I must admit, I like the Toonish Black Cat…because he looks like my black cat.

Notice the resemblance? Unfortunately, Jet is far more expensive, and far less protective than any case. It’s also worth noting, you don’t have to feed the Toonish Black Cat iPhone 5 case.

As you can see from the above photos, this case is made from a thick, durable soft gel silicon that will really cushion your phone. The fit is less than stellar on the front, though. It’s not as tight a fit as it could be, and tends to pucker away on the sides. On the other hand, it goes on and off quickly and easily.

The entire bottom is open so that you can charge or dock without removing the case. This also leaves the speakers open for optimum sound. The mute button is accessible, and the volume buttons are covered, but easy to press.

Not your every day case, but for only $8.00, definitely a fun option, or something to give the teen or pre-teen lucky enough to have an iPhone 5. You can purchase it from EZ Buys Direct, and make sure you check out their other accessories while you’re there.

Currently available for:
· iPhone 5
· iPhone 4/4S
· Galaxy S3
· iPad 3
· iPad Mini

Findables are a unique case concept. As you can see from the photos above (iPad mini on the left, iPhone 5 on the right), these cases come with QR codes. When you get your case, you scan the code, either with the Findables app (available in iTunes), or with any QR scanner you already use. The Findables app doesn’t do much more than that though. It would be nice if it allowed you to use it for scanning other people’s Findables QR codes, or QR/bar codes in general.

The first time the new code is scanned, you will be taken to the Findables website so that you can either link the code to an existing account, or create a new account. Once you have linked the code to your account, you fill out the information you want people to see when they scan your unique code. You get three “modes”: business, social, and lost. This could also be used as your “ICE,” rather than putting that information in your lock screen.

Personally, I love QR codes, and think they are underused. I’d rather scan a code than find a place to store someone’s business card, or remember to add them to my contacts later. I’d rather scan a code than type in a URL, or try to remember to go look something up “later.”

The cases themselves are wonderful!

I like the iPad Mini case as much, if not better, than any other case I’ve used. It is a one piece case with a plastic back that you snap your iPad into, with an attached “smart cover.” The thing I’ve never liked about the smart covers is that they come off. Completely. I like to fold them back and use them as a handle, but sometimes the magnets just don’t stand up to this kind of use, rendering them useless. This is not a problem when attached to the back of the case. The magnets on the Findables case are strong. They never fail to wake or sleep my iPad.

The iPhone case is a very simple design. I did appreciate the anti-texting while driving warning on the inside of the case. Nice touch. A soft inside, and a hard shell that your iPhone snaps into. Moderate protection, maximum “findability.”

Where to Buy:

Office Depot (US) – 1,100 stores The Source (Canada) – 550 stores BestBuy (Canada) – Late May 2013 BestBuy.com Am azon.com Three app modes – business, social, lost Simple set up and easy-to-use app Great design in cool, fashionable colors NewEgg.com Gamestop.com Sears.com More stores due Q2-3 2013.

Prices range from $29.95-$49.95, depending on the model. Nice cases, with a very useful secondary function. Or maybe them being cases are the secondary function?

This is a freemium game – you can download and play it for free but you can buy items if you want to speed up gaming. It is also very mature and also supports joystick as control. It also supports game center.

Basically you move your round word by scrolling.

Your can make your cloud character rain by touching him/her.

Your cloud character also can be moved in all directions.

Your task, as a cloud, in this game is to rain on trees to make forests grow, to collect other small clouds to grow, to drop rain on fire and to drop rain on evil little fire starters.

If you (as a cloud) don’t have any more water in you, then you can’t drop rain so you need to collect small clouds.

These little fire starters with eye patch are your enemies. But black clouds are also enemies so you need to drop rain and avoid black clouds too.

There are many levels so there is a bit of cloud fun diversity in the game.

Conclusion

This game is free so you don’t risk anything and it is fun to play. It’s not particularly challenging or complex but just a nice little easygoing game. Support for joystick is impressive and overall it’s very polished even though just a 2D graphics. This game is published by Chillingo and developed by Blitz Games Studios, both in UK. This game has been downloaded over a million times already and is rather popular. It’s not “must see” but relaxing so worth giving a try.

To download this game click here: Kumo Lumo.

Many replacements of Google Reader are smartphone apps only, and some others are web apps only. Here I am presenting Newsblur, a replacement that is available both as a web app and a smartphone apps. Newsblur is free with some limitations (up to 64 RSS feeds, etc), but I have purchased the commercial version ($24 a year) to avoid those limitations.

As I said, many many devleopers and companies are now working on new RSS readers and we can surely expect some new fascinating readers coming up (even Digg.com will be releasing one!), but in the meantime I do believe that the best one is Newsblur.

Upon starting the app (or opening the website), users see only the unread news items.

Unread news items can be read all bundled together in a river or just all items for given website.

Apart from your news items, you can peek at “global shared stories,” – what other people are reading.

Speaking of other people: users have profiles and if people want, they can share their feeds. Search engine over profiles, however, is not the best as this example shows:

Sadly justanothergeeksite.com is not in their directory but it is possible to enter URL of RSS (or Atom) feeds manually.

This app is not perfect: one thing I am missing is the ability to search news items – like Twitter clients offer at the top.

I paid $24 for the premium account, but the page where users pay is on the same Internet domain as the service – newsblur.com, so I was not sure how secure this whole payment is. That’s why I used my prepaid credit card – because it looks like the developer himself is storing credit card information. Maybe it’s a disadvantage that some other payments methods like Google Checkout or PayPal are not offered.

Update: we’ve received a tweet from Newsblur: Hey, thanks for the review. I use Stripe and don’t even transmit credit card numbers on my network. Everything is secure.… so my doubts about security of their credit card processing were not justified.

Conclusion

I must admit that now, when I use NewsBlur, I am reading news items faster and more comfortable than with Google Reader. I also use  the NewsBlur iPad app, so reading is comfortable also without a PC.

Of course I wouldn’t say that this news reader will be my news reader forever, because in July, after Google Reader is discontinued, many many new RSS readers will be released to the public. But in the meantime I am extremely satisfied with Newsblur.

To learn more, visit www.newsblur.com.

As you can see from the photo above, the colors are bright and really grab your attention. The backplate is interchangeable, so you can have a monochrome case, or a two-tone case. (This case comes in a variety of color combinations including Navy/Orange, Green/Blue, and Red/Black.) In addition to the case itself, you get a screen protector and cleaning cloth in the box.

The back plate pops into the back part of the case to protect the entire back of your phone, and the front snaps easily to the back, protecting sides and bezel.

While it looks very nice, it feels very…plastic. It is a hard polycarbonate with absolutely no give or grip anywhere. At times I was a little worried that I might break the case if I pushed too hard snapping it together, or pulling it apart.

The Apollo is a good fit on the iPhone 5, and you get easy access to all buttons and ports.

This is a fairly inexpensive case, selling for $23.99 from MobileFun.com. Not one of my favorites: I simply prefer something that feels a little less brittle.

1. AirPort Express (the smaller AirPort) has built-in audio output (that AirPort Extreme doesn’t have).

2. Some apps for iOS can use Apple networking technology, Bonjour over Internet, (not just at home/office), only if the router supports it.

So even though I actually didn’t need a new wireless router, I bought it!

One surprising thing is the size of AirPort Express – it’s of similar size to Apple TV.

But unlike Apple TV it’s white.

While the previous AirPort Express was constructed so that it can be plugged into the power outlet, this one requires a horizontal position and requires a cord.

To set this wireless router up, I failed to do it with iOS app, AirPort Utility – see below, (maybe I am too stupid?), instead I had to start my old PC with Windows.

Main configuration setting is bridge or address-sharing selection.

This indicates that this router can just be used as a WiFi range extender (but then overall speed is decreasing naturally) or just as AirPlay gadget to which you connect speakers and can play audio from your iOS devices or from iTunes on PC or Mac.

Once the router is setup the iOS app “AirPort Utility” is incredibly usable for many purposes.

One of features of that iOS app is ability to perform updates of the router firmware and I used it gladly.

Disadvantages

- external hard drives don’t work with AirPort Express – for that one needs AirPort Extreme (that however doesn’t have AirPlay)

- only 1 external Ethernet socket (but you can use a cheap network bridge if you really need it and with the high speed of WiFi – up to 802.11n – you actually don’t need Ethernet cable)

Advantages

- built-in AirPlay – simply fantastic!

- extremely small size

- guest network (so that people who visit you can browse Internet with zero access to your home network)

- 2 frequency broadcasting so that some devices broadcast on 2.4GHz and some others on 5 GHz – with zero interruptions

- very big speed of operation (I got 300 Mb/s on WiFi internally)

- USB port to attach printer and use it wirelessly (I don’t need that as I own at home extremely reliable Epson printer/scanner with WiFi and its own super excellent iOS app – much more reliable than HP wireless printers)

- big ease of use thanks to app for iOS so you can control your router from iPad and iPhone

Conclusions

AirPort Express, thanks to very high comfort of usage, (iOS app!), high speeds, and above all thanks to built-in AirPlay. is really a nice gadget that is worth buying. Even if you don’t want to replace your standard router, it can be added to your network, for example, to get audio streaming to remote room in your house etc.

Yes, it’s sparkly. And what girl (or grown woman) doesn’t like a little bling. As a matter of fact, I showed off this case to two girlfriends at dinner tonight, and they were both wowed. It is stunning – I can’t deny it.

But as I said, it wasn’t the superficial that I fell in love with. When I pulled the Glam from the package, the back was facing away, and what I saw was the inside of the case.

Spongey soft protection. I could tell from a single glance that this cushion would provide protection against drops, and not scratch the back of my iPhone.

I took the case from the package, and without thinking (mistake!) tried stuffing my iPhone in the case. But there was no give on the sides. What?! It wouldn’t fit. I held it up and looked at it. And that’s when I noticed that this case is actually a front and back that snap together.

Pop the iPhone 5 onto the back, and the front fits over it and snaps to the back easily. Perfect fit. Easy on, and easy off. To remove, all you need to do is slide a fingernail between the top and back and pop them apart.

This is a case that fits your iPhone like a glove, from the cutouts on the side for the volume buttons, to the opening at the bottom for the lightning dock.

Another thing I really appreciated with the Casemate Glam is that it fit even with my Spigen Glas-t screen protector.

The Casemate Glam is available from MobileFun, who graciously sent this case for review. The Glam is available in purple or silver for $31.99.

Then it morphed into Bejeweled Blitz, which hooked into Facebook. A bad sign right there. But they made it work for quite some time. They added new features, exploding gems, free spins for points…all very exciting. I played on. And then an update came that took a huge step backwards.

First was the volume. Really annoying. I would open Bejeweled Blitz and the music would start playing. This, despite having all volume set to zero. It only lasted a few seconds, but it was annoying and caused me to mute my iPad or iPhone prior to beginning a game. An update came. Did they fix it? No! It was even worse now. The volume sliders reverted to full blast every time you opened the app. Another update…same thing. Third update finally fixed this issue.

Then there was the daily spin. You get points from the daily spin which you can use to buy exploding gems or extra time. My free spin spun on and on. Some days it eventually stopped and gave me my points. Other days, it just errored out.

I could almost go get a cup of tea in the time it took to spin. And finally it choked, leaving me with this message:

Unfortunately, despite the message, my spin wasn’t saved. When I returned later to try again (as advised by the message), I was told I was out of spins. This has been consistent now for months.

To make matters worse, I can’t even play on my computer on Facebook. Something is hosed in my account, and the nice people at Facebook always reply that they’re working on it. (I don’t believe they’re working very hard though.)

I’ve joined with the others, leaving negative reviews in iTunes, but even that doesn’t seem to make any difference. Popcap seems happy to bask in its former glory and doesn’t care about people who have been enjoying this game for a decade – nor do they seem to want to attract new users.

It will be a sad day when I delete this formerly fine app from my iPad and iPhone.

I like Speck cases. One of my two favorites for my iPhone 4s was a Speck. The FitFolio is typical of what you get from Speck. It’s well made, easy to use, provides protection, and is amazingly attractive.

This could be a wallet. The design is beautiful. Even after a week of constant use, I find myself looking at it sitting on my desk and thinking “oooo…where did that picture come from?” And then I reach out, touch the cloth cover and remember that it’s my iPad mini in there. The design covers the front, and most of the back, stitched into a soft rubber front cover, and a hard plastic back shell.

The front cover is soft and provides good protection for your screen. The hard back shell allows your iPad mini to snap in securely, and also offers excellent protection.

One of the features I like most about this case is the clasp. I’m not crazy about “smart covers” as they tend to flop open, and really provide little protection, and elastic bands are a pain. The clasp on the FitFolio is a plastic snap, that opens and closes easily, but is extremely secure. The cover will not open during a fall.

As you can see, the FitFolio adds no bulk to the iPad mini, and provides access to both the volume rocker and mute switch.

In the above photo, you get a good idea of how the cloth design wraps around most of the back. You can also see access to the camera lens, power switch, and audio jack.The bottom of the case provides a wide opening for the lightning connector so that you can use both OEM and aftermarket power cords. There is also a dotted grill for the speakers. The FitFolio does not impede sound.

The only thing I’m not crazy about with this case is that it limits positions. The front cover has grooves so that you can use the case as a stand for landscape viewing. It also wraps similarly to the smart covers for an angle more conducive to typing.

It does not, however, provide for portrait viewing. This is a shame, as I like to use my iPad mini for e-reading, and prefer to do this in portrait mode – and don’t always want to hold it.

The Speck FitFolio is a beautiful and durable case that provides plenty of protection to your iPad mini. You can purchase this case from MobileFun for $37.99.

Recently David Winer, with Kyle Shank, formed LLC in Delaware and released their first product – web based outliner LittleOutliner (made with HTML5 technology). Although it’s not bad, (has text formatting, no need to log-in), it is just a first effort (no sync between computers, saving just locally, no support for mobile devices). While I was looking at comments about this new hobby of David Winer, I noticed that many many people recommended “workflowy” as the best outliner in multiverse. That’s why I have given it a try.

Workflowy can be reached online via workflowy.com link or on iOS device (iPhone/iPad) via free app.

While inside the app you can create outlines and you can collapse nodes and zoom in on areas.

It doesn’t have text formatting but it supports @ and # through which one can quickly find something.

All in all, this Workflowy outliner is not perfect and doesn’t have Google-Docs-like live editing at many locations. But if you save – you are safe. I like the notes function and the ability to zoom in on specific areaa.

What I am missing is export/import to OMPL files that I could upload. However users can get notifications via email about changes.

Conclusion

Maybe David Winer will someday improve his outliner to support mobile devices and syncing but in the meantime for people who would like to have specialized outliner that syncs across computers and works for iOS, Workflowy is for you!

Note: while Google recently released “Google Keep” that handles lists too, it is not an outliner as it doesn’t have hierarchies – just flat lists. Besides that, since Google announced the abandonment of Google Reader, people don’t trust that any Google product will last long.

To download workflowy for iOS for free visit iTunes.