Jeff Benjamin

Yesterday Cultured Code released the long-awaited update to Things 2, aptly entitled Things 3. The third edition of Things features a significant design overhaul, and fundamentally changes the way you interact with the app’s many features. Watch our hands-on video walkthrough inside for a look at some of the app’s best new additions.
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Jailbreak developer Elias Limneos has accomplished a feat with his jailbroken device that some are hoping will eventually be a standard feature on iPhones. He’s made it so that his jailbroken iPhone responds to NFC-enabled devices. Thus far, Limneos has tested his hack with NFC-enabled tags, but the proof of concept holds promise for jailbroken iPhone users.

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A few weeks ago we reviewed Aukey’s USB-C to HDMI Cable for the MacBook Pro. It worked, but since it featured HDMI 1.4, it only allowed for connecting to 4K displays at 30Hz max.

While such an adapter works well for watching movies with lesser refresh rates, 30Hz is not the ideal refresh rate for working on a computer monitor. Such a refresh rate can often lead to headaches and eyestrain, not to mention the choppiness and laggy cursor movement.

Accell’s new USB-C adapter promises to address this issue by including HDMI 2.0. How is this possible when USB-C only supports HDMI 1.4b? Watch our hands-on video inside for the details.
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I’ve been using the 2017 9.7-inch iPad on a regular basis for the last month and a half, and I wanted to take the opportunity to follow-up on my original hands-on.

Almost all of my initial impressions have held up well over the last month or so. The iPad, at only $329 is still a fantastic deal for anyone looking to buy their first iPad, or upgrade from aging hardware without breaking the bank.
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I recently got my hands on the Atomos Ninja Inferno external recorder and monitor for my Panasonic GH5. This 7-inch monitor allows you to record 4K video directly to 2.5-inch SATA SSDs. It’s a wonderful tool for my video workflow, because it allows for extra long recording times, and fast data transfers to my Mac.

The only problem is that the external monitor doesn’t ship with the needed USB-enabled caddy for transferring data from the SSD to my MacBook Pro. Atomos sells a docking station, but it’s limited to USB-A connections.

That’s where StarTech’s wonderful USB-C to SATA adapter comes in. This inexpensive adapter makes it super-easy to transfer data from a SATA-enabled SSD to the MacBook Pro via USB-C. Watch our hands-on video inside for the details.
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In this week’s edition of Friday 5, we have a look at a few handy Mac utilities that I use on a regular basis. Apps include SuperDuper, a long-available tool that lets you create reliable disk clones, and Intel Power Gadget, a handy way to monitor CPU performance on macOS. But it doesn’t stop there, have a look at our full list and video for a brief look at all of this week’s app selections.
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If you’re looking to build a Hackintosh that can serve as a competent Windows gaming rig on the side, then a build powered by an Nvidia GPU is a good choice. In our most recent Hackintosh build, we paired an Intel i7 6700k with Nvidia’s fastest gaming GPU, the 1080 Ti.

The results weren’t all that surprising. Performance was good in a macOS environment even when using Nvidia’s beta web drivers. Performance was a lot better, though, in a Windows environment, where Pascal GPUs can really thrive.

If you’re interested in building a Hackintosh solely for video editing, however, then an Nvidia-powered GPU option might not be the best choice. Sure, Nvidia GPUs with their CUDA cores are generally superior for editing in an Adobe workflow, but if you’re building a Hackintosh machine solely for video editing, chances are you’re interested in running Final Cut Pro X.

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The LaMetric Time is a highly-customizable Wi-Fi-enabled clock that can be configured via its free iOS companion app. The app allows you to customize the clock face, and load apps for displaying personalized information — things like Twitter followers and realtime YouTube subscriber numbers, for example.

Although the LaMetric Time includes a clock, it’s more of a smart dashboard that can be fed information from a seemingly endless amount of Internet-connected sources. The device, which includes Bluetooth-enabled stereo speakers, makes for a good desktop companion that keeps you up to date with details on everything from Instagram followers to stock updates. Have a look at our hands-on video walkthrough for more details.
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Agilebits’ 1Password is a password management app for iOS, Mac and other platforms. I’ve been using 1Password for several years, migrating over from LastPass. In my opinion, there is no better app than 1Password for password and credit card management. In this week’s Friday 5, I explain five of my favorite 1Password features. 
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If you’d like to add tracked text to Final Cut Pro X, there are many ways to go about doing so. For instance, I used to faux-track objects manually by using keyframes. Needless to say that was quite the tedious endeavor.

Tracking text is easier and much more accurate when using a plugin like MotionVFX’s mCallouts, which is powered by the excellent Mocha Tracking Technology from Imagineer Systems.

There are several packages in the mCallouts series, but each of them contain a heaping helping of callout styles that you can use to add tracked text to the objects in your Final Cut Pro X projects. In this brief hands-on video walkthrough, I’ll show you just how easy it is.
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Mantiz’s Venus is an upcoming eGPU box and docking station for Thunderbolt 3-enabled laptops like the 2016 MacBook Pro. The Taiwanese-based company is working on bringing two eGPU boxes to market — the eccentric-looking Saturn, and the more subdued-looking Venus.

The friendly folks at Mantiz agreed to send over a Venus eGPU/docking station, allowing me to take it for a quick test drive when paired together with my 13-inch 2016 MacBook Pro. Featuring an all-aluminum outer shell with classic Mac Pro cheese grater-inspired perforated design, the Venus is one of the more attractive eGPU solutions that I’ve seen thus far. Have a look at our hands on video walkthrough inside for more details.
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Apple’s recently released 5th-generation iPad is receiving a new third-party keyboard courtesy of Logitech. The Slim Folio is a Bluetooth-enabled keyboard that snaps onto the new 2017 9.7-inch iPad to enable more efficient typing.

But the most compelling thing about Logitech’s iPad keyboard case is its battery life. Thanks the implementation of power-sipping Bluetooth Low Energy, Logitech states that the unit’s coin cell batteries can last up to four years with two hours of daily usage. Depending on how you use your iPad, that could mean that you’ll never have to worry about the Slim Folio’s Keyboard for the lifetime of iPad ownership.
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If you’re looking for a quick and easy way to connect your MacBook or MacBook Pro to an HDMI-enabled input, then Aukey’s USB-C to HDMI Cable might be able to do the job.
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A few days ago we posted about the hardware used and performance benefits of my most recent Hackintosh build. In today’s tutorial, I’ll step through the entire install process in full unabridged detail.

While it might seem a bit daunting to go through the Hackintosh setup process for the first time, once you understand the basics, it’s not so difficult. Have a look at our hands-on video for more details.
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In a previous article, posted shortly after Nvidia announced its new Pascal Mac drivers, I briefly discussed my plans to build a new Hackintosh. I’ve been planning and working on the machine for over a week, and I’m finally at the point where I can share the results of my journey.

This isn’t my first Hackintosh build, but it’s the first build where I decided to go about it without the assistance of the excellent tools over at tonymacx86. I’ve been long interested in building a Hackintosh using just the Clover EFI Bootloader, and that’s exactly what I did for this build.

Going about it this way allowed me to learn more about the process, and helped me to see that the entire premise, while tedious at times, is actually fairly straightforward. In this initial post, I’ll talk about some of my reasoning behind my hardware choices, and share some initial experiences and benchmark results.
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On this week’s edition of Friday 5, we explore several additional paid Mac App Store apps that I use on a regular basis. Apps include titles like Bumpr, which lets you choose the browser that links are opened in, along with Affinity Designer, a remarkably deep vector illustration app that can be had for an outstanding price.

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After last week’s exciting release of Nvidia’s beta Pascal drivers for Mac, I was looking forward to trying the top of the line consumer GPU with my MacBook Pro. That GPU is none other than the venerable GeForce GTX 1080 Ti — a $700 card with 11 Gbps of GDDR5X memory and a 11 GB frame buffer. Needless to say this card is one that will interest those looking to push their games to the next level.

I took the time to install my EVGA GTX 1080 Ti FE inside of my Akitio Node external GPU enclosure. After connecting the unit to my 2016 MacBook Pro via a Thunderbolt 3 cable, all it took was a simple shell script and a reboot to get the unit working with a (required in macOS) external display.

Nvidia’s drivers are still in beta, and from my hands-on time, the experience is far from perfect in macOS. That said, you can most certainly see the potential and performance differences between the 13-inch MacBook Pro’s integrated Intel Iris Graphics 550 GPU, and the beastly 1080 Ti. As expected, it’s also a lot faster than the GTX 1050 Ti that I tested last week.

If you’re looking to truly experience the power of such a card with the MacBook Pro, however, you’ll need to step into the Windows world, and run a Boot Camp installation. The GTX 1080 Ti + Windows turns the MacBook Pro into an insanely powerful and flexible gaming machine with just a single Thunderbolt 3 cable. Watch our hands-on video walkthrough as we explain.
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LaCie, the Seagate-owned company best known for its rugged external drives, has developed a Thunderbolt 3-enabled dock. The just-announced product, which debuts at this year’s NAB Show in Las Vegas, is officially titled the 2big Dock Thunderbolt 3, and it looks to be the most compelling Thunderbolt 3 dock thus far.
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