MacBook - page 27

An overwhelming sense of eagerness overtook me after Apple showed off OS X Yosemite at WWDC. The redesigned interface and accompanying features, like a spruced-up Spotlight and the ability to take phone calls on your Mac, made downloading the beta version too intriguing to pass up.

Little did I know that moments after finalizing the installation, I would encounter a massive problem that would send me on an emotional ride.

You’ve probably noticed Booq’s odd penchant for naming their strange, sophisticated baggage after snakes. And if you’ve really been paying attention, you’ll have noticed variations on one species crop up over and over again: The Booq Boa.

The Boa’s DNA has mutated into a variety of different forms, all with the purpose of carrying a MacBook and associated equipment. But the newest iteration, the Boa Flow Graphite, may be the most perfect yet — especially for those of us who lug a MacBook and DSLR on adventures.

What if you had a Mophie-like battery pack for your MacBook? Available for preorder now, the BatteryBox is exactly that.

The box itself is about the length of a credit card and packs a whopping 12,000mAh battery. That equates to about 12 hours of extra juice for the MacBook Air and 6 hours for the Pro. The BatteryBox can charge any device over USB, and it has its own MagSafe2 connector.

Here’s what I use on a fairly daily basis: external hard drive, iPhone, iPad(s), gaming mouse, flash drive full of media and DSLR camera.

Man or woman, I’m willing to bet you’ve got a similar load of peripherals that you use with your MacBook Pro or Air. With the MacBook’s two USB 3.0 ports, there’s never enough to go around when I want to plug in more than, say, two devices at once. Sure there’s two Thunderbolt ports, too, but I’m just not that fancy.

Cult of Mac Deals has some stellar promotions lined up right now, whether you’re looking to up your storage or improve your audio recordingsby adding an external quality microphone to your workflow.

For a limited time you can get the Nifty MiniDrive, which lets you add up to 128GB of storage space to your MacBook Pro Retina for only $35.99 and a top-notch microphone in the form of the Blue Yeti can be yours for 20% off the regular price – just $117!

Wall Street consensus is that when Apple announces its Q2 2014 quarterly earnings on Wednesday, Apple’s year-over-year iPad numbers won’t look good. On the low end, at least one Wall Street analyst says that Apple will have sold 23% fewer iPads this year than last year in the same quarter; on average, Wall Street expects Apple’s iPad sales to have declined 0.7% year-over-year.

How can this be? This is the year that Apple unveiled the Retina iPad mini and the beautifully redesigned iPad Air, after all. How is it possible that these iPads can be selling worse than the inferior iPads a year ago?

Ex-Apple exec Jean-Louie Gassée has a theory, and it’s not one that Apple fans are going to be happy to hear: the iPad is a big tease, and fundamentally less useful than both a smartphone or a laptop.

Having dead Wi-Fi zones in your apartment or office is a huge inconvenience for all. NetSpot Pro is the answer to all these problems.

NetSpot Pro lets you visualize, optimize and troubleshoot your wireless networks using any MacBook so you can stay connected at all times, never missing a beat, a post or an important email. And Cult of Mac Deals has NetSpot Pro for just $29!

Grovemade’s neat iPhone bumper cases offer protection to your phone, and although they’re a bit bulky they’re light and they look great. This new MacBook Back, a self-adhesive walnut panel, offers no useful protection, but it only adds 1.8 or 2.5 ounces to the weight of the whole package.

Apple was granted a patent on Tuesday related to a GUI modified for disabled users of iOS devices and MacBooks.

Entitled “Devices, Methods & GUI’s for Accessibility using a Touch-Sensitive Surface,” the patent describes several methods for allowing a person with impaired vision to use a touch-sensitive surface, including a touch screen display or a track pad.

The diffr3nt|sleeve is going to be your MacBook Pro’s best friend.

The ideal combination of minimal design and durable protection, these sleeves keep your MacBook safe from the daily torment of scratches from desks, notebooks, purses and backpacks alike. And Cult of Mac Deals has the diffr3nt|sleeve for just $29.99 for a limited time.

Twelve South is at it again with the new Rutledge BookBook, a hand-finished leather creation that marks the company’s first MacBook case in three years. The Rutledge is designed for both MacBook Air display sizes, the 13-inch MacBook Pro, and both Retina MacBook Pro display sizes. 

As laptop speakers go, those built into Apple’s MacBooks aren’t bad — particularly if you have a MacBook Pro. But they can be so much better. Plug Twelve South’s BassJump 2 into one of your USB ports and you have a mini sound-system that dramatically improves your MacBook’s audio performance.

Whether you’re listening to music, watching a movie, or just enjoying a podcast, the BassJump 2 subwoofer gives you significantly richer and fuller sound that you won’t believe is coming from your MacBook. There’s no need for expensive external speakers that take up too much room in your bag, or headphones that limit the experience to just one person.

The BassJump 2 is priced at $69.99, and Twelve South calls it “an essential road tool for listening to and editing tracks on the tour bus, hotel room or anyplace else your music takes you.” Now, I’m no musician or music producer — but I definitely agree.

Ever wonder how your iMac stays so silent, despite being equipped with three separate fans?

A new patent application, published Thursday, details the innovative computer fan used in present generation Macs and MacBooks.

Tyler Fisher is not an Apple employee. In fact, I’m pretty sure the guy doesn’t know the difference between an iPad and an iPod Shuffle, but that didn’t stop him from dressing up as an Apple Specialist, going to work at his local Apple Store, and recording the entire prank as he sprayed customers with misinformation on everything from iPhones having retina scanners, to MacBooks with so much cloud it melted into a puddle that’s perfect for storing your naughty pics.

Not only did Tyler educate Apple Store customers to the “fact” that polio, lyme disease, and syphilis were invented by Apple thanks to the chemical mishmash that goes into MacBooks, but he also offered customers a 75% discount if they knew someone that had the diseases – an apology on Apple’s behalf.

Check out the reactions in the video below:

A new Apple patent awarded this week by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office suggests future MacBooks could be powered by the sun. In its filing for an “Electronic device display module,” which was first submitted back in 2010, Apple describes a notebook with a double-sided display that has photovoltaic cells on its back for solar charging. 

From multimedia robots to genuinely stylish smartwatches, there’s a lot of tech at CES that falls into the “would like to have” category. There’s relatively little, however, that classifies as a genuine “must have.”

That may have changed with the appearance of the Finsix laptop charger, which used a high frequency switching technology developed at MIT to impressively shrink the size of a standard laptop charger to something that could charge your iPhone.

LAS VEGAS — We got a chance to hang out a bit with Daniella Hernandez at the Lenmar booth at CES in Vegas, learning more about the innovative Chug Plug, a 65W external power pack that you can use to extend the portable staying power of your MacBook.

The first-of-its-kind Chug Plug integrates into your already existing power plug set up, with your power brick attaching to the right side of the Chug Plug to both charge the external battery pack as well as use your MacBook at the same time.

When you need to leave that comfy seat near the wall plugs at the coffee shop, the Chug Plug then provides an extra two to three hours of portable power so you can continue your work or play away from the tether.

Chug Plug is available now for $159.99 at online retailers.

LAS VEGAS — Plenty of companies have come up with cable-tidying solutions for MacBooks but few let you tame the beast as easily as this miniaturized belt for your power adapter, the Cordlupa.

I’m a huge fan of Rickshaw’s bags. Pretty much everyone in the Rickshaw office cycles to work, and it shows in the design of the bags. They’re well made, practical and light, but still full of clever design details. The Commuter 2.1 is no exception, somehow managing to offer a huge collection of pickets and cubbyholes, and yet remaining light enough to be more comfy on the shoulder than many more simple messenger bags.

Want to know more? Read on:

There’s good news and bad news for Apple. The good news is that the Cupertino-based company sells more tablets in America than anyone. The bad news is that Apple is selling less iPads proportionate to the total share of tablet sales than a year ago… and Mac sales are also going down.

Tired of the way your smartphone, tablet, computer, or other tech gadgets are looking these days? Now you can change it up with a stylish skin from Slickwraps.

Slickwraps makes amazing skins for these big name brands and more! They literally make hundreds of sweet skins for just about every tech gadget out there including your iPhone and/or Android phone. This Cult of Mac Deals offer will get you $40 Slickwraps credit for only $20 – credit you can apply to any product (or products) they have for sale on their website. This deal gives you the freedom to shop around and get exactly what you want.

How would you like that to be yours? No, not the MacBook. Or the iPhone. Or the sofa. Or… Okay, we’re talking about that chopping board-looking object with the holes drilled in it.

Ok, sure, this is more of a tip for those with a Macbook Pro or Air, or any other Apple laptop in the last few years with the fantastic tiny power brick design to it.

I know that I’ve struggled for years on the best way to tuck the two pieces of the power cable away. I’ve generally settled on wrapping the thin part of the cord around the included flip-out handles and then wrapping the larger cord around my hand. Sometimes I separate the two cables and do the same thing, so they fit better in a flatter bag or backpack.

This new tip, though, from Twitter user J Cornelius, just plain astonished me when I saw it. Why didn’t I think of that?

As per Steve Jobs’ much referenced “reality distortion field”, Apple seemingly isn’t subject to many of the rules which govern other companies.

As a tablet-fueled holiday price war is breaking out among laptops, Deutsche Bank has noted that Apple is staying out of it entirely — and the strategy seems to be paying off.