Hasta La Gadget!

Remember the Nike+ run-tracking dongle for fitness nerds? Well, remembering it is pretty much all you’ll have to do from now on, as it just became obsolete: Nike has all but replaced it with software.

Available now in the App Store, the big change in Nike+ GPS is right there in its name. The new app uses the GPS radio in compatible iDevices to track your runs and plot them on a map, and also uses the accelerometer in the iPhone to record your pace. Because it uses the accelerometer to track your steps, it also works with the iPod Touch, although no maps will be displayed as you run. You could even use it on the iPad, although you’d look pretty stupid.

One of the best parts of the whole Nike+ setup is the online tracking of your progress, and that now comes to the local app, letting you browse previous runs and then also sharing them with the existing Nike+ site. In fact, the only possible reason you might still spend $29 on the Nike+ shoe-dongle is to use it with the iPod Nano (the new, squared-off Nano still works with the Nike+, despite being shorn of many other functionalities).

The price for this software-only solution? Just $2. I suggest you take the $27 you just saved and spend it on beer and burgers. You earned it.

Nike+ GPS [iTunes]

See Also:

• Nike+ Heart-Rate Monitor On Sale June 1st
• Adidas miCoach App Sets Sights Square on Nike+
• The Nike Experiment: How the Shoe Giant Unleashed the Power of …
• Swimsense Stroke-Counter is Like a Nike+ for Swimmers
• RunKeeper Is a “Nike+” for, Runners, Cyclists and More

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Arc Touch Mouse Promotional Photo from Microsoft.com

Microsoft has made two new controllers — one for your computer, one for your XBox 360 — that can switch into different shapes depending on your needs or preferences. The well-leaked, much-anticipated Arc Touch Mouse is shipping now; the new wireless XBox Play and Charge kit will be out stateside in November.

Exactly a month ago, Microsoft Hardware teased their new mouse on Twitter with a partial image and a riddle/tagline: “Don’t be so touchy… flat is where it’s at.” Most people guessed it was a new mouse or trackpad, but as John Paczkowski noted, “the composite image also looks like the back of a smartphone or media player…or a remote control…or an electric razor…or a pancake griddle.” What was this new mystery device?

Well, it’s a highly mobile, lightweight, touch-sensitive mouse that arcs to fit in the palm of your hand while you’re using it and packs flat so you can stuff it in a pocket on the go. It’s targeted for laptop users who don’t like their always-flat trackpads.

In a press release titled “Think the Mouse is Dead?“, Microsoft Hardware’s Brett Ostrum wrote that even as trackpads and other input devices have evolved, the market for mice has only grown: “The reasons people need external mice will not change: comfort and precision.”

There are some nice concessions to the trackpad model here, though: the Arc Touch has a touch strip instead of a scroll wheel. Instead of a perfectly smooth drag, the strip vibrates to simulate to simulate a wheel’s click-click bumps. I hope you can toggle this feature on and off — I imagine some people enjoy, or at least have gotten accustomed to, the finger-on-glass feel of a trackpad or touchscreen.

(Here’s a promotional video of the Arc Touch in action. If only Microsoft could invent a Silverlight video that could flat-pack into HTML 5 for easy embedding!)

The XBox 360 has a new wireless controller, too, but its flat-packing profile tweak is more subtle. Its directional pad can pop up into a “plus” for raised directional controls, or snap flush into a “disc” for easy Street Fighter II-style thumb-drag joystick moves. (Sorry for the outdated game reference. I’m old.)

There are plenty of other nice things in this model, including wireless (of course) and a new silver-gray look. But I think the versatility of the d-pad is the real item of interest here. As we start using remotes for game consoles to do more and more things, whether as media players or web browsers, we’re going to want controllers that can morph to match.

See Also:

• Hands On: Xbox Kinect Games Give You a Serious Workout
• Why Xbox Might Be Microsoft's Future — and Computing's, Too …
• Apple Redefines Remote Control — Now, It's Your Cellphone
• Poof! After Wireless, the Computer Mouse Turns Invisible
• Toe-Mouse for Foot-Controlled Computing
• Wired 13.06: The Xbox Reloaded

What do you think about this little iPad stand, called the PadFoot? The tiny slug of plastic has a single slot that holds the tablet by just one corner, or it can be slid underneath to angle the touch-screen up for typing. It is surely a very minimal design, but it looks like it may also offer minimal support.

You need a fairly hefty chunk of plastic to keep the iPad stable when upright, as I found when testing the MoviePeg for the iPad. The MoviePeg consists of two similarly-functioning wedges, and despite being bigger and doubling up on pieces, it had a hard time with anything but a shallow angle in landscape-orientation. I have some trouble believing that the PadFoot could do any of what it seems to be managing in the photos, unless it has a very tight fit.

The price, too, is as steep as the iPad in the pictures: $30. Part of this is explained by the fact that it comes from fab-to-order shop Shapeways, and is therefore 3D-printed on demand but hell, the MoviePeg costs just $20, and there are two pieces.

The most minimal stand is, of course, no stand, and that’s what I use. The Joby Gorillapod which I always carry in my bag is still the best iPad stand I have used, and it does a whole lot more besides.

PadFoot stand for iPad [Michiel Cornelissen]

See Also:

• How-To: Gorillapod Doubles as Awesome iPad Stand
• Compass, an Elegant Fold-Up Stand for iPad
• Genius: FridgePad Turns iPad into Giant Fridge-Magnet
• Hands-On With the MoviePeg for iPad

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Combined with a party-keg, Griffin’s recently-outed Party Dock for the iPad should make some great, well, parties. As long as you like quiz games, that is.

Thanks to an FCC filing, the iPad accessory was leaked last week and Griffin quickly took control of the situation. Now you can read preliminary details and sign up for future updates at the site. So just what is the Party Dock? It’s a dock for the iPad which has four wireless controllers (hence the FCC filing) letting up to four people play games at once. Because four heads squeezed around one ten-inch screen is a little crowded, the dock also hooks into a big-screen via composite and component video connections.

Games will have to be custom-designed for the dock, and developers can sign up with Griffin already. The controllers are simple, with four directional buttons, a central buttons and one more back button. In terms of layout, the controllers are identical to Apple’s IR remote. This design clearly lends itself more to trivia games than four-way shoot-em’ups.

The dock also supports regular video, so you can watch movies and YouTube on your big-screen TV, as well as photo slideshows and music. There is no launch date or price available yet, as the leak came a lot earlier than Griffin expected. That early-outing will have one advantage at least: now the developers know about it, there may even be a good game lineup at launch.

Griffin Party Dock [Griffin]

See Also:

• Screenshots From a Full-Screen iPad Game
• IPad Game Accessories Already Appearing
• Wiimote-Controlled SNES Emulator on iPad

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Gary Fong, the company behind those plastic-cup-like attachments you see atop many a photojournalist’s flashguns, has come up with an iPhone 4 tripod mount. The plastic adapter looks like it was given roughly a minute’s thought before a back-of-the-napkin sketch was put into production.

Thanks to the squared-off shape of the iPhone 4, almost no custom-shaping is needed to make a snug-fitting holder. Thus, Fong’s adapter is little more than a C-shaped plastic strip with a metal tripod-bush in the base. That is it, and it’s just the kind of thing that you’d make were you scratching around the junk-drawer for a home-made solution.

But despite its basic design and almost complete lack of fancifying, it could be the most practical iPhone tripod mount we’ve seen. There is no need for suction cups, permanently-attached stick-on adapters or even damage-inviting dock-connectors. You simply slip the iPhone in when you need to take a steady picture. Easy. The adapter should be live on the Fong site on Friday September 3rd for $20.

One final thing: The product pictures raise one really big question. Just where on Earth did Gary Fong get ahold of a white iPhone 4?

Fong website [Gary Fong. Thanks, Zach!]

See Also:

• At Last, An iPhone Tripod Adapter
• Gorillacam, A Tripod Application for iPhone
• XShot: A Rather Painful-Looking iPhone Tripod Case
• Shaky-Cam: DIY Bike Tripod
• Joby Announces 'New' Gorillamobile Cellphone Tripod
• Camera 'Security' Locks from Gary Fong

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.