iPhone

BookBook from Twelve South

The BookBook from Twelve South offers cushioned leathery protection in a stealthy disguise. With sizes for 13, 15 and 17-inch MacBook Pros, the BookBook comes in Vibrant Red and Classic Black. Details include zipper tabs that look like bookmarks and the texture of the edge pieces show embossed ridges that simulate  book pages.

I’ve had a couple of days to wander around with the BookBook and I love it. As I said in the video, I was able to mark my table at Starbucks and not only did no one take the table, no one took my MacBook Pro.1 The protection offered is comparable to a higher end padded sleeve but I’d say it’s definitely superior to a Neoprene sleeve.

One suggestion I’d make is that you remove the MacBook Pro from the BookBook if you’re doing and processor-intensive work for an extended period of time—cases like this will decrease the airflow to the cooling vents and that is something you’d want to avoid.

Prices range from $79.99 US to $99.99 US depending on the size. iPad cases are coming soon.

I love creative cases like this and products that take tired, predictable product types and do something clever with them. Have you seen anything you think qualifies as Mac/iPhone/iPod/iPad awesomeness? Post a comment and let me know about it—I’ll give you credit on camera for the tip.

No Flash? No problem—click here!»

  1. I would NOT recommend leaving your MacBook Pro unattended no matter how clever the case []

Rising Card Magic App for iPhone

A while back, I wrote a story on various magic tricks you can do with your iPhone, iPad or iPod. Shortly after I posted it, someone let me know that I had missed on. Namely, Rising Card by theory11.com.

Today, I set about rectifying the error of omission by recording this mini video with the help of @davesalter84 (on camera) and Loran from MacStation in Abbotsford, BC.

Rising Card is a simple trick to do and is very convincing. You have your participant name any card, it doesn’t matter which. Then bring out your iPhone and hand it to the participant to launch the app themselves. You don’t even have to be in the room as the participant shakes the iPhone and witnesses their chosen card rising magically from the deck on the iPhone screen.

Rising Card sells for $2.99 US and is brought to you by a professional magic effect supplier—theory11.com.

No Flash? No problem—click here!»

The pursuit of Mac Awesomeness

I’ve been thinking of doing quick-and-dirty videos to accompany the stories here at MacMerc for quite a while but the first video is always the toughest. I finally got my inspiration as I was sitting in the local @Starbucks trying to post a story using their free wifi. It was taking me far too long to upload a simple story. Far, far, far too long. This was not going to work.

I looked across the street and noticed my local Mac dealer, Mac Station, and thought, “I bet they have better wifi… I wonder if they’d let me blog from their store.” I assumed they’d want to get something out of the deal—not just let some guy leach wifi and not buy anything. That’s when I came up with the idea to offer to do those nearly-daily videos I wanted to do, but do them from their store. I help get the word out about the awesome store and their fun, knowledgeable staff and in return I get a base to blog from and a gentle nudge to get something compelling done every day.

So here it is, the first video1 . The first video is always the toughest.

No Flash? No problem—click here!»

Be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed and follow @RickMacMerc and @MacMerc on Twitter. Me and the staff here at Mac Station have a lot of great ideas we’re going to share with you, but if you know of any Mac/iPod/iPhone/iPad awesomeness you want us to feature, post a comment or send me a Submission of Awesomeness and I’ll give it a look.

Thanks for reading this far, as a reward, you get to watch a video of me rescuing a kitten from my car engine»
  1. and, no, this doesn’t take the place of MacMercTV []

This also happened today…

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