Oh man. I know I get a little too excited about device chargers, but the brand new PlugBug World from Twelve South will get even the most anti-gadget of you fired up. It’s a new version of the already clever universal charger, only now it also works anywhere in the world (making it global as well as universal? I don’t know).
This is the Anti-Loneliness Bowl, and it is designed to hold your iPhone close so that you need never experience a single second of solitude, even while slurping down some cheap noodles.
In my childhood home, a Dust Donut was what we called and cake or cookie that had gotten lost down the back of the sofa or under an armchair, only to be rediscovered weeks or months later, covered in (you guessed it) a layer of dust and lint.
However, the Dust Donut we’re talking about today is a simple aftermarket weather seal for your Canon SLR lenses.
Pocowool for iPad is the big brother to the Pocowool iPhone case, a minimal felted-wool taco which doubled as a clutch bag/purse. The iPad version draws more than a little inspiration from the Don’t Panic, another wool-and-leather case for the iPad, but opts for a slightly simpler design.
What could possibly be dorkier than taking photos with your iPad? Taking those same photos with your iPad on a tripod, that’s what. So if you’re wearing a polo shirt and chinos, and have a phone holster on your belt, then this is for you: The iStabilizer tabMount.
This is the iLID, billed as “The World’s Thinnest iPhone Wallet.” And that may well be true. What we know for sure about the iLID is that it’s a plastic case with a teeny, tiny chamber on the back for stowing cash, cards and keys.
This post is for entertainment purposes only. Sure, there are people out there that will need a case with which they can transport up to twenty iPad minis, and which can charge all of them simultaneously, but they are probably few.
No, the real reason for this post is that the PowerSync Roller 20 is both amazing looking, and ridiculously over the top.
Oddly enough, I bought the case for my iPad mini years ago, before even the full-sized iPad was a real thing that existed. It’s the back pocket of my jeans, and unless I’m sitting down or riding a bike, it’s just about perfect. And it’s even Smart Cover compatible.
But there are those who maybe like to protect their investment a little more, or who just really, really hate the sound of exquisitely hewn aluminum scraping against a rough-topped table. For you, there’s the CoverBuddy.
There are a whole bunch of ways a guitarist can hook his axe up to his iPhone, from fancy to totally ghetto (a cable from the guitar’s jack to the iPhone’s headphone socket). IK’s new iRig HD is at the fancy end, and it even works with your brand-new iPhone’s Lightning socket.
The one big advantage of traveling in the U.S is that I get to use your crappy, cheap-ass two-pin power plugs. I love that these small pieces of junk can fold up even smaller. Compare this to taking a vacation to the UK, where the adapters are the size of 1980s-era cellphones and young citizens have to be trained in the use of their safety features.
All of which is a roundabout (and culturally insulting) way to say I love Quirky’s new Pivot Power Mini, a tiny lightbulb-sized adapter which converts a single socket into two USB ports and a pair of power-points.
Remember the Braeburn Dock? It was a hefty, beautifully-crafted iPhone 5 dock hewn from a single block of aluminum, and incorporating special channels which boosted the sound from the speaker and to the mic.
Now it has been joined by the Braeburn HD, which is the exact same thing, only made to hold your iPhone in landscape orientation for watching movies. Or docking it on very tall desks which leave almost no clearance between their surface and the ceiling above.
We’re still waiting for iPhone 5 Lightning-compatible battery cases, but at least we’re finally getting some product teasers and (vague) launch dates. The latest comes from everybody’s favorite crapware vendor Brando, and costs a mere $35. And it even closes up like a book.
When I first got my iPhone 5, I was desperate for a dock. As time has passed, and as the iPhone has picked up a few scratches and dents, I find I don’t really care anymore whether the phone is docked or not when it charges.
And I expect I’ll soon be saying the same about my new iPad mini. But that doesn’t mean I don’t need a place to prop it, especially when watching movies. Which is why I’m pretty impressed by Swedish Peter’s Ikea hack, which turns the Ribba picture ledge into a tablet stand.
Analog media are great and all – vinyl, film, paper – but they all suffer by living in a non-connected vacuum. Lomo’s new Kickstarter project aims to fix that, for film photos at least, by turning your iPhone into a 35mm film and slide scanner.
Finally, you can post photographs with genuine light-leaks straight to your Instagram.
As we all know, sometimes the simplest ideas are the best. You can usually tell when an idea is a winner because it seems so obvious that somebody should have made it already. And the Tethercell is one of these ideas: it’s a remote control battery that will let you switch any AA-powered device on and off from your iPhone.
According to the manufacturer Teenage Engineering, the original OD-11 speaker was hot stuff in Sweden in the 1970s. The OD-11 was a cube which packed an amp, subwoofer and speaker into one box, and it sold over 100,000 pairs in Sweden alone.
Now it’s back. The new version is called the Cloud Speaker, and it packs Wi-Fi and Bluetooth along with all the rest.
$100 might seem like a crazy amount to spend on an iPhone case, but if you paid around €850 ($1,140) for an unlocked iPhone 5 like I did, then it actually seems like a pretty good investment to protect your, uh, other investment.
And coincidentally, $100 is exactly what you’ll pay for Otterbox’s Armor series case, billed as “The toughest case ever built.”
LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – Griffin’s Survivor+Catalyst might have a goofy name, but it’s the first ruggedized waterproof case I’ve seen which isn’t hugely oversized or just plain fugly. In fact, it might be slim and stylish enough for everyday use.
Rickshaw, maker of most of my favorite bags, is hawking this neat new sack on Kickstarter. It’s a version of the venerable Zero Messenger bag, with the addition of a glowing LED strip along the back.
This is Canon’s Instagram camera. That’s right – this little point and shoot is designed to work with your smartphone, connecting via Wi-Fi and even pre-processing some of your pictures for you.
The Caliber Advantage is yet another iOS gaming pad, but this one has one major advantage: It comes from Zagg, well-known accessory maker and purveyor of some of the finest iPad keyboards known to mankind.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – I was so impressed by Simplism neat case lineup that I thought I’d post a few pictures of the Japanese company’s wares, even though it’s still looking for an international distributor.
Below you will see the wonders of a case made to look like wood; the world’s thinnest iPhone 5 case, a clever Smart-Cover-locking, over-the-shoulder rear skin for the iPad and and a screen protector and cover which heal if they are scratched.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – Most Bluetooth speakers are pitched as being ideal for taking out onto the patio for barbecues and parties. But none of them is really loud enough. And that’s where Samson’s new Expedition Express Bluetooth PA comes in. It’s a Bluetooth speaker which is so powerful that it runs off a 12-volt motorcycle battery.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 –
Cocoon is showing off at CES this year a new bag that combines the best of their organization tools with the familiarity of a carrying case for your devices.
The IQ Collection, as it’s being tentatively called, is based around Cocoon’s Grid, a storage system that keeps a wide variety of your gadgets secure and organized while you’re traveling.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – Samson’s iQ5 is a Lightning-connected stereo mic which rotates to give proper left and right channels whether you’re shooting in landscape or portrait.
That’s right – Samson is enabling portrait-format video. Shame on them.