By David Ponce

Taking care of plants is one of those things that you’re either good at, or just simply terrible at. This particular editor happens to kill any photosynthesizing organism he comes across, so the Koubachi WiFi Plant Sensor could definitely come in handy. It features a special device that you plant in the soil near the plants it’s supposed to be monitoring. It’ll evaluate the soil moisture, the temperature and the amount of sunlight that area is getting and make sure it’s up to the required standards that the particular plant it’s assigned to needs. It communicates via WiFi to a free application on your iPhone, so you can know from a distance if things are peachy or not.

Of course, you need to actually check that application now and then, or even heed the notifications it’s sure to send. But hey, if you get to the point where even technology can’t help you gardening, perhaps you should look into some other hobby.

It’s $142.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ Gear Patrol ]

By David Ponce

iDevice docks are so common, it’s getting to be pretty annoying to write about. But every now and then we come across one that looks so darn good, we think it’s worth mentioning just for that. The Jarre AeroPad Two from designer John Michael Jarre is simply stunning. Sure, we realize that this is in the eye of the beholder, so we’re not going to get into an argument with anyone over this. And maybe the dock sounds great and has tons of features, but really, we only like the way it looks. If you must know, however, it works with any iDevice, has four 30W speakers and is made of stainless steel with chromium finishing, with bamboo accents.

Yeah, not the most exciting features. You’ll be paying $920 for looks and looks alone. But hey, for some people, that’s all that matters. It’s going to be shipping in September.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ GearPatrol ]

By David Ponce

It bears repeating once again that recording stuff with iDevices will not eclipse the kind of quality you can get with dedicated equipment. But that doesn’t mean you can’t try and make things a little better through the use of attachments like the above boom microphone for the iPhone, iPod, iPad, etc. It attaches to the headphone jack and secures to the rest of the device through adjustable clips; it’ll even hold on with the use of a case. The 4 inch long mic has two settings, for near or far recording, and will improve the quality and intensity of recorded sound severalfold. It works on 1 AAA battery.

It’s pretty cheap too, considering what it does: $40, with shipping starting April 23rd.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ UberGizmo ]

By David Ponce

Well, we can’t say for sure that the above case is called iFoolish Magic Drawing Case because of trademark issues, but it sure as heck would make sense. Etch-A-Sketch is, after all, a registered trademark and their owners (presumably the Ohio Art Company, who manufacture the toys) would want to be compensated for every sale. So, the iFoolish case it is. What it does is pretty simple: you protect your iPhone from dings and scratches, and are able to casually draw things on the back.

For $25, there are far less useful cases on the market.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ The Red Ferret Journal ]

By David Ponce

We’ve said it before and we’ll keep hammering the point in: it’s the simpler things that we value most. The Amplifear is an elegant solution for amplifying the sound coming out of your iPad. Sure, it looks like a Mickey Mouse ear, but the ABS plastic device is reported to do a really great job at boosting those high frequencies, giving you a crisper and generally louder sound. You just clip it on or off, no installation required.

Best of all, it’s cheap: $15, currently on Kickstarter, as a fully funded project.

[ Project Page ] VIA [ BonjourLife ]

By David Ponce

Let’s face it, the camera on the iPad (or any tablet for that matter) is utilitarian at best. It’s not meant to shoot anything that’s supposed to look, you know, good. We’re not saying the shots look bad, but the optics on that thing just don’t have cinema-quality depth of field and focusing range that more expensive lenses bring to the fray. The Padcaster changes the dynamics somewhat by letting you use those very lenses with the iPad. It’s a sturdy case with a soft polyurethane insert, and threaded holes all around so you can put it on a tripod, attach some lights and just generally build yourself a decent recording rig. More importantly, there’s the $79 Lenscaster mount, for those superior optics we said were so important. The advantage here being that you can shoot some pretty decent video, edit it right on the iPad and upload it to wherever you need it to go without having to transfer any files anywhere.

It’s $200.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ The Verge ]

By David Ponce

If you’re looking for an external keyboard and a case for your iPad 2, the above might be a good all-in-one solution for you. Not only will it nestle and protect your tablet, it contains a Lithium-Ion battery that will give you some extra juice as well. The keyboard will connect through Bluetooth, and there are USB and Micro-USB ports on the side. We’re not sure how these will interface with the iPad seeing as its not exactly setup for USB use, however if you’ve jailbroken your device and installed iFile then you’ll basically have jerry-rigged a full blown laptop. Granted, iOS will still limit the things you’re able to do, but it’s as close as you’ll get without spending the extra dough.

The Notebook Case for iPad is $75 through Japanese retailer Rakuten, which means its US-based partner buy.com could have it in stock in the near future.

[ Product Page (Translated) ] VIA [ UberGizmo ]

By David Ponce

It’s easy enough to find your phone when you lose it: just call it. But of course you’re the kind of dumbass that only loses his cell when the battery is out, right? Then what do you do? Well, the Last Alert application gives you three lines of defence. First, you can set an audible alarm to sound when the battery reaches a certain predetermined level. You can set up to three such alarms. Secondly, when it senses it’s about to run out of juice, it will send you an email with your last known GPS coordinates. Finally, if you have the application installed on a second iDevice, you can use the compass feature on that one to help you navigate to your temporarily misplaced cellphone.

It was a project on Kickstarter that got full funding, so the application should be ready for download this month.

[ Product page ] VIA [ Coolest Gadgets ]

By David Ponce

Apple’s design mantra centres around elegance; this is pretty obvious not only in the physical aspect of their products but in the logic and simplicity with which their software is constructed. Sadly no one is perfect and right now the iPhone’s lock screen is a bit of a mess. With the addition of the camera unlock button it’s no longer symmetrical nor are the sliding gestures consistent: unlocking the phone slides horizontally, while accessing the camera slides vertically. The above picture surfaced on Brye Kobayashi’s website and features a redesigned lock screen. Pressing and holding either button would bring up the slider. Slide to the right to unlock, left to access the camera. The buttons are round, to match other round sliding buttons throughout the interface.

It’s smart. It’s simple. And it’s elegant. Apple, what are you waiting for, hire the man!

[ Brye Kobayashi's Page ] VIA [ Core77 ]