Featured Sponsor: Igloo Software
My thanks to Igloo Software for sponsoring the RSS feed this week.
Work isn’t a place — it’s what you do.
And you might work on a lot of devices — a Mac, an iPhone, an iPad — in a lot of places. You might work on the road or maybe from home (with your AeroPress and clickity keyboard). And that makes it hard to securely use a shared drive, coordinate with clients and collaborate with your team.
Igloo offers a complete digital workplace — you get full access to all your files, project discussions and plans for world domination. The information you need to work is available anywhere in the world, literally at your fingertips.
Igloo has a space for your team. Each team gets dedicated file sharing, Twitter-like microblogs, activity streams and a host of other collaboration tools in one cloud-based platform. Plans start at just $4/user/month.
Work better, not harder.
Enter to win an Aeropress and try Igloo free for 30 days.
‘Darth Vader and Son’ by Jeffrey Brown
What if Darth Vader had been an involved father? Jeffrey Brown illustrates a slew of father-and-son moments (such as “Take Your Child to Work Day on the Death Star”) comically showing what life might have been like for Luke had Darth been a dad like any other.
“When I was your age, we didn’t even have Star Destroyers…”
Baratza Vario-W Coffee Grinder
If you had won the 2012 AeroPress World Championship then this is the grinder you would have received as part of your loot. The Vario-W grinder from Baratza weighs 9 pounds, has 230 steps of grind coarseness adjustment, and uses a 54mm ceramic flat burr that is manufactured in Switzerland. The bean hopper holds up to 227g of whole coffee beans, and the bin can hold up to 142g of ground coffee at a time.
What really sets the Vario-W apart is that it uses a digital control panel along with it’s built-in precision load cell to provide a weight-based approach to grinding rather than time-based — this means you don’t have to pre-weigh your coffee before grinding it. The Vario-W is accurate to 0.1 grams and has 3 programmable buttons for common weights you may use (such as a single serve AeroPress, a pot of french press, and a cup of pour over).
A Shorter Thunderbolt Cable
Not only is the Apple Thunderbolt cable a bit on the pricey side, it’s also a bit on the long side — 6.5 feet to be exact.
If you’ve got a Thunderbolt drive stationed at your desk and are unsure what to do with all that extra cable cluttering your workspace, or if you’ve picked up a portable Thunderbolt drive and are in need of a more travel-friendly cable, then the Elgato Thunderbolt Cable may be just the ticket. It’s a quarter the length of Apple’s cable — measuring just 19 inches. Though, as it always is with technology, since it’s smaller it will cost you more. $10 more to be exact.
Albert Einstein Flash Drive
A USB 2.0 flash drive in the shape of Einstein. Lift the cap and you get the “Albert” side. Or, if you’d prefer to transfer your files via a different white-bearded wise man, there’s also an Obi-Wan Kenobi flash drive.
Bellroy’s Note Sleeve Wallet
The folks at Bellroy were kind enough to lend me one of their Note Sleeve wallets for a while. It’s the first bifold wallet I’ve used in over a decade and I like it.
Most traditional wallets are plain and lifeless. They have the expected layout for your cards and a spot for your cash and receipts. The Note Sleeve has these features but with a unique design and feel which is rare to the average wallet.
The Note Sleeve is a wallet for those who want something slim and simple but who also can’t get by with a wallet that holds little more than an I.D. and a debit card.
For those who do carry little more than a few cards, you may be interested in Bellroy’s Micro Sleeve Wallet or their Slim Sleeve Wallet.
Featured Sponsor: Minigroup
My thanks to Minigroup for sponsoring the RSS feed this week.
An Atlanta design firm uses Minigroup to work smarter and keep its clients happy.
Braizen uses Minigroup to manage projects and collaborate and communicate with their clients.
A minigroup is a private, secure online space where members communicate with posts and comments, share large files, and manage projects.
Braizen uses one minigroup like an intranet, to discuss business and assign tasks. They also create separate minigroups for each client, where employees working on various accounts present comp designs and drafts.
“Telling potential clients that we use this tool, where we’ll keep in constant contact with them, definitely helps seal the deal,” says Tyrie, the copywriter at Braizen.
Watch the full interview with Braizen.
Minigroups start at just $3 per year for owners, with plans up to 100 minigroups and 100GB of storage. There are no user/member fees.
Find out more or try it free for 30 days.
The Information Diet
The Information Diet is a book for the modern man (and woman). Through television, movies, newspapers, magazines, Websites, apps, ads, Twitter, Facebook, RSS, and email (to name a few) we are barraged and inundated with continual information. Clay Johnson’s book is aimed to help us consume content better. Though I personally am not a fan of the phrase “consume content”, it’s likely for the exact reason Johnson wrote this book — so that we can learn to have a healthy diet of news, learning, communication, and entertainment.
Logitech’s Ultrathin Keyboard (Smart) Cover
There is no shortage of iPad keyboard accessories. I personally use an Apple Bluetooth keyboard and the Incase Origami Workstation. However, there are lots and lots of folks who want a keyboard accessory that turns their iPad into a laptop-type of rig (the ZAGGfolio being a prime example).
This new iPad keyboard from Logitech looks very clever. It uses the same sidebar magnetic strip technology as the Apple Smart Cover, but instead of a folding leather cover there’s a bluetooth keyboard. It seems like an easy and clever way to have the keyboard attached to your iPad but not so attached that you can only ever use your iPad like a laptop.
Dark Sky Weather App
Dark Sky is a new weather radar app that was born on Kickstarter and is now available for your iPhone and iPad. It does just one thing: forecast the next 60 minutes of weather. It does this by taking all sorts of data from the NOAA and running it through a lot of custom code. Moreover, Dark Sky animates its radar to show a smooth movement of the storm rather than the choppy satellite images we’ve grown so accustomed to.
Featured Sponsor: World War Hack
My thanks to Viper Comics for sponsoring the Tools & Toys RSS feed this week.
Inspired by true events, World War Hack is a graphic novel that tells the story of how the U.S. Government gathers top computer hackers from around the country, under the guise of a hacking competition, to unknowingly help solve a pressing national security crisis. Little does the government know that eighteen-year-old hacker, Wyatt Dyer, is both the cause and solution to their crisis.
As a special for the readers of Tools & Toys, you can preview the first full chapter online for free. Pre-order before May 6 and you’ll also receive free shipping.
The xPrintServer: An AirPrint Enabler
We all know the pit you get in the bottom of your stomach when the excitement of using your new iPad is extinguished by the sad reality that you can’t actually print from it. You could replace all the printers and copy machines in your home and at your work office with AirPrint-enabled printers. Or you could install 3rd-party software. Or you could buy the xPrintServer. The xPrintServer turns your current network printer into an AirPrint-able printer that the iPad and iPhone can then use. You may now continue killing trees.
Paper Airplane Push Pins
These would only be cooler if you could reliably throw them into your cork board.
Das Keyboard Model S Professional For Mac
It’s big. It’s bulky. And it’s got a dual-USB 2.0 port. But the Das Keyboard also makes a splendidly soothing clickety clack that tells you, your co-workers, and the guys down the street that you are getting some serious work done.
The Das Keybaord uses German-engineered mechanical gold-plated key switches that give both a tactile and auditory feedback to your typing. The feel of the keys as they “click” upon the key presses combined with the sound of that clickety clack makes typing a joy and, in many cases, more productive.
And this new model of the Das has the keys mapped out especially for a Mac. So if you want to ditch your thin, hipster Bluetooth Apple keyboard for something significantly less elegant, you know it will still work just fine.
Braun’s Atomic Alarm Clock
Speaking of clocks, there’s a new line of digital clock radios from Braun that have the latest technologies on the inside and Braun’s classic, attractive look on the outside.
Aside from the great looks, perhaps the Global Radio Alarm Clocks’s coolest feature is — you guessed it — its Global Radio. A gadget that allows the clock to synchronize with the atomic-clock broadcasts in the United States, the UK, Germany, and Japan. Thus, your clock is always showing exactly the right time. Those who prefer to set their clocks ahead by a few minutes to keep from running late, may want to look elsewhere.
Bamboo Wall Clock
Sometimes you’re lucky enough to find that color of paint which you love so much you can’t stand to cover it with wall decorations. Yet the dilemma arises: without a clock, how will you ever be on time to anything again? Well, this bamboo wall clock could be the solution to your problems. There is no clock face, but simply a center dial with hands, and adhesive numerals to place on your wall. Letting that awesome color shine through, and giving a cool and unique look while you’re at it.
Wood and Faulk’s Official Camp Stool
With the warm weather now upon us (at least in the hemisphere which this website is written), camping, too, is upon us. If you’re looking for an alternative to the $20 camping chair you get at Walmart, then this classically-inspired camping stool may be just the ticket. The seat is made from English bridle leather and the legs from hardwood Ash. It’s handmade, unique, and built to last.
Featured Sponsor: Byword
My thanks to Byword for sponsoring the Tools & Toys RSS feed this week.
Modern writers don’t just sit at a desk and write. Sometimes it’s great to be able to write, edit or proofread when and where inspiration strikes and not be restrained by a single device or location. Byword makes this kind of workflow easy by integrating iCloud and Dropbox synchronization.
The flexibility of Byword: An article idea came to your mind last night on the couch and you began working on it on your iPad. This morning, at the office, you picked up where you left off by opening Byword on you MacBook Air — and finding the article was there just as you left it on the iPad. After lunch, on your way to the coffee shop, you pull out your iPhone to proofread and finish the draft.
Byword is available on the Mac App Store for $9.99, and for iOS on the App Store at the introductory price of $2.99. Check it out.
Elgato’s Portable Thunderbolt SSD
This is, so far as I can tell, the first portable Thunderbolt drive — and it’s an SSD to boot.
The Lacie Little Big Disk likes to pretend its portable by being small, but it still requires a power adapter to work. The Elgato portable Thunderbolt SSD drive is just a small, external enclosure with an SSD inside. It measures 5.2 x 0.8 x 3.2 inches, has an all-metal enclosure, and weighs a sturdy 14.4 ounces.
However, it’s important to note that Elgato is using a previous-generation SSD inside the enclosure. Therefore, sadly, it’s not nearly as fast as it could be.
Featured Sponsor: One More Thing – iOS Conference
My thanks to the One More Thing Conference for sponsoring the RSS feed this week.
Interested in the design, development and business of iOS apps? At One More Thing, our goal is to get developers confident, psyched, and ready to move from dreaming of making apps to just doing it. Learn from awesome developers & designers such as:
- Loren Brichter (Tweetie/ex-Twitter)
- Neven Mrgan (Panic)
- Karl von Randow (Camera+)
- Raphael Schaad (Flipboard)
- Matt Rix (Trainyard)
- Shaun Inman (Last Rocket) and many more…
They’ll be in Melbourne, Australia on the 25th & 26th of May, 2012. Register before April 12th for discounted early-bird pricing. It’s a perfect excuse to visit Australia too!