A review of the iPad Mini artisan leather case from Oberon Designs

Excellence is its own reward. At least, that was what my father used to say to me when he did not think that I had done a job that met his standards. He was a man that could express paragraphs of disdain by pushing his glasses up on the bridge of his nose. Of course, …

I carry far too much crap around. It is a kind of boy scout gone mad mentality that has me thinking, “Someone will be grateful that I have a spare 30 pin sync cable.” Yeah, right. Twice a year I dive into that bag of crap, spend 10 minutes untangling stuff and they drift off …

A very wise pundit once said. “The limitation of our productivity in modern times is measured in milliwatt hours.” Actually, I think I said that. Let’s downgrade that to…”A two-bit hack with an overwrought sense of self-importance and a website designed to fulfill his Machiavellian tech fantasies said that.” Of course, it is still true …

I had not heard of Mapi Cases until I made their acquaintance at the CES show last month. They make a range of upscale cases and covers for iDevices and high-end smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy and Note. The cases are hand crafted in Istanbul (not Constantinople) from real cow. That’s right, they are unapologetically …

There seems to be a certain level of synchronicity in the discovery of new things. If I stumble on something amazing that I have never seen before, I often find it staring me in the face mere hours later. Something similar happened to me with Oberon Designs, a California based company that practices artisan design …

Perusing the FAVI website yields what you would expect from an innovative entertainment company. Projectors, screens, televisions and a clever little HDMI widget called the SmartStick which is aimed squarely at giving Apple TV and Roku heartburn. But in a very Sesame Street moment (“One of these things is not like the other…come on, sing …

I have to preface this article with an apology for the bad quality of the photos. After an overnight flight they looked in focus to me! ACK! I had a weekend business trip to Europe which meant an overnight flight and then straight to a trade show, which doesn’t leave me feeling very productive. I …

There are lots of things that choosing an Apple product grants you. One of the most significant is the HUGE range of accessory options out there for the iPhone and iPad. You could pick up a new case at WalMart if you were in a lurch but there is no guarantee that you could do …

The Matias One Keyboard. I will not make the obligatory LOTR joke. I will not make the obligatory LOTR joke. I will not make the obligatory LOTR joke. Oh crap, who am I fooling…one keyboard to rule them all. There, now that is out of my system, let’s talk about the One Keyboard. I am …

I have one of those brutal trips that involves a flight to Europe, for a two city jaunt over a weekend, coming up. Leave on a Thursday, arrive in Amsterdam on a Friday, spend the day at a trade show. Leave on Saturday for London, spend Sunday at a trade show, fly home on Monday. …

No one is going to mistake me for ex-special services. Not now, not ever. Well, maybe if…no, probably not then either. Sigh. OK, I just asked my wife and she snorted her drink out of her nose and rolled around on the ground laughing hysterically. I am going to take that as a “no” as …

I looked at the denim and leather version Snugg case for iPad a couple of weeks ago. I won’t bore you by going through all the details again, but I liked it and I thought it hit a nice price point for the quality of the case. If denim is a little too casual for …

A big laptop bag is as much about brawn as it is about brains. A multitude of pockets and zippers and not much of a limitation on size or scale gives a designer the ability to literally stretch the limits…in almost any dimension. But a small bag…now that is a different matter altogether. It requires …

I came home from the last trade show with a pretty interesting little piece of kit. The K-Array Ecodock is an acoustic coupler for your iPhone4 or 4S. The piece appears to be made out of acrylic and your iPhone rests in the top of it and creates a horn the matches up to where …

Snugg tracked me down recently and asked me to look at a couple of their cases for review here at Restless Tech. The guys at Snugg were apparently sitting around the pub one day whining about how they couldn’t find an iPad case they liked. This one was too thin, that one was the wrong …

Last year I got the opportunity to review the original Adonit Writer for my first generation iPad. I found it to be a huge productivity boost and it was a holy grail moment for me. Of course, that was 2 iPads ago! Moving to the new generation iPad has given me the opportunity to play …

Exactly how tech-addicted are you? I am at the beach this week for a (reasonably) well-earned vacation. My idea of a vacation is going somewhere that my cell phone doesn’t work. Unfortunately, in a society that runs at our pace, that isn’t always a possibility. Actually, this is what I think of when you say …

For the last two weeks I have been carrying around my daily allowance of stuff that I think I need in an Altego Coated Canvas backpack. The Altego falls into a category I mentally classify as a medium technical backpack. It will carry up to a 17 inch laptop and will hold a lot of …

Cell Drive makes a range of multifunction products that combine storage and charging technologies. This is a good thing because I eat batteries for lunch and I am a BIG fan of things that do more than one thing. Purpose driven gadgets may be efficient but they are BORING!!! They sent me samples of their …

(Guest review by Ted Bahas) I upgraded to the latest, greatest iPad last month. I have been accused of being an Apple fanboy but in my defense, I really wanted needed the better screen resolution and more powerful processor in the new iPad. I use the iPad exclusively when I travel and I am using …

I am not really a “just in case” or “what if” kind of packer. While not a religious about it, I do try to streamline, minimize and I have even been known to weigh things to see where I stand. After all, an ounce is an ounce and they all add up to pounds! For …

Do you have an iPad but are suffering from MacBook Air envy? Cpeel is aiming this straight at you! I saw this MacBook looking case as an article on one of the Mac news website and was immediately intrigued. A keyboard and an extended battery all in a package that looked truly cool. How sexy …

Leather makes a statement. It may be about the iconic eternal youth of James Dean or the neuroses of Ross in the bathroom with the baby powder but it always says something. What would it say about your gadgets? Would your iPhone be Kenicki from Grease or David Coverdale from Whitesnake? Is your iPad Randy …

Books, pen and paper, typesetting and ink. They are all on a long, slow death spiral. Traditional publishing is on a collision course with the e-universe that seems fated to end in a fatal spray of fonts and kerning. Ergo, book binding with its requisite physical trappings of paper and cloth is on a similar …

If you have read my site for any length of time you might be surprised to find out that I, urban gypsy though I am, was raised by a pack of wolves in the depths of the Black Forest. Well, in a household of hearty outdoorsmen anyway. With guns and camping equipment and camouflage clothes. …

I have long been aware of Ogio as a bag and pack maker but given that all the ones I had seen had someone else’s corporate logo on them I always assumed that they were an OEM manufacturer. Imagine my chagrin at meeting them at CES and seeing the wide range of product they make …

A trip to Europe for 8 days presented me with a bit of a conundrum. I needed a day bag that would cover me for three days of trade show and five days of touristing with the primary goal of carrying my new iPad plus the other stuff that I needed to schlep around. Luckily, …

I know you are tired of hearing about my maudlin fascination with keyboard devices. While have repeatedly blamed this addiction on my poor handwriting, I am currently seeing a therapist in regards to this. I know that makes you feel better! He assures me that this haptic need of mine is actually founded in some …

As I have mentioned before I have keyboard issues. Well, I have lots of issues, ( just ask my long-suffering wife) but the particular issues that I am referring to today are rooted in my truly abysmal handwriting. I actually LIKED Grafitti on the original Palm units because it would convert my hideous scrawl into …

I must confess that I stalk bag companies. I lurk on their web pages and zoom in on zippers to try determine the brand. I calculate carrying capacity and gauge the tensile strength of the material. I buy bags and fill them with piles of stuff no normal human being would cram in there. I …

( Please forgive the awful pictures, they were taken on a trans-Atlantic flight, but I wanted to get this up while the deal was on) The Smartphone Folio is a perfect little product from the crew at Rickshaw. It is made from the same high quality materials that their bags and packs are and it …

A brand, spanking new iPad arrived at my door on Friday afternoon! Yours probably did too, and even if it didn’t there are already 114,352 reviews of the iPad online that either say: “It is the best piece of technology I have ever owned. I wept when I opened the box. It even cured my …

Yes, it is a bit strange that I am reviewing a fast food restaurant, but this particular one is a decadent pleasure for me. In-n-Out Burger is a Western US chain with just over 250 locations spanning California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah. Oh yeah, and Texas…as long as you consider Dallas/Fort Worth part of Texas. …

While the length of my life will measured in days and years, I have come to the conclusion that my productivity is measured in milliamp hours. As I do more and more work outside of the office my mobile devices are not my backup. They are my primary means of getting work done. I answer …