CES 2011: Bes t of the Bes t
We combed the gargantuan show floor to bring you the early word on this year’s most exciting Mac and iOS gear.
CES is a royal flush of nerd-tastic gadgets and gear—but most of it isn’t exactly tailored to Apple fans. You can see everything from TVs to washing machines to flashlights in the grand halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center. That’s why we spent most of our time in the Apple-centric iLounge, which doubled in size since last year. When the dust settled (and our AT&T service bars finally reappeared), we distilled everything we’d seen down to these favorites.
By far, the majority of Apple-related gear at CES was for iPhones and iPads. So when we saw Mac stuff, we took notice. By far, the majority of Applerelated gear at CES was for iPhones and iPads. So when we saw Mac stuff, we took notice. One of our jackpot finds was Mobee’s Magic Charger ($49.90, mobeetechnology.com), a nifty and utilitarian induction charger for the Magic Mouse. You place the custom battery pack inside your Magic Mouse, rest it on the included charging pad, and it charges wirelessly when you’re not using it. And it looks rad, as does our other favorite Maccessory, the H-Squared Mini mount ($49.95, store.h-sq.com), which was designed in conjunction with Apple’s Mac mini team. It replaces your mini’s cover with a mountable one you can screw right into a wall. Bonus: there’s also a screw pattern for VESA mounting, so you can attach your mini to the back of a VESA-compatible monitor, like, say, the Cinema Display. Our favorite little extra is an optional white LED backlight that gives your mounted mini some ground-effects style.
And speaking of style, we saw more snazzy cases than we knew what to do with. Amidst the piles of cases, plentiful as poker chips, we found a couple that deserved a shout-out. Both Speck (speckproducts.com) and Trtl Bot (trtlbot. com) had sleek cases with pull-out tabs for stand-up viewing. Mophie brought ace design to its new Juice Pack Plus ($99.95, mophie.com), which combines a bigger, two-day battery with a grippy rubber coating. And its new iPod touch–only, gaming-focused Pulse case (price TBA) rumbles, giving you the kind of force feedback that you’re used to on your Xbox or PlayStation.
And speaking of style, we saw more snazzy cases than we knew what to do with. Amidst the piles of cases, plentiful as poker chips, we found a couple that deserved a shout-out. Both Speck (speckproducts.com) and Trtl Bot (trtlbot. com) had sleek cases with pull-out tabs for stand-up viewing. Mophie brought ace design to its new Juice Pack Plus ($99.95, mophie.com), which combines a bigger, two-day battery with a grippy rubber coating. And its new iPod touch–only, gaming-focused Pulse case (price TBA) rumbles, giving you the kind of force feedback that you’re used to on your Xbox or PlayStation.
And speaking of style, we saw more snazzy cases than we knew what to do with. Amidst the piles of cases, plentiful as poker chips, we found a couple that deserved a shout-out. Both Speck (speckproducts.com) and Trtl Bot (trtlbot. com) had sleek cases with pull-out tabs for stand-up viewing. Mophie brought ace design to its new Juice Pack Plus ($99.95, mophie.com), which combines a bigger, two-day battery with a grippy rubber coating. And its new iPod touch–only, gaming-focused Pulse case (price TBA) rumbles, giving you the kind of force feedback that you’re used to on your Xbox or PlayStation.
And speaking of style, we saw more snazzy cases than we knew what to do with. Amidst the piles of cases, plentiful as poker chips, we found a couple that deserved a shout-out. Both Speck (speckproducts.com) and Trtl Bot (trtlbot. com) had sleek cases with pull-out tabs for stand-up viewing. Mophie brought ace design to its new Juice Pack Plus ($99.95, mophie.com), which combines a bigger, two-day battery with a grippy rubber coating. And its new iPod touch–only, gaming-focused Pulse case (price TBA) rumbles, giving you the kind of force feedback that you’re used to on your Xbox or PlayStation.
And speaking of style, we saw more snazzy cases than we knew what to do with. Amidst the piles of cases, plentiful as poker chips, we found a couple that deserved a shout-out. Both Speck (speckproducts.com) and Trtl Bot (trtlbot. com) had sleek cases with pull-out tabs for stand-up viewing. Mophie brought ace design to its new Juice Pack Plus ($99.95, mophie.com), which combines a bigger, two-day battery with a grippy rubber coating. And its new iPod rumbles, giving you the kind of force rumbles, giving you the kind of force rumbles, giving you the kind of force rumbles, giving you the kind of force touch–only, gaming-focused Pulse case (price TBA) rumbles, giving you the kind of force feedback that you’re used to on your Xbox or PlayStation.
Scosche (scosche.com) had plenty of cases too, but we were most impressed with its new heart rate monitor. The MyTrek attaches to your arm, instead of lying across your chest like a traditional monitor. Want to stay in a specific heart rate zone? No problem, just tell the application, and it’ll help you get there with all sorts of beeps. It can also harness the iPhone’s built-in GPS to tell you how far you ran or biked and how many calories you burned in the process.
When we left Scosche, we could hear
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