Cables & Leads

Due to the success of our recent Free UK Delivery Offer, this is now extended and available on all items at Cables & Leads! With a fantastic range of cables and accessories available, it is now even easier to order items with us online and re-order extra cables (if you want to add to your order!) as no delivery charge* applies!

Start Shopping for Cables & Leads now!

* Exclusions

We do have a few areas of the UK, where some delivery charges apply on heavier items, these are mainly the Scottish Highlands and Islands, Isle of Man, Isle of Wight, Channel Islands and Northern Ireland. If you are unsure if this affects you, then next time you add an item to your basket with us, just add your postcode to the postcode checker (on the basket page) and find out if you are elligable for Free Delivery.

iPhone 4 Cables Leads Accessories

With the launch of the NEW Apple iPhone 4 today across the UK today, latest news and reports on Twitter and the web are that most stores, o2 and Carphone Warehouse are already running out of stocks!

The popularity of the Apple iPhone, even to it’s next version 4.0, shows no signs of slowing down. With most o2 stores across the UK reporting que’s early from early in the morning and stocks depleating by 9am too.

If, however you are the proud owner of your new Apple iPhone 4 and are in need of a spare charger for mains or car, a longer USB dock extension lead or just an audio lead for your car or hifi, then our new iPhone 4 cable and leads department, will hopefully keep you connected, docked and synced!

The main problem, we hear from customers is that with the Apple iPhone, and all iPods, is the length of the USB Dock connector cable. It’s just too short! It just isn’t long enough to reach from the back of your computer, or perhaps charging from the side of your bed, is a real chore.

Simply add an iPhone USB Extension cable, available in various lengths. You can then sync with iTunes or charge with ease.

View our iPhone 4 Cable Range now

View our iPhone 3G 3GS Cable Range now

Cables & Leads

Mid-Month Mayhem – Free Delivery

This month see’s the first of our Mid-Month Mayhem offers. These offers will run for one week on the middle of the each and every month. This months Mid-Month Mayhem offer is free standard UK delivery on all orders.

The offer will start on Tuesday 13th April 2010 and finish on the 20th April 2010. There is no small print or exclusions, its quite simply Free Delivery on Everything!

We have 1000’s of cables in stock, and are confident we have the cable you are looking for. Maybe you are need a new HDMI Cable, or for a while have been saying you want to back up old TV programs or VHS videos with a SCART to USB Kit.

Of course there may be times when you are not quite sure what you need. if this is the case give us a call, and one of our friendly technicians can help you find exactly what you are looking for.

So make the most of our Mid-Month Mayhem and save on your delivery costs, but remember this offer is only running for one week!

Click Here to Start Shopping…

Cable Guy Clive

We have a new member of the team here at Cables & Leads.  Clive Johnson or Cable Guy Clive as he has been aptly named, will be joining the technical department as a customer support technician.

Clive has over 5 years industry experience and brings an expertise in cabling and connectivity. Cable Guy Clive will be on hand to answer customer queries. He will also be taking over the technical side of the blog. Clive will be helping us provide even more of our popular “how to guides“ and will allso be producing video guides and a podcast.

To make Cable Guy Clive feel at home, we have had a cartoon image of him created. Any post you see from now on with Clive’s cartoon on will be one of his posts.

I am sure you will join all of us here at Cables and Leads in wishing Cable Guy Clive all the very best in his new role. As long as he has a sense of humour and can make a good cuppa, he’ll fit in just fine.

If you have any technical queries you can email Clive directly on clive@cables-leads.co.uk

Cables & Leads

A ridiculous amount of coverage has already been devoted to the iPad, and you know what? This is just the beginning.

As incredible as it may seem, we’re just on the cusp of iPad mania. That’s because Apple’s introduction of the iPad last week signalled the start of a nebulous period of roughly 60 days before the iPad is actually available in late March. Though you might reasonably assume there would be a lull in iPad coverage, just the opposite is the case. The mania seems to reach new heights each day, stoked by Apple’s secrecy, the fervour of Apple fanboys (and detractors), the questions and uncertainties raised by Apple’s announcement and the anticipation over actually being able to purchase an iPad.

Every nuance of Apple’s announcement, every decision about the iPad’s features or omissions (no camera, no Flash technology), every element of the iPad’s design and technology is being dissected in a seemingly endless stream of news articles and blog posts, with headlines like “Four of the iPad’s Biggest Whiffs,” “Apple iPad: 25 Unanswered Questions” and “The iPad’s Five Flaws, and Why They Don’t Matter.”

And, from all indications, iPad mania is not limited to rabid Apple enthusiasts. Everyone, it seems, wants to know what it’s really like. Stephen Colbert appeared at the Grammy Awards with an iPad, generating a fury of Twitter posts. The iPad isn’t even in stores, and yet it’s already a cultural icon. No wonder several friends of mine, when asking me about it, were surprised to learn you couldn’t order one yet.

It will be a relief when the iPad finally arrives.

Steve Jobs Showing the New iPad

Until then, here’s a primer on some of the key issues and questions to emerge about iPad, as well as spots to help you keep tabs on the latest iPad news, speculation and commentary.

• The publishing industry: In one extraordinary development, the iPad — and its iBookstore for e-books—apparently led to a weekend of brinksmanship between Amazon and Macmillan, a major book publisher, over pricing of books for Amazon’s Kindle device. (Macmillan wanted to raise prices.) Amazon relented, issuing a statement saying the company would “capitulate and accept Macmillan’s terms because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own books.”

As technologist John Gruber wrote at his blog, Daring Fireball: “Just me, or does it seem like an Apple device that won’t ship for another 53 days already upended Amazon’s Kindle business? What kind of sense does it make to accuse a publisher of having a ‘monopoly’ over its own titles?”

• The disappearing file system: Yes, that sounds technical, but bear with me; this issue has implications for everyone using computers. For years, computer users have gotten used to navigating through folders and files to find documents. Files, folders, documents — that’s the vocabulary of what it means to use a computer. If you want to work on a file, whether it’s a spreadsheet or an image, you find it, then open it, and start working.

But the iPad, like the iPhone and (as well as popular Apple applications, like iTunes), largely does away with the traditional file system, or so it seems. You want to work on a presentation? You open an app. To add cool effects to a photo? You choose the right app. It is quite possible this is a shift we will increasingly see in the software used on personal computers.

• Magazines: I was hoping for a whiz-bang demo of a tablet-friendly magazine at the iPad launch. No luck. The Unofficial Apple Weblog asked, “Where’s the iMag store?” But maybe Apple is counting on magazine publishers to develop new ways of distributing magazine via apps, as is already happening with the iPhone, or via websites optimized for the iPad’s touch-screen capabilities.

• Too much control of apps?: Pretty much anyone can develop and sell software for Macintosh and Windows computers, but if you want to sell an application for the iPad or iPhone, the app needs to get Apple’s OK. That’s controversial with the iPhone, but even more so with a device likely to have many more uses, including many professional ones. Such a system raises a lot of legitimate concerns about whether one company should have this level of control, and the possibilities for its abuse to harm competitors.

Plenty of other questions are being discussed and dissected in minute detail. What was Apple thinking by not including a camera? (That one’s mystifying to me.) Will the use of Flash, a technology used at many websites, decline in use because it’s not part of the iPhone and iPad? Will future versions of the iPad allow for multitasking — the ability to use several apps at once?

by Allan Hoffman
Article Source: http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2010/02/apple_ipad_mania_will_only_gro.html

Related Articles:
HDMI’s Role in The Future of 3D TV

USB 3 – The Next Generation of USB Connections

Cables & Leads

CES 2010 is abuzz with stories about the impending arrival of 3D HDTV, but what does that really mean for consumers? Do you need a new TV? A new Blu-ray player? What about new cables?

HDMI has become the standard interface for delivering high-quality audio and video content to HDTVs. TheHDMI consortium just released new guidelines for 3D certification. The 3D requirements in the v1.4 spec requires that displays support all mandatory 3D formats and that source material must support at least one of the mandatory 3D formats.

PCMag had the chance to ask what this all means to Steve Venuti, president of HDMI Licensing, before he headed off to CES this year. Here’s his insider’s take on where this technology is heading.

How big will 3D TV and peripheral sales be this year?
As HDMI Licensing, LLC is just in charge of licensing the HDMI specification; we are not privy to the product plans of our adopters. However, we certainly do receive first-hand information about the types of features that Adopters are excited about. From those conversations, it is clear to us that 2010 will be the first real year that 3D is launched into the home in a mainstream manner. While we don’t have specific sales forecasts, all of the major brands of HDTV manufacturers are launching 3D sets this year.

Will 3D displays essentially require HDMI? Is there any other way to send that much information?
No.3D can be done through other interfaces such as DisplayPort, DVI or analogue. However, each manufacturer will likely have to create proprietary 3D communication structures/meta-data structures that would be specific to each manufacturer or technology vendor. HDMI is the first interface to define a common 3D communication structure to enable 3D interoperability. HDMI has given manufacturers assurance that 3D devices will work together.

What will consumers need to buy to get a real 3D experience? A new set top box? A new HDTV? A new cable?
They will need new devices that support 3D. Some devices, such as the [set top box], may be software upgradable depending on the service provider and (the STB) hardware combination. Upgradability is determined by the service providers. Consumers will [also] need an HDTV that is HDMI 3D capable. Consumers will not need a new cable as long as their cable is a high-speed HDMI cable capable of supporting the full 10.2 Gbps bandwidth of HDMI.

What exactly are the 3D requirements within HDMI 1.4?
We have divided up the specification into two formats: mandatory and informative. We have done this because the market is still nascent, and there are many competing formats that many manufacturers are working with. Thus, we have stated that HDMI requires certain mandatory formats that anyone who implements 3D over HDMI must use. Therefore, manufacturers are free to use any or all of the “informative” formats that are contained within the specification. This way, the HDMI Consortium allows a variety of formats, but ensures that devices that implement 3D over HDMI will interoperate.

Article Source: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2357710,00.asp

Other Related Articles

The Next Generation of USB Connections
IDT Take DisplayPort Further Than Ever Before

Seasons Greetings From Cables & Leads

The Festive season is upon again. Mince pies and after dinner mints will no doubt be consummed by the plenty. And whilst we endevour to offer a second to none support service, we will however be closing for a short period to allow our staff to embrace the Christmas Spirit. We would therefore like to provide you with our Christmas & New year opening times.

Seasonal / Christmas Support Times

Our telephone lines are open until 17.00 on Wednesday 23rd December and re-open as details below:

Deliveries

From the above dates, the only working days we would expect deliveries to be made via Royal Mail and Fedex Couriers are:

Deliveries and full support hours to return to normal on Monday 4th January 2010. Online Support and the Cables & Leads website is open as usual over the holidays.Wishing everyone a great festive holiday and we look forward to serving you in 2010.

Best Wishes

Cables & Leads

Not sure which cable you need? Click Here For Help Finding A Cable

Cables & Leads

The much anticipated and let’s face it needed USB 3 technology is just around the corner with devices and USB 3 cables becoming available from late 2009/2010. While Microsoft decides which of it’s operating systems they are going to put the technology in to, what kind of differences can we the user expect from it?

USB cables have become the most popular way to connect devices together both around the home and in the workplace, whether this is PC peripherals or phones, MP3 players, printers the list really is endless of what you can do with them. This popularity is due to not only it’s performance but it’s ease of use allowing the non technical among us to easily connect these devices together securely.

Unlike other things in the digital age USB 3 will be completely backwards compatible allowing you to continue to use existing items and not having to rush out and buy all new. But of course to take full advantage of the new features you will need to get updated devices.

So what are these new features?

USB 3 Cable

With the high take up of digital devices in recent years the need for people to store, backup and generally move this data around has grown massively. While the popular USB 2 standard is good at this, the new USB 3.0 cables and technology will allow this data to be moved just as securely but up to 10 times faster, giving us the ability to transfer large amounts of data quickly, rather than taking minutes and hours taking only seconds and minutes. For example a recent test on the new USB3.0 technology comparing it to the older USB standards saw a 25gb hd Movie transferred in the following times:

USB 1.1: 9.3 hours

USB 2.0: 13.9 minutes

USB 3.0: 70 seconds

(Source: Microsoft/WinHEC 2008)

As you can see from the above USB3 is far faster than it’s predecessors and with it being so new we can expect to see improvements on this as it matures and so do the devices taking full advantage of it.

Click Here To View All USB Cables

Related Articles:
IDT Take DisplayPort Further Than Ever Before
Cables & Leads Take on Monster Cables

Cables and Leads

A new innovation from the company IDT (Integrated Device Technology, Inc) solves a limitation of the new Display Port Cable technology once and for all with it’s new PanelPort LinkXtend solution. This allows you to effectively increase the length/distance of the DisplayPort Cable without compromising its performance.

Using this new device allows you to daisy chain DisplayPort Cables, it is a cost effective and reliable solution for those with the need to extend the range of their Display Port Cable enabled devices.

Following along with the companies IDT Power Smart initiative and the DisplayPort cable standard it doesn’t require any kind of outside power source. This small device allows the signal to be repeated down the Display Port Cable while strengthening the signal at each point. The LinkXTend device offers 2.7ghz with 4 lanes offering a total transfer of 10.8Gbps which is more than enough to handle a huge display of 2560 x 1600 pixels.

As the digital age progresses we can expect to see a growing number of devices released using not only a Display Port Cable for there connectivity but also the chip that is in the PanelPort LinkXtend as this will allow them to offer cost effective solutions to meet the demands of their users.

DisplayPort Cable

So why can’t you just use a longer cable?

A big part of the Display Port Cable technologies advantage is its speed and the quality of data that it sends. By using a longer cable its signal quality and security weakens, this can happen even when using very expensive and high quality cabling.

Why is there a limitation anyway?

DisplayPort Cable connections were developed to connect your computer to a HD monitor or projector hence the need for longer distances was not really a consideration. But there are times when people need the longer range and as the digital age moves forward the need for this capability is only going to grow.

Press Release:

The Cables & Leads stock already features a wide variety of cables such as DVI to HDMI adapters, Composite video cables and even iPod earphones. With new product stock coming in from Monster Cables, cables-leads.co.uk has extended the range of quality digital equipment available for online shoppers. This includes the popular Monster 750HD HDMI cable, the Monster Blu-Ray Advanced High-Speed HDMI and the Monster THX Certified Component 2m video cable.

Monster cables was founded in 1979 by Noel Lee, and through years of research and development a new industry of quality cables which he named the ‘Monster Cable’. The company itself focuses on producing cables with superior quality materials, which range from medium to high and provides excellent performance. Monster Cables is now the leading manufacturer of high performance cables and cover a broad range including anything from components for music enthusiasts, sound professionals, recording studios and individuals.

“We are really looking forward to stocking Monster Cables. Monster have long been one of the leading cable manufacturers. We are now able to give our customers more options than ever before” Say’s Robert Deans Sales & Marketing Manager for Cables & Leads. “We will be one of only a few stockists’s to carry the full product range” he adds.

Purchases can be made online at any time. Phone support is available from 9-5, Monday to Friday. Shipping is free for all products over £35 to mainland UK and starts elsewhere at £2.99. Upgrade to next day delivery is available for orders placed before 3.30pm on working days.

For More information, or to buy online, visit www.cables-leads.co.uk