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Apple Now Accepting iPad Apps, Planning “Grand Opening” of iPad App Store

Apple is now accepting iPad apps for a “grand opening” of the iPad App Store, according to an email just sent to registered developers.
“iPad will begin shipping soon and your opportunity to be part of the grand opening of the iPad App Store starts today,” the email says.
There’s no details about when the store’s grand [...]

Security Expert: “Mac OS X Is Safer, But Less Secure”

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Tech site H-Online has an interesting story today, quoting security expert Charlie Miller about his forthcoming talk at the CanSecWest conference next week.
He says OS X is full of security holes. There are lots more than in Windows, he claims.
And yet: OS X is a safer system to use. Why? Because, in the words [...]

Apple Devotes Entire Home Page To Jerome York Obituary

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If ever you needed a sign that Apple was a different kind of technology company, this is it.
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This is one of those “Here’s to the [...]

Coming Soon: Steve Jobs, the Sitcom

Fake Steve creator Dan Lyons just signed a deal to bring Steve Jobs to another small screen near you.
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Making sure the barbs prick will be the [...]

Unibody MacBook-to-HDMI Solution Coming in January

2948297072_043b05ede3.jpgIf I have one complaint about my aluminum MacBook (and I think I might literally have only one complaint), it’s that I don’t have an elegant method for hooking the machine up to my HDTV. As part of the 99.997 percent of the population who don’t own an AppleTV, this means I don’t have any way to watch the video in my living room. The laptop’s Mini DisplayPort is an absurdly new standard, and that means it plays well with virtually nothing. I could buy an MDP to DVI cable from Apple, then use a DVI-to-HDMI cable to provide video and an additional TOSLink cable to deliver audio, but that sounds like a poor way to spend a Sunday evening. It would be nice just to have one cable to do everything.

Well. This frustration should soon be gone. According to MacYourself, an MDP-to-HDMI cable will be arriving in late January from Monoprice.com, the leading source for really cheap cables on the Internet. It looks like a separate audio cable will still be necessary (though no one is really sure), but I’m still a big proponent of the direct to HDMI solution, especially because it should support HDCP protection for watching iTunes HD downloads on an external screen.

I’ll buy one on day one. Who’s with me?

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About the author

Petemortensen

Pete Mortensen is a design strategist for consulting firm Jump Associates and the co-author of Wired to Care: How Companies Prosper When They Create Widespread Empathy, a book and blog that are significantly more interesting than you might initially think. Pete's particular Apple avocations are both around design--interface and industrial. Follow him on Twitter!

Email the author | Read more posts by Pete Mortensen.

11 comments

    I don’t have this problem, because I have an iPhone. I sync the video with the iPhone, then I use a cable to connect the iPhone to the TV.

    I am defo with you id love one ! there really is so much use for one

    The biggest issue for me on the MacBook is the lack of FireWire.

    I’m not a high end user and hate USB for hard drives. If you try to daisy chain USB hard drives the performance drops significantly.

    Why would I daisy chain hard drives? Well, I have other USB devices I have to plug into my iMac. The result is that I end up having to daisy chain the hard drives.

    Yes I’ve tried a USB hub but it is still ultimately going through one USB hub on the iMac so it is still very slow.

    Note that I only did this as a test. The hard drives I have with my iMac have both FireWire and USB 2 ports on them.

    The problem is, the MacBooks don’t have FireWire and the MacBook Pros cost significantly more.

    Please, I beg you, tell me when I can get hold of one in Bergen Norway. I asked about this cable (plug?) the very first day I got my unibody. It really will make life more easy when bringing my laptop around to show pictures and film to family and friends with HDMI-loaded HD/HD-ready TV

    “The biggest issue for me on the MacBook is the lack of FireWire. ”
    What lack of Firewire? The only Problem is that you have to buy an adapter for everything. Apple could have made a good DVI adapter for example, where you could add a dvi to vga adapter but noooooo, you have to buy an extra one.
    With Firewire you can buy a FW400 to FW800 adapter. should be about 10 Dollars. Im going to buy one soon.

    and thats the problem with apple computers. you have a thin laptop but a whole bag of adapters and cables you have to take with you.

    to Dave
    “The biggest issue for me on the MacBook is the lack of FireWire. ”
    very true, we are talking about unibody MacBooks, not Pros.
    only pros have Firewire, and only 800.
    no firewire at all or adapters to get it on the 13 unibody

    Help. I’ve been using a MDP-DVI cable from Apple and a DVI-HDMI cable from Belkin with my new MacBook to watch movies on my HDTV. It’s been great, but today it just quit working. Anyone had the same problem or any idea what’s causing the problem? The TV does not seem to be getting the signal. I’ve made sure displays are set up properly and the cable isn’t damaged as far as I can tell.

    Could the Mini DisplayPort be causing the problem?

    I’m not a teckie and this is my first Mac so any ideas would be appreciated…

    Its now February 2nd and still no news on this adapter, does anyone have a clue about if its coming out at all?

    2/6/2009 1:03AM — site is undergoing maintenance till 2:30AM. Hopefully it comes out soon.

    Belkin makes one now. I have it hooked up to my HDTV with separate audio cable and it works great.

    Can you send a link? I’d love to see it…

    And Monoprice claims they’re going to have their solution ready in March.

    http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10428&cs_id=1042802&p_id=5311&seq=1&format=2

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