Sep 01

VooMote Zapper, a Non-Ugly iPhone Remote Dongle

Posted in: Accessories and Peripherals, iPhone, Today's Chili

The best thing about the VooMote Zapper is that it isn’t ugly. Photo Zero1

The VooMote Zapper is a remote-control adapter dongle for the iPhone that has one major advantage over all other such dongles: it isn’t hideously ugly. The tiny “paperclip-sized” widget plugs into the iPhone’s dock connector and works with a companion app to control any device in your home. Or at least any device that already has a remote — it won’t work with your oven, for instance.

Adding to the visual appeal, the VooMote can also be had in a rainbow of color options with matching with matching bumper-style cases.

The good looks extend to the software, usually a throwback to the bad old days when smartphones actually had their own IR ports. The interface is clean and dark, and you can customize everything, including button positions. There’s also a TV guide which lets you search for shows right there.

I don’t know if I could be bothered to attach a dongle every time I wanted to watch TV (even if I had a TV), but I’d sure dedicate my battered old iPod Touch to the job, especially as it is already used as a remote for AirTunes.

The VooMote Zapper will launch soon, for an as-yet unannounced price.

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Sep 01

Bamboo iPad 2 Cases Almost As Skinny As The iPad Within

Posted in: Accessories and Peripherals, ipad, Today's Chili

Despite chugging free Coors every day, the folks at Blackbox Case still turn out these beautiful bamboo cases

What material could possibly be light and strong enough to make a hard-shell case for the skinny iPad 2? According to the folks at Blackbox cases in Golden, Colorado, that material is bamboo.

Previously we covered the Blackbox oak MacBook case in these very pages, but Greg and Anthony at Blackbox have moved onto more sustainable and better-looking Bamboo. Your iPad 2 slides into the case and is secured there with a laser-cut leather strap. The iPad will fit in with or without its Smart Cover.

All this is even more amazing when you consider that Golden is also the home of Coors beer, and the pair regularly hold “meetings” at the brewery where they get free beer. It’s a wonder the cases ever get made.

Unlike the iPad, the Bamboo Blackbox isn’t cheap at $100, but it is hand made. And the boys are getting ready to make bamboo cases for MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs, and are currently soliciting help via Kickstarter. Here you’ll find the iPad 2 cases for $80, and the MacBook cases starting at $100.

I think they look great. I’m currently on my second iPad 2 (the first one was replaced by Apple thanks to a faulty microphone), and it already has two dented corners and a scratched screen. I should probably think about one of these cases.

Blackbox Bamboo iPad 2 case [Blackbox Case. Thanks, Greg!]

Bamboo Blackbox Cases [Kickstarter]

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Aug 31

Stickers Turn Magic Trackpad into Magic Numpad

Posted in: Accessories and Peripherals, Today's Chili

Using just expensive stickers, the Numpad turns your trackpad into a numeric pad

I love to use a number pad to enter lots of data, but I hate having a giant keyboard which forces my Magic Trackpad too far off to the right. So I put up with the regular number row and curse every time I need to type numbers longer than one digit.

Now, though, I can press my Magic Trackpad into action as a numerical keypad with Mobee’s Magic Numpad, a horribly-named accessory which lets the Trackpad do double (or actually quadruple) duty.

Numpad consist of three stick-on films which you can apply to the pad. These are overlays showing a plain number pad, a number pad plus the pointless other keys usually found in this section of a keyboard, and a number pad with a set of customizable keys. These works in combo with software which maps the positions of these virtual keys and turns your presses into the correct output.

The software is free, although you can only get it when you spend the $30 for the overlays. This strikes me as rather expensive given that you can buy USB number pads for less. I’ll tell you what, Mobee: sell me the software for $5 and I’ll grab a Sharpie and mark up the trackpad myself. Deal?

The Magic Numpad [Mobee via Mac Stories and TIMN]

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Aug 31

Ultimate SleeveCase Fits Any Tablet, Even Ones You Haven’t Heard Of

Posted in: Accessories and Peripherals, Tablets and E-Readers, Today's Chili

This is the rare, little-seen Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet next to a case that fits it perfectly. Photo SF Bags

As a Gadget Lab reader, its likely that you are a nerd. In which case, you may be one of the three or four people who bought a Motorola Xoom, BlackBerry Playbook, or a Galaxy Tab. Or perhaps you are unlucky enough to have ask your significant other to buy you an iPad as a gift, only to receive a fire-sale HP TouchPad instead (hint: divorce the cheapskate right now).

If so, then this post is for you. Waterfield Designs will sell you the Ultimate SleeveCase, a padded envelope-style case available in myriad sizes to fit pretty much any tablet or “slate.”

The case is made from ballistic nylon (the tough one that goes fluffy if you rub it a lot, not the thin one that tears) and has a soft, screen-cleaning Ultrasuede lining. A flap shuts the tablet in, and a stiffened insert protects the screen.

You can also opt for leather trim, or a strap, or just eyelets for a strap.

But more interesting is the range of tablets that are listed on the sizing chart, some of which you may never have heard of. Fujitsu Q550? Check. Acer Iconia Tab A500? It’s there. Samsung Sliding PC 7? What?

The bags run from $52 to $57, depending on size, plus $5 for leather trim and from $5 to $22 for strap options. If you have the TouchPad, that might just come out at more than you paid for the tablet.

Tablet Ultimate SleeveCase [SF Bags. Thanks, Heidi!]

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Aug 30

Wacom Inkling Brings Ctrl-Z to Paper Drawings

Posted in: Accessories and Peripherals, Today's Chili

Inkling turns your scribblings into bitmap and vector files

Inkling is Wacom’s latest digital drawing tool and, frankly, it looks amazing. Inkling consists of a special ink pen and a detector device which digitizes anything you draw on paper and lets you send it to your computer. This is nothing new — just yesterday I wrote about a the Apen for Android devices. But there’s a reason Wacom is at the top of the pen tablet market: it does these things better than anyone else. Take a look:

Assuming that the Inkling works as well as it seems to do in the video, there are a few things that stand out here. First is that the pen is pressure sensitive (with 1024 levels), so the lines that end up on your computer should have the same weight as those you make on the paper. Second is layers. Tap a button to start a new layer. On paper. That’s pretty amazing right there.

Finally, you can import your drawing into Adobe Illustrator as a vector file. Frikkin’ vectors! This means that you can bend and tweak the individual strokes of your ink drawing as much as you like. It also means that you could scale up a tiny doodle and print it onto a billboard with no loss in quality.

Once done, the resulting files can be opened in Photoshop, Illustrator, Autodesk Sketchbook or Sketchbook Designer on the Mac or PC. And even the case design is clever: The pen sits inside the oversized hinge, and the case itself is the charger (three hours of charging gives eight hours of use).

It’s not often I go out and buy something I write about here on Gadget Lab, but I’m ordering one of these as soon as they start to ship in September. Sure, it costs $200, but it’s my birthday soon.

Inkling product page [Wacom]

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Aug 30

JawBone Icon HD And Its New Friend, The Nerd

Posted in: Accessories and Peripherals, Today's Chili

JawBone’s Icon gets a bigger speaker and a new friend — the Nerd. Photo credit JawBone

You’re still going to look like a total dork if you wear it, but at least you won’t go crazy with frustration when you use the new JawBone Icon HD Bluetooth headset, and its accompanying dongle, the Nerd.

The Icon HD is the same as the existing Icon, only with a bigger, better speaker inside — hence the “HD” moniker. You can connect to two devices at once (like JawBone’s JamBox speaker), letting you stream music from your laptop and also answer incoming calls from your phone. You can also add the same DialApps (actual applications) and AudioApps (voices that read out status and caller ID) as with the old Icon.

But the big difference is the Icon’s plucky sidekick, the Nerd. This brings an instant Bluetooth hookup. Plug it into a computer’s USB port and it will automatically register as a USB audio device. And because it is already paired with the Icon, you don’t need to do bothersome pairing every time you use a new machine.

The Icon HD comes bundled with the Nerd and can be had for $140. Now, if only JawBone would make a pair of stereo headphones already.

JawBone product page [JawBone. Thanks, Eva!]

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Aug 30

Horizon, The Minimalist iPad Wall Mount

Posted in: Accessories and Peripherals, ipad, Today's Chili

Sleek, simple and elegant, the Horizon echoes the iPad it supports

Just Mobile, the folks behind the chinky Alupen iPad stylus and its accompanying orifice the AluCube, have come up with a handsome, minimal iPad wall mount.

It’s called the Horizon, and it looks like one. Unlike other iPad wall mounts, this one doesn’t require screwing a huge, dorky-looking saucer to the wall first. Instead, you hang a minimal aluminum bar. This bar has bevelled edges, and the main part of the stand slides over this and holds dovetails into place.

The front section is equally minimal, comprising a rubber-lined channel into which the iPad slides. Rubber linings are supplied for the iPads 1 and 2, and there’s a rubber nubbin front and center that will push the home button when you press it. There’s also a hole in the bottom of the u-section bracket through which the dock connecter will fit.

The Horizon goes for $50. I’d totally pay that if it also came with a big fat magnet to mount it on my fridge.

Horizon product page [Just Mobile. thanks, Erich!]

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Aug 29

Apen Writes On Paper, Smartphones, Tablets

Posted in: Accessories and Peripherals, Android, BlackBerry, ipad, Today's Chili

You write on paper, and the Apen A3 sends your doodles and writing to your smartphone

Apen is a neat and simple take on getting paper notes into your computer, phone or tablet. It comes in four somewhat confusing models, named A1 to A4, but it’s the last two that we’re interested in, as they work with the iPhone and iPad (A4) and Blackberry/Android devices (A3).

The kit consists of an electronic pen that contains real ink, and a receiver. You place the receiver up at the top of the paper and write or draw. The receiver records your scribblings and either beams them direct to your computer, phone or tablet, or you can hook the receiver up later via USB to copy everything across. The unit can remember the content of up to around 100 pages, so you can write most of a (short) book before needing to dump the data.

When hooked directly up to a computer, the pen can act as a mouse (there’s a button on the side for clicking), and using companion software you can scribble and draw on photos, too. But the point here is that you can write and draw on paper and later everything is available in software.

The main difference between the A3 and A4 (apart from their device compatibly) is that the A3 includes Bluetooth for sending your notes direct to your Android or Blackberry in real time. I have settled on writing directly onto my iPad using a stylus, and snapping photos of anything I write on paper and sending it to Evernote for handwriting recognition. For people who still use a lot of paper, though, the Apen looks to be worth a try. $130 (and cheaper for the computer-only versions).

Apen product page [Apen USA. Thanks, Susan!]

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Aug 26

Stick-On Cardstick, One Twelfth of a Yardstick

Posted in: Accessories and Peripherals, Today's Chili

Turn anything into a measuring stick with the three-inch Cardstick

Many things claim to be credit-card sized, but none can be more perfectly exact than the Cardstick, a ruler that sticks onto your actual credit card, and is therefore atom-for-atom the exact same size as that card (if you ignore the fact that it adds a little depth to one end of the card).

Further, because the Cardstick is a ruler, you can measure other objects which claim to be “credit-card sized” and verify their credentials.

The Cardstick is a self-adhesive vinyl sticker that wraps around the edge of the credit card, offering three inches worth of graduated measurement, with centimeters on the other side for people who care how long things really are.

You’re not limited to credit cards, either. The sticker can be stuck on any available flat object. A phone would be handy, as would a camera, paper notebook or anything else you always carry with you. And if you’re happy with knowing only that it measures more than three inches, you could always stick it on your [Enough! -Ed].

The Cardstick is available now, for $5.

Cardstick product page [Cardstick via Oh Gizmo!]

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Aug 25

Heated Bike Grips Keep the Feeling In Your Fingers

Posted in: Accessories and Peripherals, luxury, Today's Chili

It’s winter, and you’re on your bike. The snow is coming down, the wind is finding its way in through even the tiniest gaps in your clothing, and it is bitterly cold. Thanks to your heated handlebar grips, though, you hands and fingers remain soft and warm.

Then, the batteries fail, and the temperatures plunge as fast as the shrinking current. Your digits begin to ice up…

This is the nightmare scenario only possible if you spent $200 on a pair of A’ME Heated Grips, the bike equivalent of those heated hair-rollers. If only you’d thought to buy waterproof, thermal gloves instead, you might save your now frostbitten fingers.

The kit consists of a pair of temperature-controlled grips, adjustable to any of six heat settings, along with a battery pack (you’ll have to find somewhere to put this), the mounting system, cables and battery charger. Should you have more than one bike, you can just buy an extra pair of grips for $80.

These grips are for a mountain bike, although a set of heated wraps for drop bars is coming in September.

Of course, if you need heated grips, you’re almost certainly wearing gloves too, and there’s nothing less pleasant when riding a bike than frozen fingers. Yes, a good pair of gloves is fine, even in the coldest of Berlin winters. But if you’re up on a mountainside and the correct flick of a brake lever is the difference between staying on the bike and tumbling into a snowy crevasse, then warm, responsive fingers might be essential. Available now.

Heated bike grips [A’ME via Urban Velo]

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