Hasta La Gadget!

This accessory was as inevitable as the hangover that follows the annual Gadget Lab post-CES party (where we enjoy a fabulous dinner at Denny’s followed by cheap wine sipped from stolen paper-cups in the liquor-store car-park). As soon as we saw the new iPod Nano’s clock-face app, we knew there would be a wrist-strap for it. We weren’t disappointed.

The strap has the pun-tastic name Rock Band and comes from a company called iLoveHandles. The Nano can be set to use the clock as its lock-screen, so a simple touch is enough to bring up the face and check the time. The Rock Band is a wrist-strap onto which the Nano clips (it has the same clip on its back as the Shuffle) and becomes an oversized wristwatch. Well, oversized if you’re not used to hefting a tacky chunk of gold Rolex on your arm, that is.

It’s a great idea, and not really that much different than the sports armbands that have held Nanos to the upper-arms of sporty people for years. I guess that if you were actually going to listen to music while wearing this, you’d need to run the cable up a sleeve to stop it constantly snagging, but that’s not big deal.

The Rock Band is $20, and is surely only the first in what will be a rather crowded market.

Rock Band product page [iLoveHandles. Thanks, Avik!]

See Also:

• IPod Nano

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This ugly monster is either the most ridiculously niche iPad accessory yet, or it’s a photographer’s best friend. Actually, it could be both. The HyperDrive iPad Hard Drive is an external USB storage box for your tablet, holding up to 750GB of movies and photos and serving them up to the iPad via the Camera Connection Kit.

The iPad is a wonderful device for viewing photos and movies. I have the Camera Connection Kit and its a great way to check, edit and send photos when on a trip away. The problem is that even a 64GB iPad will fill up pretty quick, especially if you’re shooting a lot of RAW files.

The iPad can in fact read files from any USB drive that is formatted the right way. It needs to use the FAT 32 file system (the same as all camera memory cards use) and files need to be in a folder called DCIM. The problem is that there is a limit on the size of the drives that can be used: anything over 32GB won’t work.

The HyperDrive gets around this by only offering photos in 32GB virtual drives that the iPad can see. You load the images onto the dive itself via two card-reader slots (any card will fit) and can browse the file-structure on the built-in screen via an interface even uglier than the unit itself.

If you need something like this, then you’ll already have skipped to the link below and be ordering one. Otherwise you’ll likely be slightly bemused as to what possible point this could have. If you are in the latter group, let me give you another chuckle: the bare-box comes in at $250. Add in a 750GB hard-drive and you’re looking at $600. Ouch.

HyperMac iPad Hard Drive [HyperShop via Digital Story]

See Also:

• IPad Camera Connection Kit Supports External Hard Drives
• iPad USB Camera Connector Works With Keyboards, Audio In-Out …
• Chinese Knock-Off: Two-in-One iPad Connection Kit

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

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.