As we gear up for the trip to San Francisco for Macworld/iWorld 2013, many product announcements and meeting invitations continue to roll in. One that caught our attention is from portable display developer Mobile Monitor Technologies. The company will be showcasing “the future of mobile monitors” with their Monitor2Go, and isn’t that a future we should witness?

Twelve South has announced the HiRise, a stand for the iMac and Apple Displays that also has a storage compartment with an adjustable shelf for external hard drives, or other small objects that you need on your desk but want to move out of sight.

Apple offers numerous ways to shoot video from your iPhone or iPod touch directly to your TV or monitor…provided you have the right models. If not, the Aire Monitor with Docking Station from AOC may be what you need. The 23-inch Full High Definition monitor features a built-in universal docking station for iPhone and iPod that allows immediate video, audio and photo playback from the mobile device through AOC’s patented plug-and-play technology.

Too often in my time I’ve seen people with their iMac or monitor sitting on top of books or some other haphazard system to raise the screen to a more ergonomic level. Worse, I’ve seen people with their slick little Mac mini shoved behind a monitor, USB hub or some other piece of hardware. There’s no need for this kind of nonsense when you’ve got something as simple as NewerTech’s NuStand mini XL at your disposal. As the name implies, this stand/riser is designed specifically with the Mac mini in mind.

Apple has updated their Thunderbolt displays, correcting fan noise issues some users have been experiencing, as well as making overall stability improvements. The update will bring the software to version 1.1, and users need to be running OS X v10.6.8 or OS X Lion v10.7.2 to run it. Head to Apple Support Page for complete download details.

Apple has released a new EFI Firmware Update for its MacBook Air, bringing the update’s version up to 2.1 and adding some fixes and enhancements for Thunderbolt Displays and Target Disk Mode compatibility, as well as Lion Recovery performance when used with an Internet connection in order to re-download OS X Lion from Apple’s servers. This update is exclusively for the 2011 MacBook Air models.

In this case Kanex and their C247DL cable lets you connect your older computer to an Apple Cinema Display using a full resolution dual-link DVI source to a maximum resolution of 2,560 x 1,600. Kanex also has a C247d cable which supports up to a 1,920 x 1,200 resolution. It also includes a USB to Mini DisplayPort converter so that you can use the iSight camera and the USB ports on the back of the display as well as the speakers.

Apple Computer refreshed the Mac Mini today by adding dual-core Intel i5 and i7 processors, a Thunderbolt port, and a discrete graphics card. What’s interesting is that the standard Mac Mini no longer has a built-in optical drive. Instead, there’s an option for an external SuperDrive for $79 which reads and writes from DVDs and CDs. In addition, Apple announced its upcoming Cinema Display.

As a sign of how seriously Apple Computer is taking the Thunderbolt interface, they’re going to implement it in an upcoming refresh of their Cinema Displays. This picture was found along with others on Apple’s site showing the Cinema Display connected to Apple products, although they’ve since been removed. The design of the Cinema Display looks identical to the current model, but that doesn’t mean the only difference is the Thunderbolt port.

The rational side of ourselves knows an item like an iPad screen cleaner is basically a functional item, one that is designed to fulfill a specific purpose. Then, once it has done its job, it can be stowed back into its hidey hole. It does not have to be pretty, but when it is, that can become the deciding factor on which one to buy and which one stays on the shelf.

There’s no shortage of ways in which you can raise a computer or monitor. Books will work just fine, after all. But if you’re going to lift your monitor off your desk, why not reclaim that desk space? This is what Just Mobile offers with their Mtable, designed to perfectly complement your Apple products. Unfortunately, they offer it at a price that’ll turn away some potential users.

The single FireWire 800 port Apple offers in their new iMacs isn’t enough for me. I’ve got two FireWire hard drives I need to plug in, and I sometimes need to connect my Canon GL2 camcorder. So, I need a hub, but with all these drives sitting around, desktop space is at a minimum. Thankfully, Moshi has solved this issue in typical Moshi fashion with their iLynx 800.