stands

Laptop stands, coolers, and risers are great accessories to pair with a new back-to-school laptop. Inexpensive, portable, and useful, think of these as stocking stuffers for September, and perfect for tiny dorm room desks and trips to the library.… Read more

Two weeks ago I told you about the FlyGrip, a unique smartphone accessory that's designed to let you navigate your handset with one hand.

Shaped like a plastic H, it attaches to the back of your phone and gives you a place to rest your index and middle fingers. You then can text like mad on a crowded train and not have to worry about someone bumping your device out of your grasp.

Indeed, I saw how it could be useful for some people, but I wasn't into it. I didn't like how the FlyGrip caught on my clothing when I removed it from my pocket and I loathed the idea of sticking something to the back of my pretty phone with adhesive.… Read more

What's flat, black, circular, and holds your iPad?

No, not some weirdly molded LP record. The answer is Rolling Ave.'s iCircle, one of the more stylish and versatile iPad cases I've come across.

(Quick note: The vendor's Web site isn't quite finished yet, so you may notice some placeholder text. But you can order the iCircle directly from Amazon if you're interested.)

The iCircle is a glossy plastic shell that clips onto the back of your iPad 2 or new iPad. Its most prominent feature: a circle that pops out from the rear and … Read more

The Flygrip would find itself well at home in your standard infomercial. You know the kind I'm talking about, where black and white photography and lots of melodrama tell you about a problem that you didn't know you had.

All right, maybe I'm being a bit too snarky, but for a smartphone accessory, the Flygrip is not at the top of my wish list. It's unique, sure, and even a little useful, but that's not enough to make me stick a plastic doohickey to the back of my phone. … Read more

Here's a weird stop along the circle of life. Thanks to a Kickstarter project, the footsteps of a 14-year-old me and millions of others have found a new destiny: amplifying the volume of some stranger's iPad or iPhone.

The Sounder is an iPad/iPhone stand and amplifier with some real Americana credibility built in. In fact, it's 100 percent Americana. Each of the wooden stands is handmade (with an assist from some power tools) from old-growth lumber reclaimed from 19th century structures, including the Coney Island boardwalk. … Read more

I just came across Crimson's Pocket-eAzl, and while it isn't brand-new to the market (it's been out a few months), I thought I should give it a quick shout-out because it seems pretty nifty.

There isn't much to describe here because it's just an adjustable stand for your tablet or e-reader that folds up into a compact form factor that's pocket-friendly.

It comes in silver, black, or pink and retails for $39.95. Check out the video below.

Much as I like the idea behind Apple's Smart Cover for iPad, I never much cared for the execution.

That's because it's no good at holding the iPad in portrait orientation for reading books and magazines, and it offers only two positions for landscape viewing -- one that's too high, and one that's too low for anything but typing.

The problem lies in the cover's design: it has too many folds. App developer Dotan Saguy figured out a way around that problem and created the Smarter Stand.… Read more

Salamander Designs offers a vast range of quality audio-video entertainment furniture, and has recently expanded its Chameleon Collection of corner-style and extrawide cabinets.

Salamander's four-door Quad cabinets are designed to accommodate today's large flat-panel TVs, both visually and structurally. New product offerings include contemporary and traditional styles.

The corner cabinets are available in nine different styles, including 20-inch- and 30-inch-high versions and a 30-inch-high version with grillework designed to conceal a center-channel speaker. Salamander AV cabinets are available in a vast array of woods and configurations. The cabinets are built with premium-grade materials and construction techniques. Salamander's … Read more

Researchers at MIT have developed a robotic system for duplicating shapes, a potential alternative approach to three-dimensional printing.

The Distributed Robotics Lab at MIT today detailed research aimed at replicating objects by essentially carving them from an unformed pile of "smart sand" or "robot pebbles." The vision is to have these miniature robots automatically create replicas of different sizes with only an original shape to work with.

A key difference from other approaches to replicating objects is that, unlike three-dimensional printing techniques, the smart sand builds by subtracting building blocks from a larger heap, according to … Read more