E-Commerce News: Accessories

Mouse Meets Multi-Touch
November 09, 2009

If Apple has its way, buttons will become a thing of the past. After slowly emaciating the mechanical controls on its wildly popular iPod media players and obliterating them from the touchpads on its notebook computer line, it now wants to purge them from every keyboard jock's favorite rodent. The company's new Magic Mouse is as sleek as an alien interstellar taxi.

iFrogz Timbre Earbuds a Deft Mix of Sound, Looks and Price
September 15, 2009

There are hundreds of decent sets of headphones and earbuds available for iPods, and there are dozens made specifically for the iPhone, including the now ubiquitous white earbuds that ship with the devices. But what if you'd like something a little different, yet aren't willing to shell out audiophile-level cash?

Pen Computer Maker Draws a Bead on Mac Users
August 17, 2009

For more than two decades, technologists have spent considerable cognitive power trying to marry the power of the pen and the computer. Up to now, their efforts have largely ended up in the gutter of a dead end-street for gadgets. Those past failures haven't deterred Livescribe from rebirthing a pen-as-computer product.

New Eye-Fi Photo Storage Card Zooms In on Mac Crowd
August 10, 2009

Freeing digital cameras from the fetters of cables and card readers has been a lucrative business for the makers of Eye-Fi. Eye-Fi is a WiFi-enabled storage card that permits photos and videos to be transferred wirelessly to a computer or directly to image sharing sites on the Web. The most recent flavor of the product, the 2GB Eye-Fi Geo, is being exclusively aimed at the Apple market.

Putting Apple Displays Under the Microscope
March 31, 2009

Apple gets a lot of criticism for the seemingly high retail prices of its Macs. While the PC and Mac pundits alike can spec out competing solutions and argue over value in terms of software and operating systems, what about displays? Computer monitors don't ship with an operating system and free productivity software -- displays are about as pure a hardware play as you can get these days.

iPod Shuffle Now Available in Pill Form
March 11, 2009

Apple has introduced a new, tinier version of its iPod shuffle -- the lowest-end product in its popular music player line. Previous versions have been bare bones in terms of features and capacity, but their form factors have always been unmistakable Apple designs.

The MacBook Interface Dilemma: So Many Ports, So Little Space
January 28, 2009

Look on the side of any MacBook or PC laptop, and you'll see a Swiss-cheese-like array of holes. They're all interface ports for plugs of various shapes and sizes. Mini DisplayPort. HDMI. 8P8C. FireWire 400. FireWire 800. DVI. VGA. WUXGA. And good old USB 2.0. They're all there for connecting peripherals -- mice, monitors, hard drives, MP3 players, cell phones, and even weird little things like flexible gooseneck lights.

The Hefty TCO of a New Apple Gadget
January 21, 2009

Buying a new shiny new electronic device doesn't necessarily just mean shelling out for the device itself. It also might mean buying -- or perhaps even re-buying -- new accessories, software or added services. For example, customers who bought the first iPhone and upgraded to the iPhone 3G lost out in several ways.

Get a Grip With Griffin iPod-to-TV Cables
January 02, 2009

Getting video out of your iPod and onto a television screen is often both easy and difficult at the same time. It's easy because Apple's proprietary cables are plug-and-play, and hard because early iPod-to-TV options were somewhat easier -- some early models of iPods would deliver TV out via the iPod Universal Dock and a cheap S-video cable.

How to Build a Mac Home Network
December 29, 2008

Most home networks are cobbled together without a lot of forethought about which devices are used to create it. For most, the decision is basically to use whatever their service provider shipped in a cardboard box. Whether they're going for wireless or wired, homeowners often haven't thought through their options.

A Dream Home for the True Blue Apple Fan
December 23, 2008

Way back in 1950, science fiction giant Ray Bradbury wrote a short story, "There Will Come Soft Rains," about a smart house that did just about everything for its resident family -- including cooking breakfast and keeping track of the bills. Unfortunately, all members of that family, along with all inhabitants of the town, were obliterated by a nuclear explosion. The house, though, kept right on going.

A Heads-Up on Headphones and Your Hearing
October 15, 2008

As users plug into their iPods and iPhones for more hours a day, the choice of headphones is as much about keeping your hearing in top form as it is about sound quality. That's why many are looking at features that let them pump down the volume without sacrificing the sound levels they have come to love.

Apple Makes Over MacBook Line Inside and Out
October 14, 2008

The rumors about Apple's new "brick" manufacturing process, in which the chassis for a MacBook notebook is carved out of a single slab of aluminum, are basically true. Apple's latest upgrade to its MacBook and MacBook Pro family are now stiffer and more durable than ever. "Apple has invented a whole new way of building notebooks from a single block of aluminum," noted Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

iPhone 3G's Best Case Scenario
October 01, 2008

When it comes to iPhone cases, there are basically three camps: The outsiders who prefer naked iPhones and don't fear drops on cold, hard concrete, those who like soft rubber/silicone iPhone cases, and those who like hard cases. I've been a fan of the soft case. The first generation of iPhone 3G hard cases seemed too bulky, full of seams, odd angles ... and downright ugly.

The Wild World of iPhone 3G Accessories
September 15, 2008

It's been over two months since Apple released the iPhone 3G, and most iPhone accessory manufacturers have had time to create the first round of iPhone 3G-compatible accessories. The term "coolest" is totally subjective, of course, and in the iPhone world it's even more so -- one person's cool new iPhone 3G case is another's dorkiest design mistake ever conceived in the history of cases.

Portable Power Packs Give Tired iPhone Batteries a Jolt
August 20, 2008

Because the iPhone 3G doesn't have a user-replaceable battery -- and because it's so easy to burn through a full charge before the end of a day -- some users may need a variety of power charging solutions. They need to keep the included universal serial bus cord or dock handy at home, and perhaps have one in the office. One also might need a car charger and might seriously consider an external portable battery.