Phil Dzikiy
It’s been a while since we’ve reviewed a Soundcast speaker — Melody in 2013 — but the company’s VG1 ($150) has been creating some buzz. VG1 is an IP67-certified waterproof Bluetooth speaker. Soundcast claims the speaker lasts 15 hours on a full charge, which is very good battery life for a speaker of its size. The small VG1 has speakerphone
Apple released its fourth betas for both iOS 10.3 and watchOS 3.2 to registered developers today. iOS 10.3 for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch contains the Find My AirPods feature, among other changes, while watchOS 3.2 features the upcoming Theater Mode for Apple Watch. A new public beta for iOS 10.3 should be released in the near future.
Mophie’s Juice Pack Air ($100) has arrived for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. The wireless charging case can fully recharge an iPhone 7, while the iPhone 7 Plus case can recharge the larger iPhone back up to 60 percent battery. A matte slider-style case, Juice Pack Air’s Lightning connector plugs into the iPhone, while the case can be
Apple is preparing to adopt a new connector type for accessories, known as the Ultra Accessory Connector (UAC). The company has launched a developer preview of the new connector type, 9to5Mac reports. Sources claim this new, smaller connector could replace the use of Lightning and USB connectors in some cases. The 8-pin connector would be thinner than USB-C, and about
Apple has released a new batch of second betas to developers today — iOS 10.3 for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, tvOS 10.2 for Apple TV, and watchOS 3.2 for Apple Watch. iOS 10.3 contains Find My AirPods support, tvOS 10.2 boasts improved scrolling support, and watchOS 10.2 brings the screen-disabling Theater Mode to the Apple Watch, among other improvements.
Distil Union’s popular Wally wallets and wallet phone cases have arrived on iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus with Wally Ether. A leather-backed shell case, Wally Ether offers little protection for an iPhone, but it can store up to three cards in its compartment. Wally Ether uses the clever Wally Pull-Tab found in other Wally wallets, which allows users to
Prince’s music will be available to stream on Apple Music “very soon,” according to a Pitchfork report. Tidal has been the exclusive streaming home to Prince’s back catalog since July 2015, but that looks to change in the coming weeks. Currently, Prince’s final album — Hit n Run Phase Two, released in December 2015 — is the only Prince album
Apple has released the first beta of watchOS 3.2 to developers. The new beta includes SiriKit and Theater Mode, the latter of which can quickly mute the Apple Watch’s sounds and prevent the screen from waking when a user raises his or her wrist. Apple released watchOS 3.1.3 for Apple Watch just a week ago.
In addition to today’s iOS release, Apple has also released updates for Apple TV and Apple Watch. tvOS 10.1.1 comes to the fourth-gen Apple TV, and watchOS 3.1.3 was released for Apple Watch. Like iOS 10.2.1, both of these updates also appear to be primarily focused on performance improvements and bug fixes. watchOS 3.1.3 can be downloaded through the iOS
Apple released iOS 10.2.1 to the public today. The update for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch offers bug fixes and performance improvements — a minor update, all things considered. We’ll let you know of any particularly notable improvements or surprising new features. iOS 10.2.1 is rolling out now, so it should be available shortly if you don’t see it yet.
Apple quietly released a fourth beta of iOS 10.2.1 to registered developers late in the day on Thursday. The new beta features a build number of 14D27 and eliminates virtually all of the “known issues” in the release notes, suggesting that a public release is imminent. The single listed issue remaining simply notes that the Emergency SOS feature which debuted
Apple Music’s upcoming Carpool Karaoke standalone series will consist of 16 half-hour episodes, Variety reports. The show, a spinoff of the popular segment on The Late Late Show with James Corden, will feature different hosts for each episode. Carpool Karaoke will also be “more of an interview series” — it’s unclear how much time will be spent talking, and how
Apple has released the third beta of iOS 10.2.1 to registered developers today, after a holiday break of sorts — the second beta was released before Christmas. A public beta release should soon follow. While a recent tweet claimed an iOS 10.3 beta would introduce “theatre mode” this week, that seems unlikely to happen so soon. Additionally, Apple has also
The recent release of RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic ($6) for iOS has been long awaited by a certain group of mobile gamers. While there have been a number of theme park simulators available on the App Store — including RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 and RollerCoaster Tycoon 4 — a dedicated crowd has long insisted the first and second RollerCoaster Tycoons are still
Apple’s wireless AirPods automatically pause music playback when one or both of the buds are removed from your ears during use. But if you’d prefer to control play/pause with touch controls without having to remove AirPods from your ears, Apple has given users a way to do so. While your AirPods are connected, go to Settings > Bluetooth on your
On its website, Apple describes its new AirPods ($159) as “Wireless. Effortless. Magical.” The completely wireless earbuds have finally arrived, after a delay that almost caused Apple to miss the holiday season completely. AirPods use Apple’s W1 chip to easily connect via Bluetooth, and the company claims the chip also allows for efficient battery use and improved sound. The earbuds
Super Mario Run (free/$10 full game) is Nintendo’s first true smartphone game (sorry, Miitomo), and though it was only released on Thursday, the iOS exclusive has already been the subject of mixed reviews, much debate — and high grosses. Unsurprisingly, Super Mario Run vaulted to the top of the App Store’s charts in both the Free and Top Grossing categories.
We’ve reviewed a number of Olloclip’s offerings in the past, and the company is back with a number of new lens sets for iPhone 7/7 Plus. Core Lens Set ($100) includes three lenses — fisheye, macro 15x, and super-wide — and attachments to secure the lenses to the back of an iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus, with its CONNECT
AirPods won’t be the only Apple headphones suffering from lengthy delays this holiday season, if a recent report proves true. The release of its BeatsX wireless earphones may be delayed another two to three months, according to MacRumors. The report claims that authorized reseller B&H Photo Video emailed a customer this weekend regarding the earphones, and the reseller wrote that
Apple has reportedly held talks about investing up to $1 billion in SoftBank Group’s technology fund, the Wall Street Journal reports. Japanese corporation SoftBank is aiming to raise $100 billion for its SoftBank Vision Fund, and Apple’s investment could enable the Cupertino company to “gain insight on emerging technologies,” the report notes. Sources note nothing has been finalized, and it’s
After a significant number of beta releases, Apple has finally released iOS 10.2 to the public today. The release features the new TV app for accessing video content across multiple apps, 100 new emoji, and new screen effects in Messages, along with many other updates, new features, and improvements. Apple also released tvOS 10.1, with its own version of the
Some iCloud users have seen spam pop up in their calendar invitations in recent weeks, and Apple has now introduced a way of reporting such spam. Users will now see a “report junk” option in unsolicited calendar invites from any senders who aren’t contacts. The “report junk” option is currently available on iCloud.com, and it will hopefully be seen in
iHome’s iPLWBT5 ($130) is an alarm clock radio with a built-in Lightning dock, and a built-in Apple Watch charger, allowing users to charge a Lightning-based iPhone and Apple Watch simultaneously with no cables. iPLWBT5 has typical alarm clock functions, while also letting users wake up to audio from a docked device or Bluetooth — yes, the speaker is also Bluetooth
Brydge’s Brydge 12.9 ($189) is, as you might expect, a keyboard for the 12.9″ iPad Pro. Made out of aluminum, the Bluetooth keyboard has hinges which attach to the iPad, giving it a laptop look when in use. Keys are backlit, with three levels of lighting. The top row of keys is devoted to iOS functions, such as screen brightness,