Retired Navy Chief Petty Officer Hal Howell recently shipped his computer setup to Cult of Mac for inspection, so to speak. He emailed photos and words, anyway.
He runs an Intel Mac mini with an outboard engine of sorts on it for extra graphics processing power, plus Satechi USB-C hubs with extra ballast (er, storage).
Check out the full manifest of the Navy man’s gear below.
Who doesn’t want to make their life easier this month? After all the holiday shopping, we could all use a virtual butler to turn on the lights and play music on command. If that sounds like Alexa — many techies’ favorite voice assistant — you’re right. And you’re right on time.
Thanks to our December Deal of the Day, you can get a refurbished Amazon Echo Dot for just $18.99. Act fast, though. When we say Deal of the Day, we mean today only — the discount ends after 24 hours.
Like it or not, our houses are getting smarter. If you’re sharp and interested in coding, you’ll want to learn to develop for Alexa, the digital assistant popping up in homes around the world due to the amazing success of the Amazon Echo.
Echo and Alexa are the opening shots of the smart home revolution, and with this bundle of comprehensive coding lessons you can get positioned to make your mark. Right now, you can get access to the whole thing for just $19 at Cult of Mac Deals.
Ask Amazon’s Echo smart speaker “How much does the Earth weigh?” and she’ll rattle off the answer in pounds. It takes about a full minute and is genuinely amusing. It’s just one of many surprises up Echo’s sleeve (see this crazy list of Echo Easter Eggs on Reddit). It proves she is by far the best computer you can talk to. Sorry Siri.
And now there are two new members of Amazon’s smart speaker family, both with significant advantages. I love them both, with a couple of caveats.
