AViiQ Portable Laptop Stand
Traveling with a laptop is a necessity for a lot of people, but having one just sit in your lap while you type isn't very ergonomic or comfortable. The AViiQ portable laptop stand is a pretty good solution for this. Not only does it allow you to elevate the laptop and keep your lap from overheating, but it folds up crazy-thin –…
Simplehuman Wall-Mountable Grocery Bag Dispenser
I don't know about you guys, but in my household we tend to accumulate a lot of plastic grocery bags. We rarely just throw them away after grocery trips because they often come in handy later, so there's a big pile of them at the bottom of our pantry. I'm thinking we might pick up this Simplehuman grocery bag dispenser to free…
Karma WiFi Hotspot
The Karma WiFi Hotspot is a "social" 4G hotspot that allows you to openly share your connection with the people around you in order to earn free data (hence the "Karma" in the title). I can see how this would worry people who are sensitive to security issues, but hey, I think it's an interesting idea. Up to eight devices can connect…
Writer Pro for Mac and iOS
Sometimes a new writing app comes out that has everybody talking about it for a while. Right now, Writer Pro, the successor to the ever-popular iA Writer, is the new hotness. This app is designed around the four basic stages of any writer's workflow – note-taking, writing, editing, and reading – each of which is represented by a different typeface and color.…
MK1 Transforming Coffee Table
Ever since I was a little kid, I've had a love for all things Transformers. I don't play with those kinds of toys much these days but the MK1 Transforming Coffee Table, which easily changes from coffee table to dining table, could be a sort of grown-up substitute. The crossed table legs can become uncrossed, which causes the side "walls" of the…
DSPTCH Wrist Strap
I gave DSPTCH wrist straps a brief mention in a previous post, but I think they deserve some individual attention of their own. Where the Killspencer strap sports a more solid-feeling design and is meant to be worn around the neck, the DSPTCH strap is a bit more flexible since it's worn on the wrist, something that is likely to move around…
Wipebook
Wipebook is a Kickstarter project that essentially combines a paper notebook with a dry-erase board. Each page is its own mini-whiteboard, meaning that you can leave your sketches and/or notes as long as you want, then easily erase them whenever the time's right. The entire notebook can be reused over and over, so you don't have to keep buying new notebooks whenever…
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Cinetics miniSkates
If you're wanting to shoot a fancy-pants app video review or anything else that requires a few panning shots, there are all kinds of ways to rig up a functional dolly system. If you happen to own a GorillaPod SLR-Zoom tripod, then I'd recommend picking up a set of Cinetics miniSkates. These three wheels attach to the "feet" of the GorillaPod, allowing…
Gravitas Lightning Dock
The Gravitas is an upcoming dock for iPhone and iPad that promises to be extremely stable even for one-handed docking and undocking. At first glance, it looks like it would be made of lightweight aluminum, but it's actually a much denser metal alloy. The resulting dock is one that has a small footprint but still weighs 2.54 lb (1.17 kg), which is…
Snap Circuits Alternative Energy Kit
I've always been kind of a sucker for geeky kid stuff. I grew up watching shows like Bill Nye the Science Guy and Beakman's World, and of course I had one of those Creepy Crawlers bug-maker kits. Now that I'm a dad, I like to keep an eye out for these same kinds of geeky things I can share with my son…
MnmlRdr
When Google Reader was shut down, the feed-reader market became a sort of gold rush for developers, resulting in the wide array of RSS services we have to choose from today. Now, I'm a Feed Wrangler guy myself, but MnmlRdr is also worth a look if you're wanting a more lightweight, minimalist reading experience. Once you've signed up, you get access to…
These Are a Few of Our Favorite Things (2013 Edition)
Following in the tradition of last year, we, the Tools & Toys staff, are here to share a few of our favorite... ahem... tools and/or toys from 2013. Let's get to it, shall we? Shawn's Favorites Seiko Automatic Watch Buying an automatic watch is an investment that takes research and money. The Seiko is great for dipping your toe into the world…
Packtowl Nano Light Towel
Anybody who's ever read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy will tell you: a towel is one of the most important and useful things a traveler can carry. And if you're going to have one with you at all times, the Packtowl Nano Light Towel is an excellent choice. This thing can absorb just about any liquid you throw at it (up to…
MarkDrop
MarkDrop is a new text editor for Mac OS X (10.8 and above) that combines Markdown with Droplr for easy sharing and storage. The left pane, with its monospaced text and format-highlighting, is where you'll do your writing. The right hand pane provides a real-time preview of your Markdown output. Once you've composed something in MarkDrop, it can be saved directly to…
Pinswift for iPhone
There are numerous Pinboard clients out there for the iPhone, but Pinswift is my new favorite. The iOS 7-only iPhone app features a clean design, but isn't void of personality. The app syncs and searches quickly, and ships with robust x-callback-url support. Pinswift is $4.99 in the iOS App Store.
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Mophie Juice Pack Dock
If you're the proud owner of an iPhone 5/5s-compatible Mophie Juice Pack (and you should be, because they're awesome) then you should also look into getting a Juice Pack Dock. It bypasses the Lightning connector, using a special dock connector built into the bottom of the Juice Pack. And just like plugging the Juice Pack directly into a power outlet, the dock…
Oyo Mountain Foot Bag
When I was in marching band back in high school, one of the ways my friends and I chose to pass the time during competitions (when we had nothing better to do than stand by the school bus and wait our turn) was play Hacky Sack in the parking lot. I still have one of my old hacky sacks from those days,…
Ratio Eight Coffee Machine
If there's one thing we at Tools & Toys (and many of our readers) are not in need of, it's another coffee-making contraption. I mean, the lot of us are nearly full-on baristas at this point. But this beautiful, upcoming device called the Ratio Eight coffee machine definitely seems worth checking out. This machine looks like a cross between a Chemex coffee…