1. Eames Molded Wood Side Chair, Charles and Ray Eames - In its longstanding commitment to the Eames vision of continued exploration, refinement, and discovery, Herman Miller introduces the Eames Molded Wood Side Chair, a beautiful expression of their timeless design, achieved with the help of today’s 3-D veneer technology. Available now at Herman Miller.

2. Craft Design Technology Leather Pen Case - Normally found only in Japan, Craft Design Technology produces products that unite the word and worlds of its name. Their handsome and compact pen case begins with artisan-colored leathers. Then, innovative treatment and processing are added to help the leather age and wear more gracefully. Finally the materials are merged with stylish, minimal design. The perfect addition to your bag or briefcase. Find one at Vetted.

3. Branca Chair, Sam Hecht and Kim Colin - In partnering with Mattiazzi, Sam and Kim welcomed the Italian manufacturer’s mix of high-tech manufacturing and dedicated hand-craftsmanship. Their unique chair design combines highly complex, robotic-made parts with traditional shaping and finishing by hand. Find yours at Herman Miller.

4. ADA Quilt, Meg Callahan - ADA mixes up the time-honored tradition of American quilt-making with modern techniques like digital printing and industrial-machine quilting to offer a truly unique approach to a classic home accessory. Find it at Matter.

5. Medici Chair, Konstantin Grcic - Creating the unique components of the Medici Chair require a combination of state-of-the-art technology and skilled craftsmanship – a perfect collaboration for Grcic and Mattiazzi. The parts are machine made and then meticulously hand-assembled in specific order. Choose from four striking finishes at Herman Miller.

6. Quilt, Artisan Collection, Bolon Floor Coverings - The Artisan Collection blends the careful craftsmanship and creativity of traditional carpet-making with the wide array of design options that modern technology now affords. Great tactile feeling mixed with high-tech design and durability. Find them at Bolon.

Photos linked within text.

First things first, we’d immediately replace all our keyboards and mice with Bluetooth-enabled devices. For batteries, we recommend using Sanyo Enelops. They’ve tested well in our Unplggd labs and have been a personal favorite around the office.

Next, we’d pair down the desk to just 3 main areas: 1) the main computer, 2) a desk lamp, and 3) the landing station for our smartphone. We’d even go as far as to create a separate area for keys and wallet since they make more sense by the door than on a busy surface as the primary working desk.

A potential spot for a fourth area would be reserved for audio junkies such as myself, in which case we’d make room for set of audiophile monitors or our favorite headphones.

We could even devise similar plans for a tablet-only setup by creating a quick and easy docking station that’s both functional and clutter-less. A simply designed stand like the Upstand allows for just that.

Lastly, we’d address the issue of wire management, both nearby items and along the underside. Remember, even the slightest overlooked detail can ruin the perfect setup!

What are the bare essentials for your dream desk setup?

By Anthony Nguyen.

We recently decided to try out a 3G iPad 2 in order to see if we’d be able to reduce the weight of our daily pack. We have and our pack has gotten so much lighter that we actually needed to use a lighter and smaller bag. While the iPad isn’t a MacBook replacement, it sure is fun to have around, especially when you can access the Internet from anywhere. In Asia, 3G service is pretty strong, so we can even use it in our basement.

The first thing we suggest is that if you go case shopping, it’s best to lug your iPad around with you so that you’ll be able to try out the cases and ensure that they will fit together. We needed a few different things from our cases, including a keyboard, a lightweight form factor, and something safe as well as durable to use at home.

Our most frequently used cases include the Apple Smart Cover, coupled with a Moshi iGlaze, both of which are inserted into the Fonemax Microfiber Soft Case. The Fonemax case also accepts the iPad with the Logitech Keyboard Case.

1. Logitech Keyboard Case This is definitely a handsome and functional case/keyboard combo. It was obvious that this would be our go-to Bluetooth keyboard. It functions well and is still very usable, despite being smaller than normal keyboards. If you are using another case on your iPad and try to use the case, you’ll find that the slot to dock your iPad will only accept the slimmest of cases, like the Moshi iGlaze. We’ve noticed that you also need to be careful when touching the screen of our iPad while docked, since if you touch too hard, the tablet will pop out. There’s less of a chance of this happening if you don’t use another case.

2. Apple Smart Cover We couldn’t resist getting this, since it doubles as a stand and is so handy to have around. It works well, but you’ll need to find a case that’s compatible with it in order to protect the back of your iPad. If you’re using a case, you might only be able to use the stand in one side.

3. Moshi iGlaze This case covers the back of your iPad to protect it against scratches, spills, etc. It’s compatible with the Smart Cover, which makes it a nice, thin combo for daily use. The case is very thin, about 1.8mm, so you barely notice it when you use your iPad. The only problem we have with it is that it only allows you to use the Smart Cover as a stand on one side, not both.

4. Fonemax Microfiber Soft Case This handmade leather case works with not only iPads, but other 10-inch tablets. There is ample room for a variety of thicknesses. It might even accept a MacBook Air. We like it because it’s padded, soft to the touch, and can store all of the combinations that we like to take on the road. It has enough space for the iPad in a Smart Cover, Moshi iGlaze, and the Logitech Keyboard Case (a bit snug, but no problems). It can also easily fit the iPad when it’s in the Logitech Keyboard Case.

5. Moshi Origo The Moshi Origo is a larger case, made out of silicone, that will really protect your iPad against falls. We like to slip it on when we lounge about with the iPad at home. It can be slipped over the iPad when the iGlaze is on, but the fit is somewhat tight.

By Range Govindan

Blue Lounge CableDrop

These six pack cable management clips have a peel and stick that adheres to most surfaces and helps wrangles your cords. They come in all sorts of colors – bright, muted, black, and white – fitting right in with whatever style/decor you subscribe to. Oh what fun it is to manage our tangled web of cables.$9.95

Rosewill RUC-6181 4 Port USB International Traveling Wall Charger

Regular travelers should know better than to leave home, and the country, without a universal power adapter kit. This international travel adapter lets you charge 4 devices at a time via USB (you’ve got your smartphone, tablet, laptop, etc.) and comes with 4 different AC plug types so you can use it practically everywhere you go (North America, Europe, Australia, UK and over 150 countries). $19.99

Kingston FCR-HS219/1 19-in-1 USB 2.0 Card Reader

This convenient little device reads 19 different types of memory cards – whether it’s CF Type I and II, Microdrive, SD, MMC, SM, MS, MS Pro, yadayada.$10.49 with promo code EMCJHKD35.

Crabble Folding iPhone Stand

It’s a tiny smartphone stand that fits in your wallet. Unfolds to create a tiny little stand to watch videos on your smartphone hands-free. Works with iPhones as well as other brands. $4.99.

Tiny USB Car Power Adapter

A cheap and simple way to charge your USB tech in your car. Plugs into your cigarette lighter and has a small profile so it doesn’t jut out and look ugly / block stuff. Much cheaper than the “name brands” and does the same thing. $7.99

Ghost Lamp

Who doesn’t love Pac Man! Built-in sensors illuminate the ghost automatically when the lights go out. Choose between the blue, yellow, red, or white ghost. Powered by USB, this lamp is about 4″ tall. $9.99

IKEA FIXA

The IKEA FIXA is a pre-packaged collection of clips, binders, and fasteners. As our editor Gregory Han put it, “For the price of a fast food meal, you get an assortment of organizing accessories that make wrangling in wires and cables a whole lot easier, even fun.” We don’t know about *fun, but definitely more organized and clean. $4.99

iDecals
There are tons of decals for your iDevice, why not pick one that commemorates the life of Steve Jobs. He was kind of a big deal, after all.

By Jason Yang

By Gregory Han.

1. ZAGG Keyboard Case
This case is made of anodized aluminum so it looks like it was made for your iPad. Once you take your iPad out it can sit in the case in horizontal or vertical position and the case is then usable as a wireless keyboard. No more lugging around a separate keyboard in its own case.

2. Sceltevie Bag Hanger
This purse hanger, which looks like a pair of sunglasses, a guitar or a bow, doubles as a smart phone stand. It’s small enough to keep in your bag or pocket and is sturdy enough for both purposes.

3. Oona
One of the coolest projects on Kickstarter, the Oona is a multipurpose smartphone stand. It lets you stick your device basically anywhere with a flat surface: on the fridge, as a gps stand in your car, while working on a white board. The part we really like is the threaded hole in the bottom that allows you to use a tripod with your phone. It’s also made of airplane grade aluminum so it’ll take beating.

4. The Minimalist
We like carrying the least amount possible. We ditched our wallet for a credit card holder a while back. Soon we’ll be able to ditch everything for Google Wallet, if they include our bank and more merchandizers that is, but until then the Minimalist is a great option. It marries our credit card holder with our iPhone case meaning less stuff floating around in our pocket.

5. Logitech Tablet Speaker
The speakers on most tablets are ok. The sound isn’t exactly high fidelity (that’s why you have nice headphones right?) and sometimes we don’t want to wear headphones or attach a scoop just to hear at a louder volume. The Logitech tablet speaker not only gives you better sound for any tablet with a headphone jack, but it also acts as a stand, making the on screen keyboard that much easier to use (below).

What’s your favorite multi-purpose device accessory? Tell us in the comments.

By Jeff Heaton.

1.HP ENVY 100 e-All-in-One: This AirPrint-enabled printer allows you to print out photos from almost anywhere in your home, which makes it pretty convenient. It’s an ePrint printer, so you can email it a picture and it will print it out as well. The only problem is that it’s an InkJet printer. It’s listed at $249.99 but you can get it for $164.80 on Amazon. It does 30 ppm in black and white and 25 ppm in color.

2. Polaroid GL10 This printer looks good on paper, but we’ve had problems with it when we saw it at CES 2011. However, it does print wirelessly from Android phones, which is a plus, and it’s somewhat portable.

3. Photo Cube: This is a printer that almost looks like the Bolle BP10 from last year. It looks pretty decent, but there’s no AirPrinting with this one. You’ll need to dock your smartphone in order to print your photos. We like the convenience of being able to print our photos from all over the place, but if you don’t need this, then this printer might work for you. However, it’s somewhat overpriced for what you get. It’s available from Hammacher Schlemmer for $160.

4. HP Photosmart Plus e-All-in-One: This printer will scan and copy documents as well. The list price on this printer, which is also an InkJet, is $149.99, but we’ve found it on sale for $89.95. It does 32 ppm in black and white and 30 in color.

By Range Govindan

1. Always Keep at Least 5 GB Free
A computer needs about 10% free disk space at any time. One thing we’ve noticed on our machines is that anything less than 5GB is going to land us with problems. Essentially, computers need breathing room. Without that free space, there’s nowhere for temporary files to be stored. Also, when the RAM gets full, it will start swapping things in and out of memory by using your hard drive. If it’s full, then not only can you not save stuff, but your computer has no where to dump stuff from RAM. To top it all off the worst thing that can happen as a result of a drive with no space? Data can get corrupted. Want to find out what applications are taking up a bit of space? We love using DaisyDisk for this purpose. This application is by far the nicest and easiest way of seeing what files are taking up your space on any drive. As you are cleaning out your files, just make sure not to delete any files or folders with the name “Library” in as they normally contain settings and can result in you losing contacts and other media depending on the file. Another great application we love is Xslimmer. Xslimmer gets rid of Intel/PowerPC code and additional language files that your machine doesn’t use/need to free up space and improve performance and load times.

2. Really Remove Applications
Since not all applications come with an uninstaller, it’s important to really delete the applications you want to remove. For a majority of applications on the Apple side, generally moving them to the trash works well but often they leave other files lying around on your system. To really remove an application on a Mac, Drag and drop an application into a program like AppZapper and it will find all the associated files and remove them for you. It’s branded as “the uninstaller that Apple forgot,” and we are pretty big fans. For PC users, CCleaner will do a similar job and will also take help take care of #5.

3. Leave Your Computer on Overnight
Would it surprise you to learn that your computer tunes itself up overnight? For example, between 3-5am Mac OS X will run scripts to clear out cache files which in return improve performance. Many of the “tune up” applications that are sold are just running these scripts on demand.

4. Defrag
While this tip is not applicable for Mac users since OS X does defrag automatically in the background, this tip is an important part of the Windows users experience. Check out these posts for more info on how to defragment your hard drive.

5. Remove Unnecessary Login Items
It may not come as a surprise to you that removing unnecessary login items will help your computer run better. Lots of applications will try and make themselves run at startup and this dramatically slows down boot times and also uses up memory which you may need for something else (also it is kind of a nuisance). To remove these on a Mac, go to System Preferences -> Accounts -> Login Items. Ignore the hide check boxes and just click on the login item you want to remove and click the “-” button underneath. Next time you restart, they won’t automatically launch. A good rule of thumb is to leave anything printer related and iTunes Helper as login launch items. Without iTunes Helper, your computer can’t auto-launch iTunes when you plug in an iPhone or iPod and this can also disable automatic iOS device backups.

Backup, Backup, Backup!
As we’ve said before, the importance of backing up cannot be stressed enough. Hard drives are consumable parts, just like your battery (if you have a notebook computer). They have moving parts, the platters/discs inside usually spin at 5,400 or 7,200 RPM, which wear out over time or from your computer being knocked/dropped. Regardless of whether it’s a PC or Mac, the hard drives are the same. Just like how cars or washing machines can break down because of moving parts, drives can do so from any point from within the first month or possibly after 6 years. Your warranties like AppleCare will cover this (and other faults) up to three years (compared to the standard 12 month warranty) and while that is great for the cost of replacing the drive, it does nothing for recovering the lost data.

What are some of your tips to keep your computer running well?

MoMA I Dear Wooden Cube Speaker This tiny cube speaker is made of real wood but regardless of the”mini-me” size, it produces tiny rich sound and even includes a USB connector for charging and a standard jack for line out, so you can connect it to any audio source.

Jonas Damon Alarm Clock For iPhone This beautiful iPhone Dock is made of sustainably harvested new growth beech wood. Kind of mimicking the old GE flip phones from the 60′s and 70′s. Just place your iPhone or iPod Touch running your favorite flip clock app and you are ready to go. Allows your device to be charged while docked and it’s pretty cheap too.

MJOLK Business Card Case We know that these are not gadgets per se, but these wood card holders are made out of Oak and precision made in Japan. A total minimalistic approach that we think it will make a great gift for the “green” friend or family member. Now, you can make a positive impression while pulling out your business cards at the next CES.

Areaware Torch A very simple and eco friendly design. Made of Beech Wood, uses energy efficient LED bulbs for long lasting performance. The tail cap unscrews for battery replacement and also acts as an on/off switch. One thing for sure, you won’t be hiding this flashlight in the bottom of your tool’s drawer. Requires easy to find AA batteries. For $32, you can’t go wrong with this gem. While the light output is not “tactical grade”, it’s enough to get you out of a dark situation.

By Joel Pirela.

IrfanView: Great for beginners and experienced users, IrfanView is a freeware graphic viewer that has many unique and interesting features. This application supports a plethora of file types including Adobe Photoshop filters. For the incredible price of free, it’s hard to find a better option for the last majority of your photo needs (pictured above).

VirtuaWin: The vast majority of us no longer work in one application at a time. All too often we find ourselves switching between a few browser windows, an email client, photo editing software, and maybe even word processing documents. If this is the case using VirtuaWin to create virtual desktops is a great solution. Similar to Spaces on Mac, VirtuaWin gives you up to 9 virtual desktops to help reduce clutter on your screen.

Fences: On your PC the desktop tends to get cluttered rather quickly. While some go out of there way to keep their desktops clear, for most this isn’t practical. Instead of trying to remove everything from the desktop, use Fences to keep everything organized. Fences helps you create logical groups of the different icons floating around your desktop.

Force Empty Trash: If you use your computer long enough, you will inevitably run into the problem where you can’t empty your trash because a file is supposedly in use. If you have seen this then you know the frustration that it brings. Fortunately there a nifty little program called Force Empty Trash that overrides your system to empty the trash. Just make sure you know what is in there and that you are not trying to delete important system files.

Alfred: An incredibly useful productivity tool, Alfred allows for you to navigate and search your Mac as well as web apps within seconds. Alfred also allows for quick keyboard shortcuts to increase the speed at which you can navigate your machine. A great replacement for Quicksilver and Spotlight, Alfred is one of the best productivity tools available for Mac.

Laundry: Desktop backgrounds help set your computer apart and give it a unique style. Unfortunately, no matter how awesome your background image, after a while it becomes old and boring. Instead of letting this happen, liven up your desktop by using Laundry to rotate your desktop background in predetermined intervals. Laundry is able to pull from RSS feeds or even from Flickr to keep your desktop images lively and exciting.

DropTunes: Playing audio files from your Dropbox account is already something that can be done. However, DropTunes takes the pain out of clicking each individual file and creates playlists from the music folders that you store in your Dropbox. Additionally, DropTunes give you a nice user interface to adjust volume, pause, and even click forward and back tracks.

Host A Website: One of the more clever ways to use Dropbox is as a free hosting service. All you have to do is copy an HTML file into the Public folder of your Dropbox. Once you do this, right click with the mouse on the file and select “Copy Public Link.” Now you can paste the web address into the browser and you now have a live website hosted for free. This is a great way to test simple sites before investing in a real host. And if this simple Dropbox site is enough, then you can simply purchase a domain name and forward the address to the link for easier to remember URLs.

DROPitTOme: If you ever need to receive file that are too large to email, then DROPitTOme is a perfect solution for you. All you need to do is give somebody the custom URL and the password encryption (if you choose) and they will be able to upload large files directly to your Dropbox. No more having to deal with email attachment limits. You know have your own private server that people can upload important files to.

By Jesse Leikin

The awesome in-house designers at the awesome font foundry FontShop already launched Axel, a font optimized for readability in Excel (and other) spreadsheets viewed on screen. But now they’ve expanded their offerings to Azuro, a font designed to make reading walls of text on the web easier to read.

Assuming you’re reading this on the screen of your phone, tablet or computer, you can check out the difference Azuro makes on this wordy email compared to the furniture of e-mail fonts, Arial and Verdana, in the GIF image below:

Cool, right? If you want to get your hands on Azuro, head over to Font Shop, where you can get a set of 4 variations (regular, italic, bold and bold italic) for just $19.90, either in Web formats or in OpenType with TrueType outlines for Windows or Mac.

By Taryn Fiol

Font Feed via Gizmodo

Apps & Widgets
Haven’t used AIM since Facebook and Skype came into your life? Drop it. Don’t need that desktop widget telling you the temperature outside? Get rid of it for good. Do it yourself or use software like AppCleaner (for Mac) or Revo Uninstaller (for PC).

Fonts
You don’t want to delete any of the fonts that came pre-installed with your machine (they’re probably used by your system in some fashion). But if you’ve added any addition fonts over the years, purge the unused ones. Believe it or not, fonts can eat up valuable hard drive space.

Pictures
By thinning out the pictures you have stored on your hard drive, you’ll free up tons of space. Back up the ones you want to keep, then dump everything else. Do it manually by sifting through your library, or use software designed for your machine. A Mac friend of ours swears by Duplicate Annihilator, a program that automatically thins out your iPhoto library by hunting and killing duplicate photos.

Languages
Do you speak English? Type in English? Read in English? Then there’s really no need to keep a bevy of foreign languages installed for your system. Do it manually (here’s a guide for Windows PC users), or find a program to do it for you (Like freeware Monolingual for Mac).

By Taryn Fiol.

Fluid is a free application that aims to address the biggest downside to web apps: multiple steps to launch just one web program. With Fluid, you can create a site-specific browser for any website. What this does is take any URL and converts it into a native Mac application. This application then resides in your Dock and Applications folder for easy use. It is really that simple.

While there are other similar programs out there (such as Mozilla Prism), one of the best aspects of Fluid is its deep integration with Max OS X. For more advanced users, Fluid supports client-side scripts for manually tweaking features and formatting. Additionally, quite a few plug-ins exist that add more functionality for advanced users, and enhance the experience of the newly created native apps.

To add to the fun, there is an entire Flickr group dedicated to creating icons for use with Fluid. If you find yourself going to the same sites all of the time (say, Unplggd) then be sure to give Fluid a try and let us know what you think.

By Jesse Leikin.

Details: $85.00, Jenni Bick Bookbinding, small journal measures 5 1/2″ x 7″ and large journal measures 6″ x 9″, refillable blank pages, detachable silicone strap holds the book closed and features a 4GB USB storage drive, pocket flaps inside hold the insert in place, and can also be used to store notes & receipts, can be personalized with embossing

By Gregory Han.

[via Reddit]

he Zeppelin Air from Bowers & Wilkins has been redesigned, although it preserves the same footprint. The interior has been completely changed. The air moniker is there for a reason, because it will wirelessly connect to your iPod, iPad, or iPhone via WiFi to stream music. There’s even an Ethernet port. Each of the five drivers has their own amp, and they’ve all been tweaked. Naturally, this doesn’t come cheap. It will ship in March and will cost $600.

While it was announced at last year’s CES, it took until now for us to see what would become between the partnership, if you can call it that, between Lady Gaga and Polaroid. Polaroid’s Grey Label line, which includes camera glasses, a digital Polaroid camera, and an instant mobile printer are the result. The GL20 Camera Glasses come from Lady Gaga’s music video for her song ‘Fame’. You can capture and upload photos, as well as videos, directly to the glasses. They can be displayed in real time on the 1.5-inch OLED screens. They come with earpieces that double as a USB port.

The 12 megapixel GL30 Instant Digital Camera is a printer-enabled point-and-shoot. Then, they can be printed via the instant printer. The camera has a stand that allows you to select images easily. You need the GL10 Instant Printer to print these out. This printer can churn out prints in under a minute, Polaroid-style, and doesn’t use any ink. It can also connect via Bluetooth to cell phones. It’s not something that new, but this functionality will please some users. We’d have preferred for Polaroid to come out with some new real Polaroid film cameras instead of these, but we knew that it wasn’t going to happen. We didn’t expect the printer to be integrated into the digital camera, but we were hoping that it was.

More from the show: Gregory Han’s Best in Show post.

By Range.

(via iLounge & Designboom)

Elecom Cube AC Power Adapter ($30) – Super kawaii USB AC Power Adapter cube for your iPhone or iPod. It’s also available in plain pink, white, black, but who could pass that cute face up

Mimobot USB Flash Drives ($25-$80) – These Mimibot designed flash drives come in various cute and colorful styles, including popular Sanrio characters like Hello Kitty. They come in 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, and 16GB versions.

Nano:ztag ($10) – The Nano:ztag contains an RFID chip and when used in conjunction with the Nabaztag: tag or Nabaztag Mirror, it can perform different actions such as putting on a playlist or going to a favorite website.

Relax Bear USB Mouse ($22) – The Relax Bear mouse helps you relax by just looking at its adorable face. The loveliest part of all is that its ears are the left/right click.

Owl USB Flash Drive ($29) – This cute little owl is a 4GB USB drive housed in a removable water-resistant silicone jacket.

Hello Kitty USB Mouse & Mousepad Set ($55) – Classic optical Hello Kitty mouse and Mouse pad set, the left/right click and scroll wheel are positioned on Hello Kitty’s bow, which lights up when activated.

Carrot Flash Drive ($16/$19/$31) – You can use this little carrot flash drive to hold digital pictures of other cute things. Put it beside your Nano:ztag and experience cuteness overload daily at your desk. Comes in 2GB, 4GB and 8GB.

Para-Chan USB Mouse ($70) – Cute white mouse that, strangely enough, is the mascot for Toshiba.

USB Robo Owl ($20) – This USB powered Robo Owl from ThinkGeek sits on top of your monitor. Movements include turning its head from side-to-side and blinking.

Heart USB Mouse ($55) – What says ‘I love you’ more than this talking heart mouse? Also available in blue, pink and yellow.

By Vivian Kim.

One of our favorite software tools to up our daily productivity is Dizzy, a small program that runs in the background and allows us to allocate shortcuts to resize windows on command. You know, so we can do side-by-side comparisons of products, blog quicker, etc.

If we recall, Windows 7 now has that as a built-in feature, so cheers to Microsoft for implementing it!

Lifehacker editor Adam Dachis recommends splitting up monitor screens physically in order to encourage true separation of play and work. So if you’re ever tempted to chat, but need an hour of super dedicated crunch time, you can simply drag the window over to the other monitor and finish up your work without blinking boxes begging for your attention.

Got a productivity tip when having a number of windows open? Share it in the comments!

By Anthony.”

The UIST 2010 Student Innovation Contest is annual event which allows students to play with prototype hardware, with this year’s contest sponsored by the labs of Microsoft Applied Sciences.

What’s an Adaptive Keyboard? It is a research prototype developed by Microsoft Hardware to explore how combining display and input capabilities in a keyboard can allow users to be more productive. The keyboard incorporates a large, touch-sensitive display strip at the top. In addition, the display continues underneath the keys, allowing the legends to be modified in real time. This lets you do things like change the character set to a different language or display command icons.

What do you think about this hybrid of touch and traditional keyboard input?

By Gregory Han.”

Our friend spent over $2,000 on a new iMac. Of course it was top of the line, so the price was justified and his argument was certainly reasonable. The way he looked at the large purchase was this: if he got the absolute top of the line, each maxed out component adds extra years onto the life of the machine. There will be no reason for him to need a new computer for at least 5 or more years. There won’t be any extra little upgrades he’ll have to do here and there, because those have already been taken care of.

So, we got to thinking — do most people practice this method? Obviously having the funds available is extremely helpful in this situation, and not everyone does. Do you save your money until you are ready for the go-for-the-gusto purchase, or do you buy low and keep upgrading every few years? We know people that have kept their computers for over 10 years, but that required regular upgrades. When all of those upgrades are added up, we imagine the two different approaches equal out. So, how far are you willing to go? Are you a go big or go home, or an upgrade over time purchaser?

By Kristen Lubbe”

We’ve had that white keyboard for over five years and it had been sitting in a box for quite some time (see my post about How Do You Discard Your Tech?). There was no way I was going to send my mother a dirty keyboard. Believe it or not, I’ve never cleaned a keyboard before so this was going to be my first time.

I turned to the internet and found some great suggestions. If I hadn’t promised to send it to her as soon as possible, I would have ordered the Cyber Clean Keyboard Cleaner. Instead, I turned to a video I found on YouTube and painstakingly removed each and every key, used a combination of Q-tips and mascara brushes to get that sucker back to its glory days.

If you’re in my position, instead of searching all over the internet — just reference these previous Unplggd posts:

• Cyber Clean Keyboard Cleaner
• How To: Clean Your Keyboard
• What Do You Do When Coffee Meets Computer Keyboard?
• Use a Mascara Brush to Clean Keyboards
• No More Crumbs with the Keyboard Napkin

Image from Leanda’s Flickr stream.

By Kristen Lubbe”

Colors announced are platinum gray, charcoal gray and tangerine orange in a matte finish. We’re still awaiting word back about availability and pricing, but we hope to nab one ourselves, since we find ourselves in need of a mousepad ourselves…might as well be something as decor friendly as the A4.

By Gregory Han”

Made from Avery MPI vinyls (which are supposedly easier to remove than your normal everyday stickers), these colorful laptop key customizers will surely garner of few looks of curiosity and make that beautiful Macbook design feel like it’s yours again.

Our main issue is for any recent MBP owner; you’ve got backlit keys. These (obviously) will make that feature moot. So unless you’ve got one of the older Macbooks without the feature, we suggest purchasing with caution.

Grab them for $15 per set over at Etsy.

[Via Technabob]

By Anthony.”

“Watch yourselves, green addicts, this one might make your heart stop. While we recently fell in love with Corky, the scrolling, clicking, and movement-powered mouse made from cork, there’s plenty more out there in the sea of cork gizmos and credenza mashups. Who said you couldn’t be cool going green?

1) Corky is a mouse powered by your movements rather than batteries. Unfortunately, looks like Corky is just a concept, but we can only hope that after the Greener Gadgets conference this wireless mouse, made from recycled cork and plastic, makes it to a store near you.
2) For those of you looking for an eco-conscious gadget and like their tech accessories to be made of sustainable materials, the JAVOedge’s 3G Cork iPhone Case seems to fit quite nicely.
3) Grab a fancy surge protector covered in cork seen at the Dutch design fair in Eindhoven.
4) Repurpose a media credenza and have it double as a place to put down movie lists, other productive things you should be doing – that sorta stuff.
5) Turn your cork into a USB drive. Or er… buy it for $51.
6) Use it as a laptop case (we probably suggest keeping hot laptops out of this one). Available for Macbook Pros 13-15-inches.
7) Or turn it into a laptop stand! Genius idea from the team at eGenius.”

By Anthony.

HP has partnered with designer Tord Boontje to create a lovely little laptop that’s environmentally friendly and beautifully designed – two things we treasure at Herman Miller. It is Tord’s first foray into the world of technology and he’s taken his signature floral cutout design and embedded it into the laptop’s exterior and interior. HP has managed to create a  10.1″ mercury-free LED screen and they printed the user guide using environmentally friendly soy inks. Certainly a step in the right direction. For all the info on this beauty go to HP’s site (make sure you’ve got your sound on – you’ll feel like you’re in the woods!)