Apple iPad Gear

Digital Innovations Nest Earbud Protector Review

Unless you are a fan of stereo bluetooth headphones, you have earbuds.  With the iPhone, Android Phones, Mp3 Players and other personal audio items usually shipping with a pair of these, we all end up with at least one favorite pair.  They are the bane of our existence, and  there have been many attempts at taming these cords.  Just take a look below at the mess I usually pull out of my bag. Once I pull these out of my bag, I usually spend the next few minutes untangling them so I can use them.  Well now I, and you — if you…


Element Case Walnut Wood iPad Shell Review

I’ve made no secret of my fondness for adding wooden accessories to my iPad and iPhone over the years; I absolutely love the juxtaposition of warm wood on an otherwise industrial-styled piece of electronics. Now I think I may have found one of the most amazingly designs yet seen from one of the last places I would have thought to look. Element Case has long been known for their beautiful and functional metal and composition iPhone case designs, but nothing in their manufacturing history would have led me to expect that they would make the leap to wood. That’s why I was…


Rolling Avenue’s iCircle for the iPad 2 and New iPad Review

Doug recently pointed out in a news post that his family has moved away from using a home theater setup to watching their own content on their own devices because of their individual tastes. That got me thinking about how much of that goes on in my family. Sure, we have 55″ LCD TV in the living room, where we watch movies, sports events and other TV shows together as a family, but we all watch streaming or stored content on our iPads, too. When watching a short YouTube video, it’s second nature just to hold the iPad, watch, and…


iRig Stomp Now Available Everywhere!

When I reviewed the iRig Stomp last month, I said: It is easy to look at iRig Stomp and think ‘that’s it’? That is because ‘all’ it does is switch the signal path between using the iOS device or NOT using it. But in reality there is much more – it has to stand up to the rigors of BEING a stomp box, it has to have a clean signal path, and it needs to provide reliable functionality with all of the little extras IK Multimedia customers have come to expect. And iRig Stomp delivers admirably on all of those…


LifeProof nüüd Case for iPad Review

A few weeks ago, we brought word that LifeProof had finally released their new case for the iPad 2 and 3. Then, before it was actually shipping, we brought a first-look video. At the time, I was struck by the way in which the case was able to offer amazing protection while remaining relatively light. I finally had a chance to test and then use the LifeProof nüüd (more on the “testing” aspect in a bit) and… I’m impressed. Still, at an MSRP just south of $150, I suspect many will be hesitant to take the leap. If, however, you use…


SuperTooth MELODY Bluetooth Stereo Headphones Review

SuperTooth isn’t a well-known company here in the US. They should be. In Europe the company is extremely popular and, based on the SuperTooth Disco Bluetooth speaker we reviewed last year, they make come great products. Most recently, we’ve had a chance to check out the new SuperTooth MELODY Bluetooth Stereo headphones. These on-ear headphones are smaller than we have seen with BT on-ear products and, at $99 they have a lower price than we have seen. But at that price do they FEEL like sub-$100 headphones? Do they sound like sub-$100 headphones? Let’s take a close look. From SuperTooth:…


Oberon Design Sienna Cover for the New iPad Review

In the earliest days of bookbinding, when handmade and handcut parchment pages were sewn together and bound inside richly colored covers made of leather, it was common to see elaborate hand-tooling and metalwork on a book’s exterior. Books were rare; their contents were important and often considered precious. Decorating a book’s binding was one way for an artisan to show off his skills while honoring the importance of the book being covered. Over time, like so many other things, books became mass-produced. One of the first casualties of the publishing industry was the artistic leather binding that had once been…


aPen A5 Digital Pen Review

Many wise women have said “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” If that were a universal truth, this review would end right about… now. However, it is important for a review to clearly explain what was good or bad about the product being reviewed, so my apologies in advance, as I have very few nice things to say about the aPen. Dan- But first, let me interrupt this review to explain how the aPen came into Carly’s possession in the first place. I am a lefty with a good degree of “palm drag”…


The CruxSKUNK Wants to Make the iPad into a Laptop

Project Title: CruxSKUNK™ – Powerful iPad® Laptop Status: Open Closing Date for Funding: Wednesday Oct 3, 4:56pm URL of the Project: Find it here. From the Creatives: Turn your iPad® into a laptop: This isn’t our first rodeo. At Crux we’ve been busy making keyboard cases for your iPad® for about 2 years now. Needless to say we’ve learned a lot about design, manufacturing, and getting a product to market. The CruxSKUNK™ is the culmination of everything we’ve learned. There is essentially no other keyboard case that can touch the fit, finish, attention to aesthetics, and detail that we’ve put…


Ten One Design Magnus for iPad Review

Ten One Design has a relatively small portfolio of products, but each is designed with a great deal of thought. Today we’re going to take a look at one of their newer and more unusual products – the Magnus for iPad. The Magnus is a stand for the second or third generation iPad that seeks to make its mark by… well… not making its mark. In other words, this is an iPad stand that seeks to be as minimalistic as possible while still being quite useful. Did they succeed? Let’s take a look and then give one away! From Ten…


Evernote Page Camera Turns Your Smartphone into a Scanner

Evernote has long let you snap a picture of a page of handwritten text and save it to your Evernote account. That has always been my fallback position when I was taking notes but had left my Livescribe smartpen at home. In addition, when I was in Washington last week I didn’t bring my Livescribe pen. Instead, I typed out notes during the sessions using my iPad and Apple keyboard while the voice note recorder in Evernote was also active. It worked great and I didn’t really miss the Livescribe pen. Last week Evernote went one better and, in the process,…


The iRig Stomp Guitar Controller Review

Anyone who played guitar (or bass for that matter) in the late 1970s or early 1980s will immediately recognize the outline of the iRig Stomp (get it here)- because they had at least a couple they needed to transport everywhere with them. This involved making sure short patch cables worked, 9 volt batteries were on hand, and quite often carrying around a home-built wooden pedalboard if you were a guitarist with several so-called ‘stomp boxes’. Then came multi-effect digital pedalboards, and even microprocessor-based digital multi-effects … and along with them came prices reaching up over $400 for units from Boss…


Kanex Sydnee Smart Recharge Station for iPad Review

Our new computer lab will be ready for our students when they return this fall. That means our pre-school will have four or more iPads and our grade school students will, eventually, have access to a dozen or more iPads. That’s all good and well except for the fact that all those iPads need to be recharged. Sure we could get a power strip and put AC adapter and cable after AC adapter and cable into it but that would be bulky, ugly and inconvenient. The alternative would be a multi-iPad charging station. A few exist but most are big and…


Traveling Light with the Sena Florence Portfolio; I Reviewed It, and I Still Use It

I had a few meetings the other day, and as I was heading out for them, I was struck by how little I was actually bringing with me. I was further struck by the fact that despite how little I was bringing with me for the day, I STILL had everything I needed. Yes, everything I needed for my meetings was held in my Timbuk2 X-small Quickie for Tablets 2011, and I had tons of room left over. (The 2012 version is here.) In fact, there was almost nothing actually IN the bag. So what did I bring with me?…


LIFEPROOF nüüd Case for iPad, First Look

We’re fans of the amazing protection offered by the LIFEPROOF iPhone case. Now LIFEPROOF is releasing their new LIFEPROOF nüüd for iPad. The case works with the iPad 2 and the new iPad and it is water, dirt, snow, and shock proof. Here’s our video look… This is one tough case. Still, I am surprised by how light it actually is. And it is thoughtfully designed with an eye toward ensuring you don’t lose functionality while protecting your iPad. The main reason for this case… It lets you use your iPad almost anywhere! You can learn more here on the…


iTypewriter Concept Brings Inefficient Typing Nostalgia to the iPad!

It seems that all tablet users are looking for a great keyboard to use when they are sitting at a desk. I love my Apple keyboard dock at my desk, Apple Bluetooth or Logitech Android keyboard around the house. But long before we could take a tablet on to the back deck while relaxing on a summer night, I would bring my old typewriter out with me to work on a story or report. While I have no desire to meld tablet and typewriter, for some it might be a cool trip down memory lane. Designer Austin Yang has come…


CROON Audio’s Original Sound System Looks Great, Promises to Sound Just as Good

I went into the office today after a few weeks of vacation. While returning email I decided to listen to some tunes. My set up at work looks like this- I have an excellent Altec Lansing Speaker that Judie gave me for Hanukkah a few years ago connected to an Airport Express which, in turn, is plugged into the wireless ethernet post that comes into my study. It was that Airport Express that provided WiFi in that part of the building. More than that, however, it also takes the standard, docking stereo and turns it into an Airplay-enabled speaker. I…


USBFever Releases Universal USB Hub and Card Reader for iPad & Galaxy Tabs!

You know, I wonder what they put in their coffee or beverage of choice over at USBFever, because it never ceases to amaze me the constellation of gizmos that pop up in their online offerings. Take for example USBFever’s latest item, the Universal USB Hub and Card Reader for Apple iPad / Galaxy Tabs. USBFever claims that this USB hub will support 90% of the tablets out there, but what exactly does this Universal USB hub do? Does it slice and dice or even julienne? No, but this hub is getting darned close with its three primary functions: – With…


Harman Kardon Bluetooth Wireless Over-Ear Headphones Review

Harman Kardon recently released their first line of headphones. The company has a long history of offering quality audio components and has now taken their experience and applied it to the burgeoning headphone market. As we recently brought word, their headphone line runs from in-ear to on-ear to over-ear styles. They were kind enough to send a pair of their BT Bluetooth over-ear headphones for review. Let’s take a look. As we note in the video review, the packaging is impressive. The company clearly gave a great deal of thought to the entire experience when someone purchases the headphones and…


IPEVO Origami Folio for iPad Review

I find myself going back and forth between using my iPad in its simplest state (screen and back protection via film but nothing else) and using a case. When I do use a case I tend to gravitate toward one of the more minimal cases. That’s fine except for the fact that it often means forgoing a built in-stand. Again, that’s not a huge issue since there are stands aplenty available, but with the IPEVO Origami Folio with Fold-out Stand for the new iPad 3 and iPad 2 you get the best of all worlds. Yes, this case offers simple,…


Griffin MIDIConnect for iPad Hands-On Review

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the release at Summer NAMM of the Griffin MIDIConnect, and that the great folks at Griffin sent me one to evaluate. I have had a chance to put it through its paces and found it did the job perfectly, and even offered some other reasons to check it out. Read on and find out! The Hype: Now you can plug your MIDI keyboards and other devices into your iPod touch, iPhone, or iPad. Use MIDIConnect’s MIDI IN port to play your MIDI-capable instruments and controllers into GarageBand or other MIDI apps. Download…