Hasta La Gadget!

Gadget bags and cases are almost uniformly hideous. Made from neoprene, nylon and brightly-colored fabrics, they offer protection at the expense of style. Dressing well and toting a notebook or cellphone inside a standard bag is like turning up to a wedding wearing a tailored suit with a ski-jacket.

The alternatives are usually expensive. These cases, though, from Saddleback Leather, are both reasonably priced and gorgeous. Made from heavy, good-quality leather, they’re guaranteed for 100 years, so they’ll still be with you when your face starts to look like your laptop bag. And the prices? Amazingly, pretty low. The iPad sleeve, seen above with a couple of smaller pouches perched on top, is just $55.

But best of all is the website. There is a page titled “Our Rivals“, which is a list of links to other leather-makers’ sites. The FAQ is probably worth sending off to your Instapaper to read later. Some examples:

How can I get ink off of my leather?

Well, you’re pretty much screwed. One person said that hairspray worked to get their ink out, but there’s something cooler you can do. Take it to a tattoo artist and have him make a sun or cross or something like that with it. It’ll look cool and you’ll have a good story too.

and from the warranty details:

Saddleback Leather products are made to last a lifetime, but the warranty does not cover misuse or abuse such as the following: Like if you take it shark diving in salt water (see video) and a rivet corrodes.

These are the kind of people I like to do business with. All products available now, with international shipping. And if you can’t choose what color you want, there’s even a personality test to help you decide.

Gadget Pouches [Saddleback Leather via Uncrate]

HyperMac, the company that almost single-handedly silenced the handful of people who complained about the MacBook’s lack of a swappable battery, has updated its battery-bricks to juice the iPad.

The HyperMacs are external batteries which can power your MacBook for up to 34 hours via a MagSafe adapter actually clipped from a real Apple power-brick (Apple doesn’t license the design). They also have USB ports to recharge other gadgets, and these have now been upgraded to supply the 10 watts needed by the iPad.

This means that, if you go for the top-end, 4.7-pound, 222 watt-hour HyperMac then you can get a 99 hours of use from an iPad. That’ll cost you $500. For “just” $200, the far more sensible 60 watt-hour version – which weighs in at 0.8-pounds – will give you a total of 34 hours, more than enough for a weekend away.

The HyperMacs are available now, with a wait of a couple of weeks for delivery. With any luck, if you order one today it should turn at the same time as your equally delayed iPad order.

HyperMac batteries [HyperMac via MacWorld]

Novatel’s little MiFi, the personal 3G router that turns a cell-signal into a Wi-Fi hotspot, is about to jump on the App Store train. Applications for the device will be sold by PocketGear, which is billing itself as an iTunes-like store, but is really just a big website that sells software for smartphones.

The MiFi is a surprise winner in the iPad accessory market. Many people are opting for the portable router over a 3G iPad. Sure, you almost always need to sign up for a monthly plan, but you can share the connection with any of your devices, from laptop to iPod.

So what can we expect? The press release is vague, with nuggets like this: “[I]ts onboard Web server enables the MiFi to connect to remote data locations, retrieve data and present it to the user either online or offline.” That web-server will enable things like BitTorrent clients, download management (continuing to pull down content even when you power-down your computer) and even logging your position using GPS, so you could geo-tag your photos later.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen “apps” on the MiFi. Back in March, Novatel added a media-server to the device, allowing you to stream movies from the MiFi’s microSD card to, say, an iPod Touch. This was courtesy of a firmware update, though, rather than a purchased application.

The launch date of the new store is as yet unannounced. One thing we do know, though, is that that the $130 premium for the 3G iPad might be better spent elsewhere.

MiFi App Store Press release [PR Newswire. Thanks, Kevin!]

See Also:

• MiFi Plus iPod Touch (Almost) Equals iPhone
• Hands-On With The MiFi Personal Hotspot
• MiFi Update Adds Movie and Music Streaming
• Blazing-Fast 4G MiFi Could Replace Your Home Connection
• Mifi-hunter

Photo: Charlie Sorrel

Today, I’m going to show you three new devices. A Bluetooth keyboard, an iPad case, and a stand. A keyboard, a case, and a stand. Keyboard. Case. Stand. Are you getting it yet?

I apologize for the Jobsnote iPhone parody, but the best way to think about the ClamCase is as a replacement for three otherwise separate iPad accessories. Because if you think of it as what it actually is – a box which turns your iPad into a barely functional laptop – you’ll hate it.

The ClamCase has a bay up top to accept your new Apple media-slab, and a Bluetooth keyboard down below. The bezel has cut-outs for the various buttons and the two halves are held together with a wraparound hinge which can flip 360-degrees to either encase the iPad or get entirely out of the way.

Yes, it is ridiculous to try to turn a specialist machine into an all-purpose computer, especially as you’ll be reaching up every few seconds to tap the screen. On the other hand, it does combine three popular accessories into one sleek (and currently CGI-only) package. The site is down due to traffic right now, but if Google’s cached pages are anything to go by, the price will be a more-than-reasonable $70. Video promo below.

ClamCase [ClamCase via Twitter]

As beautiful as they may be, virtual keyboards can’t replace the speed and precision of typing on physical keys. If you actually plan on doing work on an iPad, you should probably buy Apple’s integrated keyboard-and-dock.

Once you attach your iPad to the dock, you can begin typing in basically any app that has a text field: e-mails, URL addresses, documents, etc. No setup is required. If you want, you can plug your iPad power cable into the back of the dock to charge your iPad while you type, but it works just fine even if the keyboard’s not plugged into a power source.

I’ve had some time to test the iPad keyboard for the past few days, and the experience is quite liberating. Without modesty, I’ll admit I’m a really fast typist (180 WPM is my max), and typing on the iPad’s soft virtual keyboard was daunting and error-prone.

The addition of a physical keyboard transforms the iPad from a couch-surfing media device into a lean-forward productivity tool. I particularly enjoy using the keyboard for chatting, writing e-mails and paying bills: Punching in credit card numbers and addresses with a virtual keyboard is a huge pain in the butt.

The experience, however, is still slightly awkward compared to typing with a traditional computer keyboard. Though the keyboard dock is designed specifically for the iPad — including keys to launch the Home screen or a Spotlight search — there are some functions that don’t work with the keyboard. For example, in a drop-down menu, you can’t use the arrow keys to move up or down the items in the menu; you have to just tap the touchscreen.

Apple did say during its iPhone OS 4 event that improved keyboard integration is coming in the next OS, so one hopes these issues will be resolved.

I also think it’s particularly disappointing that you can’t dock the iPad horizontally onto the keyboard to view the screen in landscape mode. The iPad’s only docking port is under its Home button, meaning the only way you can plug it into the keyboard dock is in vertical mode.

A lot of apps that involve typing, such as IM+ or even Apple’s Mail app, look a lot better in landscape mode, and it’s a shame we can’t use them that way when docking on the keyboard. I’m typing this blog post on the iPad docked on the keyboard, and I gotta say: Writing in a portrait-oriented screen is weird.

Although the keyboard will enhance your productivity on the iPad, it won’t completely solve the tablet’s shortcomings as a work device. Any app you open takes up the entire screen. Not being able to view other media and notes while writing a blog post like this one, for example, feels stifling.

Apple has announced multitasking is coming to iPhone OS 4, which will partly address the problem, because you’ll be able to switch between apps much faster.

Bottom line: For what the keyboard dock does, it’s pretty pricey at $70. Apple’s wired keyboard for Macs costs $50, and I would hope the iPad keyboard matches that price tag at some point. Nonetheless, I think this is a crucial buy for professionals and students planning to do some serious work on their iPads.

See Also:

• Apple iPad Reaches ‘1 Million Sold’ Twice as Fast as iPhone
• Ten Things Missing From the iPad
• The Wired Tablet App: A Video Demonstration
• Can Apple’s iPad Save the Media After All?
• Apple Acknowledges iPad Wi-Fi Issues

Product Page [Apple]

Photo: Brian X. Chen/Wired.com0