Repost: Real or Fake App

It's been just over 2 years since I shared the first of a handful of Apps I've been working on with my team at CreekFrog, available, of course, at the iTunes Store!

Dig the ultimate party ice breaker:: Real or Fake? Truth Detective!

Hawaii 5-0 - Genius or Lame? The truth - Genius!


Customize your test and share the truth!

Here's an excerpt from the official press release:

"To create a unique visual experience for “Real or Fake? Truth Detective,” CreekFrog collaborated with artist H. Michael Karshis, whose iconic iPod speaker art has been featured in Leander Kahney's Cult of iPod book."

I designed and created the industrial front-end look and feel along with streamlining the original concept.

Totally customizable, Real or Fake is really a sweet little social/party App that truly gets better the more you play and share. It's truly the perfect ice breaker!

Shit or Shinola?



Beatles or Stones?



Boxers or Briefs, Natural or Bottled, you get the idea - check it out, have fun and remember: Nothing Is Real Until It Is Shared!

That's Right,

HMK

V-Luxe

Wow, this is super nice....

The V-luxe is a sexy, hand-crafted iPad accessory stand available in Walnut, Cherry, African and Mahogany.

V-Luxe is the brainchild of Paula Anne Patterson in Brooklyn, New York. This drool worth iPad accessory, (my new favorite must have) sits 17.5" high x 12.5" long x 8.5" wide. Audio and power cable access, compatible with both iPad and iPad 2 along with an awesome retro speaker cabinet.

No final pricing yet but there's more info and additional great shots over at V-Luxe

That's Right and Happy New Year!

HMK

Roll Up Travel Charger

This Roll Up Travel Charger looks pretty sweet, nice thinking Restoration Hardware, and it's on sale!


That's Right,

HMK

Sad Day.

Felt Macbook Air Sleeves

Although there is currently a short waiting list at Angie Davis' Byrd & Belle Studios, your order will be ready to ship within two weeks of your completed purchase.

I can't wait for mine to get here!

The above 13" MacBook Air case and more are available in any combination of the felt and leather colors they have available in their shop. Considering the fact that these are entirely hand crafted, they're well worth the wait!


The creator of these awesome pieces is Angie Davis. She lives on an island in the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis. Her live/work studio is a 1950’s building that was originally a school bus depot. The loft used to be the service bay and is surrounded by remnants of mechanical lifts, floor drains and antique power washers. She share's her space with her betrothed, a few listless felines and a 90-pound mutt named Gertrude.

Check out the full shop over at Esty: Byrd & Belle Studios and read more about Angie here: Interview.

That's Right,
HMK

Genius iPad Case

I've often thought of one of my favorite drawing toys as my first laptop. And now, thanks to the fine folks at Headcase, the Etch A Sketch Hard Case for iPad, we can all geek out in true retro geek style:

Get yours over at Headcase.

That's Right,

HMK

Acoustic IPhone Speaker

Dig the totally natural alternative to electronically amplified iPhone sound docks.

Using only the iPhone's built in speaker, the Koostik. acoustically amplifies the volume output by 2 to 4 times!

Think of a solid body guitar that's unplugged-you strum the strings and get a little bit of sound. But if those strings are placed over a hollow body guitar and you strum the strings-you suddenly have acoustic music. The same principal is at work with Koostik.. Simply place your iPhone into the center cradle, and immediately you hear your music acoustically amplified, way cool.


The Koostik is designed so it works with all generations of iPhone. All of the external buttons and controls of the phone are easily accessible while the phone is docked in the Koostik.

Very nice.

That's Right,

HMK

Recover: Beauty & Protection

Designed to compliment the simplistic style of Apple products and allowing for distinction that matches your own. Recover skins incorporate minimalistic design and limited manipulation merging classic with contemporary to redefine the ordinary.


Recover skins are precision laser-cut from authentic wood veneers. Each unique piece is hand sanded, stained, and lacquered in Recover’s Portland-based woodshop to ensure long lasting beauty and protection. All skins are constructed with professional grade 3M adhesive backing that allows for simple and strong adhesion while still allowing for removal if desired. Each one-of-a-kind piece is designed to fit your devices specific model and size.

Nice! And yes, they also have options for your iPhone and even customization. I'm getting the above Walnut Chocolate for my iPad - the $30 US price is totally fair and right on the money as far as I'm concerned.

Oh, and if you're not too busy, you might want take a little peak at your future. The future of your fabulous lifestyle that is, coutesey of the brilliant folks at FlipBoard. So, what is FlipBoard? Only the future of Social Not-Working as we knew it!

The wicked smart folks at Cool Hunting break it down like this:

The brainchild of former Apple iPhone engineer Evan Doll and entrepreneur Mike McCue, the "personal social magazine" takes normal RSS feeds and configures them as a newspaper layout, showing headlines, runners and ultimately the full story. Additionally, Flipboard displays Tweets about each article and allows you to add your own comment.

Seriously, FlipBoard truly makes facebook look like a freaking puppet show!

You're welcome.

That's Right,

HMK

Connecting The Dots

"Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or they have thought more about their experiences than other people.

Unfortunately, that’s too rare a commodity. A lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. So they don’t have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have."

Steve Jobs

The above brilliance is from Steve Jobs: The Next Insanely Great Thing from the smart folks at Wired Magazine.

Dots Right,

HMK

iPad Arcade Cabinet

This is genius!

From the ThinkGeek site:

To use the iCade, gently slide the iPad into the docking cradle. The docking cradle uses a standard 30 pin connector to link the iPad to the professional-grade arcade controls. Once the iPad is in place, launch the iCade App (available free in the App Store April 3rd) and it's game on! We didn't want to take any chances you'd run out of juice during your favorite game, so we included a 10w USB power adapter so you can charge the iPad through any electrical outlet.

You know you want one - iPad Arcade Cabinet!

That's Right,

HMK

Long Live Books!

There's been a lot of discussion lately about the demise of the printed word on paper. But deep down, I don't believe for a minute that books, magazines and newspapers will ever really completely disappear. Reissues, collections and box-sets of everything from vintage newspaper comic strips, back issues of old magazines and newspapers will always be in demand in both digital and tangible form. In the same way that TV never eradicated radio, books and coveted first edition hardbacks will remain as the definitive "proof of purchase" for collectors and purists alike.

I mean really, can you imagine meeting one of your favorite author's after a reading and asking them to sign your Kindle?

With that said, long live books! Long Live Books is a small Minnesota studio that produces hand-crafted BOOKS that serve as both protection for your laptop or iPad as well as a tried and true old-school, anti theft disguise.

According to the site: Every exterior detail of BOOK has been considered, from the linen book cloth to the decorative book headbands for an effect that provides bibliophiles with tangible protection for their electronic information. On the inside, a tailored 100% wool felt sleeve provides a snug fit for your device when BOOK is closed with the integrated velcro edge. The natural German felt is a sustainable and renewable material that has an innate durability and timelessness.

BOOK is a secure sleeve combined simply and elegantly with a hard case to provide double protection for your laptop or iPad.

Keep reading and Long Live Books!

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to the smart folks at iLounge.

Happy Birthday Steve Jobs!

Steve Jobs turns 55 today. If you think you know Steve Jobs, think again!

Do youself a favor and check out his Stanford Commencement Address delivered on June 12, 2005, just a year after being treated for cancer.

Not bad for a college drop out!

That's Right,

HMK

Red Cross Donations Via iTunes

In response to this week’s devastating earthquake in Haiti, Apple has begun accepting monetary donations for the American Red Cross directly through iTunes.

According to the donation page, 100% of the donation will go to the Red Cross to support emergency relief efforts to help those affected by the earthquake. Due to iTunes not sharing user information with the organization, the Red Cross will be unable to further acknowledge any donations made, and an email receipt will serve as the only record of the donation.

Donate buttons are available in denominations of $5, $10, $25, $50, $100, and $200; Apple has also posted a direct link to the iTunes donation page on its company homepage at apple.com.

Please give what you can - even 10 bux goes a long way!

That's Right,

HMK

What's Up, Dock?

Me likey. Turn your wall outlet into an iPhone charging dock. For $25 bux you can rid yourself of cable clutter and have a groovy slideshow rolling right there in your kitchen. Vey cool.

DLO Wall Dock.

That's Right,

HMK

Apples To Apples To Apples

Apple has launched a legal challenge to the new Woolworths logo, claiming that it too closely resembles its own corporate icon.

I'm not sure Apple really has a case with this one. I mean, it's a piece of fruit, right?

Read all about it: Apple demands Woolworths drops new logo.

And speaking of Apples...



That's Right,

HMK

D-45

This is a pretty cool little flashback idea - the iTunes Store just launched a new section called “D45s.” Just like old school vinyl 45s, these new digital packs contain two songs, the A-side single/the intended Hit and the flip side or B-side.

Pricing ranges from $1.49 to $1.99. Sweet. I even dig the logo.

That's Right,

HMK

Rackspace Cloud Lounge Party + App!

Sweet - it's live on iTunes!

I am so super stoked to announce and share my first iPhone/iTouch App - a collaboration with the wicked smart and cool folks at 2 Pixels for the SXSW Rackspace Cloud Lounge Party up in Austin on March 16th, 2009.

The above is the invite and poster and below is a screenshot of one of the seven characters you can become using the App:


The Rackspace Cloud Lounge Party application is based on one of my favorite Apps, a previous 2 Pixles App - OldBooth - and is just a sneak preview of some of what we're working on for a few future Apps so stay tuned!

The SXSW Rackspace Cloud Lounge Party App is free but it'll only be available for download during SXSW, so go grab it now from iTunes using this link: Rackspace Lounge Party App!



Here's one of the t-shirts and the real deal invite that comes complete with "interactive" stickers, one of which gets you rock star VIP treatment bumping you to the front of the Lougne Party line.

Have fun with the SXSW Rackspace Cloud Lounge Party App and as always, let me know what you think by sharing your comments below.

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to Piotr and Arek at 2 Pixels for the all their hard work and fine App programing, my go-to tech genius buds Todd and James at Mosso and all the smart folks at the Rackspace Cloud!

Big News!

What are you waiting for? Go to Apple!

That's Right!

HMK

NPR Rocks!

If you're an NPR freak like I am then you'll totally appreciate the new NPR Mobile App!

Installation is wicked quick via the App Store right on your phone - you'll be streaming and bookmarking NPR stories in no time.

Really dig the bookmarking feature for both on-the-fly sharing and easy access for repeated listens.

Browsing through the 6 Main Menu features: Topics, Columns, Programs, Series, Bios and Music Genres puts you in complete control of most of your favorite shows. I say most because I haven't found Marketplace yet and I'm currently looking for the Station Finder Feature that I just read about... but I'm sure that's probably just a user error issue!

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks Gizmodo and NPR!

Crap...

Update - Ok, it's now 3:00 San Antonio time. The site is back and so is all the info on my iPhone including a whole mess of those cool new free apps. As we speak, I am controlling iTunes on my laptop from my iPhone using Remote... Sweet!

Here's what happened: iPhone glitches derail Apple's launch event magic.

I don't know why Apple didn't simply let those with the original iPhone upgrade to 2.0 a day or two before this morning's massive G3 debut...

My iPhone is officially a brick for the time being - I can only imagine how many meetings and deadlines are gonna be missed as a result.

So much for my 9:45 conference call...

Forget the Genius Bar, who needs a beer?

That's A Drag...

HMK

And while we're all waiting for access to the iTunes Store, why not crank up this appropriate little ditty from Mr. Johnny Bond: Day Drinkin'...