This has to be the last word in iPad comfort accessories, a small pillow specially made for your iPad’s comfort, and yours too, of course.

Veyl Products have come up with a rather neat small pillow for your iPad.   I know, you could simply use any old pillow-like thing you have knocking about for this, but wait… This is actually specifically designed for the iPad, so it has sort of pockets which will hold your iPad firmly in place, both in Landscape and in Portrait mode.

They give very little actual detail on their website, but I have a strong feeling that you can also use it to carry your precious iPad around in as well, a sort of well padded carrying case for it.

Anyhow, not much more to be said about this one, except it looks fun and useful, and at $29.99 it isn’t too expensive really…  Oh, and by the way, it comes in one of two colours, black or brown.  Not the most cheerful of colours, but they have the advantage I suppose if you are out and about of not being too visible………

Video about it: Read full story »

A whole series of useful accessories for all you lucky iPad2 owners:

In fact this is a collection of about 9 different types of cover or reading support  specifically created for the iPad2, and I would think essential “must haves” if you own an iPad2.

As M-Edge CEO Patrick Mish puts it in their press release:

“The introduction of the iPad 2 gave the M-Edge creative team the opportunity to flex their design muscles and come up with extraordinary products.  The new line perfectly complements the iPad 2 with elegance, style, and of course, protection.”

I shan’t give too much info here……

I shall simply tell you about them all, with minimal details, since there are so many of them….   But you will see if they are of interest to you quickly enough from either the short videos or the images of the accessories, and I will give links to their relevant page on their online shop for you to get all the details you could wish for.

The first of these new goodies is the Incline Jacket, which sells for $ 49.99 and I can do no better than show you a video of its glories, so sit back and watch as they show you what it offers you:-

Then we have the  Read full story »

That Company Called If  (TCCI) have done it again:

This rather innovative British company who produce all manner of useful accessories for reading both paper books and ereaders have just launched a rather neat gadget called The Gimble Traveller to help you when you are out and about and wish to read.

So, what is it?

Basically it is a sort of lightweight travelling lectern – well, sort of, as it holds the pages of your book open for you, so you can relax and use your hands for  grasping your cold glass of beer as you sit in the sun on the beach reading, without having to worry that the wind will keep turning your pages for you when you don’t want them turned.  A problem all readers have experienced at one time or another.

I realise this isn’t an ereader device, but there is no law that forbids me bringing useful things to your attention that are related to reading any form of book, be it paper or electronic, and this one is rather fun.

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Ectaco, makers of the JetBook ereader have just announced they are adding Speach-to-Text to two of their models:

Best known for their enormous range of electronic dictionaries and the JetBook line of ereaders, Ectaco have just announced that they have added an embedded text-to-speech (TTS) system to their K-12 ereaders.

Specifically these are the JetBook K-12 and JetBook K-12 Colour, which are advertised as “educational” ereaders (not quite sure what that means in practice though).

Using this function, any ebooks you have in either of those ereaders that supports TTS will be able to read aloud to you in a range of languages – English, Spanish, Czech, French, Polish and Russian.

This is obviously a boon for those with bad eyesight as it means that they can lie back and enjoy hearing a mellifluous voice reading their favourite ebook to them in comfort.   Nice thought.

To begin with, these models will only be available in the US, sadly for the rest of us, but it is a start, I suppose.

Ectaco are aiming these models at the US educational system, where they hope they will be taken up in a big way obviously.

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Do you have any views on Speach-to-Text in ereaders?  A good idea or not in your view?   Do let us know your thoughts on this one here.

If the Sun shines, never again run out of power when out and about…….

Suntactics, a Californian company who have been making solar chargers for some time, have just come up with what seems to me to be an ideal solar charger for just about any mobile device you might happen to have, with the possible exception of laptop computers.

Glorying in the name sCharger-5 This baby delivers 5 Volts at 1 Amp when the sun is shining, which is enough to actually run most portable devices, such as ereaders, which is why I am telling you about this one, of course.

Apparently the secret is that this charger uses industrial quality high efficiency mono crystalline solar cells, which are designed for high output, unlike most small Solar Chargers, which are basically trickle chargers working through an internal battery.  The sCharger-5 has no internal battery to wear out, but is a direct source of power.   Obviously this has its down side, in that no sunlight, no power.   But to get around this, they point out you could buy a USB battery or if your device uses AAA or AA batteries, get a USB charger for these batteries, and use this Solar charger to charge those batteries…..

It works via a standard USB connection, so basically any mobile device that can be charge via USB, will work with this one.

Or as they put it in their Press release:

This not an ordinary small solar charger. These use high efficiency mono crystalline solar cells like the ones used in industrial grade solar systems. The sCharger-5 output power is over 5 watts. See if any other small solar charger can match that power in such a small package!

Most other solar chargers use low power solar cells that produce a tiny amount of power. They use the small solar panel to trickle charge an internal battery, which takes forever!  The small solar panel on them is not enough to charge your device directly. They essentially charge your USB device from their internal battery. When the internal battery fails(which it inevitably will, since it’s being baked in the sun constantly), you have to throw the whole thing away.  The sCharger-5 will not only charge your device, it will run it directly from the sun.

Don’t be fooled by the 6 to 7 watt 12 volt solar chargers out there. They are not optimally setup to do USB charging. They require a DC converter to convert 12 volts to 5 volts that USB devices require. This comes out to less power and your smart phone or GPS device will have a hard time charging.

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Here is an accessory that is really useful for all you Kobo owners out there…..

This hard shell case, which as far as I can see is made by a company called Kit Pink, but I am not really sure this is their name, is specifically made for the Kobo ereader and seems to me to be something that any Kobo owner should give serious thought to buying – except for one thing, that is…….

It is a shocking hot pink in colour, which may perhaps not be to everyones taste?

Apart from that, what can I say about this ereader case?   Well, here is the general product description that you will find if you go to Amazon to buy this baby:

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