The iLive iB109 iPod speaker.
Boom box designs typically go to masculine extremes. Products like the Sony Xplod or Altec Lansing iM7 look like they belong on Vin Diesel's shoulder launching rockets at enemy helicopters. Even classically styled boom boxes like the Lasonic i931 are purposely designed to be unwieldy, oversized contraptions that require a gym membership and an unhealthy appetite for punishment.
The iLive iB109 strikes a retaliating blow against the male-centric design of these beat-blasting behemoths by mimicking one of the most emasculating objects ever devised--the purse. With its flexible strap, glossy finish, and iPod-matching color schemes, this portable speaker system is just a Hannah Montana sticker away from repelling men like kryptonite.
Aside from looking adorable, the iLive iB109 will only set you back $29, and includes an AM/FM radio, universal iPod dock, and aux input. You also get the added assurance that men will never ask to borrow it.
(Via Chip Chick)
On Sale Now: $28.99 - $39.99
View the latest prices for iLive Portable Music System with iPod Docking and Recharging (Blue)
On Sale Now: $28.99 - $39.99
View the latest prices for iLive Portable Music System / Boom Box with iPod Docking and Recharging (Purple)
On Sale Now: $28.99 - $39.99
View the latest prices for iLive Portable Music System / Boom Box with iPod Docking and Recharging (Pink)
(Credit:
Fred Flare)
Inside all of us, there lives an inner creep just itching to get out and secretly take photos of unsuspecting members of the opposite sex. The secret book camera, offered here by Keith Carollo and Chris Bick of Fred Flare, definitely confirms that theory. The camera uses inexpensive 110 film and is the perfect size to stick in your backpack or Miley Cyrus-approved clutch purse.
You know what this camera reminds me of? That one scene in Troop Beverly Hills where shevillain Velda Plendor hides a camera inside the Girl Scouts book so Herman can spy on the tragically affluent Girl Scouts of Beverly Hills. Wait, what? You're not as self-deprecating as I am? OK, well I loved TBH and now I can finally live out my cinematic fantasies. Never mind that it's seafoam green and made to look like an antique toy for children--I just so happen to have $55 burning a hole in my apron. Patches?! We don't need no stinkin' patches!
Check out more pictures of the camera after the jump.
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EPISODE 107 |
Pottery Barn makes 'Star Wars' bedsheets cool again--kind of
Moldy bag prevents your lunch from being stolen
Vacumm in style with the Issey Miyake + Dyson Limited Edition (thx Richard)
Hello Kitty Watch
Hello Kitty robot coming to clean you with cuteness (thx Sheala and Gregory!)
FUG!
Ferrari station wagon is a crime against cars
Kill me.
PMS Buddy isn’t at all offensive to women. Oh, wait…
What a concept
AI helicopters. Awesome.
Pink Watch
Memorex miniMove boombox
(Credit:
Boing Boing)
The merits of solar-paneled bags transcend mere fashion, of course, but we're still surprised at how long it's taking for these green-conscious accessories to find their true aesthetic value. Try as they might, too many of them simply can't shake the look of chicken-wire siding or some other material that might seem more appropriate for a prison yard.
As seen with other products, the subtly named "Solar Energy Purse" absorbs ultraviolet rays to power any number of gadgets inside, with a backup battery for those rainy days. Despite this undeniable usefulness, as Boing Boing says, it still looks like it's made from "cut-up bits from your grandfather's old belts and velour loungewear." Harsh, but fair. Especially because they could have hired that student from Iowa State University who designed the "Power Purse."
(Credit:
Shiny Shiny)
We've speculated before about LCDs possibly needing to find their way into different products as next-generation TVs loom with newer screen technologies, but this isn't exactly what we were thinking. Then again, if any company was going to make a purse TV, it would be Hannspree.
This is the company, you may recall, that's made a living out of creating TVs in the form of toys, basketballs, giant fruit, and countless other objects. So this handbag LCD doesn't seem especially weird in that context, with a 9.6-inch display, a handle that actually works, and even a genuine leather case. "Sophisticated style that will appeal to any woman that demands tasteful and unique decoration," as Shiny Shiny notes, sneeringly. And for you macho types, remember, in Europe men carry handbags all the time.
(Credit:
phoneflasher.com)
I've missed plenty of calls when my cell phone has been in my pocket, so I can imagine that people who carry a phone in a purse or bag have the same problem. But with the Phoneflasher line of charms, missing calls can be a thing of the past.
Simply clip the trinket onto your purse and whenever you receive a call or text message, the charm wirelessly picks up the signal and flashes. The Web site offers no specifics on how this works, so you'll have to take the company's word for it.
You can choose from a wide variety of trinkets. The leather series offers hearts, butterflies, and the copyright-skirting "Playfull Bunny." The crystal series only offers dolphin, heart, and seahorse charms.
These charms seem like they could be useful, and they cost about $16 each. I can see the younger demographic eating these up, but those with more expensive tastes may prefer a Louis Vuitton charm instead.
(Credit:
Wiedamark.com)
Some marketers will never understand the meaning of "enough." LEDs are everywhere, of course, having gone far beyond computing to everything from umbrellas and license plates to tables and your mouth. Well, not your mouth, necessarily.
So naturally, some brilliant designer (unintentional pun) had to come up with the "Illuminated Handbag" too. At first glance, we thought it was taken from some footage of a recent volcano eruption or perhaps a studio still from the '50s horror classic The Blob. But nay, it was just an unfortunate attempt at techno-fashion that Red Ferret says was priced at $299--molten lava and alien life forms not included.
(Credit:
Solarjo)
Regardless of what you think of its design, this is no ordinary handbag. The "Power Purse's" name refers not just to its importance as a fashion accessory but also to its functionality--as a portable source of solar energy.
The bag is covered with small solar panels that can power cell phones or any other gadgets through a USB port built into its interior. MobileWhack says the ingenius purse was designed by a student at Iowa State University and marketed through Solarjo, "a company that produces unlikely items from something that looks quite ordinary."
The price is expected to around $300, which isn't all that bad--it is, after all, a designer bag. But there's still no guarantee that you'll be able to find anything in it, with or without a solar light inside.
(Credit:
Gearfuse)
Some design trends should be left alone--especially in fashion accessories. Just as Crave dismissed an unfortunate floppy disk purse from Fractal some months ago, we are similarly unimpressed with what appears to be a floppy disk messenger bag of the DIY variety. (Who can tell?)
It actually could have been worse. As Gearfuse says, the bag's creator had originally planned to make plate mail armor out of the dumpster-disgarded floppies.
We hope that for his sake--and ours--that this amateur Gucci doesn't try to sell his homemade wares. As fellow Craver Erica Ogg noted in her earlier item on the disk-clad handbag, "not every arts-and-crafts project should be an exercise in capitalism." Amen.
(Credit:
Target)
It was bound to happen. With all manner of bags and cases coming with built-in speakers these days, why not a purse? And not just any purse, but one that Chip Chick says has the "the girliest speakers ever." (High praise indeed.) Trouble is, it's not a real purse. But that might be a blessing anyway, given the way it looks.
