Mike Riley

Author Details

Mike Riley's picture

Author Details

Mike Riley

Mike Riley is a frequent contributor to several technical publications and specializes in emerging technologies and new development trends. Mike was previously employed by RR Donnelley as the company’s Chief Scientist, responsible for determining innovative technical approaches to improve the company’s internal and external content services. Mike also co-hosted Computer Connection, a technology enthusiast show broadcast on Tribune Media's CLTV.

As Apple continues to design its iPad Pro line as the laptops of the future, having a way to safely carry not only the tablet but also a variety of accessories is practically mandatory. And with the release of iPadOS, the variety of USB-C accessories that provide more accessibility, charge, and storage will continue to expand the iPad Pro accessory universe. Given the iPad's thin footprint and comparatively small charger, using a traditional laptop bag to carry an iPad collection will add unnecessary carrying weight and leave a large amount of bag capacity unused. To address this specific market need, Cocoon Innovations has designed a messenger sling that protects your expensive iPad Pro and various accessories while keeping the bag ideally slim for lightweight travels and commutes.

The catalog of HomeKit-compliant devices continues to expand, and that's a good thing for consumers. More choice means more competition, and more competition means better prices. Case in point, Satechi's HomeKit-enabled Dual Smart Outlet ($59.99). Having recently reviewed a fine but considerably more expensive smart outlet from one of Satechi's competitors, I was curious to see how the Dual Smart Outlet performed.  Read on to find out.

Today Tim Cook revealed the newest iteration of the Apple Watch as part of the Apple's fall iPhone event. Apple continues to evolve its smart watch with incremental features and one notable improvement; the Apple Watch Series 5 comes with an always-on display. Apple has also brought back the ceramic Apple Watch model and added a titanium model and will finally allow customers to mix and match watch bands and watch cases to create their own customize Apple Watch. Sadly, there was no mention of sleep tracking capabilities.

Apple announced today an update to its low-cost consumer-level iPad with a hardware refresh to bring its processing and display capabilities closer to last year’s iPad Pro specs.  This 7th-generation iPad now sports a larger 10.2-inch Retina display and a peppy A10 Fusion CPU to take better advantage of the additional load iPadOS will demand from Apple’s tablets. Like the iPad 6, the new iPad will also support the original Apple Pencil. Two of the more interesting new features that have made its way into this entry level device is Apple’s Smart Connector, and support for external USB drives. These new hardware inclusions means that this new iPad can use the same keyboard accessories as the iPad Pro. This new iPad is priced starting at $329 and is available for pre-order today.

The Eve HomeKit device product line has grown substantially over the years. As Eve devices continue to proliferate throughout a smart home, they can occasionally have connectivity issues depending on just how far away they are from home base. Since it's in the company's best interest to make sure its products continue to proliferate throughout the home regardless of placement, Eve has created Eve Extend ($49.95) to solve this situation.

As the Apple HomeKit-compliant ecosystem continues to expand, I am always on the lookout for new and innovative approaches to using the home automation technology in novel and useful ways. It appears that the designers of the Nanoleaf Remote ($49.99) are inspired by the same intentions as their product embodies nearly all the aspects that I am interested in exploring. But do innovative design equate to practical daily use? Read on to find out.

Most professional videographers agree that high-quality audio capture is just as important, if not more so than, high-quality video capture. Watching a low resolution YouTube video with superb audio reproduction is far more tolerable than watching a high resolution video with poor audio quality. That is why I find it so surprising that Apple has focused so much of its iPhone feature attention on camera and video capture quality while still utilizing a run of the mill embedded mono microphone for audio. The founders of Hooke Audio saw this subpar configuration in not just the iPhone but other smartphones and video capture devices like GoPro's, and built a product to address this discrepancy. Read on to find out if the Hooke Verse wireless binaural 3D audio microphone system ($159.99) succeeds at eliminating this mobile audio capture fidelity problem.

In the overcrowded world of external battery chargers, designers have to make their product stand out from the competition with innovative approaches or dramatic increases in battery charge capacity. It appears that Kenu baked those two important aspects into its latest all-in-one powerbank, the BingeBank ($59.95). Read on to see how it compares to the multitutde of other portable battery chargers on the market.

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