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Twelve South debuts BackPack 2 shelf accessory for iMac with three enhancements
By now, you're likely familiar with Twelve South, the Mac-minded accessory maker that prides itself on staying small. Well, three years after the debut of its first product, the BackPack, it's refining the shelf accessory in three ways that'll make you smile. If you'll remember, the BackPack originally began its life as an attachable storage shelf for the iMac and Apple Display, which sat discretely behind the unit. Now, not only can the BackPack 2 be attached in a forward-facing manner, but it also offers integrated cable management and vertical support pegs to properly hold equipment such as the MacBook Air and upright hard drives. In all, the BackPack 2 will accommodate up to 3.5 pounds of gear, and it's available now for $34.99. If you'd like to get acquainted with the redesign, just check the gallery below. %Gallery-161586%
Twelve South BackPack gets a nice update for its third birthday
When Apple accessory design shop Twelve South first got into business three years ago, its fate rode on the success of one product -- the BackPack. This product consists of a shelf with tool-free clips that can be used on the "arm" of any iMac or Apple Thunderbolt (or Cinema) Display, and it's been a hot seller since day one. Now Twelve South has given the three-year-old product a new look and new capabilities. The new BackPack (US$34.99) now adds vertical support pegs, cable management rails, and the ability to use the BackPack as a front-facing shelf. The support pegs can be used to hold a MacBook Air vertically on the back of a ThunderBolt Display or provide additional support for a vertically-standing hard disk drive. The built-in cable management rails keep cables handy -- unplug a drive, computer, or peripheral, and the cable stays put for you to plug back in later. One of the biggest changes is the ability to use the BackPack as a forward-facing shelf. Up to this point, the shelves always faced away from the front of the device. Now you can use it as a place to store your iPhone, your wallet, a SecureID fob, or anything else that needs to be above the desk clutter. Of course, you can always use the shelves in their original back-facing position like I do -- I have two that are used to display small art works to people who are standing at my desk. It's nice to see a good product get an update. You can purchase the new BackPack directly from the TwelveSouth website. For more information, read our review of the original product.
Thunderbolt on Windows gets hands-on, lacks Mac's hot-swapping
Thunderbolt's 10-gigabit interface is only just making its way to Windows after spending more than a year as a Mac-only feature, so it's not surprising that a lot of questions surround how well the Apple- and Intel-developed connection works for those of a Microsoft persuasion. A thorough test at AnandTech of one of the first motherboards to support the spec on Windows PCs, an Ivy Bridge-ready board from MSI, has shown some positive signs along with a few flies in the high-speed ointment. The good news? Most general storage devices will work as expected with a minimum of fuss, and you can even get some features of Apple's Thunderbolt Display working if you're willing to accept a lack of pre-supplied software brightness controls and USB support. The bad news comes mostly in the absence of true hot-plugging like on the Mac: if a device isn't plugged into the Thunderbolt port on boot, Windows won't see it. Professionals who need everything to be just perfect will want to wait, then, but bandwidth lovers will still find something to like if they're willing to build Thunderbolt-equipped PCs themselves.
Say Hello to the new Apple Thunderbolt Display
To complement its new hardware lineup, Apple also unveiled a new Apple Thunderbolt Display, previously known as the LED Cinema Display. The new display is similar to earlier models, but now includes a Thunderbolt port that will let you connect your Thunderbolt-equipped hardware. Besides Thunderbolt, the new display includes a FaceTime HD video camera, a 2.1 speaker system, integrated MagSafe charger, three USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 800 port, and one Gigabit Ethernet port The 27-inch model Apple Thunderbolt Display is available for US$999 and will go on sale within the next 60 days. Show full PR text Apple Introduces World's First Thunderbolt Display CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apple® today unveiled the new Apple Thunderbolt Display, the world's first display with Thunderbolt I/O technology and the ultimate docking station for your Mac® notebook. With just a single cable, users can connect a Thunderbolt-enabled Mac to the 27-inch Apple Thunderbolt Display and access its FaceTime® camera, high quality audio, and Gigabit Ethernet, FireWire® 800, USB 2.0 and Thunderbolt ports. Designed specifically for Mac notebooks, the new display features an elegant, thin, aluminum and glass enclosure, and includes a MagSafe® connector that charges your MacBook® Pro or MacBook Air®. "The Apple Thunderbolt Display is the ultimate docking station for your Mac notebook" "The Apple Thunderbolt Display is the ultimate docking station for your Mac notebook," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing." With just one cable, users can dock with their new display and connect to high performance peripherals, network connections and audio devices." With a beautiful 16:9 edge-to-edge glass design, the Thunderbolt Display uses IPS technology to provide a brilliant image across an ultra wide 178 degree viewing angle. Any Thunderbolt-enabled Mac notebook can dock with the display to quickly and easily create a full-fledged desktop solution. The Thunderbolt Display includes a built-in FaceTime HD video camera for crisp video conferencing, a 2.1 speaker system for high quality audio, an integrated MagSafe charger to keep Mac notebooks charged, three USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 800 port, one Gigabit Ethernet port and a Thunderbolt port for daisy chaining up to five additional Thunderbolt devices. The Thunderbolt Display is the world's first display to include Thunderbolt I/O technology. Featuring two bi-directional channels with transfer speeds up to an amazing 10Gbps each, each Thunderbolt port delivers PCI Express directly to external peripherals such as high performance storage and RAID arrays, supports DisplayPort for high resolution displays and works with existing adapters for HDMI, DVI and VGA displays. Thunderbolt-based Macs with discrete graphics can drive two external displays giving professional users over 7 million additional pixels of display real estate and the ability to daisy chain additional Thunderbolt devices, as well as video and audio capture devices. The Thunderbolt Display includes an ambient light sensor which automatically adjusts the display brightness based on external lighting conditions and uses only as much energy as necessary to provide an optimum viewing experience. Made with mercury-free LED technology, arsenic-free glass and highly recyclable materials, the new display meets Energy Star 5.0 requirements and achieves EPEAT Gold status.* The new display contains no brominated flame retardants and all cables and components are PVC-free. Pricing & Availability The new Thunderbolt Display will be available within the next 60 days through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $999 (US). The Apple Thunderbolt Display requires a Mac with a Thunderbolt I/O port. *EPEAT is an independent organization that helps customers compare the environmental performance of notebooks and desktops. For more information visit www.epeat.net. Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.
