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Dave Hamilton

Dave Hamilton co-founded both The Mac Observer and <a href="https://www.backbeatmedia.com" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank">BackBeat Media</a>, and he is producer and co-host of the <a href="https://www.macgeekgab.com" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank">Mac Geek Gab Podcast</a>. He has worked in the computer industry since the early 1990s, doing time as a consultant, trainer, network engineer, webmaster, and programmer. He has worked on the Mac, all the various Windows flavors, BeOS, a few brands of Unix, and it is rumored he once saw an OS/2 machine in action. Before that he ran some of the earliest Bulletin Board Systems, but most of the charges have since been dropped, and not even the FBI requests that he check in more than twice a year. Dave's reachable for paid consulting at <a href="https://www.davethenerd.com" data-wpel-link="external" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">DaveTheNerd.com</a> and you can find links to him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ here, too.

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Articles by Dave Hamilton

SXSW: Wi-Charge Uses Infrared to Wirelessly Charge Your Devices
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SXSW: Wi-Charge Uses Infrared to Wirelessly Charge Your Devices

Dave Hamilton ·

On Sunday at the SXSW Innovation Awards Finalist Showcase, Wi-Charge was showing off their infrared-based wireless power technology. They’re not the only company aiming to deliver wireless power to our devices, but they are the first we’ve seen to use infrared (IR) to do it. Using IR comes with a couple of advantages: power doesn’t degrade over distance, a thin beam can be aimed at the device to ensure full power, and IR is something we’ve found to be extremely safe. Of course, the major downside to using IR is that it only delivers over line-of-sight. Their demo at SXSW was delivering a full 1 watt of usable power, but they say their tech could eventually deliver “several watts” of power up to 15 feet away. Wi-Charge was demoing their tech with LED strip lights, an electric train, and a custom-case for an Amazon Echo Dot, all of which could be powered from an overhead IR transmitter. For your IoT devices or even your phone at your desk, this could someday offer a ton of convenience. Wi-Charge is seeking integration partners to help bring their tech to market.

CES – Scosche BaseLynx Modular Wireless Charging Station Organizes and Charges Your Devices
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CES - Scosche BaseLynx Modular Wireless Charging Station Organizes and Charges Your Devices

Dave Hamilton ·

Scosche’s CES booth was again full of great new devices for managing your devices in both your home and car, and the highlight to us was their new BaseLynx modular wireless charging station. Available modules include a Qi fast-charge dock, an Apple Watch dock, powered end-cap, and a vertical power station which holds three wired devices. The end-cap has a 12V USB-A and 18W USB-C PD outlet, and the power station has that plus a second USB-A port. You can mix-and-match modules to serve your needs – including just using one if you like – and BaseLynx is engineered to prevent over- or under-voltage, surging, and overheating. Pricing has not yet been announced, and BaseLynx is due to be available this coming spring.

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CES - Ultrahaptics Uses Ultrasound for Touchless Gesture Control, Haptic Feedback, and 3D Viewing

Dave Hamilton ·

One of the coolest things I found at CES this year was Ultrahaptics technology, allowing for gesture control and haptic feedback using only ultrasound. Touching nothing, I was able to control and manipulate an on-screen “object”, and even feel it all through the magic of ultrasound waves. They also had a demo using their tech that tracks your face and eyes to project and focus a 3D image without the need for any glasses. I talked a bit about it on the show floor:

Cool Stuff Found

LG's CES 2019 Curved OLED Screen Booth Display [Video]

Dave Hamilton ·

Every year at CES one of my favorite things is to visit the Central Hall to see all the new TV technology. This year LG again won my vote for most impressive display (no pun intended!) with its array of curved OLED screens. Showing a rotating series of nature videos, this array of curved displays was both immersive and astounding. The video doesn’t do it justice, of course, but it’s worth a quick look just to get an idea of what the future looks like. Enjoy!

CES – QDOS Infinity Glass Encases your iPhone in Tempered Glass
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CES - QDOS Infinity Glass Encases your iPhone in Tempered Glass

Dave Hamilton ·

At CES Wednesday, QDOS was showing off Infinity Glass, a case unlike any I’ve ever seen: both the front and the back are made entirely of tempered glass, and the two halves fit together with magnets to completely encase your iPhone. The case snaps on quickly and without any alignment required, and the metal edging fits perfectly together around your phone. Once on your iPhone, the seams between the two halves disappear, and everything feels smooth and silky, just as you’d expect from tempered glass. QDOS Infinity Glass cases are priced at $49.99 and are available for all current iPhones.

CES – Hyper’s New Wireless AirPods Charging Case
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CES - Hyper's New Wireless AirPods Charging Case

Dave Hamilton ·

At CES 2019 on Wednesday, Hyper was showing off the new version of their AirPods charging case. Due to be made available imminently, the case completely encompasses your current AirPods charging case, and contains a Lightning connector in the bottom. Simply place your existing AirPods charger inside the Hyper case and lay that down on a Qi pad (or mat, like the one coming in Q2 shown in the picture here) and, boom, your AirPods wirelessly charge. Retail price is said to be just US$20.

CES – Netgear’s Nighthawk AX12 Brings Wi-Fi 6 and Enhancements to Wi-Fi 5
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CES - Netgear's Nighthawk AX12 Brings Wi-Fi 6 and Enhancements to Wi-Fi 5

Dave Hamilton ·

Netgear took the opportunity Monday at the CES Pepcom event to show off its latest dual-band router, the Nighthawk AX12. Billed as a 12-stream router, this device includes some significant Wi-Fi enhancements over its predecessors. First, of course, is support for 802.11ax, a.k.a. Wi-Fi 6. This operates over the same 5GHz band as Wi-Fi 5 (a.k.a. 802.11ac), but uses OFDMA signaling to fit more bandwidth into the spectrum. Full utilization will require Wi-Fi 6-compatible clients, and nothing from Apple currently supports that. However, this 5GHz radio also supports Wi-Fi 5, and has a couple of benefits: first, with 8 streams for that antenna your chances of getting connected to the best streams double over even the top-end routers out there. Second, the Nighthawk AX includes the very latest Wi-Fi chipset which now truly supports full, 160MHz connections, delivering real-world speed and range increases to existing Wi-Fi 5 devices. Pricing hasn’t been announced, but we expect it to be north of $400. Interested users can sign up to learn more through NETGEAR’s upcoming Premier Beta program.

Add Four Displays To Your Mac with Targus USB-C Universal Quad HD Docking Station
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Add Four Displays To Your Mac with Targus USB-C Universal Quad HD Docking Station

Dave Hamilton ·

The beauty of our new USB-C docking station world (don’t say dongles!) is the flexibility and expandability it provides for our Macs. Targus highlights this perfectly with their new USB-C Universal Quad HD Docking Station that they were showing off Sunday at CES Unveiled. In addition to four USB 3.0 ports, an audio in/out port, and a USB-C port with 15W of power, this dock includes four (yes, 4!) HDMI ports, each connectable to a 1080p display. MacOS sees each of these connected displays individually, meaning you could just as easily have four separate screens for your day-trading delights as you could build a multi-screen video “wall” and spread your image across all four of them simultaneously. At US$275 this is a no-brainer if you need those kind of display options. A unit supporting four 4K screens will be out later this year, due to be priced at US$375.

Speck’s GrabTab Offers Wireless-Charging-Friendly One-Handed iPhone Grip
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Speck's GrabTab Offers Wireless-Charging-Friendly One-Handed iPhone Grip

Dave Hamilton ·

Speck was showing off GrabTab, their latest iPhone accessory, at CES Unveiled in Las Vegas on Sunday. Think of GrabTab as serving the same function as a PopSocket — allowing you to get a better one-handed grip on your iPhone — but GrabTab collapses much flatter to allow for better Qi charging, car mounting, and travel in and out of pockets. For US$9.95 this is a no-brainer. Buy one, stick it on the back of your iPhone, and you’re good to go. Bonus: you can slide it open to use as an iPhone stand for watching all of your favorite videos, too.

Nahimic Brings Enhanced 3D Audio To Your Mac’s Movies and Music
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Nahimic Brings Enhanced 3D Audio To Your Mac’s Movies and Music

Dave Hamilton ·

Nahimic, long-time makers of enhanced audio for video games, on Sunday launched Nahimic for Mac. Built to enhance music and movies, Nahimic brings real-time processing of your Mac’s audio from any app. They demoed it with movies and music and the results were impressive. Their 3D Sound truly made a noticeable difference out of MacBook Pro speakers at CES Unveiled, a very noisy environment. Tests on our own back at the hotel confirmed what we heard earlier: this sounds fantastic, there’s no noticeable latency, and the app performs well. A free trial is available and one-year subscription will set you back just US$35.

Tips

Synology RT2600ac and RT1900ac: Your Apple AirPort Extreme Replacement

Dave Hamilton ·

These days, many Apple users are looking to improve and update their home Wi-Fi connections. With Apple seemingly having abandoned any true hardware updates to their AirPort router line, Apple users are looking to third-parties to fill the gap for an AirPort Extreme replacement. To that end, Synology is among the cream of the crop in the standalone router market and provides many features never found in Apple’s offerings. Updated April 18, 2018 with lowered prices on Amazon. The RT2600ac is now available for less than an AirPort Extreme, with a lot more features and range.