Featured Sponsor: What Designers say about life at Booking.com
Forgive the cliche, but coming to work for Booking.com has been one of the best decisions. Within a week of arriving to the Netherlands, I had already created two UI experiments and pushed code to the live site. It was intimidating and thrilling at the same time. Those feelings haven't left. I'm constantly humbled by the more than 300 super intelligent colleagues…
Just Enough Research
Just Enough Research is the latest book to come from the ever-excellent A Book Apart publishing group. Written by Mule co-founder Erika Hall, Just Enough Research delves into the nitty-gritty of doing excellent research for your projects, whether they be design-related or otherwise. Erika has been doing this kind of thing for many years, making her a foremost expert on the matter.…
Dark Energy Reservoir
Readers of this site, being aficionados of fine technology, are likely no strangers to running out of charge when they need it most. Until battery tech improves such that it only takes one charge to power a smartphone for a week, most of us will need a backup plan at some point. Enter the Dark Energy Reservoir. This portable, rechargeable unit can…
Grove WoodPrint Case for iPhone 5 and 5s
I've talked about customizable wooden iPhone cases around here before, but until now I hadn't seen anything that allowed you to incorporate your own Instagram photos on the back. The Grove WoodPrint Case allows you to do exactly that, with a level of detail that I think is surprising, considering that they're printing lo-fi images onto wood. The grain of the maple…
Calendars 5 for iOS
I've been a fan of Flexibits' Fantastical since it released for iPhone a while back, but Readdle's new (and universal) Calendars 5 is certainly great competition. As with Fantastical, Calendars 5 allows you to use natural language to create events. For example, you can type something like "Meet Shawn at Blue Bottle Coffee every Wednesday at 3pm" and it will recognize exactly…
PCalc 3.0 for iOS
PCalc, the venerable calculator for the Mac and iOS has been updated to version 3, and includes a new iOS 7-class theme, updated layouts for the iPhone, full speech support and more. (If you're going to be running iOS 6 for a while, the app still has full support for the OS, and the old themes can be applied to 7, as…
Reeder 2 for iOS
Reeder 2, the newest version of the widely beloved RSS reader, is now available on the iOS App Store as a $5 universal app. The interface has been redesigned and looks as beautiful as ever, yet maintains the same sort of UI aesthetic you know and love from the previous version. My favorite thing about this upgrade is that Feed Wrangler is…
Sony QX Series Lens-Style Cameras
What if you could somehow take the accessibility of a smartphone and pair it with the power of a point-and-shoot camera? Sony's new 'Smart Lens' QX series of cameras aims to do just that. Available for pre-order in two flavors – the smaller QX10 ($248) and the larger QX100 ($498) – these cameras essentially look like zoom lenses that you attach to…
Featured Sponsor: Careers at Booking.com
The front-end team at Booking.com continues to grow and we are looking for talented UX Designers, Web Designers, Product Owners, and Front End Developers to come help us create the world's best accommodation platform. You'll work at our head office in central Amsterdam which is sandwiched in-between canals, museums and the occasional statue of an old Dutch master (good evening, Mr. Rembrandt).…
The New iPhones
Today, Apple announced — for the first time — two new phones. The iPhone 5C is the new mid-range model. Starting at $99 on contract for a 16GB model, the 5C sports the same basic internals as last year's iPhone 5, but in a new, colorful plastic shell. Available on AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon here in the US, the iPhone 5c…
Breaking Bad: The Complete Series
While there are just three episodes left of AMC's Breaking Bad, you can pre-order the entire series in what has to be the coolest Blue-Ray set ever. Housed in the replica money barrel are discs with every episode of the show, 55 hours of special features from all seasons, a two-hour documentary, a Los Pollos Hermanos apron and more. The whole kit…
GoPro HERO3: White Edition
While the iPhone 5 shoots great video, it's a tad ... fragile. I wouldn't ever use my phone to film anything all that exciting. The GoPro HERO3 was born for extreme situations, however. It comes with a waterproof case. It's can take fall from 197 feet. The whole thing can be re-built easily if damaged. It can capture video in 1080p 30fps,…
Satechi Desk Mat & Mate
There's certainly something to be said about having a minimalist workspace, but it can be a little...well, plain. The Satechi Desk Mat & Mate can help spice things up a little bit, give you a comfortable place to rest your hands while typing or writing, and protect your desk surface from scratches and spills. It's also available in a wide variety of…
Jawbone MINI JAMBOX
The T&T gang are all big fans of the Jawbone JAMBOX, and now the company has a new, smaller product: the MINI JAMBOX. Just check out these dimensions: Length: 6.06 in (154 mm) Width: 0.96 in (24.5 mm) Height: 2.28 in (58 mm) Weight: 9 oz (255 grams) Even though the MINI is well ... tiny ... it still promises great sound,…
OTTO Fan
The OTTO is a super-quiet, lightweight fan contained within an eco-friendly bamboo frame. Well, I say bamboo, but the more accurate term here would be twice-oiled African sapele wood. The fan itself is of the standard 3-speed variety, with the entire unit weighing in at 9.8lb and dimensions of 7.3" x 13.6" x 14.8". Perfect for a small office. At $200, there…
The New Kindle Paperwhite
I'm a big fan of my Kindle. I upgraded to the Paperwhite last year, and while I still miss the physical page-turn buttons, the backlit screen is really handy. I can easily read in bed without bothering my wife. Today, Amazon has announced a new Paperwhite. Available for pre-order starting at $119, the new Kindle promises better contrast, thanks to a re-worked…
Featured Sponsor: Encoding.com
Still encoding video with on-premise hardware? Encoding.com is the world's fastest cloud encoding service. We've made proprietary optimizations for ingest, queue times, processing, and egress of your source content that rivals the fastest on-premise equipment, with infinite scalability. We support nearly every video format imaginable, including a few that only we offer. We can accommodate a number of different transcoding workflows with…
Hack Lederware Sport Duffel
The Hack Lederware Sport Duffel ($239) is a canvas-and-suede bag that I think would be a perfect carry-on companion for air travelers. It sports a nicely textured exterior, with dual leather carrying handles and a detachable linen webbing messenger strap. As for storage, there is one main compartment with two inside pockets, as well as a couple of exterior zippered slip pockets.…
Neat Ice Kit
The guys at Studio Neat, makers of the Glif tripod mount for the iPhone and the Cosmonaut stylus for iPad, are putting on another Kickstarter for a...cough...neat kit for making super-clear ice at home. It uses an insulated, block-shaped ice mold to freeze water from the top down, pushing impurities to the bottom. The resulting ice block looks like this: Using the…
GhostStand for MacBook
While brushed aluminum is all the rage right now, it wasn't all that long ago that most Apple products were built with transparent plastics. I, for one, miss this look, and now the guys at Twelve South are bringing it back with the GhostStand. The Ghoststand is a $35 notebook stand that elevates any MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro or MacBook Pro…