My years of a Mac user can be broken into three main eras:
I’ve been lucky that every job I’ve had after leaving the Apple Store in 2008 has provided me with a Mac notebook to use as I see fit.
When I bought my original Apple Watch, I opted for a stainless steel model with a black sport band.
Over time, I picked up a couple more sport bands, as well as the newer nylon band.
I like them all, and was never tempted to check out any third-party options, even after Apple announced its official Watch Band program.
However, recently, I was reminded how much I missed NATO-style watch bands. These are made of nylon, and folder over themselves using a set of keepers.1 I really like the look, and had one on the Seiko 5 I wore for years before the Apple Watch came along.
(The original Mac had 128 kilobytes of RAM, not megabytes. I misspoke in the video. Sorry about that.)
Anyways, I’m a big fan of this watch stand. You can grab one on Amazon for just $15.
After months of waiting, I finally got my hands on a set of AirPods, Apple’s new wireless earbuds that were promised way back at the iPhone 7 event in September.
I’ve only had them for a day or so, so this isn’t a comprehensive review, but I wanted to share some initial impressions.
The AirPods are full of little touches of whimsy that make them feel a lot smarter than normal headphones:
Pixel is totes great
Camera’s legit af
Low light be like wow
This Android is clean
No bloatware is a relief
Assistant is dope
Don’t want an iPhone?
Pixel is what you should get
Ignore the back case
2016 has been a confusing year for Mac fans.
The year has held zero updates to any desktop Mac. The Mac mini, iMac and Mac Pro that are for sale today are the exact same machines that were for sale way back on January 1.
The MacBook got a much-needed speed bump back in the spring, and this fall the MacBook Pro was (finally) revised.
There are now three models of MacBook Pro to choose from:
Way back in 2010, I reviewed the iPad by traveling with it.
I thought it’d be fun to revisit that approach with the iPhone 7 Plus.
After waiting to have my first iPhone 7 Plus replaced, I’ve really only been using the new phone for about a week and a half at this point. For most of that time, I was out of town, speaking at the Release Notes conference.
Over the past several years, Mac OS X macOS releases have gotten smaller and less exciting.
OS X Yosemite brought a new design to the Mac, but past that, most users can’t tell the difference between it and El Capitan, let alone what was new in Mountain Lion or Mavericks.
As I’ve written before, I think the lack of excitement in big macOS releases is mostly okay. The Mac is a stable platform that is still growing, but at a much slower rate than Apple’s front-and-center operating system, iOS.
The Kindle Oasis is really nice, but you probably shouldn’t buy one unless you’re a hardcore ebook fan.
First of all, it’s $289 with Special Ads Offers, which is bonkers-expensive for a Kindle. You can get an iPad mini 2 for less, and the actually-worth-owning iPad mini 4 isn’t that much more.
Second of all, the Oasis isn’t a big jump over Amazon’s other offerings. The Kindle Paperwhite is still for sale at just $119, and the nicer Voyage can be had for $199.
Let me just address the elephant in the room here. It’s a little unusual that I’m doing a mini-review of the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. It’s been many years since I sold my original Motorola Droid1 and returned to the iPhone.
That’s not to say I’m unfamiliar with Android. Every couple of years, I buy a current Nexus phone to check in with what going’s on on the other side of the mobile OS fence.
Back in December, I wrote this about my Apple Watch, after not having worn it very much in the weeks leading up the article:
The Apple Watch can do a lot of neat things, and I miss its fitness tracking, but so much of it just doesn’t fit my lifestyle anymore. It’s not super useful for work, apps are still miserably slow and at times, its an additional distraction.
Since then, I can count on one hand the times I’ve powered up the Watch to wear it, but as I mentioned, I have missed the fitness tracking way more than any of the other features.
When I bought my iPad Pro, I spent about 15 minutes with the Smart Keyboard in an Apple Store. I wasn’t super impressed, and wrote off the accessory until recently, when I picked one up more or less on a whim.
My first impressions haven’t held up.
While the Smart Keyboard has dome switches under the keys that are similar to those found in the MacBook, the travel here is noticeably better than the notebook’s. I’d peg it somewhere in between the Magic Keyboard and the MacBook.