Angel's Wings iPhone holder

This is not so much a gadget for you, but one you can get for her! And by her, we mean wife, mother, girlfriend, niece, sister, cousin or even a friend. If she has an iPhone, get reading, because she will love a pair of Angel’s wings for her phone.

The best part is that these “wings” do serve a purpose. They will hold up the phone and videos can be watched hands-free. They suction to the back of the iPhone and can be moved for landscape or portrait viewing.

She will love it, guaranteed.

Pinterest: Online pin board

Pinterest is the latest social media platform which allows users to pool resources on various topics of interest. Whether it is creating a vision board for your desired home renovations to keeping ideas for a party you’re planning, Pinterest lets you ‘pin’ various items from all over the web onto your pin board.

You can also use this to express yourself by creating a board and pin things that are a visual representation of yourself, or aspects of your life. You can share by “repinning” - this is when you pin something to your board that has been pinned on someone else’s. Be wary though as this is an open platform so you can’t block certain people from checking out your pins.

It’s great for collaboration – by adding contributors to one of your pin boards you can work together to plan an event.

Currently Pinterest is only open to invited users but don’t be dissuaded, all you have to do is request an invite at www.pinterest.com and expect an invite to be in your inbox within a day or two.

Get Pinning, it is fun and modern way to gather and share info!

Headphones of the future

Courtesy of a few researchers at the Igarashi Design Interfaces Project in Japan, a pair of “Universal Earphones” that automatically switch audio channels when placed in the wrong ear, could be coming out soon.

The headphones being developed have proximity sensors which mean that when the bud is in the incorrect ear, the sensor detects a mismatch and audio channels are swapped, thanks to a small embedded audio circuit.

If you’ve ever shared your headphones with someone to listen to the same song together, you’ll appreciate that these headphones now also create a mono mix of the song. Gone are the days where you get only the left/right channel. It does this by running a weak electrical current from one side to the other. When shared, the connection is broken. Film buffs or gamers will appreciate this for preserving 3D sound that matches on-screen visuals.

The researchers will present their work at the Intelligent User Interface conference in Lisbon, Portugal later this month.

The Nook Simple Touch Reader

With its excellent design and unique eBook-focused features and eBook options, the Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch eReader is one of the best available on the market currently. Here’s why:

It excels in design and ease of use. It offers a smooth page turn with minimised blinking between pages that makes you actually want to use it daily.  It's also better for extended reading because of the wider bezel and an indentation on its back that makes it a hundred times more ergonomic than the flat-backed Kindle.

The buttons require quite a firm press so you know you won't press them by accident. What is the best way to make a gadget aesthetically pleasing? Give it a matte finish and this device is no exception! It has a sleek exterior which maximises the screen size and helps make it the perfect device for travel.

While this eBook reader lacks the features such as text-to-speech capability, games and radio, it has a few eReader-focused features such as LendMe technology, Nook Friends and the ability to borrow eBooks from your local library.

Users prefer the Nook's touch keyboard and navigation abilities that make it easier to use than other eBook readers on the market, so what are you waiting for…get yours now!

Retails at R770.