iPhone Atlas

One of my favorite products of the year is Epson's MegaPlex MG-850HD projector. Plunk your iPhone, iPod, or iPad into its pop-out iDevice dock and presto: you've got a complete home theater anywhere there's a chunk of wall space.

The unit has a list price of $799, but P.C. Richard & Son sells the Epson MegaPlex MG-850HD projector for $644.97 shipped.

Still pricey, yes, but I've been reviewing one for the past couple weeks and think it's a great buy.

On its own, the MG-850HD is a 720p projector that pumps out an … Read more

Your power management could be getting a whole lot smarter. Apple has just been granted a patent that details an intelligent dock connector able to properly adjust power levels for multiple connected devices from a single outlet source.

As with other power-related patents that Apple has applied for in the past, the technology involved here seems to be exactly the kind of thing people, including myself, have been waiting for. In a time when everything needs to be charged, be it a MacBook Pro, an iPad 2, or an iPhone 4S, having a one-and-done solution is certainly the solution many … Read more

Sometimes people ask me to look at frightfully exciting things.

These normally come via the incomprehensible medium of the press release. However, sometimes I get sent things (in this case, via an e-mail from my louche engineer friend George) describing a new invention that seems positively useful and even vaguely comprehensible.

This thing is called the SkyLight. It allows you to take your iPhone, Android phone, or any other that might still exist and turn it into a microscopic eyepiece for the world.

Its creator is medical designer Andy Miller. He has already designed the Global Focus microscope, a light, cheap fluorescent microscope for developing countries. … Read more

Jawbone has had some success in the market with the Jambox, a small Bluetooth speaker with speakerphone capabilities. Designed to augment the sound of smartphones and tablets such the iPad, the nice thing about the Jambox is that it plays loudly and takes up little room in your bag, so it makes for an excellent traveling companion.

Logitech's Mini Boombox does exactly the same thing as the $175 Jambox, and while it doesn't do it quite as well--and isn't as slickly designed--it only costs half as much.

The Mini Boombox is smaller than the Jambox and about … Read more

The original Holga toy cameras were all about reveling in low fidelity. Just because you have fancy modern camera technology in your iPhone doesn't mean you have to forgo all the fun.

The Holga iPhone Lens Filter Kit will whisk your iPhone back to an '80s level of cheap camera design with a rotating kaleidoscope of plastic filters.

The filter kit fits on like a case and sports nine different color and special effect filters. These range from the tame to the wacky.… Read more

Though it's not the only portable projector on the market, Brookstone's Pocket Projector for iPhone 4 seems to be one of the more elegant options for portable large-format viewing.

The slide-on docking case includes the projector unit, which makes setting up a presentation or video-viewing session quite easy when you're on the go. The 15-lumen LED lamp will give you a crisp 640x360-pixel native resolution that will stay clean up to 50 inches.

Of course, your surroundings play a major role in how crisp the picture quality is with any projector, but especially with the less powerful, … Read more

The ability to shoot video and conduct video chats on your smartphone is pretty great, but trying to film yourself or holding the phone steady while on a video call isn't so easy. That is, until now.

Belmont, Calif.-based company Satarii will soon be launching an accessory called the Swivl that allows you to mount your smartphone or point-and-shoot camera to a motorized stand and have it track your every movement so you can shoot video and chat hands-free.

The product consists of two pieces: the aforementioned motorized mount and a small marker that you can clip to your body or any other object that you want to capture on film. Using sensors embedded in the base of the stand and on the wearable accessory, the mount will then follow the movements of the marker, as your phone or camera records all the action. In addition to swiveling left and right, the mount can tilt your device up or down. … Read more

We've seen iPhone speaker docks that look like boom boxes, Angry Birds, and even a steering wheel. Now there's an iPhone dock for Luddites, the MegaPhone by Italian design firm en&is.

There's no need to plug in the MegaPhone or charge batteries. Just set your iPhone at the tip of the horn and let the natural acoustics of the creation take over.… Read more

Break out the parachute pants and that red leather Michael Jackson zipper jacket you have stashed in the back of the closet. iHome's iP4 portable boom box for iPhone is going retro with a vengeance.

Just looking at the ghetto blaster design of the iP4 iPhone and iPod stereo dock makes me want to get a perm, rock some Cyndi Lauper, and see what Geraldo is up to these days.

The iP4 has more in common with a traditional boom box than just looks. It also runs on six D batteries so you can heft it up on your shoulder and strut down the street blasting the "Footloose" theme song. The original, not the remake.

Nostalgia doesn't always come cheap. The iP4 costs $199.99. At least the technology has come a long way. The 7.5-pound boom box features a five-band graphic equalizer with an LCD display, FM radio, and backlit buttons.

The speakers are composed of 4-inch carbon composite woofers and 1-inch ferrofluid-cooled tweeters.

Now all you need is one of those brick-size '80s cell phones to complete the tech look. Totally tubular!… Read more