Posted by Kevin Whipps

Stow Your Keyboard with the Slimkey V2 Stand

My wife and I own an iMac which sits opposite my MacBook Pro in our home office. We also have a 7-month-old kid who loves to sit on mommy’s lap while she’s trying to get things done. He also loves hitting the spacebar on the keyboard, and bashing away at the keys like a madman. It’s kinda fun.

Well, it’s fun at first, until it comes time for her to do something else. She may turn around to work on paperwork, and he’s sending a copy of his manifesto via gmail on the keyboard. We needed a way to get the keyboard away from his paws.

One neat way to do that is with the Slimkey V2 Stand from Macsessity. It’s a tiny stand that sits just 1.1 inches off of the desktop, and integrates a 4-port USB hub into the side. This gives you a space to slide your keyboard so that it’s out of the way, and also elevates your iMac or monitor up off of the desk, and potentially more into your line of vision. In my case, it gives me a place to put the keyboard that isn’t readily available to my son, and that saves me from getting weird emails from his future followers.

It’s not cheap at $64.99, but when you think about how much a powered USB hub costs and factor in the added versatility, I guess it’s not too bad. Maybe it’ll help solve your own issues, or just clean up your desk space when you’re not using your computer.

Marvel & Gelaskins Team Up

It should come as no surprise that I’m a big fan of comics. And as you probably also know, my wife is a big fan of Gelaskins. But maybe, with this latest introduction, I could be converted to the skin side. Maybe.

These are new Marvel iPhone, iPod, and iPad skins made by Gelaskins. They’re available for a wide range of different devices, and even include a wallpaper for the iOS 4 devices and the iPad. There’s not a lot to talk about with these skins, really. There’s a front piece on the iPhone 4 that matches the wallpaper, then a full skin on the back for everything. And they’re cheap, at just $14.95 for the iPhone model, and a bit more for the iPad version. Want one? Go get one, and just in case, order me one too. I just might change my mind.

Wrap Your iPad in Mario

Alright, so technically, this is a Goomba, not Mario. But first, let me explain.

I can honestly say with no exaggeration that my wife and I would not be together today if it wasn’t for Nintendo. Seriously. We were dating, and things were going alright, but neither of us were really that into it. Then one day I called her and she told me she was playing Mario Kart. I drove over, we spent a few hours on the floor playing Nintendo, and it was love from there on out. Dorky? Sure, but I’m not quite sure what else you were expecting.

That explains why I love the Goomba iPad case pictured above. Yes, it’s one of my favorite things to jump on, and it holds one of my prized possessions, my iPad. It’s $39.95, which may be a bit steep for what it is, but frankly, it’s worth every penny to me. There are a few other options as well, including green and red mushrooms, plus an iPhone 3G case. It’s not for everyone, but I know that both me and my wife want one.

Apple Updates iWork for iPad and It’s a Doozy

The big issue with Pages and Numbers on the iPad was finding a way to sync the documents with your workflow. Let’s say I was working on an article on my iPad, and I had to take a break. A few hours later, I was ready to work on it again, but now I had access to my computer. I’d have to export the doc on the iPad, and then either e-mail it to myself, send it to iWork.com, or just plug it in and download it via iTunes. None of those options were fantastic for me, but now, we’ve got a few new options.

First, there’s Copy to iDisk, which is great for those of us with MobileMe. I have it, but I never use the iDisk feature because I have Dropbox. Turns out though that there’s also a new Copy to WebDAV option. What’s that mean? Got me, but I hope it’s an in that Dropbox can use in the future. If not, I imagine once 4.2 is live that Dropbox will figure out a way to get it done.

Regardless, there’s also new options to export Numbers docs to Excel, and Keynote to PowerPoint. Neat, right? Well it’s neat to me. Don’t get all mad because you didn’t get that GIJoe Aircraft Carrier that you asked for in 1987, I had nothing to do with that.

Hands On with the KarasKustoms iPhone 4 Case

A few days ago, I wrote a post about an aluminum case for the iPhone 4 made by KarasKustoms. I got an e-mail that night from one of their employees, and a few days later I was at the shop, checking it out first hand. Then they gave me a model for my own use free of charge, and I’ve been using it for a bit. Here’s the update.

The case itself has a ton more R&D into it than I ever would have imagined. First off, they come in various shades, and to get those colors they had the aluminum anodized. Although anodizing can be thick, it can also scratch if not taken care of carefully. That was my first concern, but it turns out, that was something they already thought of. The two halves of the case are held together with button screws, which also lift the frame off of the surface. This prevents scratching of the anodizing when you set it down.

But the thought behind the case is better than that. The iPhone isn’t held in place by the upper and lower halves clamping onto it as you might expect. Instead, the corner supports on the case are positioned such that the case almost floats between the four corners. This means that the aluminum isn’t going to scratch the phone, and doesn’t even touch it. There are also little indentations for buttons and access.

So how is it in use? Well it’s a bit weird to get used to at first, because there is a top and a bottom to the model, but no sides. You get used to this fairly quickly, but it is a small adaptation. It adds little thickness to the phone, but it does add width, more so than most cases.

Ultimately, it breaks down like this: it’s the first aluminum iPhone 4 case released on the market, and it’s one of the cheapest. If it were up to me, I’d buy one tomorrow.