dongles

Apple smooths iPhone Lightning to USB-C transition with new adapter

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Apple USB-C to Lightning Adapter
Keep using your Lightning cables and earbuds with iPhone 15 thanks to this adapter from Apple.
Photo: Apple

Anyone unhappy that the iPhone 15 series dumps Lightning in favor of USB-C should consider a just-released adapter from Apple. With it, an old Lightning cable can be plugged into a USB-C port — and for more than just power.

That said, there are cheaper options.

Turn iPad into external monitor for Windows PC with Luna Display 5.0

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Turn iPad into external monitor for Windows PC with Luna Display 5.0
You can easily expand your Windows PC’s working area by turning your iPad into a second screen.
Photo: Astropad

Luna Display 5.0 allows Windows PC users to make their iPad into a second screen. A hardware/software combination from Astropad lets the two disparate computers communicate via a wireless adapter for USB-C or HDMI.

The app could already turn an iPad into a Mac display with a dongle.

Pro Tip: Your Apple USB-C headphone adapter works anywhere

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USB-C headphone adapter
The dongle works pretty much anywhere.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Pro Tip: This to-do list hack turns your tasks into questions If you own a 2018 iPad Pro, you probably also bought Apple’s USB-C-to-3.5mm headphone jack adapter, just so you can plug headphones into your $1,000-plus computer. But what if you want to do something totally crazy like, I don’t know, listen to music and charge the iPad at the same time? Or, given that this a pro machine, maybe you want to hook up a MIDI piano keyboard, or other gear, and use headphones at the same time?

Tough luck, right? No! If you have any old USB-C hub or dock, you can plug Apple’s cheap little dongle into the hub itself. Check it out.

Dongle-tangling: Use dark chaotic forces and never lose your headphone adapter again

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Dongle-tangling is the hottest thing since AirPods.
Dongle-tangling is the hottest thing since AirPods.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

You know how headphone cables always get tangled? In the past, I have put a cable down carefully, and picked it up just moments later, and the wires have already tied themselves into knots. And you know what else is super-annoying? Apple’s stupid USB-C and Lightning headphone adapters, the kind that you have to use if you want to plug headphones or cables recent into iPads and iPhones.

But what if there was a way to take both these annoyances, and combine them into something … slightly less annoying?!? That would be amazing, obviously. Today we will see how to use the powerful dark force of tangling to stop you from losing your headphone jack dongles.

This $10 dongle changed how I use my iPad

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USB-C adapter
Anker’s little dongle is super handy.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

The latest iPad Pro comes with a proper USB port, in the shape of USB-C. Now, as long as you can find the right cable or adapter, you can plug in pretty much anything short of a printer, and it will work as expected.

But you still need to find the right cable, or resort to a USB hub (none of which are really designed to work well with a tablet). In the past, that meant buying lots of USB-C to microUSB, USB-C to miniUSB, USB-C to USB-B cables, and so on.

If only I’d discovered this USB-C adapter first.

How to plug an Ethernet cable into your iPad

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This is a great-looking hub, but it still has problems.
This USB-C hub adds Ethernet to the 2018 iPad Pro, but any iPad can be hooked up with the right dongle.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Ethernet? In 2018? Yes. Maybe you work in an office without Wi-Fi. Perhaps you need to connect your Mac and iPad together directly with a cable for super-fast file transfers. Or maybe you just want the most reliable network connection possible — when recording a podcast, for example.

Whatever the reason, Wi-Fi hasn’t completely ousted Ethernet yet. And using Ethernet on your iPad is easy. If you’re hooking up an old Lightning iPad, it’s pretty easy. If you’re connecting a new USB-C iPad Pro, it’s dead easy.

The one dongle every MacBook owner needs

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Calbit dongle
We found the one dongle to rule them all.
Photo: Erfon Elijah

The 2018 MacBook Pro is one of the sexiest machines Apple’s ever made. There’s just one problem: you need a bunch of dongles to use all your favorite accessories.

Because the MacBook Pro only has USB-C ports you’ll need a dongle for ethernet, a dongle for an HDMI display and another dongle to connect your gadgets that use USB-A, which is like everything. CultCast host Erfon Elijah, aka The Gadget Hunter, has been on the search for the perfect dongle solution for people on the go. In his latest video he reveals his favorite new dongle of 2019.

If you’re ready to taste the sweet relief of living life with just one dongle, pay attention:

Powerful MacBook dock lets you escape ‘dongle hell’

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Linedock
LineDock has ports, power and plenty of storage.
Photo: Linedock

CES 2019 bugLinedock is a device designed to deliver power and salvation from what its creators refer to as “dongle hell.”

It’s a massive messiah at two pounds with nine ports, a 20,000mAH battery with 100 W pass-through charging and an onboard SSD with up to 1 TB of storage.

Make sure you get copies of all your family’s photos this holiday season

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Share family photos
The Camera Connection Kit has some surprising tricks.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

This weekend, you’re “enjoying” some extended time with your family. After you’ve fixed their devices, and taught them that the battery of their iPhone lasts way longer if they don’t leave the damn screen on the whole time, you might decide to swap some photos. You may grab the your old childhood snaps off your mother’s iPad, or photos of the family recipe book off your father’s iPhone.

There are a few ways to do this — slow, fast and faster, wired or wireless. Let’s see how to transfer photos between iPhones and iPads.

Here’s what happens when you plug Thunderbolt gadgets into your 2018 iPad Pro

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Thunderbolt iPad Pro 2018
The new iPad Pro can’t use Thunderbolt accessories, but it can recognize them.
Photo: Cult of Mac

Thunderbolt cables and plugs look exactly like USB-C cables and plugs, but they are incompatible. Or rather, you can plug both kinds into a Thunderbolt port and any connected peripheral will work, but you can’t plug Thunderbolt into USB-C. Or rather you can plug it in, but it won’t work. You see? We’re confused already.

But what happens when you plug a Thunderbolt accessory into the new 2018 iPad Pro?

Cult of Mac’s 2018 Apple wish list

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iPad Pro2
What the next iPad might look like.
Photo: Martin Hajek

Cult of Mac's 2017 Year in Review With 2018 about to begin, why rehash everything that already happened, just to fill up some space while we take time out for Christmas? Let’s go with a different year-end cliche? Yes, it’s a wish list for Apple products in 2018.

Some of these will almost certainly come to pass, while others perhaps will not. One is probably doomed before you even read about it here. Let’s take a look at what Apple products I hope will part me from my money in the coming year.

This dongle fixes the jackless iPhone 7 for good

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amazon lightning iphone 7 dongle
Amazon is getting in on the iPhone dongle game.
Photo: Amazon

Apple’s obsession with lopping ports off its devices has spawned a whole industry of dangling dongles. Every time Apple removes hole to slim down an iPhone or a MacBook, or to make space for a bigger battery, somebody else fills that gap with an external widget that does the exact same thing, only messier and more expensive.

The latest in this dongle parade is the AmazonBasics Lightning to 3.5mm Headphone Jack Audio Adapter with Remote and Lightning Charging Port, a product whose name tells you almost everything you need to know.

iPhone 8 could be last to include headphone jack adapter

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AirPods
Apple should include free AirPods instead.
Photo: Ste Smith

Apple’s mission to kill the use of headphone jacks on the iPhone may be completed by 2018, according to a new report from Barclays.

In a note to investors today, the research bank says the three new iPhone models Apple introduces this year will all come with a Lightning to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter, but this could be the last time buyers get a free dongle.

New USB-C hub makes MacBook Pro backward-compatible

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Type-C hub
The hub to end all the hubbub about the MacBook Pro's USB-C ports.
Photo: SCOSCHE

Apple has made accessories companies busy working furiously to create the perfect dongle or hub for users furious over a new MacBook Pro will only USB-C ports.

We crave change and innovation from Apple, then moan when we are not ready for it. SCOSCHE Industries hopes to ease your transition with a new USB-C AV multiport adaptor with three ports for your peripheral devices.

Take your wired headphones wireless with this Bluetooth adapter

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AirMode Bluetooth headphone adapter
The AirMode Bluetooth headphone adapter lets you cut the cord on your wired headphones.
Photo: Audio Nation

If you’ve got high-end wired headphones and want to make them wireless, AirMode might do the trick. The short cable comes with standard audio connectors on either end that replace the detachable cords found on many headphones.

Packed with features and reasonably priced, AirMode could be the perfect Bluetooth dongle for retrofitting your gear for Apple’s wireless future.

Upgrade Your Mac To 802.11ac With QuickerTech’s USB Dongle

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QuickerTech’s pitch for its 802.11AC USB Transceiver is a good one in this wasteful age of needless upgrades: instead of tossing out your perfectly good old Mac just to buy one that is only marginally better just because it has faster 802.11ac wireless, just add this little USB dongle instead. This is especially true for a desktop Mac, which has plenty of USB ports to house a the little widget.

Bad Elf Dongle Adds GPS Via Lighting Port

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bad elf gps dongle

When I ordered a Retina iPad mini, I went for the cellular version – and not only because it means I can get online anywhere without draining my iPhone’s battery by tethering. I got it for the GPS, which is pretty fantastic to have when traveling, especially in the (big) pocket-sized mini.

But if you didn’t have the foresight to spend the extra $130 on a cellular, you can now spend that exact same $130 on a dongle that adds GPS through the Lightning port.

Lightning Insert Makes Elevation Dock iPhone 5 Friendly

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Fix-up.
Fix-up.

I’m so desperate for a dock for my new iPhone 5 that I have closely studied the little perspex stands in the local Apple Store and scoured the local hardware emporiums for something — anything — that comes close to its acrylic simplicity.

I have so far failed, and am currently using the box the iPhone came in as a pretty handy stand. But I’m not really that serious about docks, unlike the people who dropped cash and patience on the Elevation Dock from Kickstarter, only to have it obsoleted by the new Lightning connector weeks after it shipped.

Anyway, all of this lede-burying is preamble to one thing: you can now buy a Lightning insert for your Elevation Dock.

Tiny Dongle Turns Hotel Ethernet Into Hotel Wi-Fi

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You're in a hotel room, and you want to hook up to the in-room Wi-Fi. And guess what? It sucks, just like at every other hotel you ever stayed at. So Instead you dig out your MacBook and hook it up to the hotel's Ethernet cable, and use internet sharing to generate your own wireless network.

Wait… The newest MacBooks Air don't have Ethernet ports. But don't worry: you can pick up the $60 mySpot from Kanex, a little dongle which takes an Ethernet connector and turns its sweet network payload into a wireless cloud, ready for all your iDevices and your non-Ethernet MacBook Air.