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If you want to look different from the leagues of other iPhone 4 users and their kiosk bought cases, or just branch out your environment friendly attitude to your digital life, then these GrooveMade cases are perfect for you. Produced in Oregon, each case is laser engraved and created from bamboo. Definitely among the more aesthetically pleasing cases around.
Read More 
| Etsy
Gallery: GrooveMade iPhone 4 bamboo cases
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What better way to show off your ‘geekdom’ with pride than with a Mario iPad case? Sure to attract attention from fellow gamers and nerds alike, these cases come in different colors and range from the villainous goomba to the magical mushroom Mario gets his strength from. Each case represents a cornerstone in the video game culture, and you can’t put a price on that kind of statement. Actually, we guess you can - $19.95-$39.95 to be exact!
Click to continue reading Super Mario iPhone and iPad cases
Read More | Mario iPhone/iPad Cases
Gallery: Super Mario iPhone and iPad cases
Giveaway: Win $150 in free gear from JackThreads
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Announcements, Design, Features, Internet,
Have you heard of JackThreads? In case you haven’t, they’re a super cool clothing site offering discounts of at least 50% off some of the hottest brands in streetwear, surf, skate, and contemporary fashion. All sales are super limited, normally lasting just a couple days, and you’ve gotta have an invite to even join the site to get access to the goods. We’ve teamed up with JackThreads to bring invites to all our readers, and even better, you’ll get $5 in credit added to your account that you can spend right away if you so desire. That was cool and all, but then we thought we could take this a step further, and now we’ve got a full on contest going on. We are going to give away $150 in JackThreads credit to one of you entrants. Here’s how it’s going down:
Here’s how to enter:
- Join JackThreads if you aren’t already a member (it’s free - use our link and you get $5!)
- Follow the Gear Live Twitter account
- On Twitter, post this tweet about our contest: “Hey @gearlive hook me up with $150 for @JackThreads! http://gear.lv/e-jackthreads-150” (Click here to tweet this now)
That’s it! Remember, you’ve gotta be a JackThreads member, and you’ve gotta be following the Gear Live Twitter account so that we can send you a DM if you’re the winner. This one is only open to residents of the US and Canada. We will be announcing a winner on September 24, so you’ve got til Friday to qualify.
Gallery: Giveaway: Win $150 in free gear from JackThreads
How the iPhone changed the life of a blind user forever
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Design, Software,
We were just sent a pretty awesome story about a blind users first week with the iPhone that we just had to share. For those unfamiliar, the iPhone has some pretty extensive and amazing accessibility features aimed at blind users that helps them use the seemingly impossible to navigate (without sight) device. I’ve seen those features in action, but of course, I’m able to see…so it’s hard for me to judge them in practical use, despite coming easy feeling like Apple did a great job in planning their accessibility features.
Now we get to hear first-hand what the iPhone can do for the blind. Even more impressive than just acting as a phone and testing device, the right apps are able to offer insights into the world that the blind have never had easy access to. Particularly awesome is the part about the app that uses the iPhone camera to tell you what colors the phone is “seeing.” You’ll have to read it for yourself to get the full picture.
The one glaring problem? The fact that Apple forces you to use iTunes with the device, which is apparently a chore for the blind. Hell, it’s hard enough for a sighted person to get through that mess.
Read More | Behind the Curtain
Gallery: How the iPhone changed the life of a blind user forever
The 3D Express Coach brings new meaning to ‘Thru Traffic’
Posted by John Kilhefner Categories: Design, Science, Transportation,
What do you do when you see a bus in the middle of the road? Drive through it, of course! Try that in America and you won’t be around to see the results, but China may have the answer.
The Chinese engineer firm, Shenzhen Huashi Future Parking Equipment, is hard at work on a new transportation system, called the ‘3D Express Coach’, that will allow road traffic to drive straight through their buses. This new bus design comes as a result of high traffic that has plagued China for some time now, to which the firm claims the 3D Express Coach will cut down on by 30 percent. The bus travels around 37 mph, and can transport over 1400 passengers.
Furthermore, to keep the risk of accident down, the 3D Express Coach will have alarms for cars travelling too close, or to signal when the bus is turning. As well as inflatable escape ladders à la the ones aboard airplanes to assist during emergencies. Construction on the 3D Express Coach will start later this year, with a pilot scheme in Beijing’s Mentougou District beginning in the meantime.
Read More | Daily Mail via CrunchGear
Gallery: The 3D Express Coach brings new meaning to ‘Thru Traffic’
ColorWare offering custom-painted iPhone 4 with antenna fix
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Design, Handhelds,
The folks over at ColorWare are at it again, this time offering their custom color design services for the iPhone 4. The interesting bit here, though, is that while they aim to make your iPhone 4 more stylish, they are also in the process of confirming that letting them add a bit of style to your device will also solve any death grip antenna woes you may be experiencing. Now, a $29 Bumper Case from Apple will do the same thing, and that’s a hell of a lot cheaper than the $250 ColorWare will charge you while also offering protection from damage—however, some of us choose style over function, and that antenna fix is just a nice value-added bonus to getting a spiffed up custom device.
Read More | ColorWare iPhone 4
Gallery: ColorWare offering custom-painted iPhone 4 with antenna fix
We are still waiting to hear from Apple on the release date of the white iPhone 4 (they most they’ve provided is “the second half of July”) but at least we’ve got proof that it can’t be too far away now, as a shot of the product box has been uncovered. Did any of you not pick up an iPhone 4 at launch because you wanted to wait for the white one to arrive?
Gallery: White iPhone 4 box revealed
Next Apple iPhone revealed!
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Design, Features, Handhelds,
Over the weekend, rumors that Apple’s next generation iPhone (iPhone HD?) had been uncovered due to someone leaving it in a bar in San Jose had been running rampant. Images made their way to the Internet, claims that it was a Japanese fake were made, only to be taken back later. Nothing was decisive—until this morning when my pal Jason over at Gizmodo published a complete breakdown of the phone. Yeah, it seems Gizmodo paid someone a pretty penny to get the phone into their hands, and as a result, we pretty much know all about the major features in the next iPhone, which should drop in June. Here are the immediate, obvious feature additions:
- Completely new enclosure, with a flat back that is seemingly made of glass or ceramic
- Front-facing camera (finally!)
- Higher-resolution camera on back
- Flash for camera on back
- Higher resolution, albeit slightly smaller, display
- Separate volume buttons (likely also double as dedicated camera buttons when taking photos)
- Noise cancellation mic
- Battery has 16% higher capacity
- 3 grams heavier than iPhone 3GS
- Uses a micro-SIM
It’s obvious that Apple has definitely been listening to the complaints and requests from iPhone customers, and they’ve definitely done a lot to make the next iPhone stand out from the pack. In fact, this really looks and feels like the first true step up in the iPhone line, with previous new models introducing few hardware changes over previous models.
This is a big deal, as it is the first time that we can remember a major piece of Apple hardware falling into the hands of a company outsider, let alone press, in advance of it being officially unveiled and announced - especially in this manner. We think that Apple’s chief designer said it best on Twitter earlier this morning, with a simple “This isn’t good.”
Gallery: Next Apple iPhone revealed!
Manhattan: All the Five Burroughs for Your NES!
Posted by Finnian Durkan Categories: Design, Video Games,
Have you ever wondered what Manhattan would look like from the perspective of a Nintendo RPG in the mid-80’s? No? Then you’re either a commie or were born too late to get my clever Breakfast Club John Bender impressions; either way, you’re a neo-maxi-zoom-dweeby. For all of you who answered ‘yes’ to my previous query or at least started reminiscing about that time that you beat Mike Tyson, then this little time waster is for you. Brett Camper, an MIT alum and a true friend to the geek in all of us if there ever was one, has created an 8-bit map of NYC’s 5 Burroughs at 8bitnyc.com. So dig out your Dr. Mario shirt, press up-down-up-down-left-right-left-right-b-a-select-start and go get functionally lost in what Mapquest would’ve looked like over a 1kbps dial-up modem circa 1985.
Gallery: Manhattan: All the Five Burroughs for Your NES!
Fletch Creations Combo-sensing Super-Tips LED Inserts
Posted by Finnian Durkan Categories: Accessories, Design, Mods / Hacks,
While scrolling through tech websites earlier today I came across something pretty cool: a website called Fletch Creations. Fletch Creations is producing Combo-Sensing LED inserts for Super-Tips pens. For the uninitiated, Pen Spinning (or ‘pen mawashi’ in Japan where the pastime has been popular since the 1970’s) is a form of contact juggling involving the deft manipulation/spinning of a pen in various combinations.
What Fletch Creations has done is to create a neat little LED insert that fits into Super-Tips pens—the pens preferred in most Pen Spinning circles—that has 3 lights that can be lit up in succession increasingly complex patterns depending upon the speed and combinations that the spinner is able to achieve. Whereas I struggle to get more than one blinking LED to light up, highlighting my Lobster Boy-like manual dexterity, my high-school friend Chris is able to produce a better light-show than Timothy Leary ever saw on one of his best hallucinogen benders. Needless to say the color combos he was able to achieve were pretty impressive and emphasized the extent to which you can take pen spinning. Fletch Creations has come up with an original idea that can add enjoyment to an already entertaining medium. It may also allow me to appear a lot hipper when conversing with my Vampire Weekend-listening teenage relatives. “So, you kids dig this internets thing right? I really enjoy that Friendster…” Well, there may be no helping me but anyone else should see a definite up-tick in their street-cred. Check ‘em out.
Read More | Fletch Creations
Gallery: Fletch Creations Combo-sensing Super-Tips LED Inserts
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