iPhone 5 Lightening dock soon to be released

A company called iphone5mod.com has released the first aftermarket iPhone 5 dock and cable the product called the iPhone 5 Flash Lightning Dock is available to purchase now but orders will not start shipping until late October.

You can buy the cable and dock separately or as a package.

The cable on its own is $19.90 plus P+P

The Dock on its own is also $19.90 plus P+P 

The Package is $39.90 plus P+P

There are pros and cons to the dock mainly being that is does not have Audio out but it will allow you to sync and charge you iPhone 5 and it will fit with or without a case on the phone too so there is no issue of taking your phone out of the case to charge it.

Overview

The iPhone 5 Flash Lightning Dock comes in 2 parts. A classic dock for the iPhone 5 and an illuminated Lightning Cable. You can charge and sync your iPhone 5 with the iPhone 5 Dock. Your iPhone sits upright in the dock as it syncs or charges, so it's perfect for a desk or countertop. It comes included with a specially made Lightning Cable that has an intelligent power managements system built in. You can actually see the flow of current going into your iPhone 5.

I have not seen the alternative apple dock as of yet but im sure that it wont be to far away.

New super cheap E-Reader coming out soon

There have been some cheap e-readers released in the past, there is a new competitor in the market called the Txtr Beagle, the beagle will surely back the main competitors into a corner being so cheap at €10 or about $13 when it comes out.

Obviously, for such a low price, you're not going to get lots of featuers. There's no touchscreen, no backlight, no 3G -- not even WiFi is baked into the impossibly 5mm thin device. The screen is only five inches but,  its claiming to offer a more enjoyable experience than reading an iPad or talking to your significant other. What is inside this barebones device is 4GB of storage and a Bluetooth radio which, when paired with your phone, can transfer ebooks from your mobile to the Beagle using the free Txtr app (available for Android 4.0 with an iOS version is in the works).

Instead of an expensive rechargable cell, power is provided by a trio of AAA batteries, which the company claims will last you up to a year of regular reading. Almost as interesting as the device itself, is the model being used to keep the costs down. Txtr is positioning it not as a standalone e-reader, but as a smartphone accessory it hopes that carriers will offer with a small subsidy. The company's chief commercial officer Thomas Leliveld has said that work is underway to get AT&T and Sprint on board, but that talks are still ongoing with providers.

So keep your eyes peeled for this gadget it wont be to far away.

eBay has rebranded after almost 17 years

eBay has finally jumped on the band wagon and after 17 years, have re-branded from the clunky logo that we are used, they have decided to go with a more smooth simple single font logo, it was announced back in September this year that they would be re-branding but it would not be until mid October that we would see the change. Well i can confirm that the change has already started to appear.

The new logo makes eBay look more corporate. It’s definitely nicer on the eyes than the old logo for sure, but toned down on the personality and originality. eBay president Devin Wenig is calling it “the new eBay” which could be hinting a refreshed auction experience altogether.

There are new promo photos which include an eBay billboard and shopping bags.

Lets hope this is the start of new things for eBay, maybe a site refresh, for more info head over to the funky HTML 5 page they have released here

Ever wanted to talk to your friends through your hand

Yes that is right we have all done it, pretended that we were talking to someone on the phone using our hand as the telephone.

Well an Italian company has made this a part reality through their new invention called the hi-call this is a glove with Bluetooth connectivity that you can link to your phone and talk as if you were a kid.

Below are the specifications for the Hi-Call, They are available for purchase from their website and cost 50 Euros ($70), although these would not be very good if you were driving as you would still be pulled over for talking on the phone, but are a great idea for the winter strolls in the park.

Specifications

hi-Call: 
The glove phone! 
hi-Call Bluetooth is a glove that allows you to talk on the phone "at your fingertips". 
The left glove is equipped with a speaker and a microphone sewn in the thumb and little finger, respectively, and so, with a simple gesture, you can talk on the phone protecting you from the cold and all your wonderful friends. 
Warm and snug, perfect for all kinds of sports, from skiing to jogging, 
hi-Call, you can also use the touch screens of all smartphone thanks to the capacitive technology on the end of your finger and thumb.

Compatible with: all phones with Bluetooth technology

Specifications: 
Operating range: 12 meters 
Standby time: 10 days 
Battery life Talk time: 20 hours 
Size: man and woman 
Dry clean 
Colours: black, gray 
Fabric: 95% polyacrylonitrile, 3% cotton, 2% polyester

Included in the package: 
hi-Call 
microUSB to USB Charging Cable 
Instruction Manual

"From an idea by Alain Morelli"

Workers at Foxconn strike yet again over the iPhone 5

Workers at Foxconn's Zhengzhou factory strike in reaction to new iPhone 5 quality standards.

So you waited a few weeks to get your new iPhone 5, only to open the box and find that it has some scratches and marks around the outside edge.

So Apple have asked Foxconn to adhere to a stricter quality control program for the new iPhone 5, this in turn has sparked outrage among some of the workers and they have decided that they would strike over the demands.

According to China Labor Watch, three to four thousand workers stepped off the production line to protest the new standards, which only allow for a 0.02mm appearance defect. "It's tough under such stringent quality requirements," writes Sina Weibo user and Foxconn employee Yefudao. "A 0.02mm appearance defect is already beyond that of our vision. With such a demanding task, workers' mental pressure becomes so immense that they have to vent it out."

China Labor Watch reports that the issue stems not only from the higher quality demands, but the fact that workers are being asked to meet them without receiving the training necessary to do so. The situation hasn't broken out into a riot, but a dispute between line workers and quality control inspectors reportedly sparked a fight that led to property damage, injury and some hospitalization. Production lines have temporarily been frozen by management while Foxconn deals with the situation.

Whilst i can understand our frustrations about buying a new iPhone 5 and it already being scratched before you even use it, i can see where the Chinese workers are coming from, i do have a few marks on my iPhone 5 but nothing that i will be sending it back about, after all the outer edge of the iPhone 5 is metal painted black it would be extremely difficult to not get any marks on this item during production, maybe this infact an issue that apple should have thought about before putting it into production, sure metal would be the ideal substance for the part but maybe a better protective coating of paint or even powder coating might have been better.

We will just have to see how long the riots and strikes go on for or if Apple will change the provider of the manufacturing process to another company if the defects still keep happening.

LG Smart Tvs To rent out Disney 3D Movies

If you like me own a LG Smart 3D TV you may seen that the 3D World content has now started to show Disney movies to rent, you can watch a small 2 or 3 minute trailer of each of the available movies and you can rent them for roughly $8 AUS for 3 days.

So far the selection is not huge but it is a start of a whole new world of renting out media on the Smart TV's.


This means movies from studios such as Disney Pixar, Walt Disney Pictures, Marvel and Touchstone Pictures will available to rent in three-dee directly from LG's 3D World, including The Avengers, Toy Story, Alice in Wonderland and, later next year, Finding Nemo.

Gone are the days when you have to head out to the rentals store and take your time sifting through the ones you want to watch, all we need now is to get the popcorn popping and were fully set.

iCloud: Extended complimentary storage for former MobileMe members

Apple Has Extended the complimentary storage for former MobileMe members

If you are a former MobileMe member and had access to more than 5GB of MobileMe storage when you moved your account to iCloud, then you received a complimentary iCloud storage upgrade automatically. That upgrade has now been extended, free of charge.

How much complimentary storage did I receive?
Your complimentary storage upgrade was based on the amount of MobileMe storage you were paying for when you moved to iCloud. You were granted either the 10GB, 20GB, or 50GB storage upgrade.

To check which storage upgrade you received:

On an iOS device: Go to Settings > iCloud > Account.
On a Mac: Go to System Preferences > iCloud, then click Manage followed by View Account.
On a PC: Open the iCloud Control Panel for Windows, then click Manage followed by View Account.

How long does the complimentary storage extension last?
We will continue to provide you with this additional storage until September 30, 2013, or until you choose to upgrade your iCloud storage plan.

Can I buy more storage if I need it?
Yes. If you need to upgrade your storage to a larger amount, you can purchase one of our standard storage upgrade plans at the regular price.  Please note that when you purchase a new storage upgrade, it will replace your complimentary storage plan. If you cancel the upgrade at a later date, you will return to the standard free 5GB storage plan and will no longer have access to your complimentary storage upgrade.

What if I already upgraded my storage plan prior to this extension?
If you upgraded your storage plan before September 30, 2012, we have automatically extended your upgrade at no additional charge until September 30, 2013.

Can I transfer my complimentary storage upgrade to another account?
Your complimentary storage upgrade is not transferable. You can use it only with the iCloud account that you originally moved from MobileMe.

GameKlip - unleash the inner console of your smart phone

I was surfing the internet the other day when i came across this awesome new piece of equipment, it basically allows you to use your PlayStation Dualshock 3 controller to play games on your smartphone, the ingenious piece of kit called a GameKlip, just simply clips around your controller and has a mount for your smartphone.

GameKlip comes in 2 versions, a wired version and also a wireless version, you do have to install an app called Sixaxis Controller (can be found in the Google Play Market) to allow the controller to work on the smartphone but it brings a whole new way of playing those games you have on your phone, there is also a tablet version of GameKlip in the making too which will be released very soon.

This only appears to be out for Android smartphones at the moment but I am sure there will be a Apple variant along in the not to distant future.





To purchase the GameKlip head over to their website and purchase it from their online shop here.
The wireless version will set you back $15 plus P+P and the wired equivalent will set you back $23 plus P+P and all prices are in US$

Setting up Split DNS in Windows Server 2008

Recently i ran into a huge brick wall at work, we had just got a new dedicated internet service and we had to purchase an enterprise grade router, we went with the Cisco 881 with advanced IP as recommended by the ISP, this wasn't an issue as i am familiar with Cisco IOS and command line programming, I have a number of web servers in house for the websites that I host, as I have multiple sites running on a single server I need to use the domain and sometimes the sub domains to access them, the IP address with the port at the end just simply does not work internally.
I ended up having to ask for some support from the Cisco Help Desk as this was something that i could not work out on my own, I explained my situation and he explained that what i wanted to do was simply disabled by default in the Cisco IOS as it was a security issue, so after a few days of trying different things the Cisco support guys told me that what i wanted to achieve wasn't going to work , he had tried to setup NAT on a stick and also loop backs to direct outbound traffic via the loop back address, none of these worked with my setup of the websites.
I had to have a rethink about how to tackle this issue, then i was reading on the MSDN forums about a similar issue and the way in which it was approached was to setup Split DNS or Split Brain DNS as some call it. I knew what it was but just never thought of using it in my situation, I didn't have nothing to lose so I set out my plan to set this up and it was pretty straight forward. I have 3 domains that I use, My main website is hosted externally but I have 2 other servers for testing, dev and staging these are hosted internally.
To setup Split DNS follow the steps below.
Connect to your Domain Controller and open up your Server Manager just next to your Start button

Expand the roles section and then expand the DNS Server role and then expand DNS,

Then finally expand the server and you will  see there are 4 options, Global Logs, Forward Lookup Zones, Reverse Lookup Zones and Conditional Forwarders.

We want to expand the Forward Lookup Zones as this is where we will be making the changes.

You will see from the above image that i already have my domain names in there so we are going to add another one in there, so right click on the Forward Lookup Zones and click on New Zone ...

You will then see the New Zone Wizard, click on Next to continue.

Choose a Primary Zone and tick the box to (Store the zone in Active Directory) then click on next.
 
You want this zone to replicate across all DNS servers running on domain controllers then click on next.
 
 You then need to enter the name of the zone this is the domain name that you are wanting to use, in my case this is thesuperkev.in, then click on next.

I want to allow only secure dynamic updates then click on next.
 
And finally review the name is the correct name then click on the finish button to add the zone.
 
So that is the zone now in place if you expand the zone you will see that it automatically puts in 2 records for you the Start of Authority (SOA) and Name Server (NS) records.

For this to work properly we need to add in the www and the naked entries and where they point to do do this we need to right click on the zone name and click on New Host (A or AAAA)

The first record we are going to create is the naked domain record so basically the http://thesuperkev.in record, so we leave the Name blank, in the IP address put in the External Public IP address of your host, the Create associated pointer is ticked by default you can leave this although it may complain, this is fine.

The next record we want to add is the www. record this will also point to the External IP address of your host. just like the above entry you can once again just leave the Create associated pointer checked, Click on Add Host.
 
You will now see that in your zone you have 4 entries now the 2 default ones and the 2 we just created, if like me you have internal uses for the domains also here is where you need to add in the sub domains you require.

If you have a dev server and want to use the internal address of dev.thesuperkev.in then do the same process again add a new A Host record but this time instead of putting in the external ip address put in the internal ip.

That is pretty much it for setup you will now be able to use the live site on the www. and naked domain that will divert to the correct address, if you do not put these 2 records in then you will get the page cannot be displayed in your browser.

No paste options in Microsoft Office

I have had a number of calls recently regarding being able to paste tables and such within word and excel, this one was a strange one to work out and took me a while before I came to the conclusion that it was good old Mr Skype, what basically happens is that you can still paste but it will only paste basic text, no formatting or anything special just basic text and that is it, sometimes you completely lose the ability to paste but this is only very rare cases.

If this has happened to you the first thing to check is that Skype Click to Call is installed, you can check this by going on to the internet and just checking anything on google that has a number next to it you will see is looks like the image below.

If you see anything like the above image then this will be the offender, To remove it you can simply find it in the control panel in Add Remove Programs, if you uninstall this it has no effect on Skype itself it just removes the click to call feature.

Once it has been removed restart your computer and you will notice that you paste features are back to normal once again.