Archive for category: iOS

This was probably my favorite find from the CTIA show floor. This quirky little company from Portland Oregon is producing some of the most unique phone and tablet covers I’ve seen in a while. Using real wood and leather, and combined with a mild adhesive, you can cloak your device in a durable shell which will prevent scratches and provide the device a very unique look.

Toast laser cuts and engraves each piece for outstanding fit and finish. This gives them tremendous flexibility in developing covers for new devices, and for etching designs onto their gear. Customers can also have their own custom artwork etched onto covers. These natural materials feel really good in the hand and add a little extra grip, making your electronics easier to hold, while (thankfully) adding very little bulk to the device.

Cases are currently available for the iPhone, iPad, iPad Mini, MacBook Pro, and Galaxy S3. While it’s not unlikely that we’ll see GS4 cases soon, Toast can deliver custom covers for pretty much any device with publicly available dimensions and measurements.

Toast is made up of a small team of only six people. Their products are manufactured in Portland. All of their materials (with the exception of  the bamboo covers) are sourced in the United States, and their facility is powered entirely by renewable energy. It’s geeky, modern, unique, and environmentally conscious.

If there’s one compromise to be made here, these covers aren’t designed to be reusable. The cover adheres to the device, and the shell is built to be durable and long lived. Toast uses a strong adhesive to execute that, and while that adhesive wont leave any residue or damage your device, it will almost certainly wreck the cover while trying to remove it. A small price to pay in my opinion for a premium experience.

See, these are the kinds of companies I love finding. These little gems that offer a premium solution with a unique vibe. This aesthetic wont feel like any bumper or sleeve case people are familiar with. I like that moment when people see something, even something as simple as a case, they’ve never seen before.

Check out their gear at http://www.ToastMade.com

We may not be sure what awaits us at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference Keynote, but we are sure about when–as Apple has officially confirmed June 10th at 10am Pacific for the much anticipated event. Though we’re likely to see Apple’s latest operating systems on display (both iOS and OS X), hardware announcements remain a mystery, though the experts seems to think that we’ll see some Macbook updates at the very least. If you were planning on attending this year, you may be out of luck–tickets sold out for the event in a record breaking 2 minutes; but fear not–we’ll have all of the WWDC coverage you can handle once the conference starts.

Stay tuned…

We got a preview of WeMo at CES, and now Belkin will be adding HD video capabilities to their home automation set up.

As a quick recap, WeMo is a very loose system. Rather than having a “brain” for all your home automating, each individual device connects to your router, and then the Belkin app can manage those devices from a phone or tablet. It’s an interesting setup as you’ll only pay for the individual pieces you need, and it’ll use your existing infrastructure to control those pieces.

Netcam HD and Netcam Outdoor provide video surveillance capabilities, allowing you to monitor and record. Both feature a wide angle lens to maximize your field of view, and both have infrared night vision.

Belkin currently sells NetCam HD for $129, and we’ll update once we know the MSRP for NetCam Outdoor.

For more info on WeMo, here’s our video preview from CES:

I’m a sucker for a good portable battery!

EagleTech had a number of their new Neptor batteries on display.  First of all, I just dig it when we see accessories like this designed with some kind of style. Rounded contoured edges paired with vibrant attractive colors? Sign me up.

Also, it’s a decent capacity in a small form factor; the 5600mAh cell fits in the hand comfortably, and should be easy to carry in a bag or purse. Dual USB ports can charge two devices. One port outputs 2 amps to charge tablets.

EagleTech claims the unit should be good for more than 500 charge cycles. Expect a street price around $50.

In case you hadn’t heard, ABC has just revealed its latest Watch ABC app as an “open preview” for New York and Philadelphia residents. Available on the web, Kindle and iOS, it offers video-on-demand playback of the network’s shows, but also includes live network TV streaming. More cities are on the horizon, all of which is detailed in the PR after the jump.

Square just announced a new product called the Square Stand – the hardware accessory that turns your iPad into the ultimate point of sales terminal. The device currently supports the iPad 2 or 3, with Lightning connector support coming later this year. Built in is a credit card reader, and the unit accepts cash, plastic and Square Wallet payments. The new stand is available for pre-order now and will set you back $299. The device is set to ship July 8th.

This is a rather large move on behalf of BlackBerry – announcing that its once exclusive BBM Messaging platform will soon come to Android and iOS devices. Yes, this means that BlackBerry users will soon be able to natively chat with Android and iOS users (as of yet, there’s no confirmation of Windows Phone support). “The time is definitely right for BBM to become a multi-platform mobile service,” Andrew Bocking, executive vice president of Software Product Management and Ecosystem at BlackBerry said in a press release. “BBM has always been one of the most engaging services for BlackBerry customers, enabling them to easily connect while maintaining a valued level of personal privacy. We’re excited to offer iOS and Android users the possibility to join the BBM community.” BBM customers send and receive more than 10 billion messages each day, and that number will only grow with iOS and Android users in the fold.

My love for all things Booq is as legendary as it is shameful–but what’s not to love? When a company is able to consistently produce excellent products with brilliant design and quality materials, that company is not only worthy of our attention, but yours as well. Booq’s latest? The Boa squeeze. Designed for Apple products, the Boa Squeeze will swallow up (sorry…couldn’t resist the snake reference) all the gadgets you can throw at it, keeping them protected from not only the elements, but each other as well, thanks to numerous compartments and pockets. The Boa squeeze retails for $129.99, and we’ll have our full review after our bag arrives; until then, you can check out the full PR after the jump.

iOS fans, there is an alternative to Photostream for your cloud-photo-storage-needs. Amazon Cloud Drive Photos has just launched for iOS, complete with 5GB of free storage.  Simply download the app, sign in with your Amazon account, and then backup your photos – it feels just like the Dropbox photo backup and works swimmingly when connected to WiFi–it even has a large upload mode which disables your lock screen from engaging until large uploads are completed. Already tried it? Let us know what you think!

ESPN came out with something rather interesting, saying that they are looking into subsidizing mobile data plans to help you stream their content. We all know that wireless carriers offer tiered data plans that are often throttled after certain limits are reached–which means that streaming content (a popular feature, wouldn’t you say?) gets bogged down. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that ESPN has already spoken to at least one major U.S. carrier about subsidizing data plans in order to guarantee that streaming its content would not result in overages for customers. There’s no telling if this would be specific to streaming content from ESPN, or if it would apply to other use as well. We’ll keep an eye out for you…so stay tuned.