Author: ChipChick.com

It only only takes a minute to help the people whose lives have been devastated in Chile. AT&T has provided us with several text messaging short codes that you can use to quickly donate just $10 to help Chile relief efforts.

To make donations via text, customers can send a keyword to the short code designated for the organizations they wish to support. The customer will then receive a confirmation message, to which he or she should reply “yes” to finalize the donation. One hundred percent of all money donated will be passed on to the organization the customer selected, and AT&T will waive text-messaging fees for the donations.

The short codes are:

· Text “4CHILE” to 50555 to donate $10 to support Chile relief efforts through Convoy of Hope

· Text “CHILE” to 50555 to donate $10 to support Chile relief efforts through the World Program

· Text “CHILE” to 25383 to donate $10 to support Chile relief efforts through Habit for Humanity

· Text “REBUILD” to 50555 to donate $10 to support Chile relief efforts through Operation USA

· Text “CHILE” to 52000 to donate $10 to support Chile relief efforts through The Salvation Army

· Text “CHILE” to 20222 to donate $10 to support Chile relief efforts through World Vision

The donations will appear as a line-item on customers’ bills or be debited from prepaid accounts.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

(image via Komo News)

First spotted at CES, The iLuv Premium iMM178 Vibe Plus is an update to the iMM153 we reviewed a little while back. This alarm clock works as an iPhone/iPod dock with an integrated speaker, and a bed shaker. This time around the bed shaker not only shakes you awake, but it also doubles as a speaker that can wake you with music or an alarm. Leave it under your pillow, or in between your bed sheets and you’re sure to get shocked awake in the morning. We liked the iMM153’s shaking function a lot, but it’s audio left much to be desired, so lets hope that sonics have been improved this time around.The Premium iMM178 Vibe Plus retails for $89.99.

Key Features:
•    Bed shaker vibrates a bed or a pillow to wake up the heaviest of sleepers and includes a 3-level volume control
•    Built-in speakers featuring jAura acoustic speaker technology allow you to hear your music with depth and clarity
•    Dual Alarm function for 7-5-2 everyday, weekday or weekends wake options
•    Time-sync function that synchronizes time for your iPhone & iPod
•    Large easy to read digital display with 10 level LCD dimmer control
•    2 Way volume control – from the main unit or from the shaker
•    Integrated universal dock for your iPod plays and charges your iPhone and iPod

If you’re looking for a new lamp for your room, how about going with something a bit trippy, and even moody. The Jellyfish Mood Lamp is pretty rad in the way that it is able to shift through RGB colors. We’re talking about colorful rainbow combinations, for a total of 16 million color and brightness combinations. But what makes the Jellyfish Mood Lamp even cooler, is the way you create these technicolor creations  – using your finger you can swipe and slide across the touch control located on the face of the lamp. Slide across to choose a color, flick up to lighten the color, and flick down to darken the color. The touch sensitive panel adds a level of interactivity that you rarely see on an ordinary lamp. You can pick up the Jellyfish Mood Lamp at Firebox for $198.

Recycled computer jewelry is nothing new, we’ve seen many incarnations of it over the years. But this selection of recycled keyboard key jewelry from Silicon Gallies really does stand out from the rest. They’ve managed to make keyboard keys look like beautiful costume jewelry by laying the keys on a handcut glass tile. Some of their necklaces even include silver computer keys, which is another nice touch. You can customize the jewelry using your own letter so renumbers or buy from their own keys. Pricing ranges from $15 to $34.

The latest incarnation of Mac keyboards are pretty much love or hate for most. Many complain that the chicklet keys are not the best for typing on, and others miss the numeric keypad. So Saitek has come along and pushed out their own Slim Keyboard, which although designed for PC first, and Mac second, these keyboards sport the same slim profile and chicklet style keys as the Mac keyboards do. Fortunately, the Saitek Slim Keyboard comes in black, metallic red, metallic blue, aubergine, olive green, and pink, and the Slim Keyboard is also wide enough to include numeric keypad. So if chicklet-style keys, and a slim profile are your thing, this looks like a decent alternative to the Mac keyboard. Pricing is TBD.

For those HTC Tattoo owners over in Asia and Europe, HTC is offering a neat service which lets you design your own front and back cover for the HTC Tattoo. You can use their online interface and their clipart to design your own new masterpiece, or you can upload your own design for just $14.99 EUR. Alternatively, you could just purchase one of their predesigned covers for $11.99 EUR. Overall, we really like the concept behind this and we wish that more companies would offer these kinds of customization options on our side of the pond.

Even though we are adults that doesn’t mean we stop putting stickers on things we like. The fact is that we just don’t necessarily call them stickers anymore when we get older, instead they are called ‘Skins’ or ‘Decals.’ So instead of just staying on the laptops and cellphones, Hu2 is making cute vinyl stickers for your wall, window, or surface of any furniture. The Desk Organizer collection features stickers with a different desk object name. When placed on your desk as a sticker its encouraged to put said item in its namesake sticker. For example there are stickers called  iPhone or Pens and Pencil. The Hu2 Desk Organizer Vinyl Sticker collection retails for £29.99 ( US $57)

When you first look at the INNESENTI you may scratch your head and wonder where did the rest of it go, or maybe you’ll think that it looks like a very intricate bike that you will definitely need knee pads and a helmet for. This contraption is being marketed as the ultimate sports machine because it was built using Formula 1 racing and Indy Car racing technology. The INNESENTI is basically a tricycle on steroids, that is meant for intense exercise or just a leisurely ride around the country. It claims it will maximize your heart rate, burn calories, and keep you in the utmost shape. Upon ordering the machine it is customized for each customer so that the experience is perfectly suited for them. There is no word on pricing, except that you have to call the company directly to inquire about pricing. That can’t be a good sign.

The HP USB Docking Station with DisplayLink opens up your laptop to a world of ports using just a USB cable. It includes video ports, DVI and VGA, an Ethernet jack, a microphone jack, a headphone jack, 4 USB ports and even a security cable slot. By plugging almost any laptop or PC into this dock via USB you can have all of these peripheral ports running simultaneously (DVI and VGA will only one will output at a time). It is intended to work with any computer with USB 2.0 running Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Intel-based Apple Computers. The USB Dock is able to make all of this possible using the DisplayLink Technology, which uses a software-based graphics card to efficiently display video transferred over USB.

What’s in the box:
The package we received included the USB Docking Station, a Type-B USB cable (regular USB on one side and the more squarish USB on the other side of the cable), a power adapter for the docking station, and a manual.

Set-up:
The HP USB Dock has a one gigabyte flash drive built in to the device with the necessary drivers for Windows. I could not have been more pleased with the set up on Windows XP. I connected it to an Acer Aspire One Netbook. After connecting the USB cable to my netbook a folder with the installation file popped open. I followed the installation prompts and within minutes all the HP USB Dock features were ready to start playing around with. An icon is added to your task bar with display options for the second monitor. It is super easy to use. Options include: Screen Resolution, Color Quality, Screen Rotation, Extend or Mirror.

On Windows 7 (32 bit) the process was a little slower. When the dock is plugged in, Windows 7 will attempt to download all the drivers automatically. This turned into a 10-15 minute process on my Lenovo Z60 laptop. It couldn’t find the correct display drivers so I had to download them manually from the website, after another 10 minutes and a restart, HP USB Docking Station was functional, and just as usable as it was on Windows XP.
The last laptop in the house to try was my Macbook running Snow Leopard. Unfortunately the built-in flash drive on the Docking Station doesn’t include OSX Installation files. For OSX you have to download the installation file from the Display-Link website. It was only a few megabytes (which was considerably smaller than the Windows installation file). It takes a few minutes to install and requires a restart. Once installed, your Mac will recognize it as it would any additional display. This means display settings can be tweaked regularly by going to system preferences and clicking displays.
Overall, the set-up was pretty pain free. As long as the display drivers install correctly everything should work fine. I had no problems with any other ports. All of the ports function as if they were actually attached to your computer or laptop.

Design:
The design of the Docking Station is very nice. I’d be proud to have it sitting next to any one of my laptops. It’s all black with an HP logo and an LED on the top. It’s 8.8” x 3.2” x 1.1” and weighs less than a pound. It’s definitely portable. All of the ports are in the back of the device, with the exception of the USB cable that plugs into your laptop or computer, which is on the front.

Performance:
The video quality was much better than I expected considering it’s transferring over USB. It supports 32-bit color depth and up to a 1600×1200 resolution. For regular computer usage like document viewing or web browsing, the external monitor looks near-perfect. The quality when watching a DVD on the external monitor is a little less than perfect. Most users will probably not be able to tell. The images are pretty crisp, but the refresh rate is not optimal.  The video is still 1000x better than resorting to using an S-Video out cable from your laptop to display video on a television. I also tried watching a 720p HD video (MKV format using my MacBook), it was choppier than the DVD, but still pretty watchable. Video quality will also depend on how powerful your laptop or computer is. While watching a DVD, I put the HP Docking Station to the test. I connected ethernet and a couple USB devices. There was little to no affect on the DVD that was being displayed on my external monitor while the other devices were being set up on my laptop. You can set up your monitor in Mirror or Extend mode. If you use mirror it will mirror your monitor on the external display in the same resolution you’re using. If you choose Extend mode you can set the resolution specifically for the external monitor. Extend mode is ideal for multitasking, especially on a netbook. As mentioned there are DVI and VGA outputs included, but only one will work at a time. It’s also completely silent, no buzzing, whirling, or humming.

Conclusion:
All in All this device was rather impressive. It’s great that it’s not bound to just HP computers, and even greater that it works for Windows and Mac. The device requires it’s own power, which is a good thing and a bad thing. It’s good because it will use less power from your laptop, and because the power is what makes DisplayLink  technology possible. It’s bad because it detracts from portability and also it uses one of the plugs that is sure to block at least one other plug outlet on your power strip. Other than that, the HP Docking Station can offer you a much more efficient computing environment. Plug in your speakers, keyboard, microphone, printer, external hard drive, internet, and monitor. It’s great having an easy connection to pass all signals, including video, over just one USB cable. You can purchase the HP USB Docking Station from HP or Amazon for $99.

Pros: Pretty easy to set up, Great video quality over USB, Affordable
Cons: Requires AC Adapter, No Mac Drivers included on device

Whether you love it or hate it, the Apple iPad is coming out very soon. Already case makers and accessory makers are designing tons of stylish sleeves, bags, add-ons, and more. How you carry your electronic devices is as much of a social statement as it is a fashion statement, it’s essential that a girl gets to pick out the perfect compliment to her new oversized iPod Touch… oh, I mean iPad! Here’s a few of the new iPad accessories that are coming out that you chip chicks just might find enticing:

iLuv Pink iPad Sleeve

If you are into pink, then this iPad sleeve is just what your fashion advisor ordered. A bold paisley and flower pattern decorate this cute pink iPad sleeve made by iLuv. Not a lot of details or specifications are available for it on the website, but it appears to be neoprene and have two external pockets for keeping all your accessories close by your side. iLuv lists it for $19.99.

M Edge iPad Hip Bag

What better way to compliment your new iPad sleeve than with a trendy iPad hip bag from M Edge. It is simple and trendy, made from ScotchGuard treated canvas and a micro fiber interior with double stitched seams to keep what’s inside in, and what’s outside out. This messenger styled bag is available in five beautiful colors from black, apple green, orange, magenta, to navy blue. It comes with a sturdy shoulder strap and has two easy to reach pockets on the outside. Yet to be released, there is no pricing info available on this bag.

Belkin Vue, Max and Grip Sleeves

Belkin is already offering up a selection of sleek and modern iPad sleeves that sport a minimalistic aesthetic. These cases are perfect for slipping into your bag. The Vue, Max and Grip sleeves each will retail for $39.99 and are available in several PlumViolet or Black/White.

Griffin FlexiGrip

Although not the most fabulous of cases, the FlexGrip is practical in the way that it wraps your iPad in a durable silicon material to protect it from scratches, and dents. The case manages to leave access to all of the iPad’s ports and it’s available in 4 colors including blue, white, black and purple.

Handmade iPad Accessories for Girls on Etsy

A great place to look for handmade and custom iPad cases, covers, and sleeves is in the famous online craft marketplace Etsy.com. This site allows artistically inclined individuals from around the world share and sell their unique hand crafted creations online. While big companies like Griffin, Scosche, and Belkin are already announcing their iPad accessories, the crafty people at Etsy are busy designing their own as well. What would you rather have? The iPad case that 10,000 other people are buying, or a one off unique handmade piece of art? Of course, you can search on Etsy for your own, but here’s a few of our favorites:

Bergenbag’s Pretty Traveler iPad Bag

This is a very cute iPad purse that will work great for a netbook or iPad. A beautiful floral print with a root-beer velvet ribbon trim, this bag has tons of attention to detail. It’s got plenty of storage space with two outside pockets and two inside pockets as well. The soft black quilted interior will keep your iPad tablet snug as a bug in a rug… whatever that means. Sized out at 10″ x 12″ it won’t be too bulky either. It’s got a magnetic snap to close it, which is great because velcro closures often wear out with time. Priced at $30.00.

iSockit Wigman Vintage iPad Case

We love the vintage look of this bag, and we love the vintage trend that many accessories are taking. As technology moves forwards, fashion is looking to the past more and more for inspiration. And for good reason! This bag is classically beautiful. Using real vintage wool plaid fabric and vintage buttons, this iPad case is the real deal. In fact, the only new materials used were on the padding to protect your tablet. Each one of these is a one off masterpiece, hand sewn from vintage hand picked fabrics. Between the bold colors, the adorable offset button closure, and the cute external pocket, we are big fans of this iPad case! Priced at $65.00 A bit pricey, but fashion nobody said fashion was cheap!

iMaxi with Wings iPad Case

Ok, well everybody knows the the iPad sounds like certain feminine products of which we are all familiar. Online jokes and comics abound about it, and apparently some accessory makers have a good sense of humor as well. Introducing the iMaxi with wings iPad Case. I’m pretty sure I would never EVER buy this, but it is pretty hilarious! We’re just going to quote the seller description here because it says it all:

With its durable vinyl outer layer and plush, quilted-cotton sleeve, the iMaxi helps keep your iPad clean and dry. Plus, the iMaxi’s Velcro-latched, advanced wing design wraps snugly around your device, so your iPad always stays where it should. Best of all, it shields it from all those unsightly and embarrassing data leaks that would make any motherboard worry!

It’s the perfect one-of-a-kind embarrassing gift for the Apple geek in your life! Don’t be caught letting your iPad show!

They are selling these for $30.00, and they come in a variety of colors from funny to scandalous…

Of  course, there will be many many more trendy and stylish iPad cases, sleeves, bags, and more coming out soon. Stay tuned for more updates and full reviews!

This week we were invited to visit one of Best Buy Mobile’s retail locations in New York City in order to learn more about the store and what it has to offer. Personally, I had briefly visited the store a few years back when Best Buy Mobile first opened up, but it wasn’t until today that I got to discover what they’re offering for the average consumer that makes the store stand out amongst other mobile phone retailers.

Trained Salesmen
Ever walk into a mobile dealership, only to leave super frustrated because the salesman doesn’t know his head from his tails? We’ve been there! Fortunately, Best Buy Mobile requires 80 hours of training for their employees, and that their employees pass a test in order to ensure that they are well prepared to knowledgeable about the products they’re offering. This is unlike the traditional mobile sales man who may or may not have much of any background at all. The sales team at Best Buy Mobile will also work with you to figure out what your specific needs are. They want you to get both a phone, and a wireless plan that fits your individual needs and lifestyle, and they’ll work with you to figure out what is most suited for you specifically. They will actually take the time to sit down with you, learn more about you so that they can work with you to find the right plan and phone for your budget and needs.

Death to Rebates
Best Buy Mobile also told us that not only do they offer very competitive pricing, but all of their discounted phones don’t require any rebates. We can’t argue with that, especially since it seems that the rebate process for mobile phones has just gotten more complicated and tricky as time has passed.

Insurance
Best Buy Mobile offers a premium insurance plan which is comparatively priced to what the carriers offer you. The insurance will make sure your phone is covered for repairs if it gets damaged, or if need be, they’ll replace the phone altogether. They’ll also provide you with a loaner unit while your phone is sent out to be worked on.

Handset Upgrades
When it comes to upgrading your handset, Best Buy Mobile makes the process a little easier. Instead of calling your carrier to inquire about handset discounts, you can head straight to Best Buy Mobile and ask to use their Upgrade Checker. Their upgrade checker will be able to check and see if you’re eligible for a discount on a handset upgrade. If you’re not, they’ll make a note in there system to send a reminder to you when the time does arrive for you to be eligible for a discount. They also automatically send out reminders to their customers after 22 months to let them know that they’ll soon be eligible for discounts on upgrades.

Transferring Content from an Old Phone
Another cool advantage of making a purchase from Best Buy mobile is that they’ll save you a lot of hassle by transferring all of your old phone’s contents to your new one. That includes contacts and multimedia. They’ll even help you set up and install apps.

After Purchase Support
What’s also convenient about buying from Best Mobile is that you can always come back and bother them after your purchase. They promise that they’ll always be around to help you out and answer questions, even if it’s months since you’ve made your original purchase. This is just one reason why I think the next phone I buy for my mom will be from Best Buy Mobile. You don’t know what you just got yourself into guys!

Best Buy Mobile Forums
Best Buy Mobile forums also offers a pretty robust online support system we’re people can ask questions and share this with each other. The forums isn’t quite as robust as the likes of HowardChui, but it feels like it is more suitable for novice users as opposed to HowardChui where a lot of advanced mobile users like to have discussions. The Best Buy Mobile site also offers a nice assortment of How-To’s, Apps, and helpful videos.

Print Buyer’s Guide
Best Buy Mobile also has a free mobile guide available in their stores, which not only highlights the latest products, but it also features a handy guide at the back which breaks down all the different carriers and their rate plans. This guide is actually something that they adopted from the Car Phone Warehouse.

The Car Phone Warehouse
Speaking of the Car Phone Warehouse, after initially browsing around the store I couldn’t help but be reminded of the Car Phone Warehouse. The Car Phone Warehouse is a major mobile phone retailer in the U.K. that carries all of the latest cell phones, mobile products, and accessories. It turns out that the Car Phone Warehouse is actually one of the partners behind Best Buy Mobile, and that Best Buy Mobile stores are actually based on the Car Phone Warehouse concept of being a dedicated mobility store where you can get access to all the different carries, phones and accessories under one roof. Unfortunately, due to government regulations in the old U.S. of A, Best Buy Mobile is not able to carry all 4 carriers in the same single retail location. So each Best Buy Mobile retailer will carry 3 carrier’s products at a time. But to work around this, Best Buy often offers the 4th carrier’s products in the Best Buy Mobile section of a Best Buy store. So for example, Best Buy Mobile’s retail store in Union Square in NYC offers 3 carriers. If you head across the street to their Best Buy location, you can check out the products and services from a 4th provider which are located in the Best Buy Mobile section of the store.

Cheap International Calling
Aside from a fair selection of mobile phones and accessories, one product that particularly stood out for me was their 02 Sim Card. For $29.99 this company’s airtime provides you with 500 minutes of calls to International destinations. This is especially great if you’re a tourist visiting the U.S. and you want to able to call home a lot from your mobile phone.

Most Popular Cell Phone Case
This was kind of a shocker for us, but apparently this Eddie Bauer case is a Best Seller at Best Buy. Every week about 6,000 cases are sold nationwide. Obviously, it must mostly be men buying these cases! Fortunately Best Buy Mobile have more fashionable cases to choose from… it’s just hard to believe that this one is a best seller.

Overall, I was impressed with what Best Buy has to offer and how it’s positioning itself to stand out amongst other Mobile Phone retailers. However, one gripe I had for the corporate folks at Best Buy Mobile was the lack of live phones available for customers to play with. Best Buy Mobile isn’t the only mobile retailer who uses dummy phones at their displays and this just doesn’t make sense to me at all. As a consumer, I need to play with a phone and check out its user interface before I actually make a purchase. Fortunately, the folks at Best Buy Mobile explained to me that they do indeed have several live demo units available from each carrier, mostly in the smartphone arena. All you have to do is ask a salesperson and they’ll sit down with you and let you try out  the phone. My suggestion to them was to put up a sign somewhere announcing that live demos are available. Finally, my last recommendation is for them to increase their selection of prepaid mobile phone and sim card solutions for people planning on traveling abroad. The company does seem to be receptive to suggestions and ideas, and very dedicated to offering a superior customer experience.

The iFrogz Ear Pollution Custom Flow are inexpensive and adorable. For $19.99 you can completely customize a pair of earbuds from base, to the rim, to the artwork, the earbuds that arrive at your door will be the ones you designed online. Once you go to the website, you just click on the different color combination and artwork you want on your earbuds and it will show up on the preview screen. Honestly, this was the hardest part about choosing the headphones: Do I want a gold rim with a white base?! Or do I want black on black with pink swirly artwork?! Choose a black, grey, or white base, even more colors including chrome and gangster gold for the rim, and 79 different custom art patterns to appear in the center of the earbud. The possibilities are endless, which makes this a really fun and customizable gift for a friend.

What I really like about the headphone sample I received is that they ACTUALLY stay in your ear unlike most ear buds. They stay in your ear, and they look freaking adorable doing it – kind of like an added accessory. I would even wear them to the gym. They are made of a hard plastic so they’re not really comfortable for extended use, although for music on-the-go, they are just fine.  Unfortunately, sound quality was mediocre at best – for the price you don’t really expect Monster or Shure quality drivers. If you turn the volume up, the music will get loud without giving you too much static or reverberation. There are no additional pads or different size buds included- one size fits all here.

Conclusion

The earphones come in a zippered semi pliable case for protection, so I feel confident just throwing the case in my purse knowing that the headphones won’t break or get tangled. For an inexpensive pair of headphone and the fact that these are so easily customizable –  I’m very happy with the iFrogz Ear Pollution. Sound quality may not be of the highest grade, but if you lose them, for $19.99 you can just grab yourself another pair to customize without having to break the bank.

The Good: Can be customized with a large selection of designs, affordable price and it comes with a convenient carrying case.

The Bad: Sound quality could be better, but for the price with all the extras you get, you really can’t complain.

Who needs plain speakers when you can have handmade speakers with a Steampunk edge. These handmade Steam Pipe Audio Speakers can be found on Etsy and contain a 3 inch magnesium/aluminum alloy full range main driver and a 20 mm Textile Dome tweeter housed inside a PVC pipe. The speakers have been handpainted and hammered to add an extra layer of Steampunk goodness. The creator claims that the speaker has alot of low even bass for the size and also works as an iPod speaker as well. Custom colors are available and even though they are a bit pricey at $279.99 – your pals next door certainly won’t have them.

Well only a few days ago we mentioned the latest unique Storm London watch for men Cosmo, today its the ladies turn. Omni is bit similar looking to that of the Swarovski watch that was also covered in crystals and could tell time via an LED display. The same goes for the Omni – available in gold or silver it too is a crystal covered watch featuring an LED display giving you the effect that the crystals are indeed indicating the time. The Storm London Omni retails for £179.99 ( US $273)

If you’re a Doctor Who fan like we are, then you’re pretty psyched for the new season to start soon with the debut of the 11th Doctor. If you’re not a Doctor Who fan, then that first sentence probably made no sense at all. But the reason we bring up the 11th Doctor’s debut is because of the special Doctor Who 3D Cover for SFX magazine that goes on sale on March 10th. SFX’s next issue will feature a specially-commissioned 3D cover celebrating the return of Doctor Who with his companion Amy in the background, and a couple of weeping angels. As a matter of fact, the 3D effect is so neat, that it makes the cover of magazine seem like it’s animated.

(Via the Doctor Who News Page)

I for one love to send paper greeting cards (yes, I do use the postal service occasionally) but that does not mean I necessarily ever have time to go to the Hallmark store or drugstore to purchase one. This usually means I end up sending a greeting card through email – while cute, it isn’t tangible nor does it mean as much as the real thing. enGreet is a unique greeting card company that lets you personalize and send real greeting cards online which are then printed and mailed via snail mail. Search for the perfect card, personalize it (handwriting options available), enter the recipient’s address, and enGreet stamps and mails the card for you! You can also schedule cards ahead of time, and enGreet can send you free email reminders. Prices range from $1.99 to $2.99 and you can tell from above, they offer a unique selection of cards that you can’t ordinarily find in stores.

We have mentioned Too Late before for their unique combo of Time and USB Flash drives now they are expanding their line to include glow in the dark watches as well.  Aurora is a soft and light-weighted bracelet that makes a unique fashion statement as well as telling you the time. This is the perfect accessory for when you go clubbing, or maybe to a concert. It comes in five colors – Verde, Bianco, Blue, Lilla, and Rosa. All five colors glow in the dark with utter intensity that will get you noticed in any crowd.  The watches also feature an anti-scratch design, a water-proof casing and an obviously minimalist design. Too late Aurora goes for a suggested retail price of $24.99.

So we all love our Netbooks, but sometimes we do miss the optical drive and ports that were removed to make the Netbook compact and weigh less. That’s where the Netbook Mate comes in handy. It features a slide in/out 2.5″ removable drive, a DVD-RW optical drive, two built-in USB ports and a cooling fan. All you need to do is connect the Netbook Mate to your netbook’s USB port and you’re netbook will be a few steps closer to being a full fledged laptop. The Netbook Mate fits on to most Netbooks from 8 inches to 11 inches in size. Honestly, if you need to lug this around though, you might as well just chuck the Netbook altogether and get yourself a real laptop, so this is really more suitable to be left at home on your desk.  The Netbook Mate retails for about $144 at select online retailers.

Quirky is at it again with releasing a community developed project that is both trendy looking yet practical.  Weigh To Go  houses a scale and luggage identification tag in one compact device. This is similar in concept to the Balanzza Ergo Digital Luggage Scale but a lot better looking! Simply press the power button and set your unit to pounds or kilograms. Press the tare button to set the scale to zero, grab the Weigh To Go body, and pull upward, lifting your suitcase gently off the ground. Wait five seconds, then slowly lower and rest the suitcase on the ground. Weigh To Go will clearly display your bag’s weight on its digital interface. To shut the unit off, press power button again or wait 45 seconds. The gadget is made of a plastic shell with rubberized bumper, two velcro straps, and is powered by batteries.  The  Weigh To Go is available for pre-order at Quirky for $33.