TWIG: STM iPad jacket, trashnothing.com and BigTrax

The Week in Gadgets

If you found our recent feature on what to do with old gadgets useful then you should check out trashnothing.com, who contacted us via Twitter to talk about their site. Whilst there is a lot to love about freecycling, its reliance on the old world charm of Yahoo! Groups tends to make each and every visit into a field trip to 1998. trashnothing.com takes data from Yahoo! Groups and reorganises it into a modern, manageable interface, making it much easier to browse, search and share. It also shields you privacy a little better and helps protect you from some of the more common free cycling scams.

If however, you liked the sound of a field trip to 1998 and would like to walk even further down memory lane, then you should definitely check out the re-released classic 80′s toy BigTrax. Whilst iPhone controlled, Augmented Reality quadricopters may be the latest and greatest, there is something to be said for the decidedly old school feel of BigTrax’s programmable fun. The little keypad at the top of the unit accepts 16 different commands that send it whizzing around your carpet making cool 8 bit sound effects and there is a mild degree of educational benefit you can teach your young one about control systems. Unfortunately, the 80s homage extends to the packaging and batteries are not included. Bigtrak is available to buy for £39.95 with Free Delivery at www.gizoo.co.uk

We also did a feature on iPad cases, and even had a few to give away. Another interesting iPad accesory was Australian company STM’s “jacket” – a super light iPad bag. Providing just enough room for your iPad (or similarly sized laptop or tablet) the jacket has high density foam and water resistant fabric. I was a bit too scared to test it against a full on downpour but the jacket provided adequate protection against casual bumps and splashes. There are some extra pockets for a few cables and papers and one zipped pocket to keep things from flying out. The jacket comes in iPad, extra small, medium and large sizes and the iPad jacket is SRP £24.95. STM bags will hook you up.

Next week at in IFA in Berlin there will be lots of big releases from Epson, Samsung, Viewsonic and many others. We’ll be there, tweeting (@latestgadgetsuk) or blogging as much as possible.