Appletell

You know Apple is doing something right when keyboard manufacturers are promoting their products with the phrase, “Inspired by Apple, Captured by i-Rocks.” Such is the case with the KR-6170 X-Slim Keyboard and RF-7550A 2.4GHz Cordless Optical Mouse from i-rocks. Unfortunately, although the designs may have been inspired by Apple, the functionality was not. Both products are missing a few features and design elements that make them perfect matches for your Macintosh desktop or laptops, but there’s still plenty here to like (not the lest of which is price).

Check out the reviews after the break.

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It seems that enough people have complained, and Apple has decided it’s willing to lower its profit margins by a few cents and give away replacement MagSafe Power Adapters should yours fray and fall apart.

Many MacBook and MacBook Pro owners have reported their MagSafe Power Adapters fraying just below the head and, at times, shorting. These reports have been coming in since the introduction of MagSafe into the notebook line, but Apple has done nothing about it until this week.

A new support page confirms that whether the product is in or out of warranty, any Genius Bar or Apple Authorized Service Provider will replace the adapter free of charge.

Via [Cult of Mac]

Reviewing speaker systems is a bit tricky for me for two reasons. First, I know little about the science of sound. Numbers and fancy symbols and awkward abbreviations mean as much to me now as they did when I wasn’t paying attention in junior high science class. I’ll display all those numbers and abbreviations later in this review, but it’s up to you to decipher them.

Second, although I can tell you whether something sounds good and why, I can’t tell you how good it sounds compared to the competition. At the electronics stores, I can sample four or five systems next to each other, determine what I like best, and make my purchase. Here, I’ve just got one unit standing alone, doing its thing, and I have to judge it on that alone.

Find out how the Mint 220 Digital Wireless Digital Music System does its thing after the break.

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Sleek. Slim. Svelte. Apple’s wireless aluminum keyboard is razor thin, edgy, and perfectly balanced. Any addition to such a perfect package runs a serious risk of ruining this perfect image. It was with a degree of skepticism that I approached the iSkin ProTouch keyboard protectors, with visions of old public-library keyboards covered in a thick plastic shield harboring years of residue. To my pleasant surprise, iSkin has achieved wonders; the ProTouch keyboard perfectly compliments the Apple Wireless keyboard, adding both comfort and protection, while masking none of the traits that make this keyboard shine.

Jump past the break for the full review.

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MacRumors is reporting a rumor of new Apple Cinema displays to be announced at MWSF 2009. The only feature rumored to be added is LED backlighting.

Apple’s 20”, 23”, and 30” Cinema displays have remained expensive and relatively unchanged since launched in 2004.

More after the break.

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Are you looking for a way to extend the battery life of your MacBook Air? QuickerTek might have the solution. QuickerTek is rolling out a new product called Apple Juicz, which will charge your MacBook Air through thin-film solar cells in as little as five hours.

Since Apple Juicz extends the MacBook Air’s battery life, you won’t have to worry about running out of power while you are working on your projects. There is an LED status indicator that lets you know what is going on. Also included is a modified MacBook Air MagSafe charger (which uses military-spec parts) that provides a more powerful charge—and yes, it will still work with the stock MacBook Air.

Details after the break.

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Elgato has launched and is ready to ship their new Mac friendly DVB-T tuner that they are calling EyeTV DTT Deluxe. This tuner allows you to watch digital terrestrial television (DVB), or Freeview, on your laptop. With its small and beautiful design, it fits right in with Apple’s line of products, and does not cover any other ports. It also has a detachable antenna that allows you to get a better signal when you need it. And, since it only weighs 8 grams, it is extremely portable.

This device also works like a DVR, allowing you to record, pause, rewind, and fast forward live TV.  In addition, it lets you create TV series subscriptions, export your recordings to iTunes, and even share them over a local network. A few items included in the box are EyeTV 3 recorder software, an IEC-MCX adapter, an infrared remote, and an USB cable. You can have all this for the price of about $158.02 through Elgato’s online store as long as you have Mac OS X v10.4 or later. Head on over to their site and check this out if you love to watch TV.

Product [EyeTV DTT Deluxe]

Macessity has released and has ready for pre-order their new Slimkey V2 Stand for $64.99. This slim, beautifully designed aluminum stand comes with four USB 2.0 ports on the side for easier access than provided by your Mac. This stand can be used to hideaway your slim Apple keyboard when not in use, but it also doubles as a cooler if you use a Apple laptop by getting your machine up and off of the desk. You can also place any monitor that is under 35 pounds on top of the stand.

The stand is powder coated to match your aluminum iMac or Apple display. and comes with a compact power adapter. This seems like a pretty nice accessory to not only clear up some space on your desk when you’re not using your computer, but to look good doing it. If you have used any version of this products, be sure to let us know how they are.

Product [SlimKey V2 Stand]

The Blu-ray technology finally made it to Mac courtesy of MCE’s new Blu-ray Internal Drive for Apple Mac Pro and PowerMac, simply called the SuperDrive. This MCE Super Drive features 6X Blu-ray write-speeds and 16X DVD recording speed. It plays both Blu-ray and HD-DVD media and fully supports Lightscribe. It can record to 25GB single-layer and 50GB dual-layer discs.

In addition, the MCE SuperDrive is also compatible with all variants of both DVD and CD recordable media, includes DVD±R/RW + Dual/Double Layer, DVD-RAM, and CD-R and CD-RW. This SuperDrive will come packed with Toast 8 Titatinium and a 25GB Blu-ray rewritable disc. All this for an SRP of $699. This BU burner runs with Windows XP/Vista on a Boot Camp partition and requires Mac units running OS X 10.4 or higher.

Product [MCE] Via [Electronista]

Many Nikon film scanners have received a Silverfast update that now allows for Leopard compatibility. Nikon originally told the owners of these older film scanners they will not be supported in Mac OS X 10.5. However, the software now runs on PPC and Intel based Macs, can work all the way down to Mac OS X 10.3, and costs anywhere from $400 to $512. That price will give you the compatibility as well as some newer, advanced features like scratch and dust removal. You can also scan one image multiple times for a multi-exposure option.  Sounds great to me.

It’s nice to see a large company like Nikon cutting a break for the users of their older products and allowing some of these devoted users to continue to be able to use those older units. This also shows that Nikon feels as if they needed to release a 10.5 update for their users because many people have switched from Tiger to Leopard. I hope we see continued support of older products from more companies, as there are always people out there who can live without the newest trends in tech.

Via [MacNN]