Like blades on a disposable razor, there can never be enough ports on a USB hub. At least, that seems to be the thinking behind Satechi’s 7-port USB 3.0 monster, a wedge-shaped desktop hub made for Mac users.
Sonte iPhone-Controlled Film: It’s Curtains For Curtains
Sonte’s new film can switch up its opacity in just a second, and it can be controlled from your iPhone. Cover a window and flip it from transparent to opaque at the tap of a screen, blocking out nosy passersby or ugly distractions whilst still letting in most of the light. It’s like turning any room into a bathroom. Only without the extra plumbing required.
$180 iPhone LED Photography Lamp Has Some Very Clever Tricks
The KickLight is a $180 LED lamp for your iPhone. I hear you. “WHAT?!” you shout, in justifiable ALL CAPS. You even combine a question mark and an exclamation mark to further express your angered confusion. To which I can only say CALM DOWN. It’s actually worth the money.
HitCase: The “Indestructible” iPhone Camera Case Now Mounts To Roll-Bars And Handlebars
Remember the Hitcase? It’s the “virtually indestructible” iPhone case that our own video jockey Michael Steeber checked out at this years CES. Now you can buy not only the case itself, but a range of neat-o accessories which let you put the thing on bike handlebars and car… Tubes?
Track Your Weight Over Time With Withings’ Smart Scale And Your iOS Device [Review]
I love it when hardware integrates with iOS devices, endowing them with new powers they never hoped to possess. The Withings WS-50 smart scale, paired with their very good iOS app, does just that.
Category: iOS Accessories
Works With: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch
Price: $150
By connecting to your Wi-Fi and sending your health stats to the cloud, the Withings WS-50 smart scale allows you to effortlessly track your weight, body mass index, indoor air quality, and even your heart rate. All you have to do to make it work, is step on the scale from time to time, then boot up their app to see just how fat or cut you’re getting.
iPad App Detects Pages Turning On A Real Life Paper Book
This is the Bridging Book, and it “bridges” the gap between reality and virtual reality by combining an iPad app with an actual paper book. The concept is simple and yet looks to be very effective, if the smiles on the kid in the video are anything to go by: The iPad detects page turns made in the book using magnets. Yes, frikkin’ magnets.
ChillTab Holds The iPad At A Precise And Correct Sixty Degrees
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.
Olloclip App Corrects Distortion From Olloclip Lenses
It’s hard to believe, but some people don’t like the image-crunching, JPG-mangling special effects of app like Instagram. Instead, they want the output from the iPhone’s highly-tuned camera to be clean and as good as it can be. Which is why Olloclip’s new iPhone app goes in the opposite direction to most grungification apps and corrects errors introduced by the company’s clip-on lens of the same name.
Digipower Travel Chargers Juice Your Battery *And* Your iPhone
My camera eats batteries. I’m not sure exactly why — maybe it’s because the NP-95 battery it uses is tiny; maybe it’s that its hybrid viewfinder is particularly power hungry; or perhaps it’s just that I refuse to engage any of the performance-slowing power-save modes — but my X100s is thirsty.
I get around this by carry a pocketful of those tiny batteries, but taking the giant Fujifilm charger on vacation is a pain. So I set out to find a USB charger that would do the job without frying the batteries.
Then I realized I was doing it wrong. Instead of a USB-powered battery charger, what I needed was a proper camera battery charger which had a USB port in the side. Thus I could charge everything from one wall socket, in one compact unit.
The device is the Digipower TC–55.
Mutator, A Plug-In Mute Switch For Your iPhone, iPad, iPod
The Mutator is a hardware mute switch for your iPhone. What’s that you say? You already have a hardware mute switch on your iPhone? Well, yes you do. But – as the poor fellow who caused Mahlergate found out – mute doesn’t always mean “mute”.
Helios Handlebars With iPhone-Controlled Lights And GPS
I know what you bike nuts are thinking. You’re jealous of all the hue-controlled lighting available to the stay-at-home folks, and you want a little bit of that color-changing action for your ride. Well, the folks at Helios have heard you, and are just about to launch a couple of crazy handlebars with built-in LEDs. And that’s not all they do. Oh no…
The AL13 Ultrathin iPhone Bumper Is A Sharp, Classy, And Minimalist Delight [Review]
Apple might not make bumpers anymore, and Antennagate may be a thing of the past, but there are still some good bumpers out there… and top of the list is the AL13.
Real-Life Instagram Filters Now (Almost) Available [Kickstarter]
Remember those cool glass filters that act like a real-life Instagram for your real-life camera? They’re finally ready for pre-order, kinda.
These Days, Even iPhone Backup Batteries Are Fashion Accessories
Remember when the iPhone launched, and people complained that the non-removable battery was a “deal-breaker”? And then the very same thing happened to the MacBook in the form of the Air, and the very same people whined the same whine?
Happy days indeed. Now we know better: we can indeed carry spare batteries for our iPhones, only they’re external and don’t require that we power down the phone just to swap them.
And the batteries in our MacBook last way longer thanks to the fact that they are squished into every internal nook and cranny of the computer’s case instead of having to be an easy-to-remove rectangle. Not that anyone ever needed to swap a battery into a computer anyway. Well, except those dullards who would stare at a single Excel spreadsheet for the entire duration of a six-hour plane ride, and they all own PCs anyway.
Which is to say, in a very roundabout way, that Eagle has made available yet another external battery pack. And this one is orange.
iPhone Case Stores Headphones In Giant Pocket
Probably the biggest problem you have in your modern life is finding a place to store your earbuds when you’re not using them. Unless, of course, your life isn’t a shallow, empty parody of existence used by a gadget blogger to make a lame point.
That said, tangled cables are a pain. Probably not enough of a pain for me to stick a special case to the back of my iPhone and actually use it, but I’m just plain lazy. For those of you who care, there’s the Sound Pocket, a rear shell with a small compartment on the back for your Apple EarPods.
UrbanEars Boom: The All-Day, All-Directional Speaker For Your Summer Adventures
UltimateEars Boom is yet another wireless Bluetooth speaker, a category that has gone from a mere sprinkling of spores on the petri dish of consumer gadgets to a veritable mushroom field of musical materiel. However, as is now necessary in this crowded corner of consumerism, there’s a twist: This speaker will annoy everyone equally, wherever they may be.
Xistera iPhone 5 Multitool Does Everything. EVERYTHING
The obvious thing to say about the XiStera is to call it the "“Swiss Army Knife” of iPhone 5 accessories. Leaving aside for a second the fact that, if all the Swiss Army is bringing to the fight is that little knife, it’s no wonder it refuses to play in any wars, let’s make a better analogy for the Xistera. It’s like a Glif crossed with a Pulltaps corkscrew.
Forget The iWatch: Brando’s Crappy ‘Fashionable Bluetooth Vibrating Bracelet’ Is Here Right Now
Waiting for Apple’s iWatch? Good luck with that if you’re expecting anything fancier than a fitness-tracking iPod nano with a wrist strap. You should save your money, your hopes and your time and buy Beloved Crapware Vendor™ Brando’s Fashionable Bluetooth Vibrating Bracelet + Watch instead.
NuForce Mobile Music Pump: The Best-Named Headphone Amp Ever?
To be honest, I’m writing this post based solely on the awesome name of this iOS-compatible headphone amp: the Mobile Music Pump. What is it? An amp to boost the puny output from your iPhone’s headphone jack to make big headphones sound better.
Logitech Now Makes Toughened Lightning Keyboards For iPad-Toting Kids
Apparently the OLPC cemented the colors green and white as the color scheme of choice for the education market, because now the new Logitech Wired Keyboard for iPad is similarly hued.
I have no problem with that: the combo is so ugly that it’ll seriously diminish the resale value should light-fingered pupils decide to earn a little extra pocket money.
Two Neat New Backlit iPad Mini Keyboard Cases From Zagg
Two new iPad mini keyboard cases from Zagg today: A super-thin magnetic cover and a thicker stick-on “folio” case, similar to the Pro Plus case for the regular-sized iPad only with a top cover too. And both, amazingly, are backlit.
Finn Wallet Holds Cards, Cash And Your iPhone 5, Stays Thin
Wallets: I hate them, but having loose coins in your pocket which fall out every time you sit down is worse. Especially in a country where the coins are actually worth something. Right now I have a typically over-engineered German wallet which will probably last me forever, but I like the look of SF Bags’ new Finn. It’s flat, it holds cash and cars and – if you pick the bigger model – it also has space for your iPhone.
Linen-Look iPad Case Also Holds Paper, Pen And Stylus
I quite like the dark linen texture that sits behind the elements of the iOS (and recently OS X) interface, but I’m pretty sure that Jony Ive’s upcoming Great Purge will consign it to the same tomb as brushed aluminum – after all, this is a designer so minimalist that he even removed a superfluous “n” from his own name.
So this wraparound case from Plus Motif might be my last chance at linen.
Wingo Easy-Hold Kindle Case Would Be Perfect For The iPad Mini
Before you say anything: Yes, I know this is a case for the Kindle and not for an iPad or other Apple device. But I don’t care because a) it’s super cool and should be made for the iPad mini and b) you probably own a Kindle anyway.
It’s called the Wingo, and it adds a pair of pop-out wings to your e-reader.
Gorgeous Wren AirPlay Speaker Might Make You Ditch Your Stereo
After testing AirPlay speakers against Bluetooth speakers, one thing has jumped out at me: AirPlay is way, way better. In terms of sound at least. Which is why I’m interested in the Wren v5 wireless speaker, an AirPlay speaker from an ex-president at Harman International.