Portable Entertainment Accessories

For many people, an iPad, or even a netbook, is a sizable investment that’s worth protecting. Pelican has just announced a new hard case for iPads and netbooks. Made of high-strength ABS, the Pelican 1075 HardBack Case is dustproof, watertight and crushproof, with a built-in purge valve to control air pressure.

Now you can dress yourself in earbuds that complement the changing colors of New York’s tallest building after dark. iLuv has debuted the City Lights in-ear headphones line in seven different colors that suggest the skyline at night: silver, black, blue, green, orange, red and pink.

The demo is eye-popping. Hold an iPad 2 in front of an Apple TV, download Real Racing 2 HD and suddenly the tablet becomes a telemetric steering wheel. Instead of the game view being seen on the tablet, it’s displayed in 1080p on your big-screen HDTV even as the engines reverberate out of your home theater’s subwoofer. 

No flash in the pan, tablets have gone mainstream. Mobile touch screen computers are proving that you don’t necessarily need a physical keyboard to enjoy entertainment, gather information and communicate by text or live video.

Computers are great for dishing up information in a straightforward and easy-to-digest manner. The problem is that they can just as easily serve up information to individuals who are not authorized to see the information. A privacy filter can eliminate that risk.

When your ear buds become soiled from extended use, being able to rinse them off is a real option with Pioneer’s new SE-CL331 Washable In-Ear Sports Headphones.

The Ion iCade cabinet for iPads lets you slip your iPad or iPad 2 into a tabletop version of a 1980s arcade games machine. Once you assemble the cabinet, you pair the iCade’s physical controllers to the tablet through the iPad’s Bluetooth settings and download Atari’s Greatest Hits ($14.99 for the complete version) from the iTunes Apps Store.

Spring is in full swing and summer will come and go before you know it, so be sure to enjoy the nice weather while you can. The warmer weather lures people outdoors, and the longer daylight hours keep them outside longer.

As a stand, Lap Lounge for iPad 2 from Targus looks like it might have been designed in the Seventies. But functionally, the stand’s malleable underbelly means that now the only thing that needs to come between you and your iPad 2 is a bean-bag lining.

With multiple generations of iPods, iPhones and iPads ensconced in our homes, the iOS kin are a sprawling family. Wouldn’t it be convenient if you could own one speaker dock that accepts them all?

When earbuds get in the way, and you’d rather cast the music into the air so it can be heard by anyone in earshot, portable speaker options abound. Stereo speakers with decent sound can travel with you easily.

Despite your summertime affinity for water and sand, such elements are year-round enemies of personal electronics. If you want to enjoy your music, videos and photos out-of-doors, consider a seasonal accessory designed to defend the investment in your mobile gear.

Let me start by saying I am not an audio specialist. I spend my days writing about cameras and related photo gear for the Photography section of InDepth. But like the majority of our species, I enjoy listening to music while I work, and especially when I go out for my evening run. 

What’s environmentally friendly, made out of wood and designed to stick in your ear? Thankfully, the answer isn't tribal style earlobe-stretching discs. The wooden objects I stuck into my ears were the thinksound ts02 In-Ear Stereo Headphones.

Sometimes you wish you could save a temporary image you see on your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. Well, it’s not necessary to point a camera at the screen. Simply keep the Home button pressed as you also quickly press the Sleep/Wake button as if it were the shutter button on a camera. The screen will blink. Whatever you see on the screen (including an image you’ve enlarged), will be captured to the Photos/Saved Photos folder.

Syndicate content