Apple Universal Dock Review

If you have an iPhone or iPod then this could be the perfect accessory for you.

There are 2 reasons that you would want to buy this - the first is that you can use it as a Dock to connect your iPhone or iPod to your computer and the second is that you can use it to connect your iPhone or iPod to your HiFi system.

I personally don't see the point of buying this just to use it as a dock to connect up to your computer as you have a lead that does that and this offers no benefit really when connecting it to your computer.


The benefit of this great bit of kit is that it has a Line Out port at the rear which you can then connect to the Line In/Auxiliary port of your music system and you can use the Remote Control that comes with the Dock to control your iPhone and iPod whilst sitting comfortably in your chair.

The Universal Dock comes with 5 Apple Dock Adaptors that allow you to connect either an iPhone 4, iPhone 3G/3GS, 4th Generation iPod, 2nd/3rd Generation iPod or a 5th Generation iPod nano.

If your Dock Adaptor isn't listed then don't worry, have a look on the Apple Store and see if they have one for your Apple device - the last time I looked they also sold them on the Argos website as well.

Your iPhone/iPod gets charged whilst plugged in to the Dock so so theres no chance of your battery going flat as you listen to music all day long.

Prices start from £35 all the way up to £50+ so it's worth shopping around for the best price of what's in stock if you're interested in this great little gizmo.

Given Up With Ubuntu Linux

I've given up with the Ubuntu version of Linux as I can't get the WiFi working.  I've followed all the guides on the internet relating to Dell laptops and the WiFi connection and all I'm doing is wasting my time as none of the so called 'fixes' actually work and as I've no experience of Linux I don't know off the top of my head what I need to do to fix this issue.

Someone recommended I try Fedora so I downloaded version 16 (Gnome) and low and behold in a matter of minutes a new OS is installed on the laptop and everything (including the WiFi) is working OK and the laptop is now as fast as lightning!

On top of the WiFi now working there was a photo application preinstalled that I have copied hundreds of photos in to and it looks and behaves pretty much like Apple's iPhoto program so good news all round really as I was looking for a program that could be used to organise photos in Linux so this saved me having the headache of searching for one.

Currently Installing Ubuntu Linux

I've never really used Linux, I installed it once many years ago and there was such much messing about getting the partitions right that after installing it once I never bothered with it again.

Wondering if things had changed I thought I'd give it a go again and see how things have evolved. The flavour of Linux I've downloaded is the Ubuntu 10.11 version.


So far it's taken longer to install than XP and actually hung so I've had to re-format and start again. It got stuck installing the languages it had downloaded so I've disconnected it from my network so that won't happen this time!

Ignoring the above glitch, it seems fairly easy to install with none of the messing about you used to have to go through and the range of software out there is increasing by the hour.

I'm looking forward to testing some of the system tools that are available and booting from a USB Flash Drive rather than a Hard Disk Drive or CD/DVD.

Well, the installation says it's now complete and I need to restart - so here goes nothing...