9to5Mac Reviews

One of the downsides of living in a city is that opportunities to fly your drone tend to be limited. Where I live is well inside the massive chunk of drone-free air over London. Indeed, I’m inside both controlled airspace for my nearest airport (London City, less than five miles away) and a separate Restricted Area above central London.

So if I want to reach clear airspace, it’s either a car ride or train journey away – which means I only really do it when I have a specific reason or project in mind. That makes it hard to build on, or even maintain, my flying skills.

DJI of course has its own drone simulator built into the DJI Go app, but it’s more of a conceptual implementation than an accurate simulation of real-world physics. Which is why I decided to try Zephyr, a simulator for the Mac and Windows that claims to accurately model the actual flight characteristics of the drones it covers …

Expand
Expanding
Close

Traveling can disrupt even the best laid plans, and with today’s connected lifestyles, the stress of an unexpected situation is only exacerbated if you’re worrying about keeping your devices powered up. Combine that with the chaos and and spectacle that is the annual Consumer Electronics Show, and you’ve got the perfect storm for a travel headache.

Earlier this month, I spent 5 days in Las Vegas for CES 2018. With me came The Carry-On, modern and thoughtfully designed luggage with USB power sent over to try out by Away. Over the course of the show I put The Carry-On to the test, traversing miles of hotel, casino, and airport carpeting to bring you my thoughts. Let’s take a look at how well it held up and how it kept my devices charged…

Expand
Expanding
Close

In the run-up to the HomePod’s delayed release, I’ve been experimenting heavily with Amazon Alexa in various forms. While Alexa is most present at home where I’ve placed Echo Dots throughout my house for controlling lights, I’ve also tried Alexa in the car using Garmin Speak which is a dash-mounted GPS with Amazon’s voice assistant built-in.

Expand
Expanding
Close

When Beam announced its app-controlled OLED smart button last month, it struck me as a fun – if relatively pricy – idea.

What you get is a modern-day take on a button which you can wear on clothing or attach to a bag. Instead of a fixed message on metal, you get a 400×400 pixel AMOLED screen on which you can display anything you like …

Expand
Expanding
Close

There are some brand looks you recognize at a glance, and Marshall is one of those. Black casing with rounded edges. Black speaker grille with gold surround. And, of course, the brandname in gold script across the front.

Marshall speakers and amps are as closely associated with rock bands as the electric guitar. From buskers on the street with a single unit to banks of speakers on the stage of big band concerts, it’s hard to picture the scene without that Marshall name.

So when the company offered a range of AirPlay speakers, it would have been impossible to resist trying one out …

Expand
Expanding
Close

There’s no shortage of external drives around, both spinning metal and SSD, though higher-capacity portable SSDs are still in relatively short supply.

The iStorage diskAshur 2 combines an SSD in capacities of up to 4TB with hardware encryption and protection against physical tampering which it claims makes it the most secure drive in the world …

Expand
Expanding
Close

Even when moving home is for all the right reasons, it still has to count as one of life’s most mixed experiences. While the end result is hopefully a better home in a better location, the process also involves a great deal of stress, work and expense. In the case of our own recent move, we can tick all five boxes …

But one of the fun parts is the chance to start again with a blank sheet in terms of designing your home the way you’d like it to be. For most of us, that’s a DIY process. We look for inspiration online and in stores, then sit down at the computer – or pencil and paper – to play with ideas.

The posher approach is to hire an interior designer to do it all for you. You tell them your tastes, and what you’re looking to achieve, and let them come up with designs. You then say yes or no to the various elements, and they rework the designs until you end up with a final one you approve …

Expand
Expanding
Close

Fibaro Flood Sensor is the first leak detector that works with Apple HomeKit. This lets you use Flood Sensor ($69) in Apple’s Home app in interesting ways not possible with other leak detectors.

Expand
Expanding
Close

I have never been particularly fond of any of Apple’s mice. I appreciate the company’s dedication to simplicity when it comes to their products, but for my uses which include design and gaming, Apple focuses entirely too much on form over functionality.

As someone who frequently has multiple apps running at the same time, I find Mission Control (formerly Exposé) to be one of my favorite and one of the most useful features of macOS, and I like to use a third-party mouse that has extra buttons with my Mac so that I can program them for Mission Control’s window commands (specifically, Mission Control, Application Windows, and Show Desktop).

This makes switching between Photoshop documents or getting to a file on my desktop as simple as a mouse click. That’s why I decided to go against the grain, so to speak, and try the Microsoft Surface Precision Mouse. 
Expand
Expanding
Close

Over the past few years, Ultimate Ears has become somewhat of a household name in the world of portable speakers. Their ever-popular Boom lineup has shown that portable speakers can have excellent battery life and sound great. Recently they’ve taken it one step further by bringing Amazon’s Alexa to the portable speaker with their new Blast speakers. Combining a smart voice assistant, with a solid Bluetooth speaker, what’s not to like?

Expand
Expanding
Close

When Apple decided to drop USB for USB-C I was actually excited about it, contrary to most people’s reactions. Thankfully there are many companies like 23Devices making solid products to help us be more productive with the tools we have.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Hunter is a company known for commercializing ceiling fans over 130 years ago, and today the company is the only firm making smart home ceiling fans that work with Apple HomeKit. Hunter’s SimpleConnect line includes three ceiling fan models available in multiple finishes that are priced from $299.

Each Hunter ceiling fan includes a built-in LED light that makes SimpleConnect a 2-in-1 essential for HomeKit homes. This enables Siri control from Apple devices, Control Center access on iPhone and iPad, automation with other smart accessories through Apple’s Home app, and much more.

Expand
Expanding
Close

ecobee is the maker of what I consider the best HomeKit thermostat on the market, and the new version called ecobee4 adds built-in Amazon Alexa voice control and works with Google Home. ecobee4 offers the same features as the HomeKit-enabled ecobee3 which we reviewed last year, so should iPhone users spend the extra money on the new version?

Expand
Expanding
Close

With so many docks on the market, ElevationLab makes the seemingly bold claim that its new ElevationDock 4 is “the best dock for iPhone.” However, it didn’t take me very long with the product to realize that the company isn’t exaggerating; it is hands down the best iPhone dock I’ve ever used. Here’s why…

Expand
Expanding
Close

If you’re looking to shoot 4K video from a sedate position, your iPhone already has you covered. The latest iPhone 8 and upcoming iPhone X both offer 4K video recording at up to 60fps for buttery-smooth slo-mo. But if you’re looking to ride a mountain bike (or, indeed, a commuter bike on London’s potholed streets), abseil off a building or do anything else adventurous, you probably want a dedicated action cam.

You know a company has really hit the big time once people start using the brand name as a generic name for the product category. Biro and Hoover are the obvious examples from years gone by, but one of the best examples in today’s world is GoPro. Half the time people refer to ‘a GoPro,’ they really mean it as a generic term for a compact action cam …

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple introduced Wireless CarPlay support two years ago with iOS 9, and this year the untethered version of Apple’s infotainment feature is starting to hit the market. Just as wired CarPlay is becoming standard in nearly all new cars, BMW has become the only auto maker to support Wireless CarPlay standard in new models.

But what if you’re not shopping for a new BMW? That’s where Alpine can help with the new iLX-107 receiver (from $695, reg. $900) that adds Wireless CarPlay to the car you already drive for under $1000.

Expand
Expanding
Close

While I’ve never seen myself as a key target for Apple’s fashion-oriented approach to the Apple Watch, I have been surprised. From initially wearing the black sport band full-time, I’ve actually come to enjoy having a variety of bands to change up the look.

I do have one of Apple’s woven nylon bands, as well as a third-party copy of the Space Black Link Bracelet (not available in the U.S. unfortunately), but mostly I like leather bands.

I do like Apple’s blend of the modern and traditional in its own range, but also appreciate more traditional craftsmanship in premium third-party bands. I previously reviewed one from Burkley, and this time I tried out a range of bands from German company BandWerk …

Expand
Expanding
Close

Smartphone grips and mounts are a dime a dozen nowadays. Making a product that stands apart from the crowd is difficult, but ShoulderPod may be the first company to do that in a long time. The company has built out a modular smartphone camera system allowing photographers and videographers to customize their tools to suit their individual needs. I put the company’s Lego-like experience to the test over the past few weeks, and have been pleasantly surprised with just about everything it offers.

Expand
Expanding
Close

The idea of a smart home security monitor has been in the back of my mind since the Mirai malware infected so many devices earlier last year. I already take precautionary steps in creating a secure home network, but I wanted an extra layer of protection to work for me. That’s where Cujo comes in. After a few weeks of testing the “smart firewall,” I got to see just how efficient these systems could be.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Jaybird has today unveiled the newest addition to its lineup of sports-focused headphones, taking its first shot at a truly wireless experience in the process. The new Run in-ears feature all of the active lifestyle features that one expects from Jaybird, including a sweatproof and water-resistant design. But in an already crowded market, will it will find a place dominated by AirPods and other major players?

I was able to get an early run with Jaybird’s latest over the last few weeks. Taken from an Apple-geared perspective, here are my thoughts on the new $180 Jaybird Run truly wireless headphones.

Expand
Expanding
Close