Charlie Sorrel - page 126

One of the better Yuletide traditions is the venerable holiday Advent Calendar, in which each day of December leading up to Christmas is marked off on a special calendar by opening its corresponding door to find a small gift, toy or chocolate squirreled away inside.

This year, we here at Cult of Mac decided we wanted to give our readers their very own Apple-themed advent calendar, filled with the year’s best apps, gadgets, stories and other curios. So each day in December, we’re going to lovingly peel back the door on the Cult of Mac 2012 Advent Calendar to reveal another delicious morsel, something really special that came out this year that we think every one of you should enjoy.

We’re running a little behind, so playing catch up today by posting our first and second day picks along with our choice for December 3rd.

Our Day 1 choice? FitBit, an awesome iOS accessory that can help you get healthier and more fit in no time.

An iPhone case has never “felt” this good (#rimshot). OK, I’ll stop with the puns already. This case for the iPhone 4 from Studio Credence is fashioned from merino wool felt with a leather pocket (and strap, depending on the model). It comes in a variety of tasteful colors, and looks both tough and useful enough to be a permanent iPhone case, even for the committed bareback user.

I love everything about Foldify, except that fact that it isn’t available yet. I love the name, the promo video, the only-possible-on-an-iPad interface, and even the icon (or maybe, especially the icon). Foldify is an app that lets you design and print 3-D papercraft models, but that description makes it sound a lot lamer than it really is.

When I bought my first iPhone last month, there was one accessory I knew I wanted – the Olloclip lens. I actually kept the Olloclip site open in a Safari tab on my Mac so I could check every day to see if the fantastically popular iPhone 4/S accessory had been updated for the new iPhone.

I have been playing with this review unit for a couple weeks now and it’s just as great as I expected, although there are one or two things I don’t like. Let’s take a look…

When the PadPivot arrived, I scoffed: It’s just another iPad stand after all, and a weird-looking one at that. But then I started using it, an interesting thing happened: It grew on me quicker than almost any other gadget I have.

A few weeks later and the PadPivot has not only ousted several other widgets from my gear-bag, but – if it was pried from my fingers right now, I’d immediately order myself up a new one.

I hate camera straps. I’m forever taking one off and threading another one through the camera’s eyelets or hooking up some device to the tripod screw or just wrapping a neck strap around my wrist. For something that’s so simple, and has been around for so long, the camera strap sure is a badly-designed piece of junk.

The Leash, on the other hand (or other shoulder), is an attempt to combine all straps ever into one ultra-versatile sling. Does it work? Let’s see.

In case you hadn’t guessed from the frequency of my posts about them, I’m still looking for a dock for my iPhone 5. The latest candidate for a spot on my nightstand is the “Charging & Sync Dock Cradle for Apple iPhone 5 with audio out” from USB Fever, and it is mentioned here primarily for its weird design.

What’s in a name? If you’re Nick Cool, then it’s THE TRUTH. And Nick’s cool photo hack totally proves it.

One day, it seems that Nick was staring at his sink, perhaps in a fuzzy daze as he waited for his coffee to brew. His eyes presumably were drawn, like all kitchen detritus, towards the filthy plughole.

Most of us would see a future chore, to be added to the long list of other things we’ll put off until somebody more conscientious takes care of them. Nick, however, saw an opportunity. A Photo Op, if you like.

Because I’m not dead, I love music. But since I have no friends (at least not any friends with good musical taste), I have no idea what to listen to. Which means I’m pretty much stuck playing old (and still fantastic) Talking Heads tracks, and that XX album from a year or two back.

But now that Hype Machine has redesigned its app, I now have a new, musical-savvy friend.

Ring flash — once the preserve of high-end (or deep-pocketed) fashion photographers and macro nerds with real, like, cameras — now in reach of us plebs with cameraphones. The LED Ringlight from Adorama is a dim-able, continuous light source that can now be used for video and non-synced camera lighting, and it costs just $100.

Why bother? Read on:

Do you trust the translations you see on Chinese menus? I don’t. Why? Because my local Chinese restaurant — which lists dishes in Chinese, English and Spanish — manages to write a different description for each one.

Luckily, Waigo is here to help, with it’s augmented-reality translation. Or is that “here to confuse”?

At last! A proper Lightning dock for your iPhone, complete with its own built-in, pivoting Lightning connector. No longer do you need to sacrifice a valuable (read: overpriced) Apple Lightning cable to make a dock work with an iPhone 5.

Good lord! Where do we even begin with this crazy iPhone case? With the list of its capabilities I guess, and maybe a video of it (literally) screwing around.

A USB 2.0 Ethernet adapter is a pitiful thing, an ugly workaround only really useful when you find yourself in a Wi-Fi-free hotel room with only your MacBook Air for company.

A USB 3.0 Gigabit Ethernet adapter, on the other hand, is every bit as good as having a real 10/1000 network connector hole in the side of your machine.

What could be classier than adding a few extra millimeters to the height of your keycaps whilst simultaneously collaborating in the death of a walnut or cherry tree? Nothing, that’s what. Which is why these Lazerwood keys for Apple keyboards are pretty much the best thing ever.

I remain firmly of the opinion that a driver should drive, and not sip coffee, or listen to the radio, or text his lover, or use cruise-control. As a cyclist, I rely on the pilots of these road-going behemoths to pay attention to the road in order for me to remain alive.

So I have mixed feelings about a gadget which puts a cellphone within such easy reach.

Sometimes, you really need to make an important Skype call when you’re on the go. Or you want to use your bike as a giant (and slightly unwieldy) “tripod” for your camera. At these times, what you need is Photojojo’s Bikepod

The ClearView is a simple alternative to pricey add-on camera viewfinders, both optical and electronic. The idea is that – instead of adding a new viewfinder – you can just repurpose the screen you already have. And this means that, with a bit of tweaking, it’ll work with an iPhone too.

Use Simplenote to take and search notes on your iPhone or iPad? Love Evernote? Then you’re going to be totally stoked about Simple-For-Ever, a service which syncs the two accounts.

Imagine an iPhone case which can hold not only the iPhone 5, but your keys, your cash, and your credit cards. Imagine that this case also comes with a built-in mirror and a telescopic pen. Finally, picture this case as a svelte beauty, a case worthy of the iPhone 5 it contains.

Sound impossible? That’s because it is. The case does hold everything in the list, but it’s as ugly as sin. If you were to take the branches of an ugly tree, fashion them into a giant tumble-dryer barrel and spin an iPhone case inside it – forever – then you’d end up with something a lot like the Cavity Case.

Happy Thanksgiving! This year to observe the holiday we asked each of our writers to tell us a bit about the things they are most thankful for in 2012: specifically, the Apple product, app, service, third-party accessory and person they most relied upon and were grateful for this year. All through the rest of the day, we’ll be posting these thanksgiving observances. Here’s Cult of Mac Reviews Editor Charlie Sorrel’s list of the things he’s most thankful for this year. You can find the rest of our Thanksgiving Smorgasbord entries here.

Situation: You own and iPad and a perfectly good full-sized Bluetooth keyboard.

Problem: You don’t always want to use them together on a desk. After all, the whole point of the iPad is its portability, right?

Solution: a GroovBoard. Literally, a plank of wood with grooves in it.

Whenever I read the name “Wahoo,” I can’t help but think of Mario jumping, punching the air an screaming it in his falsetto tones. Wahoo!

Then I come back down to Earth, take a sip of coffee and a deep breath, and realize that Wahoo is the maker of fitness gadgets, geegaws and dongles. So I guess it does — in some convoluted way — have something to do with jumping.

Today’s Wahoo (Wahoo!) item is the Wahoo Balance Smartphone Scale, a scale for weighing your smartphone (except the Galaxy Note, which will overload it). Just kidding. It’s actually a Bluetooth-enabled scale for humans (although the Note really will overload it).

The Lumawake is an iPhone dock designed for your nightstand. It will of course charge your iPhone overnight whilst holding it in a convenient spot, but that’s just the beginning. To really tell you all that it does, I probably need to start a list…

Finally, a bag which will suit the every need of our esteemed deputy editor John Brownlee. The Brixton is a leather camera bag with a wax finish that will only become more beautiful as it is used, and used it will be, as Mr. Brownlee has an unnatural obsession with natural materials.