Officially licensed iPhone 6 battery cases are becoming increasingly common, and we’ve seen a bunch of them over the past month from a collection of major manufacturers. The latest to arrive is BuQu Tech’s PowerArmour ($80), which we’re only briefly reviewing because it’s a somewhat uninspired option compared with others we’ve tested.
The OtterBox name is synonymous with ruggedized iPhone cases, but not with battery cases — something the company worked to change with the iPhone 4/4S Defender iON Series, and the iPhone 5/5s Resurgence Power Case. iON aimed to thoroughly protect an iPhone while automating the recharge process, while Resurgence reduced the automation and protection to make daily use easier. At CES this month, OtterBox launched a new version called the Resurgence Power Case for iPhone 6 ($100), and it’s been redesigned with a collection of small but welcome tweaks.
Whether you’ll prefer Resurgence to Incipio’s excellent offGRID Express (review) depends on what you’re looking for — ruggedization or raw power for the dollar. Like many companies, OtterBox is promising to double the iPhone 6’s battery, but it also has some currently unique benefits to offer. Read on for what makes OtterBox’s latest battery case special.
AirPlay isn’t dead as a wireless speaker standard, but it’s not exactly healthy: many models have been discontinued, and new releases have all but stopped. Having previously gone all-in with AirPlay, Danish designer speaker maker Libratone is now rolling out updated versions of its circular Loop, tube-shaped Zipp, and triangular Live systems that augment AirPlay rather than ditching it. The new Libratone Loop ($500) modestly tweaks the prior version to add Bluetooth 4.0 support — a feature that radically increases Loop’s compatibility. Though its high price tag will continue to keep this model out of reach for most consumers, long-awaited and substantial discounts on the prior-generation models (Loop here, Zipp here, Live here) may bolster their appeal.
Having tested the new Loop, my personal feelings are mixed: I applaud Libratone for consistently releasing speakers that look distinctive, working both as design objects and audio systems, but the MSRPs remain somewhat hard to justify given the sonic performance…
NBCUniversal announced today that it will offer a free live stream of Super Bowl XLIX on Feb. 1 to all desktop and tablet users to promote its TV Everywhere service. For smartphones, Verizon has exclusive rights to stream the event to users through its own mobile app.
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RAVPower has done a great job of changing the traditional price-to-performance equation for Apple device chargers. Its two-, four-, and six-port wall chargers (reviewed here) are the best options I’ve seen at their price points, so it’s no shock that its Savior 9000mAh External Battery Pack (MSRP $100, street price $50) delivers great value, as well.
Equipped with wall blades for easy recharging, Savior combines a high-capacity 9000mAh battery with an Apple-certified Lightning cable, competing with similar accessories such as myCharge’s Hub 9000 — but for half the street price. Read on for why Savior is so easy to recommend, as well as details on the compromises it makes to keep its size and price down.
I’m always up for reconsidering the “best accessory” in a given category when something new arrives, and after every year’s CES, the “best iPhone battery case” tends to change thanks to new arrivals. But even though many new options were shown at CES this month, none impressed us enough to take the crown away from Incipio’s $80 offGRID Express (review).
uNu’s new DX-6 ($80 MSRP, street price $70) is the latest to arrive for testing, and despite the company’s strength with multi-device USB battery packs, its iPhone 6 battery case doesn’t stand out in any way except pricing. The pitch is simple: if you want an inexpensive, Apple-certified 3000mAh battery case, DX-6 is your option. But you’ll give up some frills to get it …
Yesterday, we reported that the latest iOS 8.2 beta reveals that an Apple Watch application for the iPhone is in the works. Now, we have some more details. Within Apple, the application is currently called the Apple Watch “Companion” app for iPhone. This application manages settings for Apple Watch applications, as well as settings for iPhone/Watch interactivity. The Companion app’s settings reveal some novel new functions that are coming to the Apple Watch. Below, we highlight some of the most interesting new features and settings.
Just ahead of Disney’s release of Cinderella, the highly anticipated live action movie version of the classic 1950 animated film, Apple accessory maker iHome today took the wraps off of a collection of elaborate new iPad and iPhone accessories.
(Photo credit: Benjamin Hendel)
The star of the collection is this model replica of the new Cinderella Golden Coach, which is currently on display at DisneyWorld in Orlando, FL. iHome’s upcoming version is called the Carriage Bluetooth Speaker, a highly intricate, sub-$70 version with a mesh, globe-shaped speaker in the center. As our photos show, the level of detail in the Golden Coach is really impressive, including faceted gold that almost looks bejeweled.
iHome has also developed a pair of Cinderella headphones, complete with a jeweled blue butterfly on the side – key to the movie – and noise isolating earbuds with blue jeweled sides and fabric cabling. Both feature in-line microphones and remote controls.
Finally, there are also some bespoke iPad and iPhone cases, including a quilted iPhone flip case with golden accents and a hand strap, a butterfly-laden iPhone 6 hard shell, and a quilted purse-like case for the iPad with a golden strap.
Disney’s Cinderella will be released in theaters on March 13, with the new lineup of iHome Cinderella accessories to follow.
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It is the second day of the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and we’re back on the show floor to discover the diamonds in the rough. Noke, the world’s first Bluetooth-enabled padlock, is one of those hidden gems. Noke replaces the nuisances of losing your keys or needing to remember random combinations with convenient unlocking over Bluetooth technology when your iPhone is within close range.
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Up until recently, Apple accessory makers were unable to make Lightning cables with plugs as thin as Apple’s — they were required to use thicker plugs that sometimes had problems connecting to cases. At the 2015 CES, Just Mobile showed AluCable LED ($25), which uses newer Apple connectors to create the thinnest metal-jacketed Lightning cable yet, removing case compatibility issues while adding metallic style. Markedly improved over the prior AluCable at the same price, the new gold version matches the latest iPhone and iPad colors, as well.
The USB plug notably has a MagSafe-style LED built in that shifts color to indicate charging status, just like Apple’s laptops. Photos of that feature, plus details on a new reversible USB car charger, a new iPhone battery pack, and a golden version of Just Mobile’s iconic Encore stand, are all below…
Having effectively challenged Jawbone with Jambox- and Big Jambox-sized speakers, Braven today introduced a collection of new models designed to directly challenge popular speakers released by Bose and Harman/Kardon. Balance ($150, above) is a relatively slim, highly attractive extruded oval speaker with two large front-firing drivers and two even larger side-mounted radiators. Offered in a variety of colors, it directly challenges Bose’s SoundLink Color with an ultra-simple design and surprisingly powerful sound.
Read on for more pictures and details.
Although Apple’s AirPlay wireless speaker technology has pretty much faded out of public view, there are still companies producing new designs to support the standard. Moshi today announced Spatia, a particularly attractive design combining respectable speakers, amplifiers, and fancy external materials including metallic and fabric accents. Standard AirPlay features such as lossless audio streaming and router-free Wi-Fi Direct are included, enabling Spatia to operate independently or on an existing Wi-Fi network.
The all-in-one system contains twin 1-inch tweeters, two 2.75-inch drivers, and a 4-inch downward-firing subwoofer, notably in a housing with a stand that keeps all of the speakers floating above the surface of a table. Moshi hasn’t compromised on the audio processing hardware, either, as it includes two DSP chips and two Class-D amplifiers to separately drive the high/mid and low frequencies. Audio can be adjusted by a Spatia speaker app, downloaded for free from the App Store. Moshi has not yet announced pricing or an availability date for the speaker.
9to5Mac’s CES 2015 coverage brought to you by:
A MagSafe charger smaller than Apple’s but made by a third-party? Ruggedized rubber hard drives from a company known for Mac-matching aluminum enclosures? Synchronized stereo speakers with color-shifting mood lights for your bedroom? Yes, the annual pre-CES Pepcom event took place in Las Vegas last night, and these were just a few of the products we spotted on the floor. Read on for more details…
Having released an updated iPhone 6/6 Plus version of its popular 4-in-1 Lens late last year, Olloclip arrived at the 2015 CES with two important new items to show: a new iPhone 6/6 Plus version of its previously excellent Telephoto and Circular Polarizing Lens for iPhone 5/5s, and completely redesigned versions of its lens accessory-compatible cases for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.
Separately, Seek Thermal – maker of the $200 Seek Thermal Camera reviewed on 9to5Mac last month – has just shown a second version of the temperature-sensitive camera that’s set to be released in the next few months. Currently unpriced but planned to sell for a small premium over the original model, the Seek Thermal Camera with Zoom will be capable of zooming in up to three times by using a twisting front lens. More details and photos follow…
Every year, top-ranked Apple speaker maker iHome comes to CES with an impressive array of new products — including something to show off Apple’s latest technology — and it isn’t disappointing at the 2015 CES. In an advance briefing before the show officially opened, iHome revealed its first Apple HomeKit product, SmartPlug ($40), as well as some daring new speaker and headphone designs…
…like the first speaker we’ve seen hidden inside a beautiful drinking flask. It’s called SoundFlask, and comes in coat pocket- ($50) and home bar-sized ($100) versions. Even the smaller version sounds really good given its size, and the flask cap twists to adjust the volume. All that’s missing is the ability to actually hold fluids. Read on for more.
Update: We are now receiving reports that the vulnerability has been patched. People trying to use the tool are apparently now being correctly locked out from repeated password attempts.
A new tool submitted to GitHub claims to be able to perform password dictionary attacks on any iCloud account, seemingly able to evade detection from Apple’s rate-limiting security that is supposed to prevent such dictionary attacks from happening. In September, Apple reported it had closed one such hole that allowed brute-force attacks to occur.
The sourcecode for the tool has been released onto GitHub. Upon inspection, the tool is really rather crude in its complexity. It simply tries every possible word in its 500-long word-list as the password for a given iCloud account email. This means whilst it will succeed “100%” at trying 500 times over, the tool is by no means guaranteed to succeed at cracking your password.
Update: Some users are once again reporting the availability of the beta Photos web app on iCloud.com (although not everyone just yet). Let us know if you’re still seeing issues.
Update 2: Apple has acknowledged the outage on its system status page and says the issue is resolved.
The Photos app has been mysteriously pulled from the iCloud.com site, in the last few days. The app, which shows pictures stored in iCloud Photo Library, is now no longer listed on the iCloud.com homepage when logged in … with no comment from Apple to explain the disappearance.
Ahead of CES, Samsung has pre-announced the Ativ Book 9, via The Verge. Interestingly, this laptop features many of the technical specifications that have been rumored for the future 12-inch Retina MacBook Air. The announcement of the Ativ Book 9 validates that a fanless high-resolution ultrabook is indeed possible in the short term.
The Book 9 laptop features a 12.2 inch screen with a 2600×1600 resolution, implying a 250 PPI. At normal viewing distances, Apple could easily describe the display as ‘Retina’. For comparison, the ‘Retina’ 15 inch MacBook Pro has 216 pixels-per-inch. The Book 9 is powered by a next-generation Broadwell CPU, which has drastically lower power consumption and heat dissipation enabling the product to be fanless.
In an interesting move, Apple has today launched a Tumblr blog for iTunes. The ‘blog’ runs a highly customized theme that more closely reflects Apple’s own website than a typical Tumblr page. The page features music, movies, TV and books content, with individual posts consisting of images, videos and animated GIFs of artists. Tumblr users can reblog these images on their own feeds, for social sharing. On a related note, iTunes also opened an official Instagram account earlier this month.
Hackers of NY founder Dani Grant has discovered (via Engadget) a security flaw that enables Delta passengers to access the boarding passes of others, even those flying with different airlines like Southwest. Grant realized that she could share a link allowing anyone to download her boarding pass, and then change one digit in the URL and be presented with a completely different boarding pass belonging to someone else.
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The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled by a 4-3 decision that Canadian police officers have the right to search cell phones without a warrant during arrests under certain circumstances: the arrest must be lawful, police need a valid reason for the search, the search must be limited to the suspected crime and police must keep detailed records of the search.
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AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon need to watch out. The “uncarrier” has announced yet another couple of reasons they hope will get you to ditch your current cellular provider for T-Mobile. Today, CEO John Legere and his cohorts have come out to announce that T-Mobile is now offering a 2-line family plan that comes with unlimited talk, text, and 4G data, for $100 a month.
While it has ultimately been decided that Michael Fassbender will be cast as Steve Jobs in the upcoming biopic about the late Apple co-founder, a leaked email exchange reveals that writer Aaron Sorkin originally had a more prominent actor in mind for the role: Tom Cruise.
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The Wrap reports that Universal Pictures is eyeing The Newsroom (and Dumb & Dumber) star Jeff Daniels to perform as former Apple CEO John Sculley in the upcoming Steve Jobs movie by Aaron Sorkin. Daniels would be reunited with Sorkin and Scott Rudin, executive producers of The Newsroom, starring alongside Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs and Seth Rogen as Steve Wozniak.
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