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iChair for iPhone 4: A special discount for TUAW readers
The iChair cases for iPhone and iPad are unique in that they provide protection for your device through a two-layer (hard on the outside, soft on the inside) design, and they also have a small extendable kickstand on the back to prop up your device for easy viewing. iPhone 4 owners were out of luck for a time while the designers worked to get manufacturing ramped up for a case that would work with both the GSM and CDMA versions of the phone, but the wait is over. To celebrate, the iChair folks reached out to TUAW with a special discount coupon code. For a limited time, you can get 25% off of your total order by using the coupon code "TUAW" when you check out. I recently had a chance to try out an iChair case on my iPhone 4 while recording the May 11th episode of TUAW TV "Not So Live," and I found it to be pretty impressive. You get your choice of two colors with each iChair -- the top part comes in either white or blue, and there's also a basic black top if you're feeling formal. For watching videos in widescreen format, the iChair's kickstand is an awesome addition. The iChair for iPhone 4 sells for US$34 without the discount. Be sure to watch TUAW TV Live on May 11 for my hands-on review of the iChair, and take advantage of the TUAW discount code for an excellent deal on this case.
TUAW TV "Not so live": Remotes, cases, and keyboards
Both today and next Wednesday, I'll be away from my messy studio during TUAW TV Live. But that doesn't mean that fans of the show have to go without their weekly fix. I've whipped up a couple of nice HD episodes that you can watch in my absence. What's the topic of today's show? Well, think of it as the Apple version of the Home Shopping Network, since I'm demonstrating a bunch of new devices - the cool Peel Universal Remote Control, the not-so-cool Apptwee Ri remote, the new iChair case for iPhone 4 and the flexible and water-resistant Scosche freeKEY Bluetooth keyboard. You won't need to jump over to Ustream to watch today's show. Instead, just click the read more link at the bottom of this post to see the video in all of its HD glory, or visit YouTube for more viewing options. If you need a chat with the rest of the TUAW TV Live regulars to make it through the week, why not scoot on over to the TUAW TV Live Facebook page and see what's going on. You can also subscribe to the video podcast to watch this and other episodes at your leisure. Many thanks to Uri Kelman for creating the temporary logo for the show!
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.
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.
A helmsman's chair that would make James T. Kirk green with envy
NorSap is a Norwegian firm that manufactures those impressive chairs for the helmsmen and pilots on sea-going vessels. These chairs are extremely rugged, as they need to be able to stand up to rough conditions, but they also need to be adjustable to fit a variety of body sizes and comfortable enough to sit in during a long watch. The company recently developed a concept chair, which they refer to as the iChair, that includes not one, but two iPads mounted for easy visibility. The custom docks that hold the iPads have ergonomic padding installed to cushion the forearms of the lucky soul who gets to command the Enterprise ship from the iChair. The iChair was built specially by NorSap for the ONS 2010 and SMM 2010 exhibitions, and although our tipster, Kenneth, isn't sure they'll sell any of these, I have to agree with his assertion that "it looks cool." One of the closeup shots in the gallery below shows a navigational chart on the iPad, so the iPads may have some practical use other than distracting the crew. A few more shots of the iChair are in the gallery below. %Gallery-105066%
