A quick poll over at Twitter (you can follow me as @halophoenix) revealed a number of people with interest in a regular feature that showed off some “Classy Gear;” gadgets, media, peripherals, or other hotness that can make your life easier, help you get stuff done, help you optimize or organize your space, or are just fun to play with and awesome to have and enjoy.
So true to form, you ask and you shall receive – my expertise is your benefit in helping you inject some class into your geekiness without compromising either. Now then, let’s get the first one going. Each month we’ll highlight a handful of gadgets or gear that are fun, worth having, notable for the month, or incredibly helpful.
Check out this month’s Classy Gear behind the jump, and don’t forget – there’s still time to enter The Show Us Your Workspace Contest, so take some pictures and send them in!
- Silver USB Cufflinks
The Silver USB Cufflinks from ThinkGeek
are stylish and classy cufflinks on their own, but the secret that they hold is what makes them geeky as well as classy. You wouldn’t know from looking at them, but one side of them pops off to reveal a 2GB USB flash drive hidden inside.
The best thing about these cufflinks clearly is the fact that they’re tiny, you can keep your files and data stored on them, and you can even pop the top off and use the drives without having to unbutton your cuffs. Even so, be careful if you work in a cleared facility or in a location where they’re paranoid about USB Moncler outlet devices or cell phones – I can’t help you if you get in trouble for an unauthorized USB storage device on your sleeves!
- BuckyBalls Magnetic Building Spheres
One of ThinkGeek’s flagship products are the BuckyBalls Magnetic Building Spheres
Granted, the BuckyBalls are also the butt of a number of unfortunate jokes, but that’s no reason to shy away from what’s obviously the ultimate in time-wasting desk toys. A box of these on your desk will keep you busy for hours, or at least give you something to entertain yourself with in meetings. ThinkGeek just updated the BuckyBalls line, offering new “Executive BuckyBalls” (available at the same link) in metallic gold, silver, and black to compliment the original polished chrome.
- Apple iPhone 4
From the “relevant this month” department comes what some people term the “Jesus Phone,” the Apple iPhone 4. Just announced earlier in June and now available for the world to buy, (although they only began shipping this past week and future iPhone owners, hungry with desire, lined up for city blocks outside of their local Apple Stores to get one yesterday) the iPhone 4 represents not only a shift in design and thinking for Apple, but comes on the heels of the release of Apple’s latest version of their mobile operating system, iOS.
iOS 4 comes on the iPhone 4, and brings features like folders, multitasking, (both of which are Apple’s special implementation of them, so read reviews before you buy) and Face Time – live video calling to other iPhone 4s – to the smartphone market. The iPhone 4 is beautifully thin, comes with an incredibly crisp and sharp Moncler outlet display, features an upgraded photo and video camera on the back and a front-facing camera for self-portraits and video calls. If you have a qualifying upgrade or AT&T is a good wireless service provider in your city, the iPhone 4 is worth the purchase or the upgrade from an older device.
- KickStand Adjustable iPhone or iPad Stand
I picked this up from seeing some workstation photos from developer, business owner, and all around Japanese culture guru Danny Choo. He’s using it for his iPad, but the Kickstand Adjustable iPad and iPhone Stand
will work just as well for any tablet, smartphone, or even laptop that you want to keep elevated or at a certain angle.
Looking at the KickStand, it’s not only height-adjustable, but length adjustable as well, and at $29.99, it’s pretty much a steal for people who want a way to comfortably see or use their device without spending a ton of money. The feet and the back of the stand are also covers in a non-slip rubber so you can rest your device on it and actually use it without worrying that it’ll slide across your desk as soon as you touch it.
- The IT Crowd DVDs
I’m one of those people who absolutely loves British comedy in general, but The IT Crowd stands out specifically not because it’s British, but because it’s an amazingly hilarious sitcom centered around geek life, geek culture, and the life of geeks like us who are working in Information Technology. Whether you work in IT or not (although you’ll have a special affinity for the series if you do), you’ll absolutely adore The IT Crowd, and now all three seasons are available in the United States in a collection: The IT Crowd: The Complete Series (Seasons 1, 2 & 3)
just in time for you to enjoy the latest season, Season 4 (or Series 4, as they refer to it in the UK), which premieres this week on Channel 4 in the UK.
The IT Crowd gives you everything: the old standby of an IT office relegated to the basement of a shining, towering office building, the geeky decorations and adornments all over their office, (including cult classic movie, comics, and sci-fi gear, tons of goodies from ThinkGeek, and stickers and items from the EFF) exposing the average computer user at most companies as non-technical and completely befuddled by technology, and even the stereotype of the eccentric CEO that somehow manages to keep the company afloat but not through any actual hard work or determination. It’s a great watch.
There you go! Five geeky and classy items worth picking up and enjoying, or at least adding to your wish lists. Do you have suggestions for Classy Gear? Let me know in the comments; if they’re classy and geeky, they may make it into a future Classy Gear segment!
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