TUAW's going Back to School! We'll be bringing you tips and reviews for students, parents and teachers right up until the bell rings in September. Read on for nifty supplies for any student.
Today only, RadTech is offering 20 percent off regularly-priced backpacks, cases, laptop bags and sleeves, including bags with photovoltaic cells to help charge your electronic devices. Solar panels on the bag can provide up to four watts of power for your iPod or phone.
Make sure to use the promo code SCHOOL88 when you check out to take advantage of the offer.
Multitouch is all the rage lately, but one of the drawbacks is that it's still pretty expensive. Enter this ingenious device-- it's a bag with dye colored water in it. That bag is then laid flat on a glass table, an iSight camera is placed underneath, the computer is coded (it appears, anyway) to look for fingertips pressing through the dye, and just like that, you've got a multitouch interface.
Really incredible. Of course, it's hard to figure out how this could be used for something like the iPhone-- instead of a camera, you'd have to have some kind of light sensors behind the dye, and you'd have to figure out a way to have the dye-colored water stay spread even throughout the bag. In fact, come to think of it, I'm not really sure how most multitouch interfaces work-- maybe this is closer to the real thing than I imagine. Even if not, very cool idea, and I'm almost surprised to see it really works so well.
Update: Looks like the video is a little old-- this was posted back in early June, even before the iPhone was released. But it is still really cool, and it's the first I've seen it.
As a bag geek, I'm always excited to see something new and novel kinds of cases. While walking around the show floor at Macworld back in January, I was delighted to come across something I've been looking for as long as I can remember– a soft sleeve with rigid protection. The case in question turned out to be the Shuttle from Higher Ground, and I've had the chance to use and review it for the past month or so.
Did the Lifepop Stereo Pet Carrier really "steal the spotlight" at the Oscars? Unless you believe those wacky PR dudes (and who would?), probably not but it's a pretty cool iPod-compatible accessory. You can use it to carry around your pooch as he or she rocks out to your music, or whimpers in abject misery while listening to your Barry Manilow collection.
It's basically a soft padded bad with built-in speakers and a mini-plug you can hook into your iPod. There's a fully zippered ventilated top so Fido will be able to breathe while groovin'. You might want to put away a few bucks to pay the pet therapist if there's a serious mismatch between your musical tastes and your dog's.
Incase has posted a couple of teasershots in their gallery of a new bag on the way, the Ripstop Backpack. Available in July from Apple, this bag looks to be a full-sized backpack that can carry more than just an Apple portable, a magazine and a pack of gum (I kid - I'm a big fan of Incase's stuff). I have also heard they have a new, fully-featured site coming later this summer which should help to settle the Incase + Apple conspiracy theories.
Pricing and specs of the Ripstop Backpack are still to be announced.
Who needs
an iPod Hi Fi? Not Shannon Okey. In her book knitgrrl, she shows off a great
"boombox" bag she made. The front pocket holds an iPod, which in turn connects to "...a set of cheap
Radio Shack speakers" on the bag's interior. I think this is pretty nice (and a heck of a lot lighter than the
Hi Fi, I would imagine). Well done, Shannnon!
When it comes to toting around that new MacBook Pro, you want
nothing but the best to hug and snuggle your new baby computer. For MacBook Pros (and 15" PowerBooks) I am going to
have to point the ladies to alex grant bags. My favorite bag is the understated
Skye in gunmetal gray (pictured here). The larger alex
grant bags come with coordinating laptop sleeves (kind of like mini briefcases with handles) that fit inside. I love the
styling on these bags and the carrying handles look long-commute-friendly, I just wish they came in a few more color
choices. All of the agb collection is on sale until March 1st.
In a past post I've rounded up some of my
favorite iBook sleeves, some of which may also be appropriate for 12" PowerBooks. With this combination, you
can put a smaller laptop in a larger bag. Incidentally, I rock a 10" Fujitsu subcompact (running FreeBSD 6), so I
ended up modding an existing subcompact sleeve to my liking. Ladies, and guys with ladies in their lives, feel free to
comment on your favorite sleeve/bag combo for your mac laptop in the comments.