Sang Na

(Credit:
Rich Neeley Designs)

As more and more people turn to e-books and tablets for their reading needs, there are stacks of books gathering dust on shelves, or even worse, being tossed into the trash (for shame!). Thankfully, one California couple is out to rescue these neglected and unappreciated treasures.

Richard and Brenna Neeley from Cerritos, Calif., take old and vintage books, as well as some new ones, and convert them into charging docks for iOS devices. Each dock is handmade to order and features a power cord (wall adapter not included) threaded through the book, with a slot on the front cover to dock your iPhone or iPod.

In the jaws of the dinosaur. (Click to enlarge.)

(Credit:
Rich Neeley Designs)

The Book Charging docks are available through the couples’ Etsy store, with prices ranging from $45 to $55. There’s also an iPad dock for $72 and a iPhone/iPad combo model for $85.

I still love paper books, and I would rather see old ones being donated to libraries or schools. Still, I can’t deny that the docks are quite beautiful.

… [Read more]

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Full post on Crave: gorgeous gadgets and other crushworthy stuff. – CNET

An iPhone and King Jim’s Pomera DM100 is all you may ever need.

(Credit:
Pomera)

Japan has a knack for marketing odd products. Many of them thrive, however. Enter Pomera’s DM100.

When I lived in Tokyo, I spent way too much time in the Akihabara electronics district. That’s where stores, for example, hawked pint-sized laptops made for the Japanese market by IBM Japan. To me, they seemed impractical but always found plenty of buyers.

In that vein, King Jim’s Pomera’s DM100 has apparently struck a chord of sorts in Japan. Enough to be deemed worthy of a lengthy review in Japan’s leading business daily, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun.

So, why would an august publication like Nikkei write up a device with a 5.7-inch monochrome screen, no Wi-Fi, and no broadband?

Well, because it’s a very fast way to take notes, let’s say, in a meeting. Not convinced yet? It turns on instantly. Not yet? Has a rated 30 hours of battery life and weighs only 399 grams. Still not interested? It sends text instantly to an iPhone or iPad via QR code using a Bluetooth connection. And it’s priced over $350. OK, so I lost you there.

But if you want to go minimalist and chuck that bulky MacBook, it’s an option–in Japan, at least. If… [Read more]

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Full post on Crave: gorgeous gadgets and other crushworthy stuff. – CNET

You know the old saying: necessity is the mother of invention. The necessity? film two sides of a conversation with one iPhone.

The invention: the Love Box video mixer, a wood contraption that looks like it was born in shop class.

The result: documentary filmmakers were able to record a real-time conversation between two people, one on either side of the iPhone, without a special app or any kind of post-production editing. Neat!

(Credit:
Honest&Smile)

The unfortunately named Love Box is little more than a wood stand with an angled mirror that can slide back and forth. Positioned properly, it focuses half the iPhone’s lens on what’s in front of it and half on what’s behind. The result is a split-screen view, not unlike what you’d see during a TV-news interview.

What’s particularly interesting is that this home-brew problem-solver was turned into a commercial product, albeit one with a limited run of 100 units. About 30 are left, selling on Etsy for–are you sitting down?–$77.55 plus shipping.

Granted, it’s all fancified with packaging, a wood-burned logo, and the like. But let’s be real: you could easily build one yourself in your garage, using little mor… [Read more]

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Full post on Crave: gorgeous gadgets and other crushworthy stuff. – CNET

(Credit:
Ryan Boase/ReAcoustic)

There are retro gadgets and then there are retro gadgets.

A contemporary take on a 1950s-style vacuum tube radio is one thing, and we suspect its monophonic sound is a warm and cozy delight. But an entirely acoustic iPhone dock–kitted out with an antique gramophone amplification horn–takes things back to another century. And the sound seems to be tinnily tantalizing.

The docks, made by Ryan Boase’s ReAcoustic, rely on nothing more than a wooden base and a reclaimed metal horn to amplify music from the iPhone’s (or iPad’s) speaker.

“The name ReAcoustic comes from two different aspects of what I am doing in my shop,” Boase told Crave in an e-mail. “The ‘Re’ comes from the fact that I reuse edge-glued salvaged wood for the bases, and reuse beat-up unplayable musical instruments and antique horns. And the ‘Acoustic’ comes from the fact that all of the docks in my shop are completely acoustically amplified. They require no batteries or cords. Internally there is a small hollow channel leading from the speaker to the horn.”

Really retro iPhone dock is all acoustic (photos)

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Full post on Crave: gorgeous gadgets and other crushworthy stuff. – CNET