GADGET REVIEWS Just another GADGET NEWS

LAS VEGAS — Quirky’s Perch is an all-in-one speaker and charger for your phone. It comes in two parts: the dock, which stays put on your nightstand, side-table or desk, and the Bluetooth speaker, which charges on the dock but can be taken with you in a bag, a big pocket or just to the bathroom so you don’t miss any of your audiobook.

When not docked, the speaker has its own kickstand, so you can prop it up wherever you like, vertically or horizontally. It also has a built in mic for conference-calling. When it is docked, the speaker snaps into place, held by magnets.

The dock part hooks up to AC power and connects to your phone via a USB cable instead of a device-limiting dock-connector. It also has a clock readout so you can use it as a bedside alarm.

The Perch is just like any other Quirky product – designed by an online community and only sent to production once the minimum order has been reached. In this case the minimum pre-order is 1,600, and the price is $200, with a $20 discount for early adopters.

Perch product page [Quirky]

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LAS VEGAS — Iomega’s SuperHero dock backs up your iPhone as it charges. It sounds like an ideal, portable alternative to backing up when traveling, or for those who hardly ever hook up their iPhone to a computer. And it is, kinda.

The SuperHero looks like a slightly oversized Apple Universal Dock, and charges the phone as normal. The backup comes courtesy of a 4GB SD-card. Your iPhone has way more than 4GB of data on it, so the SuperHero only backs up your contacts and photos. And it isn’t automatic, either. You need to download a (free) companion app and use that to do the business. You can also swap in bigger SD cards should you need to. To restore to a new phone, you use the same application.

It’s a fine solution as far as it goes, and takes care of the most valuable data on the phone: the photos. It’s better to sync your phone and computer daily, but let’s be honest. How many people do that? $70.

SuperHero product page [Iomega]

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As a novelty USB gadget, the Slipper form Brando is a horrible, pointless piece of plastic. Shaped like a flip-flop with shiny red toes peeking out, the Hornettek Slipper would be more at home in the dime store than on any self-respecting geek’s Christmas list.

But ignore those stupid toes, if you can, and the Slipper becomes something you do actually want: a dock for all the raw hard drivers you have tucked away under the bed next to your real slippers. Slip in any 2.5 or 3-inch SATA drive and hook it up via speedy USB 3. Backup is made easy with a dedicated switch (if you have the software installed, and are also running Windows), and those annoying toes (sorry, I can’t ignore them) are in fact an eject-lever: pull it and the drive pops out.

Useful, right? And at $45 it’ll probably actually save you money because you won’t have to buy enclosed backup drives. Available now.

Slipper product page [Brando]

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I picked up a new 27-inch iMac this week (actually, heaved off the ground and staggered home is a more appropriate description) and have since wondered about the tidiest way to hook up various other gadgets for syncing and charging. This concept Docking and Storage Base from designer Yaser Alhamyari has the right idea, although its lines are a little busy.

My previous setup was an aluminum MacBook propped up on the desk and hooked into enough wires to make it look like an electronic Medusa, a cyber-gorgon that would seem to sprout two cables for every one I unplugged: a monitor, USB-hubs, power, an Eye-TV and a Turbo.264 joined speakers and iPod docks on my tiny table. Now these are gone, the Bladerunner-like mess replaced with the Gattica-calm of a single, monolithic screen, a trackpad and a keyboard. I want to keep it that way.

Alhamyari’s under-screen console has three docks for a combination of iPods and iPads (hint: don’t put the iPad in the middle one) and a pair of front-facing USB-ports for temporary hookups. Best for tidiness are the two drawers in the front panel which will keep clutter off the desktop. The only thing I don’t like is the design, which seems a little busy, and has rather two many corners. That should easily be solved, though, as the dock currently only exists inside a computer graphics program.

The Docking and Storage Base [Yanko. Thanks, Radhika!]

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Source:wired.com

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IPADock. Its name may sound more like a place to keep your iRacehorses, but the curiously-capitalized accessory is probably the most useful desktop gadget ever. Plug it into a computer and you can charge and sync a pair of iPads, four iPhones, and various combinations thereof. A universal dock-port can be fitted with the adapter from any iPod, from Nano to Touch, and then things start to get even handier.

Stacked up around the back are slots for SD-cards, MemorySticks, CompactFlash cards and a three-port USB-hub. In short, pretty much anything you might want to dock on your desktop will be served by this surprisingly good-looking and compact device.

The price? $70, although you’ll be ordering it from Japan if you want one.

iPADock product page [Photofast via Cult of Mac's John Brownlee. Thanks, Pedro!]

Source:wired.com

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Who doesn’t love them some simulated pinball action? Me, that’s who, but I still like this tiny little box that turns your iPhone into a miniature pinball table: It’s so cute.

The dock can be bought at BestBuy for $40, and works with a free pinball game available in the App Store. The box hooks into the 30-pin connector and provides buttons for the flippers, a proper, spring-loaded ball-plunger and even another screen at the back to show your scores. There’s also a tilt-function in there should you get too feisty with the game.

Sadly the table only works with the provided pinball game and no others, making the fun somewhat limited, especially for $40. The app’s page on the iTunes Store currently looks a little odd, too: The single screenshot on display shows the three wheels from a one-armed-bandit, presumably from the developer’s other hardware/software game combo, Jackpot Slots. Now, make me one of these for the iPad and even I might be tempted to play.

Pinball Magic Game [iTunes]

Pinball Magic dock [BestBuy via Touch Arcade]

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Source:wired.com

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Experience a little bit of Las Vegas in your own home or office with Jackpot Slots for the iPhone: a USB dock with a knob-topped lever on the side which turns the phone into a one-armed-bandit.

The plastic block costs $40, and the accompanying application is free in the App Store. Just pull the lever and “enjoy” the slot-machine experience. There’s even a proper contest which buyers can enter: score enough points and you’ll be included in a competition to win a real trip to Vegas, or even money.

Sadly, the real experiences of Las Vegas aren’t replicated. While you could sit in your office chair with a cup full of quarters, tossing them in the trash as you play, nobody will bring you free drinks, and no arrogant idiots in too-short shorts, sandals, socks and baseball-caps will be blighting an otherwise well-designed gaming floor and worst of all, there will be no hidden speakers tootling out musak from the bushes, trees and fake rocks lining the streets.

Still, as docks go, Jackpot Slots isn’t a bad one. It works just like any other to charge and sync, and if you pull the lever all the way forwards, your iPhone or iPad Touch will pop out. Just like the eye of that cheating gambler in Scorsese’s Casino when they squeezed his head in a vice.

Jackpot Slots [New Potato via Cult of Mac]

Jackpot Slots [iTunes]

Source:wired.com

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Laptop or desktop? Desktop or laptop? The choice is nowhere near as clear as it once was, now we have smartphones and tablets do do most portable work for us. Now, a fast-running, big-screen desktop machine is looking like a great alternative to powerful but still limited notebooks.

Or you could keep your little computer and grab this dock, the DeskBook Pro from Zemno. Style-wise it fits the MacBooks, but it’ll work with any computer (even a desktop).

Drop the MacBook on top and plug in its FireWire and USB ports. Now, you have expanded your connections to 6 x USB, 2 x FireWire 800 and 1 x FireWire 400. You also get separate line in and out jacks, an ethernet jack and a couple of surprises:

Most obvious are those hatches on the front, which let you slot in a battery and a spare 500GB hard drive (or two of either). The battery won’t supply extra juice for the notebook: instead it just allows socket-free use of the dock for a couple hours.

Weirdest (or handiest?) of all is the DVI-out port, which allows connection of a third monitor. It’s not hooked up to your MacBook’s video-out: rather it works like a USB monitor adapter, so is best used for less demanding tasks.

The price for this giant USB-hub is the biggest shock, though. Empty, it’ll cost you $600, or the same price as the old Mac Mini. Add in a hard drive ($180) and a battery pack ($150) and you’ve just reached $1030, which is enough for a MacBook, and only a few dollars shy of a proper desktop, the iMac.

It really is almost unbelievably expensive. You can buy one now.

DeskBook Pro [Zemno. Thanks, Gregg!]

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews