- So 2020 was kind of sus,
but thankfully it's almost over.
The silver lining to 2020
is that there were some awesome tech products announced.
And I'm not gonna talk about any of those today,
but I am going to talk about some of the accessories
for those awesome products,
as my last video for 2020.
Hey, I'm Jerry.
And yes, there was a lot of awesome things
announced this year from Apple,
including the new MacBooks with M1, the last Intel iMac,
the iPhone 12, 12 Pro, 12 Pro Max and 12 Mini.
And of course, new iPads.
I've talked about all of these devices
a lot over the last year,
and today I wanted to talk about
just some of my favorite accessories for those devices,
starting with the one accessory
that I really care about for the iPad:
the iPad magic keyboard.
Yes. This thing came out in the spring.
It was a crazy announcement that just happened to coincide
with the iPad Pro announcement
right when the pandemic was starting,
and people went nuts trying to figure out
how this thing worked.
The iPad Pro simply connects, magnetically,
to the top.
It hovers above.
It's got this dual hinge action
that allows the iPad to fold back.
So you get different viewing angles, just like a laptop.
And it's fantastic.
You also get a full keyboard with the 12.9 inch version.
It is a full Magic Keyboard,
just like Apple's other keyboards.
So it has the new scissor switches.
All the keyboards had been replaced
from the terrible, awful butterfly keyboards.
The keys on this case are much better
than the SmartFolio keyboard case.
It doesn't have
that fabric coating over it; they're backlit.
The only thing I wish that the keyboard had
on this iPad Magic Keyboard was function rows.
It would be really nice to be able to change the volume
and the brightness and control media
from the keyboard without having to go into the settings
of the iPad.
Maybe next time.
But what we did get is a track pad.
So with iOS 13.4, we got track pad support on the iPad.
And now we have a multi-touch track pad
that works just like Apple's other track pads.
The only difference is it's not force touch.
It is a manual physical click button.
This accessory is great
because it really does transform the iPad
from a tablet to a real productivity device.
It really makes this a laptop replacement.
And in my mind that really does solidify the iPad
as a true productivity device.
All right, moving right along from iPad to iPhone.
One sec. All right, I got it.
The single most important accessory
for the iPhone 12 in my opinion is a case.
And that goes for every iPhone.
It's just, the benefits of course
to having a case are the grip-ability and the protection.
I like the Apple silicone case
for the new iPhones 12 for a couple of reasons.
One, I really liked the soft touch feel
of Apple silicone cases.
It just feels really good. It's smooth.
It doesn't pick up a lot of crap or crud or lint,
and it still slides in and out of my pockets very easily.
And two, the case is thin.
It's a piece of plastic wrapped in this silicone,
soft touch material and that keeps the phone bulk down.
If you're using a case for protection or for looks,
you don't want a bulky case.
And this does a good job of providing both protection
and looks, and not being too bulky.
And third, well, there's not really a third.
It's not bulky. It feels good.
It slides into my pocket. It's fine.
It protects the phone.
But, I did have a previous video
talking about the silicone cases for the iPhone 11 Pro.
And they started to come apart at the bottom.
And I said, I'm not going to buy another Apple silicone case
until they have a significant redesign.
And I don't think it's a significant redesign,
but they do have this added silicone
at the bottom that will offer more protection
for the bottom of the phone,
and hopefully protect these corners a little bit.
But I still think that this case is gonna deteriorate,
but I just liked the feel of it.
I like that it's not bulky.
And I actually liked the color
with this blue iPhone 12 Mini.
And now to Mac accessories.
I love this mouse.
When I went back to the Mac for the first time
after seven years, this summer,
one of the things I was most excited about
was using a Magic Mouse,
because Apple has nailed inertial scrolling
with the Magic Mouse and Mac OS.
After a while,
my hand started to get fatigued of using that mouse,
so I decided it was time to try something
a little bit different, a little bit more ergonomic.
What's nice about the MX Master 3
is that this scroll wheel actually has a clutch
that you can engage or disengage.
And when you disengage it,
the mouse wheel scrolls freely,
just like the inertial scrolling on the Magic Mouse.
And it works really well with Mac OS.
Scrolling up and down on a website is no issue for this guy.
Things like Twitter that has infinite scrolling,
you can just kind of flick your finger and it'll scroll.
And then it'll reload and keep scrolling,
as this thing still spins, which is pretty cool.
Now, of course you can't do left/right scrolling
on this scroll wheel,
but you do have this left/right scroll
on the side for your thumb.
And this actually works extremely well as well.
Extremely well as well.
This thumb wheel does not have inertial scrolling.
However, some applications actually do recognize it
as having that ability.
So for example, Final Cut Pro.
When you flick your thumb on this,
it will scroll the timeline left or right,
and kind of keep going and, you know, taper off,
just like as if it was the Magic Mouse.
You also get a couple of buttons
for left/right in a browser,
and you get a function button right here
that allows for things like the gestures
on the Magic Mouse for Expose or switching desktops.
One other thing about this MX Master 3
is they do a sell a MAC-specific version
that comes in a slightly different color.
And that one only works with Bluetooth.
If you buy the regular MX Master 3,
you also get the little, unifying receiver, adapter thing
that allows you to plug this into your computer
and get not Bluetooth connection.
So if you have finicky Bluetooth connections
with your computer, this can help solve that.
And you can also connect it
to other devices using Bluetooth as well.
So if you want to connect it to another computer
or another iPad, you can do that.
This is my Samsung T7 Drive.
It is a tiny, compact SSD drive
that runs in USB-C 3.1 gen two.
So it can get up to one gigabyte per second of speed.
And that is amazing for a tiny little drive like this.
It's not Thunderbolt.
You're not getting multi-gigabits per second,
but for what this is, it's very fast.
It's so fast that I can actually record off of this,
which I do.
I bought this with my 2020 iMac
because I bought the iMac with 512 gigs of internal storage,
and I needed something larger
to edit off of.
This drive is more than fast enough to do everything
I need it to do.
If I start a video edit on the iMac with this,
I can then just disconnect this from the iMac
plug it into my MacBook Pro,
and now I can continue editing the same file,
the same video, off of this drive, with either computer.
There are many other drives on the market just like it,
but this one is mine.
And this is what I use.
Next is the CalDigit TS3 Plus Dock.
This is a 15-port dock that provides
all kinds of different connection options
for a laptop or a desktop, whatever you need.
When I switched to the M1 MacBooks,
I needed a way to expand the ports.
Two single USB-C ports is just not enough.
This gives you the ability
to have additional, front-facing ports, USB-A and C,
audio ports, SD cards.
And on the back you get five more.
No, that's not right.
You get four more USB-A ports, USB-C port,
a Thunderbolt in and out, ethernet,
display port and optical audio if that's what you want.
And of course, this connects to a MacBook Pro
with a Thunderbolt cable,
and charges it and transfers all of these ports to it.
And this is a really nice dock.
It fits well with the MacBooks,
and even with the iMac,
if you want additional ports for that,
that are front facing.
And speaking of iMacs,
iMacs are the best desktop form factor I think you can get.
And one of the reasons for that
is just the clean, simple appearance.
And one thing you can do,
like with that SSD that I just showed you,
you can hide that behind the iMac with something like this.
This is the Twelve South Backpack
and what this does is it clamps onto the back stand
of the iMac to hold hard drives or SSDs or something else,
I guess, if you wanna hide it back there.
The Twelve South comes with different adapters
for different iMacs from the last decade,
as well as cinema displays.
You have these rubber columns here
that you kind of screw on here
that allow you to keep the drives in place
so they don't slide off or they can't slide off.
And I usually keep a couple of hard drives
on this at a time, always connected to the iMac
for things like file storage and time machine backups.
And the last thing that I have
is this aluminum laptop stand that I bought
for the MacBook Pro M1 that I have.
This matches the MacBook aluminum almost to a T.
This is a space gray version.
There are of course, regular aluminum or silver versions.
And I think there's even a gold version.
There's a number of different companies
that make the same exact stand
but I'll put a link below
so you can find this one if you're interested.
And what's nice about this is that it can adjust
in every way.
By loosening the knob on the side,
you can change the height of the stand.
Just tighten it.
You can change the tilt up and down,
so you can get the perfect angle for however you want
your MacBook to sit.
And you can, of course, twist it as well.
The base is solid and sturdy.
It's not gonna go anywhere.
It looks really good, like I said,
and of course there's rubber pads on the top
and on the front where the MacBook
would kind of rest against it.
It's a really nice stand.
It goes great with a nice clean setup.
If you're using a laptop as your main computer,
or you know, using a laptop with an external monitor,
and you wanna use the laptop screen
as the secondary monitor.
Now we're down to the last two
of my favorite technology accessories for 2020.
And first up is the Elago slim silicone case for Apple TV.
People have been complaining about the Apple TV remote
for years, the Siri remote,
because it's small, it's slippery.
It gets lost easily.
And you can't really tell
which way is the correct way to hold it when it's dark.
This solves pretty much all of the problems I had
with the Apple TV remote.
Because it's a silicone case,
it makes it much easier to grip.
It makes it thicker. It's not as slippery.
It's really nice to hold.
In the dark, you know which way is up,
because there's only one part
that isn't covered in silicone on the sides
and that's the touch pad.
And the other thing is it's a big, bright red color.
So this thing isn't just going to hide on the couch
or hide on a table or easily slide between cushions.
It's visible. You're going to see it.
They have a number of colors on their website,
including glow in the dark if that's what you're into.
But I think red does a good job of standing out
in my furniture.
So it's easy to find when I need it,
and it's hard to lose.
This has been a really handy accessory
for the terrible Apple TV remotes.
And last up.
The most important accessory of 2020. AirPods.
Yes, just the regular AirPods.
The regular AirPods.
Not the Pro. Not the Pro Max.
Just AirPods.
For the last three years,
AirPods have been one of three things
that are always in my pocket.
My phone, my wallet, and my AirPods.
The beauty of AirPods is just how convenient they are.
It's so easy to have them in your pocket,
pop one out, stick one in your year,
and start a podcast or listen to the news or Spotify,
or whatever you want while standing in line
or in a meeting at work; who knows.
And the reason that they're convenient,
and always available,
and always in my pocket
is because the size of the charging case.
I don't understand
how no other wireless headphone manufacturer
has developed a case this small.
This really is the key, in my opinion,
to having wireless headphones that are always with you.
If these died today,
I would buy a pair immediately tomorrow.
I don't care if they're on sale or not.
I'm going to buy them because I need them.
I use them. I am addicted to them.
I use them morning till night.
I use them for personal stuff and for work stuff.
If I could only have one accessory
for all of my devices,
and luckily I don't have to make that decision,
but if I only could have one accessory for all my devices,
it would absolutely be AirPods.
They are my favorite accessory for everything.
So those are all of my favorite accessories
for tech products in 2020.
Some are new, some are old.
Some, I can't live without, like the AirPods.
But what accessories am I missing out on?
What do you use and love?
Let me know below.
On a different topic, this has been a crazy year.
2020 has been nuts,
but 2020 has also been really exciting for me on YouTube.
I started the year with eight subscribers
and it looks like we're ending the year
just around just shy of 10,000.
And that just blows my mind.
Thank you so much for everybody who has liked,
shared and watched and subscribed
to my videos all year long.
For those that have been with me,
and left comments and feedback and support in the comments
since the beginning of the year and before that,
thank you so much.
Your support means everything to me,
and I really appreciate it.
So my goal going forward is to continue to make content
that we both like,
and to respond to as many comments as I can.
So from me to you, thank you so much for everything.
And I hope that we all have a better 2021.
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