Hasta La Gadget!

Welcome to the modern boombox, a brightly colored speaker from KAKKOii (Japanese for “cool”) that connects with Bluetooth and goes by the name WOW! This speaker is also known as Without Wires and – surprise – connects directly to your smart device with Bluetooth and plays all the audio you want, like mad! The biggest draws you’re about to see here are durability, uniqueness in form factor, and sound power.

The first thing you should look for in a Bluetooth speaker such as this is one of two things – depending on what kind of person you are, you may want to start by seeking out the unique factor. The WOW speaker has that – it’s got a bit of a rounded triangular base, silicone surrounding most of its body in one of five different solid colors, and is really, really comfortable to hold in your hand. It’s made to be a sort of Art Object, looking nice on your modern desktop or peeking out of your backpack.

The second thing you should look for – or you could alternately look for, of course, if you only need one greatness – is sound quality. This device blows the hinges off your bicycle with 85 db sound output – that’s enough to fill a small room full of college students without a doubt. And also if you are planning on tossing it into a room with a load of college students, you’ll rest easy knowing that its mainly silicone coating makes it extremely durable.

This speaker doesn’t come with any damage-proof guarantee, but we’ve dropped it more than once and haven’t even heard a skip in the connection to our wireless devices, much less felt it break. The WOW speaker has a built-in rechargeable battery that’ll last you around 4 hours, and certainly no more than 5 hours if you’re lucky – by our tests, anyway. You’ll recharge the battery via a miniUSB port in the base, this being the only open place on the speaker besides the speaker grille on the other end inside the horn.

The Bluetooth range on this little monster is between 9-10 meters, that being right around a fabulous 33-feet just so long as you don’t have a bunch of walls blocking your way. If you’re connected with your iPhone to this machine and get an incoming call, you can rely on its auto-silence mode while you’re taking the call and the auto-play mode when you’re done – simple built-in excellence!

So here’s the decision you’re making when you’re deciding if you want to purchase the KAKKOii WOW speaker: first, you’ve got to consider that they’re going to cost you £55.00 (VAT included) or NZ$99.95 – depending on which of the two countries this device exists in today you’re purchasing one from. If you’re from the United States, you’ll want to consider that this unit will cost you right around $80 USD if you import it. Therein lies the second factor – do you want to import it? You may just want to wait for it to blow up in popularity so rapidly it hits the US shores in the spring of 2013.

Then there’s this factor: do you really want a Bluetooth speaker you can toss across the apartment and not have to worry about busting into a million pieces? Yes, yes you do – and with audio power to back it up, audio power like this, you’ll be glad you picked up a WOW. It’s fun, it’s pretty, and it works great!

KAKKOii WOW Bluetooth speaker Review is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Whether you need to stay hydrated or you’re just a drunk, you should have a flask. But if you find that carrying one is inconvenient, then you might want to wear one instead. We have the FlaskTie for the guys, and now the Flask Bangle for the ladies.

These Flask Bangles were designed by none other than Cynthia Rowley. Those who fancy accessories like these and those who love the fact that it’s actually more than just a bracelet will love them. Unfortunately, the $225 fashion accessory is currently sold out (yes, it’s that popular) but you can sign up to get in-stock notifications.

Women who aren’t into huge, chunky accessories might want to skip this, though, and stick with actual flasks they can hold and carry instead.

[via Bit Rebels]

In this day and age where virtually anything and everything is being turned into phone cases, it was only a matter of time before we saw a couple inspired by a lot of people’s favorite seafood: lobsters.

While I’ve seen cases with images of lobsters plastered all over them, this one-ups all of them by being a case that’s in the form of a real lobster.

Flip it over and you just might cause the people in the office to panic because there’s a lobster on the loose!

The case was designed by Noddy Boffin as a modern day tribute to Salvador Dali’s absurd Lobster Telephone – and while it’s not available for purchase, it’s still one awesome case for show (but it’s not very awesome when it comes to compactness or portability.)

[via LikeCool]

It’s time again to bring on the fashion-forward collections of Moshi, that accessory maker that’s made some of our favorite Apple-loving cases and coats of all kinds over the past year. The folks at Moshi have today announced three new products, each of them working with a different appendage of yours – starting with Digits. With the Digits touchscreen-capable gloves, you’ll be tapping away not only with warm fingers, but with a user-friendly amount of fit for all sizes – dual-layered with conductive fibers in each fingertip.

Digits features a new solution for glove-wearing touchscreen-loving individuals with what they call GripTalk – this is a silicone pattern that sits inside of each glove for both right and left-handed users, this working well with the gloves’ microfleece inner lining. Available in both dark gray and light gray – hot!

Next there’s the iGlaze for MacBook Pro with Retina Display. This unit you’ll recognize from our iGlaze for MacBook Air and iPad 3 review from earlier this year. This is a precision-tooled polycarbonate hardshell case made to be durable, lightweight, thin, and “nearly scratch-proof.” So they say. It’s actually rougher and tougher than you’ll be able to break through, they’re mostly just saying that just IN CASE you come in contact with a lightsaber.

Finally there’s the Overture, a fabulous protective case for the iPhone 5. This unit works with “all the functionalities of a slim wallet” including three slots for ID, transport, and credit cards as well as a full-length inner pocket for storage galore. This case comes with a “Neato” brand detachable and washable microfiber pad for cleaning the iPhone’s display. This case is made with a strong polycarbonate frame and lined with Moshi’s own proprietary Terahedron microfiber for fabulous protection.

The iPhone 5 case Overture is set to be available in Metallic Black, Sienna Orange, and Falcon Gray – all of which are rather smooth on the eyes and classy in the pocket. Have a peek at a few other Moshi posts we’ve had over the past few months to get a taste of what they’re all about.

Moshi dishes out accessory love for Retina MacBook Pro and iPhone 5 is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We’ve got an odd assortment of accessories for you to peek at here, most of them being cases and protections of different sorts for some of the more popular devices on the market – but there are some weird bits as well. It’s really difficult to go entirely wrong with accessories for your gift-getting-buddies as long as you know which device you’re accessorizing – and if you’re accessorizing an Apple device, it’ll be like hitting the broad side of a barn! There are so many Apple device accessories out there you’ll have an intensely difficult time not happening upon a collection at any accessory-laden store you head to. We’ve got some gems for you here, that’s for sure.

The folks at Spigen SGP have come correct time after time after time this year with accessories that several SlashGear editors are still currently using on the regular. We saw winners everywhere from the Crumena leather pouch for the HTC One X to the double-dose of Galaxy S III cases that just started the flood. What Spigen SGP really brings the fire with – and something we basically guarantee will make your gift-opener say “oh this is weird and awesome” is the glass cover collection. It’s literally a pane of glass that protects the glass that’s already protecting your smartphone’s display – have a peek at our experience with the GLASt for iPad as well as the GLASt and Ultimate Class for iPhone 4S, not to mention the brand new GLAS.tR for iPhone 5 – they make a beastly collection of Galaxy S III screen protectors as well – thick and curved, even!

Also for the iPhone 5 as well as the 4 and 4S you’ll want to peek at the super odd and undeniably cute LOOP Mummy case – out for iPhone 5 immediately if not soon, mind you. For the pop-top bottle lovers out there – root beer, of course – there’s intoxicase with built-in cap opener. The most unique back-plate protection we saw this year has to have been the SkinIt etched metal plate for the back of the iPhone 4S – weird and wild! Both the Acradie and the Element Case Vapor Dock are iPhone accessories you’ll not know how you lived without, and the lovely Brookstone HDMI Pocket Projector for your iOS devices will bring you hours of giant projected light joy.

As for the iPad and its accessory collection that simply does not stop, you’ll want to start with the most hardcore carrying case that exists for the beast – the G-Form Extreme Portfolio Case complete with massive drop-tests from many stories up above the surface of the earth. The folks at Griffin have been working with the designers at Threadless to create some lovely iPad cases too – though not exactly outer-space ready, if you’re in to that sort of thing. Both the Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover and the Brookstone Bluetooth Keyboard Pro for iPad have been treating us well throughout the year. If you’re just in the market for a unique sort of stand for your tablet (and it doesn’t just have to be the iPad), you’ll want to check out the Octa iPad Whale Tail kit.

Another special mention goes out to Moshi, a brand we first laid eyes on earlier this year at CTIA 2012. The folks at Moshi create both accessories and stand-alone products that enhance your mobile experience as well as your notebook action, with everything from clear cases for your MacBook Air and iPad to a versatile collection of iPhone 5 cases of all shapes and sizes. They’re responsible for what was easily the most unique case/cover combo with the iGlaze Versacover for iPad – complete with magnets – and they’ve even got under-MacBook cooling fans, too – and they work well!

SlashGear 2012 Holiday Gift Guide: Accessories is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.