Expert Blogs
AppGear has thrown the gaming industry a loop, by combining the increasingly popular touchscreen interface with real world, physical elements for a whole new form of hands-on gameplay. This shouldn't be a surprise, as AppGear is part of WowWee, the people who brought robotics to the toy box.
There are a lot of external battery packs for the iPhone, fewer still for the power hungry iPad, and even fewer for laptops because of the non-standard plugs. So I was very excited to see the PowerSlate from Nexiom at CE Week in New York City last month.
Not only does this one device offer over 13,000mAh of power (almost ten times that of iPhone battery cases) it can provide power for an iPad, and even most laptops!
For several years, I've been showing movies on the garage for the neighborhood kids. When the iPad came out, with the optional VGA cable, it enhanced the portability of my setup. I no longer needed to lug a laptop to connect to my projector. But Apple, while they usually do things right, didn't do a great job with their VGA connector dongle. It uses the 30 pin connector but doesn't provide a way to power an iOS device, so you're limited to the battery life of the iPad or iPhone. Apple also offers composite, component, and HDMI connectors, which fixed this, but most projectors are wired for VGA not HDMI and Apple's VGA dongle is easy to keep in your bag.
Before you drop $300 on a fancy celebrity endorsed set of headphones, you might be better served trying the iWOW-U from SRS Labs and your existing headphones. That's what I did, with a $20 pair of Sony headphones and the sound quality was significantly better. The iWOW-U is a 3.5mm extension cord but with a twist. It includes a powered amplifier that enhances the sound quality and does a great job of stereo separation... I was skeptical, but the improvement was immediately noticeable and I am a tough cookie to please.
Dockem has a smart set of wall mounts for assorted tablets and smartphones that address some of the deficiencies found in competing mounts. For starters, they accommodate just about any size device, and even with a case or smart cover in the case of the iPad.
By splitting the mount into two parts. They can accommodate devices of different width, in portrait or landscape mode (though you will have to decide which orientation before you finalize affixing your mounts.)
I love the juxtaposition of hi tech and old school elements, so the combination of a state of the art iPhone and real wood is right up my alley. Lastu offers both oak and walnut adhesive front and backs for the iPhone and can add to the attractiveness of an otherwise 'sterile' iPhone.
I'm still not sure what Non Newtonian physics means, but it was wise of Tech 21 to ship me a gooey sample of the material used in their cool 'Band’ case so I could see and feel how different it is. It's not rubber and it's certainly not plastic, but it's a strong, protective grippy substance that feels very comfortable in your hand. And it looks snazzy, too, in the clear + orange model that I tried, as well as the many other variations on their website.
In a perfect world, one case would meet all of my needs. Sometimes I want my iPhone clipped to my belt, and other times I want to carry my phone and perhaps a credit card, and often on trips and at trade shows, I want a built in extra battery. The ClickMate system from NUU tries to be the solution.
I was a little skeptical of the HMDX Audio JAM when I first saw it, at CE Week in New York City a couple of weeks ago. The packaging was very slick and I wondered if the makers paid too much attention to making it look good in the box and not enough on the product itself. You see, playing off the 'jam' name, the device ships in a clear plastic jar, with a metal top, to make it look like a glass of jelly. The stickers even play off this theme, with JAM Facts like a Nutrition Facts label. The color choices help as well, as the unit is made in an array of colors including red (like strawberry), purple (as in grape) as well as gold, green, blue, or grey!
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