For all you Apple tech junkies out there we have some news for you.  As reported at the tech blogs Tapscape and The APPera, the Taiwan website Apple.pro - notoriously known for circulating leaked images of Apple devices ahead of formal release dates - has done it again.  

This time, images reportedly leaked from Apple's internal inventory reveal a white dock connector with a 90-degree tail end for an iPad-like device - speculated to be the iPad3, owing to the fervid amount of attention being paid to that device's anticipated release.
No telling, however, whether the pictured connector might not actually be for the rumoured iPad HD or even, it has been suggested, the quasi-mythical iPadPro tablets.

It's not the first time the rumour mill has swirled over these small, but not insignificant parts of these no-doubt-soon-to-be-everywhere tablet devices. That it swirls at all may tell us something about how pervasive the footprint of this technology might very soon be.

Either way I think this is a first for a UK blog, so quite literally you heard it here first!

Shocking news came in last week that HDMI.org the group responsible for keeping the HDMI Specifications in check, have declared that the Mini DisplayPort to HDMI cable to be unlicensed and that ALL UNITS must be withdrawn.

This report was carried by SlashGear - see HDMI to Mini DisplayPort Cables Declared Illegal (via TechRadar) - but I have been unable to confirm it. I did contact HDMI.org but have not received any replies yet, so I can't independently validate this as all being true.

In the SlashGear article, HDMI.org are quoted: "The HDMI specification defines an HDMI cable as having only HDMI connectors on the ends. Anything else is not a licensed use of the specification and therefore, not allowed. All HDMI products undergo compliance testing as defined by the Compliance Testing Specification. The CTS clearly defines necessary tests for all products defined in the HDMI Specification. Since this new cable product is undefined in the Specification, there are no tests associated with this product. It cannot be tested against the Specification."

If true, this is one of the biggest industry enforcements I have heard of in recent years and will have major implications to major manufactures like Toshiba and Apple who use the DisplayPort.

I have spoken to people in the industry who currently sell generic versions of the cable and they had not heard of this issue and quite rightly went into panic mode since they have been selling the cables for sometime.

I find all this quite confusing since there is a plethora of HDMI-to-something-else cables and why they choose to pick on this one is very strange. This story will continue to unravel and we will try to get to the bottom of this and find out what impact this will have on the market.

As I write this I can sense engineers all over the world rushing back to their desks to design out any HDMI interfaces. This could inadvertently be the beginning of the end of HDMI because if people have any doubts about something then generally people won't use it.

An advisory word to the wise and all electronics manufacturers is: before going into mass production just make sure your interconnection is both legal and you have the necessary licences to produce your products.

Have you ever wondered who the top selling cable manufacturer in the world is?  Well, wonder no more as I have a definitive list of top selling cable manufacturers, and let me tell you I was as surprised as you will be.

Reading through the list makes you realise how much hype manufactures put out and how little it reflects the volume of cable they sell. However, it's worth noting that some of the manufacturers you will never have heard of. This is because these manufactures are making the cables for well brands.

For example, when you buy a product and it comes with say USB or Audio cables, it's these little known manufacturers quietly making them in the millions, therefore selling a tonne of cable.

I hope you find this as interesting as I did!

Get the full list here:
list of top selling cable manufacturers