The Keyper isn’t strictly a Mac-related gadget, or even an iOS-related one. But I’m writing it up for a few reasons anyway. One, it’s gorgeous. Two, leather confections are a favorite of our esteemed deputy editor John Brownlee. And three, it actually is pretty iPhone and iPad friendly because it’ll stop your keys from scratching up their screens if you toss the lot n a bag or pocket together.
Or rather, “have someone drive you home.”
After being vilified so much for contributing to dangerous roads (along with all other smartphones, of course), the iPhone will soon turn Samaritan, and maybe help to make the roads a little safer. That’s thanks to the new Breathometer, “the world’s first smartphone breathalyzer.”
I shall apologize now for bringing you yet another crowd-funded gadget today, but this is something special. I won’t dilly-dally here: It’s a frikkin’ Star Trek button for talking to Siri.
The French have a history of coming up with some pretty fascinating ideas. Some don’t work out too well. Some are ingeneous. The VEA Buddy watch looks like it fits in the latter category. What makes it different than the deluge of other smartwatches that have recently arrived: It might actually be brilliantly (French word, by the way) practical.
Sometimes you see product concepts that straight blow your mind or make you scratch your head. The UpperCup does both.
This iPhone case comes from Amsterdam-based company Natwerk, and the creators are trying to raise $25,000 on Indiegogo to begin production. It will retail for $35, and backers get $5 off.
Source: UpperCup
As we all know, sometimes the simplest ideas are the best. You can usually tell when an idea is a winner because it seems so obvious that somebody should have made it already. And the Tethercell is one of these ideas: it’s a remote control battery that will let you switch any AA-powered device on and off from your iPhone.
DockMinimal is – surprise! – a minimal dock. It’s only minimal in looks, though, as this thing not only holds your iPad at pretty much any angle you want, it also works with almost any tablet-like device you have.
Hell, there’s even a hidden stylus.
Do you know your 7,200-times-table by heart? Good, because if you buy the JuiceCane, you’re going to need it.
Why? Because the JuiceCane is a stackable, extendable spare battery which packs 7,200 mAh of power, and can be joined to other JuiceCanes to increase that capacity.
Apple increased the iPhone’s screen size for the first time when it launched the iPhone 5, giving users an additional 0.5 inches worth of Retina display. If that’s still not enough for you, don’t think you’ll have to give up on iOS and turn to Android; pick up the popSLATE case instead and add an addition 4-inch display to your iPhone 5.
Good lord! Where do we even begin with this crazy iPhone case? With the list of its capabilities I guess, and maybe a video of it (literally) screwing around.
Imagine an iPhone case which can hold not only the iPhone 5, but your keys, your cash, and your credit cards. Imagine that this case also comes with a built-in mirror and a telescopic pen. Finally, picture this case as a svelte beauty, a case worthy of the iPhone 5 it contains.
Sound impossible? That’s because it is. The case does hold everything in the list, but it’s as ugly as sin. If you were to take the branches of an ugly tree, fashion them into a giant tumble-dryer barrel and spin an iPhone case inside it – forever – then you’d end up with something a lot like the Cavity Case.
We’ve seen waterproof Bluetooth speaker that replace your Jambox when you go to the beach, bit what about a waterproof case that lets you take your actual Jambox to the beach? That’s the Vault, a rugged, water-shrugging case which will keep any small, candy-bar-shaped speaker safe and dry wherever you take it.
Earbuds and sunglasses, two things that sit up on your head and hang from your ears. If only there was some way to combine the two…
Oakley tried it some years ago with the Thump, which resulted in one of the most hideous product designs ever conceived — if H.R Giger had re-imagined between-toe fungus as an alien growth across your eyes and temples, it would have looked like the Thump.
Luckily, Sanpei Optics has come to the rescue with this gadget, which takes a normal-looking pair of shades and a normal-looking set of earbuds and simply sticks them together.
To be honest, I’m writing about DrBlinky for two reasons, both of them frivolous. One is the name: DrBlinky. Who couldn’t love a name like that?
The other is the Indiegogo pitch video, a triumph of cheesiness and amateur earnestness, but in a (very) good way. Put it this way — if Will Ferrell and Ricky Gervais ever teamed up to do a parody Kickstarter-style promo, it would look like this.
Some gadgets pick one thing, and do only that thing. And they do it very, very well. Other gadgets try to pack in everything possible, and they usually end up doing everything badly. This is called the Swiss Army Knife Approach (SAKA), and if you ever wondered why the Swiss are neutral in all wars, now you know.
The ReadyCase takes the latter approach, and like any good SAKA device, it’s way more fun to marvel at the amount of widgets the makers packed in than it would ever be to use.
