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.

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.

After more than a decade of operating the iPhone and iPad under a single OS, Apple has made the bold move of finally recognizing the reality that is both the current state of iPad app development as well as granting the freedom necessary to realize the vision of the iPad Pro as a fully functional laptop replacement. The recognition of a separate OS also brings the iPad in line with Apple's acknowledgement of its other dedicated platform operating systems such as watchOS for Apple Watch hardware and tvOS for Apple TV. However, Apple could have gone further by doing away with the iOS label entirely by renaming iOS as iPhoneOS. Perhaps that will happen next year. In the meantime, Apple's next release of iOS for the iPad will incorporate all the new features in iOS 13 plus iPad-specific features exclusive to that hardware platform. Let's take a quick look at what Apple announced today that will be part of the new iPadOS experience.

Whether sitting at my desktop writing articles or playing the latest keyboard-intensive 4X game, I exclusively use Corsair keyboards due to their high quality construction and excellent key travel and action. Using anything else is a big step down. This is especially noticeable when using the latest Mac laptop keyboards or wireless keyboards for iOS.  So when Corsair announced its first wireless keyboard designed to connect via either Bluetooth or an included 2.4 Hz USB dongle, I was very interested in seeing how well the company translated its desktop expertise into a more mobile-oriented product.

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