Article Image

This impressive case adds USB-C to your old iPhone

Upgrade your connection without upgrading your iPhone.

What’s happened? Swiss engineer Ken Pillonel has created an iPhone case which brings USB-C connectivity to older iPhones with Lightning ports. As well as providing fast charging (9V), data transfers and Apple CarPlay compatibility, the case also supports wireless and MagSafe charging.

This is important because: Pillonel says “the goal is to give some extra life to those older devices by making them feel less obsolete.” It means owners of older iPhones can potentially eke out a few more years of use with their current handset thanks to the convenience of the industry-standard USB-C port.

Why should I care? If you’re still rocking an iPhone from 2022 or earlier, you may have already faced some frustrations with the Lightning port residing on the base of your handset. The connection has lost out to USB-C, which is now the industry standard. Even Apple is using it on all of its new devices.

Okay, what’s next? You can order the iPh0n3 USB-C case from the Obsoless store today for 49.90 CHF (~$63), with shipping to the US costing less than $10.

A virtual private network (VPN) encrypts your internet traffic and routes it through a server run by the VPN provider. Websites see the VPN server’s IP address instead of yours, and you can get around geo-blocks, censorship, and ISP throttling. The best VPN services are paid, but there are still a handful of free options that do the job well. 

Most free VPNs come with a hidden cost, because running servers isn’t cheap and a company that doesn’t charge you has to make its money somewhere else. Many do so by logging your browsing activity and selling it to advertisers, while others flood you with ads and track you across apps. 

There's nothing quite like curling up with a good book on a cold evening. As much as I love the feel of a physical book, books take up a lot of space, and carrying more than one on a trip quickly becomes a chore. That's where e-readers come in, and the Amazon Kindle remains one of the best options.

Amazon just refreshed its Kindle lineup with thinner, lighter designs, a new flush-front display, and colors that wrap from front to back. Add the Kindle Scribe and the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft to the mix, and you have more choices than ever before.

A good Android app should earn its place on your phone. It might make an everyday task easier, handle something the built-in software can't, or let you change an experience that never quite worked for you.

These 20 apps cover everything from quick notes and password management to automation and local file sharing. Some are free, others charge for advanced features, and a few take some effort to figure out. The point isn't to install them all. It's to find the ones that make your phone work better for you.