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.
The Satechi 4-Port USB-C Hub adds a quartet of useful USB-C ports to your Mac or iPad. The days of struggling along with too few ports are over — you can finally connect as many accessories to your computer as you need.
I put Satechi’s new hub through some real-world testing. Here’s how well it works.
The Twelve South StayGo mini helps remedy the limited number of ports on the iPad Pro and Air. The adapter takes the single USB-C port and converts it to USB-A, HDMI and a headphone jack.
It fits snugly to the tablet but comes with a cable so it can be easily connected to a Mac.
Accessories maker Hyper rolled out new HyperDrive 6-in-1 and 5-in-1 USB-C hubs today to expand what you can do with your 2021 24-inch iMac. And they look pretty good doing it, too.
The two new hubs don’t just add connectivity options with a variety of ports. They also clamp right onto the bottom of your iMac and feature faceplates in seven colors to match your machine.
Recently, power supplies purveyor Bluetti added five new charging products to its fleet — two new portable power stations, two “industry first” battery modules and a DC-charging tool that adds capacity to most of the company’s products.
And, with Bluetti Power Week running between August 20 and August 30, many of the company’s other products are deeply discounted. Plus, you can take advantage of some freebies.
Connectivity supplier Cable Matters rolled out two USB-C dual video adapters for your work-and-play video needs. The two USB-C video adapters offer 8K and dual 4K 60Hz resolution support for displays. In the case of Macs, that’s all 4K, but other users can go for 8K.
Accessories maker Twelve South has rolled out its new PlugBug Slim 20W USB-C charger. It’s a small but potent addition to the company’s charger lineup that could be particularly useful for travel and for those times when spacing is cramped around an electrical outlet.
Electronics powerhouse JVC jumps on the MagSafe bandwagon this week with an interesting new charger, the Wireless Power Bank. Its design and array of power outputs make it stand out.
Satechi, known for an array of iPad and iPhone accessories, has released a trio of GaN wall chargers to help you keep all your Apple devices powered up.
Following the release of its 12-port Thunderbolt 4 dock in June, Anker is now rolling out a new addition to the PowerExpand range, the PowerExpand 9-in-1 USB-C PD Dock. It keeps a slimmer profile than Anker’s beefier docks in the range, some with a 12 and 13 ports.
Australian outfit Chargeasap is back on crowdfunding site Indiegogo with new high-capacity power banks for charging gadgets on the go. The Flash Pro works for Android and the MagSafe-compatible Flash Pro Plus is designed for Mac.
Though cloud storage has made drive-based storage seem a little like an also-ran, local, portable, physical storage still has a place. So it’s good companies still try to improve it. TeamGroup has released three speedy new USB-3.2 flash drives, including one that carries the name “Extreme Speed.”
Anker’s new Apex Thunderbolt 4 Docking Station, available July 1, sports a familiar design but packs an usually high number of ports for the maker’s typical consumer wares — 12. They include a 90-watt power pass-through slot and legacy options.
You may be used to simply recording audio on your mobile device for those endless cat-video voiceovers of yours. But if you want clearer, more-focused audio for your content creation, a small microphone like Sennheiser’s new XS Lavmic will usually do a better job.
A significantly redesigned iPad mini 6 could drop its Lightning port in favor of USB-C, according to a new unconfirmed report. And a smaller Apple Pencil could be produced for it.
The tablet already drew quite a bit of attention because it’s expected to offer a nearly edge-to-edge screen, dumping the hefty bezels in the current version.
Plugable’s USBC-Vameter voltage and amperage meter shows how much power is moving through a USB-C connection. It helps users see what’s happening when their devices are charging… or not charging.
On Tuesday, Plugable released a new version of the tiny multi-meter with an easier-to-read OLED screen and other improvements.