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The 11 best tech gifts for workaholics
We're not saying you want to enable them (OK, maybe we are), but you definitely know someone who works too much. They chip away at their to-do lists on weekends. They are probably even going to slip away at some point during the holidays to check work email. If that's the lifestyle they've chosen, embrace it by picking gifts that can either live at their desk, or come with them while they're trying to get work done on the road. Our list includes everything from a comfy desk chair to a wireless charging desk lamp to our favorite laptop and desktop keyboard. You might not be able to persuade them to change their rigid habits, but at least you can make them more comfortable while they toil away. For our full list of recommendations in all categories, don't forget to stop by our main Holiday Gift Guide hub.
Engadget giveaway: Win $600 worth of SCOTTeVEST tech wear!
If your New Year's resolution was to get organized, this week's giveaway could definitely help. SCOTTeVEST's (SeV) clothing line keeps your gear at hand without needing a bag, using staggered pocket placement and weight management to keep you comfortable. There's more than just vests, of course, with a variety of jackets, shirts, shorts, hats and accessories for both men and women. Touch pockets provide quick access to mobile screens and RFID-blocking zones will keep travel documents and wallets safe from airwave outlaws. There are even super-sized pockets for iPad fanatics -- heck, Steve Wozniak is on the SCOTTeVEST advisory board. You can head over to the company's website for a deep dive on all the products, but one lucky Engadget reader will be armed with a $600 gift certificate to load up on this tech-savvy swag. Just head on down to the Rafflecopter widget below for up to three chances at winning an SeV shopping spree. Winner: Congratulations to Max M. of Palatine, IL!
SkyMall's savior might be one of the products that it used to sell
Rumors of SkyMall's demise might have been exaggerated, at least if the CEO of Scottevest gets his way. Scott Jordan, head of the company that makes coats with pockets sufficient to carry your entire gadget haul, believes that he's the man to save the moribund publication. According to the businessman, SkyMall was "doomed to fail." Presumably because being trapped 30,000 feet in the air isn't enough to convince you to buy a beer pager or protein-infused ketchup.
Crowdfunding Roundup: A bunch of dogs and one bright idea
Each week, TUAW provides readers with an update on new or significant crowdfunded Apple-related projects in the news. While our policy is to not go into detail on items that haven't reached at least 80 percent of their funding goal, this update is designed to give readers a heads-up on projects they might find interesting enough to back. This week we're starting off with a couple of Indiegogo campaigns, the first of which is the MPortable, a wireless SSD for photographers. Well, at least it's an SSD external storage device with Wi-Fi in it, because at one point on the campaign page they show pulling photos from a camera with a cable... but that's beside the point. The idea is that you can use this to store large quantities of photos from a DSLR, then share the images over Wi-Fi using a special app. Too bad it probably won't make it to market: it's 7 percent funded with about 17 days left. There's nothing to see here, let's move on. OK, how about a "smart iPad bag" called Padroo? It's smart if you think that putting a loaded backpack on the front of your chest is a good idea. At my age, I see this as nothing but a bad backache waiting to happen. Apparently others are questioning the primary design decision as well, as Padroo has no backers with 29 days left in the campaign. Back to the drawing board... Now over to Kickstarter, where we'll hopefully have a few projects that are actually going somewhere... although I doubt it with this first entry, the Pocket Gamer video game controller for iPhone. It's a great idea; it's just that there are a number of similar products that are already on the market. Perhaps that's why this campaign is stuck at 3 percent of its goal with a week to go. Well, that's going nowhere quickly. How about another "smart home solution"? That's a hot growth area, right? Qhome is a "next-generation smart home solution", powered by Quatanium. Huh? That's what I said, too. Anyway, despite an impressively long infographic, Qhome is 0 percent funded with 40 days to go. Ooof. Well, let's try again. How about Live Lids, a baseball cap with a color LED display where the team logo normally appears? That's a fine idea if you like having a billboard strapped to your forehead. Seriously, though -- the idea is different, but how many people really want to worry about having to charge their baseball caps? Call me old-fashioned, but I'll just take a standard baseball cap that costs less than $75, even if I can't sync images and logos to it. The campaign is 9 percent funded with 40 days to go. So, if you're not up for baseball caps with embedded displays, how about speakers with glowing color lights in the front? What? You say this seems like something that might have been popular with high school students in the 70's? Well, LumaPlay is actually 12 percent towards its funding goal, which is turning it into today's winner! There's still almost a month to go in this campaign, so your smartphone-controlled LED light/speaker may actually make it to market. This last project is one that I find to be probably the most useful and worthy of funding: the Jolt Sensor, which is used to detect possible concussion conditions in youth athletes. It's a wearable with a mission, a tiny clip-on that can be used in a helmet or on any other headgear, providing notification when the wearer's head has been exposed to a possibly dangerous impact. The idea is that coaches and parents can keep an eye on concussions in real time. The Jolt Sensor is 21 percent funded with four weeks to go; if you have kids who play sports, you want to back this project. And now an update on a previous story. Remember when I commented on AyeGear's jacket that was surprisingly similar to those made by SCOTTeVEST? Well, apparently Scott Jordan, CEO of SCOTTeVEST noticed as well. He contacted me yesterday to discuss just how similar the product is -- an exact duplicate -- and mentioned that the company is currently in litigation to defend its intellectual property rights against AyeGear. Go get 'em, Scott! By the way, the AyeGear "25 pocket transforming jacket" is only 6 percent towards its funding goal with just four days left in the campaign, so it's probably going to never see the light of day anyway. Finally, let's end on a very upbeat note. Remember Noke, the Bluetooth-equipped smart padlock that I actually backed? Well, it's currently 389 percent funded with about three weeks to go, and the team is reaching for some stretch goals like a scratch-protecting shell and different colors. I can't wait to get mine early next year so I can quit having to dig for the right key for the stupid padlock I currently have on my gate. That's it for this week. We'll be back next Thursday for another roundup of crowdfunded projects that you can support or ignore. Many thanks again to Hal Sherman for providing some tips about new and exciting projects, and if you're aware of any other crowdfunded Apple-related projects, be sure to let us know about them through the Tip Us button at the upper right of the TUAW home page for future listing on the site. Out of this week's rather sorry crop of crowdfunding projects, which one do you think you'd back? Make your pick in the following poll and then let your friends know via Twitter and/or Facebook. What's your pick for the best crowdfunded project of the week?
Scottevest's 22-pocket Tropiformer gadget jacket on sale now for $150
It's been a hot minute since we've seen a new wearable from the labs of Scottevest, but for those looking to cram all sorts of gadgetry into their coat as a strange sort of airplane carry-on item, we're here to clue you in on a new option. Tag-teaming with ThinkGeek, Scottevest has announced the Tropiformer -- a relatively normal looking coat that somehow includes no fewer than 22 integrated pockets. Specifically, there's a dedicated tablet pocket (seriously), a Personal Area Network for internal cable management (seriously), a locking pocket (seriously) and a Quick Draw Pocket that supports capacitive devices (seriously). Moreover, the sleeves are removable in the event that you'd like to completely humiliate yourself, and we're told that the jacket "can easily be packed into itself" -- whatever that means. It's shipping right now for $150, and those needing a bit more convincing can get precisely that just after the break.
Scottevest's Carry-On Coat houses all of your portable electronics, stolen hotel shampoo bottles
Truth be told, it's been awhile since we've seen a gadget-laced jacket that really caught our eye. There's the occasional winter coat with a built-in iPod slot, and there's a few unaffordable threads that don't much matter to the vast majority of you, but it's difficult to think of a single overcoat that's as connected as this. Teased by Scottevest, the forthcoming Carry-On-Jacket is as functional as it is delightful, with an internal pocket made specifically for touchscreen devices so you'll never even have to reach inside to skip tracks. There's also an internal Personal Area Network (PAN), a dedicated BlackBerry (or any smartphone, really) holder, passport pouch, a digital camera compartment, iPad pocket (er, "PadPocket") and a separate area made specifically for those zip-locked liquids that you'll need easy access to at the TSA screening zone. Needless to say, the avid traveler with a pinch of geek lust should be grinning from ear-to-ear just gazing at this masterpiece, and honestly, we could see this converting even the hardest of hardcore Rollaboard warriors. Now all we need is a price and release date, STAT.
Scottevest debuts 'iPad compatible' clothing line, the world cringes (update: available now!)
If you're the kind of person who has no problem walking into the Apple Store on Walnut Street dressed in some urban approximation of safari gear, you'll probably go wild for Scottevest. The company sells travel vests and jackets that feature a million gadget-friendly pockets and little conduits for wires and such, meaning that even the geekiest among us can have a somewhat acceptable-looking PAN, if that's what you're into. And now its SeV Travel Vest is iPad compatible! Available July 1st for $100, please feel free to hit that source link to pre-order today. We will continue to look into the rumor that this is actually a re-badged Joojoo vest. Update: The founder and CEO of Scottevest, Scott Jordan, just sent us a video message (embedded after the break) to set the record straight. Apparently, the vest is available now -- unless you're ordering it in XXXL (black or khaki). And we're glad that he seems to appreciate our sense of humor.
The perfect clothing accessory for your iPad
The geek clothiers at SCOTTEVEST keep coming up with great ways to stay in the news, and their latest tip is, not surprisingly, iPad-related. One of the first products from the company was the Travel Vest for Men (US$100), which has been a popular way to hide every piece of tech gear you own in plain sight since it first appeared in 2000. What's great about the Travel Vest, as well as most of the rest of the SCOTTEVEST line, is that they're perfect for traveling with a lot of tech toys. You simply load up all of the 22 pockets with equipment, spare batteries, cables, or SDHC chips, walk up to security, put the entire vest into the bin for x-raying, and you're ready to go. Well, someone at the company was thinking, and as soon as the dimensions of the iPad were verified as being about the size of a Kindle (something else you could stash in one of the bigger pockets), SCOTTEVEST proudly announced that they're the first clothing line with a pocket for the iPad. This attempt at free PR definitely worked for SCOTTEVEST, as a lot of the Apple media has been picking up on this story. We're all just thankful that it's not another series of bad movies with Woz. [via The Business Insider]
SCOTTEVEST: Think you can make a better Woz ad? Prove it!
Remember the horrible SCOTTEVEST ads featuring Woz that were going around back in October? A lot of people thought they could do better, so many that SCOTTEVEST is hosting the "Woz Green Screen Contest".The rules are simple. All you need to do is download some of the green screen footage featuring Woz, and use your video editing skills to create an ad that is funnier than the SCOTTEVEST attempts (it shouldn't be hard...). Post your ad on YouTube, and then promote the heck out of it. If it makes Woz and the folks at SCOTTEVEST laugh, and you're getting thousands of hits on YouTube, you may be a winner.$4000 in prizes (cash and SCOTTEVEST gear) await your entry. Make sure you get your entry in before April Fools Day.
