With National Small Business Week starting Sunday, Apple profiled three small businesses Wednesday, describing how they harness Apple products to grow.
In addition, the company will feature “Grow Your Business with Apple” Today at Apple sessions next week in select U.S. cities.
Just when you thought you’d seen every arrangement of displays known to computer setups, something comes along to surprise you. Today’s featured M2 Pro Mac mini setup puts a portrait-mode display at center and two landscape-mode displays sticking out like wings on either side of it. It’s kind of odd how rarely seen it actually is.
Another rarity is the user’s amazing assortment of audio components, including an unusually big “Schiit stack.”
Apple previewed MixC Shenzhen Wednesday, showing off its second retail store to open in China’s third most-populous city after Shanghai and Beijing.
“We are very excited to open a beautiful new Apple Store in Shenzhen and deepen our connection with the local community,” said Deirdre O’Brien, Apple’s senior vice president of Retail.
“At Apple, we’re constantly innovating to deliver the best possible experience for our customers, and our incredible team members in Shenzhen can’t wait to welcome them when doors open on Friday,” she added.
DJI said Tuesday its new flagship consumer drone, the DJI Mavic 3 Pro, features the company’s first triple-camera setup, adding a 70mm medium-telephoto lens to previous configurations.
“The additional 70mm 48MP medium telephoto lens gives beginner and professional content creators alike increased creative options when shooting aerial images and video,” B&H Photo Video said in a press release about the news.
Anker unveiled its newest and lowest-priced magnetic power bank Monday. And a 30% off launch discount makes the new 321 MagGo Battery PowerCore 5K an even better deal. See below for details.
Update: This deal has expired. Nevertheless, the power bank is only $31.99, which is a third of the cost of Apple’s own version.
★★★★☆
Already known for surprisingly good budget earbuds, Tozo rolled out new flagship active noise-canceling (ANC) wireless earbuds at CES 2023 to compete with the big players. And the Tozo Golden X1 Wireless Earbuds do just that, with a sleek design, quality sound but somewhat meh noise cancellation for a reasonable price (especially with available discounts).
Tozo sent me a pair of Golden X1 buds to check out. They sound excellent — as good as premium earbuds that cost twice as much — but the active noise canceling could be better.
Zagg brand Gear4 rolled out its new Apollo Snap 2 Magnetic AirPods case last week for Apple’s second-generation top-shelf earbuds.
The case’s magnets hold the lid tight and provide MagSafe and Qi wireless charging power.
Computer setups aren’t all about the main machine and displays that cost hundreds or thousands of dollars. Plenty of smaller, less-expensive items turn out to be crucial — like gadget stands, USB-C hubs, the perfect mouse, smart light strips, desk mats and much more.
Today’s featured setup is a tribute to all the little things that make a difference — even double-sided tape.
A computer setup sporting a Mac Studio desktop computer and two Studio Displays is a marvel to be envied. And yet, the two gorgeous displays in today’s featured workstation present some problems, believe it or not.
They make the user wish Apple would just make a widescreen monitor.
Apple TV+ dropped a teaser trailer Thursday for the upcoming drama series Lessons in Chemistry, starring Oscar-winner Brie Larson. She plays a frustrated young scientist in the early 1950s who gets fired from a lab, takes a job as host of a TV cooking show and “sets out to teach … a lot more than recipes,” according to the streaming service.
Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Bonnie Garmus, the new series debuts this fall, Apple TV+ said.
ElevationLab released a new accessory called TagVault: Fabric on Wednesday, saying it’s “the first AirTag fabric mount.” You can discretely stick the fabric holder for Apple’s tracking device almost anywhere, like inside your suitcase or in the lining of a jacket.
★★★★☆
Whether it’s an RGB-plagued mouse or a stereo system that’s trying too hard, I tend to scoff at devices that light up in all the colors of the damned rainbow. But if they light up and also sound as good as Edifier’s QD35 Tabletop Bluetooth Speaker, I guess I’m sold. Let’s party.
Edifier recently sent me a unit to check out. You can read my thoughts below. In brief, the QD35 may not be everyone’s main stereo system, but it could be an ideal one-room speaker — whether that’s a kitchen, bedroom, rec room or man-cave/she-shack.
If you’re among the many people who stick with leather Apple Watch bands because they’re handsome, durable and timeless, can we interest you in a double leather band? They’re called double tour bands, and Speidel makes a beauty in brown leather.
You might think a bunch more fine leather would make it expensive. But the Speidel Brown Leather Double Tour Band stays under the $50 mark in the Cult of Mac Store.
If you bought an iPad Air (5th generation) soon after it came out for full price — like I did — you hate to see news like this. Amazon just marked nearly every 2022 model down as much as $119, hitting all-time-low prices for both cellular and Wi-Fi versions.
But if you’re anybody else — like someone who needs a great iPad — it’s wonderful news. You can save $100 or more.
With Earth Day coming up on Saturday, Apple devoted the top of its website’s homepage Wednesday to the company’s 2023 Environmental Progress Report. It recaps recent press materials about carbon neutrality and recycling measures, but also goes into comprehensive detail about Apple’s longterm approach to climate change.
“Behind every product is a plan for the future” serves as the 114-page tome’s tagline.
What’s better than having two MacBook Pro laptops in your computer setup? Having the two powerful machines wrapped in cool-looking skins that confound and excite onlookers, of course.
Such is the case with today’s dual-MacBook Pro, dual LG-display workstation that the user depends on for coding and videoconferencing.
With our planet and its people facing increasingly dire problems due to climate change — exhaustion of resources, extreme weather, energy crises — the time is now to find ways to live sustainable lifestyles. Investing more in energy storage and reuse helps in the here and now, and also benefits generations to come.
Apple TV+ lit the fuse on upcoming mystery-thiller City on Fire, releasing its first trailer Tuesday. The eight-episode series takes its tale of murder, arson and family drama from the acclaimed novel of the same name by Garth Risk Hallberg.
City on Fire debuts with three episodes on Friday, May 12, on Apple TV+.
Withings unveiled its newest smart scale Tuesday, the Body Smart. It provides precise weight, body composition and health measurements as well as an Eyes Closed Mode “for those that dare not look,” the company said.
Eyes Closed Mode instead shows encouraging statements on the scale and surfaces your actual stats in the Apple Health-connected app so others can’t see them.
If you use a MagSafe charging puck with your iPhone, you may want to try Elago’s MS Charging Pad for MagSafe with it. Not only does the pad surround the little charger with soft silicone to get a good grip and protect your handset and surfaces from scratches, it helps channel the cable and brings a welcome splash of color.
You can choose from seven fun colors for the Elago MS Charging Pad in the Cult of Mac Store — white, black, red, lavender, pink, mint and jean indigo.
On Tuesday, aka National Velociraptor Awareness Day, Apple TV+ dropped a teaser trailer for season 2 of its award-winning natural history series, Prehistoric Planet. And it comes complete with an exciting “new” lineup of dinosaurs.
Narrated by the inimitable Sir David Attenborough — the voice of nature — the series uses new research and technological wizardry to create an in-depth nature documentary. But this one, returning May 22, takes you to landscapes filled with fearsome predators and gentle giants of many millions of years ago.
Australian audio powerhouse Røde introduced five new products and two major software updates Monday — its “biggest product announcement ever,” it said — at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show in Las Vegas.
Two new products headlined — the Streamer X audio interface/video capture card and the compact RødeCaster Duo AV production tool. The new PodMic USB, important firmware updates to the Wireless Go II mic system and the RødeCaster Pro II production tool, and handy new accessories rounded out the mix.
A humble light strip can have a huge impact on a computer setup and even the room it’s in, providing functional lighting as well as setting a mood with white or colored lights at different temperatures (cool, warm, etc.). Today’s featured MacBook Pro setup uses nothing but a Nanoleaf Essentials light strip behind the desk and a Xiaomi monitor lamp to light its way. And they do so to great effect.
Read more about the lighting below, plus the setup’s use of a Sonos Bluetooth speaker for audio and an iPhone with Continuity Camera for effective videoconferencing.
★★★★☆
Most folks have their favorite materials when it comes to Apple Watch bands, like classic leather, stainless steel or smooth silicone. For my take on its interesting version of a silicone band with magnets in it, SwitchEasy recently sent me its MagEasy Skin Silicone Magnetic Apple Watch Band to try out.
It’s a comfortable, stylish, durable and convenient silicone band available in the Cult of Mac Store. The easy-on, easy-off magnetic closure keeps it secure on your wrist. But it’s not without minor drawbacks.
Rumors swirled over the past few years that Sonos would take on Apple’s AirPods Max by releasing its first headphones, possibly with Wi-Fi in addition to Bluetooth. But a little-known Swiss startup has beaten both companies to the punch with a pricey new set of cans.
HED Technologies recently unveiled HED Unity, the world’s first wireless headphones to offer lossless audio, high-resolution audio streaming over a local Wi-Fi network at up to 24bit/96kHz.