Jeff Benjamin

Creating a bootable macOS Mojave USB install drive is a great way to facilitate a clean install of macOS. This tutorial will work with the current developer beta and will also work once with the public beta and final version of macOS Mojave once released. Watch our step-by-step video for the details.
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In a previous post we touched on 50 of the new changes and features found in watchOS 5. Many of the changes were subtle updates and enhancements, but a few of them stood out above all the rest. Watch this hands-on video as I talk about five of my favorite watchOS 5 features.
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After considering a long list of 100 new features found in iOS 12, I’ve distilled that list down to five of my favorite new items.
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Over the last week we’ve spent time exploring macOS 10.14 Mojave and comparing it with macOS 10.13 High Sierra in order to see what’s changed. Have a look at our hands-on video as we walk through over 50 new changes and features that are headed to the Mac.
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We’ve spent some considerable hands-on time with the watchOS 5 beta, comparing it with watchOS 4 in order to discover what’s new. Have a look at our hands-on video as we walk through 50 new changes and features that are headed to the Apple Watch.
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iOS 12 has now been out in the wild for a little over 24 hours, and we’ve been digging through the highly-anticipated beta to find new features. In this hands-on video walkthrough, we showcase 100 new iOS 12 features and changes.
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Apple kicked off its WWDC keynote starting with iOS 12 and Augmented Reality. Along with further ARKit developments, like USDZ file format, and upcoming native USDZ support in Adobe Creative Cloud, and ARKit 2, it unveiled Measure. Measure is a first-party ARKit-enabled Measuring app shipping with iOS 12 that can auto-detect dimensions of objects in 3D space and provide automatic measurements.
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I’ve covered tons of Thunderbolt 3-enabled devices over the years, and it’s become clear that CalDigit is one of the leaders in this space, especially when it comes to docks and external drive enclosures. The company’s latest product, the T4 RAID storage enclosure, starts at under a grand, comes with dual Thunderbolt 3 ports, and brings 4-bay external storage, DisplayPort connectivity, and Power Delivery to the table.

How might the die-cast aluminum RAID storage enclosure fit in a MacBook Pro user’s workflow? Watch our hands-on video walkthrough for the lowdown.
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Today is a very big day for HomePod owners, as Apple has released iOS 11.4, which includes the HomePod 11.4 update. HomePod 11.4 brings two major features to the HomePod for the very first time — AirPlay 2 with multi-room audio support, and stereo pairing for those that own more than one HomePod.

If you own a HomePod, be sure to check out our how-to tutorial that walks you step-by-step through the HomePod 11.4 update process, and then watch our breakdown of the update’s new features.
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Apple is releasing the first major software update for HomePod — its high fidelity smart speaker that launched earlier this year. The HomePod famously launched without AirPlay 2’s multi-room audio support or stereo pairing. With today’s launch of iOS 11.4, HomePod finally gains these features.

Watch as we show you how to update HomePod using the 11.4 software update.
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Earlier this week Razer, best known for its PC Laptops and gaming-related peripherals, introduced a new eGPU solution called the Razer Core X. Razer already produces an eGPU called the Razer Core V2, but the Core X is a budget-friendly eGPU box that’s being marketed at both Mac and PC users.

Compared to the Core V2, the Core X is a more straight-forward solution, eschewing niceties like USB, Ethernet, and RGB lighting in favor of a less expensive, more corporate-looking external Thunderbolt 3 graphics solution.

Is the Razer Core X a good solution for Mac users in search of an eGPU? How does it stack up to the current crop of Mac-compatible external graphics boxes on the market? Watch our hands-on video walkthrough for the details.
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Synology just launched its newest prosumer NAS box, the DS1618+. This 6-bay machine comes with a quad-core 2.1GHz CPU, and 4GB of DDR4 non-ECC memory that can be upgraded to 32GB of ECC RAM.

What makes the DS1618+ particularly special is its expandability — and not just eSATA storage expandability that we usually associate with Synology products. The DS1618+ features a PCIe 3.0 x8 expansion slot that can accommodate either an M.2 card for cache, or a 10GbE NIC for significantly faster throughput. Such an addition makes the DS1618+ ideal for connecting to machines with 10 Gigabit Ethernet, such as the iMac Pro.

There are many reasons why individuals and companies employ the use of NAS boxes. In household environments, they can act like a media server, storing high quality video rips for local streaming. Others, perhaps those in corporate environments, like to use NAS setups as a storage solution for video editing.

But there is another key reason why you might want to consider a NAS, especially in light of Apple’s decision to abandon its AirPort and Time Capsule products — Time Machine backups. In this hands-on video, I show you how I use the DS1618+ as a quiet and reliable Time Machine backup solution.

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Apple’s 1m USB-C to Lightning Cable, which allows faster charging for compatible iPhones and iPads, has been reduced in price. When the cable debuted, the original price was $25 for the 1m version, and $35 for the 2m version.

It appears that last month, Apple quietly dropped the price of the 1m USB-C to Lighting Cable by $6, going from $25 to $19. This change comes amid rumors that new iPhones will drop the USB-A-equipped Lightning to USB Cables in favor of USB-C cables that are able to facilitate faster charging.
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Procreate Pocket ($4.99 on App Store) is the iPhone rendition of the popular Procreate drawing app for iPad. Version 2.0 of Procreate Pocket was just released today, and it’s basically a brand new app that has been designed from the ground up with the iPhone in mind.

Procreate Pocket is now built on the same Silica-M Metal engine as the Apple Pencil-powered iPad app, and developer Savage Interactive says that every line of code along with every pixel is new. Procreate Pocket 2.0 features 136 handcrafted brushes, wet painting effects, new time-lapse features, brush imports and exports, and hundreds of additional features that will empower creatives on the go.
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I recently got my hands on a Google Pixel 2 XL, primarily because I’ve long planned on migrating my business line from Google Voice to a standalone phone, and figured an Android phone would give me a good opportunity to catch me up on the platform’s features. As you may have heard, the latest developer beta for Android was just released, called Android P, and Google makes it super easy to enroll and install the beta on a select few Android phones.

One of the things that I found interesting about Android P is its updated multitasking interface. The interface works similarly to the iPhone X, in that swipe gestures can be used to invoke the app switcher. Although Android P is still in beta, I wanted to showcase how some of the Pixel XL 2’s multitasking features stack up against the iPhone X. Watch our hands-on video walkthrough for more.
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Next week Valve is bringing its Steam Link app to iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. Steam Link will allow users on the aforementioned devices to stream their Steam game libraries while connected to a host system (Mac or PC) via a 5GHz network or wired Ethernet connection.

Valve reports that Steam Link will support both MFi controllers like the SteelSeries Nimbus, along with its own Steam Controller. In preparation for next week’s launch, Steam has enabled Bluetooth Low Energy connectivity for its controller via the Steam Client Beta. It means that users can now connect their Steam Controllers directly to eligible devices, bypassing the need for its USB wireless receiver.
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Unlike the desktop version of Safari, the iOS version lacks the handy inspector that allows you to access web pages resources like background images. Save Images is a free iOS Safari extension that lets you quickly identify and save images from a web page. Watch our hands-on video walkthrough to see it in action.
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Cardhop is a utility that’s squarely focused on managing and interacting with contacts on your Mac. Developed by Flexibits, the team behind Fantastical for Mac and iOS, it features a familiar design and interactive natural language elements. In this week’s episode of Friday 5, I explore how Cardhop does the impossible and actually manages to make contact management fun. Watch our hands-on video for the details.
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We’re a few years into the Thunderbolt 3 era, and now it’s finally beginning to seem like we have a wealth of peripheral options for the speedy I/O. OWC sent us its Envoy Pro EX SSD, one of the latest Thunderbolt 3-enabled accessories aimed at MacBook Pro users. It brings with it fast bus-powered performance at a friendly price point.

Starting at $249.99 for 250GB, the Envoy Pro EX is also available in 500GB and 1TB varieties. Is the OWC Envoy Pro EX worth considering? Watch our video walkthrough as I take the 1TB version for a test drive.
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LumaFusion, far and away the most feature-dense video editing app on iOS, has been updated to version 1.6. This latest release brings some notable enhancements to the table, including  Gnarbox integration.

I’ve covered LumaFusion several times before, and have been impressed by the amount of features that it has built in for serious video editors. Version 1.6 continues to build on the foundation already established by previous versions, and creates a noteworthy hardware partnership in the process. Watch our hands-on video for more details.
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