered so good it’s currently up against two other finalist apps to win the App Store Award for Apple Watch App of the Year.

Last week’s season four opener of Apple TV+ alt-history drama series For All Mankind went necessarily big to catch everyone up and start off with a bang. So it’s not surprising episode two establishes a more practical stride, focusing on the realities of life in a working Mars colony.

Turns out life sucks for the working man up there in more ways than just an alarming chance of fatality. Life in Happy Valley, Mars, also tells a deeply unfair tale of haves and have-nots, just like on Earth.

The KYY K3-3 Portable Monitor adds a high-quality second screen to your Mac or iPad. Even some iPhones. It’s 15.6 inches and has a 4K resolution, so it’s designed for work and play wherever you go.

I tested the reasonably priced second screen in my home office and when working remotely to see how it stands up to real-world use. I like it more than I expected to.

Lego Bricktales is a fun way to play with these bricks wherever you go. The game challenges players to build their way through puzzles in a variety of colorful environments.

It’s available for iPad and iPhone.