Author: ChipChick.com

So you were lounging a little close to the pool when disaster struck. Or worse – maybe you dropped your precious into the toilet. So what is a cell phone owner to do? The iRecovery Cell Phone Drying Kit will work with most cell phones, smartphones and handheld electronic devices to absorb the wetness on your gadget when accidents happen. The kit uses a non toxic Silica Gel, which is one of the most absorbent materials available. The Silica Gel draw out the moisture from your phone and dries the device more thoroughly and faster than air drying. The kit also comes with a moisture barrier bag and Silica Gel Packets. The kit is easy to use, you just have to remove the battery and place the electronic device and battery in the iRecovery bag, seal, and let it sit. The Silica Gel draws out the moisture and traps it. Once the device is completely dry, it can be reassembled and the iRecovery kit can be thrown out. You can purchase the for iRecovery Cell Phone Drying Kit for $12.99.

If you thought a cell phone case made from recycled materials as spiffy and green, Bioserie will certainly wow you. Bioseries has launched the first bioplastic iPhone cover made of plants. The case’s design is been inspired from nature, with fluid lines suggesting leaves and power petals. Available in several colors, besides green, the Bioserie case should be available soon.

We knew it was coming… Vivienne Tam and Monster Cable unveiled their headphone collaboration today during Fashion Week in New York. Just like their latest netbook collaboration with HP, the new headphones features elements of Tam’s Spring 2010 collection inspired by “Butterfly Lovers”. These headphones are designed like the Beats by Dr. Dre’s In-Ear headphones and Vivienne herself helped design them. The headphones are a champagne gold color with two butterfly accents on each earbud – one a orange butterfly, and one a blue butterfly. In comparison to the Beats By Lady Gaga, Lady Gaga’s headphones are more avant-garde in design, while Vivienne Tam’s headphones are more high-end classic fashion. Also, Vivienne didn’t like the linguine style tangle free cables that Monster has used on their Beats in-Ear headphones, but she wanted  a thin wire so that way the headphones resemble a real fashion accessory, even if you aren’t listening to music at the moment. She considers the headphones to essentially be jewelry, an addition to fashion. She also wanted to use texture, and luxurious colors.

 

As far as sound goes, the headphones have been designed particularly in mind for acoustic instruments, classical music, violins, etc. They promise clarity, more detail, and are suitable for orchestrations. Hands on the sound seemed very similar to the original Turbines, with less emphasis on bass, but more emphasis on the mid-range, clarity and transparency, and more attuned to acoustics and concertos that have wind instruments. The headphones will retail for $199 and will ship in April and will come with 7 eartips. The headphones are also an exclusive product that will only be sold in select stores, with future designs to come out too.

In addition to their elegant Butterfly themed cosmetic, Monster’s Butterfly in-ear headphones are designed for total wearer comfort and tuned to reproduce the subtle nuances of music. They come with a beautifully designed carry case that reflects the elegant Butterfly theme and aesthetic design of the product. Finally, Monster’s innovative cable management system features a convenient designed on-cable slider and clip that keeps weight off the headphones so they stay snug in the user’s ears. The debut of Monster Vivienne Tam headphones is part of the company’s ongoing commitment to improve the quality of the portable audio experience.

While other carriers seem to be drowning in Android phones, AT&T has finally joined the party with the Moto BACKFLIP. This smartphone has MOTOBLUR running on it, which is one of our favorite Android flavors since it has awesome widgets for social networking and viewing emails. But what really makes the MOTOBLUR stand out is its unique reverse flip design, with a QWERTY keyboard and unique BACKTRACK touch panel. The BACKFLIP will be available on March 7th for an affordable $99 with rebate.

– Powered by MOTOBLUR, which organizes texts, social networks and emails for management from home screen widgets

– An original reverse flip design, QWERTY keyboard and unique BACKTRACK touch panel to easily navigate to Web sites, menus and more allowing for a hands-free display

– Table-top mode that lets it moonlight as a digital beside alarm clock, video and picture viewer

– Uses 7.2 HSPA 3G technology, 3.1” hi-res touch screen, 5 MP flash camera and is Wi-Fi enabled

– Runs AT&T Navigator, so you don’t get lost, and AT&T Mobile TV, for entertainment on-the-go!

We recently got a hands on with the new VTech animated ebook reader being marketed for kids. Sort of like a kiddie kindle if you may. The VTech FLiP is the first real world animated e-reading system designed for kids. It features a Qwerty touch keyboard and hardy construction as well as vibrant screen. Designed to look like a book with a cover – the FLiP is perfect for kids on the road or for bedtime.

For more about our experience with the VTech FLiP Animated e-Reading System as well as images click through.

ShaToBu might just be the smartest shaper ever created. Not only does it help transform last night’s cheese cake in to a sleek silhouette figure, it also lets women burn up to 12% of calories during the day – just by wearing it. ShaToBu was invented by a doctor who got fed up by the fact that her patients were ignoring her when she prescribed them patients to do exercise. So she came up with the idea of ShaToBu as an easy way for women to do exercise during the day.  By wearing ShaToBu during the course of a day, while walking, climbing stairs and engaging in normal physical activities, ShaToBu manages to help you lose extra weight. “The seamless resistance bands in the buttocks and thigh area are combined with a specially designed, non-binding waist and leg bands to prevent rolling, cutting or bulging.” You can preorder ShaToBu now as Waist to Knee for £40 and High Waist to Knee for £50 from MyTights.

ShaToBu: New shaper helps women burn calories
Uploaded by multivu. – News videos hot off the press.

The Wakara Sheet Calculator is not only cool because it’s a cloth that can be folded up, it’s also the most beautiful calculator you’ve probably ever seen. The Wakara Sheet Calculator is available in 4 different designs, with a floral pattern on one side and a solid color on the other. Granted, nowadays, no one really uses actual calculators because we have calculators on your phones, but if you’re still gonna insist on getting one – this one is certain worth considering. You can pick it up for $26 at JapanTrendShop.

Robotector from NugoDesigns may be the toughest iPhone case ever. Not only does it protect your iPhone or iPot Touch with its silicon skin, it also bullies people away. This intimidating skin dresses your iPhone as a robot with robost arms and legs. And his fierce eyes will scare them away too. There is no word on pricing or availability yet for Robotector but he should be going into Mass Production soon.

We’ve seen colorful LED lights show up on many odd places,  some more useful than others, but these LED Laser Fingers are more for amusement than anything else.  Available as two sets of four, these Multi colored mini lights are worn on your finger tips and designed to shoot beams of light out from your hand. These are probably suitable for parties, or just plain goofing around. Just don’t show up wearing them on a date. The LED Laser Fingers retail for $8 for two pairs, for a total of 8 lights.

This is by far not the most exciting product, nor prettiest looking gadget, but it’s actually a very practical one. Aleratec’s 1:1 HDD PortaCruiser Lightweight and Portable Hard Disk Drive Duplicator lets you easily clone 2.5″ and 3.5″ hard drives for backing up. On top of that, it also works as a Dual Disk RAID Controller so that you can attach two hard drives to it, connect it to a USB 2.0 port and transform it into an external storage device on the fly. And because it has a 2-line LCD display, it makes copying harddrives easy for even those who aren’t so computer savvy. Weighing about 8 ounces, the HDD PortaCruiser is also easy to carry along for the next time your aunt (or whomever) calls you up crying that their hard drive is making funny noises.

Usually the Hello Kitty phones that we come across are “unofficial” Asian knock-offs, but the S5230 Tocco Lite Hello Kitty is actually a quality Hello Kitty mobile phone from Samsung. The Samsung S5230 Tocco Lite Hello Kitty features a 3 inch Touchscreen display with a 240 x 400 pixel resolution, an MP3 and MP4 player for playing audio and video, an FM radio, handwriting recognition, a document viewer for looking at Word, Excel and Powerpoint files, a 3 megapixel camera, QVGA video recording, Edge support, bluetooth, and a microSD slot. But the cutest aspect of the phone aren’t even its Hello Kitty graphics, but the Menu button on the bottom which is labeled with Ms. Kitty’s face. You can pick up the Samsung S5230 Tocco Lite Hello Kitty touchscreen phone for $499.99. Overall, this is hardly a smartphone in terms of features but it’s nice to be able to pick up a Hello Kitty touchscreen phone that isn’t junk.

A game of strategy, the tried and true Rush Hour Logic game is now available for free on iPhone and Android. The ultimate bordeom buster for when you’re actually stuck in traffic or on the train, Rush Hour Logic is one of those games where you aim to release your car from the unbearable traffic jam.

“Our customers around the world have been asking for a Rush Hour app, the iPhone version was introduced in November 2009, and now the Android application joins the Rush Hour family,” says Bill Ritchie, ThinkFun co-founder and CEO.

And with the new apps, it’s not good enough to simply get your car out of the traffic jam, but rather in Perfect Score mode, your Android phone can grade you on how efficiently you got out of the jam. And of course, there is a solve button for those who cannot stand the traffic jam anymore!

And if you’re a hardcore Rush Hour Logic fan, you can unlock over 2500 new challenges with the purchase of the $1.99 version of the app, available in the Android marketplace or app store. With the regular app, you will get 35 puzzles. Find the Rush Hour/Android app for free in the Android Market on your handset – categories:  Games – Brain & Puzzle.

Winner of 2010 best product design award, the Yuento Music Ball speakers, $75.00, lets you amplify your iPod or MP3 player no matter where you go. Available in a bunch of candy colors including yellow, pink, red, black, and green, the soft speakers plug into your music player and you can blast your favorite jams while out on a walk or at the beach. Much more fun to play with than a standard plastic portable speaker.  

Avatar, one of the year’s hit movies has prompted the creation of many a toy, but none as spectacular as Mattel’s line of Avatar toys complete with i-TAG augmented reality technology. This amazing Avatar toy line of action figures features the flick’s characters, vehicles, and more from James Cameron’s blockbuster. The action figure toys are available now and start at just $8.99, but the physical toy is not what we’re really interested in. Each toy comes with its own specific i-TAG card, and that’s what really blew us away. The i-TAG looks like a plastic credit card decorated with symbols and graphics. Display the i-TAG under a regular computer webcam and watch a 3D model come to life on-screen. How? It uses augmented reality.

You can watch your Avatar character or vehicle float on top of your i-TAG and revolve in 3D as if is really there. Move the i-TAG around and the 3D model will follow, it even projects a shadow on the surface.  The i-TAG has faux buttons that when pressed under the webcam, will spring the toy into life by unlocking certain unique features. All i-TAGS have an info button that will bring up an onscreen bio of your character or vehicle revealing all sorts of neat tidbits. Set up seems real simple: just go to the official Avatar iTAG website and follow the step-by-step directions. Your augmented reality experience should be good to go in a matter of minutes on any Mac or PC with a webcam and high-speed internet connection.

Ever wonder what it’s like to be Barbie? Well now you can get a better idea of what it’s like to be Barbie with the Barbie Video Girl Doll. The doll features a video camera built directly into Barbie’s necklace with a LCD video screen on her back, so you can record and view everything that Barbie’s seen and experienced. Let her ride on the handlebars of your bike and playback video directly on the LCD screen hidden under Barbie’s shirt on her back. Or you can plug a USB cable into Barbie herself and view your video masterpiece on the big screen like a TV or computer. Record videos up to 30 minutes long and even edit videos (add music and sound effects) on Barbie.com. The Barbie Video Girl Doll will cost around $50 and will be available in July 2010.

Mi-Fi’s are all the rage now in the U.S. for those who want to use and share mobile broadband on the go. Now one company has come out with another 3G Personal Hotspot, but the Connect One’s Wi-REACH 3G Personal Hotspot is a lot smarter than the Mi-fi that Verizon and Sprint offers. This one lets you slot in a standard USB mobile broadband modem, so that you’re essentially transforming the USB modem that you already have into a compact Mi-Fi device. The Connect One’s Wi-REACH 3G Personal Hotspot is available for $99 and is compatible with WiMAX, LTE and 4G. However, we’re not sure yet if this device will come to the U.S. or not.

Part of a completely eco friendly line of toys from Ecotronic, the Mr. Robot Head toy, $32.99, is based on the “Operation” style challenge of moving a metal ring along the twisty, turny metal wire without letting the two metals touch. If the user touches the wire with the metal loop, Mr. Robot Head will buzz and flash, letting you know you are going to have to try again. The coolest part? This toy is completely eco friendly and does not require any batteries. To charge the toy, turn the hand crank in the back of his head and keep the fun going indefinitely.

These adorable TagEm clip on accessories let you decorate your sneakers, hoodies, or headphones in ways that reflect your personality. Available in different patterns from sports themed, to princess, to punk rocker, the line features charms like cell phones, stars, vampire teeth, and peace signs. The clip on charms come designed for different products ranging from hoodies to shoe laces to headphones. Although the charms are not interchangeable between shoes, wires, and hoodies, the TagEm charms are available for $1.99 each, so you can decorate everything you own without breaking the bank.

In celebration of Rubik’s Cube upcoming 30th anniversary, the old favorite is getting a face lift. The Rubik’s Slide, $17.99, is an electronic version of of the classic Rubik’s that incorporates elements of the classic Rubik’s but takes it to a new techy level with new games. The flat electronic version draws upon elements of the classic Rubik’s but turns the cube into a game of speed and strategy.

The goal of the Slide is to copy the machine’s LED light display patterns. Players begin each puzzle by checking the goal pattern and then sliding the lights into the correct pattern by twisting and shifting the top panel of the cube. Once the puzzle is solved, Rubik’s Slide will advance to the next puzzle. The game talks to you telling you what level of difficulty you’re attempting as well as your top score.

With over 10,000 puzzles, the Rubik’s Slide can be played in Free Play mode where players try to solve the patterns or they can race against the clock to complete 10 puzzles before time runs out in Lightning Round. Rubik’s Slide includes multiple levels of difficulty with easy, medium and hard puzzles built-in, so anyone can play. The electronic game features vibrant light and sound effects, adjustable volume control, and high score memory,

You can get the Rubik’s Slide in the fall of 2010.

An excited crowd of adults, kids, and kids at heart, anxiously awaited the launch of the latest line of Toy Story 3 toys, announced today at the New York Toy Fair. Disney set the tone for the product launch by completely transforming a normal looking space in an adult playground filled with toys, overstuffed chairs, and even an appearance by Buzz Lightyear and Woody themselves. The long awaited line of toys were announced beginning with a special tribute to John Lasseter, mastermind behind the Toy Story franchise and chief creative officer of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios. Lasseter, recently voted into the Toy Hall Of Fame, was joined by Disney bigwigs Lee Unkrich, director, Toy Story 3, Darla K. Anderson, producer, Toy Story 3 and John Ratzenberger, voice of Hamm, to announce the toys with a little help from the movie’s Green Army Men.

 

Repelling from the ceiling, the Green Army Men literally stole the show to announce the top Toy Story 3 toys, which included a new character named Lots-O’-Huggin’ Bear, as well as Barbie, Ken, Buzz Lightyear Mr. Potato Head, Legos, and Toy Story Mania® Plug it in and Play TV Games. Disney licensed the Toy Story 3 rights to 20 world-renowned toy companies, including Thinkway Toys, Mattel, The LEGO Group, HASBRO, JAKKS Pacific, and Fisher-Price.

Other hot new toys include:

• Mattel’s Toy Story Ultra Blast™ Gauntlet:  a wearable forearm cuff (just like Buzz) with lights and sounds for enhanced game playing.

• Mattel’s Buzz Lightyear Deluxe Action Wing Pack: backpack-style Buzz Lightyear wings that light up, make sounds, and have built-in sensors that know when kids are “flying” or “landing” and play the appropriate sounds.

• LEGO Toy  Story 3 Western Train: relive scenes from the movie with LEGO’s construction play sets that feature all the old and new characters.

• HASBRO Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head: dressed up as Buzz, Woody, and Jessie, these Potato Heads also include a new electronic Mr. Potato Head plush that says three lines from the Toy Story 3 movie.

• JAKKS Pacific Toy Story Mania® Plug it in and Play TV Games

• Toy Story 3 versions of  HASBRO’S games and toys: Yahtzee, Memory, Operation, Trouble, Connect 4, Chutes and Ladders, Space shooters, Buckaroo, Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head; Mattel’s Barbie® and Ken®, Magic 8 Ball®, Hot Wheels®, Tyco®, Matchbox®; Fisher Price’s Chatter Phone; and Poof- Slinky’s Slinky Dog; and Poof- Slinky’s Slinky Dog.

Available at the www.DisneyStore.com.