Tools and Toys

Featured Sponsor: kooaba Shortcut

kooaba Shortcut is a shortcut between real life and the Internet. Take a picture of what you are reading in a newspaper or magazine and instantly get connected to the digital version.

Using image-recognition technology, Shortcut recognizes what you’re reading. Once recognized, you can share the digital version of the pages via Facebook, Twitter, SMS, and email, or store them in Evernote. This works with over 1,000 newspapers and magazines worldwide. (See www.kooaba.com/products/shortcut for a list of publications.)

Shortcut also works with advertisements in newspapers and magazines, and billboards with the Shortcut icon. After taking a picture of such an ad, you gain access to extras such as coupons, sweepstakes, or store locators.

With Shortcut you no longer need to type links into your phone, google for information, or cut out articles — just take a picture instead!

Shortcut is available for iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone 7.

Corkers

Instead of collecting your used wine bottle corks in a jar, why not turn them into toy animal decorations instead? Or, next time you take a bottle of wine to a dinner party, bring along a Bunny Corker with it.

No Matter What Duffel Bags

Who doesn’t want a well-made, sturdy, and simple duffle bag on hand? They’re great for camping, weekend getaways, trips to grandma’s house, and more. The No Matter What lineup from Eagle Creek has four sizes of duffels ranging from the 18-inch small to the 36-inch extra-large. All of them are lightweight, made from recycled material, come with a center and end haul handles and a removable shoulder strap, and include Eagle Creek’s No Matter What Warranty, which mean that if your bag ever gets damaged they’ll fix it with no questions asked.

TOM BIHN Ristretto Bag for iPad or MacBook Air

Though I prefer my small Timbuk2 bag, the TOM BIHN Ristretto has long been hailed as one of the finest iPad bags around. It is a small and sturdy vertical messenger bag that holds just a minimum of items. Some folks like small bags because they only cary around so many items and so why have a large bag with empty space in it? Other folks like small bags because the constraint is a gift to them, else they may not have the self control to leave something at home. The updated Ristretto from TOM BIHN uses higher quality materials, has updated storage design, comes in new color combinations, and is available in three sizes, each just right to fit either an iPad or iPad 2, an 11-inch MacBook Air, or a 13-inch MacBook Air.

Belkin Mini Surge Protector and Dual USB Charger

How do you plug in a computer, a monitor, a hard drive, an iPad, and an iPhone using just one outlet? Why, with Belkin’s mini surge protector and dual USB charger of course. Handy enough to use in the home or office, and portable enough to travel with.

Slimmy Wallet

I have owned my J. Crew Magic Wallet for so long I don’t even remember what wallet I had before it.

You can tell a lot about a man by the wallet he uses, and I think most men care deeply about having just the right wallet. I know I do. And though I’m always on the lookout, it’s been at least a decade since I purchased my previous wallet. During the past 10 years I have yet to find something interesting enough, unique enough, and simple enough to compel me to ditch my J. Crew Magic Wallet. Until last week when I saw the Slimmy wallet hands on.

The Slimmy is thin, simple, and unique. The outside is genuine leather and the inside is some sort of grippy microfiber type material. At most it holds 3 or 4 cards in each of the side pockets and there is room for some bills in the center pocket. If you like to cram your wallet with 17 library cards and receipts from the past 90 days then the Slimmy is not for you. If, however, you keep just a few cards, your ID, and perhaps some cash then you too may love the Slimmy.

(Thanks, Allen.)

Not Sent From My iPhone

Sometimes even when sending a card it is still sent from your iPhone. This fun card makes it clear that it was sent and written sans-technology. The card is 4.25 inches by 5.5 inches, printed on heavy card stock, and is blank inside.

Featured Sponsor: Déjà Vu

Déjà Vu is your visual memory. Use the app by taking pictures of things you would like to remember. For example, products you see in a magazine, recipes you read in a cooking book, wine labels in a restaurant, Newspaper article, DVDs, CDs or event flyers. Each picture is a visual memo. A regular camera app doesn’t distinguish those photos of stuff from “regular“ photos. Déjà Vu helps people organize and structure their visual memos in an easy and effective way. It does this by a tailored interface for tagging and categorization and integration of image recognition technology.

Features

• Quick shot camera (allows faster picture taking)
• Image recognition integrated
• Syncs with cloud account
• Easy search (find your visual memos by keywords and tags)
• Map location (locate your visual memos on a map)
• Available on iPhone and Web

Free for up to 30 visual memos/month. Learn more at Kooaba.

ōlloclip

The ōlloclip was all the rage amongst our group at Macworld. They had a booth on the Expo floor and were completely sold out before lunch on the third day. I picked one up and have really be loving it. The macro and wide angle lenses are just great and make a the already stellar camera in the iPhone 4S that much better. What’s nice about the ōlloclip is that it doesn’t require a case. And since I prefer my iPhone to be sans-case this little 3-in-1 lens kit is ideal and it easily fits into your pants pocket or bag.

Now my iPhone camera gear setup is complete: a GorillaPod, a Glif+, and an ōlloclip.

“Inside Apple” by Adam Lashinsky

Inside Apple is a new book by Adam Lashinsky, the senior-editor-at-large for Fortune. His book is about the inner workings of Apple, primarily the company’s very secretive nature, but also the work ethics, productivity values, salaries, and more.

(Also available on the iBookstore.)

Featured Sponsor: MindNode

MindNode is an elegant, easy-to-use mind mapping tool for Mac and iOS. Whether you’re brainstorming for your next project, organizing your life, or planning your vacation, MindNode lets you collect, structure, and expand your ideas. And thanks to built-in Dropbox and WiFi sharing, even your biggest ideas can go anywhere your iPhone does.

MindNode is easy mind mapping for your Mac, iPad, and iPhone. Try out Mindnode Pro and MindNode touch today!

Matias Slim One Keyboard: USB and Bluetooth Combo

Matias, the folks who brought us their folding keyboard, comes the fast-switching USB-slash-Bluetooth-keyboard combo: The Matias Slim One Keyboard. It connects to your Mac or PC via USB while simultaneously connecting to your iPhone, iPad, or other device via bluetooth. With the flip of a switch you can instantly switch between the two. Ideal for replying to texts without having to pick up your phone.

(Thanks, Jorge.)

Kingdom Rush

Only one game for the iPad has ever really snuck itself into my free time, and that was Plants vs. Zombies. That is, until now. Kingdom Rush has a similar feel to PvZ in that you set up your defensive strategy before the level starts, and then keep maintaining it and fighting off the attackers. It’s a lot of fun, very cartoon-y, and actually quite challenging. Have a good weekend.

Microplane’s Mini-Blades Meat Tenderizer

Here you’ll find one of the most effective — and manliest — ways to tenderize your steaks. Alas, this meat tenderizer is illegal in 17 states.

Stork Messenger / Diaper Bag

The Stork Messenger bag from Timbuk2 is “the diaper bag for people who don’t want to carry a diaper bag”. My wife and I are expecting our first in just a few weeks and finding a diaper bag that we both like has been anything but easy. Most of them look like oversized purses, or else are shy on pockets and much needed space. The Stork has built-in pockets for bottles, wipes, diapers, onesies, and it even has its own changing pad. All secretly disguised as a cool and attractive messenger bag.

LEGO Batman: The Batmobile Ultimate Collectors’ Edition

Just because it’s recommended for ages 10 – 14 years, doesn’t mean grown men can’t also buy a box of LEGOs. This ultimate collector’s edition of the Batmobile is like the cousin to the ride in Tim Burton’s Batman films. This LEGO set is not too full of “specialty” pieces, and so it keeps with the best of LEGO tradition of building something awesome out of little tiny bricks.

Viking Edition Beard Head Beanie

Great for staying warm, looking cool, and/or storming castles.

Kone Stainless Steel Coffee Filter for Chemex

There are two advantages to using a stainless steel coffee filter: (a) it’s reusable; and, (b) it allows more of the oils from your brewed coffee to find their way into your cup. The Kone coffee filter fits 6-, 8-, and 10-cup Chemex coffee makers. It was designed by Coava (pronounced ko-vuh) Coffee Roasters in Portland, Oregon, and seeks to save you from throwing away paper filters every day.

Hawaii, The Big Island Revealed: The Ultimate Hawaii Guidebook

My wife and I were fortunate enough to spend nearly two weeks on The Big Island of Hawaii last spring. And this book was our tour guide. In fact, it was better than a tour guide because we could fit the book in our backpack and explore the Big Island just the two of us. Hawaii, The Big Island Revealed, has information about everything nook and cranny of Hawaii. That’s because the authors anonymously check out the whole island on a regular basis. They know the best place to get a latte and the best coffee plantations, to the best beaches and where to buy groceries. The only thing better than this guidebook is the actual vacation to Hawaii.

(It’s also available in the iBookstore.)

Featured Sponsor: Scrivener

My thanks to Scrivener for being this week’s featured sponsor on Tools & Toys.

Writing a book or research paper is about more than hammering away at the keys until it’s done. Research, shuffling index cards to find that elusive structure — most software is only fired up after much of the hard work is completed.

Enter Scrivener, a content-generation tool that lets you compose and structure long and difficult documents based on material from multiple sources. Adopted by novelists, screenwriters, journalists, lawyers and academics alike, the program allows users to split the editor and view documents, PDF files, multimedia and other research materials next to each other. A virtual corkboard and outliner help with structuring or providing an overview of the draft. Collate, read and edit related text without affecting its place in the whole using Scrivener’s Collections feature. Close out the world in Full Screen mode. And when you’re finished, export to e-readers or the most popular word processing programs for submission.

Available for Mac OS X and Windows at Literature and Latte.

More tools and toys on the next page →

Ads Powered by Fusion