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CES 2013: Liquipel Announces 2.0 Watersafe Nanocoating For Waterproofing Devices

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.




Apple seeds OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.3 build 12D50 to developers

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Shortly after releasing 10.8.3 build 12D43 to developers, Apple is today seeding build 12D50 with no known issues. Apple isn't listing any significant changes, but it asked developers to once again focus on AirPlay, AirPort, Game Center, Graphics Drivers, and Safari. The full release notes are available below.

OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.3 build 12D50 Seed Note

OS X Mountain Lion Update 10.8.3 is an update to OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.

Installation Instructions

Please be aware that you will not be able to revert back to your previous system after updating. Please install this update on a system you are prepared to erase if necessary.

- If you have already installed the "OS X Software Update Seed Configuration Utility", choose "Software Update" from the Apple menu. Otherwise, proceed with the following steps.

- Log into your Apple Developer account and download the "OS X Software Update Seed Configuration Utility".
- After running the installer, the Mac App Store will open automatically. Click on the Updates panel and OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.3 build 12D50 will now be available for download.
- When a newer seed build is available, you will receive a notification to update from the Mac App Store. Click the notification to begin the installation. New seed notes will be posted in the Mac Dev Center.
- To stop receiving new seed builds, go to the Software Update Preference in System Preferences and where it says "Your computer is set to receive pre- release Software Update seeds", press the "Change…" button.

Note: If you are using a computer which gets its updates from a local Software Update server, the OS X Software Update Seed Configuration Utility will reconfigure your machine to use Apple's Software Update servers. Your computer must be able to connect to Apple's Software Update servers to install the seed. We recommend that you remove any Configuration Profile that specifies a local Software Update server before installing the OS X Software Update Seed Configuration Utility.

Known Issues

- None

Focus Areas

- AirPlay
- AirPort
- Game Center
- Graphics Drivers

- Safari

Bug Reporting

This build is being provided to you for testing and development purposes. Should you encounter any problems, please submit a bug report using the online Bug Reporter at bugreporter.apple.com. Please make sure to include "10.8.3 (12D50)" in the bug title and description. This information will ensure that your bug is processed quickly.

When submitting a bug report, please make sure to include a Summary, Steps to Reproduce, Expected Results, Actual Results, and the diagnostic output generated by running 'sudo sysdiagnose' in the Terminal.

For complete instructions on submitting bug reports, please visit the Bug Reporting page at http://developer.apple.com/bugreporter

Thank you for your support, Worldwide Developer Relations Apple, Inc.

Legal Notices

The OS X pre-release software identified above and the OS X Software Update Seed Configuration Utility are Apple Confidential Information and your use of such software is subject to your Registered Apple Developer Agreement, Mac Developer Program License Agreement, and the applicable license agreements accompanying such software. Distributing such software to anyone other than another Registered Apple Developer who is working for the same entity as you is considered a violation of your agreement with Apple and is damaging to both Apple and those who develop for the Apple platform. We sincerely appreciate your efforts to keep this Apple software Confidential.

You agree that you will not export or reexport any of the software or Confidential Information received from Apple (a) into (or to a national or resident of) any U.S. embargoed countries or (b) to anyone on the U.S. Treasury Department's list of Specially Designated Nationals or the U.S. Department of Commerce Denied Person's List or Entity List. You also agree that you will not use said software for any purposes where prohibited by United States law, including, without limitation, the development, design, manufacture or production of nuclear, missile, 




Twitter updates TweetDeck for Mac with over 90 new fixes and features

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Twitter just pushed out version 2.3.1 of TweetDeck for Mac with over 90 fixes, tweaks, features, and updates from the previous version.

TweetDeck allows desktop users to follow their Twitter streams in real-time, but it boasts more flexibility than the mobile counterpart due to a customizable layout that sports the usual tweeting, sharing, and linking features.

The full change log for the latest version includes a performance upgrade for displaying "multiple high-velocity columns," as well as a new function for embedding a Tweet right from the Tweet itself. As Twitter noted in the app's description, the embed feature would come in handy for bloggers and websites.

The update also introduced a new search box with "Typeahead" and People Search and added the ability to reduce the app window to two columns.

Check it out:

Today's upgrade brings TweetDeck for Mac up to speed with the Chrome version that launched last month, and it is the largest update since the Mac app went to version 2.0 in October.

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Apple slashes price on Thunderbolt cable, releases additional shorter model

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Apple has reduced the price of its 2.0 m Thunderbolt cable from $49 to $39. The Thunderbolt cable, which can be used for data transfers and for display attachment purposes, was originally released in mid-2011.

With Thunderbolt, you get superfast data transfer speeds and huge expansion capabilities. It features two 10-Gbps data channels per port, which means data transfer is up to twice as fast as USB 3 and up to 12 times faster than FireWire 800. Use the Apple Thunderbolt Cable to connect your Thunderbolt-equipped peripherals to your iMac, Mac mini, MacBook Pro, or MacBook Air. The cable can also be used for target disk mode between two Mac computers that support Thunderbolt, or to use an iMac as a display for a MacBook Pro equipped with Thunderbolt.

To go along with the price cut, Apple has also released a shorter variant of the Thunderbolt cable. The new $29 version carries a length of 0.5 m. Both cables are in stock on the Apple online store.





Apple releases new MacBook Air EFI update

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Apple has just released an EFI firmware update for the mid-2012 MacBook Air. The firmware update fixes an issue with colors on external HDMI displays, a problem with Windows that can stop the computer from booting properly, and an issue with Thunderbolt devices causing the computer to freeze. Older models of the MacBook Air are not affected by these issues.

The update is available from Apple's support page or through Software Update on affected Macs.





Get a List of Preferred Wi-Fi Networks from the Command Line

Retrieving a list of preferred wireless networks can be helpful when troubleshooting wi-fi problems. The following trick will do just that, and it's similar to a tip we covered recently which showed how to see a list of previously connected wi-fi networks using either System Preferences or a lengthy command line string, but as far as the command line goes the following command is much shorter and cleaner, and doesn't require the use of sed and regex to clean up the output. Though similar, it's important to note there may be some differences in the output of the commands too, as this trick provides a list specifically of the preferred networks, whereas the aforementioned article discussed retrieving networks that the Mac has simply connected to, whether they are preferred or not. Which information is going to be the most useful to you will likely vary on your use case.

For a MacBook Air with only a Wi-Fi NIC, the command would be as follows:

networksetup -listpreferredwirelessnetworks en0

Meanwhile, iMacs, Mac Mini's, Mac Pro's, and some MacBook Pro's with dual Wi-Fi and Ethernet capabilities might use the following instead:

networksetup -listpreferredwirelessnetworks en1

The command is the same, the only difference is the interface used at the end of the command (en0 vs en1), which is sometimes different on different Macs, particularly those with wifi and ethernet capabilities.

For those who are less comfortable with the Terminal and want a simpler GUI approach, the aforementioned article's Network Preferences method remains less technical.

This nice little tip comes as a commenter response on MacWorld to coverage of our original method.