Apr 15
Gadgets cost money. A lot of money. And now that you’ve paid your taxes, you probably have no money. But that doesn’t mean denying yourself the joy of a shiny new gizmo to replace the worn-out junk you should have …
Apr 01
The most hated Star Wars character ever is coming to a USB port near you. For reals this time.
Mar 15
This week on the Gadget Lab podcast, Christina Bonnington and Nathan Olivarez-Giles show off ridiculous iPhone accessories from around the web. Also Mat Honan discusses the death of Google Reader.
Mar 13
There are some weird and wonderful iPhone and iPad accessories out there. It’s a $6 billion business, after all. We’ve found some of the most unique gadgets and cases you can pair with your mobile device for truly bizarre matrimony.
Feb 27
If you pre-ordered a Leap Motion, it’ll land in your mailbox this May — nearly one full year after it was introduced.
Feb 26
With the ability to process three parameters at once, this iPad-sized MIDI controller adds an extra dimension to your electronic music production rig.
Dec 13
Sound Cover, an iPad Smart Cover With Built-In Speakers
Posted in: Accessories and Peripherals, ipad, speakers, Today's Chili
Clever: The Sound Cover is an iPad case with a speaker inside
What if your iPad 2’s Smart Cover could also be a super-thin, super-loud speaker? If Petur Olafsson’s Sound Cover project takes off on Kickstarter, then maybe it will.
From the outside, the Sound Cover doesn’t look much different from a padded folio case, with a leather cover and an aluminum kickstand. It’ll even wake and sleep your iPad as it opens and closes, using the magic of magnets.
Open it up, though, and you get a pair of NXT stereo speakers, flat units which use Distributed Mode Loudspeakers (DML) to pump out sound. Petur and his company Onanoff say that the volume is 300% louder than the iPad’s own speaker.
Connection to the iPad is via 3.5mm jack, which makes sense for something always joined to the iPad. If you really hate wires then a Bluetooth version will also be available. The speaker’s battery will last for 12 hours on a charge.
If it sounds good, then the Sound Cover looks to be a fantastic idea. And even the $129 ($110 for Kickstarter pledgers) price seems reasonable when you consider that it takes the place of not just a speaker but also the $70 leather Smart Cover.
Sound Cover: iPad2 Cover with Powerful Built-in Speakers [Kickstarter. Thanks, Petur!]
Dec 12
Luxury Leather iPad Case Hides High-Tech Tricks
Posted in: Accessories and Peripherals, ipad, Today's Chili
There are two kinds of iPad case. Utility cases, which add a keyboard, or prop the thing up, or stick the iPad to the fridge with magnets. And case cases, which do little more than cover and protect your tablet, hopefully in a stylish manner.
The Lacambra case, from leather bag supremo Cristina Alvarez Lacambra, manages to be both. The canvas-lined leather sleeves are all business, with a splash of glamour — zipper-closing folios with plenty of pockets for business cards and even the camera connection kit.
But a new update brings a few utility-style features to the brightly-colored cases.
Lacambra gave me a case to review, and I made a few suggestions. Maybe it could have a hole so you can reach the volume controls, I said. And Cristina wondered if the case should stand up for movie watching and typing, like the Smart Cover.
v2.0 has the volume hole, and a rather inventive solution to propping the thing up. The cases — leather and lined with canvas — now come with a leather strap and a canvas widget. The widget is like a miniature Smart Cover, folding over on itself to make a Toblerone-like triangular tube. This wedges inside the open case and props it up for typing purposes. When not in use, you can stow it in an internal pocket.
The strap is even cleverer, and once you have gotten used to it, easy to deploy. The case now has magnets under its skin, and the strap has them too. Thus, you let it click into place when the case is propped up and the whole thing holds together like a big letter “A.” It works better than you’d think.
What I like most is that you can just leave these parts at home. In fact, the case is roomy enough to fit your Smart Cover in there, too, so you could always just use that for typing and movie watching. Thusly, the Lacambra case manages to be simple, and yet can be extended with these add-ons.
There are a couple things to watch for if you decide on one of these cases. The first is that the retention straps come very, very close to the screen edges, which might make you feel cramped. The second is that there is no magnet to lock and unlock the iPad 2 when it opens and closes. Cristina says that they had trouble making it work consistently, and so left it out.
Finally, the quality is great. The case is one of the best made I have tried. Whether you want it is down to your tastes, then, and you don’t have to pick the shocking pink shown here. You can even choose boring black, or mix colors for the various leather panels and canvas linings to make a double-rainbow monstrosity.
The Lacambra case is available now, for €125/$174. Photos on the site should be updated soon to reflect the new design.
Lacambra iPad Case product page [Lacambra. Thanks, Cristina!]
Nov 02
The Boot Bag in rich Argentinian leather
Problem: You want a bag that will also fit on your bike, but all bike-mounting bags are ugly. Solution: Hebie’s Boot Bag.
The Boot Bag is semi-stiff, open-top shopping bag for your bike. With a wide shoulder strap, you can carry it around the market as you shop. Then, back at the bike, it clips directly to the top of a front or rear luggage rack, ready to roll.
The Boot Bag comes in plastic or leather, and the lop-sided shape means that it stays away from either your butt (rear rack) or your various gear and brake cables (front rack). I’m not quite sure where the name comes from, but my guess is that it’s named after a car “boot”, which is the UK English word for “trunk.” That Hebie is a German company suggests that it could also mean “boat,” but I doubt it.
The price difference between leather and plastic bags is almost comically huge. The multi-colored plastic Boots go for around €28 ($39), and the “handmade Argentinian leather” version costs €260, or $360. You’ll also need an adapter for your carrier (Hebie or universal) for another €15 ($21) and a shoulder strap, for €11 ($15).
The Boot Bag is available now.
Boot Bag product page [Hebie]
Nov 01
Kaufmann’s EDC Kit: Tiny tools for normal-sized people
Kaufmann’s EDC kit might fit on a keyring, but you might not want to put it in a pants pocket thanks to all those sharp edges. Keeping the compact tools in a bag or jacket pocket, though, might just turn out to be a very good idea.
EDC stands for Every Day Carry, and if you are the type that leaves the house , like, ever, you could do just that. The kit consists of a tiny, sharpened pry-bar, a pair of screwdriver keys (one flat, one Philips), a pair of sturdy tweezer (with a welcome cover for the sharp tips) and a waterproof lighter.
This last might be the most useful. It’s a little stainless steel bottle which screws shut to keep the water out and the lighter fuel in. It works like a Zippo, with a flint and a wick inside, but thanks to the screw-shut design the fuel won’t evaporate over time.
The tools are all steel, with the kind depending on the tool’s needs. The screwdrivers, for example, are in black oxide hardened steel.
All can be had separately, from $7 for the tweezers up to $22 for the lighter, or you can buy the kit for a reasonable $42. Available now.
EDC Kit product page [Kaufmann. Thanks, Alexis!]
See Also:
- 1800-Year-Old Roman Multitool
- Nerdy Necklace Is Really a Multitool
- New Keychain Multi-Tools from Leatherman
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This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.