dongle
Latest
Nintendo’s solution for ‘Splatoon 2’ chat requires lots of wires
Saying Nintendo's solution to voice chat on the Switch is inelegant would be a gross understatement. At least for Splatoon 2, that is. This morning the game's Twitter account posted images of how you'll talk smack in the ink-fueled multiplayer shooter. The setup, dubbed "Empera Hook HDP," consists of a arrow/squid-shaped dongle, a set of swoop-style on-ear headphones with a boom mic and a trio of 3.5mm aux cables. One cable goes from the Switch's headphone port to the dongle, another runs from your cellphone to the dongle, and the last one connects the dongle to said headset. Phew.
Apple's 'we're sorry we took away your ports' dongle sale ends today
When Apple rolled out its controversial new MacBook Pro last fall, potential buyers were a bit miffed at the need to buy a host of expensive dongles to make the computer work with their old devices. Apple quickly responded by cutting prices on a host of USB-C cables and accessories, as well as the new LG 4K and 5K displays that are compatible with the MacBook and MacBook Pro. Originally, those discount prices were set to expire at the end of 2016, but Apple extended the deal until the end of March. Well, that day of reckoning is here -- the discount on cables, accessories and monitors is set to expire today, March 31st.
2016 was a hard year to be an Apple fan
Tim Cook and the rest of Apple's leadership will probably not look back fondly on 2016. iPhone sales declined for the first time, and Apple's profits followed suit. There are still bright spots, like the company's growing services business, and the company is still making insane amounts of money. Even so, the stalled growth has to be concerning to both the company and its investors. Don't get me wrong, I'm not here to pity Apple. I'm here to commiserate with its fans, the ones who Apple shafted this year. Particularly those of us who waited all year long for a substantial update to the Mac lineup only to be offered a pair of intriguing but compromised new laptops. Or those of us who bought an iPhone 7 and can't use the headphones included with it in our new MacBook Pro, or even those of us trying to figure out which iPad to buy. Across the board, Apple has confusing product lineups with weird and unnecessary compromises. And if you believe the wailing of aggrieved fans across the internet, it seems like plenty of loyal Apple supporters might be contemplating life outside the company's ecosystem. How did we get here?
Apple temporarily cuts USB-C dongle prices to appease MacBook Pro buyers
Last week Apple announced its new lineup of MacBook Pros and revealed they include only new USB-C-style connectors, dropping all legacy ports (other than, oddly enough, the headphone jack.) While the aggressive move means owners can charge their laptop through any of the jacks, and have the new capabilities offered, it also means that simple things like plugging in an iPhone to charge will require an adapter of some kind, which is not included. As my former podcast partner Ben Drawbaugh noted, stocking up on dongles to go with your new laptop gets pricey fast, and Mac buyers have responded angrily online in our comment sections and elsewhere, However, now Apple says it will help them make the switch by "reducing prices on all USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 peripherals we sell, as well as the prices on Apple's USB-C adapters and cables."
You'll need a new cable to connect the MacBook Pro and iPhone 7
Today, Apple unveiled brand new MacBook Pros with a dynamic Touch Bar and a quick (albeit forced) migration to USB-3 (AKA Thunderbolt). Of course, it's Apple's prerogative to continue to push its customers toward better standards. It did it with USB back in the '90s and removed the headphone jack on its phones because it wants everyone to go wireless. But while it's evolving its ports, it also just made every iPhone owner who wants one of these computers buy a new dongle.
A $40 dongle lets you use wired headphones and charge your iPhone 7
After Apple got rid of the headphone jack on its new iPhones yesterday you were probably thinking: How am I supposed to charge my phone and use wired headphones? Fear not dear reader, accessory maker Belkin has a solution. With its $40/£35 Lightning Audio + Charge RockStar adapter (actual product name), the company provides a way for you to replenish that iPhone 7 or 7 Plus battery while still keeping the music going.
$35 Pokémon Go Plus accessory will go on sale September 16th
Pokémon Go players will have their choice of accessories soon, since the Pokémon Go Plus accessory will be available September 16th "in most countries." Earlier today the game's makers reported over 500 million downloads and announced a way to play using the Apple Watch. Now, Niantic says this $35 device will make playing possible "without having to look at your screen all the time." It links to your phone with Bluetooth Low Energy, letting players collect items from nearby Pokéstops or catch Pokémon with the press of a button.
Matchstick's Firefox OS-based TV dongle is dead
Bad news if you backed Matchstick's crowdfunded, Firefox OS-powered TV adapter: it's not going to happen. The team has cancelled its would-be Chromecast rival after realizing that implementing copyright protection will require "significantly more" work than expected. It wouldn't be fair to leave people hanging when there's no way to "reliably predict" when you could play Netflix or other locked-down content, the company says. If you plunked money down, you should be getting a full refund within the next 60 days.
$50 Steam Link streams PC games anywhere within your house
Along with a slew of new Steam Machines, Source Engine 2 and VR news, Valve announced an interesting add-on for anyone interested in in-home streaming for their PC games: Steam Link. These $50 boxes (in the US, international pricing is TBD) will stream content from your PC or Steam Machine, as long as they're on the same WiFi network. Adding a Steam Controller will cost an extra $50 when they launch in November, and can handle gaming in 1080p at 60Hz with low latency. Sony's Remote Play game streaming is a couple of generations old, while Microsoft just announced the feature for Windows 10, and now Valve has a cheap hardware solution too. The boxes were listed on the Steam store for a moment (see it in Google's cache here), and pictures showed a slim design, with three USB ports (one up front, two in the back) along with Ethernet, HDMI and power.
Test for HIV in just 15 minutes with this $34 smartphone dongle
A dongle created by Columbia University researchers can turn any smartphone (whether iPhones or Android devices) into an HIV and syphilis tester. Even better, it only takes 15 minutes and a tiny drop of blood to get a result -- the device doesn't even need a battery to work. According to the paper the researchers published in Science Translational Medicine, the dongle performs enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect HIV antibody, treponemal-specific antibody for syphilis, and non-treponemal antibody for active syphilis infection. Labs don't currently offer the three tests needed to detect those in a single format. ELISA machines, by the way, cost around $18,000, but each of these dongles only cost around $34 to manufacture.
EE's £79.99 'Buzzard 2' is an all-in-one 4G WiFi dongle for your car
In its bid to get more customers connecting to its 4G network while they travel, EE introduced the Buzzard, a £49.99 plug-and-play mobile hotspot designed specifically for the car. Launched in April, the device came in two separate parts, making it difficult to store and plug in during your journey. EE appears to have realised this, as today it's introducing its successor, the Buzzard 2. Like the original avian-themed dongle, the Buzzard 2 plugs into your car's dashboard and supports up to 10 WiFi connections. However, it comes with a new lighting system that makes it easier to use and can also serve as a USB charger, allowing you to charge your devices while you browse (when you're not driving, of course). EE's new hotspot is priced at £79.99 (£30 more than the original) when bought outright, but comes down to £19.99 when purchased with a £10 monthly plan, which includes 1GB of data. However, you can get it for free if you sign up for the £15 tariff, which lavishes you with 3GB of data every month. If you've got small kids intent on watching Netflix all the time, that allowance might not get you very far, but it'll do a job if you want a backup for your smartphone plan.
Microsoft's FCC filing hints at a Chromecast rival called Miracast dongle
Microsoft might very well be gearing up to launch a Google Chromecast rival. While the tech giant hasn't announced anything official yet, one of its latest FCC filings details a device codenamed HD-10, which features WiFi, HDMI support and a USB connection. Those three will sound familiar if you know what the Chromecast is, but what really demystifies the device's nature is a separate document on the WiFi Alliance website. That filing, unearthed by Nokia Power User, called the HD-10 a "Miracast Dongle." Miracast, as you might know, is Microsoft's screen-sharing technology available on Windows 8.1, Windows RT and, most recently, Windows Phone 8.1, though it's also built into Android 4.2 (and later) and BlackBerry 10.2.1.
Airtame wireless screen-mirroring dongle shipping in October for $99
Airtame, the Danish startup that received our Best of CES 2014 award for its awesome wireless video dongle, has confirmed that it will be shipping its first lot to its beta users this month in July. Better yet, the device has since been upgraded from a single-core Freescale chip to a dual-core version, along with dual-band WiFi and hardware acceleration on all three PC platforms: Windows, Linux and Mac. Over 15,000 Airtame dongles have been pre-ordered so far, and these will start shipping in May or June October after some tweaking based on the beta feedback.
Chromecast officially available across Europe and in Canada starting today
Sure, a few eager Amazon shoppers might have been enjoying the Chromecast on the other side of the pond, more or less straight after it launched in the US. However, those Europeans (update: and Canadians) waiting for an official retail channel, (as suspected) your time has finally come. Google just announced that its popular media streaming TV accessory will be available for customers in the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland starting today and will cost £30. Naturally you can purchase via the Play store, but Amazon will be stocking also. If you prefer things a little more bricks and mortar, and live in the UK, they're also coming to Curry's -- if you hadn't already heard -- and PC World. With the official release in new territories of course comes region specific apps, led by the BBC's ubiquitous iPlayer which will now play nice with the HDMI dongle. All these new customers, just in time for the inevitable wave of apps, too. It's almost like they plan these things...
Amazon's streaming device is reportedly a dongle with gaming support (update: April release?)
We've been hearing rumblings about Amazon's set top box plans for quite a while now, and according to the folks over at TechCrunch, that gadget more closely resembles Google's Chromecast. The possibility of a USB-style product should come as no surprise given the popularity of the aforementioned $35 option and Roku's recent release. In addition to the dongle form factor, the report also suggests that the device will feature support for streaming PC games in order to compete with the likes of Xbox, PlayStation and Steam for all types of living room content consumption. The gaming aspect is said to closely resemble a service like OnLive, which allows cloud-based streaming. Details are scare in terms of titles, but the library has been tipped to include "top-tier games" beamed from Amazon at 30fps. This reported union of the online retailer's set top and console plans comes just days after a controller broke from cover and weeks out from a report that gaming plans were alive and well. Update: The Wall Street Journal reports from its anonymous sources that the device could go on sale as early as next month. Besides the early April ship date, other possibilities include selling it through other retailers too, like Best Buy and Staples, and that it would pack in a simple remote with the advanced controller as a separate option.
Chromecast Android app prepped for upcoming international rollout (update: iOS too)
Google's Chromecast has been very well received so far -- and thanks to the SDK, becoming more useful with better support from music, video and photo apps -- but without international availability, it's tricky to get a hold of if you don't live in the US. Previous indications pointed to a UK launch this month, and things are lining up to make that happen. First, Google's Sundar Pichai mentioned the HDMI dongle would come to "many more countries" in coming weeks during his SXSW Interactive appearance. Next, the Chromecast control app on Android received an update making it available in 50 new languages. Android Police dug into the updated file itself, finding references for "TV offers" and possible 5GHz WiFi support. Finally, Liliputing points out a tweet by an employee of UK retailer Curry's, with a pic claiming to show a stack of Chromecasts that have just arrived, albeit without an exact release date or associated retail info. Update (3/15): The Chromecast setup app for iOS has added "over 20" new languages of its own, and similar settings tweaks.
Roku's new Streaming Stick works with most TVs, drops price to $50
When Roku released its first Streaming Stick in late 2012, it was a tough sell. It cost $99 (as much as the highest-end Roku box), only worked with TVs that were certified as "Roku Ready," and it didn't even ship with a remote. So the godfather of set-top streaming boxes went back to the drawing board for the 2014 version of the Roku Streaming Stick, which abandons its reliance on MHL (Mobile High-Definition Link) for standard-issue HDMI. It also comes prepackaged with a remote, though it lacks the motion control and headphone jack you get on more expensive models. For the internals, the company essentially crammed the Roku 1 into a dongle format -- and that includes its wallet-friendly $50 price point. While it's not quite as cheap as Google's streaming stick, it does play host to plenty more content sources. Whether or not PBS, Showtime and over 1,000 niche channels of video programming is worth the extra $15 depends on you.
Dell's new Android HDMI dongle turns screens into virtualized desktop computers for $130
Dell's betting that a bunch of businesspeople want to be able to carry their work computer around in their pocket. Not literally, of course, but with the release of the company's $130 dollar Wyse Cloud Connect dongle (formerly known as Project Ophelia), you can do just that. It connects to any TV or display with an HDMI or MHL port, and hooks up to mice and keyboards via Bluetooth or mini-USB. There's also a microSD slot to give you up to 32GB of local storage, should you want it. Plus, you can access your desktop using yours or your company's choice of virtualization technologies: Citrix, Microsoft or VMWare. Once plugged in, users can access a full Jelly Bean Android experience or their Windows and Mac machines via the aforementioned remote clients, and see them in 1080p resolution (on compatible displays, of course). Dell's pitching the dongle as primarily an enterprise solution, but the company also thinks it's well-suited as an educational tool, too.
Plair 2 HDMI wireless streaming dongle runs Android, costs $49
Plair beat Google to the punch with its wireless streaming HDMI dongle that was announced at last year's CES, but had the wind sucked from it sails with the arrival of Chromecast. So, the company went back to the lab and today, it's ready to reveal Plair 2, a dongle that looks the same as the original, but comes running a customized version of Android. That means instead of simply being a conduit for streaming video from the cloud, it runs most any app found on Google Play on your TV. It works via an Android companion app (for devices running version 4.3 or iOS 5 and up) that lets you connect the dongle to your home WiFi network and acts as a remote control for the device after setup's complete. Oh, and with the added functionality comes a sizable drop in price -- while the original Plair cost $99, this new version costs just $49.
Google hints at Chromecast expansion as its apps go international
With all of the focus on the imminent unveiling of a certain next-generation Nexus smartphone, another of Google's bestselling products could soon be set for a wider launch of its own. The company has begun lifting restrictions on the official Chromecast apps and is now allowing iOS and Android users outside of the US to download them for the first time. We've successfully installed the apps on our devices in the UK and Canada, while additional reports lend credibility to complete international rollout. The Chromecast still finds itself geographically challenged, but those who jumped on Amazon's offer of international shipping will welcome Google's decision to extend the availability of the apps. While we're expecting to see the Nexus 5 and Android 4.4 KitKat launch before the end of the month, we wouldn't be surprised if Google has a Chromecast surprise up its sleeve too.
