Half-Pint Leather Jar Sleeve
Matt Pierce runs the blog/shop Wood&Faulk, where he tinkers and experiments with various ideas for leather items. Sometimes those experiments turn into actual products, which is the case with the half-pint leather jar sleeve. Made of English bridle leather, these sleeves are designed to fit over half-pint mason jars. Drinking hot beverages out of jars has come back in style, and Matt's…
Prizmo — Text Scanner and OCR for iOS
Prizmo is an iOS app that lets you use your device's camera to scan text and do all sorts of neat things with it. The scanned text can be exported directly, or saved in PDF or image form to be sent elsewhere. But that's only the beginning. It understands over 40 languages (10 are built-in, the rest must be purchased) and it…
‘Creativity, Inc.’ by Ed Catmull
Ed Catmull, alongside Steve Jobs and John Lasseter, co-founded Pixar Animation Studios. In fact, he played a key role in developing the rendering system used in several of their films and by the wider film industry. And now, he has written a book called Creativity, Inc., which grants the reader a peek into the creative process at Pixar and how other businesses…
Field Notes — ‘Shelterwood’ Edition
The guys at Field Notes have done it again with the latest in their COLORS lineup, the cover of which is actually made of wood. It's called the Shelterwood Edition. As you can watch in their behind-the-scenes video, they've very thinly sliced up some American cherry wood and bonded it with kraft paper to form each cover. Due to the nature of…
Checkmark 2 for iPhone
Checkmark 2 is the latest edition of the popular iPhone task-management app. It's been rebuilt from scratch for iOS 7 and has lots of new features to help you get stuff done. My favorite new feature is the ability to set "location groups", i.e. categories of places where you'd want to get reminded about a particular thing. Let's say you set up…
Velo Transit’s Edge 30 Waterproof Backpack
The Edge 30 Backpack by Velo Transit is an ideal bag for cyclists—or really, anyone who ever has to deal with rain while carrying their things around outdoors. The interior lining is RF-welded and thus prevents moisture from leaking in or out. The bag's main enclosure is of the "rolltop" variety, meaning it rolls down when not in-use to keep rain out,…
Featured Sponsor: EverWeb Makes it Easy for Mac Users to Build Websites
EverWeb is a powerful, easy to use website builder that is a great alternative for Apple's discontinued iWeb builder. EverWeb provides a full drag and drop user interface while still allowing for advanced features such as; mobile websites, drop down menus, rollovers, image sliders, built in search engine optimization and more. EverWeb includes built in templates to help you get started with…
Bookshelf Masking Tape
The next time you plan on packing some boxes, you might consider using this neat bookshelf masking tape. Made by Etsy shop LightLife, this tape will add a (dare I say) bookish flair to your stuff. Dimensions are 20mm x 5m, and a roll costs $6.75 + shipping from Taiwan.
Twelve South SurfacePad for iPad mini
The SurfacePad for iPad mini is a Napa leather cover and stand that adheres to the back of your iPad mini and wraps around to protect the screen. It can be peeled off and reapplied whenever, without leaving any sticky residue or marks. The cover can be flipped around and propped up by the small, built-in kickstand, which is great for typing…
CameraSync for iOS
These days, who wants to plug their iOS device into a computer to back up photos anymore? All of mine end up on Dropbox anyway, so why not cut out the middle man and upload the photos directly? This is where CameraSync comes in handy. Once you've set it up with your Dropbox account (other options include Flickr, Amazon S3, Google Drive,…
Coffee Slingers T-Shirt
Coffee Slingers is one of the best coffee shops and roasters in my home town of Oklahoma City. If you're ever in town you should really check the place out and get some delicious coffee, but a trip to OKC isn't required to get one of their awesome t-shirts. The design of the roasting machine and the iconography are all great, plus…
Srirachup
On those rare occasions when ketchup gets used in our house—meaning, when we're feeling too lazy to cook and just toss some frozen corn dogs into the oven—I always mix in a little sriracha to spice things up a bit. I gotta tell you, it's an addictive combination. With that said, I'm super excited to try this new thing called Srirachup, made…
Tap & Dye Camera Wrist Strap
When our friend Ben Brooks reviewed the ONA Bowery bag, I was drawn to the photo of his camera because of the beautiful leather wrist strap attached to it. The next day, he put up a short review of that strap, which turned out to be made by a company called Tap & Dye. This wrist strap is made from full-grain cowhide…
Sowden SoftBrew Coffee Maker
I recently happened across an article in The Atlantic that piqued my interest in the Sowden SoftBrew coffee maker. (Because, I don't already have enough coffee makers in my life, right? Please send help.) It's essentially a ceramic kettle with a large, easily-removable, stainless steel mesh filter inside. In fact, it looks a lot like a tea brewer. The filter has been…
Sanborn Firestarter Kit
One of the most important things you can have on a camping trip is a way to start a fire. The Sanborn Firestarter Kit ($16) fits the bill nicely, and includes the following: Eight cedar firestarters A match safe Some cedar kindling A small burlap bag to hold everything Sanborn is a company that makes great canoe paddles, and the scrap cedar…
‘Fortunately, the Milk’ by Neil Gaiman
Fortunately, the Milk is a children's book written by Neil Gaiman—and illustrated by one of my favorite comic artists, Skottie Young—that tells the tale of a father who goes out to buy some milk and returns with a wild story for his kids to hear. The premise sounds silly, and the book is certainly full of silly events. But it's also a…
‘The Display’ — Pen and Notebook Holder
Mike Dudek, the guy who writes about pens over at The Clicky Post, also handcrafts some very nice pen-and-notebook holders. My favorite of the bunch is called 'The Display', because it displays your pens nicely (up to 5) and also holds a few Field Notes notebooks. It's obviously a great item to have in your workspace, but I think it works just…
Stalward Ltd.’s Heavy Navy Gingham Tie
Winter may be almost over, but there's still a little time left to rock a nice-looking gingham tie, and Stalward Ltd. has you covered. Their $68 heavy navy gingham tie is both stylish and classy, and is neutral enough to pair with just about any shirt. If this tie in particular isn't your style, they've got plenty others to choose from.
Down and Out TV Mount
An HDTV wall mount can be a nice thing to have. It helps clear up space normally taken up by an entertainment center, and depending on where you mount it, there's an added bonus of keeping your TV out of reach of children. The problem is that most mounts are inflexible, so wherever your TV is mounted, you'd better be happy with…
Fly6 — Bicycle Camera and Rear-Light
Yesterday, the Fly6 bicycle camera and rear-light was successfully funded on Kickstarter, and now it's officially available for pre-order. Essentially, the Fly6 replaces your bike's existing tail-light and records the rear view of your ride in real-time. Why is this useful? Because as cyclists well know, motorists often have very little respect for people on bikes—even when it is perfectly legal for…