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DIY breakout dock looks to get professional sound out of iPad 2
The iPad is an excellent device for creating and editing sound, but sometimes, just using that headphone port isn't enough. For that, DIY musician Qubais "Reed" Ghazala built this custom-made iPad dock, which plugs the iPad into a whole row of various sound-related ins and outs, from a line input and output to even a video interface. Yes, it's not quite as finished as a professional setup might be, but the DIY style works well here. Read more of this post to watch a video of the dock in action that includes some tips on its construction in case you want to try putting one together on your own. Ghazala used a PodBreakout board to get all of the data he needed to and from the tablet, and a MacAlly iPad stand as the base unit.
Reserve Power: Stand Off, Part 1
Ross Rubin contributes Reserve Power, a column focused on personal perspectives and products. With handset screens getting larger and applications such as streaming primetime shows and video chat becoming more prevalent, it's not surprising that some handsets such as the HTC Evo 4G include a built-in kickstand. Most phones, though, suffer from LifeCall commercial syndrome –- when they've fallen, they can't get up. To offer some assistance, a whole cottage industry of pocketable products – many with inventive designs -- have appeared to let you enjoy your handset's screen without your hands in the way. But how universal are they? I tested a variety of popular and unusually-shaped handsets -- including the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4, Droid 2, Droid X, BlackBerry Bold and BlackBerry Torch, Palm Pre, HP Veer, Samsung Captivate and the monstrous Samsung Infuse -- finding, for example, that some phones fit in some stands only when their physical keyboards were extended. Surprised at how well a few of the stands held up, I even tried them with a few tablets, including the BlackBerry PlayBook, Apple iPad and Motorola Xoom. This column will introduce the first six devices after the break, while the next Reserve Power will discuss several more, conclude with my favorites, and link to a spreadsheet detailing which devices and stands paired appropriately with one another.
Oona smartphone stand, as seen on Kickstarter
Take an iChair, remove the case, add a suction cup and, voilà, the Oona smartphone stand. The Oona stand is a Kickstarter project, looking to raise US $10,000 to produce the first run of the neat, unobtrusive stands that look perfect for holding your iPhone steady on your desk or attaching it to your car windscreen. We liked the iChair a lot and there'll be a hands-on review tomorrow, May 11, on TUAW TV live. The Oona fills a slightly different need, particularly in places where you want to have your iPhone stuck to something rather than just resting it on a flat surface. Its developers have gone to some lengths to use just the right kind of material for the suction cup. "We spent a lot of time designing the right suction cup for The Oona," says Sam Gordon, one of the project founders. "The ones we prototyped early on were made of a thermoplastic elastomer so they could be easily injection molded. After testing we found that low shore durometer silicone produced the best results." The Oona is designed to be stuck and un-stuck many times a day, rather than rest in place for long periods of time. Its size lends itself to this usage as it is certainly small enough to be carried around easily. Check out the Kickstarter page and let us know what you think. a
Lethal Pro v2 review
A name like "Lethal Pro" invariably creates a certain set of expectations. Namely, that the product in question is suitable for professional use, and that it least looks like it's potentially lethal. As you can see, this particular all-purpose tablet / smartphone / camera accessory certainly succeeds on the latter count. But can it do more than just double as a prop in a remake of Runaway? Read on for our full review. %Gallery-122324%
iChair for iPad 2 looking for a little Kickstarter love
In the last year, just about every iPad case or stand has made it to my office for a review. While I don't always write them up, I often show the products on TUAW TV Live. It doesn't matter what I'm showing; there's always someone for whom the product is perfect, and a lot of people liked the case that I'm writing about here. For people who want the protection of a case and the convenience of the stand, the iChair (no, not the helmsman's chair from Norway) is one of the better designs I've seen. We received one of the iPad cases and an iPhone 4 case earlier this month for review, and while the iPhone case was inadvertently used as a giveaway for our TUAW meetups, I still have the iPad case and decided to give it a try. Vindi Sedey, the CEO of iChair, is trying to get funding on Kickstarter to start manufacturing the iPad 2 and fourth-generation iPod touch versions of the combo case and stand. At this point, he's quite a bit away from his goal of $15,000 worth of funding, but given the quality of the iChair for the original iPad, I thought I'd give the product a little push here on TUAW. Check out the review of the original iChair on the next page, and if you like what you see, help out a young entrepreneur as a backer for his project.
Cool custom-made iOS device stand
Design student Andrew Kim has produced the very cool Polyply to avoid having all his iOS devices strewn around his desktop like so many expensive paperweights. Made from acrylate polymer (acrylic plastic), birch plywood and birch, it has cutouts for his iPad, iPod touch Classic, iPhone and pen. It can be turned to give more vertical or horizontal orientations, and it looks a perfect match for his wireless Apple keyboard, with cutouts for the relevant cables. Andrew says it took him two weeks to put the stand together -- and if this is any indication, he looks to have a bright future ahead of him as a designer. Clarified that it's an iPad, not an iPad 2, in the stand. [Via Cult of Mac]
Apple patents suggest iPad "kickstand," graphics pen
Apple's R&D is always hard at work coming up with various ideas for Apple products, and when they do, Apple usually lays down the paperwork for patents on them, whether they're destined for actual release or not. A few of these wacky ideas have popped up in the USPTO lately, and while they'll likely never see the light of day as real products, they do show just how busy they are coming up with new ideas in Cupertino. First up, one of the patents describes a built-in stand for the iPad. We've certainly seen plenty of third-party stands for Apple's tablet, but Apple has apparently designed an official solution that bends out from the back and holds in two positions -- one for standing up straight and another for standing down lower, as you'd have it if you were typing out something on the keyboard. The stand would feature a dual hinge, and it could even be rotated around. Elsewhere in the patent office, Apple is also working on something surprising: a stylus for use on its touchscreen surfaces. Steve Jobs famously said that "if you see a stylus, they blew it," but apparently some of Apple's engineers disagree and are working on a prototype. The stylus would provide more exact interaction with the touchscreen (Apple's patent describes how to get the smaller stylus working with a touchscreen built for fingers), and it would likely make tasks like drawing and writing easier on the iPad and iPhone. Both patents are interesting, but don't hold your breath on seeing these on stage at the next event.
Twelve South's BookArc for Air stand cozies up around your MacBook Air
Twelve South's made somewhat of a name for itself by crafting unexpected (and generally visually pleasing) accessories for everything Apple, but the ouftit's latest just seems particularly superfluous. The BookAir for Air is described as a vertical stand for the MacBook Air, enabling you to hoist your new ultraportable upright for use with a desktop monitor and keyboard. 'Course, we have to believe that only a smattering of individuals have any real interest in using their MBA as a desktop replacement, but hey, at least there's now a stand should you fit into that category. She'll be on sale soon for $39.99, with initial shipments to head out next month. %Gallery-115309%
The iChair combines a case with a stand for iPhone and iPad
One of my favorite things about shows like CES is hearing stories about products straight from the vendors themselves. Not everyone has a product as flashy as the Sphero or as attention-grabbing as the hot new tablet computers. Some of the vendors in the booths are just people trying to sell cases. That's the story with Vindi Sedey, who once sold real estate. He decided last year that since he was using his iPad to watch a lot of videos, he wanted a simple stand that could go landscape or portrait, anywhere. Most of us would shrug and buy the first one we saw online, but Sedey actually traveled to China, researched materials and designed a case for both the iPad and iPhone that he calls iChair. If there's one thing I learned at CES, it's that cases are largely a matter of taste. Almost all of them will protect your iDevice, so it's really a matter of which one you think looks and works best. But the iChair is a nice case. The back comes in two parts and is polycarbonate with a rubber coating, so it's nice and sturdy without being bulky. Each case comes with both a black top and a colored top (blue or white), with a screen protector, dust cloth and a squeegee board. The stand is pretty strong, too. The iPad version can rotate around in a few different positions and has an extra tab for typing, while the iPhone version just clicks out; both versions can stand up the device in either landscape or portrait. The iPad version is US$49, while the iPhone version is $34. Shipping is free until "We'll see," Sedey says. It was great to talk to him and his family (his wife and brother-in-law were manning the booth with another friend) in the midst of all the chaos on the CES floor.
Perch: the Bluetooth speaker / smartphone dock of your dreams, shipping soon for $180
Okay, so maybe that's a stretch, but there's no question that Quirky's latest socially-developed product is one of the slicker wireless speaker / dock combos out there. Dubbed Perch, this two-piece device acts as a standalone Bluetooth speaker if you'd like, but it also includes a dock / tray for holding your device while it's charging. It's model and brand agnostic, and it's up for pre-order right now for $179.99. Gallery's below, but don't dive in if you're easily swayed by eye candy. %Gallery-113323%
Bluelounge's Nest iPad stand on display at CES 2011
One of the first things we did on the show floor here at CES today was stop by the Bluelounge booth. The company was showing off its latest product, called the Nest, an iPad stand due to sell for US$14.95 when it arrives in stores later on this year. There are plenty of iPad stands here at CES (and you'll hear about more of them this week), but the Nest's difference is that it doesn't even look like an iPad stand -- it looks more like a little dish with a rubber grip around the outside lip. If you lay your iPad across the top, it will hold in place either horizontally or vertically, or there's also a little tray that pulled out of the back that will hold up the device at a sharper angle. Since it's just a molded piece of plastic, there's not a lot of customization -- you can't really adjust the angle of the display even if you want to. But the tray still looks good even when your iPad is away, and you can keep keys, coins or anything else in there, so it provides a little functionality rather than just taking up space when you're not using the stand. The price is right, too -- you can buy nicer stands for more money, but for $15, the Nest seems like a good option. I asked Bluelounge what the reasoning was behind releasing an iPad stand, and they said that they'd seen "a noticeable increase" in sales of their Cool Feet laptop stand as the iPad came out last year, not to mention that everyone around their design offices was using iPads anyway. The Nest does a fine job of holding the iPad up with a clean and simple design.
Spiderpodium Tablet stand will haunt your desktop on January 12th
Breffo chose CES to announce a big nasty friend for its existing Spiderpodium grip for handheld gadgets. Spiderpodium Tablet features eight flexible "secured and assured hold" notched legs designed to hold small- and medium-sized tablets including the iPad which we assume fits into the latter category. Otherwise, it folds down compact for toting about in a jacket pocket or bag when not in use. It'll be on sale starting January 12th for an undisclosed price. Don't worry though, we'll grab a hands-on when the show opens and get back to you with the details.
Iconic Stand for your iPhone can put any logo to good, unauthorized use
Iconic Stand is seemingly still a concept, but an interesting one for sure. Korean-designed iPhone stands, they're made of birch and have a serious natural feel to them. The makers have seen fit to design the stands with various famous logos for properties such as Twitter, Facebook, and Blogger built right into them. And while a nice little iPhone stand (which will apparently hold your phone whether it's nude or Bumper-wearing) with an iconic logo on it sounds pretty neat to us, we can't imagine these are actually... you know... licensed. Another example is after the break, hit up the source for a plethora of images.
iPad deals: QVC offers iPad bundle at a nice price
Shopping channel QVC, of all places, has a pretty good iPad deal going on right now. It's offering up Apple's magical and revolutionary device (in a 16GB Wi-Fi version) along with a ton of accessories for US $749. In that price, you get the dock connector cable, a silicon sleeve and stand, a clear case to put it in, a headphone splitter cable, two different screen protectors, and another case/stand to use. If you were planning to buy an iPad and all of these accessories anyway, that's as good a deal as you'll find. No indication on how long the deal's going on, so you should probably get to buying if it's something you want to take advantage of. They don't specifically mention the quality of the cases and stands included, but the pictures make them look pretty sturdy. I'd say go for it, and enjoy your new iPad! Update: Folks in the comments are saying this deal is nothing special. Your mileage may vary -- if you don't need all the accessories and the cables, then feel free to buy the iPad at its normal price. Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
SNES controller and N64 console turned into iPad docks
Etsy user Geekunique sent along some links to these great pictures of old school Nintendo gaming units turned into iPad and iPhone docks. Above, you can see a Super Nintendo controller fashioned into a working iPhone 4 dock, and he's also got a Nintendo 64 console (though unfortunately it's the green translucent one, not the best looking, if you ask me) turned into an iPad dock. Pretty funny -- not only does the build look pretty good from the pictures, but of course Nintendo is probably the game juggernaut most threatened by the rising field of iOS games, so it's ironic that you've got an iOS device using Nintendo hardware as a stand. Geekunique is selling these (and only a few of them, so they'll probably be sold out by the time you read this), but it seems easy enough to cut a slot into one of these old devices and put an iPhone charger cord in there. If you have an old piece of hardware sitting around and do eventually hack it into an iOS stand, be sure to send us a picture!
iPhone photographers, get your Glif on with new tripod mount
It's a local-boys-make-good story for the Internet age: two New Yorkers brainstorm an idea for the kind of iPhone 4 tripod mount/stand they'd want to buy. They put their design on Kickstarter with the intention of raising US$10,000 in ramp-up funding. With a snazzy prototype video and the attention of some traditional and not-so-traditional media outlets, they missed their funding estimate by more than 10x -- in the positive direction. Having collected almost $140,000 in preproduction pledges, the gobsmacked inventors have now moved on to full-scale production and are accepting orders for the final product on their website. You can pick one up for $20, and although they aren't promising holiday delivery they say they're doing everything possible to get the Glifs out the door in time to slide under the tree (with priority to their 5,000+ Kickstarter contributors, of course). [Commenter Ben points out that his company has a cheaper alternative to the Glif, called the Grippit.] [via Silicon Alley Insider]
Limited edition Joule and Vapor cases from ElementCase
We've drooled over the Joule, a classy metal iPad stand before, and the Vapor iPhone 4 case is one of my favorite iPhone cases. That said, they are not what you would call inexpensive. Nevertheless, the latest models to roll off their custom shop floor are even more exclusive, as limited-edition colors are now available under the "extreme metals" line. These are extremely limited-edition collectible stands and cases. As you can see in the gallery, the Joule stands have a nice variety in colors (quite excellent for those of us enjoying the Fall colors), and the Vapor cases now include some shiny nickel and a "blood" red that is quite bright. The price range on the Vapor extreme metal line is $99 to $109, while the Joule extreme metal line is $159. As I said, these are not budget cases. The Vapor cases are released in very limited quantities via pre-order list, expected to ship "within a few weeks," whereas the Joule is available now. If you're looking for high-end accessories for the holidays, these are a good bet. %Gallery-106121%
Smartphone Coaster keeps your eyes on the prize, even while you eat
From the parallel universe known as "you've got to be kidding me" comes yet another trinket from New PC Gadgets that'll undoubtedly sell well despite being about as mindless as a product comes. In a bid to solve a simple problem that every internet addict faces when dining out or simply joining other Earthlings around a dinner table, the aforesaid company has just issued the Smartphone Coaster. That's a fanciful name for a bent piece of stainless steel. In practice, it holds just about any smartphone (or dumb / featurephone, for that matter) at a 75 degree angle, enabling you to keep a close eye on your display while stuffing your face. We're surmising that these will be aimed as restaurants more than in-home dinner tables, but hey, if you'd rather enable your tweens to ignore vital family conversations while gathered for supper, more power to you. It's available now for $3.95 (or less if buying in bulk), and no, we won't tell anyone that you're seriously considering a dozen.
PDP announces accessories for your accessory so you can connect your Kinect
PDP is no stranger to the third-party peripheral game, adding a little Tron theme to controllers, adding a little motion to the Xbox 360, and releasing the Rock Band Stage Kit so that you can add a little fog to your foyer. Now the company is taking things a step further, producing a series accessories for what Microsoft hopes will be the hottest accessory this fall: the Kinect. There is a trio of mounts, starting with the $15 Kinect wall mount, then the $30 floor stand, and finally the $40 TV mount, which will occupy the VESA holes on the back of flat-panels. Curiously, the most expensive thing is the extension cable: $50 for the privilege of moving your googly-eyed camera a further nine feet from your console. All should be available this November, and all are officially Microsoft licensed, so you can feel good about paying too much for them.
Twelve South joins the fray of high-end iPad cases
Twelve South got our attention in January with the beautiful BookBook case for the MacBook Pro. Now they've done it again by offering a BookBook case for the iPad. The BookBook case resembles a vintage leather bound book with a hard cover and bookmark ribbon. It's a real standout among the huge pile of cases and sleeves that have sprung up around the iPad. Besides its good looks, there's one clever feature that makes the BookBook case interesting. Inside the case's front cover is a short string. With the case half open, you can pull that string around the underside and attaching it to a button on the opposite side, creating a clever stand.The interior is lined with soft material and will hold your iPad firmly in place. Each one is stitched by hand, so have patience after ordering and bring your wallet -- they sell for US$69.99. It's pricey but beautiful. Let us know if you pick one up.
