Compiled by
TOM KELLY
AViiQ Ready Clips
The ramping up of our digital lives means a growing collection of smartphones, tablets, MP3 players, cameras and other personal devices whenever we travel. And all the associated knottage of cables. AViiQ (if only you could use that in Scrabble) has designed a very neat way to tidy them with their Ready Clips.
These are a set of three different flat portable USB connectors (above), each the length of a pen, that can clip into a case, bag or pocket and do away with tangled cables. Of course, the geekier may prefer the breast pocket clip-in, along with their other pens and pencils.
Ready Clips come in various device combos all based around USB ports with regular, micro and mini USB plugs as well as Apple’s standard 30-pin connector. Bizarrely, at the moment AViiQ is only selling the Clips in sets of two, not all three, which seems only designed to frustrate.
Still they will de-clutter and un-knot stylishly and are just as useful around your desk as when you’re on the move.
AViiq Ready Clips, sets of two, from $19.99 at aviiq.com
The Sailing GPS
A problem for sailors with standard existing GPS plotters is that they don’t take tacking into account and so it’s extremely difficult to be accurate about calculating your estimated time of arrival (making it impossible to know just when you might get to the clubhouse bar). As its name suggests, the Sailing GPS is a dedicated niche product that addresses this head-on.
Not only does it integrate tacking time within its deliberations, it can give sailors the optimal tacking angles, exactly how far each tack is out and back, and your time to destination. And it even learns how the individual boat is performing and builds a speed profile into its machinations too. You can use Google Maps to set waypoints and these can be transferred by Bluetooth to the Sailing GPS. All this in a device about the size of a standard car sat nav that you can throw into your bag or stick in a pocket. It’s tough too, with the screen shielded by Lexan and it comes with its own waterproof pack.
The Sailing GPS $399 from thesailinggps.com
The Magic Cube
Here’s an affordable, consumer version of a portable keyboard innovation that’s been doing the rounds for a number of years now. The salt cellar-sized Magic Cube (below right) projects a full, touch-sensitive keyboard on to pretty much any flat surface and lets you type away.
It’s all a bit Minority Report, though the principle is straightforward: a laser projects the visible Qwerty keyboard in tandem with an invisible infra-red beam. A sensor detects where your finger breaks these two beams, triangulates the point in 3D space and calculates where it is, relative to each key.
Ok, so it’s straightforwardish, but as long as it works. The Magic Cube itself will talk wirelessly to virtually any HID Bluetooth devices, including the popular tablets and smartphones – and you can go USB to most of the rest.
You’ll get about 150 minutes of table tapping between charges. Of course, there are all sorts of cheaper portable keyboards that fold up and roll up, but none quite have the sci-fi vibe of this Magic Cube.
The Magic Cube $169 from celluon.com