I’m no fan of keyboard cases that try to pretend that the iPad is in fact a miniature laptop, and I expect that if I used the FAVI Swivel Screen Portfolio Case with Bluetooth Keyboard (iPad Air) I’d hate it as much as any other. But I figure it’s worth a mention becasue of its neat modular design.
This is just about the easiest DIY gadget project since the I put an iPad into a Ziploc bag and called it a kitchen-proof case.
It’s called the DIY Camera Wrap Bag, and it is one of the coolest ways to protect your camera whilst making very little effort to do so.
You know what’s better than an app-controlled, color-changing lightbulb? An app-controlled, color-changing lightbulb with a built-in speaker. And that’s just what you get if you pitch in for the AirBulb’s Kickstarter campaign.
I just upgraded my desk to a 1.65-meter monster, a €40 workbench from the hardware store that I cut down to a 64cm height, and which can support up to 200 kilos. If you’re still not with the metric system (and why would you be? After all, it was only introduced like 215 years ago), that means it’s big enough for two people to work at it or stand on it.
But it still gets messy. What I need is a pal to tidy it for me. A DeskPal maybe?
Nikon continues to beat the dead horse that is its tiny-sensor “1” range with the new 18.4 megapixel V3. The Nikon 1 series, for those who still care, is the company’s answer to the mirrorless camera question, if that question was “How can we make it look like we actually care about anything but SLRs?”
If you’re a normal human with normal human needs and desires, I would imagine that you want this bag like now. It’s called the Berlin, and it is a special edition from ONA made to celebrate 100 Years of Leica.
Drug dealers, pimps and other criminals should be getting excited right now, of they live in Germany at least – their burner phones are about to get a whole lot more secure.
Why? Vodafone Germany has announced an encrypted SIM that will secure your precious data as it leaves the phone. The “digital private key and corresponding certificates” are stored on the SIM itself so it should all work with just a PIN on the device.
Just his week I took delivery of the amazing Filco Majestouch Tenkeyless keyboard, a clickety-clackety racket-maker which lets people know that I’m WORKING dammit. So I’m happy right now, keyboard-wise, but that doesn’t stop me appreciating the looks of skinny Rapoo’s E9070 Bluetooth number.
The Lady’s all-time favorite iPad case ever ever was the Porter from Skech, and the only reason she switched is because she wore the thing out. Unfortunately, she won’t be able to take advantage of the new Porter for iPad Air just yet, as she still has to suffer the indignity of using the old, fat, heavy and hot iPad 3.
I, however, with my svelte and perfect iPad Air, might call one in for review just to make her jealous.
Here we go: Just as the spring eases into the seasonal throne and forces winter to curl up and pretend to be a footstool for the next three months, along comes the Allo, a combination bike mount and speaker for your iPhone. It’s a Kickstarter project, but as the expected delivery date is May, you should get one in time for summer.
BlueAnt’s new PUMP HD headphones look perfect for sportspersons. I took a look at them at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona a couple weeks back and they look and feel great. They’re a pair of “wireless” Bluetooth earbuds which clips over the ears and shrug off water and sweat.
Wireless charging is a beautiful concept that fails to live up to its promise in reality. That’s not to say it’s unusable – far from it. I’d put wireless charging pads in the same place as Wi-Fi was some years back – useful when it works, but frustrating to get working properly.
The little iQi panel goes some way to fixing up the main problem of wireless charging on the iPhone. Because it’s not built in, you usually need a bulky case to pair with the charger itself. The iQi is so tiny it can be used with any case.
Let’s be honest with ourselves here: When we’re in the air, we don’t give a second thought to our luggage traveling in the belly of the plane just a meter or so below us. We don’t really start thinking about our checked bags until we’re standing at the carousel, as we’re wondering if it would look more suspicious to the customs officials if we visited the bathroom before or after picking up our suitcases.
So the Calypso Tag, which lets you know that your bag is about to exit the luggage conveyor, is probably a better option than a GPS tracking tag that you can’t follow when you’re in the air anyway.
This is pretty neat – it’s a clutch bag for a lay-dee, and it has a pocket for the iPad, as well as a spot inside for your iphone. If you were to lead it up with your cash and credit cards too, you could get one step closer to losing all of your valuable at once.
I’d say there are enough times you’d need to protect your iPhone whilst using it outside that something like the Surf Sound Play is necessary. I’d also say that Pyle Audio can and has done better. The Surf Sound Play case might work and sound great, but it looks like somebody found it in the dumpster round back of the worst dime store on the block.
Wello is an iPhone case that costs $200, and monitors your vital signs like a pocket Dr. McCoy. Why would you buy such a thing? Science, bitches! Also, Stanley Kubrick stars in the promo video.
Native Union’s Gripster case is now available for the iPad Air, and it looks like the perfect accessory for folks who own an iPad air and also have hands. Yes, hands – those prehensile utilihooks at the ends of your chestal meat-sticks.
The case combines a grip, a stand and a cover, and is possible even better suited to the Air than it is to the mini, for which it is already available.
Hey dorks, great news! Toady is the day you get to fill up your utility belt with… With really dorky stuff. The brand new Modular Pixel Pocket Rocket is perhaps the hottest thing that’s gonna get near your pants pocket this year. You lucky dog you.
Unu’s new Enerpak Extreme is an update to my favorite battery backup brick. In fact, I have one here on my desk ready to review, but I thought I’d tell you about it first.
The Enerpak Extreme is a 14,000mAh battery pack that can charge an iPhone or an iPad, or both at the same time. It has two full-sized USB ports, one 1-Amp and one 2.1-Amp, plus a microUSB port for charging the device itself.
AtmoBar is Mac app that works with the NetAtmo weather station you have in your back yard (or on your balcony, for city dwellers). It sits in your menubar and gives readouts and graphs with just a click.
It sure beats just looking out the window.
If non-clicky keyboards are what you’re after, and you don’t like the free one that came with your Mac, then Logitech offers some of the best options around. I own two, that I’ve bought with my own cash money, and if I had an Apple TV or Media Center setup, I’d be seriously considering the new Harmony keyboard and hub, which doesn’t work quite how you think.
The Tylt Vu wireless charger looks like it would make a great iDevice stand, even if it didn’t have an induction charger hidden inside. The idea is that it not only charges your iPhone, but the shape of it means that the iPhone is always positioned in just the right spot to let the magnets do their thing, even if you just toss it into the cradle.
They say cellphones have ruined dramatic fiction. Next time you watch a TV police procedural or read a modern novel, check how many times the characters stray out of cellphone range, or lose their handsets altogether. The truth is that – in fiction just as in real life – the cellphone is just too useful, too good as a means of rescue.
Would Stargate have worked so well if James Spader could have just snapped a photo of those runes and used Google Translate? No. Would Marty McFly have gone back to 1955 if he could have just FaceTimed Doc Brown when he woke up late? Of course not.
And yet it gets worse. Now there’s a case which will let TV characters –and you – get rescued every damn time.
Nikon might be content to lose out to its competitors in every field except SLR bodies and lenses, but it beginning a big comeback, starting at the very top – literally. Two new camera straps – the Quick-Draw and the Quick-Draw S – are made in partnership with Black Rapid, and promise to let you never buy a third-party camera strap ever again.
Aether’s Cone speaker is simple, in both its physical design and its interface. Inside, though, it has a brain that learns what you like.
The Cone is a cone-shaped AirPlay-ready speaker which also streams music straight from the internet. It learns your tastes, and even lets you cue up tracks by asking for them, just like Siri.
