iPad Sleeve Review: Waterfield Designs Slip Case

Simple yet elegant, the WaterField Designs’ iPad Slip Case is a perfect fit for your iPad. But don’t let the simplicity fool you. A lot of thought has went into the making of this slipcase.

The exterior is waterproof, keeping your precious toy away from accidental spills. The interior is lined with a soft ultra suede that not only keeps your iPad safe from any impact, but also cleans your device as you take it in and out of the case. Protecting your iPad is as simple as slipping your device in. Be sure to have the glass side of the iPad face the heavier padded side of the case. To take it out, hold onto the tab at the end and shake.

Due to the fitted size, this slipcase is best used without any other cases on the iPad. Overall, this case takes simplicity and elegance to a whole new level. If you want to wrap your iPad in a little luxury, this may be the sleeve for you.

The Waterfield iPad Slip Case is available for $29 an comes in a variety of colors — black, blue, green, brown, red, and silver. You may purchase it online at SFBags.com

Disclosure: This product was sent by Waterfield Designs for review purposes. This is part of Beatweek Magazine’s coverage of iPad products. Opinions expressed in this article are my own.

Video Demo

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Free Tech Webinars

Here’s a list of FREE upcoming Tech Webinars that you may be interested in signing up for:

• Combining Photos and Vectors in Photoshop
  Thursday, July 8, 2010 at 10 PT
  Audience: Designers
  Learn how to easily combine illustrations with photography in this super creative session. Glean the secret to importing vectors into your document so you can experiment with them as backgrounds, artful embellishments, ornamental photo frames, and more — all without losing an ounce of quality. You’ll also learn how to use Photoshop’s vector Shape tools to create resizable and featherable masks in no time flat!
• Five Ways the iPad Can Entertain You
  Friday, July 9, 2010 at 10 PT
  Audience: iPad owners or potential iPad owners
  In this live, one-hour webcast, bestselling author J.D. Biersdorfer will guide us through the most entertaining apps on the iPad.
• 5 jQuery mistakes you’re probably making in your project
  Tuesday, July 13, 2010 at 10 PT
  Audience: Developers
  The ease and simplicity of jQuery’s API can be attributed to its success and shortcomings as new developers tackle larger and more complex tasks. Join us for this session as we walk through The Top 5 Mistakes jQuery Developers Can Make. We’ll look at lower level syntax issues up through architectural decisions with jQuery. This session will discuss selector performance, iterating with jQuery, event binding strategies, Ajax handling techniques and jQuery on public CDN’s for applications large and small. Gain a greater understanding of these core concepts and where developers can go wrong.
• TechTrends: ALA Annual 2010
  Tuesday, July 13, 11:30am PT
  Audience: Librarians
  Features an expert panel who’ll provide a look back at ALA Annual Conference from a library technology perspective. Our panel will analyze and discuss what they learned and what trends stood out at the conference.
• UCCSC 2010: No Limits!
  July 19 – 20
  Audience: People in IT, usually in the UC System
  This year, UCLA presents a unique hybrid of a live conference and a virtual conference. You can attend from anywhere, even your own office on your own campus, if you wish. There’s no registration limit. And you can attend as much or as little of the conference as you want. Those features brought us to the theme of No Limits.

If you find more, feel free to add them in the comments and I’ll update the post!

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iPad Case Review: Speck Fitted Cases

The wait is finally over! Speck’s Designer Fitted iPad cases have arrived. Don’t just protect your iPad, dress it up! With a variety of fun new colors and patterns, you’re iPad can become more than just an entertainment tool; it could become a conversational piece!

This case is made of two hardshell pieces – the back side is made of a Specky fabric design and a front side that lines the edges of the iPad. Put the iPad into the back side of the case first. Make sure the cutouts for the iPad are all properly aligned. Then snap on the top of the case, again, making sure the cutouts for the buttons are aligned. Snap on and you’re done. It’s as simple as that.

One drawback to the case is that there’s no easy way to clean the design side if it got dirty. It is made of fabric, so you have to be careful where you put the iPad. I recommend putting it on top of an iPad sleeve or napkin when you use it. You may want to avoid using it at restaurants or where food is close by.

Unlike it’s iPhone counterpart, the iPad case is much easier to remove. Simply find the bottom opening where the charger cutout is, and start removing it slowly. It shouldn’t take you more than a minute to take the case off.

This case protects the back of the iPad as well as the edges of it. The front part is beveled a bit, so if the iPad was to fall flat face down, it wouldn’t touch the floor. The case is also light and adds more style than weight to your iPad.

The Speck Fitted iPad cases are currently available in the following colors/patterns: Houndstooth Gray, Fadeaway Gray/Black/Green, Fadeaway Gray/Black/Pink, ClassicPlaid Pink & Gray, Black & White Plaid. You can purchase it for $49.95 at SpeckProducts.com

Disclosure: This product was sent by Speck for review purposes. This is part of Beatweek Magazine’s coverage of iPad products. Opinions expressed in this article are my own.

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iPad Case Review: M-Edge Leisure Jacket

For the brave souls who like to take their iPads on vacations, M-Edge has come out with the Leisure Jacket case just for them! It’s unlike any other iPad case on the market.

The front of the Leisure Jacket case has a clear vinyl cover that allows you to fully access all of the iPad’s touch screen. Tap, swipe, and zoom as you normally would on the iPad. The backside of the case made of a strong fabric and has a pocket built in. Within this pocket are three mesh compartments for your other accessories and devices like your iPhone, headset, and charger. There’s also a deeper pocket that you put paper as well. I don’t recommend stuffing this pocket too much since it’ll make the case uneven.

Both sides of the case are held together with a dual zipper. This is especially useful for times when you want to open part of the case to charge the iPad or plug in your headset. Removing the iPad from the case is not necessary at all. For example, you can charge the iPad just by unzipping part of the bottom.

The interior of the case is made of a high density foam frame that fits the iPad very nicely. Have the iPad face-up when you want to use it. The foam interior has cutouts for all of the iPad’s buttons and ports. All you have to do is press on the vinyl to toggle the buttons. You can do this with the convenience of not having to remove it from the case! When the iPad is not in use, you can put it upside-down in the case for extra protection.

Although this case looks water-proof, it’s not at all, and there’s a big warning for that. It does however protects your iPad from any moisture that might enter. If you’re brave enough to take your iPad to the beach, the park, or even the gym, this may be an ideal case for those kinds of trips. The case is great for keeping sticky sand off your iPad, not to mention sweaty fingers. Simply wipe the case clean with a cloth before removing your iPad.

One downside to this case is when you use it indoors, there is extra glare on the iPad due to the room’s lights. But this case is not made to be used indoors anyhow.

Another downside is that case is not a tight fit. It’s made in a way so you can move and squish the vinyl cover around easily. This works well for its outdoor use, however this design may not look as clean and sleek as some cases. For what it’s used for, it works well.

Overall, it’s a one-of-a-kind case that works well if you’re near any kind of moisture or the outdoors. The M-Edge Leisure Jacket iPad Case comes in a big variety of colors — red, lime green, orange, blue, and black. You can purchase it at MEdgeStore.com for $39.99.

Disclosure: This product was sent by M-Edge for review purposes. This is part of Beatweek Magazine’s coverage of iPad products. Opinions expressed in this article are my own.

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Using Google Font API

One thing I learned at Google I/O that I thought was fun and exciting was their new Google Font API. What does this mean? It means I don’t have to add text to images using Photoshop anymore. I can just add it directly to the HTML code as plain text and it’ll look beautiful on the page.

This will (1) speed up page loads because text loads faster than images and (2) make the page more accessible (screen readers won’t need to piece together alt tags of images; instead, it’ll just read the text directly off the page. (3) The more text you have on a page, the more SEO-friendly it is.

Lucky for us, adding Google fonts to our webpage is quite easy. All you need is to know a bit of CSS and HTML, and how to copy and paste!

Step 1: Select Font

Go to the Google font directory and choose a font you would like to use. In the sample below, I picked the “Lobster” font.

Step 2: Get the Code

If you like the font, tab over to “Get the Code.” From there, you will get a sample code like this:

<link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Lobster' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'></link>

To include the code into your page, simply copy and paste this code into the header of your HTML page.

If you prefer to include the font it into your CSS stylesheet instead of your HTML header, you can use a code like this instead:

@import url("http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Lobster");

Step 3: Add some style!

Now that you have your font embedded onto your page, it’s time to give it some style. Create a CSS class and add in your font.

In this sample, I created a class called “prettyFont” and made it use the “Lobster” font to display, in huge red font. The alternative “arial and serif” font were added as a backup in case Google Font API was down; these web-safe fonts will display instead of Lobster in that case.

.prettyFont { font-family: 'Lobster', arial, serif; font-size: 3em; color:red; }

That’s pretty much it! Adding Google Fonts to your page is as simple as 1-2-3! You can also go even more wild and add shadows, shading, and anything else you can do with HTML + CSS.

For more information, see the Google Font API documentation. For more sample codes, check out Getting Started with Google Font API. And if you want to dive in deeper and add in italic, bold, and bold italic fonts, see their further reading section.

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Dr. Seuss Apps for your iPhone and iPad!

Oceanhouse Media does it again by creating more wonderful children’s Dr. Seuss storybook apps!

In honor of World Oceans Day and the book’s 50th anniversary, the “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” eBook app is now available for your enjoyment. Written for children between the ages 9-12, the book is filled with over 60 pages of lovely animations and storytelling! You can purchase it in the iTunes store for $3.99.

Have a graduate in your life? They’ll love Dr. Seuss’ “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” eBook. The beautifully illustrated book contains over 50 pages about twists and turns your child may find in life. The reading level is for ages 4-8 and is also available in iTunes for $3.99.

As if that’s not enough, there’s also a fun and addictive stacking game app called “Up with a Fish!” It uses the story of “The Cat in the Hat” where you help The Cat balance all kinds of things in the house. Capture all the items and score big. The game ends when you miss 3 fishbowls. It’s also available for a low introductory price of just $0.99!

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FixPix Comes to the iPhone!

eBoy’s FixPix is now available for the iPhone and iPod Touch! It uses a combination of beautiful artwork, puzzle solving skills, 3d effects, and the phone’s accelerometer to create a one-of-a-kind game that keep your mind boggled.

Tilt the phone to align the artwork correctly to move onto the next level. There are 100 individual levels total; many with 3f effects. Some are layered compositions or slice madness! Be sure to check out this very unique game.

You can now purchase Fix Pix for $1.99 USD in the iTunes app store. For more information, see their official website at eBoyFixPix.com.

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iPad Bag Review: Urban Tool PocketBar

The one thing I noticed about most iPad bags and sleeves is the extra padding you carry with you. Of course you want your iPad to be safe and nicely cushioned, but let’s face it, we can all walk around without having to carry a huge bag. Enter the Urban Tool Pocketbar – a pretty hip bag without the unnecessary bulk! It’s a great compromise between protection and fashion.

The pocketbar was specifically designed for geeks on the go. As you know, the iPad is not the only gadget geeks are carrying with them at any one time. We got our cameras, our iPhones, sd cards, and don’t forget the keys and wallet! The PocketBar solves this problem by making pockets for all of our necessities and putting it in a nice and organized way.

The bag comes with one main zipper pocket where you can safely slip your iPad (or a small netbook) into. There’s enough wiggle-room in this pocket to fit an iPad with a hard-shell case on. This is convenient because you want protection on your iPad when you do take it out to use as well. The interior is soft, however, it may be thinner than most iPad sleeves and bags. If you’re worried about the iPad, you may want to put your iPad in a case with a front side protection as well.

On the front of bag are four individual pockets, all of various sizes, which are perfect for your digital camera, cellphone, and other gadgets. The top pocket has a key yo-yo that you can hang your keys on. When you need to use your keys, simply pull and use. No need to take your keys off. I do recommend only hanging a few keys on it so it’s not too heavy that it’ll pull down on the yo-yo. Each of these four pockets have flaps over them to keep any rain or water out. The flaps for the pockets are deep enough that things won’t fall out of it, yet easy enough for you to get your digital camera out when you need to take a quick photo. The exterior of the front side is also made of a waterproof material that reminds me of a diver’s wetsuit.

Between the top pockets is a loop where you can insert a pen into. This makes it very handy and convenient when you need to sign your autograph! Between the bottom pockets is where a carabiner is inserted. You can use this to put more keys or even hang your usb keys there.

The backside of the bag has secret zipper pocket that’s perfect for putting your wallet and other odds and ends that didn’t fit anywhere on the front size.

You don’t just carry this bag, you wear it! The strap is adjustable, so you can have the bag hang low on your body, or wear it high and use the included body strap to wrap it around your waist. I recommend removing the body strap because it’s easier to put the bag on and off. Whether you’re tall or short, this bag can be fitted to your needs.

Under normal circumstances, the bag is the perfect protection for carrying around your iPad. It’s close enough to your body where you don’t need the heavy padding, but I don’t suggest throwing the bag around like you would with a purse or backpack.

The Urban Tool PocketBar is unisex and is available in 3 colors — Black, Denim Titanium, and Blue Jeans. You may purchase it at UrbanTool.com for $99.90 USD.

Disclosure: This product was sent by Urban Tool for review purposes. This is part of Beatweek Magazine’s coverage of iPad products. Opinions expressed in this article are my own.

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