Smart Phone Stand To Watch Your Videos

When you are out at the coffee shop drinking your hot beverage, it is hard to hold your phone and drink at the same time. That is where a stand comes into play where you can stand up your phone to watch it instead of holding it in your hand or flat on the table. There are a lot of stands on the market, but few are easily transported as they are fixed in position. That creates issues for taking it with you. The goal is to be able to flatten the stand so that it lays flat. Anything else becomes an issue to take with you.

The Rabbit Mini Portable Stand from Cyanics is one which is available and able to be taken with you easily. The stand can support most phones that have an edge which will not slip in the stand, which is available at Amazon right now. It measures 4.25 by 3.6 by 0.2 inch when it is in the flat position. A little thick if you are putting it into your pocket with your smart phone, but is far better than taking a stand which does not lay flat. At a price of $9.99, these look to be a reasonable solution to having a stand for your smart phone which you can take with you.

But, at 0.2 inches thick, it is a little thicker than what we would like to see as being portable. We did find one that is the thickness of a credit card with the Card Stand which was a recent Indiegogo campaign in 2012. While they have just started sending out the first batch to the investors, we cannot find a site where you can go out and purchase one of these. Made of carbon fiber, this credit card size stand fits easily in your wallet and will support most smart phones in the stand. But since there is no where to purchase one of these, it may be a while before they appear in the market. This looks like a great idea and we are surprised there is no web site available for this product.

Apple Cufflinks To Whow Your Love Of Apple

If you are an Apple fan and love all things Apple, you need to show just how much of a follower of their technology you really are. And what better way than to wear that on your sleeve so to speak. To be more specific, you can wear that as a cufflink to showcase your iPhone.

The iPhone cufflink shown here is a great looking one to show off your love of the iPhone. These look like the real thing, but you cannot do anything else with them other than looking at them. Maybe in the future, the iPhone will be small enough to get your phone down to that size. But for now, these will generate some conversations.

If you would rather not have cufflinks of the iPhone, you can take a look at Apple cufflinks to show your appreciation in a more generic way so that it is not a specific product, but rather representing the Apple logo. This one is not as flashy as the iPhone cufflinks, but stills shows your appreciation for all the great Apple products which you use.

And there are so many other jewelry items for both men and women to show your love of everything Apple at Amazon. There is bound to be one that you find intriguing for you to wear. These include cufflinks, charms, earrings and many others for you to chose from.

Solar Battery Charger For Your Smart Phone

Kickstarter Friday - Using the sun to charge up your mobile devices

If you have ever been out in the mountains or at the beach and find that your mobile device needs to be charged, it would be great to have something which could solve that problem for you. Using the power of the sun to replenish your smart phone battery is exactly what you would need and there is such a product coming to market soon and is currently listed on Kickstarter.

The WakaWaka Power Station has already exceeded their funding goal of $50,000 with 13 days to go and it looks like they are going to go over the extended goal of $250,000. The WakaWaka company has previously provided a solar powered light which is small and portable. With this latest product, they are providing a small device which is capable of charging up your smart phone and providing hours light after that.

With claims of being up to 200% better than existing products, this one looks to be an excellent seller when it comes to market. The solar charger contains a battery which can be charged to 75% within 6 hours depending on location which is more than enough to recharge your depleted smart phone battery. At 4.7 by 0.6 by 2 inches, this compact device is a must to be carried around with those away from electrical outlets for charging. They are saying this small device when full charged up will be able to charge up a number of mobile devices from iPhones to most Android devices with battery life left over to provide you with hours of light from the device. And the mobile devices will include tablets.

This latest product is expected to arrive in May 2013 with a possible price of $79 when it is available to the public after the Kickstarter backers are taken care of.

Talking Gloves For Your Bluetooth Smart Phone

If you have been out in the weather recently, you have probably seen some cooler temperatures which may require you to wear gloves to keep your hands warm. And while gloves make you hands warmer, they do not do much more than that function. But a recent discovery has found a pair of multi-functional gloves which you can pair with your smart phone and use as a microphone and hearing in a single glove. They are calling these as talking gloves.

These are from Hi-Fun and seem a rather interesting product. These have bluetooth connectivity built into the gloves where the thumb area contains a speaker that allows you to hear your caller and the pinky finger holds a microphone which you speak into. If you notice the picture above and it shows that symbol that many of us use to say call me without saying anything.

Obviously there is a battery contained in the glove which has a reported 20 hours of talk time and 10 days of standby time according to the company web site. Each glove has 3 buttons on it to control the functions for the glove. And charging is accomplished via a USB connection. This is a brand new product and pricing is not yet available for here in the US. This looks like a great idea when you need to keep your hands warm in cold weather.

Here is a YouTube video of the Hi-Call gloves which we found from Engadget.

E-Bike Sales to Shift into High Gear for 2013

Sales of electric bicycles, or e-bikes, are expected to grow by more than 50% in North America during 2013, as the hot item in consumer green tech is set to breakaway in sales from previous years. Actor William Shatner, who is no stranger to futuristic tech, recently purchased two Pedego Interceptor e-bikes for him and his wife in LA.

The e-bike market is ready to go mainstream in the U.S. The price for e-bikes has come down significantly in recent months. At one time, most e-bikes with decent components and weight were in the $3,000 range. Now you can find reasonable quality e-bikes in the $1,000 range. With gas prices at all-time highs, e-bikes are an attractive, low-cost option to gas efficient vehicles.

E-bike owners are finding that they are great for commuting to work, as traditional bikes can be a problem with office dress and sweat.

People who use e-bikes range from commuters to casual cyclers who like a little help with hills and wind, to those who decided to save money on buying a scooter. These are not for the serious road cycler or hardcore mountain biker.

I've been shopping for an e-bike now for a few weeks, and I've had my eye on the Prodeco Phantom X folding electric bike (pictured). I've had folding bikes in the past and love the convenience of being able to throw my bike in almost any car trunk or hatchback. Because the Phantom X folds up it can ship from the manufacturer fully assembled.

If you’re considering an e-bike, it pays to do some research first. Cheaper e-bikes are going to be heavier and have less battery capacity and power. Higher priced bikes will be made from lighter materials and have better batteries.

Another consideration is local motor vehicle laws. E-bikes could be considered motor vehicles depending on where you live (or where the one you’re buying the bike for lives). For example, according to US federal law, as long as your electric bike is under 750 watts and does not go over 20 MPH (without pedal assist) then it is a bicycle and not a motor vehicle. Most consumer e-bikes in the $1,000 range don’t fit the motorized vehicle description.

These are just the basics of e-bike considerations. You’ll want to browse through bike websites and shops to find out more. Also, read the reviews on the top e-bikes at Amazon.com.

CLIPP: Education App for the Modern Classroom

Education finally has its own, complete app solution designed for today’s classroom: Clipp. With scores of productivity and cloud storage apps crowding the ed-tech landscape, education choices are abundant, yet seem discombobulated. Tom Pargulski and Marty Weber are in the process of raising funding on Indiegogo with an integrated solution. According to them, Clipp manages and performs tasks students and teachers need to do, all from a single connection point. Since Clipp works with other apps, everyone can still use their favorite app to get their work done.

The essence of Clipp is that it allows you to take the entire classroom environment with you, and presents it the way your mind thinks ... in images. An app like this is a major time-saver, making learning much more efficient. Every word, phrase, file name, etc. is searchable and sortable within Clipp, all organized on an infinite, scrollable timeline. All student notes, lecture notes, teacher lesson plans, videos, links, web bookmarks, curricula, etc. are available to anyone with appropriate login credentials. Any item is reviewable and retrievable in real-time. It’s like students and teachers having their own personal Google for their classroom.

But that's not all.

Clipp can also utilize stored files, notes and media to create new learning tools and materials. Clipp can organize information for instant study guides or lesson plans, request live feedback from students via live polling and real-time surveys, and can even automate grading. Clipp does all of this digitally, and all within one application. Think of a wiki for the classroom, evolved to handle computations of its data.

Clipp was built to be the digital hub for the classroom and has vast potential in education. Finally, the classroom has evolved with technology. Follow the app’s progress on www.indiegogo.com/clipp.

iBuKu Pets Let You Reuse Your Old iPhone

Kickstarter Friday - iBuKu Pets using your old iPhone to teach children
Have you ever wondered what you might be able to do with your existing iPhone when you purchased a newer one? There is always the idea of selling it in advance of getting a new one, but what if you could use that older iPhone to provide a toy to a child which would make learning fun. That is exactly what iBuKu Pets is all about and is a Kickstarter project which was funded last Saturday. With the goal of funding $25,000, they exceeded the goal getting 123 people to pledge $25,585.

iBuKu Pets sells kid safe pets which you can place your old iPhone into. For the moment, each pet will hold an old iPhone, either the iPhone 3GS, 4 or 4S, by plugging it into an included battery. The included battery will increase the time between charges so that your child can get maximum enjoyment. Then you snap it into the iBuKu Pet. But, before you do that, you will need to download the iBuKu Pets app into your iPhone so that it is there ready to be run. Your kids can use your old iPhone as a learning tool.

The pets have a story behind them which you can tell to kids to gain some understanding. Such as the "iBuku Pets love recycling these objects to make machines and other useful gadgets" as an example. And you can even use your old iPod in the iBuKu Pets with the iPod 3g or 4g. If you have kids, you know they all want to play games on your iPhone and sometimes delete something by mistake, but the iBuKu Pets and app will eliminate that when you use your old iPhone or iPod.

The iBuKu Pets are currently for sale on their web site at a price of $24.99. You can expect deliveries to arrive in January as those who have pledged money to the project will be getting their iBuKu Pets first. Here is the video from the Kickstarter page.