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As noted by 9to5Mac, Apple today revamped its Thunderbolt cable lineup, dropping the price of the existing 2-meter cable from $49 to $39 and adding a new 0.5-meter cable priced at $29.

Thunderbolt cables remain relatively expensive due to the electronics included inside the cables to manage the multiple protocols supported by the standard. The complexity and expense has both slowed deployment of Thunderbolt peripherals and limited support mostly to high-end devices capable of absorbing the high cost premium.

Thunderbolt cables have so far been limited to traditional copper cabling, but vendors are just beginning production on optical cables for the standard. The optical cables will allow for much longer cable lengths, but will not be able to provide power to peripherals as copper cables can.

Water-resistant nanocoating has been around for some time now, but Santa Ana-based company Liquipel has debuted a more effective version, Liquipel 2.0, which it says is up to 100 times more effective than the watersafe nanocoating it first introduced at CES 2012.

Liquipel's product is designed to protect electronic devices from water damage, adding a vapor-applied water resistant coating that does not compromise the performance of the device.


According to Liquipel's Managing Director Sam Winkler, who spoke to Engadget, a device that is treated with the new version of Liquipel is able to achieve a water resistance rating of IPX7, which means the device can be submerged in a meter of water for 30 minutes.

Though Liquipel did not previously offer a warranty for treated electronics and some users had experienced issues with devices treated with original Liquipel formula not surviving liquid exposure, the company announced its Liquipel Performance Guarantee at CES. The new warranty, which currently covers only U.S. customers but should be extended to other countries in the future, offers protection from damage due to accidental liquid exposure on Liquipel-treated devices.

The coverage excludes intentional submerging of devices in liquid. However, everyday life events that can cause liquid damage will be covered, such as: rain, splashing, sweat, dropping in the sink or toilet and spilled drinks.

Liquipel's nanocoating operation has also gone portable with its new "Liquipods," 4x4 foot boxes that can be leased by shops who want to offer the Liquipel treatment.

TechCrunch reports that Liquipel is also opening its own retail locations, beginning with an inaugural store at the West Edmonton Mall in Canada this February.


Liquipel currently offers an online service, where customers can ship devices to be professionally coated by Liquipel itself, with prices starting at $59.

Twitter has updated its Tweetdeck client with a number of new features, including the ability to get Tweet embed code straight from the application, a new predictive typing feature, and "performance upgrades for displaying multiple high-velocity columns".


Reports The Next Web:

The update includes changes made to the Chrome version of the app before Christmas, and one of the most visual changes is the addition of ‘typeahead’ when searching, to offer predictions for what you’ll be writing. This also acts as a people search, giving you a list of accounts in your Twitter community that match the text entered.

Twitter says there have been more than 90 fixes and updates from the prior version and Twitter power users may want to give the updated app another look.

Tweetdeck is available free on the Mac App Store. [Direct Link]

Popular Kickstarter smart watch project Pebble, which broke records by raising over $10 million in its funding push, has announced at CES today that the device will begin shipping to Kickstarter backers on January 23. With over 85,000 orders placed, it will take approximately 6-8 weeks to fulfill the Kickstarter orders, after which the watch will be available for general sale.


Image from Engadget
Pebble is just one of a growing number of smart watches, and Apple has even been rumored to be working on its own project. But Pebble's relatively large e-paper display and an API for app developers have generated considerable buzz for the project.

Pebble supports both iOS and Android devices via low-power Bluetooth 4.0, with iOS devices requiring a minimum of iOS 5 for basic compatibility and iOS 6 for the full set of features. When paired with an iOS 6 device, Pebble can display many of the alerts that typically pop up in Notification Center. Pebble is also working on building out a cloud infrastructure that would allow users to sign in to a web site or web app with their Pebble accounts and receive notifications from the site pushed to their watches.

Just over a year ago, Apple acquired Israeli flash memory firm Anobit, and now that Anobit founder and CEO Ariel Maislos has left the company to start his next venture he has been able to share some details on his experiences with Apple. ZDNet covers an interview with Maislos at a recent meeting of the Israel Semiconductor Club, an event where Maislos shared details about how the acquisition came about and how Apple's culture compares to that of Intel, another company Anobit had worked closely with.

On the acquisition front, Maislos noted that Anobit wasn't looking for a particular exit for the venture but that an existing relationship with Apple developed to the point where an acquisition made sense for both sides.

"We had already had a close working relationship with Apple," Maislos revealed. "When you are working in the flash memory industry, it's kind of hard not to come across Apple at some point, as a partner or a customer – and they were a very big customer. We developed a very good relationship with them, and a mutual appreciation developed between both companies."

Maislos contrasts the culture and expectations at Apple with those of Intel, which had previously invested $32 million in Anobit during an earlier financing round, noting that Apple's return from the bankruptcy in the late 1990s has instilled expectations of excellence that simply don't exist at Intel.

While Intel engineers are given assignments and are rewarded for ingenuity and creativity, he said, it's a given at Apple that engineers will be at the top of their game. "At Apple, you have to run ahead just to stay in place, and there are very high expectations of everyone. Apple expects everything you do to be amazing.

"That is not the case at Intel, where no one expects you to be 'amazing'," said Maislos, although Intel does reward those who give their "A+ game".

Maislos went on to note that Apple is extremely focused on its goals, demanding much more personal excellence than Intel or perhaps any other tech company.

Maislos is of course not a neutral observer, given the close relationship he has had with Apple and the exit it provided for Anobit's founders, but his comments do provide a small glimpse at how an experienced outsider transitioning from partner to employee views Apple's culture.

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Following up on yesterday's report about T-Mobile USA already having 1.9 million iPhones operating on its network as it moves toward a launch of official sales later this year, Reuters reports that the carrier should begin selling the device within the next 3-4 months. T-Mobile is planning a similar timeframe for its move to end device subsidies in favor of installment plans and lower monthly plan costs.

"They're all, I would call them, in three to four months as opposed to six to nine months, [T-Mobile USA CEO John] Legere told Reuters in an interview at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

T-Mobile is also remaining aggressive on the acquisition and partnership front, with Legere noting that the carrier is looking to close its pending acquisition of MetroPCS in the second quarter of this year and is exploring deals with satellite TV provider Dish Network and prepaid carrier Cricket's parent company Leap Wireless.

As for T-Mobile's plans to end subsidies, it may not be the only major U.S. carrier to make the shift, as The Wall Street Journal reports that both AT&T and Verizon will be watching how things play out. Both carriers do, however, acknowledge that customers are so conditioned to low upfront device costs that it may prove a significant hurdle to overcome.

CES 2013 saw the introduction of quite a few new portable Bluetooth speakers, some sporting innovative designs like Qube's ultra tiny golfball sized speaker and Zagg's 2-in–1 speaker design. Here are a few of the more notable offerings:

Zagg Origin

The Origin speaker from Zagg is a dual Bluetooth speaker system that comes equipped with a small, portable speaker that can be taken on the go, and a larger desktop speaker.

Origin's smaller speaker seamlessly docks with the larger speaker, providing an uninterrupted listening experience. The docking speaker charges the portable speaker, which has a 10 hour battery life, and both speakers work in conjunction when fit together. It will be released in the Spring of 2013 and will retail for $249.99.

FELT Pulse and FELTaudio

FELT Audio's FELT Pulse Bluetooth speaker is small enough to fit into a pocket. It can also snap onto the back of the company's FELTaudio cases, and with an integrated speaker phone, it can be used to make conference calls.

The Pulse comes with a built-in stand and clip, so it can be set up on tables and desks or clipped to pockets and car visors, and it sports an eight hour battery life. It will be available in the Spring of 2013 for $99.

Matrix Audio Qube

Matrix Audio's Qube is 1.5 inches by 1.5 inches, and small enough to fit in the palm of a hand. The current version works with a 3.5mm headphone jack, but the company plans to ship a Bluetooth version in March.

The Qube comes in black, silver, and red, with additional colors planned for release at a later date. Despite being smaller than a golfball, the Qube sports 3 watts of output and an eight hour battery. The Qube will retail for $49.99.

Braven BRV-1

Braven's new BRV–1 is a rugged, rubber covered speaker that is water resistant, making it ideal for outdoor use. The company also announced the larger 850 Bluetooth aluminum speaker, which is similar in size to a Big Jambox, but able to charge iPads and iPhones.

The BRV–1 will retail for $170 in February 2013, while the 850 will be available for $300 at a later date.

Mozilla today released version 18 of Firefox, adding Retina support for Apple's line of Retina MacBook Pros.

Safari, Opera, and Google Chrome implemented Retina months ago, leaving Firefox as the last of the major browsers to receive a Retina update. Without Retina support, both website text and images on Firefox appeared fuzzy and hard to read.

Firefox 18 also includes the following updates, changes and fixes:

-Faster JavaScript performance via IonMonkey compiler

-Support for Retina Display on OS X 10.7 and up

-Preliminary support for WebRTC

-Experience better image quality with our new HTML scaling algorithm

-Performance improvements around tab switching

-Support for new DOM property window.devicePixelRatio

-Improvement in startup time through smart handling of signed extension certificates

-Support for W3C touch events implemented, taking the place of MozTouch events

-Disable insecure content loading on HTTPS pages

-Improved responsiveness for users on proxies

Firefox 18 can be downloaded from the Mozilla website.

Walmart and Straight Talk Wireless are now carrying the iPhone 5, offering a $45 unlimited talk, text and data plan with no contract. It was previously reported by That's It Guys. Straight Talk is a subsidiary of TracFone, and its iPhone customers will use AT&T's network. There is no indication of whether the phones will support AT&T's LTE network or not.

Like other prepaid plans such as Virgin Mobile, users must pay full price for their iPhones without having them subsidized by the carrier. Unlike Virgin Mobile, Walmart is offering holders of the Walmart credit card a no-interest fixed payment plan for $25/month. This allows customers to have a unlimited talk, text and data plan for a total of $70/month before taxes and fees.

Walmart and Straight Talk Wireless, America’s largest and top rated no-contract cell phone provider, today put the power back in the hands of customers with an industry game changing offer. Starting on January 11, 2013 in more than 2,000 Walmart stores and online at Walmart.com, customers now have access to the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4 on Straight Talk’s $45 no contract unlimited talk, text and data plan. To make this offer even more affordable, Walmart will be offering customers who purchase the phone in the store, a no interest fixed-monthly payments special financing offer for only $25 a month with a Walmart Credit Card.

The Straight Talk wireless no contract plan, exclusive to Walmart, saves consumers on average $950 a year when they switch from conventional contract plans with similar unlimited plans. To learn more about how Straight Talk Wireless saves consumers $950 a year, please visit: www.straighttalk.com.

The iPhone 5 is available in black or white for $649 for the 16GB model only, and the iPhone 4 is available in black or white for $449 for the 8GB model.