expand

iExpander iPhone case adds SD, extra battery, 30-pin connector

If you glance at your iPhone wish list, you may see things like longer battery life, expandable SD memory, a better flash, and an old school 30-pin connector for your shiny new iPhone 5. You can have all those things if you're willing to pledge $75 to the iExpander project on Kickstarter.

The iExpander is a jack-of-all-trades case that crams a whole lot into a relatively small size. You're still going to add 6.3mm of chunk to your sleek phone, but the trade-off is pretty tempting.

Let's start with the flashy stuff. The case has an ultrathin CAP-XX supercapacitor that powers an LED flash that can make a big difference in the quality of your low-light photos. … Read more

Time turns page on iPad subscriptions

Skype's got ads, Vizio's got PCs, and we got issues (a whole Newsstand full of 'em):

Time Inc. has had a change of heart with Apple and will now begin selling magazine subscriptions through iPad's Newsstand app. Previous apps for Time Inc. magazines, like Sports Illustrated, only allowed for one issue to be purchased at a time. It also gave print subscribers free access.

Last year, Time Inc. opposed how Apple handled subscriptions, such as taking a 30 percent cut of sales and not releasing data on subscribers. But since then, Apple has lets readers opt-in to … Read more

'Expanded Tweets' bring more content to Twitter feeds

Twitter is partnering with a variety of online media companies to expand the range of content available for preview from within tweets.

The microblogging site announced today it has introduced an enhanced version of "expanded Tweets" that allows users to preview stories, images, and videos linked to within tweets. While Twitter already offered the ability to see Instagram photos or watch YouTube videos, the site is now partnering with a "diverse and growing group" of media sites such as The Wall Street Journal and Time to deliver richer content in tweets.

"When you expand a … Read more

Classic file compression

Stuffit Expander is a free decompression utility that may still be of use to some users -- especially, for example, when trying to decompress older Stuffit (.sit or .sitz) archives.

Many users will do fine with just the built-in Archive Utility in Mac OS, which handles .zip files and a wide variety of .tar archives and tarballs -- but older and boutique utilities like Stuffit Expander can help when handling more unusual formats, such as .rar files and esoteric suffixes like .kgb, .7z, and .arc. Stuffit Expander lets you decompress files with a quick drag and drop, or through the … Read more

Maxell's AirStash: USB card reader turned iPad storage expander

For a long time, iPad owners have complained about the device's lack of storage space. Almost overnight, they now have so many options to conveniently carry more data on the go. First came the Seagate Satellite, then the Kingston Wi-Drive. Then Hitachi announced its G-Connect. Finally, today, Maxell unveiled something of a novelty, the AirStash.

In a nutshell, this is a USB SD card reader which, like all card readers, allows users to connect an SD card to a computer and use it as an external drive. However, this is the first card reader that incorporates a Wireless-N access … Read more

Western Digital ships new DVR Expander drive

Consumers who need to add more space to their digital video recorders now have another choice.

Western Digital announced Tuesday a new My Book AV DVR Expander that works with a large selection of DVRs. This is the upgrade to a device released by the company a year ago.

According to Western Digital, the new My Book AV DVR Expander is TiVo-verified and compatible with TiVo Series3, TiVo Premier, TiVo HD, and many other DVRs, including DirectTV R15, HR20, HR2, HR23, Dish Network VIP722K, and Time Warner Cable Scientific Atlanta 8300HD.

Essentially, the My Book DVR Expander is a 1TB … Read more

Clumsy extraction tool

Users looking for a tool to extract multiple archive types may be disappointed by the bare and clumsy interface of this latest iteration of StuffIt Expander.

The utility fulfills its promise to handle more file types than past incarnations, which had been limited to .SIT and .ZIP files. According to its comprehensive Help file, StuffIt Expander 13.0.1.1 can now handle more than 30 file types, including .GZIP, .HQX, .TZ, .7z, and .UU. Unfortunately, the program is hampered by a '90s-era user interface, limited functionality, and poor integration with Windows. On opening--and every time you return to the … Read more

ZIP utility with compatibility

YemuZip is a simple, free utility with a single purpose: to help you easily create Mac- and PC-friendly ZIP files with just a quick drag and drop. The Mac OS already includes ZIP-compression functionality (which you can access through contextual menus), but YemuZip add some extras--most importantly, the option to choose between Mac-specific and PC-compatible formats, removing the Mac metadata in the resource fork that can otherwise make ZIP files made on a Mac unreadable on PCs.

You just drag files into YemuZip's main window, or onto the YemuZip Dock icon, and the app creates a zipped archive in … Read more

Give your DVR a storage boost

Ever since I wrote about Apricorn's DVR Xpander, I've received many e-mails from readers asking about a similar unit for their TiVos. Today I have the answer.

Western Digital announced Wednesday its TiVo-verified My DVR Expander, which offers up to 1TB of storage capacity. The unit is designed to work with TiVo Series 3 and TiVo HD digital video recorders. Apart from TiVo, it has also been tested to work with Scientific Atlanta's Explorer 8300 series DVRs, which includes the 8300, 8300 HD, 8300 MR, and 8300 HD-MR models.

The new expander allows you to instantly and … Read more

Google branches into expandable ads

Google is expanding its AdSense program--literally.

The Web search giant announced Wednesday in a blog post that it is pitching advertisers on the use of expandable ad units, those adverts that start out as banners or square ads and launch larger ads that cover much of the Web site's content. However, Google says that unlike the most annoying variety, these expandable ads won't enlarge on their own or with a simple mouse-over; users will have to click on the smaller ad to get the larger ad.

Many users may find expandable ads annoying, but as Google points out, … Read more