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24 Sep 12:27

AirPods Accessories that Apple lovers need to get their hands on in 2021!

by Srishti Mitra

My AirPods are one of my prized Apple possessions! I use them multiple times in a day, whether’s it’s for calls, to watch videos during work breaks, or to listen to some pumped-up tunes during my evening jogs. You’ll find them around me almost all the time. I’m sure there are other AirPods addicts in the house, and for those individuals, here’s a collection of AirPods accessories that we swear by! From earrings that hold your AirPods in place to a dual-tone leather AirPods case, these nifty product designs will completely elevate and enhance your AirPods experience. They serve as the perfect sidekick to your AirPods, either by taking the best care of them, boosting their functionality, or making sure you never lose them again. These are a must-have for all AirPods fanatics!

Suhani Parekh of MISHO designed a series of earrings that keep your beloved Apple AirPods accessories in place! Named the Pebble Pods, these earrings wrap and clip around your AirPods to prevent them from falling out of your ears. Not only do they keep your AirPods in place, but they also function as earrings individually! The product comes in three versions-Pebble Pods, Minimal/Active Tall Pods, and Minimal/Active Tiny Pods. I love how they not only support your AirPods but also double up as the cutest earrings ever. They’re a stylish personal and AirPods accessory!

Elago Snapshot Apple AirPods Case with AirTag

The Snapshot case for the AirPods Pro comes with a camera-shaped design that neatly houses an AirTag inside the faux camera lens. Aside from looking like a tiny little point-and-shoot, the Snapshot protects your AirPods Pro from physical damage as well as theft. The all-silicone design helps absorb shock, while still enabling wireless charging… and the fact that you’ve now got an AirTag strapped to your AirPods Pro makes it really easy to use the Find My feature to track the exact location of your earphones.

Bullstrap’s Leather Case (codenamed Terra) for the Apple Airpods definitely gives it a lovely handcrafted appeal. The case comes with black and tan leather trims, double-stitched together with robust Nylon thread, and lined on the inside with microfiber to protect your AirPods. The Bullstrap Terra’s V-shaped design detail feels unmistakably like a popular cigarette brand, but while I’m the last person to ever endorse tobacco, it’s definitely memorable and visually striking. The V’s slightly offset though, creating a little bit of drama (which I really like, if I’m being honest), and the soft leather feels incredible to the touch.

Power1 takes portability and functionality to a new level giving you a system that’s doubly useful because it doesn’t just charge and protect for your iPhone… it charges and protects your Airpods too and ensures they are always with you and ready for use. Designed as an evolution of traditional battery cases, Power1 not only holds an extra battery but also manages your Airpods like no other system. Armed with a proprietary design, Power1 comes with two modes. One, where it charges your Airpods only (up to 30 times on a full battery), and a second mode that charges your Airpods as well as your phone, giving both gadgets full advantage of Power1’s 3000mAh internal battery. Power1 uses its intelligent power monitoring system to see which device is running low on charge, supplying power to them accordingly. Using its USB-C port, when you plug Power1 into an outlet, its priority charging feature kicks in, routing power to your phone and Airpods first before charging its own internal battery.

Antón’s redesign turns the Apple AirPods Pro case from something that looks like a ‘box of floss’ to a really classy-looking ‘chewing-gum-stick dispenser’. The rounded-box shape gets ditched for a taller and sleeker capsule shape, with lids on both ends, allowing individual earpieces to fit into each end of the case. Sure, the redesign presents some structural issues – like where would one place the Qi charging coil or the battery, but what Antón’s concept really provides is a sense of variety, while sticking to Apple’s design philosophy of building sleek products. The redesigned AirPods Pro case also fundamentally changes the UX of the AirPods. The two separate openings house the left and right earphones, and while they do that, they also hint at behavior that’s common within the AirPods user community of using just one AirPod at a time to maximize battery life.

The Air Omni’s biggest defining feature is that it comes built to dock the iPad too, which should honestly be given the same status as the iPhone, Watch, and AirPods… after all, the iPad is a mobile device too. Designed for not just charging but docking too, the Air Omni comes with a dedicated pop-up wireless charging hub for your Watch, specified wireless charging zones for your phone and AirPods, and a stand that lets you dock the iPad vertically and charge it via a cable – all while complying with Apple’s MFi charging standards. The docking zone’s unique design is truly innovative as it shapeshifts to let you alternate between docking your iPad as well as your iPhone.

Zens’ Magnetic Dual Powerbank comes with an internal 4,000 mAh battery that’s good for 1.5 full smartphone charges. The power bank is MagSafe compatible on one side too, allowing you to easily snap your iPhone to it without worrying about alignment. The other non-magnetic side is good for your AirPods, or potentially even a second smartphone (if you’re that kind of person). The power bank is perfect for all your on-the-go charging needs, although it comes with its own flip-out kickstand for when you’re working at a desk and want your phone angled towards you.

Designed as a sleeker upgrade to Genki’s Bluetooth adapter from 2018, the Genki Audio Lite is a tiny, plug-and-play Bluetooth module that fits right into your Nintendo Switch Lite, allowing you to connect Bluetooth earphones and speakers to your gaming console. The Genki Audio Lite’s tiny size adds a great deal of functionality to the already capable device. You can now use your TWS earphones, AirPods, or even the AirPods Max with it, allowing for a portable, private gaming session. The Genki Audio Lite comes with Bluetooth 5.0 and is equipped with aptX™ high fidelity low latency codecs that provide lag-free audio while you game.

The dock/stand’s choice of wood as a material gives it a classic appeal, making it look elegant even when it’s empty. The underlying tray provides a nice surface to keep your keys, USB sticks, and even AirPods; while channels running along its base you cleverly organize your charging cables. The stand’s waist provides the perfect place to stash/charge your Apple Watch, and the lightning port on the upper surface lets you easily dock your iPhone vertically, so you can charge it while you answer calls, view your calendar, attend conferences, or just browse through social media!

Elago’s AW6 cases for the AirPods help cover Apple’s musical journey from beginning to end. Designed to mimic the iPod Classic’s jog-dial, the silicone sleeve for the AirPods is a nice bookmark in time, while also acting as a protective cover for your AirPods case . Compatible with 1st and 2nd gen AirPods, the sleeve comes with a slot for the charger as well as a carabiner clip so you can hang that piece of audio-nostalgia from your belt-loop or your backpack… and that tiny hole right above the menu for the charging light just sweetens the deal!

08 Oct 18:49

The R nine-T Build Diaries: Entry 2

by Australia

There she stood, a rolling blank canvas. With the pencil sketches in hand it was time to get cracking on one of our most ambitious builds to date. Customising the R nineT will be no simple spanner job. With so much to do we had to get started somewhere and decided to start freeing up some space. The factory battery placement for the R nineT is right under the seat, we’ve got other plans for that piece of real estate so it had to move house. A few hours of measuring, cutting and welding landed the battery in its new home under the belly of the Teutonic beast. With the volts now relocated under the bike the upper spine was now free for the large, sculptured…(maybe this detail should wait for a later post, sorry for the suspense folks). Needless to say, we had more room to play.

Next on the agenda was mocking up where our feet would rest, not much can be finalised until the top half of the bike comes together but we created a locating template in preparation.

Measuring thrice, cutting once always prevents poor results, this template would ensure the perfect positioning for the rear sets once the topside mass came together. The build is in its early days, but the form is starting to emerge from a nebulous collection of scribbles into what will be a mighty machine.

Our blog will be regularly updated with progress shots and detailed info of the build every two weeks, stay tuned.

Read The R nine-T Build Diaries: Entry 1 here.

23 May 14:50

Fuji & Canon Partnership for Mirrorless in the Works? [CR1]

by Canon Rumors
Canon EOS M Top

Every so often, I receive some information that is so out there, that it might actually be true. We’ve been told that Canon and Fuji are discussing the possibility of a partnership in the mirrorless camera segment. With the EOS M being a money loser for Canon, there’s apparently not a lot of people at Canon Japan that want to continue supporting a brand new system with low margins and a still unproven market. Most at Canon would much prefer developing Cinema EOS and EOS.

We were told the following:
“Canon is planning to go into a partnership with Fuji. This would mean that Fuji will still carry business as usual, and Canon would be able to launch some lenses for Fuji X system. It appears that they already managed to make some sort of circuit that grants communication for the current EF-M lenses to the Fuji X mount and it’s just waiting for Fuji’s approval to release this for the public.”

CR’s Take
I’m not sure what to think, this is the first time I’ve been told about any sort of partnership for Canon with another camera maker. With dwindling sales in the compact segment, and Canon’s reluctance to go “all in” with a mirrorless system, I guess there could be some kind of a solid money making business model here. The returns on making lenses is probably a lot better than camera bodies, especially with the ongoing R&D needed to update camera models on 12-24 month cycles.

We’ll see if anything else comes of this over the weekend.

cr

12 Jul 18:22

Sobre fotos de divulgação

by marcelo santiago
Dibigode

Foto de divulgação. Algo básico, mas por vezes pouco explorado e mal utilizado. Como jornalista,  produtor, designer (puf...) e assessor de imprensa (ui!), acabo me envolvendo em diferentes processos relacionados às imagens das bandas e achei relevante comentar sobre o assunto. Na produção e agenciamento das bandas com as quais trabalho, ajudo a pensar o conceito e estética a serem utilizados; como jornalista, recebo várias imagens promocionais diariamente; como assessor de imprensa, repasso as fotos aos veículos de mídia e tento dar destaque a elas nas publicações; e como designer muitas vezes tenho que trabalhar a imagem dos artistas junto à identidade visual do evento em questão.

Pausa: esse parágrafo tem como inspiração este vídeo.

Retornando...

Na hora de preparar as fotos de divulgação de uma banda, um ponto crucial é alinhar estética e conceito. A imagem deve dialogar com a proposta da banda. Não é preciso tentar representar sua sonoridade em apenas uma imagem, mas ambas devem dialogar de forma a colaborar para a construção de sentido que envolve a sua criação artística. Dentro disso, vale tanto uma super produção fotográfica como um registro feito em celular (mas com boa resolução), dependendo do conceito por trás.

Pensando nisso, listo abaixo algumas dicas e exemplos de fotos de divulgação:

  • Fundamental ter as fotos na maior resolução possível. Você não vai enviar fotos de 13 MB para os jornalistas mas, caso solicitado, é importante ter os arquivos que permitam impressões em formatos maiores;
  • Tenha opções de foto verticais e horizontais, isso facilita a adaptação ao layout das publicações;
  • Você pode achar um ensaio fotográfico preto e branco lindo, mas alguns veículos não. Algumas publicações publicam somente fotos coloridas, então é bom ter opções para esses casos;
  • Coloque o nome do fotógrafo diretamente nos nomes dos arquivos das imagens, como "Cidadão Instigado - fotor por Fulano". Assim você agiliza o processo e garante o crédito ao fotógrafo que trabalha com você. É recorrente, até mesmo nas equipes de grandes artistas, o envio de fotos sem crédito (o que, em muitos casos, inviabiliza a publicação das imagens);
  • Dar o crédito ao fotógrafo é essencial, mas escrever o nome do mesmo sobre a imagem, não. O mesmo vale para colocar a logo da banda sobre as fotos: nunca faça isso para as imagens que serão enviadas para imprensa;
  • Mesmo que seu ensaio fotográfico em estúdio ou em locação seja muito bom, certifique-se de ter ao menos algumas boas fotos (em alta resolução) feitas ao vivo, tanto para eventuais usos em peças promocionais como para publicação na imprensa;
  • Ao enviar fotos para sites e blogs, não anexe os arquivos em alta resolução. Prepare versões das imagens em resoluções mais baixas, próprias para a internet. Ao receber fotos pesadas no email do Meio Desligado, por exemplo, eu geralmente apago os emails para liberar espaço e só tenho o trabalho de redimensionar a foto se for algo no qual realmente tenha interesse.

Exemplos de boas fotos de divulgação de artistas, no sentido de serem esteticamente interessantes e estarem conectadas aos trabalhos dos artistas representados:

Laura Lopes

Jair Naves

Iconili

Siba

Bona Fortuna

Karina Buhr

Fotos, em ordem: Dibigode, Laura Lopes (por Augusto Barros), Jair Naves, Iconili (por Chá Gelado), Siba (por Talita Miranda), Bona Fortuna (por Bárbara Magalhães) e Karina Buhr (por Priscila Buhr).