XtremeMac is a company whose sole raison d'etre is the Apple iPod, creating endless add-ons and gizmos to accompany everyone's favourite music player. There are all sorts of products on offer, including a headphone line splitter so you and your best friend can stay joined at the ear at all times; the AirPlay for picking up radio; and a selection of various covers, skins and shields to provide a bit of colourful protection. A five-pack of these silicone rubber Bumperz will set you back $19.95.
These Gumy earphones from JVC aren't the most top spec things on offer, but they certainly look nice and bright and that's good enough for us. The soft to touch earbuds will be on point of sale pick n' mix style displays in shops so that people pick up a pair on a whim - just like sweeties... only these are Gumy Ears not Gummy Bears (see what we did there?!). They cost around £6. We've got a pair and they do the job nicely. Also on show were the HA-E63 headphones which will set you back a few quid more.
As Australian right on rock group, Midnight Oil, once asked "how can we sleep while our beds are burning?" Well, we can apparently, which is why KidSmart has come up with this Vocal smoke detector that will call out your name. Apparently, beeps are easy to sleep through, but the sound of you calling your own name is enough to wrestle you from the deepest of slumbers. You can record your personal fire alarm warning which will then play back whenever smoke is detected.
Back when Shiny Shiny started, there really weren't that many laptop bags for the discerning lady. Now there quite a respectable number of the things kicking about the web. These latest bags from Circuit City in the USA come with the ladylike moniker Anika. Available in all different formats - for you notebooks, your cameras, your camcorders and any other gadget you care to mention - the Anika range also comes in a selection of different colours (including the stripey Candy design pictured). Prices range from $14.99 to $189.99 depending on what sort of case you're after.
Now call me crazy, but in my mind the world's "smartest iron" would be one that did the ironing for you, providing a few more minutes to get ready in the mornings thus saving you the indignity of caking on your makeup on public transport. Not so, apparently. This Laurastar's Magic i-S5 iron just makes life a bit easier by producing copious amounts of steam when going forwards, and setting the de-creasing with a dry heat when going backwards. Coupled with the Steamup iG5 ironing board, which comes with its own ventilation system, it should reduce ironing times by up to 50%. Yes, yes, very clever. Now do one that reduces ironing times by 100% and then I'll be impressed. The products will be launched in April for between £199 (€269) and £699 (€999).
Australian company, STM, emailed to let us know that their Diva women's laptop bags are now being sold in the UK. Available in black or camel, the bags are made from real leather and can take 15-inch notebooks. They're being sold through a number of outlets here(mainly Apple stores), but AM Micro is responsible for their distribution over here, so check out their site for details of where to get the bag where you live.
Shiny Shiny got a mention in the New York Times recently, along with some highly entertaining and thoughtful comment from your beloved editor (that's me). If you want to read it, you can do so here. I would just like to set the record straight by saying that I don't currently wear my phone round my neck and have no immediate plans to do so. But fashions have a way of bringing you round to their way of thinking, so this time next year, who knows?
I've said it before, I'll say it again, these teddy iPod mini holder things are just plain wrong. They creep me out and they should be stopped. The fact that they've been plastered with the name of Hello Kitty doesn't make the blind bears any less menacing. Ok, so if you buy the kit you get a 6GB pink iPod mini with a Hello Kitty face on the back of it (click for extra pic) along with all sorts of other HK and Be@rBrick accessories, but don't let that sway you. It's evil and it wants to take over your house. Buy a HK transfer instead and stick that on the back of your plain old iPod mini. It'll be a darn sight cheaper and you'll be able to sleep safe at night without the eyeless bear stares.
OK, so they're not quite up to my beloved SL55, but these two new Siemens handsets (A75 left, AX75 right) are nice little phones nonetheless. They're not exactly overloaded with features - no camera, no Bluetooth, nothing like that - which makes them ideal if you just want a basic handset that just makes calls. Although there's no pricing info as yet, they're going to be nice and cheap for all you pay as you go people out there when they arrive in the spring.
Gemma over at our super sister site, The Bag Lady.tv has been taking a look at some of Hannah Zakari's latest phone charms on offer. There are a whole load of new ones available on the site, including these cocktail inspired offerings, and they're all rather nice. However, we must take umbrage at her claim that Hello Kitty charms are only for 13 year old girls (or those who ceased maturing when they reached that age). We wouldn't mind, but this comes from a fashion writer who's got a handbag shaped like a lapdog on her site! The cheek.
Good news for those who want to get an iPod Mini but don't want to have to spend £180 on a fashion statement. Apple has dropped the price of the 4GB player by £40 to a more reasonable £139 and introduced a new step-up model with 6GB of memory for £169. Both second-generation models come with increased battery life of up to 18 hours, USB charging and four different colours to choose from (*bling* is apparently well and truly over - the gold one's been given the boot).
As widely predicted yesterday Apple has refreshed its iPod Photo line up by adding a budget 30 Gigabyte model for £249 ($349) and a new 60 Gig top ender for £309 ($449). Both are available now.
The 30 Gig model is also a little slimmer than previous iPod Photos players, although other than that tweak the only real story appears to be the price of the players which brings them a step closer to rival non colour screen jukeboxes.
You'll be delighted to learn that you can now get skins for your iPod Shuffle same as you can all the others. ShuffleArt is offering the vinyl stickers for sale, which means you just need to lay the designs over your Shuffle's casing for immediate - and removable - customisation. The skins cost $12 on pre-order now. There's only a limited selection, unfortunately, but hopefully there should be more along soon. These ones all look a bit too graphic design for our tastes.
Read [Via Cool Hunting]
They've been having a field day with this Paris kerfuffle over on Gizmodo, most recently running an interview with NYC Peach - the company responsible for customising Paris's Sidekick II handsets (including this one). Apparently the Sidekicks are by far the most popular phone for celebs at the moment and Lindsay from NYC Peach doesn't see that changing just yet - despite the fact that countless celebs, including Vin Diesel, Pamela Anderson, Eminem, Christina Aguilera, Avril Levigne, and the well known Dike-ass, have had their phone numbers scattered about the web.
Meanwhile, Laura Barton over at the Guardian has been doing a bit of top notch broadsheet journalism, ringing the celebs up in the hope of speaking to one of them. The best she manages is a girl called Sonya and the T-Mobile customer support desk. Still, at least we know that Vin Diesel's voicemail now says "Hey, it's Vin Diesel. I'm a really bad actor. And a total douche-bag. Leave a message" and Lindsay Lohan's proudly annouces "I'm a whore". Sounds like some impish hackers have been at it again.
NYC Peach Interview - Gizmodo
Laura Barton gets dialling - Guardian
Remember that unappealing Samsung mobile Diane von Furstenburg designed especially? Well Vogue's been at it again, this time getting Anna Sui to come up with a design for a special limited edition Samsung fashion handset. This one's better looking, but really only by a margin. What's with all those squiggles hiccupping about the place? Did that plastic butterfly phone charm fall out of a Netto Christmas cracker? And we're not sure matte black is ever a good idea. Hey, did you see that? We've turned into one of those bitchy fashion writers! Yay us!
Product page [Via Gizmodo]
Our growing obession with the evil that is Comic Sans (we even saw a bus decorated with a Comic Sans company logo the other day - will this madness never cease?) has lead us to this rather neato idea for a blog site. Fontleech may be most appealing to cheapskate designers seeking to please underpaying clients, but anyone can appreciate the delights of free fontage. This site will seek out the very best in gratis typefaces (a designer once started to tell us the different between "font" and "typeface" but we faked a seizure until he went away) allowing you to banish Comic Sans from your life once and for all.
Fontleech [Via LifeHacker]
Just like any sensible manufacturer, TeenTech has got its eye on the kids' consumer market, but the TeenTech Portable Colour DVD/CD player is for the adults as well - how else are you going to get your beloved, squalling offspring to stay quiet in the car? With a 3.5-inch colour screen, remote control, 2 headphone jacks to stop sibling rows, and an external speaker, the portable player can handle VCDs, CD, and MP3 Playback as well as DVD. It's a nice price, as well, at just $99 on Amazon. Only problem is, judging by those reviews, the plug is liable to blow up at any moment, leaving you with a scorched and disgruntled child. Still, if it keeps them quiet, who's complaining.
Read [via Gadget Madness]
Been on a stakeout recently? No, us neither, but if we ever had reason to go on a stakeout, this is the cup we'd want with us. The Intellimug plugs into your car's cigarette lighter and warms up tea, coffee, soup and any other liquid food or drinkstuff you care to mention. A temperature display on the side tells you when the drink becomes too hot to handle, and an alarm will sound if it gets too piping, shutting the mug warmer down. The mug costs $29.99 and can be bought from all sorts of online establishments, including here.
Via Gizmos For Geeks
At the risk of turning into the gadget equivalent of the 3am Girls, we've been rummaging around, dredging up more info on the hapless Hilton heiress's misfortunes. Here's a selection of linkies for your grubby, celeb gawping pleasure.
Paris probably gave up the info on her Sidekick to some smooth-talking hacker. Mobile Tracker
Matt Drudge has been calling the outraged celebs in Paris's phonebook - Drudge Report
Gawker doing what it does best. Read the notes, stare at the pics. Do some tittering. - Gawker
We thought Gawker was having some fun with the content of the notes. Turns out, it's all true. - Hilton Hacked
Now wash your hands.
Over in the US, where email is king, the Sidekick is the must-have emailer phone (either that or the Blackberry, depending on your leanings). Over here it's a chunky handset that only the most dedicated gadget fiends get a kick out of. Paris Hilton's become renowned for carrying her T-Mobile Sidekick II around with her wherever she goes, and she's getting pretty well known for having it hacked as well. For the second time now her phone's been hacked, leaving her pictures and contacts spread far and wide across the internet. But since no one (in the UK at least) would have heard of her if weren't for the internet, maybe she'll be philosophical about this extra boost to her profile. Does Paris ever get philosophical? You'd think we'd know about it already if she did - we know everything else about her. Anyway, if you feel the need to peek into Paris's privates, check Gizmodo for more pics (warning: NSFW - jubblies on display).
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