9to5Mac Reviews

Whether it’s your daily carry or a longer trip, Apple accessories can quickly become troublesome to keep organized and easily accessible. Native Union’s Stow Organizer is designed specifically with Apple users in mind to tame your cables, dongles, power adapters, and more. It even has Apple Pencil storage and a zippered interior pocket for small items like SD cards and flash drives. Read on for a closer look at this handy Apple accessory organizer.

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Over the past month, I’ve used the Sony’s poorly-named but pretty incredible WF-1000XM3 wireless earbuds for gym workouts (recommended) and bike rides (at your own risk). These $228 earbuds fall between Apple’s $159 AirPods and $259 PowerBeats Pro but offer something both don’t: active noise cancellation.

In fact, I reviewed the PowerBeats Pro last month and thought I was done with my search for the perfect wireless earbuds. Turns out I was wrong…

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When Philips Hue first announced its line of outdoor smart lighting back at CES 2018, I was immediately intrigued. I was on-hand for the demo in Las Vegas and saw an answer to a problem that has seemingly plagued my outdoor spaces for years. There are plenty of lighting solutions for gardens and outdoor areas but most are clunky and unrefined. I’ve leaned on outdoor-grade smart plugs each Christmas for a while, but those lack the integrated dimming controls that are often best suited for landscape lighting.

The Philips Hue outdoor line arrived on the scene with an answer in-hand, and a hefty price tag to match. But what I found was a refined solution that met the needs of my burgeoning HomeKit setup while highlighting the unique architectural aspects of my home, which you can learn more about below.

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Fans of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy will remember the Babel Fish.

The Babel fish is small, yellow, leech-like – and probably the oddest thing in the universe. It feeds on brain wave energy, absorbing all unconscious frequencies and then excreting telepathically a matrix formed from the conscious frequencies and nerve signals picked up from the speech centres of the brain, the practical upshot of which is that if you stick one in your ear, you can instantly understand anything said to you in any form of language: the speech you hear decodes the brain wave matrix.

With automated translation services and devices, we’re getting steadily closer to that dream. But with Google Translate available on our iPhone, is there any place for a dedicated translation gadget like Langogo?

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If you’re looking for an easy-to-use bus-powered 10-Gigabit Ethernet solution for Mac, then Sonnet’s Solo 10G Thunderbolt 3 adapter may fit the bill. This portable unit affords quick connections to high-speed networks via a single Thunderbolt 3 cable. Watch our hands-on Sonnet Solo 10G video review for the details.
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If you ever feel nostalgic for the classic iPod, you might enjoy the Elago W6, the Apple Watch stand that thinks it’s an iPod.

It’s not the first time Elago has done something like this. Back in 2017, it created the W3, based on the original Macintosh …

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Last week Apple pushed out a couple of updates to the entry-level MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air. The MacBook Air update included a new lower $1099 starting price along with True Tone Display support.

The MacBook Air update was nice, but the refresh to the entry-level MacBook Pro, which hasn’t received an update since 2017, was far more compelling. The new entry-level MacBook model comes with refreshed internals, Touch Bar and Touch ID support, and features the same $1299 base price.

Touch Bar support is nice, but the most impressive thing about this refresh is its speed, thanks large in part to the 8th-generation quad-core CPU that replaces the dual-core CPU on the previous iteration. The update makes the entry-level MacBook Pro well worth considering, even for those who felt the previous model was too underpowered for their needs.

Watch our hands-on video walkthrough inside for the details.

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Earlier this week the iPod touch received a modest upgrade, arriving with little fanfare via an Apple press release. The new 7th-generation iPod touch has little in the way of new features, but it does receive a CPU spec-bump that takes it from an iPhone 6-era Apple A8 to an iPhone 7-era A10 Fusion chip, not to mention double the RAM of the previous generation.

The new hardware upgrades make it so that iPod touch users can enjoy Augmented Reality (AR) apps along with Group FaceTime capability for the first time. There’s also a new 256 GB flash storage tier, another first for the iPod lineup. It means that in 2019, there’s finally an iPod that bests the 160GB iPod Classic in terms of storage space.

While the iPod touch isn’t the mass market item that earlier members of the product line once were, Apple believes that there continues to be a viable audience for such a device. Not only is it ideal for storing large music libraries locally, but with the upcoming launch of the new Apple Arcade subscription gaming service, Apple continues to position the iPod touch as a handheld gaming option.

All of that said, should you consider buying this new iPod touch? Watch our hands-on video review for the details.
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As we await Apple’s full-on redesign of the MacBook Pro, hopefully with a rethought keyboard in tow, Apple surprised us with another spec-bumped MacBook Pro release alongside the launch of the new 23.7-inch LG UltraFine Display.

In light of the ongoing keyboard issues, it would be all too easy to criticize Apple for releasing yet another MacBook with a slightly-modified butterfly key switch design. The criticism is well-deserved given the history of the keyboard issues, but I also think it’s worth looking at the positive aspects of this release.

Just because its brand new fully-redesigned MacBook Pro hardware with a rethought keyboard isn’t ready, doesn’t mean that Apple has left the existing MacBook Pro lineup to stagnate — something it would have had no problem allowing to happen in the past. Instead, Apple continues to issue updates as they become available from key partners.

For example, Intel’s new 9th-generation i9-9980H and i9-9980HK CPUs just launched this quarter, and Apple wasted no time updating its MacBook Pro with the new 8-core chips. This release, along with last November’s Radeon Pro Vega spec-bump update, shows that Apple is taking the idea of catering to professional Mac users seriously.

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The robot vacuum cleaner market is a pretty crowded one these days, so the Roborock S5 attempts to stand out by going one better: it doesn’t just vacuum your floors, it also mops them.

I was already sold on the concept of robot vacuum cleaners, having been seriously impressed by the Neato Botvac D7 Connected which I reviewed last year. We have it set on a schedule to vacuum the apartment at 8am every weekday, and it does a great job.

But I was unsure whether a robot with a small water tank could really do a good job of mopping the floors …

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After discontinuing the smaller 21.5-inch UltraFine Display, LG has released a new larger 24-inch UltraFine-labeled monitor in its place at the same $699 price point. If the launch of the new display flew under your radar, that’s probably because much of the spotlight was centered on Apple’s new 2019 MacBook Pro models, which launched alongside LG’s new display.

This new UltraFine Display is like a combination of the UltraFine 5K and the older UltraFine 4K Display, and for the most part that’s an okay thing. The biggest feature is the inclusion of not just one, but two Thunderbolt 3 ports. That’s an improvement over LG’s previous Apple-centric displays, as you’ll see in our hands-on video review.
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A couple of years ago I replaced my Apple AirPort Extreme router with Synology’s RT2600ac. I made this move partly because of the rumors about Apple exiting the router business — which it eventually did — and partly because I desired a more robust feature set.

This was around the same time that consumer mesh networks were really beginning to gain in popularity, but unfortunately, Synology didn’t offer a mesh networking solution at the time. The good news is that Synology now has a mesh router in its repertoire in the MR2200ac. Watch our hands-on video walkthrough for more details.
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Recently Apple provided long-awaited updates to its iMac lineup, and although there are no cosmetic changes to be found in the 2019 iMac, these machines feature noteworthy CPU and GPU improvements under the hood. In fact, CPU options now start at 6-core processors for the base 27-inch model, a notable boost over the strict 4-core configurations from the previous refresh. If you desire more processing power, then the new iMacs, with their updated Intel CPUs and AMD GPUs provide a substantial performance upgrade.

Given the new upgraded processor options, it’s no wonder why people are quick to compare the 8-core model to the entry-level iMac Pro. But as you’ll see in this video, there’s more than just processor performance that makes the iMac Pro the beast that it is. On this latest episode of the Back to the Mac, we discuss five takeaways from Apple’s 2019 iMac refresh.
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Master & Dynamic MW65 over-ear headphones launched this week, the company’s first ever noise-canceling headphones.

For a long time, my audio loyalty was split between two companies: Bang & Olufsen and Bowers & Wilkins. That changed in 2014 with Master & Dynamic (and again in 2016 with Naim) …

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Arlo Technologies recently re-launched its Arlo Ultra 4K wireless security camera after experiencing issues during its initial availability. The widely reported issues, which caused the company to pull back on the launch, involved bugs and connectivity issues.

With several firmware updates under its belt that addressed the reported problems, Arlo feels that their 4K security camera is now ready for prime time. How does it stack up to the Arlo Pro 2? Should you consider upgrading? Watch our hands-on video impressions for the details.
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Anyone who spends all or much of their day sat at a desk will know how easy it is to fall into bad habits where posture is concerned – slouching instead of sitting upright. The end result can be back pain or even injury.

One solution is a sit-stand desk. I have considered it, and not ruled it out, but as I already have a bespoke desk designed to meet my needs, that would only work if I could find a conversion kit that would work with it.

So I thought I’d try a simpler solution in the meantime: an $80 gadget, sold in Apple Stores, which tells you when you’re slouching …

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There are a lot of options when it comes to external keyboards for the iPad Pro. Apple makes its own Smart Keyboard, and companies like Zagg and Logitech routinely release sleek options. One of the most beloved makers of iPad Pro keyboards, however, is Brydge. With a MacBook-style aluminum design, there’s a lot to love about the Brydge Pro for the iPad Pro. But how does it compare to Apple’s own Smart Keyboard? Read on to find out.

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I was disappointed when Apple didn’t offer a leather Smart Cover for the 2018 12.9-inch iPad Pro. I’ve always had these on my earlier iPads. What I liked about them is that they offered screen protection with little added thickness, and also folded back into a convenient stand.

All Apple offered this year, however, was a silicone Smart Folio. This has a back as well as a front, and the rubbery material really isn’t pleasing at all.

No-one has yet offered a third-party version of what I really want – a simple leather Smart Cover – so I decided to try the next best thing: a leather Smart Folio case …

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Along with its recently launched AirPods 2, Apple also released a standalone Wireless Charging Case for the AirPods. The Wireless Charging Case is an $80 accessory that works with both the first and second-generation versions of Apple’s wireless earbuds.

If you own a set of first-gen AirPods, should you consider forking over more money for the privilege of wireless charging? Watch our brief hands-on video review for the details.
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The Logitech Slim Folio Pro for the 2018 iPad Pro is a product designed for iPad users whose workflow is primarily focused on typing. It features an excellent keyboard, along with key features like highly-tactile keys and backlighting to enhance the typing experience.

Is Logitech’s latest iPad Pro accessory right for you? Learn more in our hands-on Logitech Slim Folio Pro video review.
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One of the biggest complaints about recent Mac laptops is their lack of ports. Elgato’s Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock, like other docks we’ve seen over the years, seeks to solve that issue by making it possible to connect to a wide variety of accessories via a single Thunderbolt 3 cable.
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