Roots Rock Boombox Is For The Bob Marley Fan In You

At first glance I couldn’t quite figure out what the Roots Rock Boombox was supposed to be. Sold under the House of Marley, this boombox appears to be part cargo pant - part cargo bag - and part smoke machine all in one. This iPhone boombox is clearly designed to bring a little of Bob Marley’s heart and soul to life in over-the-top fashion, and I could see myself having this on my tailgate at party or something - just please don’t get caught in the cargo straps. Proceeds go to the 1Love charitable foundation, so if you’re thinking about a killer post-Christmas gift, you might be able to make up for your belated gift giving by purchasing this or another of the House of Marley’s products through their website.

[House of Marley via Gizmodo]

Mac App Store Preview: Todolicious, The Simple To Do App

Of all the new apps that are coming out tomorrow in the Mac App Store, Todolicious by Mustacheware is among those we’re most excited about. Created by our friend Steve Streza, who also happens to be the guy behind the great iPhone webapp Swearch.me, Todolicious wants you to stop wasting time organizing your to dos and tasks. Todolicious is a simple app that’s also customizable, and it’s aimed at those people who just want an app to quickly write down the things they need to do. No projects, tags or contexts. Todolicious is a sexy, digital version of the classic sticky notes.

Without giving away all the details just yet (you should be able to play with the app in less than 24 hours), I want to focus on the single most intriguing aspect of the app: the new to do entry field. Instead of displaying a popup window with dozens of options, text fields and buttons, Todolicious provides a simple panel that asks you “What do you need to do?”. It reminds me of Alfred’s straightforward search interface, and you can assign a system-wide shortcut to it so you can enter new to dos no matter what you’re doing with your Mac.

Todolicious will be available tomorrow at $4.99 in the Mac App Store. It’s a simple app we’re really excited about, and we bet that thousands of Mac users who don’t need the functionalities of Things or OmniFocus will give Todolicious a try. Check out the website here, or follow @todolicious for updates.

The iPad Dock That’s Also A Projector

We have seen hundreds, if not thousands, of simple or original stands and dock stations for the iPad. From those that just hold your iPad upright while charging it, to the more sophisticated units that come with additional ports and connections, there’s wide range of possibilities to consider. If you’re looking for an iPad dock that also happens to be a Pico projector, though, you might just consider the WowWee Cinemin Slice.

It’s a dock, but it’s got a projector built in. As you put the iPad in there, the Cinemin Slice will take care of projecting your iPad’s screen wherever you like. Available for pre-order at $429, WowWee says it’s perfect for media and for small groups of friends, where TVs can’t go. The unit has mini-HDMI and AV ports for media players and a VGA ports for PCs and laptops. It supports the 16:9 aspect ratio and it has a resolution of 854 x480. An infrared remote control is included in the package, together with 5 docking trays for iOS devices.

If you’re thinking about getting one, head over WowWee’s website. [Gizmodo via WowWee]

iPad 2 Mockup Spotted at CES

Our friends at Engadget spotted something really interesting while walking around CES booths: another case designed for the rumored iPad 2, with an actual iPad 2 mockup inside, made of aluminum. The case, created by Dexim and admittedly also looking good with its leather and detachable Bluetooth keyboard, sports the usual features we’ve been hearing in the rumors: front and rear-facing cameras, thinner design, bigger speaker. There are some curious new details to be noted as well.

First off, the iPad 2 mockup inside the case has the home button closer to the edge of the unit, and it’s got a flat back. It’s also got tapered edges as we heard last week, and when trying to put a current generation iPad in the case, Engadget was told that it wouldn’t fit because of its size. Accessory makers seem to be pretty sure that the next-generation iPad will be thinner, with a flat back and two cameras – clearly someone in China saw, or at least heard something, about the new iPad and told these manufacturers to follow certain guidelines.

Check out more iPad 2 mockup photos below and the full gallery on Engadget. Read more

Huge Canabalt Update: Game Center, Retina Display, 60fps

If you enjoyed playing Canabalt on your iPhones and iPads before, I think it’s time you give the app another try. Because, frankly, you didn’t really break any records. You can do better, and you know it. Most of all, the latest 1.6 update that just showed up in iTunes adds true Retina-ready graphics to the iPhone 4 and iPod touch 4th gen, 60fps on all Retina devices (that means it’s now super-smooth in all its pixel glory), Game Center integration (for leaderboards, I guess) and various tweaks and bug fixes. The update is free for all existing owners of the recently open-sourced game.

It’s the same Canabalt you know and love, only a lot smoother, faster and beautiful. Available at $0.99 for iPhone and iPad. You can’t miss this.

WebCamera Puts iSight On Your iPhone, iPod For Video Chatting

The iSight is actually pretty darned good when it comes to taking photos and video. My Twitter avatar? That’s totally done with just the iSight. When I was asked to check out WebCamera, I had my doubts about how well it would function as a disembodied iSight. Turns out it works pretty decently, though I can’t see myself deploying WebCamera full-time. It’s handy when you need to show off pics of your family in real time - you’d look kind of silly walking around with a MacBook, prying the lid back, and trying to aim the darned thing everywhere. WebCamera gives you the freedom to move and record over your local network by turning your iPhone into a WebCam, making it useful to revisit all the relatives who already miss you from the Holidays.

Read more

Joby’s GorillaMobile Yogi Gives Your iPad Legs

The iPad is only as versatile as a flat piece of cardboard when it comes to holding or propping the device against your pillow. While many cases have hit the market in the past month in an attempt to give our iPads some additional ergonomic superpowers, Joby has stepped outside of the box by bringing our favorite camera tripod, the GorillaPod, to our iPads. Via a slotted sleeve that can accept a pair of curvy legs in portrait or landscape orientation, Joby promises your iPad is adaptable to just about anything. While I wouldn’t be so ballsy to leave my iPad hanging from a cupboard (if that things hits the floor…), but this would really great for propping on the arm of a chair, in the backseat of a car, or even wrapping it around your forearm as an anti-little-brother mechanism. You can check out the video above for a slightly creepy product demo of Joby’s latest creation, or you can skip past the nonense and buy it direct for $49.95.

[Joby GorillaMobile Yogi via Gizmodo]

Apple Releases Updates for GarageBand and iMovie

A few minutes ago Apple released an update to iMovie and GarageBand, which reach version 9.0.1 and 6.0.1, respectively. The GarageBand update improves the overall stability and performances of the app, removes latency on certain guitar tracks and fixes issues related to Flex Time edits. It is a recommended update for all GarageBand users and it’s a 47.5 MB available in Software Update now or on Apple’s website.

iMovie 9.0.1 fixes an issue with stabilization not applying correctly to videos shot on the iPhone and iPod touch, improves performances in the Project library and improves compatibility with cameras that record videos in multiple formats. It’s a 27.5 MB update available in Software Update or on Apple’s website.

Full changelogs embedded below. Read more

The Japanese Government Wants Apple To Add Filters To The iPhone

The iPhone is becoming one of Japan’s best selling smartphones – something quite strange for a country that’s not usually huge on products coming from the States, or Europe – and now the Japanese government is asking Apple and Softbank, the iPhone carrier in the land of the Rising Sun, to add content filters on the iPhone by default. To prevent teenagers from accessing “harmful” web content (can we have a guess? porn) and, generally, stuff they shouldn’t be able to see on a smartphone, the National Police Agency requires handsets markers to ship devices with this kind of filtering.

As you can imagine, this isn’t going to be easy for the Japanese government and Softbank, who’s just the middle man between Cupertino and the Japanese folks lining up to buy iPhones every day. Softbank can’t install proprietary code on the iPhone – they should open an iPhone first and find a way to give it to customers with some filtering software enabled. But we know iOS doesn’t allow for these kinds of software to be installed. So it’s all on Apple now, which has to evaluate whether or not they should follow the Japanese government’s request.

The way I see it, Japan will have to wait for filters to come on their iPhones for a long time. [via TUAW]