Month: August 2019

I love using Apple’s HomeKit technology to turn my home into a smarter home.  While I have quite a few HomeKit products installed, the most useful ones are part of the Lutron Caséta Wireless family.  As I explained when I first reviewed these products in 2015, you can replace your current wall switch or dimmer with a Lutron Caséta Wireless Dimmer, and then you can use any of your Apple devices to turn the light on or off or dim the light.  Or you can program the light to come on or off at specific times of the day or when triggered by some other HomeKit device, such as a motion sensor.  I started with just a single wireless dimmer and I added more devices over time.  You can have up to 75 Lutron Caséta devices in a single home.

Lutron Caséta uses a proprietary wireless technology it calls Clear Connect that works incredibly well.  I’ve never experienced radio interference, nor have I seen reports online of others seeing that.  I particularly like Lutron Caséta wall dimmers because while you can use devices like an iPhone to control them and you can automate them, the dimmer on the wall works just like any dumb dimmer.  Other members of your household or guests just press the buttons on the wall the way that they would normally control a light switch or dimmer.  (Some other HomeKit systems require that the light switch on the wall always be set to the “on” position to work; if someone turns the switch off, you can no longer control the lights using your iPhone.).  And if a family member wants to use their Apple devices to control HomeKit products such as Lutron Caséta light switches, just use the Home app on your iPhone to send an invitation and then that person will be able to do everything that you can do.

The Lutron Smart Bridge (which you can buy with your first dimmer as a part of a set) connects to your router and is what allows the Lutron devices to work with Apple’s HomeKit technology.  For example, the Smart Bridge gives you the power to tell Siri on your iPhone or your Apple Watch to dim the dining room light to 30%.  Lutron says that the Smart Bridge is powerful enough to extend about 30 feet in each direction.  If you lived in a big square home with no walls and put the Smart Bridge in the center, that would allow for about a 60 x 60 foot house of about 3,600 square feet.  Of course, most folks won’t be able to place the Smart Bridge right in the middle of a house, and walls create some interference, but I’ve seen numerous reports online of folks saying that for a house size of around 2,500 square feet, even with two or even three floors, the Smart Bridge covers the entire house.

My house is two stories and almost 3,500 square feet, which means that the Lutron Smart Bridge could be enough to cover all of my house if I could put it in a central location, but I don’t have a router in the center of my house.  My main router is next to my cable modem and computer, located in the study at the front upstairs of my house, and I have a second router located in my TV room at the back of the downstairs of my house.  Placing the Smart Bridge at either extreme of my house, where the routers are located, made it difficult for the Smart Bridge to work with devices located at the other extreme at my house on a different floor.

Fortunately, Lutron gives you the option to extend the range, although you can only do so once.  If you purchase a Lutron Caseta Wireless Smart Lighting Lamp Dimmer, which you can use to control a lamp or other device which plugs in to an outlet on a wall (you can actually control two lamps, one plugged in to each side), that device as a bonus will extend the range another 30 feet in each direction.  Thus, place the lamp dimmer in a location that is in range of your Smart Bridge, and it will extend the wireless range in the other directions.

The way that I currently have this configured it that my Smart Bridge is in my upstairs study, and then in my upstairs bedroom I have the lamp dimmer plugged in next to my bed, controlling my bedside lamp.  (If my wife is asleep in the room, it is nice to be able to use my Apple Watch to turn on my lamp to just 5% so that I can make my way around a dark room without waking her up.)  The lamp dimmer is actually more than 30 feet from my Smart Bridge (it’s more like 50 feet away) but it still works fine.  That lamp dimmer then works as a range extender, allowing the wireless signal to go to my TV room, located in that downstairs room in the back of my house, and to my backyard so that I can control outdoor lights connected to an iHome iSP100 Outdoor Smart Plug.

I’ve been using this configuration with success for a while, but recently I noticed that I was having trouble with the lights on a wall dimmer farthest away from my Smart Bridge.  I thought that perhaps the wall dimmer itself was malfunctioning and would need to be replaced, but after some troubleshooting, I learned that I was having trouble with range because my lamp dimmer was no longer extending my range.  I don’t know exactly how it happened, but I noticed that when I went to the settings in the Lutron app and looked at the range extender settings, I was told that I should add a range extender to increase my range.  In other words, the lamp dimmer was working great to control my lamp, but it was not extending my range.

To solve this problem, I deleted the lamp dimmer from my HomeKit configuration using the Lutron app, added it back again, and then the Lutron app automatically made that dimmer a range extender.  And then the lights that I was having trouble with started working perfectly again.

Unfortunately, if you have multiple Lutron lamp dimmers, there is currently no way to designate one of them as the range extender.  The first one that you add to your HomeKit system is the range extender, and any subsequent ones are just normal lamp dimmers.  So if you plan to use multiple lamp dimmers in your house, make sure that the first one that you configure is in the most strategic location to extend your wireless range, and then put the other lamp dimmer(s) wherever you want just for use as a dimmer.  If you want to designate a different lamp dimmer as a range extender, you should first remove all of the lamp dimmers from your HomeKit account, then add the one that you want to extend the range, and then add the other lamp dimmers.

All of this sounds very obvious as I am writing this post, but it took me a long time to figure out what was going on when I had trouble with my lights.  It took a long time to realize that there could be a problem with the range extender.  If you decide to install Lutron Caséta devices in your home — and I can highly recommend them — make sure that you take advantage of a lamp dimmer if you want to extend your range.  And if you ever have trouble with lights that are far from your Smart Bridge, learn from my experience and take a look at the settings in the Lutron app and confirm that your lamp dimmer is working as a range extender.

If you are looking to start using a Lutron Caséta system, there are lots of ways to purchase it on Amazon, and I’ve included a few links below, but you can set it up lots of different ways.  Surely, you will want a wall dimmer and a Smart Bridge.  You can also get a remote control (which Lutron calls the Pico remote) which is included with some sets, and you can use that remote control either on its own, or you can mount it on a wall with a wall bracket.  For example, if you want to control the lights in a room from two different light switches, you can put a dimmer on one wall to actually control the lights, and then you can mount the Pico on another wall with the wall bracket, and it will look almost exactly like a dimmer switch, but it will actually be sending a signal from the Pico to the dimmer on the other wall to control the lights.  And you can purchase Lutron Caséta in multiple colors to match your decor.  In most of the rooms in my house, I use Light Almond, but in my TV room I use white, and you can also purchase black or ivory.

Click here to get a Lutron two-wall dimmer and Smart Bridge starter kit on Amazon ($159.80)

Click here to get a Lutron wall dimmer, pico remote and Smart Bridge starter kit on Amazon ($99.95)

Click here to get a Lutron wall dimmer on Amazon ($54.93)

Click here to get a Lutron lamp dimmer on Amazon ($47.95)

I’ve spent some time this week preparing for an upcoming appellate oral argument, and I’ve used GoodNotes extensively to prepare what I am going to say and to prepare the best responses to likely questions from the panel.  I love that I can write things in different colors and ink sizes, paste an image of a part of a case so that I can quote it verbatim during my presentation, and easily move things around when I change my mind on the order.  Handwritten notes in GoodNotes allow me to do so much more than just typing an outline in Microsoft Word on my computer.  (I wrote about using GoodNotes to prepare for an oral argument in this post.)  When I’m finished, I’ll export my notes to a PDF file and print them out in color as a backup, but I prefer using the bright screen on the iPad Pro at the podium.  And now, the news of note from the past week:

• Speaking of the GoodNotes app, California attorney David Sparks has shared some templates that you can use with GoodNotes, things like daily diary forms.  If that interests you, you can download them from this page.
• And here’s one more article regarding GoodNotes:  This week, Josh Ginter of The Sweet Setup picked the best apps for taking notes with an iPad.  For handwritten notes, he picked GoodNotes, but he picks lots of other apps for different types of notes.
• Do any of you have a suggestion for a good projector to use with an iPad Pro for trial, presentations, etc., with portability being an important factor?  I was asked that question this week by a Mississippi attorney, and while I have used lots of different projectors with my iPad Pro that were provided by the venue where I was giving a presentation, I’ve never shopped for one for myself so I don’t have any specific suggestion.  If any of you happen to have a suggestion and don’t mind sharing your wisdom, please post a comment to this post or send me an email.  Thanks!
• Jennifer Pattison Tuohy of Wirecutter recommends the best home sensors to use with HomeKit.  One of the products she recommends is the Eve Degree, which I reviewed last year and I continue to enjoy using.
• Yesterday, I reviewed the HyperDrive 6-in-1 USB-C Hub for iPad Pro.  Ed Hardy of Cult of Mac reviewed a similar product called the Kanex USB-C Hub.  It looks far more awkward than the HyperDrive because it used a cord and connects to the corner of the iPad, which means that your iPad cannot lay flat while using it, and it costs $10 more than the HyperDrive, so the Kanex product doesn’t appeal to me, but Hardy gave it a positive review so perhaps it makes sense for some folks.
• Pang-Chieh Ho posted on Digg the winners of the 2019 iPhone Photography Awards.  There are some fantastic pictures in there.
• Nick Guy of Wirecutter recommends fast chargers for the iPhone and iPad.
• CarPlay Life discusses NewsFlash for CarPlay, a CarPlay app that can read aloud the text from a website so that you can hear a website while you are driving.  It looks like you have to choose one of the 29 websites in the app (such as CNN, the New York Times, 9to5Mac, and Lifehacker); it would be more useful if you could add other websites.  Still, it’s an interesting idea.
• Although Apple changed its mind about selling the AirPower charging mat, there are some similar alternatives.  Julio Ojeda-Zapata recommends some of them in an article for TidBITS.
• In an article for Tom’s Guide, Jason Snell explains why Apple spent $1 billion to purchase Intel’s cellular modem business.
• Here is an Apple support article showing the icons and explanations of every status icon that you might see at the top of your iPhone.  There are several on this page that I’ve never seen before.
• And finally, at some point this month, Apple will let you sign up for its new credit card, the Apple Card.  It offers some advantages over standard credit cards, as Apple explains on this page of its website.  Also, the physical card itself is really cool; it is made of Titanium, is laser-etched, and doesn’t display your credit card number (for privacy, although you can always get the number in the iPhone app if you need it).  I saw one of these in person not too long ago and it is a very distinctive looking card.  Here is a video from Apple showing the design of the Apple Card:

Last year, Apple introduced a new version of the iPad Pro that has a USB-C port instead of Lightning port.  Because USB-C is versatile and is an industry standard with growing support, this change opened the door to new third-party accessory possibilities.  One accessory that I envisioned when I first started using this iPad Pro was a jack-of-all-trades accessory with lots of options.  That’s exactly what Hyper has created with the HyperDrive 6-in-1 USB-C Hub for the iPad Pro.  I backed this device in a Kickstarter campaign in December 2018 and my unit finally shipped in March 2019.  I’ve been using this device for the past four months and I really like it.  And now I see that anyone can purchase the device on Amazon for $89.99. 

6-in-1

As the name tells you, this single device turns your iPad Pro’s USB-C port into six different ports.  Here is what you get:

3.5mm Audio Jack. This allows you to plug in a pair of headphones with a traditional connector.  I normally use AirPods to listen to audio from my iPad, but there are two circumstances in which I’ve found it useful to use traditional headphones.  First, on an airplane, I don’t find AirPods loud enough to hear over the background noise of a plane.  Traditional headphones are just a little bit louder.  Second, although my AirPods are almost always in my pocket, sometimes I forget them and it is handy to be able to use any random pair of headphones I find at my home or office.

USB-A. This is the traditional USB size, and the HyperDrive uses high-speed USB 3.1 Gen 1 capable of 5Gb/s transfer speed.  When iPadOS comes out later this year, you will be able to use this port to access the files on a thumb drive or an external USB drive.  You can also use this to connect an external keyboard, and when iPadOS comes out, you will be able to use this to connect a mouse.  You could also attach MIDI audio devices, a microphone, cameras that support USB, a USB-to-Ethernet adapter, etc.

SD Memory Card. Use this port to plug in a memory card.  I use it to transfer pictures that I take using my DSLR camera to my iPad Pro.  Thanks to the beautiful screen on the iPad Pro, this is a great way to look at pictures soon after I take them, delete the bad ones, and make edits to the ones that I need edits.  It is fast and works well.

Micro SD Memory Card. I don’t currently have any devices that use Micro SD, but I like knowing that if I encounter such a card, I’m ready for it.

USB-C. This is useful for two reasons.  First, you can use the same cord that you normally use to charge the iPad even while the hub is attached.  This means that you can use this hub and also charge your iPad at the same time.  Second, you can use this USB-C port for data transfers, although I haven’t had a reason to do this yet.

HDMI. The HDMI port is located on the top of the HyperDrive, unlike the other ports, which are on the side.  This HDMI port supports 1080p@60Hz, 2K@60Hz, or 4K@30Hz.  The iPad Pro can actually support a better resolution than that:  4K@60Hz.  However, due to technical limitations, the iPad Pro only supports this mode with a dedicated single-purpose adapter, not a multiple-port hub.  This limitation has been irrelevant for me; I don’t even have a TV that can handle both 4K and 60Hz.  If this limitation matters to you, you’ll need to buy a single-purpose adapter. 

I use this HDMI port for giving presentations using Keynote and an external projector, which works great, and also sometimes for connecting my iPad Pro to a TV to show video on a TV outside of my home that doesn’t have an Apple TV, such as a TV in a hotel room.  I also own the adapter made by Apple which allows you to connect HDMI to an iPad Pro — the Apple USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter — and the HyperDrive seems to work just as well.

When I say “just as well” I don’t mean perfect every time.  While I’ve never had a problem using the HyperDrive or the Apple HDMI connector to connect my iPad to an HDMI port on a projector (such as when I am giving a presentation), I’ve had mixed success with HDMI connectors for the iPad in hotel rooms.  For example, this past June, I tried to connect my iPad Pro to a TV in a hotel room using the HyperDrive and I couldn’t get it to work.  Then I switched to the Apple HDMI connector, and that one worked fine.  Then I switched back to the HyperDrive, and the HyperDrive suddenly worked.  And then just last week, I was on a family vacation to the beach and I tried to connect my iPad Pro to a TV in a condominium so that my son and I could watch the new season of Stranger Things on Netflix.  With the Apple HDMI connector, I could only get audio on the TV, no video.  But with the HyperDrive, everything worked perfectly.

And this is nothing new.  In the past, I’ve used an Apple Lightning-to-HDMI connector with previous iPads, and while usually everything worked fine when connecting to a TV in a hotel room, every once in a while I would encounter an issue.

I wish I understood why I’ve occasionally (but not always) had these problems connecting to the HDMI port on a TV in a hotel room.  My sense is that it has to do with the software or hardware on the iPad itself, not the accessory that I’m using.  My tests over the last few months lead me to conclude that the HyperDrive is just as reliable as the Apple HDMI-to-USB-C connector, but that doesn’t mean that either one of them work all of the time.  If anyone knows the correct sequence of Voodoo chants necessary to get HDMI to work 100% of the time with an iPad, please let me know.

Putting it all together.  Having all of these different connections is really useful.  For example, I can imagine being at a conference when someone gives me a presentation on a thumb drive.  Once iPadOS is out later this year, I will be able to use the HyperDrive to load the presentation on my iPad Pro even without a Wi-Fi connection, then I could import some additional pictures that I took with my DSLR camera using the SD card slot, and then I could give the presentation using the HDMI port to connect to a projector. Pretty much the only thing that this HyperDrive doesn’t have that you might need when giving a presentation is a VGA connector, just in case you encounter an older projector that doesn’t support HDMI.

Design

Having all of those ports is very useful, but what I really like about this product is the great design.  It is tiny, taking up almost no space when you need to carry around.  And when connected to the iPad Pro, the size and color match so well that is almost seems like it is something made by Apple.  I purchased the space gray version, but there is also a silver version so you can match either model of the iPad Pro.

A small blue light on the side indicates that the device is attached correctly and that it is getting power.

When it is connected to the iPad Pro, the connection is sturdy and it won’t fall off.  You can certainly carry your iPad Pro in your hand around an office with the HyperDrive attached. 

The HyperDrive is slim enough that I have no trouble using it with my iPad Pro in the Apple Smart Folio.  It also works great with the Apple Smart Keyboard Folio. 

Because this device is made of metal, you wouldn’t want it to bump against the side of the iPad Pro too much because it might scratch the iPad Pro.  But this isn’t a problem because Hyper includes a removable and replaceable plastic grip that secures the device onto the iPad Pro without any risk of scratching the iPad.  If you want to use this device with something other than the iPad Pro, or if you have a very large case on your iPad Pro preventing that plastic grip from working, you can remove the grip and replace it with an included extension cable.  That takes away a lot of the design appeal — I love that this product is snug to the side of the iPad Pro — but it gives you an additional way to use the HyperDrive. 

We don’t know when Apple will release a new version of the iPad Pro and, whenever it comes out, we don’t know if Apple will change the design.  But even if Apple does do so, hopefully Hyper could just create a new grip (or you could always use the extension cable), so this seems like a product that will remain useful for a long time.  [UPDATE 8/1/2021:  This device does work with the 2021 version of the iPad Pro containing an M1 chip.  Even though the 2021 iPad Pro is thicker, this device comes with two plastic brackets for stability, one designed for the (former) iPad Pro and the other designed for the (former) iPad Pro with a screen protector.  If you use the new 2021 iPad Pro and don’t have a screen protector, then the large clip makes this device compatible with the 2021 iPad Pro.]

Cost

$90 seems like a very fair price for this adapter.  As noted above, I also own Apple’s HDMI adapter, and it costs $79 (or $60 on Amazon) and all you get is HDMI, USB-A, and USB-C.  And Apple’s SD card reader costs $39 on Amazon.  And the Apple USB-C to 3.5 mm Headphone Jack Adapter costs $5.99 on Amazon.  The HyperDrive gives you a single product that does everything that those three adapters do, plus more because you also get Micro SD, all for less money.  And because the Apple adapters stick out of the side with a short cable, they are more cumbersome to use and to carry around than the HyperDrive.

If you don’t need all six of the connectors on the HyperDrive, you can find cheaper options.  Although I haven’t tried it, I see that Satechi sells a similar hub for $60 that attaches to the side of the iPad Pro and provides four ports:  headphone jack, HDMI, USB-A, and USB-C.  If you won’t ever have a need for the SD and Micro SD memory card slots, you can save $30 by getting that Satechi model.  I do want those ports, and I love that I can only carry a single hub to give me all of the ports that I am likely to use … unless I encounter an older projector that only has VGA.

Conclusion

If you own the 2018 version of the iPad Pro and you want to use the USB-C port to its fullest, this is a very useful accessory.  It is easy to keep attached to the iPad Pro, and even when you remove it, it is so small that it is easy to store in your briefcase or purse so that it is always there when you need it. 

Click here to get the HyperDrive 6-in-1 USB-C Hub for iPad Pro from Amazon ($89.99)