gadgets - page 2

Need a little extra flare in your Apple Watch game? Bucardo’s Apple Watch charm necklaces transform your Apple Watch into a beautiful accessory, and we took it for a little spin in our unboxing video!

Fashion meets functionality — in wearing these stunning, stainless steel charm necklaces, the Apple Watch is still clearly visible, incorporating itself into the necklace itself. It’s a unique and aesthetically appealing way to showcase and use your special timepiece, and it’s available in our Cult of Mac Watch store.

We’re back with another iPhone case giveaway! Just as we promised, over the next several weeks we’ll be giving away dozens of top-notch cases for the 2018 iPhone lineup. This week we’re giving away six iPhone XR cases to a few lucky readers and followers via Instagram.

We’re handing out impressive cases from Spigen, Encased, Insipio and Nomad. All six cases fit the latest XR and together are worth a whopping $169.92.

If you’re looking for a uniquely beautiful watch band to transform your Apple watch from a time piece to a jewelry statement, look no further. Bezels & Bytes fuses tech and style seamlessly with their collection of stunning, luxury Apple Watch Bands. Just ask Oprah!

We unboxed their gorgeous Chainlink & Leather Apple Watch band in rose gold, and it was awesome. Check out the live unboxing video on our YouTube channel here:

At first glance, the Silver Pinstripe Pocket Watch by Bucardo may look like a forgotten relic from your grandfather’s musty closet.

Except, it’s not.

This wondrous, little trinket is the new and improved 2018 version of vintage accessory. It’s a uniquely stunning way to wear your Apple Watch, bucking current trends by melding vintage style and tech. The pocket watch transforms your Apple Watch into a classic yet “on trend” look. Watch us geek out at this marvel in our YouTube unboxing video:

You’ve got a shiny new iPhone XS or XS Max, and you want top keep it that way. Thankfully, there are already a ton of cases available for you. For simple protection, there’s Apple’s own leather or silicone case, but why stop there? You can choose for rugged cases, cases that hold two phones, cases that also work as wallets, and cases that can carry your EarPods.

Even if you don’t normally go for a case, you may like one just so it covers up the iPhone XS’ big camera bump, which really does make the phone wobble on the table. So, sit back, relax, and read our guide to the best iPhone cases around right now.

This is less of a review, and more of a heads-up. If you’re looking for a desktop iPad stand, then you should probably just go ahead and buy the AboveTek Elegant Aluminium iPad Stand Swivel Stand.

Yes, I’m serious. It may be a no-brand Chinese commodity gadget, sold under different names by different sellers, but it’s also the best iPad desk stand I’ve ever used.

This is Fender’s new Tweed Monterey. No, it’s not a tweed-covered guitar amp from the 1950s, although it certainly looks just like one. It is, in fact, the sweetest-looking Bluetooth speaker I’ve ever seen. It might not be the most practical, most portable or even best sounding Bluetooth speaker around. But if you want people to think you play guitar, this is the perfect accessory for your fake sleeve tattoos.

Remember the Roland Go Mixer? The little pocket-size audio mixer that hooks up to your iPhone via its Lightning port, and lets you record a whole band at once? I do, although God knows I’ve tried to forget it. What looked like a promising product turned out to be missing basic functionality. Now, though, Roland has introduced the Go Mixer Pro, and it looks like it fixes everything from the original Go, and more.

For a huge percentage of mobile photographers — from amateur snappers to creative artists — the iPhone is the camera you always have with you. Every iPhone packs an undeniably great camera. But, as with DSLRs or mirrorless cams, the more you shoot, the more variety you crave.

Swapping out lenses at will helps you create a vast mélange of visual adventures with your iPhone. Our roundup of the best iPhone lenses shows you how to find the right external lens or lens kit for your needs.

AirPlus is a silicone case for your AirPods’ case, which adds one great feature, as well as several not-so-great ones. With your AirPods inside the case, you can drop it onto any Qi-compatible charging mat and have the AirPods and their battery case charge wirelessly. That’s pretty sweet, but there are downsides too.

Truth: Every wireless musical gadget has to have its publicity photos shot in a park. Never mind that the user/model is wearing headphones, isolated from their idyllic surroundings, and likely struggling to read their iPhone display in the hot sun. The Jammy is no different. It’s a 17-inch-long practice guitar that can not only be taken to the park, but splits in two for carrying on planes.

This is the Side Winder, a spinning reel for your MacBook’s power brick that coils and spools out both the mains and the DC cables from the brick in seconds. It adds a little bulk to the charger, and in return it promises to free you from tangles and knots, forever.

There are great guitar effects apps for iOS, apps which take the signal from your electric guitar and process it with weird and/or great-sounding effects. And there are also several Bluetooth gadgets that let you control those apps with your feet.

But what about the other way around? Is there a way to take a guitarist’s collection of old-school analog effects pedals, and control them from your iPhone? Well yes, now there is. It’s DC Pedals’ Bluetooth Looper and VirtualLooper app.

Koss’s amazing Porta Pro headphones have finally gone “wireless.” These lightweight, great-sounding headphones first launched in 1984, and have been on sale since. And now, they are available with a Bluetooth connection. Behold, the Koss Porta Pro Wireless.

Electric guitar players have effects pedals. It’s an addiction, and a law of nature. We keep buying little stomp boxes in pursuit of the perfect sound, and of course we don’t even call it sound. We call it “tone.” But the sensible players don’t try to beat the addiction. They switch to software. Instead of buying and trading expensive hardware boxes, they move to something like iOS effects apps, which let you experiment at a fraction of the cost.

And that’s where IK Multimedia’s new iRig Stomp I/O Pedalboard comes in. It’s a hardware pedalboard that provides guitar players with a familiar front-end to all those amazing iOS effects.

This is the Roadie. It’s a guitar tuner with a rotating slot that you slide over a tuning peg of your guitar. Then you pluck a string, and the Roadie listens to the pitch, and actually turns the peg for you, shifting the pitch up or down until it is in tune.

Ikea’s new Eneby speaker may not pack the smarts of a HomePod or an Amazon Echo, but it’s great-looking and it’s pretty cheap. The new range of Ikea Bluetooth speakers starts at $49. If all you want is a nice, easy speaker for the living room, kitchen, or even the backyard, you should take a look.

Laney’s new Mini-Laney and Mini-St-Lion are tiny, portable, desktop versions of the U.K. guitar-amp company’s popular full-sized amplifiers. They come in retro and modern styles, and mono or stereo versions. Plus, they can be hooked up to any amp-simulation software on your iPhone using a single cable.

Roli’s new Songmaker Kit is a kick-ass portable music-making setup that hooks up to your iPad, iPhone or Mac. It consists of a mini version of Roli’s amazing Seaboard keyboards, along with a couple of the company’s modular Blocks. Everything connect via Bluetooth, creating a custom music workstation that’s easy to use and extremely portable.

Let’s take a look at the Roli Songmaker Kit and see how you can use it to make music anywhere.

Podcasters, musicians, and haters of annoying noises rejoice. Blue Designs has come up with the Compass, a microphone boom that keeps your mic fixed right over your desk, your computer, your countertop, or even your ghetto ironing-board podcasting desk. Paired with Blue’s Radius shock mount, you need never worry about mic noise ever again.

Many people can’t bear to part with their old computers, and slowly build a collection of aging models in their basement. Benj Edwards took that impulse to the next level: He owns at least 228 unique devices, many of them classic Apple products going back to the 1980s.

Now he’s put them all up for sale. Ready to start your own computer museum?

As if HomeKit and other automated home appliances weren’t bad enough, now you can buy a HomeKit-enabled light switch. That’s right. Instead of just walking into a room and flipping the switch on the wall to turn on the lights, you can now walk into a room, flip a switch on the wall to turn on the lights, and also deal with firmware and connection issues for the rest of your life.

Apple’s HomePod arrives in homes today. It’s already sold out online, but if you’re lucky you might still snap one up in an Apple store. And you probably should, because the HomePod looks to be just about the best small speaker you can buy — in terms of musical performance, anyway.

If you want to find out how to set up and get the best of your new HomePod, or if you want to read a bit more before deciding whether to get one, you’re in the right place. Below you’ll find all our HomePod coverage: how-tos, reviews, tips and opinions.

Ever since the iOS 11.2 update back in November 2017, the iPhones 8 and X have supported “wireless” fast charging. This allows inductive charging mats to pour 7.5 watts of battery-juicing power into Apple’s latest iPhones. Previous to that, Qi charging mats could only supply a pathetic five watts of charging power. To take advantage of this, you’ll need a charger capable of Apple Fast Charging. Zens has a few new gadgets that will do just that. Let’s take a look.

You have in your hands a brand new iPad. Now what? Sure, you can just go ahead and use it au natural. But consider: While iPads may look like hulking slabs of aluminum and glass, they are deceptively delicate. They cry out for protection.

Gauging which is the best case to safely secure your tablet is not for the faint of heart, given the myriad options out there. That’s where our iPad case roundup comes in. We’ve scoured the best reviews, including our own, and looked at buyers’ favorite cases on shopping sites like Amazon.

Then we gathered our picks into several categories, depending on how much you want to pay, what type of protection you need, and any extra functionality offered (like keyboard cases). And we’ve also put together a list of runners-up — cases that are pretty good, or even great, but just didn’t make our cut.