As a user of Logitech iPad 2 keyboard, I was surprised to see that Zagg released another same type accessory for the new Apple tablet. Honestly, I didn’t buy it yet to evaluate. According to several trusted gadget review websites which had a chance to have a close look to new Zagg item, I can say that it will be a new market hit for the company. Most reviews are very positive so far. I have put below a guest post from a close friend of mine who has a blog about iPad accessories which will give an idea for readers who don’t know much about Zagg Folio iPad 2 keyboard case stand. If you already know about Zagg, click the following image to read all features on official page.

The case is very sturdy as well as very fashionable. You can fold it several times depending on your preference due to the angles which are specifically made for this folio cover. It has a built in stand that makes it actually looks like a laptop. However, the main feature that several users love about this iPad case is the Bluetooth connective keyboard. It can easily be turned on with just a click of a switch. Pairing the Bluetooth with your iPad is just simple as pressing a button. The keyboard charges with the USB to the micro USB cable from any source. Once the keyboard is charge the keyboard can provide an uninterrupted working time of 90 hours.

All of the iPad buttons are paired in the keyboard so you will likely experienced the same function like a laptop has. It also features common iPad controls such as home button, short cuts and other essential controls. The cover is made from eco friendly durable synthetic leather. It can still give access of all the ports although it covers the gadget. You can use it anywhere and anytime you want.

This is also ideal for travelers and writers who want to sit by and relax in a corner. It’s very useful and beneficial. Choosing this new kind of case is truly a worthy investment for iPad 2 owners.

Buy on Zagg.com now

I know that many iPad 2 owners look for a case not only for the protection of the tablet but also as a way to impress others or express their own lifestyle and taste. So, I have set my mind to find interesting (and worth to buy, high quality) iPad 2 cases. Here are the results.

Tuff Luv Marrakesh Case

A unique, sophisticated case which features the motifs of Eastern world, specifically North Africa. The case also doubles as a multi-view stand. Available in red and brown colors. Buy on Amazon

Grove Bamboo iPad 2 Case with Tanned Leather Cover

I think it will be one of the most popular cases for this year. The bamboo case exactly fits and you can order laser engraving (artist made or your own design). They have used CNC and handcrafting together to make this case. It has stand functionality as well. The leather quality is top notch too. Now, less words more images of this cool case!

Order on Grove website

ZaggMate Case Keyboard Dock for iPad 2

High grade aluminum case with integrated keyboard and dock. It is the dream of every Apple iPad geek. Now, Zagg offers the new ZaggMate for iPad 2. This is slim and perfectly complements the tablet’s finish. The stand has 10 different viewing angles. Order on Zagg.com now

BooqPad White Berry

A very basic but cool idea which I wonder why the other case manufacturers didn’t think so far. Even though I use iPad 2 daily, I can not live without traditional pen and notepad couple for productivity purposes. BooqPad combines both. A case with integrated notepad and slots for pen, credit, business cards etc.

There are different color combinations on their website but I liked the white berry model a lot.

More on BooqPad

iSkin Summit

Space-age sexy is the definition of the iSkin Summit on the product page. I totally agree. Especially, young women who are energetic and full of life can bring more color to their self-expression with these sleeve cases. Special design to provide elimination of shocks resulting from accidental hits or drops of the tablet. Available in main colors.

Product Page

If you enjoyed my review of interesting Apple iPad 2 cases, sleeves and covers, be sure to check best iPad 2 skins review blog post too.

Related : ZaggMate iPad 2 Review

I was looking for a silent mouse without that annoying click sound for a long time and hopefully, quietmouse.com provided me two of their QuietSmooth branded computer mice for a test. Therefore, you will learn in this quiet mouse review why manufacturers insist on making noisy click-sounding mice and whether buying one of these quiet mouse models is worth or not. 

First of all, let’s discover the fact why a regular computer mouse has such annoying click sound. The answer is simple. They are very easy to make for manufacturers while a noiseless mouse is hard to achieve because it would need a special process and must still provide the tactile click feeling as well. It means more handmade handling and high cost for manufacturers.

QuietMouse company states that they make the silencing process for each mouse by hand with the help of skilled technicians. Their special quieting process is patented and unique.

Quiet Mouse Review

Now, my review of the quiet mouse models which I got. The first one is QuietSmooth USB mouse. It is an optical 3 buttons USB mouse with a scroll wheel. Honestly, I didn’t expect all the buttons would be silent but now just amazed. Cool. All are super silent and you don’t need to push hard on any of them. I directly say this. It is virtually impossible to hear the click sound even if you approach your ear very close the mouse. This mouse is bigger than the other one, QuietSmooth Wireless model. The mouse looks very professional. While the sides are in black color, the center looks like a metallic finished gray color. Considering my hand size and its perfect comfort and precision as well, I will keep this as my primary mouse

The second mouse is called as QuietSmooth Wireless and also features 3 buttons (one is scroll wheel in the middle). Again, all buttons are very well silenced. It does what promises. This mouse uses a mini USB dongle to connect and works with one AA battery. They are included in the package. I liked the auto sleep mode function. It will go into this mode if you don’t move the mouse for a long time and waking it up only needs a single click on any of the buttons. There is a tiny button called as CPI on the mouse. It is an option to change mouse resolution. You can work in 800/1600 DPI modes which provide faster or slower but more accurate response. I personally liked the fast mode better. This mouse is also very comfortable. The wireless silent mouse is all in black and has a smaller size.

Both models are compatible with any Windows or Mac based operating systems.

Overall, my review is very positive. I will recommend these mice to interested readers. I know many are looking for these and you have just found the gems!

You can order them on QuietMouse.com website. Currently, USB model costs $39 while Wireless model costs $49.

The company provides 12 months warranty and ready to give full refund if you are not satisfied with the quality.

iVistaTablet is a leading specialized manufacturer of digital ink pads, different kind of tablets (flexible, slim and media), digital whiteboards and touchscreen pen monitors which aim to bring convenience to daily tasks of both professionals and regular users.

iVistaTablet sent me their current best selling digital notepad model Digital Ink Pad + a.k.a DIP+ for a review. After two weeks of usage, I have decided to write the review about DIP+ now and tell my readers its functionalities. Actually, I own another popular writing pad model from a different company for more than a year, Solidtek and used this before a lot for digital note-taking. It was also a good chance to compare both devices and decide which one brings more value to customers.

But, is this enough? No. You will need to organize these notes, transfer to other computers, preferably send to text editing programs with handwriting recognition etc. iVistaTablet Digital Ink Pad + achieves a lot more than these basics.

Ok now more action, less talk. First of all, let’s have a close look what we get in the package.
Digital notepad, quick start guide, USB connection cable, 2 software CDs, a digital pen with black color cartridge, a blank A4 papers block, 2 additional cartridges (one is dummy to be used in PC tablet function), a battery for the pen and a tiny metal tool to easily grab the cartridge from pen for changing.

Here is a photo of digital pad’s management screen. You can see the touch sensitive buttons for voice recording, creating, deleting, changing pages etc. Currently, it shows the A folder and 4th page and it has content because of the filled style document icon. We see the battery life as well.

p.s : These keys will not respond to finger touch but only work with digital pen strokes. I think there is some magnetic technology here combined with pressure recognition just because as soon as I hold the pen above a functional key without touching, the device recognizes it and applies when I press softly on the pad

After starting the device and playing with controls, I have decided to write something at last.
I have written a sample text (the beginning rhymes of one of my favorite poems all time “Alone by Edgar Allan Poe”), made some drawings and used symbols via the iVistaTablet digital ink pad as an example.

I should remind that English is not my mother tongue and can not claim that I am at best on handwriting. Here it is.

After this, I have connected to my computer with USB cable of the pad, installed the OCR hand recognition software MyScriptNotes (it is bundled in the package as a cd with many other software) and applied a quick conversion in English language. (The software supports recognition of at least 20 languages)

Overall, I am more than content with the results. The file needs only a few corrections in MS Word later. It was successful to recognize and convert drawings and special symbol keys.

What else does this device achieve? A lot. Here are the other functions of iVistaTablet Digital Ink Pad.

We can create digital folders and pages in these folders. Folders are named by alphabet A B C and so on, while the pages are created as A001, A002, B004 etc. Ok, I guess you got the logic behind the paging and file system. We can also use an SD card on the pad. It is allowed up to 2GB which is enough to save thousands of pages.

Then, I copy the note files to my local computer (via USB from computer’s digital memory) or using an SD card (the pad has a slot for it) and change the organization according to my liking. I have Vista and the tablet’s internal storage is automatically recognized by the OS as a disk.

The notes files can be converted into several formats besides the MS Word ready output by hand recognition program. These are jpeg, bmp, png, pdf, top, one note, txt and zip.

And another excellent usage is the digital tablet function of the iVistaTablet pad. When you connect to a computer, it can be used as a PC tablet. It means that whatever we write or draw on the pad will be shown and acted as well on the computer screen. We even do not have to use a real digital ink pen to economize on ink. The tablet has a dummy plastic cartridge to change on the pen’s end. So, all hand movements and strokes become virtual for pad but continue to be real on the computer screen. Naturally, the digital pen functions as a mouse too. So, you can draw naturally much better than mouse and still control the computer.

Note taking and annotations on MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, MS Notes, Journal etc.  It means that I can make markers, take notes on any open MS file. A popular usage would be sending what you draw instantly on Outlook new email screen. For example, a manager can open an Excel document with charts, write commentaries with the pen naturally, quickly and send the output file as an image to employees by Outlook.

The digital notepad has voice recording functions. It has built-in mic but you can connect an external one too. Especially students will like it. For example, while you take notes and draw something on a page, you can record the instructor’s voice. Remember that each page has its own voice files. When you change the page on digital notepad, the voice files will be recorded on corresponded page. This has obviously great use in company meetings too. Cool!

It can be used as an mp3 player using the SD slot and has a headphone jack to listen what you have recorded as well.

Easy form filling. Let’s suppose that you have an application form as an image file in your computer. If you had to send this to someone else after filling the blanks, you would first need to print it, write on it, scan it and then send by email. Now, you just open the image file with any suitable program, connect with DIP+ and fill the blanks easily with digital pen. After finished, send it as an image file by email.

There are some other special features. I will not bore you with all of them. Better, you can check the full specs list at product’s page on iVistaTablet digital pad website.

Now, here is the comparison chart of iVistaTablet Digital Ink Pad and SolidTek notepad which I have mentioned at the beginning of the review.

My final conclusion is quite positive about Digital Ink Pad after two weeks of use. It is much better than the competitor Solidtek digital notepad in many ways including price, bundled software support and internal device features.

You can order this device on iVistaTablet store or on Amazon.

Simply bravo to hi-tech guys on Zagg. I have just received their latest iPad gadget, Zaggmate keyboard which is essentially a protective aircraft-level aluminum protector case for iPad with bluetooth keyboard, plus you can use it as a stand. It matches the iPad in design too much and the special hinge allows typing in landscape or portrait modes.

If you are looking for a super Black Friday item for iPad, you have just found it. Buy ZaggMate Keyboard

New iPad 2 keyboard is here by Zagg.

If you have already bought iPad 2, we suggest buying iPad 2 keyboard case

Well, almost a week ago Blackberry had announced their own tablet device Playbook, with hopes to compete iPad and latest gem of the crowd, Samsung Galaxy Tab. These moves will certainly drop the price of iPad in near future and bring more dynamism to tablet computer market.

Anyway, here are main specifics of each tablet and my ideas on them.

Screen Size : In my opinion, iPad having 9.7 inches function better than others (7 inches for Playbook and Galaxy Tab). I prefer ease of use and better visibility.

OS : Blackberry Tablet OS is a new operating system and I think it would need to mature by time.  So, be aware that if you buy Blackberry Playbook, you just buy promises and unknowns. Plus, consider the deficiency of applications on this tablet. I have no complaints about iPhone OS and Android. They are certainly constantly being well developed and have huge investments both on money and brain force. No application problem.

Camera: The winner is Playbook. It features two cameras, one front and one rear with 3 and 5 mp respectively. Galaxy Tab has 1.3 and 3 mp. Our bad boy is iPad with no camera at all.

Adobe Flash Support: While Apple insists on killing the leadership of Adobe Flash, the real world does not think the same. Both Galaxy Tab and Blackberry Playbook tablets support Flash internally without a need of an add-on program.

RAM: The winner is again Playbook here. 1GB for Playbook, 512 mb for Galaxy Tab.

Expansion MicroSD: iPad has none. Galaxy Tab provides it and possibly Playbook will have it too.

Screen Multi-touch Usability: I think iPad is much better than the competitors although the quality of other tablets increase by time.

If you do not count the pricing factor, I think you should either buy an iPad or Galaxy Tab. It is my personal opinion surely and open to errors since I am not an industry expert on tablets.

By the way, have you ever thought buying a digital notepad? Check it here too.

We all know about the magnetic field experiment which shows how some particles like graphite inside the pencil can be used to make visible magnetic lines. It is surely a boring stuff if you are over 10 years old.

However, I am sure that many people didn’t hear about ferrofluids which show amazing behaviors which are important both scientifically and visually. The image on the left better talks about the beauty of ferrofluids. Let’s understand what ferrofluid is without going scientific.

Ferrofluids are mixtures of organic solvents and ferromagnetic particles in essence. In normal conditions, if we mix Iron-oxide particles in oil (organic solvent) and bring near to a magnet bar, all iron-oxide particles would be running to magnet bar and piling there without any beauty.

But in the case of ferrofluids, the iron-oxide particles can not be pulled easily by magnets. There are other nanoscale elements called as surfactants which prevent this happening. You can think them as particles in the middle of oil and iron-oxide, thus behaving like a connecting force. So, when a magnet approaches to a special ferrofluid, it would not only affect magnetic particles but also oil attached on nanoscale grade to these particles, leaving us incredibly aesthetic geometrical ferrofluid shapes.

One of the most famous applications on art is ferrofluid sculptures. Here is the ferrofluid sculpture video of a Japanese artist, named as Morpho Towers.

What are Ferrofluids?

Ferrofluid Toys & Science Kits
There are a few nice ferrofluid kits at Amazon to experience this behavior at home. Suitable for children (who can understand that it is not for drinking) as an education material as well.

Ferrofluid Science Project Set 60cc Bottle and Assorted Magnets

After reviewing tens of digital cameras at Amazon during this week, finally I decided to buy Canon PowerShot SX20IS.

My loyal blog readers know that how I am fanatically careful about spending money only on gadgets & electronics which has a good quality & price balance. That’s why I didn’t buy an iPad or Kindle DX yet, waiting for their next versions. We will see if they will suit to my needs or not in near future.

Anyway, I was reading much buzz about Canon PowerShot SX20IS on several tech shopping forums for weeks. I needed a digital camera to use especially for my new travel blog project which will include only HD quality videos & photos.

Well, why to spend much money, if I could get this Canon digital camera at Amazon for the half price.

It has everything which I would need. 720p stereo HD movice support. 12.1 megapixel resolution and 20x wide-angle optical zoom which is enough for shots for open nature photos. I should emphasize a very good feature of the camera. It has optical image stabilizer. It means that the I am able to shoot crips images even I shake the camera. I am not an expert on the very technical details of every digital camera features, but I know what to choose with experience and the power of comparison. For me, predefined settings are important. A good digital camera should determine what it is shooting. A sunset or a sea view in the morning is different and needs special arrangements. Hopefully, Canon PowerShot SX20IS has 22 pre-defined shooting settings to help me.

I will not talk about much technical details. You can just read the plenty of reviews from Google Search or trust Amazon customers. Overall, 82 people has given 5 stars so far, 49 people have voted for 4 stars. 14 people have given 3 stars, 5 people are for 2 stars and only 6 people have voted for 1 star. Add my 5 stars to this high quality Canon digital camera as well, dear Amazon

Cuboro is a 3D wooden building and marble track system which is as creative and famous as Lego and Kapla toys.

There are individual wooden blocks which have holes and carved channels. The idea is to build a structure where the marbles will pass through the tunnels and holes by falling several levels with only help of the gravity.

After a simple start, children can challenge building more complicated structures. There are several sets varying on number of pieces, functionality and difficulty settings.

There is a youtube video below showing how a completed Cuboro structure works.

The wooden toy blocks are ecologically safe and suggested by experts for creativity stimulation of kids 3 years older. A high quality wooden Swiss made toy.

Cuboro Toys at Amazon

Best Book Reading Light : Lightwedge is Available on Amazon

The MARK bookmark is just an excellent concept thought by Avnish Priya Gautnam. During the day, it’s like any other bookmark but at night, glows to illuminate your pages via FOLED (Flexible Organic Light Emitting Diode) technology. The intensity of light can be controlled according to the reader’s requirements. It has won 2007 Design concept award at Red Dot. Not manufactured yet.

The other ones are LightWedge Paperback and LightWedge Mini. Actual very useful real devices for bookworms.

A lighted, distortion-free acrylic lens extends across the book page and emits all the brightness directly onto the book page, reducing shadows and glare. Since the light is emitted directly onto the page, there’s no excess reflection to disturb others nearby.

The LightWedge Paperback is thin and lightweight and easily slips into a backpack, tote bag, or briefcase. Also, when not in use, it is useful as a convenient bookmark stored between a book’s pages. The bright LEDs that illuminate the LightWedge Paperback have two brightness levels and a lifetime warranty. The light can run for 40 hours on four AAA batteries.

The same great LightWedge but now in a smaller and more convenient size. The LightWedge Mini is a perfect light for reading maps, menus, manuals and other materials in the dark.