The robotics engineering student who made a name for himself replacing an iPhone’s Lightning connector with USB-C is at it again. But this time he’s bringing a USB-C AirPods charging case into the world for the first time.
Ken Pillonel got $86,000 for the iPhone. No word yet on whether crazy money will come his way for the AirPods case.
If you’re one to suffer charging anxiety while out and about, Anker has your cure. It unveiled its latest portable, MagSafe-compatible charging bank Monday, the Anker 633 Magnetic Battery.
The beastly little brick packs a 10,000mAh battery capacity, Anker’s first product of this kind to do so. Plus it features speedier wireless charging than some previous packs as well as spritely USB-C charging when you just want to pull out a cable and get it over with.
Adapters simplify the sometimes-messy process of connecting things to our computers. I regularly travel, and I’ve found there are three USB adapters that get me through most of my connection problems.
If you, for example, suddenly need to use a new accessory at a client’s office, or get power at an airport, these adapters will get you through. And they are very affordable.
Whether you’ve suffered a power outage, decided to go on a camping trip or finally realized you need to ditch civilization once and for all, Anker’s burly new 757 PowerHouse portable power station can help.
With a powerful battery and loads of ports, it’s for anytime you go off-grid.
The Mac Studio looks just a bit… off. It’s the three front-facing ports. They aren‘t arranged like they should be. The SD card slot makes a horizontal line, but the two USB-C ports are vertical.
It’s an unusual miss for a company that’s typically obsessed with tiny design details.
First a robotics engineering student made a splash late last year by modding an iPhone X with a USB-C port instead of a Lightning port — and sold the device for big money. Now someone else is touting a similar modification, but this time the handset boasts a reinforced port that includes waterproofing. And yes, the tinkerer’s going to sell it soon — probably for more money than most people make in a year.
Among accessories maker Satechi’s new products showing at CES 2022 is the new 2-in-1 Headphone Stand with Wireless Charger designed for AirPods Max, rolled out Thursday.
While a sleek, stainless steel arm suspends your headphones, the base charges your iPhone or other Qi-enabled device and provides a USB-C port to power up the headphones, too.
You can never be too thin, too rich or have too many USB ports. The EZQuest USB-C Gen 2 Hub Adapter adds four USB-C ports and three USB-A ones, making room for an array of peripherals for your Mac or iPad.
I put the USB-C hub through real-world testing. Here are its strengths and weaknesses.
Cyber Acoustics launched its new USB speaker bar with an integrated monitor mount on Tuesday. Perched on your display, it offers well-projected audio while helping to keep your desktop clutter-free.
Connectivity accessories maker StarTech.com expanded its lineup of USB-C multiport adapters. The company said the new adapters enable you to create a powerful mobile workstation no matter where your work takes you.
In my recent review of Earfun’s Air Pro 2 wireless active noise cancellation (ANC) earbuds, I said they packed good enough features — sound quality, active noise cancellation, comfortable fit — to be worth their affordable price tag. With the new EarFun Free Pro 2 wireless ANC earbuds, that’s even more the case. Especially because the same high quality comes in an even smaller package.
You won‘t need a MacBook with an HDMI port if you have Plugable’s USB-C to HDMI cable. Just run the cable between the external display and your Mac or iPad and you have 4K@60Hz. Even better, it’s currently available at a discount that drops the price to less than $17.
I tested this accessory in my home office to be sure it lives up to its promises.
If you want to be a helpful elf after the holidays — always ready to help charge up people’s devices and open their bottled beverages — you can be. Just carry the nifty little Vonmählen High Six 6-in-1 keychain charging cable in your pocket, with or without keys.
The review sample I received didn’t look flawless or work exactly as advertised, but the company said it will address some issues before it commences shipping the High Six in January 2022, as described below.
An iPhone X that’s been modded to use a USB-C instead of Lightning connector has sold for a whopping $86,001 on eBay.
Built by robotics engineering student Ken Pillonel, the device — which still functions perfectly normally — was shown off in October before being listed for sale earlier this month. It had received a bid of $99,000, but that was retracted.
German accessory designer Vonmählen is rolling out a 6-in-1 keychain pocket tool called the High Six – which it said is “the world’s most compact key chain charging cable.” In addition to its various adapters for your charging and data-transfer needs, it has a bottle opener. You know, for your refreshment needs.
Remember the iPhone X that was modded to use a USB-C port? The robotics engineer who created it this week listed the device on eBay, and it has already racked up more than 140 bids to reach an eye-watering $85,550.
The auction, which includes a 30-minute phone call with seller Ken Pillonel, still has seven days left to run. But Pillonel asks bidders not to restore or update the device — or even use it as their daily driver.
A group of students in China is suing Apple for no longer including chargers with its newest iPhone models. The lawsuit calls for Cupertino to cough up for charging adapters, breach of contract, and court fees.
Apple has already been fined by Brazil’s consumer protection agency since it stopped shipping power adapters with iPhone 12 last fall.
Anker keeps the new products coming. This week’s release of a new 40W Nano Pro charger follows last month’s release of 20W Nano Pro chargers. The new ones pack more juice but remain compact and come in the same array of colors. They also feature dual USB-C PD ports.
The Kingston DataTraveler Max is blazing fast. It supports USB 3.2 Gen 2 so the new flash drive can transfer data at up to 1,000MBps. And it uses USB-C so can be plugged into any Mac and most iPads.
I tested Kingston’s speed claims under real-world conditions. And data transfers are so quick it made me want to pitch out all my old flash drives.
I think most of us can agree that iPhone is long overdue a USB-C upgrade. But despite bringing the technology to Mac and iPad years ago, Apple seems reluctant to ditch Lightning for its smartphones. So, someone else did.
Robotics engineering student Ken Pillonel managed to replace the Lightning connector in his iPhone with a working USB-C connector. The mod allows for charging and data transfer — but it’s not one you’ll want to perform yourself.
The just-released iPad mini is the latest Apple tablet to make the switch from Lightning to USB-C. That allows it to do quite a few things out of reach of its predecessors.
As a proud new owner of the device, you’ll surely want to make sure you’re living up to its potential. Here’s everything iPad mini owners need to know about USB-C.
Three new offerings now join Satechi’s formidable charger lineup for iPhone 12 and 13 series handsets and other portable devices: a MagSafe-compatible car mount charger, a high-output car charger and a USB-C PD wall charger.
The European Commission put forward legislation Thursday that would make USB-C the standard port for all smartphones and tablets. The move seems aimed directly at Apple and the Lightning port used in iPhone and the budget iPad. But it also would affect super-cheap Android handsets that still use micro-USB.
The proposal also would unbundle the sale of chargers from the sale of electronic devices.
Anker just expanded its lineup of USB-C wall chargers with an unusually compact and colorful set of four Nano Pro gallium nitride (GaN II) units offering 20W of power on the cheap. And they arrive just in time to help you charge Apple’s new iPhone 13 handsets.
Kensington brought out two new USB-C hubs this week featuring up to 100W passthrough charging and as high as 4K 60Hz HDMI connectivity along with other features.
