Posted March 5, 2009
Two bits of swell news for cash-strapped gadget lovers. First, one of our favorite ultrasimple inventions of last year, the BatRest, is now available in the U.S. from our favorite gadget emporium. The ingenious creation of London-based design firm Seskimo, the BatRest is a tiny folding piece of plastic (it fits in the credit-card slot of any wallet) that props up a video-enabled cell phone—like an iPhone or a Google G1—and positions it at a viewing angle of your choice: just spread or narrow the “wings” to adjust. You could order it directly from Seskimo (though it seems a bit daft to order a tiny piece of plastic from Britain), but starting this week, ThinkGeek also stocks it. The other bit of swell news: If you’ve got an iPhone or an iPod Touch, the BatRest is now also a Kindlestand—because as of yesterday, there’s a new app that turns your iThing into a Kindle. Sure, it’s not as versatile as Amazon’s larger $359 device, but the app is free. And any Kindle edition you can order at Amazon’s bargain e-book price ($9.99) you can now carry around in your pocket or purse. We tested it; so far, it’s great—the adjustable text size means you don’t have to squint, and the ability to flip “pages” with your fingertip actually kind of makes it cooler than a real Kindle.
$3.99 for the BatRest; $0 for the iPhone Kindle App at the App Store.