The PixelSkin HD Wrap ($50) is an iPad (third-generation) case from Speck that promises to be “the perfect iPad folio case for anyone looking for lightweight protection, secure grip and pixelicious style.” It’s made from a flexible TPU that’s impressively robust, and provides full-body protection to your iPad with a number of nifty features.
Magnets are a big part of almost all Apple’s products these days — the MagSafe power adapter, the iPad Smart Cover, the closures for all its notebooks and even holding the screen on the iMac.
So why not use magnets in cases? That’s the thinking behind Booq’s shiny new Viper Sleeve for the MacBook Air.
The Motive Stylus solves one of the most annoying problems of carrying a stylus for your iPad: Where do you put it? We have seen magnetic styluses which snap onto the Smart Cover before, but none does it quite so securely and unobtrusively as the Motive, which actually folds flat.
Finally, a magnetic iPhone mount that won’t embarrass you, either when actually mounted on the wall or in transit. It’s called the Wallee M, and it is about as sleek as a mounting set could get.
Logitech already makes one of the best keyboard cases available for the iPad, but its latest solution looks even more incredible. The Ultrathin Keyboard Cover is, as its name suggests, is a super thin wireless keyboard that takes advantage of your iPad’s Smart Cover magnets to double up as protective aluminum cover. It’s the perfect partner for your iPad.
It might not be an issue for you, but some users who have purchased new iPads have found that the magnets of their existing cases won’t turn the display on and off. This doesn’t just go for third-parties, either: even some old Smart Covers won’t turn the screen off.
What the heck’s going on? As it turns out, there’s a small change in the way the new iPad that only applies to magnetic cases: polarity now counts.
A friend and I were talking today about the iPad 2, the Smart Cover, and the 31 magnets they contain today. We were pondering what would happen when we tossed the iPad 2 with an attached Smart Cover into our laptop bags right next to a MacBook with a standard hard drive inside. A co-worker of my friend had brought this up earlier leading us to the question, “Can the iPad 2 and Smart Cover magnets damage (or erase) our MacBook Hard Drive? ”
The clear answer is — No! The myth about magnets erasing data from hard disks or computers is mostly false and a hard one to shake since many of us were trained to keep the two apart. Let me explain why the myth isn’t exactly true.
Just marvel at the engineering behind the iPad 2’s Smart Covers. Between them, the iPad 2 and its Smart Cover contain an incredible 31 magnets.
Apple has made extensive use of magnets in the past – to hold a remote control to the iMac, for example, or keep the lid of a MacBook closed. But it has never used so many magnets in a product, or so elegantly.
The 31 magnets in the iPad 2 and the Smart Cover:
It’s really quite mind-boggling. iFixit has the details.
