iPhone accessories - page 23

Apple’s Lightning to USB connector has ostensibly been about connecting your iPad to a camera to import images directly to your tablet.

Now, with iOS 9.2, it looks like the same adapter can be used on your iPhone to get photos onto your smaller-screened device.

There’s even some evidence that the Lightning to USB adapter works to connect other USB peripherals, like MIDI keyboards or USB-powered microphones. If you’re a musician on the road without access to your iPad, this might be your new best solution.

Best List: Double Layered Knit Touchscreen Gloves by Mujjo

It’s almost winter, and if you reside in an area with a climate like mine, you know you’ll be carrying gloves with you no matter where you go. When you live someplace like Anchorage, Alaska, even a quick trip outside to the trash bin requires that you cover up.

And yet, we live in a touchscreen world. I have my iPhone with me all the time, and I use it to stay connected to my kids and family members as I move around the winter wonderland. Pulling off a glove every time I want to play a song or answer a text is time-consuming and sometimes dangerous.

If that’s something you worry about, Mujjo’s got you covered, quite literally, with these new double-layered touchscreen gloves.

We are wireless, but not quite wire-free. One company wants to help iPhone users cut a couple of cords with a magnetic charging solution called the STACK PACK.

It’s all capital letters for a product that sounds more like workout vitamins. The STACK PACK promises to pack just as much power as that soon-to-be obsolete charging cord — except with shorter charging times and a satisfying feeling as your iPhone magnetically clicks onto a battery or charger.

The iPhone can do a lot of things, but work as a functional piece of furniture? Yes, as one design studio proved when it created a tiny lampshade that clips to the iPhone.

Activate the flashlight app and behold, a nightstand reading light.

Computers, tablets, even iPhones have grown into powerful tools for music making, but for many who play guitar the bridge from analog instrument to digital devices can be an intimidating one. The Jamstik Wireless Smart Guitar is a great way to cross the digital divide, a MIDI controlling guitar with frets and strings that feel familiar to any guitarist’s fingers. It’s also cheaper than most keyboard controllers (and certainly guitars), available right now for just $149.99.

You good to drive? Unfortunately the answer to that question isn’t always the right one, and if a cop has to answer it for you it’s a good bet they’ll be getting the truth. One of the reasons is that they can actually see how much you’ve had to drink by measuring it in your breath. Of course nobody should hop in a car after drinking any amount, but with the BACtrack Vio Smartphone Breathalyzer, you can take the role of cop before one rolls up on you or your friends if there’s any question. It’s a disaster averting tool that you can get for just $39.99 at Cult of Mac Deals.

Those iPhone cases that hold cash and credit cards are fine as long as you want to look like you’re carrying your mother’s wallet.

Luxury accessories design company Gresso has a solution to return your overriding need to be practical back to cool. It has designed a stylish aircraft aluminum iPhone 6 case that has a hidden slide-out drawer for your cards. Jony Ive might approve.

Whether for presentations or driving your cat up the wall, laser pointers are as fun as they are useful. Given everything else an iPhone can do, it only makes sense that it also be able to shine a focused beam of light when and where you need one. The iPin Laser Pointer fits neatly inside your iPhone’s headphone jack, turning it into a red laser pointer. Batteries aren’t an issue, since the iPin sips power straight from the phone, and a built-in switch that means you can leave it in the jack when not in use. iPin also comes with a slideshow-controlling app, which together with the laser make this a great option for anyone who gives regular presentations.

The iPin Laser Pointer is a great upgrade for anyone, and right now you can get one for $42.99 at Cult of Mac Deals.

The more your iPhone does, the more it draws from the battery – and that means more time spent hunting for an outlet to recharge.

Batteries will get better one day soon, but until then PowerGo-Go has a line of wireless solutions for the iPhone 6, 6 Plus and 6s models to charge, as the name suggests, on the go-go.

It’s usually a question of when, not if, your charging cable is going to start wearing around the point where the cord meets the connector. And maybe you’ll try to make it work for a little while, but sooner or later your denial will wear off and you’re going to have to drop the cash on a new one. And then the whole sad process starts over.

One company is hoping to break the cycle with a leather cable that is not only tough but also aims to be the best-working cord you’ve ever bought.

Here’s a unique-looking case for your iPhone that promises to do more than just protect your handset from nicks and scratches.

The Hibiki case for iPhone 6 says that it will also make your audio sound better.

Humankind is not depending on me to cure some terrible epidemic. That takes the pressure off and lets me have a little fun as I try a device that turns my iPhone into a fairly powerful microscope.

With a clip-on aspheric lens and transmitted light base that weighs only a few ounces, the makers of uHandy Microscope boast of it having a resolution comparable to a traditional microscope that weighs down a lab table in a classroom.

Samples can be magnified and viewed in the field using your smartphone’s camera app to record the image and, of course, an instant ability to share the image with colleagues in other places.

LAS VEGAS — Your iPhone captures great imagery, but sometimes the built-in zoom just isn’t enough. An ingenious gadget that quickly connects smartphones to almost any optical device gives your everyday camera superpowers.

The Carson Universal is an incredibly simple idea, but it delivers some pretty astonishing results. You can use it to connect your smartphone to telescopes, binoculars, microscopes, spotting scopes or almost any other optical device with a rounded eyepiece. Instead of buying a specialized, device-specific adapter, it’s a one-size-fits-all optical attachment.

“It kind of opens up the possibilities,” said Michelle Hyers, the engineer who designed the Carson Universal.

LAS VEGAS — Your iPhone is really great at finding places to eat, recipes to cook and stores to buy food at, but when it comes to actually analyzing the things that go in your mouth, it’s not very futuristic. That’s where Consumer Physics comes in with its molecular analyzer called SCiO that brings Star Trek-like tech to your pocket.

SCiO is a tiny spectrometer similar to the giant ones found in laboratories that are used to analyze the molecular makeup of objects. Only instead of pumping out nothing but nerdy scientific facts, SCiO was designed to help iPhone users analyze everyday objects, so you can discover things like how much fat is in a piece of cheese or whether a watermelon is ripe.

“Your iPhone can tell you what song is playing on the radio, but when it comes to telling you the nutritional value of food it’s kind of clueless,” says Consumer Physics’ CEO Dror Sharon. “With SCiO we’re encouraging explorers to help us on our mission to map the physical world.”

SAN FRANCISCO — It may come as a surprise, but AT&T’s is one of the biggest retailers of Apple accessories. The company has more than 2,200 stores across the country, compared to Apple’s 253 US stores. and they sell a boatload of goodies.

On Thursday night, AT&T showcased some of the hottest iPhone and iPad accessories that will be available this Holiday at it’s retail locations.

Check them out:

Yes, it’s a frisbee that doubles as an iPhone speaker. When you’ve finished flinging the Fli Tunes around, pop the center out and stick your iPhone in it. Be sure to pick up your iPhone before flinging it around again.

We’re continually seeing examples of how the iPhone has exploded its horizons to become much, much more than just a phone. Case (ha) in point: Why shell out $300 for an action cam when you already own a video cam with stellar optics and image-stabilizing, a big, beautiful screen and the ability to upload your exploits whenever you damn well please? All you need to turn your iPhone from video cam to action cam is a rugged, weatherproof case with a wide-angle lens, and the ability to stick the whole thing onto a helmet or such. And that pretty much describes the $150 Mophie OutRide system.

For all you lucky sots who have an iPhone 5 already, I bet you’re still looking for a great case (or maybe alternate cases). Here’s a great looking case, but with a little twist—Style Up Your iPhone 5 With The #CLEANSLATE Case (Black): Keep Your iPhone 5 Safe With This Sleek Case.

This case doesn’t just protect your iPhone, it helps kids in Kenya have better schools.

My oh my, is Apple getting a lot of hate from professionals reviewers for the new EarPods. Gizmodo calls them “garbage,” and The Wirecutter’s mixed review says they are no better than $10 earphones. But lots of new iPhone 5 users on Twitter today are saying “ftw.”

I actually like them too. Then again, I liked Apple’s old earbuds as well. They were cheap and cheerful. The price to performance ratio was really good.

The new EarPods sound way, way better than the old ones. In fact, to my ears, the new EarPods have more bass than a pair of $160 Tour earbuds from Beats by Dr. Dre, which are marketed for their extra bass boom. And they cost $130 less to boot.

Raise your hand if your iPhone has run out of juice at the worst possible time? Yeah, I’m sure that’s most of you. Certainly me. That’s why I have a battery pack case for my iPhone. While it’s good, it does have a little flaw—I still need to plug it in to charge.

Now a solar pack can help eliminate some of this need. No, not all, but let’s say, a lot. The Monster Watts case acts not just as a batter pack, but it has solar panels so you can recharge your phone wherever the Sun shines!

Every time I’ve talked about iOS gaming, I’ve said that it’s missing one thing: physical controls. Sure, all kinds of games work well with a touchscreen, but a lot don’t. Numerous accessory makers have attempted to change this with add-on controllers, but none have really taken off.

The Bladepad hopes to change that. It’s a detachable case with a slide-out controller that features dual analog sticks, physical buttons — including shoulder buttons — and more.

If the iShower didn’t look like something you’d find next to you if you were laying in a hospital bed, it might just be the perfect summer speaker. As the name suggests, it’s a waterproof speaker whose Bluetooth connection keeps your iPhone safely away from anything wet.

Let’s face it: the iPhone is the Hot Rod of smartphones. If Steve McQueen was still alive, he’d own one; Jay Leno probably has a hanger filled with a hundred of them. Nothing seems more appropriate to me, then, but to see a Hot Rod style exhaust snaking out of an iPhone. The iPhone is the most powerful thing you can drive that fits in your pocket.

That’s just what the iXoost dock does. It’s a speaker dock handbuilt by Xoost in Italy that grafts some gorgeous aluminum exhaust pipes onto your iPhone.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 — Four times bigger than last year, and now filling about half the massive north hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center, the iLounge is home to an enormous plethora of iDevice accessories. I weaved and wandered through lanes of the iLounge pondering the products I was seeing, and out of all of what I found filling the massive space, these were the trends that stood out.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 — The Swivl ($159) is like a mini non-union cameraman who just wants to record you all day long — no lunch or bathroom breaks needed.