My friend Patrick Rhone is known for many things, one of them being a to-do system called Dash/Plus that was designed for people who like to manage task lists with pen and paper. Think of it as a collection of various bullet points you can use to denote the status of items on your to-do list. Today, Patrick announced that the Dash/Plus…
The Slate Mobile AirDesk is a Kickstarter project for a small, portable "desk" that sits on your lap. Cut from a block of premium bamboo and large enough to fit 13"-17" laptops, the Slate sports several rows of ventilation holes in the section where your laptop sits and the bamboo absorbs any remaining heat, so your legs stay cool during use. The…
The original version of the Glif – a tripod mount and stand for the iPhone – has long been a favorite item of ours. Just this morning, the guys at Studio Neat released a new version of the Glif that sports an adjustable slider, so now it works with a wide range of smartphones in addition to the iPhone. They've put together…
The PocketPlug is an iPhone case that comes with a built-in set of power prongs on the back, allowing you to charge your phone without having to carry an extra cable around with you. When not in use, the prongs fold flat and the PowerPlug acts as a normal case, providing some protection for your iPhone. Available in black for the 5/5s…
Runtime is a new run-tracking app for iPhone, built specifically for iOS 7 and the iPhone 5s' M7 chip. It records the places, routes, and even altitudes where you do your running/hiking/jogging/etc. For each session tracked, it will show you where you ran (in orange), where you walked (in yellow), and how many steps you took. Each 'run' can also be shared…
Before I describe the Encounter Collection itself, I should mention that the main reason I wanted to talk about these items on T&T was this incredible video that was filmed to promote the collection. With its gorgeous cinematography and a story centered around a father's heartfelt letter to his son, it's something worth watching whether or not you even want to buy…
Our friend and photographer John Carey of fiftyfootshadows has been the creator of some of our favorite wallpapers over the years. For the last month or so, he's been meticulously experimenting with many of these wallpapers, searching for the optimal photo resolution that can take full advantage of iOS 7's parallax effect and maintain their crispness. He's taken his findings and assembled…
There's a lot of denim that gets wasted around the world. Every day people are throwing out old pairs of jeans for various reasons, and even the big denim factories are discarding a good deal of unused fabric. Rather than letting all that good material go to waste, the people at Ikku have decided to repurpose the stuff to make awesome gadget…
Learning how to play guitar is something I've always wanted to do, but like so many skills, getting started from scratch seems daunting. The gTar (pronounced with a soft 'g') aims to make this part of the experience a lot more fun. It's like a real-world version of Guitar Hero that actually teaches you something. What you do is dock your iPhone…
It's not been mentioned here before, but unless I'm mistaken, all of us here at Tools & Toys use Delivery Status Touch to track our various shipments. I certainly can't think of a better option, because you can add tracking numbers from just about any delivery service out there and it will work like magic. The app just got even better too,…
Super Squares is a simple and fun new puzzle game for iOS. To beat each level, you must find a way to connect each colored block with its twin and make sure every star on the grid has been "collected" along the way. It's easy to pick up the the basics, but there is some challenge added (in the form of brick…
Spark Camera is a new iPhone app that makes it super easy to make great-looking video clips, up to 30 seconds in length each. If you've ever used Vine, the interface will feel a bit familiar, as your method of recording is merely holding your finger on the screen. Let off the screen and the recording pauses, allowing you to set up…
The new Papernomad cases by Griffin are interesting. Where most case manufacturers would recommend avoiding marks and spills, the Papernomad line is actually designed to be written on, sketched on, coffee-stained, and painted to your liking. It's essentially a blank canvas for your imagination — a lofty description for a gadget case, but fitting nonetheless. The exterior is made of a special…
Reconnaissance for iPhone is a new RSS app that ties into your Feed Wrangler account. It's the first iOS app I've seen designed specifically for Feed Wrangler outside of the official app, and it looks very nice. Actually, it just pushed out a redesign yesterday, which is what you see in the screenshots above. Reconnaissance integrates a little more deeply with Feed…
Ask any iPhone 5 or recent iPad owner about the Lightning cable, and they'll probably still roll their eyes. While the new connector is technically superior — both smaller and easier to use — than the 30-pin Dock Connector used before it, many iOS users had tons of accessories that relied on the older technology. Then there's the price. Apple's first-party cable…
Pedometer++ is a free new app for iPhone that should appeal to fitness-minded nerds, and it's made by none other than David Smith. It pulls data from the iPhone 5s' new M7 coprocessor – the always-running, low-power chip that measures motion data from the accelerometer, compass, and gyroscope – and as the name suggests, it uses that data to turn your iPhone…
Remember that Snake game that used to be on Nokia cellphones back in the day? Nimble Quest is an iPhone game that combines the mechanics of Snake with those of a 16-bit RPG. You choose a hero, hit Play, and it puts your character on an open field with enemies continually spawning across the map. Swipe in different directions to move your…
"Underscore" David Smith has just released Pod Wrangler, a new podcast app for iPhone. The UI is very focused, with only the essential features most podcast listeners will need. You can subscribe to shows (or import from an OPML file), download episodes for offline play, and toggle playback speed while listening. Since this is an iOS 7-only app, new episodes can also…
When I think of all the wooden iPhone cases I've seen in my life, I realize that most are sold on the merits of their eco-friendliness over their manufacturing quality. Truffol's Nature Series case may be perfectly eco-friendly as far as I know, but as a company, they seem to take a more Apple-like, tightly controlled approach to their engineering process. The…
Twitterrific 5: Twitterrific 5 as it existed a few days ago really wouldn't have looked out of place on iOS 7. But that didn't stop the developers from going the extra mile anyway. The Iconfactory has re-done pretty much all the UI elements and added many new features such as background fetching of tweets/sync position, several new gestures, and usability improvements. Just…