Reviews - page 124

It seems a tad unfair to be reviewing Waterfield’s Daily Outback Tote in the height of summer. Mid-July on the East Coast is particularly unforgiving toward large, leather items. When the entire city seems to be melting, the last thing you want on your sweaty arm are two handles of thick, sumptuous hide.

But while the Outback may not be best when paired with seersucker, it would look incredible holding a thermos and a stadium blanket come fall. And an extra wool sweater. And an iPad. A few books, a picnic, and a pair of gloves, even. Oh, didn’t you know? The Outback can hold everything. It’s a contemporary interpretation of Mary Poppins’s carpet bag.

The Touchfire is a weird little gadget, a silicone skin which covers your iPad’s touchscreen keyboard with a floppy membrane that partially simulates a real, physical keyboard. Launched over a year on Kickstarter, the Touchfire finally goes on sale today. I have been testing one out for the past couple of weeks. Is it worth the $50 asking price? Well, that depends.

The PixelSkin HD Wrap ($50) is an iPad (third-generation) case from Speck that promises to be “the perfect iPad folio case for anyone looking for lightweight protection, secure grip and pixelicious style.” It’s made from a flexible TPU that’s impressively robust, and provides full-body protection to your iPad with a number of nifty features.

A long time ago, before this site was born, we reviewed the Altec Lansing BackBeat 906 Bluetooth headphones, and liked ’em. Plantronics had their own identical version of the 906, as they had owned Plantronics since 2005 (the two companies parted ways about the time the 906 was released).

The Plantronics BackBeat Go ($100) is an evolution of the 906. Same principle — wireless (meaning there’s no wire conecting the player with the headset) music and calls in a compact form via the magic of Bluetooth — but in an even smaller and more svelte form factor. Should be even more fantstic, right? Let’s take a look.

Not so long ago, I reviewed a beautiful new DSLR bag from ThinkTank Photo called the Retrospective 5. I loved it, and it has been my favorite DSLR day-bag ever since.

But the Retrospective 5 is only able to carry a DSLR and a lens or two, so often times, I need to slug along my iPad in yet another pack. I hate that.

No longer! ThinTank’s new Retrospective 7 camera bag ($157) allows me to carry my photo gear along with either my iPad or an 11-inch Macbook Air, all living together in perfect harmony.

Wood is the perfect complement to tech. As mere consumers, wood calms us whilst surrounding more complicated hardware. It provides warmth. It is accessible. And it looks brilliant.

I was an early adopter. The television I grew up with was a wood-blocked behemoth that took both parents to move across our jungle of shag carpet; a task embarked upon only once a year, when we needed to make room for a Christmas tree. Wood has received a wonderful resurgence in the design community of late, with some covet-worthy examples in this desk set and the Monolith iPhone back, lovingly reviewed in April on this very site.

You can imagine my delight, then, when Charlie Sorrel posted about the Miniot Cover Mark Two, or Mk2, this spring. Dissatisfied with most covers I’ve tried for the new iPad, I had to get my hands on the Mk2. And what a dapper little devil it turned out to be.

I’ve reviewed a number of iPhone wallet cases this year, and I’ve already mentioned that I’m a fan of combining my device with my credit cards and cash so that I can leave my bulky billfold at home. But the Q Card Case from CM4 is a little different to those I’ve already taken a look at.

First, it’s not a leather folio that looks a little like a book. Instead, it’s made mostly from rubber — like a lot of simple iPhone cases — and it features a leather pocket on its rear that comfortably holds up to three cards, plus a few bills.

That simple, soft-touch design means it’s not as bulky as traditional leather wallet cases — despite holding the same number of cards as most — and it’ll slip easily into and out of your pockets.

All great photographers know how to light well. And step one of good lighting is getting your flash off the top of your DLSR, where it sits and spews gross rays onto every one of your unfortunate victims, and onto a light stand where it belongs.

But how does one make a flash work when it’s not on the camera? The Phottix Odin Flash Trigger for Canon ($350) is up to the task, but that’s a major understatement. The Odin isn’t just another flash trigger system — it’s a Cadillac of features at a Honda price.

This is the Sandberg Battery Case for iPhone 4. Designed in Italy, it’s a low-cost backup power supply and case with svelte good looks. It provides a good balance between size and power storage, but isn’t without some flaws. Overall, it’s a good deal but let down by what look like lapses in manufacturing quality control.

You’ve got an iPad. You were so taken with this magical device that you decided to write the next great American novel that doesn’t involve sparkling vampires using Pages or another word processing app for the iPad. One problem: How to print it.

The Brother MFC-J825DW is one of the latest Brother printers to join HP, Lexmark, Epson and Canon as a capable Airprint printer. So how does it work with the iPad?

Amazing: I just liberated 10GB of space on my MacBook Pro’s harddrive that was being held prisoner by backups of iDevices I used to own, but had long since gone. And frankly, I’m not sure I would have found and freed up the space without the $10 DaisyDisk app.

Pad&Quill’s Littlest Black Book case was announced back on April 1st, and it still seems like a joke. However, I have one next to my keyboard as I type this and it is very real. And very, very cute.

Just Mobile, purveyor of high-design aluminum objects to the not-so-rich, makes what seems at first to be a pointless little gadget. It’s called the Horizon, and its sole purpose is to let you hang your iPad on the wall. I was skeptical when I received the review unit, but it turns out to be pretty great, and full of Just Mobile’s trademark clever design touches.

It seems that my whining prayers for native iPad photo apps have started to answered by the developing gods. And how! MiniatureCam is not only an iPad-specific tilt-shift app, it is fantastically designed, too.

Local SF Bay Area startup California Headphones presents two high-performance headphones that combine fetching good looks with a less bottom-heavy audio usually associated with a lot of over-ear headphones aimed at rap/hip-hop listeners. These retro-styled headphones instead emphasize the middle and higher sonic frequencies of guitar and vocal music, the sound milieu of breezy California. And my favorite part is that the headphones come with Duo-Jack smart signal divider, so you and a friend can both listen simultaneously to your iPod.

You know those apps which turn you photos into pencil drawings or watercolors or oil paintings? Let’s face it — almost every single one of them is junk (iPhoto’s paint effect is a rare exception). Which is why Popsicolor is going to blow your socks off.

There are a lot of guitar interfaces out there for the Mac, but at about $32, the Behringer Guitar Link UCG102 (just rolls off the tongue, no?) is one of the cheapest you’ll find. Even more surprising? This little duder sounds good.

While other manufacturers might tart up their headphones with loud colors, obnoxious logos and frills, the Klipsch Image One ($150) drops all extraneous nonsense in favor of making you happy through its three impressive strengths: perfomance, comfort and portability — a triple threat that makes these headphones a contender for best traveling companion.

Whether squirreling away a pistol, a bottle of Laphroaig or the true secret of the Mummy’s Curse, leathery hollowed-out tomes are a staple hiding place for both the bibliophile and posturing quasi-literate alike. And no wonder: there are few hiding places that are attached with the same sort of pungent and mysterious romanticism as an empty book.

For the last couple years, TwelveSouth has been trying to apply some of that mystery, romanticism and pungence with their line of BookBook cases for Apple devices. The cases, which protect your Apple device or computer in a leather-bound cover that could pass for an old folio if you don’t squint at the title too hard, are undeniably a little precious, but I’ve also found time and time again that they generate a lot of compliments from strangers.

Some of TwelveSouth’s BookBook experiments have been better than others. For example, we really loved the BookBook Case for the MacBook Air, but thought there were a lot of problems with the BookBook for iPad.

TwelveSouth must have been paying attention, because they’ve released an updated version of the BookBook for iPad, and it addresses pretty much all of our criticisms of the first model, finally turning it into a case that you can truly love, even if it does still have a few problems.

I’ve waited over two decades to own a real robot. It was one of those silly childhood dreams to own something straight out of Terminator that obeys commands, spies on people, and rains down havoc if need be. Even though we’re in the year 2012, we still haven’t managed to create affordable robots, which is a pretty big letdown if you ask me. Thankfully, we’re getting closer, and playing with the new Parrot AR. Drone 2.0 has given me hope that the toys of the future are going to kick some major ass.

The new 2012 15-Inch Retina MacBook Pro marks an evolution of the Mac: it’s the first of presumably the entire Mac line-up to get a Retina display, just like the iPhone and iPad.

Unlike the iPhone or iPad, however, the new Retina MacBook Pro is not aimed at the mass market. This is a professional machine, through and through, and has a price to match, starting at $2,199.

The beauty of the Retina MacBook Pro’s display can’t be overestimated: it’s like living print. Likewise, the Retina MacBook Pro is the most powerful all-in-one professional notebook you can buy off the shelf: it makes every Apple notebook before it look archaic.

It’s a Mac that has been designed by Apple for the first time as they would have it: completely without compromises, using cutting-edge technology that it will take at least a year for the competition to catch-up with.

But is it the Mac for you?

Most all DSLRs come with built-in top-side brackets you can use to attach your camera strap. But what you might not know, is that it’s far more comfortable to attach your camera strap to the bottom of your DSLR, especially while you’re walking. And wearing your camera while it’s slung down near your hip also helps prevent your lens from bumping and grinding into the nearest person, place, or thing — something you’ll appreciate in a crowded room.

But how do you connect a strap to your DSLR’s bottom? An adapter that screws into your camera’s tripod mount will do the trick. And the C-Loop ($40), from Custom SLR, is exactly that. But the C-Loop also has an inconspicuous talent that all other tripod mount adapters lack.

How much extra are you willing to pay to get the best iPad keyboard case possible? If your answer topped out at $10, then we’ve got the keyboard case for you, courtesy of Cirago. It works just fine, really, but you won’t mistake it for a Zagg.

I have a thing for iPhone wallet cases. The ability to carry my iPhone and my credit cards in one unit and leave my wallet at home really pleases me, and I’m disappointed when I have to use a case without this functionality.

When I stumbled across the Zenok leather wallet case on Etsy, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. This unique iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S case is made using a silicone shell that is stitched inside a handmade, leather wallet, which boasts three card slots, and a pocket for your cash.

Each Zenok case is dyed by hand and purposely built to be different and unique, which is why I’m yet to see another iPhone case like it. As you’d expect, it also provides access to all of your iPhone’s buttons and ports, as well as its camera.

It might be pretty and unique, then, but is it worth its $60 price tag?

If you often find yourself using your hand to hold your iPhone while you film or photograph, please allow me to introduce you to the Woxom Slingshot ($15), the neat little gadget that makes it a snap to hand-hold your iPhone while you use its front-facing camera.