Hasta La Gadget!

So ugly even its own mother is disgusted, the Alpinist will nevertheless make you love it

This hideous looks like a stoned hippy took to carving his airline seatbelt buckle with a Dremel, but if you’re a climber, you’re probably going to love it anyway. It’s called the Alpinist Case, and it protects your camera from mountains.

The case is machined from aluminum held together with stainless steel screws and filled with low-density foam. Should your camera fall, or get whacked by a passing cliff, then there’s a good chance it will survive.

But protection is pointless if you can’t get the camera out to take photos. To this end, the flip-up, clamp-shut lid can be locked down, but popped open easily. And you hang the case from your belt by a carabiner, so access is easy and fast. You can also leave the lid un-clamped and it will be held closed by magnets.

There are three sizes, from a tiny case for slim point-and-shoots up to a larger one for bigger compacts like the Leica D-Lux. You won’t be carrying an SLR in there, but then you probably don’t want to schlep a big heavy camera up a mountain anyway.

Available now (but on back order until late July), from $60 to $120.

Alpinist cases [Betashell via PetaPixel]

See Also:

• Ugly
• The (Ugly) DIY Gorillapod
• Vacuum-Packed: Waterproof Case for Tablets

Do you like the clean, classic aesthetic of book-binder style iPad cases, but also crave the utility of cases with built-in stands? Pad & Quill has you covered with its new Contega, a “bookbindery handmade” case with some fancy extras.

The Contega is made from card and leather, with a wooden interior frame to hold your iPad 2. Closed, it looks almost identical to any other bookbindery case. When you open it, though, you see that there is a second hinge around back which lets the section containing the iPad swing out. The two parts of the cover then form a triangular easel which holds the iPad up for watching movies and the like.

The pocket from Pad & Quill’s other iPad 2 case — the Octavo — has been moved from the inside cover to a hidden position behind the iPad itself. This should stop annoying flapping.

The man behind Pad & Quill, Brian Holmes, tells me that the new case holds the iPad 2 even more firmly than before. Given that the Octavo I tested is the snuggest case I have ever used, this means that you can be fairly confident that your tablet won’t take an unexpected dive.

The Contega comes in three internal color options and costs $90. Available June 23rd.

Contega [Pad & Quill. Thanks, Brian!]

See Also:

• Pad & Quill Octavo Case for iPad 2: Thinner, Lighter, Pocket-ier …
• Pad & Quill's Book-Like Cartella Case for MacBook Air
• iPad Case Smackdown: Dodocase Vs. Pad & Quill
• Moleskine

Rock out with your iPad out, with the Trubador hands-free case

At the end of a post about Pix and Stix, the conductive guitar pick and drumsticks for the iPad, I joked that “I’m sure that the inevitable guitar-shaped iPad holder is already on a designers drawing board somewhere.” Well, it turns out that this was (partially) true.

The Trubador is an iPad case which holds the tablet down where God intended all rock-and-roll instruments to be held: in front of a thrusting crotch. It’s not guitar-shaped, but that would be pretty tacky anyway. The case has two design considerations that set it apart.

The first is a pair of guitar-strap buttons for attaching it to your favorite strap. These are the same conical metal buttons you’d find on any solid-body electric guitar, and this is what lets you sling the case in front of you.

The second part is less obvious. The case folds into a triangle, making it jut out slightly from your hip. This holds the iPad at an angle so you can actually see what you are doing.

There is a second angle which lets you use the iPad on a table to watch videos, and when not in use the ramped section folds over to protect the screen. I really like that you can also just wear your iPad slung over a shoulder.

The Trubador is in the prototype stages, and you know what that means: Kickstarter. To get a case, you’ll need to pledge $40. If the designers, Casey and Pat, make it to their $15,000 goal, then you’ll get a neat Trubador case, ready for rocking out on stage with Garage Band.

Trubador: the Hands-Free iPad Case for Awesome People [Kickstarter. Thanks, Casey!]

See Also:

• Conductive Picks and Sticks for iPad Garage Band

Technically, we suppose Logitech already made a play for the tablet accessories market when it launched a rebranded Zaggmate keyboard case earlier this year, but today the peripheral manufacturer’s getting serious about slates with the launch of two new portable products. Lacking a Smart Cover to keep your iPad 2 on edge? You could try the $70 Logitech Tablet Keyboard pictured above, which comes with a hardshell sleeve that doubles as a tablet stand and dedicated iOS or Android shortcuts. The keyboard itself is slick, roomy and somewhat plasticky, with a definite Notion Ink Adam vibe. There’s also a redesigned Zaggmate, now known as the $100 Logitech Keyboard Case, which comes with “a more intuitive keyboard layout and improved keystrokes for even more comfortable typing” — a claim we weren’t able to test — as well as a rebranded $100 Logitech Z515 Bluetooth speaker system, and a $50 Bluetooth mouse. Pricey? Definitely. Worthwhile? Decide for yourself later this month, when they’re scheduled to hit shelves.

Continue reading Logitech outs a pair of keyboard cases, gets into the tablet accessories game

Logitech outs a pair of keyboard cases, gets into the tablet accessories game originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 May 2011 04:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

There’s not much to say about Pad and Quill’s Octavo for iPad 2 that I didn’t say about the first version. The case looks like a big Moleskine notebook, and the iPad is held very tightly inside by a precision cut wooden frame. But there are two reasons it’s worth a look. One, there have been some changes and two, the iPad 2 has itself changed the entire case game.

The original iPad really needed a case. Its shape and weight meant it slipped as easily from the hand as it did from the arm of the couch. Adding a case both protected it and made it easier to hold. Apple’s solution was to wrap the thing in a rubber bondage suit. It was ugly, but it worked, and it was as thin as a case could get.

But now, with its easy-to-hold new flat form, and the Smart Cover to protect and serve as a stand, many will use the iPad bareback. And while the Pad and Quill case is sturdy and very well made, putting my thin sliver of a tablet into its protective shell feels wrong. In the hand the iPad goes from being a skinny wonder to a clone of my old, fat iPad, only faster and with a worse speaker.

Still, the Octavo plays very nice with the iPad 2’s new features. There’s a hole in the back for a camera which works great. You can Instagram away with the cover in place, although you can’t fold it back around as it will then cover the hole.

There are also magnets in the cover, so that you are never bothered by the unlock screen, just like the Smart Cover. There is also a new pocket inside the front cover, for stray bits of paper. Finally, the old press-stud closure has been replaced by an elastic strip, like a Moleskine.

As for fit and finish, it’s as good as ever. The iPad is held snug, and if you should have any problems, the case ships with spare corner bumpers to pad things out. The iPad is released by pulling on a ribbon that pokes out like a bookmark.

If you want to use this style of case, the Octavo is recommended. It is solid and will outlast your iPad. Or you may choose to go commando, like me, and hang the inevitable scratches to the back of the iPad.

The Octavo os $60, and $10 extra for the version with a pocket. It comes with red, blue or green interiors.

Octavo product page [Pad & Quill]

See Also:

• Pad & Quill Octavo Case for iPad 2: Thinner, Lighter, Pocket-ier …
• iPad Case Smackdown: Dodocase Vs. Pad & Quill
• Pad & Quill's Book-Like Cartella Case for MacBook Air
• The Case: Another Beautiful Moleskine-Like iPad Case