The Meross Smart WiFi Plug Mini is an inexpensive and easy-to-install way to get started in home automation. This smart plug lets you control a lamp, fan or other appliance without needing to touch it. Support for Apple’s HomeKit and Amazon Alexa means voice commands, or automated schedules, are all that’s necessary.
I tested a pair of these accessories for a week, and can report on how they perform in daily use.
True-ish crime show Home Before Dark, about an intrepid cub reporter who’s always late to class, is the latest Apple TV+ streaming option available to quarantined Americans. Is it any good?
Here’s a quick guide to the pleasures of the show.
The Magnetic Wireless Charging Case from Xvida protects your iPhone from drops and blows, but that’s just the start. Magnets set into its back allow it to easily attach to a range of other accessories made by this company. That includes a wireless charger that adds hours of use to the handset.
I’ve tested both the Xvida Magnetic Wireless Charger Portable Battery Pack and the protective case that it pairs with to see how they stand up to real-world use.
The Satechi USB-C Magnetic Charging Dock for the Apple Watch is more portable than Apple’s own. And because it uses USB-C, it’s easier to use with a MacBook or iPad Pro — just plug it straight in.
I put the Satechi USB-C Magnetic Charging Dock for Apple Watch through a battery of tests. Here’s how it stood up.
The nonstop onslaught of coronavirus news is making me a little crazy. Headlines asides, COVID-19-related content even infects the stream of shows in my Podcasts app. To ease my coronapanic, lately I’ve been binging on something a lot more relaxing: vintage radio podcasts from Relic Radio.
Served up through a variety of free podcasts, these old-time radio dramas really help take my mind off the rapidly unfolding COVID-19 horror show.
Amazing Stories’ season finale “The Rift” serves as a case study into the rebooted show’s highs and lows. With its five-episode run complete, the ways in which the Apple TV+ anthology series succeeded — and the ways it failed to cohere — become more obvious than ever.
“The Rift” was directed by Mark Mylod and written by Don Handfield and Richard Rayner (co-creators of History Channel’s Knightfall). However, the episode takes more cues from executive producer Steven Spielberg than nearly any of the preceding entries, to both its detriment and its occasional benefit. The real MVP of the piece, however, is the perpetually underrated Kerry Bishé.
Based on the real-life exploits of preteen reporter Hilde Kate Lysiak, who was a published journalist before she had all her teeth, Apple TV+’s new series Home Before Dark is an exciting and endearing new offering.
The streaming service released all 10 episodes of the show’s first season Friday. The first three brisk episodes build a strong case for the show’s quick renewal. And they also reveal Home Before Dark’s tiny hero, Brooklynn Prince, as a certified star.
One of the nicest features of the latest AirPods is the ability to charge them wirelessly. Just plunk them on top of a Qi-compatible charger and you’re good to go. But what about the original AirPods, which didn’t come with a wireless charging case?
Well, now you can add Qi charging for just $25, thanks to Elkson’s Wireless Charging and Bumper Case.
Anyone packing iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods doesn’t have to deal with charging them separately. The Native Union Drop XL Wireless Charger (Watch Edition) can handle all three of these at once. And it won‘t take up much room on your nightstand.
I tested this multidevice wireless charger from a top-notch brand in my daily use to see if it lived up to its promises.
For the longest time, I had a particular problem with my Apple Watch. When I rode my bicycle, the watch’s Digital Crown would rub against my wrist, playing havoc with the sound coming through my AirPods. Suddenly it would get very loud, or very low. It drove me crazy.
I tried everything I could think of, including wearing my watch backward so the Digital Crown was reversed, or on the inside of my wrist. Nothing worked, so I disabled Now Playing on my Watch, which I missed because it’s great for controlling music when doing something like riding a bike.
Then I came across Elkson’s Quattro Series Bumper Case for Apple Watch. This inexpensive cover surrounds the Digital Crown and prevents it from spinning when I ride my bike. Problem solved.
After a bumpy start, the Apple TV+ reboot of Amazing Stories headed off in an agreeable direction. Between its heart-on-the-sleeve emotional core and the very modern, depressive look at the deflation of the American dream, this is a show that understands why people need to believe in the impossible today.
Episode 4, titled “Signs of Life,” might not be a perfect hour of television. However, it’s got its heart in the right place. And a host of excellent elements make its story beats hit with extra force.
Emerging from the dark and noisy arcades of the 1980s is a updated version of a classic. Atari’s Missile Command: Recharged for iPhone and iPad is nearly identical to the original with only a few tweaks for a new generation.
And to double down on the nostalgia, an augmented reality mode projects your gameplay onto a virtual arcade cabinet.
The 2020 iPad Pro takes Apple’s very capable tablet from 2018, improves the specs and performance, and even adds some great features.
I did hands-on testing of the new capabilities and found there’s a lot to love in the latest iPad.
Apple’s newest iPad Pro will begin landing on customers’ doorsteps Wednesday, March 25. Will it be worth their hard-earned cash? Let’s find out from reviewers who already have their hands on one.
Unsurprisingly, the 2020 iPad Pro is already being dubbed Apple’s best tablet yet. It improves upon an already winning formula with a LiDAR Scanner, Ultra Wide camera, and faster connectivity.
Some still bemoan missing features in iPadOS. When it comes to the hardware, however, there’s very little to complain about.
Mired in scandal and plagued by delays, the debut fiction film purchased by Apple TV+ is finally here to stream, just in time for everyone in America to be trapped with little else but their TVs.
The Banker, starring Anthony Mackie and Samuel L. Jackson, likely won’t top many best-of lists this year. It’s too slight, though neither does it embarrass itself in the telling of a compelling true story about overcoming discrimination in a racist world.
The Apple TV+ reboot of Amazing Stories started with a warning most viewers likely heeded: The show is going to be maudlin, and it will broadcast its emotional and dramatic beats from a mile away. Thankfully, having thrown down that gauntlet, the threat turned into a promise worth keeping. Each episode has been an improvement on the pilot.
“Dynoman and the Volt,” the third episode of the series, has quite a lot to recommend it. Enough, in fact, that it becomes easy to overlook its obvious storytelling and only half-earned poignancy.
The first reviews of Apple’s new and improved MacBook Air are out just days after its official unveiling. It will come as no surprise to fans of the machine that each one has great things to say about Apple’s most popular notebook.
New configurations, increased storage, a reduced price, and — most importantly — and brand-new Magic Keyboard make this a stellar MacBook Air upgrade. Still not sure? Here’s what the critics have to say…
Trapped indoors with nothing to watch during the COVID-19 quarantine, or just sick of your usual streaming options? Apple TV+ harbors a day’s worth of exciting and compelling programming to finally dig into.
For anyone looking for an excuse to finally give the streaming service a try, here’s a guide to some standout shows. Not every Apple TV+ series is a slam dunk, but there are hidden gems waiting to be binged during these uncertain times.
Quirky but excellent new book iBauhaus traces Apple’s design principles to a German design school nearly a century old. Written by art expert Nicholas Fox Weber, the book won’t appeal to everyone.
If you’re exclusively interested in behind-the-scenes details of how Apple makes and sells its products, this book probably isn’t for you. If you shuddered through Jony Ive interviews heavy on design-speak, this definitely isn’t the book for you.
However, a certain segment of readers — myself included — will find iBauhaus really enjoyable. And they will learn a lot about the design of the iPhone along the way.
New book Samsung Rising tells the story of Apple’s biggest rival in the smartphone era. It chronicles Samsung’s decades-long ascent, and the fierce competition between the South Korean tech giant’s Galaxy smartphones and the iPhone.
Smartly written and reported by veteran journalist Geoffrey Cain, Samsung Rising will certainly keep your brain active and your fingers flipping pages.
The second episode of the redesigned Amazing Stories finds its legs with a story of a track star caught between life and death.
If showrunners Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz have anything even a fraction as good as this up their sleeves for the rest of the season, Amazing Stories might prove the strongest of Apple TV+ shows, considering its short episode order.
Classic video game Castlevania: Symphony of the Night landed in the App Store last week and, boy, is it great!
The 23-year-old side-scroller pits Dracula’s half-son Alucard against the evil count himself. The game, widely regarded as one of the best video games of all time, has made its way onto various games platforms over the years. Now you can finally play it on your iPhone. Frankly, that’s the best news I’ve heard in ages.
Amazing Stories, the Apple TV+ reboot of Steven Spielberg’s 1980s show about all things fantastical, bafflingly kicks off with a limp romantic fantasia. One can only hope that the dull opening episode, a rote time-travel story titled “The Cellar,” does not prove representative of what will follow.
Spielberg created the anthology series Amazing Stories in 1985. It was one of a handful of shrewd moves that, calculated to do so or not, turned his crowd-pleasing style into a brand. Cupertino clearly wanted to capitalize on Spielberg’s reputation as a storyteller. Regrettably, the reboot’s first episode does little but remind us that we’d rather be watching one of his movies instead.
The Mophie Powerstation Plus XL doesn’t just extend the battery life of your iPhone, it also makes recharging your handset a snap. The 8000mAh power bank has an integrated Lightning cable, plus it offers wireless charging.
Mophie has a long history of producing top-tier external batteries. That’s why this one is available from the Apple Store. I test this accessory to see if it lives up to its maker’s reputation for dependability.
It’s totally tempting to use a fountain pen. These throwback writing utensils carry a promise of a slower time, when people had hours to write — and when the main writing tool wasn’t a $1,000 computer or an $800 iPhone, but a tube of ink with a sharp tip.
However, fountain pens also can prove intimidating. Are they messy? Do you need to refill them from a bottle of ink? Can you toss one in a pocket like a cheap gel pen?
The fact is, you can have all the style and enjoyment of a fountain pen in a package that’s as practical as a cheap biro. More practical, really, as you can refill it yourself. If you want to try a fountain pen, you should begin with the Kaweco Sport. And if you want the Jony Ive-compatible version, you will buy the reasonably priced aluminum one.