You can zoom in and out into any image within Quick Look, the instant image viewer built into the OS X Finder, simply by holding down the “Option” key and then using either a scroll wheel on a mouse, or a two finger up or down swipe gesture on a multi-touch track pad. Scrolling up (or swiping up) while holding the Option key will zoom in to the picture, while scrolling down or swiping down while holding Option will zoom back out of the picture.
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If you’ve got the big gift buying out of the way but that stocking hanging on the mantel is looking a little empty, here are some low-cost techy gift ideas to fill it up.

• Soft Silicone Case for iPod Touch 4th gen
• 15-Item Accessory Bundle for iPod Touch 4th gen
• OtterBox Defender Case for iPhone 4
• splash Masque Screen Protector Film for iPhone 4
• Apple In-Ear Headphones
• iTunes Gift Card

Giving gifts to kids is one of the most fun parts of Christmas, and this holiday is techier than ever before. You can’t help but get that joyful Christmas feeling when you see their faces light up at the sight of that present they really REALLY pretty-please-mom-and-dad! wanted. But what the heck is that special gift? Every year it’s something new, but luckily for us all, Duracell has put out their 2011 Toy Report with a list of the top 10 items kids want this Christmas. You’ll quickly notice that gadgets make high marks on the wish lists this year:

1. iPhone 4 16 GB (14%)
2. iPod touch 8 GB 4th gen (13%) comes with a $25 amazon gift card
3. iPad 16 GB (12%)
4. Kinect for Xbox (6%)
5. Zhu Zhu Pet Hamsters (5%)
6. Flip UltraHD Video Camera 8 GB (4%)
7. Toy Story 3 Jet Pack Buzz Lightyear (4%)
8. PlayStation Move (4%)
9. LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1–4 video game (3%)
10. Barbie Video Girl Doll (3%)

One of the joys of unlocking an iPhone is being able to use it on another network of your choosing. A friend of mine just got an unlocked iPhone to work on T-Mobile, but she was disappointed to find out that MMS didn’t work by default. In versions prior to iOS 4.2.1 you can usually just set carrier settings and things work fine, but since iOS 4.2.1 you’ll need to manually edit some configuration files to enable iPhone MMS functionality on the USA T-Mobile network.

This is obviously only relevant to those with unlocked iPhones on T-Mobile. If you are interested in jumping to a different carrier, you might want to read “can I unlock my iPhone?” and then learn how to jailbreak and unlock iOS 4.2.1 with redsn0w and ultrasn0w.

Anyway, here is what worked to fix T-Mobile’s MMS with iPhone OS 4.2:
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Amazon continues to offer great discounts on iPods across the board. The iPod touch, iPod shuffle, and iPod nano are all on sale and include free shipping. One of the better deals continues to be the base iPod touch 8 GB for $215 and 32GB models with a free $25 Amazon gift card, this deal expires December 18 so jump on it quick if you’re shopping for an iPod touch.

iPod touch sale prices:

All iPod touches are discounted, with the 8GB, 32GB, and 64GB being particularly good deals. All items include free shipping from Amazon as usual:

• iPod touch 8 GB for $215 – plus free $25 Amazon.com Gift Card (add both to cart, gift card becomes free at checkout) – Expires Today
• iPod touch 32 GB for $269 – retail is $299
• iPod touch 64 GB for $369 – retail is $399

iPod Shuffle sale prices:

Every iPod shuffle 2GB is offered at 16% off and gets free shipping

• iPod Shuffle 2 GB for sale at $41 with free shipping

iPod Nano sale prices:

All iPod nanos (all colors and 8GB and 16GB versions) are $10 off and include free shipping from Amazon:

• iPod nano 16 GB for $169.95
• iPod nano 8 GB for $139.54

Why pay full price for an iPod when you don’t have to?

Apple and Google have a rather interesting competitive relationship as they battle it out in the mobile front with iOS and Android. When one comes up with a good idea, the other seems to quickly adopt it as well, although this flow of ideas seems to trickle from Apple to Google more often than the reverse; touchscreens, app stores, instant search, tablets, etc.

With this in mind, check out the pictures of the new Google CR-48 Chrome Notebook, it’s a dead-ringer for the older black MacBook. From the chiclet style keyboard, to the matte black finish, to the overall shape, the resemblance between the two is striking. Here they are side by side:

Check out the keyboards too, the MacBook is on the left and the Chrome CR-48 is on the right:
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Here’s something you don’t see everyday: a stand up workstation featuring a MacBook Pro attached to two dual vertically orientated monitors.

[ Image is below since it’s huge ]
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If you have a music lover on your shopping list this Christmas, then check out this list of great deals on musician’s tools from Amazon. With powerful software like Logic Studio and iLife ’11 with the latest Garageband, more musician’s are creating from the Mac platform than ever before. If you’re shopping for a musician who seems to have all the software, consider supplementing their studio with a USB keyboard or a recording microphone.

• MacBook Pro 15″ – ultimate gift, anyone?
• iPod touch 32 GB 4th gen – comes with a free $25 Amazon gift card
• iLife ’11 with Garageband
• Logic Studio
• Logic Express 9
• M-Audio KeyStation 61-Key USB Keyboard
• Audio-Technica USB Microphone
• Behringer Guitar to USB Interface
• Audio Technica Precision Studio Headphones

Network World is reporting that Apple has disabled their jailbreak detection API in the latest iOS 4.2.1 update.

The API was originally bundled into iOS 4.0 and gave Apple and third party vendors the ability to detect jailbreaks by finding changes to the iOS system software. According to the report, Apple has not provided a reason for the API to be disabled, but vendors can utilize other methods to detect modifications to iOS.

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A new report from Reuters claims that iPad 2 will have front and rear facing cameras, in addition to a slimmer and lighter design that includes a higher resolution display. Citing several component suppliers, Reuters also notes that production of iPad 2 will ramp up in the first quarter of 2011, which might suggest a spring ship date.

The idea of the next iPad featuring FaceTime compatible cameras, a retina display, and being slimmer and lighter isn’t new or groundbreaking, these improvements have long been part of the speculative rumor mill. What I think is more interesting is the leaked iPad 2 cases show off various ports that have caused a wave of speculation in and of themselves. AppleInsider mentions one as “space for what could be an SD card slot.” I’ll have to disagree with AppleInsider here though, I am still convinced the port opening they refer to is for a revised speaker design and not an SD card slot.

If past Apple announcements are any future indicator, we might see the iPad 2 unveiled as early as January of 2011.

The Dock is one of those staple features of Mac OS X, containing all running apps and also serving as a quick launch bar for opening applications and managing multitasking. The Dock is popular and intuitive enough for it to be a core user interface element beyond the Mac, included as a major component in iOS and other OS’s too.

A simple trick to improve Dock functionality is hide it when the Dock is not actively in use. When the automatically hide feature is on, the Dock only shows itself when a cursor is placed over the region of the Mac screen where the Dock is displayed. This is easy to configure, either with a keyboard shortcut or by visiting the Mac OS X system preference settings, let’s get to it cover both.

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If you have ever forgotten a wireless router password, whether it’s your own network or another, you certainly aren’t alone. Typically you just have to enter the password once, save it to your keychain, and you can forget about it, right? Well that’s only true until you actually do need the password again, whether it’s for connecting to the router with a new network profile, from a new Mac or iOS device, sharing it with another person, or whatever else. The good news is that it’s actually very easy to recover a forgotten wireless password by using a built-in tool of Mac OS X, and we’ll show you exactly how to do it.

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This will add more fuel to the burning Verizon iPhone rumor fire, Apple has posted several job openings that require knowledge of CDMA technology. In case you didn’t know, CDMA is the cellular network that Verizon uses.

The full listing is repeated below in case it gets pulled:
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A series of pictures alleging to be silicon iPad 2 cases have appeared on a third party dropship site, and they give us a good look at what to expect from iPad 2 (this of course assumes they are based on iPad 2). I went ahead and attached labels (rather poorly) onto the picture from Alibaba so you can see what the openings on the case are likely for.

Looking at this alleged iPad 2 case, we can assume determine the following about ports and features:

• Camera port – This looks obvious. I don’t know what else this could possibly be but a camera, it’s in the exact same spot as a camera on the iPod touch 4G and iPhones
• Mystery port, is it Mini-USB? – the size of the mystery port at the very top center of the case looks precisely like the size of a mini-USB port. Various rumors have suggested a mini-USB port would come to the next iPad revision. If it’s not that, who knows, but there is a port opening at the top
• No landscape mode docking – you’ll notice there are no dock connector ports on the side, which contradicts many rumors that the iPad 2 would be able to dock in landscape mode
• Larger speaker port – also aims slightly to the back which may help acoustics and sound projection
• Mute, headphone, vertical dock connector – all in the same places as usual, no change here

It’s important to note that these iPad 2 cases come from a manufacturer in Shenzen, which, conveniently, is also where Foxconn is located (Foxconn manufacturers the iPad, iPod, and iPhone for Apple). The Shenzen connection suggest that some schematics of the new iPad 2 have been leaked to various manufacturers in the region, which seems to have happened a few times in the past with the iPod touch. Leaks from Shenzen plants are also thought to be the source of the white iPhone 4’s that are widely available for sale in China.

Engadget also found the following video of more alleged iPad 2 cases, and they show the exact same port configuration as the silicone case above, here’s that video:
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Apple has revealed the most popular iPhone/iPod touch and iPad app downloads of 2010, and one thing that really jumps out is the shear number of games appearing in the top 10 lists. Here are they are, directly from iTunes:
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You can set Safari in Mac OS X or Windows to always open new windows into new tabs instead. In fact, new versions of Safari default to a variation of this behavior, but older versions need Safari to manually be set to open new windows as tabs, but with a little adjustment you can make Safari open all windows always into tabs, even those tiny pop-ups you may encounter on some websites. Yes really, ALL windows in Safari.

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You can download any iOS software updates for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch without using iTunes. There are actually two ways to do this, the first is using the iOS device itself but there are caveats and limitations with that, and then there is the traditional method of downloading the update files directly from Apple without iTunes, which is particularly helpful for those who rely on download managers or who are just encountering trouble with iTunes automatic updates.

We will cover both methods of obtaining iOS software without using iTunes to download it, we’ll start with the easiest method of using the device itself to get the iOS update. This applies to all modern versions of iOS.

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The iPad is basically never on sale, but right now Apple is offering the best prices seen yet on refurbished iPad models. The iPad Wi-Fi models are especially cheap at up to $100 off.

Now here’s why this is an extra great deal; the refurbished iPad models all include brand new batteries and brand new outer shells, plus they include the same 1 year warranty that new Apple products get and are still eligible for AppleCare Protection Plans for iPad.

The prices are as follows:

Refurbished iPad Sale Prices

Directly from Apple, the Wi-Fi models are more deeply discounted than the 3G models:

• iPad 16GB Wi-Fi: $429 – $70 off
• iPad 32GB Wi-Fi: $499 – $100 off
• iPad 64GB Wi-Fi: $599 – $100 off

The refurb iPad 3G models are are all just $50 off, making the WiFi model a particularly strong deal. Grab one of the refurbished models at a deep discount and then grab an iPad AppleCare Protection Plan for just $75 ($25 off) and you’ll basically have a new iPad with a full 3 year warranty! I like AppleCare extended warranties in general but I think it’s particularly wise to get the extended warranty when buying refurbs.

You can check out the refurb iPad sale on Apple’s website, supply is limited and I bet these will sell out quick at these prices.