09/12, 6:30am
9-pin connector dubbed Lightning, earphones dubbed Earpods
Apple’s much discussed and still rumored 9-pin dock connector is reportedly referred to internally as ‘Lightning,’ reports 9to5Mac. It is also believed that Apple will also market the new connector with that name lending weight to our earlier story that it is likely to be compatible with USB 3.0. Apple’s newest Ivy Bridge-based Macs support USB 3.0 and boast speeds of up to 5Gbps, half the speed of the Thunderbolt I/O, but much faster than the current USB 2.0 compatible connector.
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05/29, 11:05pm
Griffin PowerDocks
iPod accessory manufacturer Griffin Technology on Thursday unveiled the PowerDock 2 and PowerDock 4, a new dual- and quad-slot charger for the iPod and iPhone. The PowerDock gives iPod owners two to four dock connectors with eight universal bezel adapters to hold and charge two iPods or iPhones at the same time. The brushed aluminum stand features a rubber bottom to prevent slipping. Griffin is selling the PowerDock 2 for $50, while the PowerDock 4 is selling for $70.
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05/15, 3:20pm
iPods on Singapore Air
iPods and iPhones are now supported on some flights out of the US, Singapore Airlines has announced. The company says that beginning today, business-class, non-stop A345 flights from Newark to Singapore will offer special 30-to-9-pin adapter cables to go along with its KrisWorld in-flight entertainment technology. This will allow passengers to not only listen to music through KrisWorld, but watch video on a larger LCD, and power their players at the same time.
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04/29, 12:10am
Dock connector lawsuit?
Apple has been sued by yet another company claiming that it infringed on a patent through components found in the immensely popular iPod media player. Filed last week in the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Michigan on behalf of inventor Henry Milan by Detroit-based law firm Butzel Long, it claims that Apple violated a hardware-based patent in its connecting mechanism in the two different media players. The firm argues a violation of U.S. patent No. 6,991,483, which was filed on Nov, 12, 2004, and issued on Jan. 31, 2006, almost five months after launched the iPod nano and six weeks after Apple was contacted about alleged infringement. The patent describes a connector that combines a Flash memory drive and a connection port in a single unit that be made to a variety devices using various adapters.
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