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Celio have finally released their software driver for BlackBerry owners wishing to use the company's REDFLY "Mobile Companion" device. Announced back in September, the new software means the BlackBerry's display can be replicated on the netbook-sized REDFLY C8N and C7 terminals, with users able to take advantage of a larger keyboard and a trackpad for navigation.
TomTom have confirmed that their Car Kit – the optional accessory to accompany the TomTom iPhone app – will only fully work with the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS, thanks to a limitation in the TomTom application. The app’s limitation means that owners of the first-gen iPhone, together with iPod touch users, won’t be able to take advantage of the Car Kit’s integrated GPS receiver and speakerphone.
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Apple have released Magic Mouse drivers for Mac OS X 10.5.8, which will allow those still running OS X Leopard to use the multitouch functionality of the new peripheral. The update is accompanied by the 10.6.1 Snow Leopard driver; however, the imminent OS X 10.6.2 release is expected to add native support for Magic Mouse to the Mac platform, which would mean that users could simply pair their mouse and begin using its multitouch capabilities.
IR extenders – which can be used to remotely-control A/V components tucked inside closed-up equipment racks or in other rooms – aren’t new, but Logitech probably have the brand-name recognition (and bricks-and-mortar shelf space) to soon dominate the market. The Logitech Harmony IR Extender System works with your existing remotes, and comes with a compact IR receiver and an IR blaster with various tethered mini-blasters.
Among the many benefits of working from home is that you don’t have to worry about nasty coworkers getting you sick with their cold and flu germs. Still, with any shared computer in the home or office, you run the chance of contaminating each other. The keyboard is one of those places in the home where germs lurk because most keyboards simply can’t stand up to sanitation.
Apple’s Magic Mouse is impressing us on the desktop, but what sort of evil spirits might be lurking inside? iFixit bravely donned protective eyewear and grabbed the nearest set of screwdrivers in order to strip the multitouch mouse down to its bare boards, in their latest Apple teardown.
While the new 27-inch iMacs may be Apple’s eye-catchers, especially in Apple Stores, it’s the company’s new Magic Mouse peripheral that will find its way to the most desks. By junking the trackball of the Mighty Mouse and replacing it with a touch-sensitive surface, Apple have not only catered for the demands of desktop users calling out for multitouch, but bypassed ongoing reliability frustrations of the mechanical ball. After the cut, our live Magic Mouse gallery together with some hands-on first impressions.
The Magic Mouse isn’t the only peripheral from Apple that’s had a makeover; the venerable Apple Remote, last seen looking vaguely tired in white plastic, has been dipped in aluminum for its latest incarnation. The Apple Remote still has dedicated play/pause and Menu keys, together with track-skip and volume controls, but now looks like a drawn-out, flattened iPod shuffle.
To use it with your iPod, iPhone or iMac, you’ll need a suitably equipped dock or a desktop that has an IR port. The Apple iPod Universal Dock will do the trick for the PMPs, priced at $49, while any iMac introduced from 2005 onwards should have the required receiver.
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Entirely unsurprisingly, the Apple Store has been taken down for the usual hurried "updates". While the same thing happened late last month with no noticeable changes, today we're expecting quite a few modifications what with the very recent speculation that Apple are planning to push out a new MacBook, iMac, Mac mini and even peripheral range.
Update: The store is back, and here's what you can buy.
Apple may be riding high on another successful financial quarter, but we still wouldn’t put it past them to announce a few new products this week in order to stick a spoke in the wheels of Windows 7’s launch. According to man-in-the-know John Gruber, it’s not a product trickle but a flood we should be expecting, with both new notebooks and desktops together with multitouch-compatible peripherals on the cards.
Update: The new range is now live – all the details here
JP
