Magsafe Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Deadline nears for claims over frayed MacBook MagSafe connectors

by Kelly Hodgkins (Jan 5th, 2012)

Apple's MagSafe power cables are great. They quick release from their port and protect your notebook from clumsy adults and over-zealous children who get tangled in your power cord. The first generation of these cords, however, had a defect that caused the wires to fray; that posed a potential ...

Apple launches MagSafe adapter replacement program

by Chris Rawson (Nov 8th, 2011)

Apple's MagSafe adapter solved the number one source of catastrophic laptop damage; pets, children, and oblivious adults often tripped over the old-style power adapters and brought the entire device crashing to the floor. But the MagSafe adapter came with problems of its own. Fraying cables ...

Apple gets magnetic coupling patent for possible use in iOS devices

by Michael Grothaus (Aug 18th, 2011)

Apple has been granted a patent that covers magnetic coupling connectors that could be used in future iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad. The patent, titled "Techniques for coupling interfaces parts using moveable magnetic elements," describes a technology similar to the MagSafe connectors ...

TUAW's Daily Mac App: UnPlugged

by Samuel Gibbs (Jul 4th, 2011)

The Magsafe is a fantastic innovation, but it has made it slightly easier to disconnect your Mac from the AC outlet by accident without realising it. UnPlugged is a little free utility that notifies you via Growl when the power cord is disconnected. Now it's true that if you're running a ...

Ask TUAW: Charging MacBooks, securing passwords, color matching and more

by Ask TUAW (May 2nd, 2011)

Welcome to Ask TUAW, your favorite weekly question-and-answer column. Now, we can never have too many questions, so please, go to the comments of this post and ask away. To get fabulous answers, we need your fabulous questions. You can also email your questions directly to ask [at] tuaw.com, or ...

Patents aplenty: iPhone radio, fiber optic MagSafe, 3D without glasses

by Mike Schramm (Dec 3rd, 2010)

Apple's patent team must be cramming before the end of the year, because this past week we've seen a flood of patent applications come out of Cupertino. First up, Apple has patented a radio system in the iPhone (finally!), allowing you to listen to standard FM and AM broadcasts on the smartphone. ...

Apple considering MagSafe charger on iPad

by Matt Tinsley (Oct 11th, 2010)

Here's something to get your mind wondering this Monday afternoon. Patently Apple is reporting that Apple may be considering integrating the MagSafe Power Port to its portable products, like the iPad. The continuation patent, published on October 7th 2010 by the US Patent and Trademark Office, ...

SMC firmware update for 2007-2008 MacBooks now available

by Chris Rawson (Oct 8th, 2010)

When my wife got a new 2009 MacBook to replace her dead 2007 model, one minor irritation I had with the new MacBook was that its wall charger no longer worked with my Early 2008 MacBook Pro. That's no longer an issue; today, Apple issued an SMC firmware update for 2007-2008 MacBooks and MacBook ...

iControlPad using unlicensed dock connection, forced to go Bluetooth

by Mike Schramm (Oct 1st, 2010)

The folks at iControlPad can't seem to catch a break -- the design for the plug-in iPhone controller was finally finished, but the creators are now backing off of that design. Specifically, they're worried about Apple's lawsuit against Sanho, in which the battery manufacturer was sued for creating ...

Apple quietly updates design of MagSafe power adapter

by Michael Grothaus (Apr 22nd, 2010)

Apple has quietly updated the design of 85-watt MagSafe power adapter used with the 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pros. The new connector design features an aluminum tip instead of the plastic one which is still available on the 60-watt MagSafe power adapters [Ed. note: this link is now broken, ...

"Sockintosh" power adapter foot cozy keeps your feet warm, might light you on fire

by Michael Grothaus (Mar 5th, 2010)

Rachael Burns, based on her knitting abilities, will make an excellent grandma some day. She's knitted a pretty sweet foot cozy that turns your Apple power adapter into a foot warming device. Rachel says she knitted the aptly-named Sockintosh after realizing she constantly used her power adapter ...

The other new products that Apple released today

by Joachim Bean (Oct 20th, 2009)

Surprisingly, the Mac mini, Magic Mouse, iMac, MacBook, AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule updates are not the only things Apple updated today. Several other products were updated today, which include: Apple Wireless Keyboard: This keyboard, the subject of several update rumors, did get revised ...

PowerCurl: A quirky way to wrap up your MagSafe Power Adapter

by Steven Sande (Sep 12th, 2009)

quirky is a design firm with a difference. Rather than pay a brain trust to sit around and think up product ideas, they let average Anns and Andys submit designs that are then refined and named by a community of site visitors. When designs are ready for production, quirky sets a threshold number of ...

Reader's unibody MacBook Pro catches fire!

by Christina Warren (May 20th, 2009)

At 1:30am, Ken Brinkman awoke to the smell of burning plastic. His unibody MacBook Pro was on fire. As he details in his Mac-Forums post, "Smoke was pouring out the seam between the unibody and bottom enclosure. I actually burned my hand pretty badly ripping the adapter out. Oh man. This is ...

Lawsuit claims MagSafe power cord not so safe

by Mel Martin (May 6th, 2009)

It was just a few days ago we were talking about hacked MagSafe connectors, and now a lawsuit seeking class action status claims the innovative connectors are a fire hazard and a risk to life, limb, and property. As an example, here's a link to some Flickr images of what is claimed is a melted ...