It should be apparent by now that wires are an endangered species, what with the recent explosive popularity of Bluetooth for transmission of sound and data, and the growing ability to keep everything constantly synced with the cloud.
The lone holdout restraining the iPhone from breaking free is the charging cable—but even that’s on its way out. Case in point, Buqu Tech’s Magnetyze wireless charging case for the iPhone 5 is now available.
If there’s one thing us iPad owners like as much as iPad cases, it’s iPad stands. And no wonder: without such a prop, the iPad can do little more than lay flat on the floor or table like a dead fish. Only unlike the poor fish, it won’t even entertain us by flapping desperately around for a few long seconds as it fruitlessly tries to push a few more drops of nonexistent water through its gills, before slowly expiring and laying eerily still.
The Boomerang case won’t provide the same pizzazz as the last few seconds of a suffocating real-life Big Mouth Billy Bass, but it does bend in the middle, and it does support your iPad.
Twelve South, one of Cult of Mac’s favorite accessory makers, has a new stand out called the HiRise. Announced today, the elegant, metallic device is designed for holding the iPhone 5 and iPad mini. Like most of Twelve South’s products, the HiRise looks right at home amongst your other Apple products.
Meet the eleMount, a poseable aluminum mount for your iPhone or—if you’re feeling adventurous—the iPad mini. It’s like a little angle poise elbow for your phone, letting you set it at almost any angle you like.
The iProp is so basic in its design that it’s obvious the designers worked very hard at it. When I first opened the bag it came in, I wondered what the big deal was. So what? It’s a beanbag with an iPad stand on it. Big deal.
Then I tried it out for a few days. I used it on my coffee table, on the arm of my recliner, and in my lap. I took it to the coffee shop and to a friend’s house. I started to get used to it. I started to like it. I wondered where it was when I didn’t take it with me.
Now that’s a well-designed product.
As apparent through the company’s tagline “musicians first,” IK Multimedia generally makes stuff for musicians; but their new iKlip iPad stand should also fit a ton of scenarios that have absolutely nothing to do with music.
The stand combines a wide-stance, stable, metal-reinforced base with a tall neck that ends in a frame that an iPad slides into. There are two adjustable points, both of which lock: an elbow in the middle of the neck, and a ball pivot where the neck meets the iPad frame.
Apparently, the hot new thing is to stick your iPad to the kitchen wall and then immediately start chopping red peppers. Luckily for those new to this emerging fashion, there is both a product and an instructional video available to help out. The product is the MagBak, and it consists of a pair of rubbery, magnetized pads that stick onto the back of the iPad.
Reaction to this ruggedized, clamshell Bluetooth keyboard case for the iPad mini must surely qualify as a “what the…?!” moment. Not because the New Trent Airbender Mini is ruggedized, and a keyboard, and a case, and a stand; but because it combines each of those sought-after elements for $40.
“What the…?!”
I’ve long been a big fan of Aviiq‘s laptop stands — so much so that I almost never use my MBP without a stand under it. Why? It props the MacBook up at an angle better suited to typing, raises the screen close to eye-level, and allows for better cooling by allowing for airflow between the MacBook’s bottom and the desk.
Aviiq has just refreshed the fancier of the two models, the Portable Laptop Stand, and brought down the price considerably.
If you a) use a MacBook and b) hate it when you lose the use of your arms and neck than you might like the Roost, a notebook stand that puts your MacBook at the perfect angle and height for working safely, without causing pain and RSI disorders. Oh, and it looks like the bottom of the Eiffel tower, which is cool.
Readers with long memories for frustratingly future-distant Kickstarter projects might remember the Halopad. It was a “universal” iPad stand which I described generously as “like a pub ashtray with the bottom cut out” and – with even more generosity – “not ugly.” And now that the stand is finally for sale, I stand by both of those gushing endorsements.
Imagine cramming an entire iPhone stand, not just into your pocket, but into a credit card slot in your wallet.
That’s what the Pocket Tripod 360º does. It’s an ingenious little design: a small plastic card that unfolds into a sturdy dock that can keep your iPhone 5 propped up at literally 360 degree angles.
This amazing little iPhone stand has two great features: it is the size and shape of a credit card, letting you carry it with you always. And it somehow manages to hold the iPhone at any angle you like, in vertical or horizontal orientations. Is it magic?
Quick question: How do you feel about 60˚? That’s the angle, not the temperature. Do you like it? Still not sure? Then let me put it another way: Are you a fan of tilting things back by 30 degrees?
If so, and if you don’t like to adjust things, then the ChillTab2 might just be the perfect stand for you.
Here’s something for you: a bendable but still rigid Lightning-to-USB cable that can function not just as a charging and sync cable for your iPhone, but also as a make-shift stand, propping up your device on a coffee table, desk or even when it’s in a wall charger. $19.95. None too shabby.
When my fingers are covered in egg, or I want to use my iPad as a second-screen when working at my Mac, or when I’m performing computer surgery and I want to keep iFixIt in the corner of my eye, there’s a lot of situations in which I might want a stand for my iPad.
Unfortunately, of the few I’ve tried, I’ve found most of them only to be good in specific situations: great for, say, using your iPad as second monitor at your computer, but not good for cooking or doing computer surgery.
The iOStand by iOMounts is the first stand I’ve really liked, because sometimes simpler is better. But it’s not perfect.
It’s hard to oversell the usefulness of a good iPad stand stand for travelers. It starts on the plane so you can bypass the in-flight movies with something better, and continues from there.
You can prop the iPad up in the bathroom or on the nightstand, you can – in concert with the removed Smart Cover as a base – fashion a quick in-bed theater, and you can type, play music and everything else, all without having to put your pristine iDeice down onto filthy hotel furniture. Ugh.
There would be but one way to make the mŌna iPad stand seem more like an adult toy, and that’d to make it in pink. As it is. The suggestive-looking stand comes in black, white and red. I have been using one on and off for a few months (strictly for iPad support purposes) and found it to be excellent in some aspects and silly in others. Would you like to know more?
I always thought the handiest thing I could do with a pizza box was to toss it in the trash and use the little three-legged plastic widget (the one that stops the lid from touching your cheese) as a milking stool for my Barbies [1] .
But I was wrong. Assuming that you can keep the cheesy grease off the box, then a few cuts and folds will turn it into this awesome MacBook stand.
Don’t you hate it when your earbud cable gets tangled? I know I do (but not as much as I hate Apple’s stupid earbuds themselves). Luckily, Dotan Saguy has come up with the Smarter Stand for the iPhone, a pliable plastic widget which not only acts as a place to wrap your earbud cable, but also as a handy-dandy stand for the iPhone.
I have been using one for a little while now and it turns out to be a pretty useful little gadget.
Having just discovered that my beloved PadPivot iPad stand also works great with a closed MacBook Air (the 13-inch), you’d have a hard time convincing me to buy another iPad stand, especially one which only has a single angle of view, and which only holds the iPad in horizontal mode.
However, the Sne Stand, fashioned as it is from beautiful bent Baltic Birch plywood, is certainly tempting. Right up until you get to its $90 price tag.
My huge 27-inch iMac is currently hanging on the wall thanks to a VESA mount and adapter, which means I’m intimately familiar with the heavy aluminum leg that used to hold it up. I have been looking for something to do with it other than using it to gather up dust under my bed, and now I think I have it: An oversized iPad stand.
Or I could just give Bluelounge $40 for the Mika, a “Universal” stand for anything vaguely tablet-sized.
You know what you need when you go away on a weekend trip? Along with your two suitcases worth of clothing, a laptop, a pair of iPads, a speaker maybe, plus case of shoes (rain or shine… Who knows?), chargers, your own personal pillow and, well, you get the point. Now you can add to that list the Traveler Laptop Stand from Magma. That’s right: a folding, portable stand for your folding, portable computer.
The PopLock is a new iPhone 5 case from NutKase that does more than just protect your beloved smartphone from scratches and scrapes. Its built-in, pressure sensitive kickstand pops out with just a push, allowing you to stand your iPhone for FaceTime calls and watching movies.
The stand is also designed to be a clip, which lets you fix your iPhone 5 to almost anything that’s sturdy enough to hold it, such as a computer monitor or an air vent in the car. The PopLock is made from a durable polycarbonate that promises to absorb shock, and it provides you with access to all of your ports, buttons, and cameras.
The case is available in grey and black, and it’s priced at $22.99. Here’s what I think of it after testing it for a few weeks.
Twelve South has today announced a new addition to its BookArc family, the BookArc for iPad mini. The arc-shaped steel stand supports your device in both portrait and landscape mode, making it perfect for hands-free use at home or in the office, while its sleek and sexy form factor looks right at home alongside your Mac.