Hasta La Gadget!

Ray sticks to a window and slurps up the sun

How do you make sure your solar panel is always pointing at the sun? Well, sticking it in the window would be a good start, and that’s just what Quirky’s new Ray does — literally.

Ray is a combined solar charger and suction cup, meaning you can stick it to the windshield of your car or the window of a sunny room and convert photons into precious electrons. The simple device also contains a battery, so you can store energy by day and drain it by night. According to the specs, the battery holds enough juice to fully charge a cellphone.

Fresh out of windows? Ray has you covered with a flip-out kickstand, which doubles as a cable tidy for the USB cord when not in use.

I like it, and I’d probably sign up for the $40 needed to pre-order if I wasn’t so impatient. Quirky waits until enough pre-orders have been received before the production lines run, and this can take a looong time. Still, order now and I guess you’ll have one in time for next summer’s sun.

Ray product page [Quirky via Gizmag]

See Also:

• Solar Screens May Make Phone Chargers Obsolete
• Solar-Powered iPhone Battery Case: Apple Approves
• Ralph Lauren Solar-Powered Backpack Is Predictably Expensive …
• 'World's Only' Solar-Powered Light-Bulb

Slim and sleek, or fat and full — you decide

As predictably as worms squirming to the surface of a field after a rainstorm, a new Apple device fills every gadget blogger’s inbox with PR pitches for cases. The irony today, of course, is that all the existing iPhone 4 cases and accessories will still fit the iPhone 4S.

But surfing right up on top of the deluge of email crap come these two new iPhone cases from WaterField Designs. Both are leather, both carry the iPhone and double as wallets, and both take different approaches to holding things.

If you’re the kind of person whose wallet is stuffed so full of junk that carrying it in your back pocket means risking a cricked spine when you sit down, you’ll want the iPhone Wallet. It’s a zippered burrito of storage for cards and cash, and the iPhone is held in a pocket with a clear window so you can see and use it while it is still inside. The iPhone Wallet comes in black or brown, costs $39 and will ship Oct. 31.

If you travel lighter (and have some respect for your back), then the iPhone Hint is for you. The simple pouch also has a window to see the iPhone within, but only has one slim pocket for cards and cash. The iPhone Hint is $25, and will also ship by the end of the month.

iPhone Wallet product page [SF Bags. Thanks, Heidi!]

iPhone Hint product page [SF Bags]

Easy to use, and easy to lose: the Apple iPhone Micro USB Adapter

Last year, the European Commission decreed that all future cellphones would have but one kind of charger. No longer would we see different cables for Nokia, Sony, and Samsung. Instead, there would be one charger to rule them all: Micro USB.

Which of course led everybody to wonder if Apple would play ball. There was of course no way that it would drop its proprietary 30-pin dock connector, so how would it comply with EU rules?

With a dongle, of course. Over in Europe, you can now buy an adapter which will let you charge your iPhone (or other iOS device) with a Micro USB cable. It’s a tiny chunk of plastic which slots into the dock connector and provides a standard socket into which any USB cable can be shoved in order to charge or sync the phone.

The adapters cost €9, or £8 in the UK, and will presumably come bundled with the iPhone 4S when it ships. Does this also mean that Apple will begin to ship plain USB cables with its various chargers? I doubt it — the adapter likely takes care of obeying the rules.

Still, for many people this will mean one less charger to carry, and this tiny dongle can be kept in a wallet. I actually do things the other way around, carrying my iPad charger along with a handful of other USB cables to charge other gadgets from it when needed.

Apple iPhone Micro USB Adapter [Apple]

See Also:

• Europeans Realize Dream of a Single Charger for All Cellphones …

Fixie Fashion: Samsung commissions ultimate Galaxy Tab dock

There’s some silly two-faced fashion going on over in London Town. Samsung, maker of me-too touch-screen devices, commissioned Brick Lane-based bike builder 14 Bike Co to make a bike and mount for its Galaxy Tab tablet.

In keeping with current fashions, the bicycle is a fixed gear model with obligatory Brooks saddle, and although it does actually have a pair of brakes, there are no cables or levers — kind of like a tablet that runs Flash, but doesn’t enable it by default. The bike is white on one side and black on the other, matching either Galaxy Tab colorway.

The tablet holder is fashioned from carbon fiber and dangles from a cylinder which grabs the top tube. Samsung says that this lets you flip up and use the Tab when on the bike, but it also means that the thing will flap from side to side whenever you turn a corner.

Ridiculous as this implementation is, tablet on a bike are actually a pretty good idea. The big screen and long, long battery life make the iPad a great handlebar HUD, GPS tracker and general mapping device. I currently tuck mine into a handlebar bag, but that means reaching in every time you need to use it. Better would be a proper handlebar mount.

I’m in the middle of building a touring bike (Surly Long Haul Trucker framer and Shimano Alfine 11 hub, as you’re asking) and I have a feeling that the iPad might neatly be stowed in the map-case attachment for the Ortlieb handlebar bag. Full report if that works out. In the meantime, ZooGue’s three-ring binder adapter for the iPad might let you replicate Samsung’s shenanigans yourself.

Samsung Bike [14 Bike Co via Bike Biz]

See Also:

• Horn Bike: iPhone Speaker and Bike Mount Combined
• Photo: iPad Powers BMX Bike-Stereo
• Sprocket Pocket: iPad Turn-Signal for Cyclists

This gorgeous, burrito-like tool roll would make a great DIY project

A tool roll has got to be just about the simplest and most practical way to carry tools. And if its this roll from Mopha, it’s also the most stylish.

The roll is made from waxed canvas with leather trim, and unfurls to reveal ten variously-sized pockets. Slide in your biking essentials — even your spare tube — and roll. The pockets keep everything in place, and a supplied leather toe-strap performs double duty in cinching shut the roll and strapping it to the saddle rails.

You could also drop it into a bottle cage, or even just use it to keep things tidy inside panniers or a messenger bag. The roll costs just $42, from maker ehworks on Etsy.

Too much for you? Few things have DIY written on them as big as this one, and with a sewing machine and a little time, and a few scraps of fabric scratched up from the back of a closet, you’ll be in business. I’m going to make one today — with one modification: a couple of belt loops on the outside to stop this canvas burrito from slipping out when I’m riding.

The Mopha Tool Roll [Etsy via Werd]

See Also:

• Timbuk2 Tool-Shed Tool-Bag
• Soft Screwdriver Combines Tool and Bag
• Hands-On: Surly Jethro Tule Bike Wrench and Beer Opener …