TwelvesouthPlugbug
Latest
TUAW Best of 2011: Vote for best Mac peripheral or accessory of the year
The nominations are in, and the poll is ready to go! The TUAW Best of 2011 awards are all about you -- the readers -- and what you think is the cream of the crop of Apple or third-party products and software. To vote, select one entry from the top nominations made by readers. We'll be announcing the winner in just a few days. Vote early and often! Today TUAW is asking for your vote for the best Mac peripheral or accessory of 2011. Unfortunately, a lot of readers apparently didn't see the word "Mac" in the call for nominations, so we had quite a few iPad and iPhone accessories that had to be thrown out. Don't worry -- we'll get to those soon enough. The nominations that did make it through were varied. OWC's innovative Data Doubler received kudos from TUAW readers, as did one of my personal favorites, the Blue Yeti Pro microphone. OWC also received a thumbs-up for their Mercury 6G solid-state drives. TwelveSouth's PlugBug is a great accessory for both MacBook and iOS devices, and Logitech's Wireless Solar Keyboard K750 for Mac led the pack in battery-free capabilities. Only one of these items will win TUAW's top honor for Mac peripheral or accessory of 2011. Naming the winner is all up to you. %Poll-71716%
Twelve South PlugBug: Hands-on review
I'm not sure if there's something in the water that's making manufacturers come out with a lot of new power accessories for Apple devices these days, but it seems like a lot of new products like the XtremeMac Slim 10W USB Wall Charger and others are being announced. None of the announcements really provided quite the excitement that the Twelve South PlugBug (US$34.99) did. Why? Well, Twelve South is well-known for producing accessories for Apple products that are usually as well-designed and constructed as the goods from Cupertino. In this case, Twelve South took a rather pedestrian piece of equipment -- a charger -- and used the Apple adage to "Think Different" to create something that is extremely useful and attractive. What makes the PlugBug so different? It looks a lot like an Apple iPad charger, although it is made of bright red plastic instead of white. When you plug it into the wall as-is, you can charge an iPhone or iPad with it. No big deal there. But the cool factor comes into play when you slide off the bottom of the PlugBug and slide on a charger -- sans plug -- from a MacBook Pro or Air. Suddenly, you're charging two devices with one power socket. %Gallery-139110% The PlugBug is rated for 10 Watts of power and 2.1 Amps of current, perfect for charging up your iPad. With the unique design, you take the "duck head" (removable plastic piece with the plug blades) off of the MacBook charger (not included) and slide it onto the bottom of the PlugBug. Now you have a way to charge your MacBook Pro/Air and iPad/iPhone at the same time while taking up only one wall socket. I'm often in a situation where I need to charge both an iPad and a MacBook Air at the same time, and up until now I've carried two AC adapters with me. If I know I'm going to be using both devices, I can now just throw one "brick" (the top of the PlugBug and the attached MacBook Air adapter) into my bag. Less weight to carry, by a few ounces, but one less item to worry about losing as well. However, you can't use the brick inline, so the USB port isn't available when you use the longer cord with the adapter. As with most of the Twelve South products I've reviewed in the past, the PlugBug is well-made, attractively packaged, and will make any Apple fan with both an iPad and a MacBook Air or Pro very happy. You can purchase the PlugBug at the Apple Store online (and at Apple retail outlets), or from the Twelve South website.
TUAW TV Live at 5 PM ET: What's 'appening?
While watch the snow fall here at the TUAW studios in Colorado, you can watch and enjoy a conversation about some new products made for your favorite Apple devices. I'll give you a hands-on look at Twelve South's new PlugBug for iPad/iPhone, Scosche's caribiner-laden clipSYNC Charge & Sync Cable for iPhone and iPod touch, and a prototype of a new aluminum iPhone case from Caseless. I also have one of the new OtterBox Defender cases for the iPhone 4S to demonstrate -- I think it would work just fine in the snowstorm we're having here today. Once we've explored the accessories, I have a couple of apps to demonstrate to you just to show you what I've been looking at lately. I'll talk briefly about this year's NaNoWriMo, a new book written by me and Erica Sadun, and anything else that happens to come up in the chat room. As usual, I'll be starting the show at 5 PM EDT (2 PM PDT / 10 PM BST) sharp, and we'll take a few minutes to chat before the demos start. To join in on the chat and watch the live streaming video, drop by TUAW about five minutes before the start time to get your instructions on how to participate. If you're unable to join us for the show, remember that you can always subscribe to the video podcast and watch the show at your leisure in iTunes or any other favorite podcatching app. The past shows are also available on the TUAW YouTube channel. The chat is now available as well on IRC: join us on server chat1.ustream.tv, chat room #tuaw-tv.
