Olloclip’s new 4-in–1 lens “system” really is a system, all in one tiny, dense block of aluminum and glass. Like the other Olloclips, this one slides onto your iPhone’s top corner to add a lens between the world and your camera sensor. Unlike the other Olloclips, this one has four different lenses buried in the same unit.
The end of the crop-frame camera is nigh, for anything except special markets at least. Sony’s new A7 and A7r are camera with full-frame sensors. That’s right: full-frame SLRs, only without the “R”. (But with an extra, different “R” in the A7R… Perhaps the R stands for “recycle”?).
Way back in 2009, I reviewed the Lightscoop, a miraculous mirror which reflects your camera’s built-in flash up an off the ceiling, effectively turning the whole top surface of the room into one giant soft light source. The only thing I didn’t like about it was the fact that it was bulky and tricky to carry with you.
Now there are two new Lightscoops, both of which are a little more portable,
Love Pad&Quill’s sweet bookbindery iPhone cases, but don;t love the big Baltic birch frames that bulk them up? You’re in luck! The new Bella Fino is a leather taco for your iPhone 5/S/C that does away with the frame in favor of a reusable, re-stickable 3M “clean release” adhesive panel.
Just like those isolated soldiers that used to be discovered from time to time thinking that WWII was still on, years after it had ended, there’s a designer hidden deep in the offices of Porsche who thinks we still need to use USB thumb drives. Yes, it looks beautiful, just like Hiroo Onoda’s doubtlessly crisply-pressed uniform, but that doesn’t make it right.
You’re probably sick of Kickstarter projects that turn your iPad or iPad mini into a giant camera, so here’s something a little different. It’s an iPad mini camera rig, but this one is actually available to buy. Now. From Amazon.
Behold, the iKettle, a water-boiler that can be almost completely controlled from your iPhone while you laze around in your bed.
Just when I thought I’d kicked my bag-buying habit, along comes Waterfield and dangles the Staad backpack in front of my wallet. The Staad is a classic-looking waxed-canvas and leather backpack with some distinctly modern touches. And I want one. Now.
According to all the fashionable studies these days, sitting is about as dangerous as balancing a TV set on the edge of the bathtub while you have a soak, sip a martini and smoke a fat Havana all at the same time.
I avoid this deathtrap by doing my work as fast as possible and then going back to bed after a couple of hours spent in the danger zone, but apparently standing desks are another good solution. And if you own a Mac, then you’ll want a standing desk designed to work with it, like the new WorkFit for Apple range from Ergotron.
Maybe you have an iPhone, an SLR, and perhaps a couple of weird old lenses that don’t fit either of them. Fear not, my gadget-hoarding friend, for the answer is nigh. It’s called the Beastgrip, and it attached pretty much anything to anything else.
Amazon’s Whispersync for voice was always an interesting curiosity: You can read a book on your Kindle, seamlessly switch to the Audiobook version, and then switch back again, all without losing your place. This works thanks to the fact that Amazon owns Audible, the biggest audiobook seller around.
The service just got a lot easier to use, thanks to a doubling of compatible titles, and a new Matchmaker service which automatically pairs up any books you already own, and lets you grab the audio version for a big discount.
The Satechi Smart Travel Router might just be the most useful travel adapter ever made. Not only can it plug into a wall socket pretty much anywhere in the world, it can also charge your iPhone and create a wireless network.
Imagine that you had a stick of gum that could be bent into any shape. OK, that part was easy – all you had to do was imagine a normal stick of gum. Now imagine that that stick is weight-bearing, and that it would actually stay in the shape you gave it.
If you were doing it properly, then you just imagined the Gumstick, a rubbery, pose-able stick of gadget goodness.
Sadly, the “Mobislyder” isn’t a way to make delicious, tiny steamed hamburgers with your cellphone, but it’s almost as good: It’s an aluminum track rail for your mobile phone, letting you make amazing tracking shots when shooting video with your iPhone.
Apparently Nikon’s D600 was already pretty much perfect, because the new D610 that replaces it is little more than a tweak. Let me put it this way: If Apple released a “new” iPhone with such a minor spec bump, the company would be “finished.”
There’s something very ironic about an optical drive for the upcoming space-shaped [1] Mac Pro, like adding a fax machine to an iPhone. Better still is the fact that it’s not just any old optical drive, but a bag-of-hurt Blu-ray drive. And best of all is that this USB-connected optical drive is shaped to fit neatly underneath the Mac Pro as if it wasn’t there.
This amazing KnowRoaming sticker looks too good to be true, but as it’s from Canada, it must be the real deal. The KnowRoaming is a sticker which covers your existing SIM card and automatically switches your iPhone to a local network provider when you travel abroad, avoiding crazy roaming fees when you travel.
The NewTrent Gladius case isn’t the first iPad case we’ve seen with a grabby handle on the back, but it is the first we’ve seen that uses a leather strap on a plastic case. This also makes it the first case that would let you play a game of “My Little Subway Car.” Just glue the iPad to the ceiling of your bathroom and hang from the strap. For extra realism, piss in a corner a few hours before “embarking” and have family and friends pass through from time to time, asking you for money.
Braven’s 855S is the companion speaker to the 850. The internals are much the same, but the cases are as different as can be, with the heavy, rubberised 855S looking more like something you’d find in a military tank rather than on a tasteful shelf next to your fish tank.
That said, it looks and feels great. But how does it sound?
The Mission Cycling Wallet is a lot like those iPhone card wallets you see all the time, only this one zips your iPhone safely inside, and lets it face out through a see-through screen so you can read it and use it without taking it out or opening the case.
You can even use it in the pouring rain.
DP review has tested the iPhone 5S’s camera and – surprise – it’s awesome. At ten long pages (all requiring a click to reach, as is DP Review’s annoying style) it’s an epic read that you’ll probably want to add to your Instapaper queue, but you can always skip to the conclusion and read the rather amusing list of “bad” points that the reviewers have come up with to make the article “balanced.”
What color is that lovely jacket your friend is wearing? And that movie poster up there on the side of that building? Wouldn’t that blue make the perfect color for your new website’s background?
But how can you make sure you’re getting the exact color? After all, your cellphone camera is affected by all kinds of external factors, including the color of the light falling on the jacket/poster, as well as the colors of the surrounding items. What you need is a handheld, iPhone-controlled colorimeter.
Belkin’s new Express Dock for iPad lets you dial in the perfect fit for any Lightning iPad, whatever case it’s in. Literally: there’s actually a dial on the back to adjust the dock’s size.
The new GoPro Hero3+ makes jumping out of an airplane in a squirrel suit just a little bit more tempting. The new camera is smaller, faster and apparently much better.
Even if you love screen protectors, you probably hate applying them. Even the best bubble-proof tempered-glass covers have to be lined up before pressing them into place, and those wasted seconds are seconds that allow dust to creep twixt screen and cover, to be petrified in place forever like a dinosaur-DNA-carrying fly in amber.
What you need is the Alin, a screen protector with a big plastic guide to line things up for you.
