Heading into the weekend with all of today’s best deals, 9to5Toys is back with an assortment of offers for Friday. This time on tap, we have the second-best price yet on Apple Studio Display at $249 off. A nice companion, the M2 Mac mini now starts from $500 and is down to Amazon lows. Plus, iPhone 14 owners can score one of Anker’s new plant-based Lightning cables at $15. Hit the jump for all that and more in the latest 9to5Toys Lunch Break.
Home security cameras have gotten a lot better in recent years, but the security of your footage has always been a concern. Anker’s Eufy brand claims to keep data local, but a security researcher has exposed that the claim is far from true, with footage not only going to the cloud, but remaining visible even after it was supposed to be deleted.
Popular accessory maker Anker has today announced its latest dongle targeting Apple users. The company has released a new adapter that allows Lightning headphones to be used with USB-C devices, such as a modern Mac or iPad Pro.
It’s been a busy 2017 for Anker thus far, as the brand has expanded in many ways to smart home technology and other categories. Today, it’s launching a new campaign on Indiegogo under its Nebula sub-brand for the upcoming Capsule handheld projector.
Called the “world’s most advanced pocket cinema”, this soda-can sized device offers a range of connectivity options including AirPlay, Chromecast, Bluetooth and HDMI. All of which are supported by an internal battery pack that supplies upwards of 2.5-hours of playtime on a single charge.
Several brand-new iPad and iPhone accessories I’ve been testing recently aren’t necessarily worthy of full standalone reviews, but because they come from some of our readers’ and editors’ favorite companies, they’re still worth knowing about. Four of the five are sequels to prior products I’ve covered, while one is totally new — though similar to an earlier design.
It’s no secret that Anker’s power accessories are some of the very best options available in their respective categories: its affordable, powerful wall chargers, car chargers, and battery packs have become sensations over the last couple of years. Heading into the holidays, Anker has debuted a fantastic option for both iPad and Retina MacBook users — the new PowerCore+ 20100 ($70).
Redesigned and improved from an earlier model, PowerCore+ 20100 uses even better materials and more powerful charging circuitry to expand its appeal. This time, PowerCore+ sports a USB-C port, enough amperage to recharge Apple’s latest 12″ MacBooks and iPad Pros, and notably faster recharging speeds. Having tested it with an iPad Pro, I was able to take the 12.9″ tablet from 0% to 100% power with plenty of juice left over, and the Retina MacBook is in the same camp. iPad Air and iPad mini owners can expect around two recharges, while iPhone users can get four or more recharges…
For whatever reason, accessory companies commonly send out review samples of solar-powered Apple accessories late in the year — rarely if ever in July, when the sun is at its peak pretty much everywhere in the United States. So even though I’m a fan of solar power, my ability to make the most of these accessories is naturally limited by the modest sunshine available for testing. The wisest solar-powered accessories I’ve tested hedge their bets by storing energy in batteries that can be used (and wall-recharged) even when the sun’s not out. Others become worthless when the sun goes away.
Anker’s 21W PowerPort Solar Charger ($55) and RAVPower’s 15W Solar Charger ($50) are portable solar panels connected to USB ports. They’re extremely similar to one another, each hiding two USB ports in a pocket to the right of three solar panels. Unlike Solartab (reviewed here), neither has a built-in battery, so you can only use them when the sun’s out — and optimally, directly overhead. One strikes me as a slightly better pick than the other, but unless you live in a frequently sunny climate and have hours to spare under the sun, or plan to travel somewhere with sunshine and no wall outlets, there are better-priced and more practical ways to keep your devices fueled up…
“Bigger and better” has been a safe sequel strategy for years, but “smaller, lighter, and slightly more affordable” sequels began to take off when Apple debuted the iPod mini and iPod nano a decade ago. Anker relied upon “bigger and better” for its insanely powerful 25,600mAh Astro E7 battery, and now is using “smaller and lighter” with PowerCore 20100 ($40), a sequel with nearly 80% of Astro E7’s power. But Anker’s diverging from Apple’s formula on one key point: PowerCore 20100 sells for only 50% of Astro E7’s price. It’s still capable of recharging many iPads twice, which is more than enough portable energy for most people. Given its more manageable size and excellent price point, it’s likely to be an even bigger hit than its predecessor.
Anker has also released a “you’ll never need another USB charging port again” solution called PowerPort 10 ($40, shown above). PowerPort 10 steps up from Anker’s excellent 60W 6-Port USB Charger (reviewed here), which was recently renamed PowerPort 6. For only $4 more than PowerPort 6, PowerPort 10 gives you 4 additional USB ports for charging. Ten ports is enough for a family full of iPad, iPhone, and Apple Watch users to simultaneously recharge all their devices. The only hitch: PowerPort 10 has the same 60W power output as PowerPort 6, the details of which I’ll explain further in the review below…
Popular accessory maker Anker has shown off its upcoming lineup of USB-C cables and adapters including USB-C to USB 2.0, 3.0, and USB-C solutions. Especially interesting for 12-inch MacBook users is Anker’s USB-C to Lightning cable — the first that I’ve seen from a reputable vendor — which will allow users to connect iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches with Lightning ports directly to Apple’s USB Type C-only notebook for charging and syncing. Expand Expanding Close
Traveling with any MacBook is a lot easier today than it was five or ten years ago. Apple’s latest laptops consume much less space than their predecessors, and last much longer when they’re in active use. Whether it’s on a seat-back tray or resting in your lap, your MacBook can deliver quite a few hours of productive work time, video viewing, or even gameplay without assistance. But it can do even more if you bring the right accessories along.
My goal is to help you choose the best items to carry with you on the road — the type of items I’ve spent years testing. The picks below are highly practical and focused to make good use of space and address real-world concerns that many travelers have. Read on!