Unplggd: Solar Powered Tech

When we usually think of solar powered devices, we tend to imagine something utilitarian and awkwardly designed. Although that often seems to be the case, there is definitely some tech out their that is able to incorporate solar panels in a subtle and chic way. Even though we’re not quite at a point where we can power a laptop purely from sunlight, we can however recharge the batteries they run on. Take a look at some of the cool solar rechargeable tech we’ve found, after the jump.

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Unplggd: Power Bags

We recently covered solar powered ways to charge your devices, but what if you have multiple devices? Or you need to charge something but you’re on the go? You can charge as you go with these electrified bags, some even without the power of the sun. The other bonus is that you’ll get even more surface area (and thus more juice) if it is solar powered sense the whole bag can be a panel.

Powerbag This is a soon-to-be-released (this month) project that comes as a backpack, a sling or even a tablet bag. It’s got a built-in, rechargeable 3000 mAh or 6000 mAh battery (depending on the model) that can be plugged into a standard wall outlet. Plus it detects when a device is connected to one of its four ports. It’ll be available at Best Buy, OfficeMax, FYE, and other retailers.
$139.99

V-dimension Optical Messenger Bag This bag has a ton of adapters: iPod/iPhone, mini-USB, Samsung, LG, Nokia, and Motorola. Cell phones charge in about 2 hours and the battery will hold up to 2 full charges. It also has space for a 15.4″ laptop and a bunch of other pockets to stash your stuff. The solar panel is relatively small compared to the other bags on this list but it’s got plenty of adapters on the other end so if you’ve got a wide range of devices this might be your best bet.
$129.95

Juice Bags These are made by Reware and contain removable, water resistant solar panels. They come in backpack, messenger, beach tote, briefcase and daypack (slightly small than backpack). It’s also made of recycled 2-liter bottles so if green’s your thing there’s a good chance this bag is for you. The only odd thing is that it uses a female car charger adapter so if you want to charge your stuff you’ll have to use the car parts. That means it’s less limited, however, sense they make car chargers for just about everything.
$199-$399

Samsonite Solar Laptop Messenger/Backpack These two bags are made by the luggage/bag maker Samsonite and luckily carry their famous warranty. It’s also made from recycled PET plastic and uses a female adapter like the Juice Bags, but has somewhat of a lower profile if you’re concerned about having things stolen. The solar panel putts out 4.5 watts and the bag accommodates a 15″ laptop.
$134.99

DIY Solution
We always like to provide a way for you to get it on the cheap, and this is no exception. NPR actually ran an article on this subject and as usual Instructables has a few ways of making them. If you’re making one be sure to consider how many things you need to charge and all the ports they require.

By Jeff Heaton

Unplggd: The Best Home Office Products from New York International Gift Fair

This year’s gift fair boasted some nicely designed products for work life. Natural wood elements were a strong trend throughout the booths and a couple of small Japanese designers in particular caught my eye.

Areaware We’ve previously written about this Alarm Dock, but after seeing it in person, I was still pretty impressed in both its form and function. Designed by Jonas Damon for NYC based design house Areaware, this alarm dock puts a modern twist on the iconic wood grain GE flip clocks of the yesteryear. $40

RFY Established in 1962, this Japanese company offers an array of well-designed, modern supplies, accessories and other useful objects for work. Pictured here: INNARE designed by PLANE. This desk caddy comes in white, gray and silver and features layered compartments that open and close for sleek and easy storage of various desk necessities. Available at RFY in Fall 2011.

Colors Tokyo These hand crafted iPhone cases are formed in a traditional Japanese technique called “lttoh-bori,” meaning carved by single traditional carving knife. Several fine-selected Japanese wood finishes are available. Expect to see cases for the new iPhone models this fall at colorstokyo.com.

Sweet Bella Probably one of my favorite items from the fair, this long knitted scarf is actually a calendar. Just pull the thread little by little to take away the days until the year is over. To order a 2012 calendar, visit sweetbellausa.com or call Top Hat, their lower Manhattan shop at 212.677.4240. Click here to see a video of the calendar in action.

By Mat Sanders.

Unplggd: Top 5 News Aggregators

Every week for our top download picks, we try and vary our suggestions to cover a variety of different interests. This week we decided to keep a very simple theme: RSS Aggregators. And since each individual can customize their RSS feed with their own personal interests, we figured that an aggregation of aggregators was something everyone would find useful.

Mobile News Aggregators

Pulse: Due to its incredible ease of set-up and use, Pulse is one of our favorite aggregators for both iOS and Android. Add the ability to read and save articles from within the app, and you have one of the best RSS readers for whenever you are on the move.

Flud: Much like Pulse, Flud is a stylish news aggregator for both iOS and Android. What makes Flud so useful is its deep integration with other services such as Read It Later, Instapaper, and Google Reader. Additionally, the visual separation of your feeds proves to be very useful.

Flipboard: Unlike the other two news aggregators, this app is unfortunately only available for iOS. What separates Flipboard from the others is how it gets its styling cues from a magazine. But instead of being a magazine designed for the masses, it prides itself on being a magazine that is personalized for each individual reader.

Web and Desktop News Aggregators

Google Reader: Easily one of the most popular news aggregators in the world, Google Reader has prided itself on its simplicity and accessibility for its users. Available from anywhere you can connect to the internet, Google Reader is not only the most popular of the bunch, but is also one the easiest for most to get started with due to its integration with other Google products.

Mixtab: This OSX only app does an amazing job of bringing a well designed RSS reader to the desktop. While we wish this was available on Windows and Linux as well, the OSX-only Mixtab is the perfect solution for those looking for a well designed desktop news aggregator.

By Jesse Leikin

5 Tips for a Healthy Mac & PC

We’ve talked about ways to extend the lifespan of your batteries, the life of an older machine, and what automated diagnostics you should run on your PC, but what are some good basic tips that cover both Apple and Windows computers? In this post we take a look at 5 tips we have gleaned from Genius Bar and Geek Squad visits and from our own user experience.

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.

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Unplggd: Typographer Nick Keppol’s Brooklyn Workspace

Name: Nick Keppol

Location: South Slope, Brooklyn

Size/Room: 125 Sq Ft of office space + built-in closet

Years lived in: 3 months (rent)

Brooklyn-based master typographer Nick Keppol shows us how form truly follows function in his beautiful home office that’s bursting with modern details. Terrariums that add an organic detail, library stacks of creative reads, and enough Herman Miller gear that’ll bring a tear to your eye – everything screams style (or perhaps even slightly obsessive on the curation front, depending on who you ask). Now, jump on in and indulge with us as we take a look at one fine, style-packed home office.

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How Do You Find New Apps?

The saying “there’s an app for that” has become incredibly trite given its short lifespan. No matter how common the saying might be, the fact of the matter is that there probably is an app for whatever you are looking for. With so many apps available for so many different platforms, app discovery has become a problem. To help ease the pain, we found some amazing discovery resources for all of your favorite platforms.

iOS App Discovery With hundreds of thousands of apps available through Apple’s App Store, finding the best measurement convertor can be a daunting task. AppShopper helps by not only providing recommendations, but also showing update history, reviews, and even price changes. AppShopper also has an iOS app along with RSS feeds so you never miss a chance to discover the next great app.

Android App DiscoveryBecause of the “open” nature of the Android platform, there are quite a few more resources that allow for more robust discovery on Android. AppAware is an application that allows users to find new apps by tracking installs, updates, and removals. AppAware goes a step further by adding location into the mix. This provides great exposure for local apps who thrive based on usage in a specific area rather than around the globe.

Chrome Web App Discovery Playing off the fact that there really is an app for almost everything, the Google Chrome extension – aptly named There’s a web app for that – provides users with app suggestions based on their browsing history. No need to randomly guess if there is a an app that could replace your web browsing. Now just browse normally and this extension will search for you.

If none of these work for you, or if you are looking for a more curated way to discover apps, the be sure to check out Unplggd’s Weekly App Recommendations, where we cover everything from mobile, to desktop, to web apps.

By Jesse Leikin

Unplggd: De-clutter This Summer

If you’re a java nut, you’re probably already familiar with CoffeeGeek.com. What you might not know is that the man behind the highly caffeinated site, Mark Prince, is working from the great outdoors in Vancouver this summer. It’s a great way to enjoy the warm temps, but it’s also the perfect exercise in de-cluttering your office space.

When he decided to move outside, Mark decided to do without a lot of his regular office frills. Temporarily transporting your own home office outside will give you the same de-cluttering benefits. Much like The Closet Trick shows you what percentage of your wardrobe actually gets worn, a summer office will show you exactly what tech, tools, organizers and furniture you truly need in your space.

As you work outside, you’ll have to pop back in to your year-round office to grab the necessities as you need them. When the end of the summer rolls around, clear out everything that’s been left untouched in your indoor office space—it shows you really don’t use or need that stuff as much as you thought.

By Taryn Fiol

Unplggd Download Recommendations: Replace Your Favorite Web Apps

As the battle between traditional desktop apps and web apps rages on, there an interesting middle ground forming: desktop apps that bring the best features of web apps right to your desktop. As part of Unplggd’s Weekly Download Recommendations, this week we rounded up some of the best native applications that replace popular web apps. Now you don’t need to leave those same tabs open all the time in your browser; they’ll have their own home on your desktop.

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Unplggd: Clever Cable Solutions

We spend a lot of time trying to hide cables and cords away, out of sight. But what are you supposed to do when there’s just no way to avoid having them visible? We say, embrace them! Check out these examples and get some ideas below.

Design Star season 5’s Michael Moeller adorned a gray wall with a contrasting red-orange cord for maximum color pop.

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