Jeff Benjamin

Apple has released new spring-infused colors two popular 10.5-inch iPad Pro accessories — the Leather Sleeve and Smart Cover.

The Leather Sleeve is a high quality, all leather product with a slot for Apple Pencil storage. The 12.9-inch iPad Pro also features a first party Leather Sleeve accessory, but these two new colors appear exclusive to the smaller, and likely more popular, 10.5-inch iPad Pro.

Along with the Leather Sleeve colors, Apple has also introduced two Smart Covers for the iPad Pro featuring new colors.
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One of the advantages of shooting video in 4K is that it allows you to zoom and pan within a 1080p project frame while still maintaining 1080p video quality. It’s great for doing faux-panning, or zooming in Final Cut Pro X to highlight specific parts of the frame without reducing video quality. As you might imagine, using such a technique is particularly beneficial for hands-on video tutorials when referencing specific items in frame.

I recently created a custom set of areas to make it quicker to zoom with greater consistency throughout a project. If you’re someone who shoots video in 4K, but delivers in a lesser resolution, then you might considering creating your own custom set of areas as well. Watch our hands-on tutorial inside for the details.
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When it comes to HomeKit devices, our own Zac Hall is the resident expert around these parts, but I’m doing my best to come up to speed with the plethora of options available. I recently took my first stab at installing a smart lock, the 3rd gen August Smart Lock, only to later find out that it wasn’t HomeKit compatible. It’s primarily my fault, because I wasn’t diligent enough with my research, but August, with its somewhat confusing nomenclature should take a portion of the blame as well.

Needless to say, I wasn’t keen on the idea of having a smart lock installed without HomeKit support. That would mean that I couldn’t unlock my door with Siri commands, couldn’t use the Home app to control the lock, and couldn’t use HomeKit automation to trigger other HomeKit-enabled devices. In other words, a smart lock without HomeKit support is just not something that appeals to me.

That’s not to say that the third-generation August Smart Lock is a bad product, because that certainly isn’t the case. It’s actually a decent product that’s inexpensive and easy to install. It’s just not for those who are knee-deep in the Apple/HomeKit ecosystem.

I reached out to Yale Real Living to inquire about reviewing its Assure Lock SL, which recently landed support for HomeKit via its iM1 network module. What I discovered was a modestly-featured smart lock with a fair amount of advanced controls. In fact, I’m strongly considering the purchase of another one.
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Outside of perhaps LumaFusion, Affinity Photo ($19.99 on App Store) is the most impressive app that I’ve ever used on the iPad. It continues to awe me with its sheer amount of depth, and the way that it’s able to closely mirror a full desktop experience on a tablet.

The problem with Affinity Photo is that it can be downright daunting for new users. As I’ll show you in this hands-on video, the app isn’t all that difficult to use once you understand a few basic features and mechanics. Join me as I walk through 25+ must-know tips for Affinity Photo beginners.
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The HomePod has great sound, but because it feature no physical inputs, users are limited to either Apple Music or AirPlay sources. It means that there’s no way to connect a home stereo or other source directly to the HomePod via traditional line-in or Bluetooth.

To work around this issue, software architect Andrew Faden hacked together a line-in and Bluetooth input for HomePod called BabelPod. Based around a $10 Raspberry Pi Zero W and a few other essential parts, Faden created a clever workaround that affords both indirect Bluetooth and line-in connectivity for Apple’s recently-launched wireless speaker.
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Recent smartphones like the iPhone X, Galaxy S8/S9 and Pixel 2 XL feature wider screens than their predecessors. In fact, this is an ongoing trend in the smartphone world, smaller bezels coupled with taller phones featuring wider screens.

Such a change has affected the way traditional 16:9 widescreen video is displayed on modern phones. The result is an image that doesn’t take up as much screen real estate as it could, leading to a more prominent pillarboxing effect.

In this hands-on video, we discuss why you should consider adopting 2:1 video to better take advantage of today’s modern smartphone displays, and how to go about doing so in Final Cut Pro X.
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As Apple gets closer to its self-imposed spring 2018 deadline for officially adding external GPU support to macOS, each beta seems to increase the stability of external GPU connections. We recently put the fifth and latest version of the macOS 10.13.4 beta to the test. Using a Mantiz Venus external GPU box plus a Radeon RX Vega 64, we performed the usual round of benchmark tests and general usage to see how things are shaping up.
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One popular saying in basketball is that you can’t teach height. Short players can work on fundamentals, but once they’ve finished growing, they can never grow taller.

However, basketball fundamentals can be improved and enhanced over time. Unlike height, fundamentals can be acquired through hard work.

The HomePod is similar in that a strong hardware foundation has been laid at the outset. You can’t go back and retrofit it with better internals, so Apple made sure that the HomePod had the hardware to sound superb out of the gate.

Likewise, Apple is betting on the fact that over time the hard work of its engineering team can help shore up the device’s most glaring deficiency — Siri…
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Each month on our YouTube channel we give away Apple-related products, usually items that we’ve covered in the past on 9to5Mac. For example, in January we gave away the CalDigit AV Pro 2, and in February we gave away the Akitio Thunder3 Quad X. For March, we’ve upped the ante a bit and are giving away a massive box of Apple-related kit with spring cleaning in mind. Items include the Akitio Thunder 3 Quad Mini, LaMetric Time, Samsung Gear 360 (2017 version), Mantiz Venus eGPU enclosure, and much more.
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The Olloclip Filmer’s Kit is an iPhone photography kit that includes a handheld passive stabilizer and five lenses. Designed for the iPhone 7/8/Plus models, this kit is worthy of your consideration if you’re looking to get more out of your iPhone’s camera. Have a look at our hands-on video walkthrough for more details.
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From time to time I like to make certain folders on my macOS desktop stand out. For example, I use automation to move screenshots saved to my desktop directly to a special Screenshots folder. Since I’m always looking for the screenshots that I take, I decided to tint the folder purple to make it stand out amongst the other items on my desktop. Here’s how you can go about easily doing the same.
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There has been no shortage of Thunderbolt 3-enabled accessories as of late, and companies like Akitio are leading the way with its efforts. The most recent accessory to don Thunderbolt 3 compatibility is the Thunder3 RAID Station, a hybrid dock/external RAID enclosure that comes with several noteworthy features. Is this the Thunderbolt 3 dock for you?
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Akitio’s SK-2520 U3.1 is a portable diskless enclosure that can be populated with two SATA SSDs. It results in a relatively quick RAID-enabled drive that can be powered directly via USB-C. Should Mac users give it a look? Watch our brief hands-on video walkthrough for more details.
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2017 App of the Year Affinity Photo for iPad has been updated with its third significant release since it originally launched back at WWDC 2017. The app, which brings desktop-class photo editing capability to the iPad, includes a number of significant enhancements in its 1.6.7 update.
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I’ve used a Synology NAS to store Final Cut Pro X libraries in the past, but the process wasn’t very straightforward at the time, and performance was never good enough to convince me to use it over the long-term. This was especially true as I started to dabble more in 4K workflows.

As we all know, the iMac Pro features built in 10GbE connectivity, which opens up the possibilities when it comes to using a NAS as a Final Cut Pro X storage solution. Final Cut Pro X also received updates in the last year in order to better facilitate working from network attached storage.

Is a 10GbE NAS a viable storage solution for Final Cut Pro X users?

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If you’re an Apple Music subscriber who’s all in on the Apple ecosystem, then the HomePod is a compelling smart speaker. Not only does it sound excellent, but it has Siri built in, which can do things like control your music and control smart home accessories.

HomePod isn’t yet as “smart” as Google Home products with Google Assistant, or Amazon products with Alexa, but it has loads of potential, and already features many built in conveniences. Did you recently purchase a HomePod? In this hands-on video, we’ll walk through some of our top must-know tips for new HomePod users.

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Apple accessory maker Twelve South today launched a new SurfacePad cover for the iPhone X. More like a Smart Cover for the iPhone than a traditional case, it protects the front and rear of your iPhone X, while providing sleep/wake functionality by way of a magnetized front cover.

The iPhone X SurfacePad also provides two handy credit card slots, works as a stand for videos and FaceTime calls, and is comprised of full-grain leather instead of Napa leather like the previous version. As a result, users can expect the updated cover to have a longer lifespan and wear in better over time.

The $49.99 SurfacePad is available in three colors: Black, Cognac, and Deep Teal. Twelve South sent us samples of the latter two to examine. Watch our hands-on impressions for more details.
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The highly anticipated $349 HomePod arrived on Friday afternoon, and I’ve been playing around with it for the last day or so. A few things, like the speaker’s build quality and design, are things that I can immediately appreciate upon unboxing. The one surefire conclusion that I can make after using the HomePod is that Apple has, as we know by now, prioritized sound quality over everything else.
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The HomePod’s power cable is technically user-removable, as is demonstrated by our hands-on video. A very brave user on /r/apple took the plunge and forcefully removed the power cable from their space gray HomePod. We were able to do likewise with our white HomePod, and although it was a little scary and required an inordinate amount of force, it is indeed user-removable.
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There is no shortage of Thunderbolt 3-enabled docks for the Mac; nearly every popular Mac peripheral maker has one, and they all seem to have various strengths and weaknesses.

Recently, CalDigit, who has produced a number of Thunderbolt-3 Mac-centric docks of its own, launched its latest hardware, the CalDigit TS3 Plus. The TS3 Plus features a build quality and design that’s nearly identical to its previous dock, but comes with a lot more port options, and maintains its strong USB Power Delivery. Is this the best dock for Mac users?
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In this week’s episode of Back to the Mac, I talk about ten of my favorite apps for macOS. It doesn’t matter if you’re using an iMac Pro or a MacBook Air, all of these apps may prove to be useful in your day-to-day workflow.
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