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Steve Jobs Apple Logo
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Hindsight Editiorial : Steve Jobs Passes Away

Its probably wrong that anyone, bar a select few, in the journalist or blogging world can say they knew anything Steve Jobs the person, not Steve Jobs the icon and yet his death has had a profound impact on the world.

xl jobstribute Hindsight Editiorial : Steve Jobs Passes Away
Steve Jobs Passes away

The moment that I heard the news via a chat room it was immediately deemed as a hoax as none of the major news sites seemed to know of the news, then slowly it began drip feeding through the networks leaving us with the news that SJ has indeed passed away.

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Portal Now Free To Play
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Portal now free to play for Mac and PC

We don’t tend to have much coverage about Mac gaming purely because none of our rates are really up to the task of doing any decent gaming.

Portal Portal now free to play for Mac and PCWell our Hackintosh project did allow us to play games such as portal and Assassins Creed but, as anyone who reads this site knows, that rig bit the dust quite a few months ago.

It’s typical that we don’t have a rake to play any games on just as Steam announces that the standalone version of portal is no showing up with no price.

Portal is one of those rare games which isn’t showing its age just purely down to the great puzzles and compelling gameplay.

MagSafe Apple Patent
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iPhone and iPad To Get Magsafe Charging?

MagSafe Apple Patent1 iPhone and iPad To Get Magsafe Charging?

Magsafe has saved my laptop many a time and so I was overjoyed to come across the news that Apple has successfully applied for a patent to bring its Mac-saving MagSave power cable technology to iOS devices.

Magsafe was introducted way back in 2006 and I’m surprised that other vendors haven’t tried to come up with their own solution thus far.

Instead of dragging the device to the ground when you trip over the cable, the MagSafe connector just pops right out, leaving you with just a slight tinge of embarrassment rather than a large repair bill.

Trademarked

Now Apple has trademarked the tech with the US Patent Office in order to transfer MagSafe and bring piece of mind to iPad and iPhone owners.

The filing, revealed by the PatentlyApple website, says: “In one particular embodiment, the connector may be a power connector such as the MagSafe.”

So there you have it, the days of self-inflicted, gadget-smashing mis-steps could be over.

It probably won’t be in time for the next generation iPhone, but soon you’ll be able to trip and fall as merrily as you like without taking your precious smartphone with you.

Side Note
Anyone else think this might be pointing to a rounded iPhone 5?

 

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blueLounge MiniDock

MiniDock blueLounge MiniDock
blueLounge MiniDock

One of the most overlooked areas in my little Apple eco-structure is my sync cable. At the last count I think I have about four, perhaps fiver as they are cheap enough to have one in pretty much every appliance I have with a USB socket.

Now, it’s no secret, Apple products do command a slightly higher price than normal so when I came across the blueLounge MiniDock at $20 acting as a replacement the Apple Dock connector to USB cable I didn’t drop into the typical “who would pay that much for a xxxxx” mindset.

The blueLounge MiniDock si designed to be used with your existing Apple USB Power Adapter to charge your iPhone or iPod.  Meaning no more iOS device on the floor or cable’s having to be tucked away, hidden or tripped over, sending your cherished Apple device hurtling across the room.

Unfortunately with the blueLounge MiniDock is you need to supply the wall mounted charger yourself.  Another downside is that it works best (read only) with flat bottomed devices so those of you with fancy covers might struggle to use this.

The blueLounge MiniDock is available in three versions to fit either US, UK or EU style adapters and sockets ($24.28 is the cost including shipping for our UK users)

Facetime - Server Error
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Facetime Error : The server encountered an error processing registration please try again later

I thought that it was just me and that Apple servers had singled me out for looking so dishevelled all the time stopping me from using FaceTime to protect the world from me.  However it seems that I’m not alone in the world and many Lion users are getting the following error message.

“The server encountered an error processing registration please try again later”

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Sinjimoru SyncStand for iPhone

When it comes to buying overpriced official Apple accessories, I’m usually at the head of the queue.  But even I couldn’t justify paying £25 for what is essentially a lump of plastic, for the iPhone 4 dock. I’ve frequently sought alternatives but many of the good looking docks simply charge the iPhone, not sync it. For a desktop dock that is my number one requirement as I mostly charge my iPhone during the night via the wall charger anyway.

5660668835 192652cdd5 Sinjimoru SyncStand for iPhone

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The New Apple TV

I’ve kicked off 2011 as I fully intend to carry on, with a new gadget. Over Christmas I’d been giving great thought to purchasing the new Apple TV. I already have the 1st gen which is located in my bedroom, but I wanted something for the living room which can be enjoyed by the whole family and friends.

After a little bit of hesitation between Christmas and New Year, yesterday I decided to head to Apple Store MetroCentre and finally give in to the temptation. It wasn’t until I arrived that I realised I was lacking an HDMI to HDMI cable. Rather than heading off in a different direction to hunt for a cheaper cable, I just gave my extra £15 to Apple for one when picking up Apple TV

appleteevee The New Apple TV

First thought on Apple TV – wow, isn’t it small? This thing is just tiny. Inside the box is simply the Apple TV, Remote, power lead, two Apple stickers and instruction booklet. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the set-up process as I’d heard some people running into various difficulties when they purchased theirs on release day. It didn’t sound like the “works right out of the box” that we’ve become so accustomed to with Apple, but there were no problems at this end. Choose your language, choose your network, input your network password, pop in your Apple ID, turn on Home Sharing and you’re done.

The pleasing thing about the new Apple TV is it’s speed. When it goes into screensaver mode you just hit the menu button and boom, you’re back at the menu, no messing. On the 1st gen you press the menu button and sit back as it clicks and clunks a bit, has a think about it and then it asks “oh, you mean now?”. Not only is it quick in that respect but when previewing trailers I have been impressed by no lag, no jitter. Similarly when streaming a movie from my iMac it just does things extremely smoothly. That was one of my concerns, but it needn’t have been.

It’s so nice to be able to access my entire iTunes library from the living room now. I have my own collection of movies and TV shows building in there, plus a few movies purchased via iTunes that I’ll finally be able to watch on a 42″ screen, on demand. I look forward to the future for Apple TV, which I am sure will be a brighter one than the forgotten 1st gen. Hoping that apps will be arriving soon to open this up even more and make it a very attractive home entertainment device for all.