Reviews - page 32

It’s happened to all of us. Your iPhone battery is on empty and there are plenty of chargers around but no Lightning cable. The same thing can happen with a iPad and even a Mac. The inCharge X from Rolling Square is just what you need. It’s tiny enough for you to take it everywhere, but adaptable enough to enable almost any type of Apple device to get power from almost any charger.

Rolling Square also makes inCharge X Max, which is just as flexible but with a 5-foot cable built in.

I tested both. Here’s why I think they’re brilliant.

Apple TV+ ’80s comedy Acapulco has romance on the brain this week. Maximo and Julia have to talk, Hector and Don Pablo are feeling unloved by Diane, Memo’s love is over and blooming at once, and Sara is heartbroken but she ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

A strong episode of the tacky comedy reveals some important things about the limits of a show like this, how formula and reality don’t always match, and how much you can get away with in a comedy. It’s a fascinating, frustrating study in the state of the sitcom.

Apple TV+ show Mosquito Coast returns Friday with more under-the-radar thrills. Based on the book by Paul Theroux and starring his nephew Justin as wanted criminal and escape artist Allie Fox, Mosquito Coast is about the many little compromises we make on our way to what we hope is a better life.

In the season two opener, Allie and his wife Margot reminisce about their past lives for their children Dina and Charlie, finally explaining why they’ve been living their lives on the run this whole time. And one telling lie means they’re still not really ready to be honest. It’s a solid return to form after last year’s stellar season finale.

This week on Apple TV+ drama/thriller Shantaram, it’s all about escapes. Lin knows a story about his medical work will bring his flight from justice to the attention of the authorities, so it’s time to leave Bombay.

Meanwhile, Prabhu and Parvati want to marry in secret before her parents can prevent it. Lisa discovers Modena is still up to his old tricks, and now she wants out of their new arrangement. And just when Lin is in line for a fake passport, a whole new situation arises that threatens his freedom. It’s a suitably tense time.

In new Apple TV+ documentary Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me, we take a trip into the center of the pop star’s world to discover her journey has been nothing but hardship surrounded by impossible highs, which makes coping with her fame something like a near-impossibility.

Narrated by Gomez herself and directed by Alek Keshishian (Madonna: Truth or Dare), this revealing, well-intentioned and often quite beautiful documentary gets us inside of her turmoil and the whirlwind of both her fame and her illness. It’s important for people to know that being America’s sweetheart is no picnic, and that the machinery of fame is parasitic and unyielding. Hopefully, someone, somewhere will pull the brakes on throwing kids into the show business maelstrom.

Depressive drama Causeway, which stars Jennifer Lawrence as a recovering Afghanistan war veteran trapped in her hometown, marks the latest collaboration between indie film company A24 and Apple TV+.

Lawrence, dipping her toe back into being a movie star following last year’s Don’t Look Up, returns to her roots in the film, which premieres Friday on Apple TV+. Causeway hits a lot of expected Sundance/indie movie beats but finds grace notes in quieter, less empathic scenes.

AirFly 2 from Twelve South can wirelessly connect your AirPods to any 3.5mm audio jack. It’s great for airline entertainment systems and gym machines. The new version has a longer battery life, adds new volume controls and costs less than its predecessor.

I tested the wireless audio adapter with AirPods and other headphones, as well as a variety of audio sources. Here’s why I’m quite pleased with it.

The launch of the 2022 iPad Pro in 12.9- and 11-inch versions means current tablet users have new upgrade options. Their M2 processor makes these the most powerful iPads ever made, but they are not right for everyone.

I’ve used an M2-powered iPad Pro for a week now, and that’s given me insight into who should upgrade and who should not. Some people should definitely go for the latest and greatest, but others would be disappointed if they did so.

Here’s my advice when making your decision.

If you’re looking for quality audio at an affordable price, you can certainly do much worse than Edifier products. The Chinese company consistently comes across with great value, and that’s the case with the Edifier MS50A powered wireless smart speaker.

The company sent me one of the handsome, wood-paneled speakers to test out. Though it’s not the smartest smart speaker on the block, it looks and sounds great for the price. I’ll get into more detail below.

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On this week’s installment of the Apple TV+ limited series Shantaram, Lin must take stock of where he is, what good fortune means and whether it’s his to truly celebrate.

The people of Bombay are getting used to the impostor doctor, but at every turn, Lin faces potential threats to his freedom and his place among his newfound community of outsiders. It’s a typically engaging outing of the Charlie Hunnam drama.

New Apple TV+ documentary Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues takes a lively and appropriately soulful look at the man who invented popular music in America as we know it today.

The film, which premieres today on Apple’s streaming service, brims with expert testimony from witnesses, fans, friends, and family of the incredibly influential jazz musician. It’s bolstered by a cornucopia of rare archival footage and photographs that root Armstrong firmly in history.

Louis Armstrong is too big a subject to think you could ever fully capture him, so director Sacha Jenkins treats this project as just one man’s look at another man. It’s remarkably successful.

Before you say it, I know – this isn’t the first time we’ve talked about gallium nitride (GaN) chargers. But the super-small, super-fast chargers are, frankly, worth getting excited about. I recently had the pleasure of taking Ugreen’s Nexode 200W desktop GaN charger for a spin, and let me tell you: This really is the puck-size charger you want on your desk.

Apple positioned the new iPad 10 as the successor to last year’s iPad 9, but the two are far more different that their names suggest. The just-released tablet has a long list of improvements, including a larger screen. But it also comes at a substantially higher price.

Both models are still in Apple product lineup so you have a choice. Let’s go head-to-head to see how they stack up.

Place the Lion 50W Foldable Solar Panel in the sun and it can power most devices with a USB-A or USB-C port. It’s portable enough to take on a multi-day hike, or to not take up much room in a closet for power outages.

I put the solar charger to the test and I’m quite pleased with how easy it is to use and how well it performs.

Early reviews of iPad 10 compliment its larger display, relocated camera and faster processor. But they also have plenty to say about the steep increase in price.

Read on to see if the new “budget” iPad, which now starts at $449, is right for you.

Updated: In spring 2024, Apple lowered the cost of the iPad 10 to $349.

Apps can be useful for a a countless number of things. From making a new parents life easier to finding new music, there’s are apps fit to help make things nearly effortless. This week, we have a couple great new (to me, at least) apps, and a really solid update to one of my favorites. As usual, I’ll put out the call for other suggestions as well. If you have something you want us to check out for a future Awesome Apps post, be sure to email your suggestion or tweet them over!

Your MacBook isn’t charging right and you can’t figure it where the problem is? Plugable’s USBC-VAmeter3 can help. Connect it to the power cable running to your Mac, iPad or iPhone to see the voltage, wattage and amperage.

I’m no electrical engineer, but I tested this miniature power meter. I found it both useful and kind of fun.

Bilingual Apple TV+ comedy series Acapulco returns this week for a second season of bright colors and frothy hijinx narrated by Eugenio Derbez. The Mexican resort is an ’80s uproar, young Maximo’s life is crumbling (though he won’t admit it), and his family is at a crossroads. And everyone, as usual, needs a favor.

The second season so far seems exactly like the first, which is to be expected, so if you like the softest possible jokes, you’re in luck. The show is fleetingly charming and expertly designed — the art direction remains Acapulco‘s greatest virtue — and little by little, it’s relaxing into a funnier groove.

This week on new Apple TV+ limited series Shantaram, based on the best-selling book by Gregory David Roberts, Lin stares a new life in the face — but fate has other plans.

The escaped con is starting up a practice in a Bombay slum with help from his reluctant and besotted friend Prabhu. A need for penicillin puts him right where the local underworld chiefs want him, in thrall to them and in need of supplies only they can gift him.

Meanwhile, local politics are heating up, Lisa’s kicking junk, and Karla’s feeling left out. It’s a perfectly respectable episode of the drama.

In aimless new dramedy Raymond & Ray, Ethan Hawke and Ewen McGregor play half-brothers who must bury their father — and decades of trauma — over the course of a long, late-summer day.

Directed by Rodrigo García, and produced by Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity, Roma), the film is never believable for even a second. Inessential by design and pleasant enough, this one’s built to go in one ear/eye and out the other just as quickly.

The Logitech MX Mechanical Mini is a keyboard optimized for Mac. It features low-profile mechanical switches and backlighting, and can be paired with up to three computers

I’ve been using the Bluetooth keyboard in my home office for weeks. Here’s why I’ve come to love it.

Post-apocalyptic Apple TV+ series See comes to its thrilling conclusion this week, sending off Baba Voss and his family in high bloody fashion.

With the whole of civilization in a tunnel to freedom, Haniwa, Maghra and Kofun must decide whether to let Baba go to his death by himself or stay with their people in their hour of need. Can Baba stop deposed queen Sibeth Kane before she destroys everything, or before he gets caught and killed?

It took three seasons, but See is finally worth seeing. And wouldn’t you know it? It’s over.

Bad Sisters, the Apple TV+ black comedy about the murder of a bad man and the five women who stood to gain from it, draws its delicious first season to a close this week.

John Paul’s dead. Matthew’s closer than ever to finding the killer, but red herrings abound. John Paul’s widow Grace tells a tale to her sisters. The magnificent show comes to a gripping close in typically brilliant fashion.

In new Apple TV+ limited series Shantaram, Charlie Hunnam headlines as a man on the run from Australian authorities who starts over in Bombay — only to fall into still more trouble.

The ambitious drama, based on the best-selling book by Gregory David Roberts (which in turn was partly based on the author’s own experiences), charts a man’s new life in a hotbed of sin and all-but-sanctioned crime. Along the way, he discovers himself at long last in the least likely of settings.

In the fast-growing world of increasingly compact-yet-powerful gallium nitride (GaN) chargers, Ugreen is a player. The company has expanded its line of multiport chargers and recently sent me its Nexode 140W model to try out.

I found it potent, reasonably compact and a fine purchase for most people who need to charge laptops, tablets, smartphones and other devices — especially if they can get it at the discount below, which makes it an exceptional value.