AirPods - page 28

Wired earbuds still sound better than similarly priced wireless earbuds, plus they don’t usually require charging. But the wires are a big enough pain that going wireless is a one-way trip. Never again will you have to untangle your earbuds to listen to a podcast in bed. You won’t have to put up with rustling cables as you walk, or suffer having earbuds ripped out when the wire catches on your hand.

But not all wireless earbuds are worth the switch. And there are also several big differences in style and function that you should consider. Here, then, is your guide to the best wireless earbuds around.

The iPhone comes in such a simple form that you could think of it as the core brain of a larger system. If you need to go underwater, you can get a case for that. If you want to turn it into a satnav for your bike or stroller, you can do that, too (see below).

The iPhone accessory market is huge, and there is a gadget or gizmo for almost anything. Here are some of our favorite iPhone accessories, for the new iPhone X as well as for older iPhones.

AirPods shipments are expected to double next year as demand for one of Apple’s best accessories remains incredibly strong. Shipping times have already been reduced to just 1-3 days thanks to an improved assembly process.

Apple will make you cough up $69 for a new case if you want to charge your AirPods wirelessly, according to some reports. But if you can get your hands on the right components, you can add wireless charging capabilities to an existing case for next to nothing.

Here’s how.

The first big Apple ad of the holiday season is here just in time for Thanksgiving.

Apple published its holiday ad “Sway” to Youtube today. The whimsical ad features a winter holiday cityscape that transforms into something magical as a couple dance through it. Of course, they’re rocking AirPods and the iPhone X the entire time.

Check it out:

Apple surprised investors with its best Q4 earnings report ever today. The outrageous numbers dispelled doubts about the iPhone-maker’s strategy — and pushed Apple closer to becoming the world’s first trillion-dollar company.

With the launch of the iPhone X just hours away, Apple CEO Tim Cook had a lot to be happy about during the earnings call with investors. Analysts quizzed Cook and Apple CFO Luca Maestri on everything from iPhone 8 sales to how Apple plans to monetize its augmented reality efforts.

Here’s what we found out:

We hope you didn’t spend the last of your savings on iPhone X, because you’re going to need more if you want an AirPower charger to go with it. According to one retailer, Apple’s latest accessory will be wildly expensive.

iOS 11 brings a great new AirPlay switcher for routing your music or movie audio to AirPlay and Bluetooth speakers. It can be accessed from several places, and overall the new switcher is a big improvement on the old one. It is also quicker to respond, and more reliable. Let’s take a look.

AirPods can be paired with any smartphone, just like other Bluetooth headphones. But you don’t get full functionality on third-party platforms. On Android, however, they just became a lot more useful.

You can now use AirPods to activate the Google Assistant — thanks to one simple app.

The most impressive feature of Google’s new Pixel Buds might not be their audio quality. As demonstrated during the Pixel 2 event today, they work as a real-time translation tool when combined with one of Google’s new phones.

“With Pixel Buds, I can use real-time Google Translate to have a natural conversation in 40 languages,” Google hardware product manager Juston Payne said during the event. “We’re letting you connect with the world around you in a more natural way, by rethinking how a headphone should work, connecting it to cloud-based machine learning and giving you access with the touch of a finger.”

The holiday season is always good for Apple, and this year is no exception. Along with the iPhone X’s possible record pre-orders and better-than-initially-thought iPhone 8 and 8 Plus sales, Apple’s suppliers are also enthused by rising sales for Apple’s AirPods and Apple Watches.

According to sources in Apple’s upstream supply chain, demand for both products has increased and Apple is placing more orders to match.

When Apple execs stepped onstage for September’s big iPhone X unveiling, they had precious few surprises up their sleeves. This year’s iPhone keynote became one of the most spoiled in history, thanks to major software leaks — and a pair of industrious young developers who dug into Apple’s code to pierce the veil of Apple’s vaunted secrecy apparatus.

In this week’s issue, you’ll find that stories and more. Find out why Control Center no longer turns off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Check out our roundups of the best new cases for your iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus as well as the best straps to outfit your new Apple Watch Series 3. Get your free subscription to Cult of Mac Magazine from iTunes. Or read on for this week’s top stories.

It used to be so simple: If you swiped open the iOS Control Center and tapped the Bluetooth icon, then Bluetooth would be toggled on or off. That was it, and the same went for Wi-Fi.

In iOS 11, tapping the same Bluetooth button doesn’t do that. Instead, the Control Center Bluetooth button disconnects your iPhone or iPad from connected Bluetooth accessories, leaving the actual Bluetooth radio on. What’s more, not all accessories get disconnected. Just what in the blazes is going on here?

This post is brought to you by PodPocket.

You’ve gone and done it. You sprang for a set of Apple’s hip new wireless AirPods. Now begins a new era of constant worry that you might lose one of the tiny (and expensive) earbuds. It doesn’t have to be that way, though.

iOS 11 is full of small tweaks that have a big impact. Today’s tip is one of those. In iOS 10, you can customize the double-tap shortcuts on your Apple AirPods to perform various actions — invoke Siri, or play/pause, for example. But the same shortcut would apply to both AirPods. In iOS 11, you can customize each AirPod independently. So, your left ear could be set to call Siri, and your right ear set to play and pause. That’s double the options, with just a software update!

Apple’s AirPods and Beats headphones are getting some fresh competition from one of the biggest audio companies in the game. And they’re getting a little help from Apple’s rival, Google.

Bose unveiled two new products today. One is its first ever foray into the world of truly wireless earbuds. The other is a pair of brand new noise-canceling headphones that are also designed to work with Google Assistant.

Apple’s new Wireless Charging Case for AirPods will go on sale this December, according to a report out of Europe, which sites Apple Switzerland. The device is expected to cost $69, which is the same amount you’ll pay to replace a standard case if you lose it.

Sports-centric wireless headphone maker Jaybird is ready to make a run at AirPods.

The company just fired the starting gun for Jaybird Run, a set of totally wireless earbuds aimed at runners and other sports fanatics. They’re bigger than AirPods, and differ in significant ways. But for runners and other athletes, they could offer keen competition for Cupertino’s wireless earbuds.

This week on The CultCast: We react to everything announced at Apple’s iPhone X press event! Plus, we’ll tell you all we now know about iPhone X, iPhone 8, the new Apple TV 4K, Apple Watch Series 3, the AirPods update, and the new AirPower charging mat. It’s a packed show. Better hit play, fam.

Apple’s first ever keynote at the Steve Jobs Theater was one for the ages as the company took the wraps off some of its most innovative products ever.

Tim Cook and his crew of executives delivered some exciting new technology today from an iPhone that unlocks just by looking at it, to an Apple Watch that isn’t dependent on an iPhone to make calls and texts. There was a lot to unpack in Apple’s two-hour long keynote, so we’ve broken down the highlights on all the new products.

Here are all the new goodies that came out today:

The biggest Apple keynote of 2017 is just a few short hours away. And according to the rumors, its going to be one of the most memorable tech events in years.

When Tim Cook and Co. take the stage at the Steve Jobs Theater on September 12, we expect them to unveil not one, not two, but three new iPhones. A bunch of other new hardware and software is also on the docket, making this an Apple keynote not to be missed.

Here’s everything Apple will likely reveal.

This post has been updated to include the latest info from the massive iOS 11 golden master leak.

Apple looks leakier than the White House these days. The latest unauthorized dump of info about upcoming Apple products comes in the form of a leaked golden master version of iOS 11.

Obtained late Friday by tech publications, the prematurely released final version of Apple’s mobile operating system reveals details about everything from the upcoming iPhones’ model names to dazzling new iOS wallpapers and details about the next Apple Watch.

Spoiler alert: If you want any surprises at all during next Tuesday’s Apple event, stop reading now.

Where do you put your AirPods when they’re not in your ears? Eric Migicovsky kept forgetting and when he did find them, he sometimes realized he had forgotten to charge them.

So he and a couple of friends came up with the PodCase, a relatively slim iPhone battery case that holds a set of AirPods and keeps them charged. The case can do away with the need to carry the AirPods charging case since the PodCase allows for one-cord charging for both phone and ear buds.

Apple has rolled out its tenth beta of tvOS 11 for registered developers ahead of a public release this fall.

The release comes just under one week after developers got their hands on beta 9, and it mostly includes bug fixes and performance improvements at this point.

The latest iOS 11 beta just revealed what it will be like to set up a HomePod, Apple’s new smart speaker coming later this year.

Pairing HomePod with your iPhone will be quite similar to the AirPods setup routine, based on leaked screenshots of the process. If the leak is accurate, you’ll only be able to set up the speaker using an iPhone or iPad.