Apple may be looking to incorporate support for 802.11ac Wi-Fi specification into the company’s products this year, according to a report from AppleInsider. The new standard offers three times the speed of the 802.11n standard, capable of achieving speeds of over 1 Gigabit per second. The Cupertino-based company is expected to “rapidly deploy support” of the new standard into AirPort base stations, Time Capsules, the Apple TV, notebooks and possibly mobile devices, according to the report...

Flying home for the holidays and navigating through crowded airports — or facing flight delays, as is often the case — may be a hair less dreadful this year. Skype announced recently that it is sponsoring free Wi-Fi in more than 60 U.S. airports from December 21st until December 27th. To activate the service, simply follow these directions:Sign in to Skype.Go to Tools > Options… > Skype WiFi Access.Tick Enable Skype WiFi Access.Connect to a WiFi public hotspot.In the Skype menu bar, click T...

It looks as though software developer James Laird has opened Pandora’s box for Apple’s AirPlay music streaming system. Frustrated by the fact that an AirPort Express emulator did not exist, Laird began to look for a solution that would allow him to stream iTunes music without the use of AirPlay. “I was disappointed to find that Apple used a public-key crypto scheme, and there’s a private key hiding inside the ApEx [Airport Extreme],” wrote Laird. “So I took it apart (I stil...

Some of you may be familiar with the mobile accessory company Powermat. The New York City based accessory manufacturer creates a line of cell phone battery covers and battery packs that aim to simplify and add greater convenience to your mobile life. We stopped by the company’s booth at Mobile World Congress and got a glimpse at where the company is now, where they hope to be, and what’s next. Spoiler: if Powermat has its way, you’ll be seeing and hearing a lot more about them in the future.Powermat fir...

There you have it folks — done and done. The Apple Store is back up, new gear is live and credit card portals are wide open. Keeping things nice and simple, Apple has taken one of its two standard routes and simply tossed out a bunch of refreshes sans-hullabaloo. Here it is, now buy it. So what have we got?iMac:$1199 (only 20″ model) – 2.66 GHz, 2GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, 320GB HD$1499 (24″) – 2.66 GHz, 4GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, 640GB HD$1799 (24″) – 2.93 GHz...