apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time


Do You Give Tech Gifts Early?

giftwrap-sz-020910.jpg Unplggd, I really need your advice. My boyfriend's birthday is in two weeks and I'm getting him a new sports game for the Wii. But since his best college buddy is coming in to town this week, should I give the gift early and let them enjoy it?

  • taryn
  • February 9, 2010 01:00PM
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Panelfly for the iPad: The Ultimate Comic Book Experience?

020910_panelfly.jpgWe've been fans of Panelfly's free Mobile Comic Book Reader app on the iPhone in the past, but with its iteration previews for the iPad, it's looking to be one hell of an App for comic book fans who've been looking for their sexy eReader fix.

  • Anthony
  • February 9, 2010 12:00PM
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A Rug Scale You Won't Mind Stepping On

020910-rugscale1-kristen.jpg

We're not sure who decided that all scales have to be square and extremely cheesy and ugly &mdash but someone did and we're a little annoyed. If we were in the market for a scale (we're not) we'd hope to find one that wasn't run-of-the-mill boring. Perhaps a rug that thinks it is a scale?

  • Kristen Lubbe
  • February 9, 2010 11:00AM
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How To Swap a Two-Prong for a Three-Prong Outlet
Home Hacks

2010HomeHackspostBadge.jpg It's rare to find two-prong outlets in homes these days. Landlords and home owners have slowly switched over to three-prong outlets as more and more devices and appliances need them to power up. Occasionally though, you move into a place that doesn't have a three-prong outlet where you need one, so how do you remedy the situation?

  • soniaz
  • February 9, 2010 10:00AM
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The Most Dangerous Device in Your Home? Video Games

020910_tf_wiitis.jpgNo, we're not going to tell you that your Xbox is rotting your brain and to go outside and read a book. But if a recent letter to the New England Journal of Medicine is to be believed, the super-active Nintendo Wii has caused enough injuries to name some of them.

  • taryn
  • February 9, 2010 09:00AM
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Final Frame: Birdbox

The Birdbox converts the iPhone into a cuckoo clock theme alarm clock with snooze option, 4 different colour themes, and even charges up your device while you snore away.

  • Gregory Han
  • February 8, 2010 09:00PM
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Sleek BMW-Designed Earbuds For Sennheiser

Good headphones are absolutely needed if you are listening to your iPod or iPhone a lot. There are quite a bit of choices in quite a bit of prices. We were somewhat surprised to see that BMW has taken up the challenge in designing a good pair of headphones. The great news is that they partnered up with Sennheiser, a great headphone company.

  • range
  • February 8, 2010 08:30PM
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The Miniguru Keyboard

The Miniguru Keyboard is a highly configurable mini-sized character input device which offers users the ability to access the whole range of keyboard commands in an edited layout size by assigning two layers of keys with touch typing in mind. The Miniguru also offers switching between clicky, tactile or linear style for audio and tactile feedback, making it easier for touch typists to efficiently pound out characters.

  • Gregory Han
  • February 8, 2010 07:30PM
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Jason Sewell Builds Media Center Under the Stairs

home-theater-under-the-stairs-sz-020810.jpg When it comes to screen size, going big can sometimes cause more pain than pleasure. Case in point, when we were living in our 300-square-foot studio, there was no way to engineer our media space without practically sitting on top of our 42-inch LCD. Jason Sewell had a similar dilemma with the layout of his living room in Richmond, Va. but rather than endure eye strain, he used the space under his stairs to build his media center.

  • soniaz
  • February 8, 2010 06:30PM
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The Neo Gramophone: Audio as Sculptural Artwork

The Neo Gramophone is both a throwback and step forward in one, with a polygonal minimal-modernist speaker form which hearkens back to an era of scratchy vinyl audio while actually abandoning the former medium for an updated feature of streaming audio via Bluetooth, complete with hidden subwoofer inside it's horn speaker housing.

  • Gregory Han
  • February 8, 2010 05:30PM
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The Google Map Envelope

It seems like 99 percent of the mail we send is electronic these days. The other 1 percent is letters and postcards that we want to postmark with our (usually enviable) location for the recipient. That's why we dig these uber-accurate Google Maps envelopes. Now we can say Hello from 100 Holomoana Street, Honolulu, HI, 96815!
  • taryn
  • February 8, 2010 05:00PM
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Hot or Not? Birdbottle Security Cam Shaped Bird House

020810birdcamhouse.jpgIt looks strikingly like a security camera, complete with red light dot and tubular camera shape. But it's actually a bird house!

  • Gregory Han
  • February 8, 2010 04:30PM
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Louis & Dominika's Bookwormish Home Office
Tech Tour

Name: Louis Marsand and Dominika Suwik
Location: Québec, Canada
Size: 14' by 10'
Type: Home office

When we saw Louis' work place, we just had to find out more about it. The asymmetrical book shelves, the bookish style charmed us and we needed to know more about this beautiful room that was lovingly hand-crafted. Louis used simple wood, tools and his hands to shape this home office accordingly. It simply looks amazing.

  • range
  • February 8, 2010 04:00PM
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How To Hide Your Cords on the Cheap & Pretty

hide-cords-sz-020810.jpg Hiding cables and wires doesn't need to have to include hiring an electrician or boring holes through your wall. In a pinch, you can use decorative boxes to hide the unsightly by-product of living in the digital age.

* Read the full post on AT Boston

  • soniaz
  • February 8, 2010 03:30PM
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BÅHEM: a Sleek Way to Manage Wires and Gather Gadgets

Portable electronics organization and charging solutions abound from those created to serve as a "landing strip" a place where you can charge your everyday devices to the simple docking station. Adding to these ranks is the BÅHEM by Igor Polyakov, a piece of furniture that will provide a stylish charging solution for your portable electronics.

  • joelle
  • February 8, 2010 03:00PM
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