PDA

Gizmobies Protect Your PDA in Style

Whenever I get a new cell phone, I obsess over protecting it from every scratch, but after fruitless shopping for a case that's not too bulky or too expensive or too blah, I usually just give in to the basic black leather case. Yawn. Now that I'm finally ready to join the modern era and get myself a BlackBerry, I started noticing all the cases for those and discovered ... Gizmobies. Forgive my excitement, but now NYC area residents can buy these at the Gizmobies store in Midtown or via its online store (more below).

Made of a thin yet durable gel-like material, Gizmobies provide superior padded protection, come in tons of colors and patterns, and are thin enough that your phone or PDA slips in and out of your pocket or purse easily, yet provide a great grip so that your device won't fall off a table or your lap. You can easily change skins without any trouble at all -- they peel right off, and don't leave any residue.

I recently chatted with Andrea Balkin, who owns the New York area Gizmobies franchise, and here's what I learned: Gizmobies were started about three years ago by a successful technology start-up team with the goal of inventing a product that allowed iPod and cell phone owners to customize and protect their device but keep it pocketable and enhance its aesthetics without adding bulk or weight.

Andrea noted, "I purchased a Gizmobie for my iPhone 1G at the beginning of 2009 and fell in love with the fact that my phone, my most used possession, now felt great in my hand, looked really cool, and had excellent protection! No more ugly bright pink rubber case, which got stuck in my pocket, collected dirt in it, and looked so very pedestrian.

"I loved my Gizmobie so much that I wanted to get another one, but found that there was no place on the East Coast to purchase them. A budding entrepreneur myself, I knew that Gizmobies would be an instant hit out east -- especially in the iPhone Apple mecca of Manhattan!" And so ...

If you're in the NYC metro area, you should stop by Andrea's kiosk in the Manhattan Mall, on 6th Avenue at West 33rd Street. It features more than 130 designs, with new ones arriving regularly, for most BlackBerry phones, Nintendo DSi and Lite gaming systems, Nokia N97 mobile phone, and the Apple suite of devices; iPhone, iTouch, iPod, and Nano ($20-$25). Gizmobies for laptops are due out before the Christmas holidays.

Gizmobies offer a lifetime guarantee that allows the customer to mail the product back to the company's headquarters in Las Vegas if anything should happen to the product. Gizmobies are made in the USA.

Check out the gallery for examples of the array of patterns available, and how Gizmobies look on some popular devices.

Gallery: Gizmobies Protect Your PDA in Style

Tags: BlackBerry, cell phone, cell phones, CellPhone, CellPhones, gift, gift ideas, GiftIdeas, gifts, Gizmobies, holidays, iPod, laptop, Nintendo, PDA, phone, phones

K-NFB Text Reader

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Gadgets

The K-NFB Text Reader is a gadget made by inventor Raymond Kurzweil, who designed his first washing machine-sized reading machine in 1981. Developed for the visually impaired, it has a very unique function: it analyzes text and reads it aloud. It works by using a digital camera to capture the text after giving a "situation report" about what it can "see" to the user, who can use that information to decide whether "reading" is necessary. It can be used for anything from receipts to menus and directory signs. The audio can be routed through included headphones, a Bluetooth headset or speakers. It is not entirely without flaws (it has difficulty with white text on a black background, for example), but the performance is remarkable. Slated to go on sale in the UK next month, the device costs £2,625.

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Tags: bling, camera, gadget, handicapped, pda, reader, software, visually impared

New Hotel Luxury? No BlackBerries

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Gadgets, Luxury Travel & Hotels

It looks like the new luxury vacation might be one where they take away your little luxuries. At least, they'll take away things like your BlackBerry, which you might have considered to be a luxury item before you were answering e-mails 22 hours each day. Some hotels have instituted programs that allow guests to put their BlackBerries - sometimes dubbed "CrackBerries" for their addictive nature - into storage for the duration of their stay, thus ensuring that you have a chance to relax on your relaxing vacation.

Hotels like the Sheraton Chicago offer no charge for the service, though peace and quiet might actually be worth paying for.

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Tags: blackberry, hotel, pda, travel, vacation

PDA for Pets

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Gadgets, Pets

The Pet Master is a PDA, not for pets but to organize them. Instead of cluttering up your calendar or PDA with the appointments and play dates for your pet, you can store them separately, along with important phone numbers, like the vet. It has plenty of information about both cats and dogs, so it's great for all pet owners. The Pet Master has an alarm that will remind you of any scheduled events, a built-in pet shopping list and health facts, a list of pet-friendly hotels for traveling and emergency numbers - all pet-related, of course. There is even a frame built into the case which will allow you to tuck in a photo of man's best friend. It's only $29.95 and, in addition to doing something good for you and your own pet, a portion of the proceeds from each sale is donated to an animal charity.

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Tags: animal, animals, cat, dog, gadget, gadgets, pda, pet, pet master, pets

Design Your New Volvo With Your Handheld

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Services, Luxury Cars & Autos

Design your car from your handheld? Volvo and Mobileplay have teamed up to create a mobile auto configurator that runs on BlackBerries, Treos, Windows Mobile Smartphones and other smart mobile devices. You can customize your Volvo including color, fabrics, wheels and option packages. The configurator displays the buyer's choices and then lets them contact Volvo dealer to place the order. The configurator was designed to promote Volvo's XC70 and XC90 SUVs and will be distributed by Mobileplay. The configurator can be downloaded at www.mobileplay.com. I know we all live in a hurry-up world but are people really so busy that they need to chose their new car via Blackberry?

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Tags: car configurator, gadget, handheld, mobileplay, pda, volvo