THE HOUSE OF MARLEY GET UP STAND UP™ HOME AUDIO SYSTEM NOW AVAILABLE IN THE UK

The House of Marley, a collection of premium quality, earth-friendly personal audio and lifestyle products, today announced the availability of the Get Up Stand Up™ home audio system. The MARLEY Freedom Collection Get Up Stand Up is available for purchase at HMV and other selected retailers for a RRP of £299.99.

 The MARLEY Get Up Stand Up is uniquely crafted from one piece of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified bent birch wood and finished in a rich walnut colour. Its distinctive design makes this home audio system, and the music it delivers, the focal point of any room. The Get Up Stand Up continues with the sustainable initiatives of The House of Marley by using recycled plastic components and earth-friendly packaging. 

“We thought back to how people used to admire the large floor speakers back in the 1970s and 80s and how those speakers were design elements in the home. Our Get Up Stand Up system delivers exceptional audio quality in a strikingly beautiful design, while staying true to our values and commitment to the planet,” said Rohan Marley, on behalf of The House of Marley.

Equipped with an iPod/iPhone/iPad docking and charging station, the Get Up Stand Up also has two aux-in ports to connect hundreds of devices (3.5mm cable included).  Features include: high output 11.4cm woofers, 2.5cm tweeters, a powerful amplifier, an IR remote so the user can control their music from around the room, and a universal 100/240VAC power adaptor.

The House of Marley audio products, including home audio systems, are created with the MARLEY “Signature Sound,” incorporating more than 30 years of audio expertise into the design of the acoustics of their audio products. It is the goal of The House of Marley to produce audio products with smooth, powerful bass, mids with stunning presence, and an energised high-end that brings songs to life. Each product undergoes custom tuning to deliver the most realistic and powerful performances possible.

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Apple preparing to soon accept Apple Store payment cards via Passbook

Nearly a month after launching its virtual wallet iPhone app, Passbook, Apple is preparing to put the feature to good use in its physical retail stores.

Later this month, Apple will be seeding an updated version of its mobile point-of-sale (EasyPay) system software to Apple Store employees. This update, numbered version 12.3, will allow retail employees with EasyPays to capture Apple Store payment card codes from customer iPhones and iPod touches running Passbook.

[Source: 9to5Mac - Click here to read the full story]

Redesigned 21-inch iMac with updated screen, 13-inch retina MBP spotted in China

MacRumors points to a WeiPhone.com forum thread [Google translation] this morning that purports to show details of a new iMac. The poster’s brother-in-law apparently works in the factory that builds the new Macs, and he snapped the above picture on his cell phone. The design was verified by iFixit to be similar to the internals of a current iMac with the plastic radio-transparent circle on the rear.

On the iMac, the poster says:

• It should be announced this month or next month (likely at the Oct. 23th announement)
• The design is of”epoch-making significance”
• From side to side you “almost cannot see the new iMac’s thickness” and it is compared to a drop of water and “tetragonal” elements. Still has iMac ‘chin’ below display
• It appears that the display is a “very pretty special glass glued directly” (perhaps like Retina MBP) to the machine rather than a separate display assembly
• The 21-inch might be ready before the 27-inch

[Source: 9to5Mac - Click here to read the full story]

Quad-core chips rumored for 2014 Apple mobile products

If a research note from Citigroup analyst J.T. Hsu is any indication, Apple is working with Taiwan-based chip manufacturer TSMC on quad-core chipsthat could be worked into future products such as the iPad and MacBooks in 2014.

According to a report on China Economic News Service (CENS), Hsu noted that Apple began verifying TSMC's 20-nanometer process this past August and may begin some limited-risk production in November. Full production of the more efficient, yet powerful chips would be expected in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Hsu notes that Apple began development of quad-core processors in 2010 after acquiring fabless chip company Intrincity. Apple would move manufacturing of the chip to Taiwanese supply chains consisting of TSMC, Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc. and Kinsus Interconnect Technology Corporation.

This move all boils down to costs; Hsu thinks the Taiwanese manufacturers could produce the chips for about 10 percent less than Apple's main chip supplier at the present time -- Samsung. Quoting the CENS post, "Hsu ascribed Samsung's higher cost in the production of Apple processors mostly to the company's inefficiency."

[Source: TUAW]

Thieves smash car into Leawood, Kansas Apple Store

If you can't strong-arm your way past Apple's security, smash your car into the store instead. That's what someone or a group of people did at the Apple Store in Leawood, Kan., early this morning.

Fox 4 from Kansas City reports that police are looking for a suspect or multiple suspects that rammed a stolen Dodge into the front window of the Apple Store, grabbed merchandise and ran off. Police have not released a list of what was stolen as of yet.

It's not the first time this has happened to the Kansas City-area location. In 2010, the same thing happened at the same store, a commenter notes in this story of a similar smash and grab in Portland, but that time iPhones were stolen. Since then, the store has installed security gates.

[Source: TUAW]

4490 mAh iPad Mini battery is almost exactly 3X size of iPhone and 1/3 of the iPad

If the 16.7Whr/4490 mAh iPad Mini battery images that MacRumors reported last night are authentic, it would place the power at almost exactly three times more than the iPhone 5′s 5.45Whr and one-third of the massive 42.5Whr battery of the third-generation iPad. Seems pretty logical.

The battery runs at 3.72 volts, and it shows a model number of A1445 and an Apple part number of 616-0641.

[Source: 9to5Mac]

13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display confirmed for Apple event

Alongside the smaller iPad, Apple will debut a 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display, according to a consistently reliable source at a high-profile U.S. retailer.

This new 13-inch MacBook Pro with a Retina Display is said to pick up the thinner and lighter enclosure of the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display that was released in June.

The new 13-inch MacBook Pro will be sold in two configurations, with differing processors and storage, and will be available for purchase soon after introduction.

Like with the 15-inch MacBook Pro lines, the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display will be sold (at a higher price) in addition to the current non-Retina display model. That computer was updated with faster processers and USB 3.0 in June.

The current 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display is codenamed D2, and its smaller sibling is in fact, as predicted this morning, dubbed D1 internally.

[Source: 9to5Mac]

Apple to open third Beijing Apple Store on iconic Wangfujing Street

Residents and visitors to China's capital, Beijing, will soon have a third Apple Store available for their shopping pleasure.

Chinese gadget site M.I.C. Gadget featured a group of photos today showing the construction site on Wangfujing Street in the Beijing City Center, less than a mile from Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. The store is located on a corner and it appears that it will feature a large curved glass curtain wall on the ground floor.

There's a huge display above the store, although it appears that it's used to advertise other stores in the Wangfujing district. M.I.C. Gadget speculates that the store could be a four-story affair, and unconfirmed rumors have the opening date listed as October 20.

[Source: TUAW]

Why the iPad mini? One word: Textbooks

I was at the dentist the other day, where I was talking to Laura-the-receptionist about tablets. "I'm sick of paying for rebinding [my kids' textbooks] every year," she told me. "My kid's teacher suggested we buy a tablet and purchase textbooks from Amazon instead of fixing them. Which tablet should I buy?"

Although schools pay a nominal fee per rebinding, parents often have to cough up a significant amount more. Cherry Creek High School charges $28 to rebind a single book. The eBook text costs just $14.99. It's a bargain until you start considering the tablet overhead.

[Source: TUAW - Click here to read the full story]

Apple extends Seagate drive replacement program for iMacs

As noted by MacRumors, Apple's extended service program for iMacs with 1TB Seagate internal hard drives was updated late last week to include iMacs manufactured as far back as October 2009. The program, launched in the summer of 2011, originally covered only machines made during a narrow window of that year. Drives can be replaced at the Apple Store, by an Apple Authorized Service Provider or by Apple Technical Support.

Apple has also extended the duration of this program more than once, and now will cover iMac hard drive replacements with affected drives for three years after the original retail purchase date or until April 12, 2013, whichever ends up providing longer coverage for the computer. You can check if your machine might be affected by entering your serial number on the program page. Of course, you'll need to back up your data prior to replacement, and you may need your OS installer discs depending on how you plan to restore your machine.

Seagate's had past problems with drive reliability, including a firmware flaw that resulted in data loss.

[Source: TUAW]

iOS 6 tethered jailbreak updated with official Cydia, quicker installation for your A4-packing device

The iPhone Dev-Team has just outed a new version of Redsnow that opens up iOS 6 to an official version of the sinful, definitely-not-Apple Cydia store, but you'll still have to be tethered to use it. The process is now simpler, as the latest version recognizes your already-installed iOS 6 OS and installs only the necessary jailbreak files, and Cydia is now installed automatically as well -- rather than needing a complex workaround like the last version. If you're willing to put up with the tethering and have an A4-powered iPhone 4, 3GS or gen-4 iPod touch device, the laundry list of how to do it is at the source below -- but there's always the risk of bricking, so caveat emptor, of course.

[Source: Engadget]

Raspberry Pi Model B gets RAM boost to 512MB, keeps $35 price tag

So you got your Raspberry Pi all set up, you overclocked it and you even made it run Atari 2600 games. But then, it seems, many you wrote to the UK-based outfit to complain about the fixed 256MB of RAM. Indeed, the budget mini PC maker says that requests for a memory upgrade have been among "the most common suggestions" it's received since it launched the device. However, rather than introduce a pricier version, the company has decided to offer 512MB as standard with all future Model Bs (including all current and outstanding orders), while sticking to the original $35 price tag. Good news? Sure, even if your current unit just got relegated to secondary secondary PC status.

[Source: Engadget]