11-13-19 -

Upcoming Versa update offers a glimpse of a post-Google Fitbit OS
It’s going to be a while before the Fitbit-Google partnership results in anything tangible, but in the meantime Fitbit is continuing to refine its wearable vision. The company announced Wednesday that it will be rolling out the Fitbit OS 4.1 ...

11-13-19 -

Apples new Mac Pro will ship in December
Professional Mac users got a lot of good news on Wednesday. In addition to revealing the new 16-inch MacBook Pro, Apple announced that the Mac Pro, the company’s workhorse tower computer, will begin shipping this December.When specifically i...

11-13-19 -

Apples new 16-inch MacBook Pro features a larger display, a new Magic Keyboar...
Apple on Wednesday took the wraps off of its latest high-end laptop, the 16-inch MacBook Pro. Targeted for professional use, the new machine features 6- or 8-core processors, a larger display, a new Magic Keyboard, a bigger battery, and a lot m...

11-13-19 -

16-inch MacBook Pro hands-on: Faster, prettier, and all-around better (especi...
Today Apple announced the new 16-inch MacBook Pro, which replaces the 15-inch models in Apple’s laptop lineup—and delivers some welcome updates to boot. I have a loaner unit and have already begun testing, so stay tuned for my final review...

11-13-19 -

Autocorrect suggests words and phrases in another language on your iPhone? De...
iOS and iPadOS allow the use of multiple software keyboards, which can include those used in different languages and those used for alternative input methods, like Gboard. But you can run afoul of autocorrect suggestions if you’ve added a key...

11-13-19 -

Nvidia Shield TV (2019) review: This great media streamer is still just a lit...
The Nvidia Shield TV is still the best Android TV box, and it's not just for techies anymore.

11-12-19 -

NordVPN review: A great choice for Netflix fans, but who's running the show?
NordVPN has good performance, great features, and suits novices and power users alike. But who is running the show down there?

11-12-19 -

The 8 big unknowns with Disneys streaming service plans
Standalone ESPN and Disney streaming services are a “strategic shift," but the details and implications are murky.

11-12-19 -

How to manage new Sign in with Apple identities
At Apple’s 2019 developer conference, the company announced Sign in with Apple, its privacy-protecting alternative to third-party logins long provided by Facebook, Twitter, and others. These alternative sign-ins let you create an account leve...

11-12-19 -

Innr Smart Plug review: A cheaper way for Philips Hue users to take control o...
Small, sturdy, and reliable, the Innr Smart Plug makes for an inexpensive alternative to the new Philips Hue Smart plug.

11-12-19 -

Nothingburgers: They dont have to be whats for lunch
One of the things that frustrates The Macalope is that pundits spend way too much time criticizing Apple for nothingburgers. Have you heard of these nothingburgers? The burgers, they make them from nothing these days.Often Apple is criticized f...

11-11-19 -

macOS Catalina: How to make your iPhone and iPad appear on the Desktop
IDG Make sure iOS devices appear via Finder Preferences. With the death of iTunes in macOS, Apple shunted access to connected iPhones and iPads to the Finder via the Locations section of the sidebar. Some readers reported not spotting their ...

11-11-19 -

Mohu Curve 50 TV antenna review: Pretty, but not powerful
This interesting-looking antenna is good for the ‘burbs, but it’s not the best at pulling in broadcast channels.

11-11-19 -

BBEdit 13 review: A lucky number indeed for revered macOS text editor
Pop quiz for longtime Mac users: How many applications currently installed on your system have been there for close to 30 years? If you have a list, it’s likely to be short. But there’s a good chance BBEdit will be on it.The venerable BBEdi...

11-10-19 -

Black Friday 2019: The best tech deals available now
Black Friday is no longer contained to the day after Thanksgiving. Deals roll out in a chaotic stream all throughout November, and these days, you can score great deals among the lackluster discounts.For 2019, Best Buy, Newegg, and Amazon have ...

11-08-19 -

AirPods vs. AirPods Pro vs. Powerbeats Pro: Which wireless earbuds are best f...
Apple now makes three sets of wireless earbuds that use its H1 chip: The AirPods, the AirPods Pro, and the Powerbeats Pro from its Beats division.That H1 chip means easy pairing to your iPhone, hands-free Siri, automatic pairing with all your A...

11-08-19 -

AirPods Pro review: Apple at its best
Apple is at its best when it takes something that people find fiddly or annoying and then makes it effortless. And the new AirPods Pro are a perfect example.They’re not the first wireless earbuds with noise cancelling, and they’re not the b...

11-08-19 -

McIntosh RS200 wireless speaker review: Congested sound mars the performance ...
It's humongous, heavy, and very expensive with a good feature set and exceptional build quality, but its audio performance falls short.

11-08-19 -

11-08-19 -

What the AirPods Pro hint about Apples wearable AR philosophy
I've spent the last week wearing Apple's new AirPods Pro. Not a week straight, I mean, but pretty consistently in all the places where I would usually use one of my other myriad sets of headphones.In looking at the AirPods Pro as a product, I t...

11-07-19 -

Apple releases iOS and iPadOS 13.2.2 with fix for background apps problem
Apple has just released iOS 13.2.2 for iPhones and iPadOS 13.2.2 for iPads. The minor release fixes several bugs, including an annoying background app management issue that cropped up in iOS 13.2. The bug would cause background apps to aggressi...

11-07-19 -

Best cheap Apple Watch bands: Aftermarket straps that cost a fraction of Appl...
Apple smartly (though quietly) ditched the Apple Watch’s original overt association with luxury fashion not long after launch, but you can still catch a whiff of it when browsing for bands on Apple’s own site. They start at $49, and a well-...

11-07-19 -

Apple TV+: Why its worth tuning in
Apple TV+ is here! Let’s talk about our experience with the video streaming service, and share our thoughts on the shows, such as The Morning Show, For All Mankind, Dickinson, and more. That’s the focus of this episode of the Macworld Podca...

11-07-19 -

Serena Motorized Shade by Lutron review: A step up in sophistication, but als...
Lutron’s solution is more proprietary than many, but the compatibility trade-off is worth it.

11-07-19 -

PhotoSync 4 review: Better AirDrop for iOS devices, and a whole lot more
Months before the introduction of AirDrop in iOS 7 and Mac OS X Lion 10.7, a clever little mobile app debuted that allowed iPhone and iPad owners to transfer photos and videos between devices using what can only be described as magic. And it co...

11-06-19 -

Why you might see a new Data disk in Catalina
Apple took system protection to the next level in macOS 10.15 Catalina by splitting your normal boot volume into two pieces. It appears like a single volume on the Desktop, but it’s really two: one is labeled with the volume’s name, while t...

11-06-19 -

Tech lessons from 72 hours without electricity
In late October, my house lost power and internet for three days, part of a larger story involving nearby fires and poorly maintained electrical infrastructure in California. Over those 72 hours and the ones that directly preceded and followed ...

11-06-19 -

Apple TV+: Bite-sized reviews of every launch-week show
Apple TV+ finally dropped last Friday, and it’s off to a good start—although maybe it’s a stretch to say it’s a strong start. I’ve spent the past few days watching everything Apple currently has to offer, and below you can find my tho...

11-05-19 -

iOS 13.3: Apple releases the first developer beta
While iOS 13.2 delivered the last of the features Apple promised when it first introduced iOS 13 back at WWDC, it’s not like the company is just going to kick back and relax until iOS 14 next year. We can expect at least one or two more point...

11-05-19 -

iOS 13.3: Apple releases the second developer beta and public beta
While iOS 13.2 delivered the last of the features Apple promised when it first introduced iOS 13 back at WWDC, it’s not like the company is just going to kick back and relax until iOS 14 next year. We can expect at least one or two more point...

11-05-19 -

How much of an Apple Watch ripoff is the Xiaomi Mi Watch? This much
It’s been said that imitation is the highest for of flattery, and something tells me Tim Cook is very humbled by Xiaomi’s new smartwatch. Called the Mi Watch, Xiaomi’s newest wearable has a square face, Digital Crown, dark theme, single b...

11-05-19 -

Never enough: Apples record revenue
If you’re old enough to drink or old enough to drive or old enough to have mastered object permanence, you’ll probably remember when pundits were wringing their hands because the iPhone represented two-thirds or more of Apple’s revenue.�...

11-05-19 -

Heres why Googles Fitbit purchase is worth every pennyeven if we never get a ...
Google's purchase of Fitbit may bring about a whole line of Made by Google wearables, but that's not the main draw here.

11-05-19 -

U-tec Ultraloq U-Bolt Pro review: A do-it-all lock held back by complex insta...
With a crack fingerprint reader and a capable app, this smart lock ultimately overcomes its setup difficulties.

11-05-19 -

Live Home 3D Pro review: Design a dream home in the palm of your hand
Whether building a new home or designing a makeover for your current property, it’s a good idea to visualize ideas before breaking out the sledgehammer and tearing down walls. But without an interior design background, that’s easier said th...

11-04-19 -

Adobe Photoshop finally makes it to the iPad
A “real” version of Adobe Photoshop is finally available upon the iPad, over a year after Adobe first announced it was coming.Keep in mind, though, that “real” Photoshop and “full” Photoshop aren’t quite the same things. Adobe ge...

11-04-19 -

What you can do if your wireless devices stops connecting to Personal Hotspot...
A mystery arrived on Mac 911’s doorstep. A reader lives in an area of poor broadband access, relies on cellular data, and uses the Personal Hotspot feature on various iPhones and iPads for connections, which includes an older Epson printer. H...

11-04-19 -

4 Fitbit features that are likely going away after the Google deal (and 4 tha...
In a move that's equal parts obvious and shocking, Google announced Friday that it is acquiring Fitbit, bringing an array of devices into the Wear OS maker’s tent. It’ll be a while before we know exactly how it all shakes out, but we can ma...

11-04-19 -

Phiaton Bolt BT 700 review: Great batteries and disappointing design
I can imagine an alternate world where Phiaton’s Bolt BT 700 earbuds came close to greatness. Priced at $20 less than Apple’s AirPods, these $140 true wireless earbuds could have undercut Apple on price and still offer users a lot of the sa...

11-03-19 -

Dickinson review: A comedy for the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels
Emily Dickinson hardly seems like the ideal subject of a launch-day Apple TV+ comedy starring Hailee Steinfeld in the title role. Dickinson, after all, is probably poetry’s most famous recluse. A woman who spent many of her 55 years sequester...

11-02-19 -

See review: Blind ambition gets a lush if shortsighted sci-fi saga
See often gets called Apple TV+’s Game of Thrones, but it has a lot more in common with Kevin Costner’s 1995 flick Waterworld. Both are post-apocalyptic visions of futures where humans only learn to cherish and mend the land once it can no ...

11-01-19 -

For All Mankind review: Maintaining a steady orbit
It’s too early to tell, but the best message from For All Mankind may be that man’s greatest losses occasionally propel us to our greatest victories—though this beautiful space drama certainly doesn’t start out on a high note. It’s ...

11-01-19 -

The Morning Show review: Off to a sluggish start
Considering how aggressively Apple highlighted The Morning Show in its marketing over the last year, it clearly intended this star-studded vehicle to do the heavy lifting of making Apple TV+ a premium streaming service that can compete with Net...

11-01-19 -

Google is buying Fitbit for $2 billion and the smartwatch wars just got real
Following rumors that began swirling just a couple of days ago, Google announced Friday that it has “entered into a definitive agreement” to acquire Fitbit in an all-stock deal valued at $2.1 billion. That brings another high-profile brand ...

11-01-19 -

Our favorite 10.2-inch iPad cases so far
The iPad isn’t quite as infamous for shattered screens as the iPhone, but that’s no reason to let Apple’s pricey tablet face the world naked. Instead, shield Apple’s 10.2-inch iPad with one of these cases, which are the most promising o...

11-01-19 -

Black Friday 2019: When the deals start, how to get the best prices on tech, ...
Ready or not, holiday shopping season begins soon. Here's what you should know before you part with your cash during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

11-01-19 -

How to hand off music or phone calls from your iPhone to a HomePod
With iOS 13.2, it’s easier than ever to hand off music or a phone call from your iPhone to your HomePod. Such handoffs were possible before iOS 13.2, but they were a bit of a hassle (as we’ll see below). Now, though, Apple provides a “qui...

11-01-19 -

Apple: Putting its efforts where the money is
Like the man said: follow the money.In looking at Apple’s most recent financial quarterly results, you can learn a lot about the company’s strategy by seeing where the company is doing well. As chief financial officer Luca Maestri pointed o...

11-01-19 -

Roku Express (2019) review: An inexpensive streamer with a cheap remote
The 2019 version of the Roku Express would be a great cheap streamer if it's remote didn't cut corners.

11-01-19 -

Kaspersky Internet Security 2020: Top notch security at a good price
Kaspersky security products may not be welcome on U.S. government computers, but the company is doing its best to overcome that black eye by iterating on its top-rated home security offerings.One of its most recent releases is Kaspersky Interne...