STM Goods MagPod is a go-anywhere iPhone stand. Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
The STM Goods MagPod is a beefy iPhone tabletop tripod that magnetically attaches to the handset. And it can do double duty as a handle. Use it for keeping an eye on your texts or making FaceTime calls.
I put the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 accessory to the test in this review.
The aliens have been defeated … or have they? And if so, what next? Is this the first wave of a prolonged attack? The start of intergalactic war? This week on Invasion, our heroes wake up in a reality that’s been thoroughly altered for the second time since the series opened.
As the first season of the Apple TV+ alien combat show ends, it plants clues that leave us itching for season 2.
The Adonit Dash 4 looks great and can be used with either iPad or iPhone. Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
The Adonit Dash 4 is an iPad stylus well suited for writing or drawing. And it offers something the Apple Pencil doesn’t: iPhone compatibility. The stylus flips between Apple’s tablet and handset with the push of a button. Or use it with Android.
I tried the Dash 4 with a variety of devices. Here’s what I found out.
The gang's all here as New Year's Eve approaches! Photo: Apple TV+
Just in time for Christmas, Apple TV+ cooked up a brand-new holiday special from the Peanuts gang. The charming show, titled Snoopy Presents: For Auld Lang Syne, debuts Friday and centers on Lucy’s attempt to pull off a New Year’s Eve party.
It will run alongside several classic Peanuts specials on the streaming service, so we don’t have to judge the new one in a vacuum. Luckily, For Auld Lang Syne pops the cork on some of that old-fashioned holiday magic that makes the Peanuts special so … special.
We learn some interesting things about Trevante (played by Shamier Anderson) this week. Photo: Apple TV+
This week on Invasion, the humans and the aliens seem just moments away from some kind of break in their standoff, but fate is about to throw an 18-car pileup between them.
The Apple TV+ sci-fi series is about to bring back the fireworks in a big way. The Maliks are being shuffled to the Defense Department, Trevante is off to the hospital with Caspar and Jamila, and Mitsuki has to think hard about what’s floating in space.
Mariah Carey, aka the "Queen of Christmas," returns with a breezy holiday special. Photo: Apple TV+
Last Christmas, Apple TV+ made an important play for the hearts and minds of viewers: It gave Mariah Carey a Christmas special. This year, amidst a host of new original Christmas programs, Apple TV+ brings her back to sprinkle more of her magic on the holiday season.
Mariah’s Christmas: The Magic Continues is a short but definitely stream-worthy follow-up to last year’s charmingly chintzy special. Honestly, can anyone get enough Mariah?
The truth is getting closer, and weirder, in this brain-melting South Korean sci-fi show. Photo: Apple TV+
Dr. Brain, Apple TV+’s new series from visionary genre specialist Kim Jee-Woon, drives headlong toward answers, both disappointing and cathartic, in the second-to-last episode of the exciting first season.
Can brain-syncing scientist Sewon stop the far-reaching forces at work to destroy him before they succeed? Can Hong redeem himself after causing so much chaos and hurt? Apple TV+’s first South Korean series is poised for a strong close.
High times lead to laughs this week. Photo: Apple TV+
Emily and Lavinia visit the future in this very special episode of Dickinson, Apple TV+s alt-history romp about the great poet. They head to 1955 while Austin gets desperate, Betty gets lonely, Henry gets creative, and Mr. and Mrs. Dickinson get high.
It’s a wild episode this week, rootless and maybe a little too cute, but that’s not unusual for Dickinson.
Jace (played by Isaiah Hill) flies high as his team faces challenges. Photo: Apple TV+
This week’s Swagger finds Jace, Ike, Jenna and Crystal at crossroads. The Apple TV+ basketball drama is all business this episode, showing us what the raised profile of their activism has done for the kids on Swagger, good and ill.
Jenna feels like coach Ike is letting her son down — and takes some drastic measures to try and take him off the pedestal on which Jace has placed him. But at what cost?
Lululook’s iPad stand does an amazing job of turning an iPad into a desktop. Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
iPad Pro is the best tablet on the market, but it can be more. Add a stand and you have a pretty good desktop. And you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better option for that than the Lululook Urban Magnetic iPad Pro Stand.
Read on to see why I freaking love this accessory.
Sometimes parties are no fun at all. Photo: Apple TV+
Apple TV+’s true comedy The Shrink Next Door heads into its endgame this week. Manipulative psychiatrist Ike has all but moved into his patient Marty’s house in the Hamptons. And the bad doctor has started professionally throwing parties.
However, the longer the party goes on, the less fun it feels. The same is true of this show, which increasingly feels like it should have been a two-hour movie — if it needed to exist at all.
Your iPhone is held at eye level next to your Mac screen by the STM Goods MagArm. Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
STM Goods MagArm is an iPhone mount that attaches to your Mac display, either in the office or at a coffee shop. And not only does it hold the handset where it can be easily seen, slip in Apple’s MagSafe charging puck and the MagArm will charge the iPhone too.
I put the accessory for MacBook or Mac desktop to the test. How likely is it to drop the iPhone? Here’s what I found out.
Don’t struggle to hear in loud restaurants. Try Noopl 2.0 with your iPhone and AirPods Pro instead. Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
Noopl 2.0 works with AirPods Pro and your iPhone to help filter out crowd noise so you can hear conversations. It’s for people who aren‘t ready for hearing aids but would like help tuning into conversations in noisy environments.
I put the hearing enhancement accessory through real world testing. Here’s how it stood up.
This week’s Invasion is a series of long exhales as people finally mourn and hope in relative silence for the first time since the aliens arrived. The Apple TV+ sci-fi series prove its worth, even when it’s being as quiet as it is loud and exciting
Don’t put up with Wi-Fi dead zones. Rockspace’s wireless range extender can fill them in. Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
Wi-Fi dead spots happen in many homes and businesses, and they can be so frustrating. The Rockspace AX1800 Dual Band Wi-Fi Extender fills in the empty spot(s) in your wireless network, and because it has Wi-Fi 6 it can provide up to 35 devices with speedy connections.
I tested this access point in my home office. Here’s how it stood up to a battery of real-world tests.
You can't help but feel sorry for Will Ferrell's character, Marty. Ike, on the other hand ... Photo: Apple TV+
Apple TV+’s true comedy The Shrink Next Door jumps forward to 1990 this week as Ike and Marty take the next step toward their collective doom: They go in on a housing project together. Ike is ready to become one of the beautiful people, something Marty always shied away from despite his massive inherited wealth, and they’re going to do battle over something Marty loves.
The show, which stars Paul Rudd and Will Ferrell, laid the groundwork for a one-sided battle of wills — and now it pushes everything too far. It will be difficult to get excited for another minute of this show after the episode’s conclusion.
Brain-syncing scientist Sewon Koh starts to understand that, though he’s at the center of a conspiracy, his own guilt is much more relevant to the crimes in question than he initially considered. It is, after all, not illegal to be a bad husband. But when your negligence leads to kidnapping, murder and fraud, it’s too late to say sorry.
Team Swagger faces new challenges this week. Photo: Apple TV+
Apple TV+ teen basketball drama Swagger faces its first COVID-19-era game — and its second brush with police brutality — in a tense and shocking episode this week. Crystal finally confesses, while team Swagger faces a couple of real and metaphorical foes. A key figure in this turmoil iscoach Warrick Swagger, whose influence on the team continues to shape the unfolding drama.
This week’s episode of the stellar new show, which was created by NBA star Kevin Durant and director Reggie Rock Bythewood, is the crowning achievement of the season. It must be seen.
Emily Dickinson (played by Hailee Steinfeld) endures a mad trip to the asylum this week. Photo: Apple TV+
This week on Dickinson, the girls are off to the lunatic asylum and Henry needs to find his inner housewife to help his recruits pass an inspection.
This week’s episode of the Apple TV+ feminist alt-history fable is one of the strongest yet — and it makes the looming finale all the more bittersweet. Just when the creative team seems to be hitting its stride and enjoying themselves, the end must come.
EarFun's Free Pro 2 wireless ANC earbuds offer a comfortable fit and good sound at an affordable price point. Photo: David Snow/Cult of Mac
In my recent review of Earfun’s Air Pro 2 wireless active noise cancellation (ANC) earbuds, I said they packed good enough features — sound quality, active noise cancellation, comfortable fit — to be worth their affordable price tag. With the new EarFun Free Pro 2 wireless ANC earbuds, that’s even more the case. Especially because the same high quality comes in an even smaller package.
Retired Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher confesses in The Line, and it's chilling. Photo: Apple TV+
When Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher was slapped with war crimes charges in 2018, the allegations made a public spectacle of the inexcusable, overzealous violence that had been a staple of U.S. military intervention in Iraq since the first years of the invasion post-9/11.
What followed brought the wrong kind of attention to military operations at a time when the United States needed to sell its continuing involvement in Iraq. In new Apple TV+ series The Line, directors Jeff Zimbalist and Doug Shultz adapt the podcast of the same name as a four-part documentary.
In it, we hear testimony from everyone who felt comfortable stepping forward to talk about really happened in Mosul, where Gallagher led a sniper team and committed acts that shocked his fellow war fighters. And yet the filmmakers ultimately fail to ask the questions that really matter.
Connect your Mac directly to an HDMI monitor with this one cable. Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
You won‘t need a MacBook with an HDMI port if you have Plugable’s USB-C to HDMI cable. Just run the cable between the external display and your Mac or iPad and you have 4K@60Hz. Even better, it’s currently available at a discount that drops the price to less than $17.
I tested this accessory in my home office to be sure it lives up to its promises.
COVID-19 and a beatdown make for a heavy week in the basketball drama. Photo: Apple TV+
COVID-19 makes its debut in this week’s Swagger, the Baltimore-based Apple TV+ basketball drama inspired by the experiences of Kevin Durant in the junior leagues.
In the episode, titled “All on the Line,” Jace and his teammates cover up a crime. Crystal exhales and figures out how she feels. And Jackie and Jenna have it out. Everyone’s at the top of their game in one of the best episodes of the season so far.
At least now everybody knows we're dealing with nasty extraterrestrials. Photo: Apple TV+
We’ve seen our aliens and we’ve got our heroes. Now what dreadful things await for Invasion’s terrified humans?
Apple TV+’s newest sci-fi show is having a pretty terrific season, all things considered. So now, with everyone on the same page, can the series sustain its relentless pace? Can the show’s creators continue this balancing act for the rest of the season?
Lies, treachery and surprises -- in space! Photo: Apple TV+
The first season of Apple TV+’s epic space opera Foundation winds down this week with a drama-packed final episode.
Terminus has a big shiny weapon to use against the Empire, which is renewed in its conviction that all rebellion must be dealt with. Between a rock and a hard place is a human coffin that spouts wisdom like Yoda. Read on to find out what I mean by that.