PUMP UP THE VOLUME: WIRELESS SPEAKERS

Now that I have officially worked my iPad into my daily routine, I am starting to be on the look out for cool accessories to trick it out. Enter the Zooka! It is a concept for a speaker (donate to their Kickstarter fund to ensure it goes into production!) that works wirelessly and fits seamlessly on top of your iPad or MacBook. Cool right? I particularly love the idea that they are making a special glow in the dark version specially for their Kickstarter campaign. Thanks to the Design Ark for the tip.












Reading about the Zooka reminded that somehow I have never posted about the Jambox by Jawbone. What?! Basically the Jambox is also a super cool wireless speaker that prides itself on being rad looking, powerfully loud, and surprisingly small. At $199 it is a bit of an investment—we are, for example, registering for one for my wedding—but one that would certainly not disappoint. I love all the colors it comes in and can only imagine all the ways you could use it: movie night, parties, midnight dance sessions. :) The list goes on and on!


Learn more about the Jambox and buy one here.

THE WEDDING FILES: iPAD EDITION

As the new year hit, it started to dawn on me that I am getting married this year. This year! It is so exciting (and overwhelming; so much to do!) that I can barely sit still while I type this. And this year, for Christmas, I was given something that has made planning the wedding far more fun: an iPad!


The moment I unwrapped it my mind went into overdrive about how I could use it to keep track of my inspiration. Obviously Pinterest needed to be play a role, even though they don't have an iPad app! But I also wanted to use it to create color swatches and moodboards, so I could share my ideas with potential vendors. In the end I decided to import all of the inspiration images from my Pinterest Wedding board into several apps so to see what gave me the best results.


In the end I really enjoyed using the Pantone Weddings app—which lets you comb through Pantone color palettes* and import photos to make inspiration boards (bottom)—and fell in love with the Moodboard app (top)—which has similar features but more control over sizing, text, borders, etc. I have loved playing with both apps and can only imagine their uses are endless. Planning a birthday party? Dinner party? Vacation? Designing a poster? Invitation? Keep track of all the components and all your inspiration beautifully with these two apps.


Do any of you have an iPad? Any recommendations for other cool apps I can download?




*Though I do enjoy having this app, I was disappointed to see that not all of the Pantone colors are represented, only those they feel people will want to use for their wedding. So, although there were not a lot of bright reds and oranges to choose from, I found you can easily import swatches snagged from the Pantone website as images, as I have done above.

UNDER MY TREE?

Here are a couple things that I am hoping my show up under my tree this year—a holiday wish list of sorts. Hope you like it!





A saucy dress from JCrew, $188, perfect with a black cardigan







An iPad, starting at $499, because, well, it would be so fun!







A pair of shiny red Hunter Rain Boots, $125, because they would making splashing in NYC puddles actually enjoyable!







This beautiful farmer's market porcelain basket, $14, because it would just make everything you serve look straight out of a food magazine.







This tiered dress from Anthropologie, $188, because it is supposed to be cozy and super flattering and don't we all need more clothes like that?







Anything from lu lu lemon, because their stuff is the most comfy and sexy work out gear I have ever seen.







This newest book from Sue Grafton, $14 on Amazon, because I am obsessed with Kinsey Milhone and love getting engrossed in a good book over the holidays.


What's on your wish list this year?

PIN-TASTIC!

Do I need another reason for wanting an iPad? I don't think so. But this new app for Pinterest looks amazing on my iPhone and would surely look even better on an iPad.

Check it out here. Not set up with Pinterest? Drop me an email (theobsessiveimagist(at)gmail(dot)com) and I will send you an invite!

APPLE LOVE

This weekend I did something big. I bought a new computer! My old computer—faithfully known as Prince Humperdink—was getting rather elderly at age 4.5. And since we all know how much I am obsessed with Apple products, I waited until they released a new round of MacBook Pros and I bought one! I can't believe how amazing it is: nearly 8 hour battery life, amazing graphics, super fast. Seriously, check it out here.

And have you heard about the release of the second generation iPad? If possible it seems even more revolutionary than the first one. It has a front and rear camera, is significantly thinner, and has a sweet magnetically connected screen cover. Awesome. Now if I could only justify purchasing an iPhone, a MacBook Pro and an iPad all in one year.

Watch the intro video and learn more here.

TECHNO CHRISTMAS

Along the lines of this techo-happy post, I thought I would share this great holiday video created by the England-based web-design company Torchbox. The video features animation on a group of iPads, all arranged and rearranged to create a festive wintry scene. Love it!

Check out the Torchbox website here and follow them on Twitter here.

(Thanks for the heads up Black*Eiffel!)

SUPER iPAD?

I read this Foxtrot comic this week and I had to share it with you (though it is slightly out of the blue for this blog). It makes fun of the fact that the iPad, like the iPod Touch and the iPhone, does not have a flash player. So I guess it does fit in to my obsession with the iPad.

Click on the image to see it in a bigger size.

APPLE TABLET

"Last time there was this much buzz about a tablet there were some commandments written on it."

-The Wall Street Journal

If you are as much of an Apple geek as I am, you have been waiting all week on pins and needles for Apple's latest announcement. Well yesterday it came with a bang! Introducing the iPad (terrible name- why couldn't it have been called the iTab?), Apple launched this beautiful tablet computer--a cross between the best qualities of the iPhone and the iMac. It is completely touch screen controlled and can be held in landscape or portrait format depending on your preference. It is about 7.5 by 9.5 inches (and only 0.5 inch thick!), has a stunningly vivid screen, and a battery life of up to 10 hours. In keeping with Apple go-big-or-go-home style, the designers have completely reinvented the basic applications from the iPhone to fit the iPad. They also expect application developers to follow suit in the coming months. My personal favorite is the calendar; I love the reinvented 'day' page with its clean lines and bright color blocks for appointments. They have also made maps, contacts, and mail look pretty darn sexy.

I looks like prices for these babies range from $499 to $829 (depending on the GB size and whether you want it to be wireless or 3G like the iPhone) and won't be available for another 60 days at least. Gah!

Until then you can learn more here. I highly suggest that you watch the introductory video to see it in action.

p.s. Lots of people are already talking about how the iPad (cringe) will be change the publishing industry with its iBooks feature where you can download and read all kinds of books through Apple's iTunes-like book store. See a great article about this will effect magazine design here.