There’s no shortage of purveyors of dead tree flesh out there willing to swaddle your iPhone in a wafer-thin bisection of maple or walnut, or at least the simulacrum of such, but Portland-based Recover seems to be the best-of-breed of such Apple-accessorizing lumberjacks: they offer a number of attractive skins for the iPhone, iPad and MacBook each made out of real wood and priced as low as $15 for an iPhone skin, or $30 to slather your MacBook.
While Apple’s own iPad Camera Connection Kit comes with two different attachments to juggle between USB and SD connectivity, but look at this piece of kit the Chinese are rocking: a $26 two-in-one dongle that allows you to switch between SD and USB with just the push of a button. Why can’t we get something this slick officially, Apple?
The iPad is a fantastic kitchen computer, no question, but consider me skeptical of the FridgePad, a £49 magnet-backed aluminum iPad case meant to allow you to easily slap your Apple tablet to the side of your Fridgidaire.
You know how sometimes you’ll put something heavy under a weak fridge magnet and it’ll slowly slide down the door until it smacks onto the floor? Yeah, that, except with an easily splinterable 1.6 slab of glass.
Bringing your iPad on the road and want more juice than its 10 hour spec? Battery maker Sanho have you covered: their new HyperMac Stand for iPad will add an additional 16 hours to your mobile time.
The HyperMac Stand is a rectangular block in which your iPad can be slotted at an 18 degree angle, perfect for typing. It contains an 1100mAH, 40Wh battery that will charge your iPad even when it’s away from an AC outlet, as well as pass-through charging and syncing.
The price? $130. That sounds a bit steep at first, but given the combined price of both a stand and an external battery, a moment’s reflection makes it a loss less hard to swallow.
This basic black iPad case and carrier has a few tricks in its sleeve: Berlin company Bagjack designed it so that it props up your device as you wear it for hands-free access.
Hang the CircDisCover iPad Case over one shoulder and voila’: next time you’re at a trade fair or conference or standing in line at the airport, you can access your iPad — either horizontally or vertically — without having to prop it up somewhere or hunt and peck with one hand.
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I know, I know: who wants to wear a man purse? You should: this simple, clean design can be worn right under the arm (think public transport, on your bike), on your wrist or horizontally with a wide carrying strap like a regular computer case.
The only trouble with these kind of wear-it-20-different-ways type garments, at least for me, is that I probably learn to do two of them and never bother with the rest. Still, once you figure out how to wear it in hands-free mode, you’re golden.
You can pre-order it in black, white or grey for €129 euros, here.
It was just a matter of time before someone devise a way to let you wake up to a custom alarm from your iPad. The iPad dock, charger and radio called the iA100 — all the variations of iSleep or i40winks were apparently already taken — is being billed as an “amazing app-enhanced, Bluetooth-enabled FM radio alarm clock.”
Though its top-heavy looks don’t immediately appeal (and could be dangerous, depending how clumsy you are in the morning), it has enough features to keep you up at night tweaking your sleep habits: it comes with a Free iHome+Sleep app download that lets you set up custom alarms, sleep stats, social media alerts, weather and overnight news. The iHome + Sleep app can also customize your wake up and nap settings, so so you don’t have to fiddle with it to get a day’s siesta.
iHome wants to put this new model beside your bed, though they are playing coy and haven’t released pricing or availability yet. It also works with your iPod or iPhone, too.
What do you think — is a wake-up call worth using your iPad for or will you stick to an old school alarm or using your iPod or iPhone?
The AirStash is a $100 USB card reader with a built-in Wi-Fi hotspot. It is used to stream media to other devices, which means broadcasting movies, music, and video to your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad and other gadgets with limited amounts of memory.
By many people’s estimations, the iPad is missing anywhere from between one and two cameras, and Apple’s curious choice to eschew adding at least one web cam to their tablet when they already had their video-conferencing standard FaceTime in the wings is often cynically described as a move to encourage customers to quickly upgrade to the second-gen unit once it pops out of Cupertino’s manufacturing shops.
Why wait until then, though? This iPad Cam-Case design by Chet Rosales adds a swiveling camera to the enclosure. Of course, without proper support from Apple (and a port of FaceTime to iPad), a case like this would be pretty useless… but we’re hopeful, if not optimistic, that Apple might choose to sell something like this themselves when the camera-equipped, second-gen iPad comes out sometime in the next year. Let’s not leave the early adopters behind.
This is the iPad version of the quickie, DIY iPhone stand made from office supplies. This one isn’t made from the usual yellow No. 2 pencils but a handful of Faber-Castells — the fittingly cultish 2001 Grip model with a triangle shape.
The makers over at Geeky Gadgets suggest using pencils with erasers to avoid scratching but note that you should extend the two pencils until there is plenty of wood to rest your device on or wrap a little tape around the metal on each to protect the edge of your iPad.
Would you use one of these to prop up your iPad in a pinch?
“I got the idea when i first got my iPhone 3G two years ago… At the time I made a stand out of a paper Starbucks cup for my iPhone. I was reminded of that this morning after scouring the Internet for a practical and affordable stand. My cousin finished a box of Trix and as she was making her way to the recycling bin, I decided to do a little recycling of my own.”
The finished stand should support your iPad in either portrait or landscape, plugged in or running on battery.
He’s reckons the project took about 10 minutes — here’s a complete how-to on his blog — and if you’ve got on how to improve his design, let him know.
Cult of Mac reader Angela says all of this dedicated clothing design for the iPad is superfluous: “If you think iPad’s an overpriced iPhone/iPod touch that won’t fit in your pocket, you’re wearing the wrong pants.”
Here she is, wearing what she describes as a “fairly normal pair of pants (well, they look big on me, but they’d look normal on a guy) that fit an iPad into a side pocket.”
What do you think — time to put the cargo back into those cargo pants or not?
Sonos product manager Joni Hoadley shows off the company's upcoming iPad app.
I just got a sneak peek at Sonos’ upcoming iPad app — and it looks awesome.
Sonos sells wireless music players that make it easy to get multi-room audio around your house. Plug in a player in each room and stream music to each one (or the same music to all of them). Sonos’ products have won kudos for painless setup, ease of use, relative low-cost (you can spend a lot more) and innovation — this is the home stereo of the future.
Sonos is about to take it to the next level with a fantastic iPad app that makes digital music very easy — especially listening to online music services. Using the iPad as a big Wi-Fi remote control, you can play music from your iTunes library, thousands of online radio stations, satellite radio subscriptions, or online music services like Pandora, Rhapsody and Last.fm (and soon the fantastic Mog.com).
This Luxo iMac is living out its retirement as an elegant iPad stand.
Flickr user Rusty took his dear, departed 700MHz Flat Panel iMac and then spent a little of that trial and error time all DIYers know to mold the acrylic holder to the arm. (The first few tries, he notes, shattered or “bent weird.”) Then he added a pair of speakers into the base and a bluetooth keyboard.
An upscale Manhattan tailor has designed a $600 suit jacket with an iPad pocket.
Mohan’s custom tailors, founded in the 70s before men needed gadget pockets, said the somewhat gimmicky-looking iPad suit is the result of customer requests.
You don’t have to be very sartorially savvy to wonder how the jacket — pictured either flat or with the model holding it — could stand carrying a 1.5 pound device on one side without deforming the fabric or giving you a lopsided look. Mohan’s says it has “several dozen” appointments scheduled for fittings.
A faux marble stand in hardwood from Old Time Computers.
The iPad has already gone beyond kid-appeaser — a recent study reported that the most downloaded apps are for adults using the device at work.
So if you want to give the iPad a permanent place in your office, you might want something to prop it up with that doesn’t involve pencils and rubber bands.
Here are our top five picks for iPad stands that deserve a place next to that sleek perpetual calendar and won’t look like some random piece of junk when your iPad is elsewhere.
1. Old Time Computers Marble finish stand. For that banker desk look, try this handcrafted stand in hardwood with a marble finish. It comes with a USB cable and audio jack, available for $59.00 on Etsy. The same artisan has some terrific wooden stands in the same vein — including a combo iPad/iPhone dock charger — as well as antique-looking external keyboards with a steampunk aesthetic.
Holly Golightly probably wouldn’t wear her iPad in a front pocket pouch, but in a pinch it may be better than a toting a bulky bag.
As much as we’re crazy about the iPad, carrying it around is still kinda awkward — remember the condom case? — but an Australian company has come up with an intriguing solution.
The iDress positions itself as kind of a chic, kangaroo iPad pouch, a cute to-the-knee number in black cotton sateen, perfect for when it comes time to put down your mouse and pick up a glass of prosecco, if their marketing speak is to be believed.
I have been enamored with Urban Tool ever since I stumbled upon their booth at Macworld. The Austrian company sells a range of super-hip gadget bags, slings and holsters that are as unique as they are hip. Their bags have a modern and sleek look to them.
The company recently released a pair of carriers just for the iPad, the PocketBar and the SlotBar. They are not to be missed. Go ahead, release your inner hipster.
The iPad Smart Case is the latest iPad case from Waterfield, a San Francisco-based Company. The Smart Case provides maximum protection of the iPad in the thinnest of cases. Available in six colors, the $59.00 sleeve is sleek and stylish.
