thunderbolt

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- CNET iPhone 5 Editors' take

- Apple unveils new iPod Touch with 4-inch screen

- New iPod Nano: Remembering the iPod Mini

- Apple's new EarPods were three 3 years in the making???

- Lightning Cable connects old accessories to Apple's newest port

- Apple reworks, simplifies iTunes… Read more

Generally, the term "hard-core" and external hard drives don't go together. This is because external, portable hard drives are probably the most popular and casual type of consumer storage.

But some of them can get really serious, too.

These are external storage devices that are not just fast or rugged, but also are likely to make you think before purchasing due to their cost. In other words, they are not for everyone, but only those who have the need for them and can appreciate their value.

If you are one of these people, the following five drives are totally worth the investment.… Read more

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which we answer questions e-mailed in by our readers.

This week readers wrote in with questions about Mac Pro compatibility with the Thunderbolt Display and other Thunderbolt devices, whether or not Apple's Mountain Lion system requirements are a sales ploy, and options for avoiding Snow Leopard when upgrading to Mountain Lion. We welcome views from readers, so if you have any suggestions or alternative approaches to these problems, post them in the comments!

Question: Mac Pro compatibility with Apple's Thunderbolt Display MacFixIt reader Bahri asks:

Apple is hitting the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office awfully hard.

The USPTO today published a host of patent applications Apple has filed related to technologies it has been working on. Chief among them is a technology that would allow for better networking in Thunderbolt ports. According to the patent application, the technology focuses on daisy-chaining devices with Thunderbolt and allowing data to pass through each.

According to Patently Apple, which was first to report on the new patents, Apple's mention of "Thunderbolt" indicates that the technology is already in use. Apple currently uses Thunderbolt in … Read more

Recently Apple made its Thunderbolt-to-FireWire adapter available, which was announced along with Apple's latest MacBook systems at this year's WWDC. This adapter offers FireWire connectivity to the latest MacBook Air and MacBook Pro with Retina Display, which do not have built-in FireWire connectivity. Since the adapter links both FireWire and Thunderbolt and can be connected to from either end, several readers have been hoping to use it as a bidirectional bridge between systems with Thunderbolt and those with FireWire.

In some cases people have wondered about the options for troubleshooting systems using Apple's Target Disk mode, where … Read more

After more than  a month's wait, Apple has released the Thuderbolt-based FireWire adapters that it announced at WWDC 2012 along with its latest portable systems.

In Apple's latest MacBook Air and MacBook Pro with Retina Display, the company is saving space in its compact designs by doing away with a number of the less-used I/O options, including optical drives and some ports like Ethernet and FireWire. Instead of building them into the systems, Apple is promoting the use of its new high-throughput Thunderbolt technology by offering optional Thunderbolt adapters for the missing I/O ports that … Read more

A number of owners of Apple's latest MacBook Air models who have attached their systems to Apple's Thunderbolt display are noticing the system will progressively develop audio noise in the display's speakers after some use.

Apple's Thunderbolt display is not only a wide-screen display, but also includes FireWire, USB, Ethernet, and audio controllers, which are all connected to the system through one Thunderbolt port. For laptop users, especially those with the smaller screens of Apple's MacBook Air, these options make the display an attractive docking solution when using their systems in a workplace or home … Read more

When you think of a portable storage device, you think of something that can be plugged into a computer's port to provide extra storage space. Well, that's true for the most part, but some can offer more, such as really fast speeds, a lot of storage, a convenient backup solution, or a built-in mobile media server that works even when not plugged in.

Here are the best portable drives currently on the market and they collectively offer all the goodies mentioned above, as well as something I personally find important: sexiness. They are sorted in the order in … Read more

The new MacBook Pro with Retina display has many noteworthy features, from a unique 2,880x1,800-pixel screen to new Nvidia graphics to large SSD storage options. But, the most surprising may be the multiple video outputs -- something not seen on a MacBook before now.

The last several generations of MacBook have had either a mini-DisplayPort or combo Thunderbolt/DisplayPort jack. HDMI has been on our most-wished-for lists for years, so Apple finally adding HDMI (which is found on pretty every other current laptop) is a big move, especially when combined with a second Thunderbolt port.

The initial review of the Retina Pro … Read more