HyperMac batteries rule. Essentially, they are an external solution for extra battery life with iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks. Let’s say you are on the road and your MacBook is running low on juice. Plug in a HyperMac Battery and get up to 28 additional hours of usage. Or lets say you are vending at an event and want to take credit cards with your 3G iPad. No sweat, there is a battery for that.

Rad, right? Well, there is an issue… Apple is making HyperMac cease production. We all have until November 2nd to get our batteries before they are no more.

Details here.

This is rad. Some dude has been taking vintage suitcases and wiring up sound systems inside. He provides a 3.5mm input for connecting just about any source, built-in amps, and a rechargeable battery that pounds for up to 8 hours. A bit silly, yes… But I totally dig it.

Check it out.

This is brilliant on so many levels. Essentially, Kickstarter is a site that allows you to post an idea for a project and then get funding to see it though. It’s funded by schmoes like you and me that browse the site and then kick in a little dough if we see something we would like to see in production. This iPhone accessory is a perfect example.

The Glif is a combo tool that works itself into an iPhone 4 stand and tripod mount. It’s totally bitchin…

Check out the details here.

In any case, the Glif needed $10,000 to move into production and to date they’ve already pulled in over $75,000. So, it looks like this one is happening.

It’s come and gone and frankly, was a bit disappointing. I was hoping for two things from year’s gathering: Some kind of an affordable digital rangefinder solution from Leica (Micro 4/3 perhaps) and the GF2 from Panasonic. Neither happened. Instead, Leica offered a stupid expensive ($27,000) limited edition M9 (pictured above) plus the predictable D-Lux 5 and the black X1 and Panasonic… Well, nothing to get excited about there either.

Really, the show stealer was the previously mentioned Fuji X100. It looks like it will take the market by storm – classic looks, rangefinder functionality, and a reasonable price – $1000.

Nobody covers Photokina better than these guys.

Yep, it’s camera week here at the Gear Journal. Why? Because Photokina, the biggest and best photography convention, is kicking off today and many manufacturers will be announcing their new releases. The first and what might end up being the most exciting is the FujiFlim X100. It’s a large sensor compact (12 mp) with a fixed lens (23mm) and a hybrid viewfinder – your choice between a digital or optical view. The damn thing looks killer to boot.

Details here.

Leica X1 killer? A lot of folks seem to think so. Get this one priced under $1500 and Fuji will have a sure winner.

Film is dead. It’s a pain in the ass. It’s expensive. It’s a mess. And nobody likes it. But, ya know what? I kind of miss some aspects of the grainy stuff… Mostly, I miss that anxious feeling I used to get when I finished a roll and just knew there was going to be great surprises waiting for me once the film was developed. The instant gratification of the digital camera killed that excitement.

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