USB - page 2

Hackers can use this tiny $5 device to attack your locked Mac

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PoisonTap is tiny but deadly.
PoisonTap is tiny but deadly.
Photo: Samy Kamkar

The next time you leave your Mac unattended, make sure to turn it off.

A well-known hacker has created a cheap tool that can steal data off of locked computers in minutes. The clever new device called PoisonTap is created using a $5 Raspberry Pi Zero and some open source code. Attackers can plug PoisonTap into a machine and as long as the victim has a web browser open, it can steal data and leave remote backdoors.

Does the new MacBook Pro deserve the criticism? [Friday Night Fights]

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Are you pleased with the new MacBook Pro?
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar might be Apple’s fastest-selling Pro machine to date, but a lot of fans are far from happy with it.

Friday Night Fights bugIt’s thinner and lighter than its predecessors, and it boasts the fastest storage we’ve ever seen on a Mac. But it’s also a lot more expensive, and it’s missing traditional USB-A ports that the vast majority of us still rely on every day. The SD card slot is gone, too.

But, does it really deserve all this criticism? Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we debate the new MacBook Pro and whether Apple messed up this year’s refresh.

Should the MacBook Pro be next in line to lose its headphone jack? [Friday Night Fights]

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Could you live without it?
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

If you’re an early iPhone 7 adopter, you’re already getting accustomed to life without a headphone jack. But what if it started to disappear from other devices you use everyday, such as your iPad or MacBook?

Friday Night Fights bugWith a MacBook Pro refresh on the horizon, fans fear it will be the next device in Apple’s lineup to see its headphone jack disappear. The move could allow Apple to make its most powerful portable even slimmer, but would it be worth it?

Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we discuss whether the MacBook Pro should lose its headphone jack this year, or whether Apple should give consumers and the industry time to adapt to other standards.

Big, comfy headphones make Mac gaming even better [Reviews]

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Mac accessories 2016
The Siberia 350 heads phones are light and comfortable.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

Massive over-ear headphones are the best way to immerse yourself in a video game, whether you’re managing the minutiae of Civilization V, hiding from the xenomorph in Alien Isolation, or blasting your way across multiplayer maps in Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Huge sound is a big part of gaming on your Mac, PC or PS4, and these fantastic-sounding and incredibly comfortable Siberia 350 headphones from SteelSeries are the best way to get your game on without sacrificing on comfort.

Headphone jack supported by Apple much longer than most ports

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These photos of Lightning EarPods have done the rounds recently.
Photo: Weibo

The iPhone’s 3.5mm headphone jack, rumored to be conspicuous in its absence from the upcoming iPhone 7, has lasted more than twice the length of a regular Apple port.

Having first appeared in an Apple product with 1984’s Macintosh, the headphone jack has been a staple of Apple devices for 32 years at this point. The average Apple I/O standard, on the other hand? According to a new report, that number averages out at only around 15 years.

USB-C battery pack gives your MacBook a full charge on the go

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The GoPower is a MacBook's perfect companion.
Photo: Kanex

Apple’s notebooks pack some of the best laptop batteries out there, but you’re always going to find yourself low on power when using your MacBook on the road. Fortunately, Kanex’s new PowerGo battery pack can save the day.

Packing 15,000 mAh of power and USB-C connectivity, it’s capable of giving your 12-inch Retina MacBook a full charge on the go — and it’ll keep your iOS devices topped up, too.

Giant discounts on a pair of Monster portable storage drives [Deals]

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Monster's 128 gigabyte flash storage drive is sleek, lightweight, capacious, and secure.
Monster's 128 gigabyte flash storage drive is sleek, lightweight, capacious, and secure.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

It’s Halloween season, but prices of these two Monsters are anything but scary. With cavernous storage and solid state storage, these are two devices you can take with you free of the worry of a dying motor or a scratched disc. And at more than half off, they’re going for a price that can’t be beat.

Apple patent explains how USB-C will make every other connector obsolete

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USB-C: The one connector to rule them all. Photo: Apple
USB-C: The one connector to rule them all. Photo: Apple

Apple still hasn’t owned up to inventing USB-C, the brand new connector featured on its 12-inch MacBook — but Apple patents have all but tied the technology to Cupertino. The latest describes how a do-it-all connector that fits USB-C’s description is going to make every other port you’re using obsolete.

It turns out Apple invented USB-C

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USB-C might be another Apple invention after all. Photo: Apple
USB-C might be another Apple invention after all. Photo: Apple

If it seems weird to you that Apple abandoned Thunderbolt, its all-in-one connector created just a few years back, in favor of USB-C for the new MacBook, you’re not the only one. It is weird. But there might be a more straightforward explanation for that than you think: According to a new rumor, Apple effectively invented USB-C.

The iPhone 6’s Lightning cable could be reversible on the USB side too

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With the next-gen USB 3.1 standard now heading into production, the USB connectors of the future will be a lot more like Lightning. Featuring small, reversible connectors, the new USB Type-C cable will be particularly well suited to syncing and charging smartphones and tablets… again, just like Lightning.

But new images said to come from within Foxconn show that Apple isn’t done innovating with Lightning just yet, and that we won’t have to wait until USB Type-C to become ubiquitous to have fully-reversible USB Lightning cables. The shots are purportedly of a fully-reversible USB connector for Apple’s next Lightning cable. In other words, instead of having to plug the Lightning cable into your computer in one specific orientation, you could do it either way.

USB security is fundamentally broken, claim security experts

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USB Mavericks

According to findings by researchers Karsten Nohl and Jakob Lell, USB security may be profoundly broken, with no way around it.

Nohl and Lell have highlighted a flaw in USB devices which potentially offer hackers the ability to sidestep all currently known security measures used by a computer. Called the BadUSB exploit, the vulnerability allows hackers to meddle with the firmware which controls the functions of various USB plug-ins, such as mice, keyboards and thumb drives.

iWatch could be a bigger hit than iPad

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iwatch

While smartwatches are currently a niche product, they may not stay that way for long, says USB analyst Steven Milunovich, who predicts that the iWatch could match sales of Apple’s iPad — unloading 21 million units in fiscal 2015 and a further 36 million units the following year.

The iPad, by comparison, sold 19.5 million units in its first year, rising to 47.6 million in its second. (The iPhone moved a relatively paltry 5.4 million units in its first year of sale, since it was still establishing Apple’s mobile platform.)

Belkin’s meeting room UFO offers some serious juice

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The Belkin meeting room power center with 4 AC power outlets and 8 USB ports. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
The Belkin meeting room power center has 4 AC power outlets and 8 USB ports. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Modern day meetings around the conference table may be a rare occurrence in our often-mobile and telecommuting world, but when they happen, the incoming mass of iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks need a lot of electricity.

Instead of making all your employees figure out where the outlets are (under the table? behind them on the wall?), why not provide a big fat power center in the middle of the action? The Belkin Meeting Room Power Center aims to do just that, with a huge, round UFO-looking power hub that sports four actual plugs and a generous eight USB ports.

That’s a lot of power.

Jimi, The J-Shaped USB Extender For iMacs

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It’s hard to come up with a reason you wouldn’t buy the Jimi, a little dongle that plays the hell out of your iMac, then smashes it all over the stage and sets fire to it, all while continuing to kindle sweet electric guitar music from its dying body.

Wait, that’s not the same Jimi? The Bluelounge Jimi is a little j-shaped USB extension that lets you plug your peripherals into your iMac from the front? That sounds pretty cool.

AviiQ High-Quality Headphones: Experience Music The Way You Want To Hear It [Deals]

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All those cheap, five dollar replacement headphones you’ve picked up after you lost or broke your last pair add up – and they don’t sound all that great, either. It’s time to stop wasting your money and save money through Cult of Mac Deals instead.

AViiQ’s In-Ear Headphones will put a stop to your reckless spending and constantly growing headphone graveyard because Cult of Mac Deals has these high-quality headphones for only $19.99 during this limited time promotional offer.

Jumper Card Packs Lightning, 30-Pin And MicroUSB Into Credit Card-Sized Package

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Back in the 1980s, and probably continuing into the 1990s, every neat gadget was shoehorned into a credit-card-shaped form factor. Magnifying glass? Credit-card-sized. Vinyl record de-duster? Credit-card-sized. And so on.

The Jumper Card continues this excellent heritage by putting a Lightning charger, a 30-pin dock connector and a microUSB charger into the same credit-card-sized package, ready to be slipped into your pocket. But not your wallet, because, like all “credit-card-sized” gadgets, this one is way too thick.

The ShaveTech Travel Razor: A USB-Powered Razor You Can Take Anywhere [Deals]

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Finding that close shave while traveling can be frustrating.

The battery on your electric razor will run out and you won’t have the ability to charge it unless you pack up the entire thing – cords, cradle, and all. The ShaveTech Electric Razor is USB-chargeable and is as small as the average smart phone. And Cult of Mac Deals has it for only $19.99 for a limited time.

Tunewear TUNEMAX Charger Can Handle 5 USB Devices At Once

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When I lived in an my crumbling old apartment in Barcelona, I had more USB-charing devices that I had power points in my office. And even in the relatively modernity of an East German apartment block, I don’t want to plug in a separate box my iPhone, iPad, bike lights, Kindle… Etc. What I need is the Tunewear TUNEMAX 5USB Charger, a five-way USB charger with a name a rapper could be proud of.

K’lip Carabiner Keyring And USB Stick

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klip

 

K’lip is a USB thumb drive that’s actually useful. Yes, you can use it to take PDFs of your boarding passes to the local print shop, but you can also just use it as a keyring, until one day you need to copy a movie or rare bootleg album off your friend’s computer.

Or you could wear it.