Our favorite felt/leather technology carriers, Working Class Heroes, has evolved and is now known as Hard Graft. And honestly, nothing has changed, other than their moniker, and the quality and designs are, if anything, better than ever! So i've got an exclusive sneak peak for you of the latest line (and quite possibly my favorite yet)... here's
The Dapper Collection!

I've always loved their leather pockets on felt, which my original laptop sleeve from them had, and now they've brought the motif back as the signature feature in
The Dapper Collection. Also, they've mastered the Kindle case (see pics of a prototype i've been playing with on the next page), and it has a pocket which perfectly fits the iPhone. Honestly, its the perfect little bundle to grab when you're off to read in the park or at the beach. They've also got an adorable iPhone case, which has a pocket for some cash/cards... and a revival of the laptop wallet with top buttons and a new larger pocket also perfect for iPhones! So check out more pics on the next page, and see the full collection for purchase at Hard Graft!

TO PAGE 2 of "Hard Graft Dapper: A Sneak Peak"! ----->

Tags: accessories - felt - gifts - iphone - kindle - laptop - leather - shopping

D!REKTRECYCLING makes the coolest envelopes ever. They have become one of my favorite things about receiving packages from Working Class Heroes - other than the incredible felt/leather sleeves for my gadgetry, of course.

The image above is what happens when i stick my camera inside the envelope... for more context move on to the next page... it's brilliant because its such a clean professional looking envelope on the outside, yet you can't help ripping it apart to learn about new places on the inside...

TO PAGE 2 of "Recycled Map Envelopes"! ----->

Tags: accessories - envelopes - gifts - kindle - recycled - shopping

Blame the Kindle for the extra quiet Monday as far as posts go. This unexpected new toy showed up on the doorstep this morning, and i've been a bit distracted since. In all honesty, as far as first impressions go... i LOVE the packaging and use of playful typography and book like packaging... as well as using the same patterns on the non-slip rubbery back of the kindle itself. As for using the actual Kindle to read books/newspapers/blogs/wikipedia... i was skeptical, never figured it was for me. But, i'm kind of hooked. Unlike the Zune experience, this worked like a breeze out of the box. Finds its connection, lets me scroll around, even give me a little intro/walkthrough as one of the first files to check out... and the readability of the screen is SO nice on the eyes... (i'm *this* close to getting a new macbook pro and ditching this current one to go back to a matte screen before they get rid of them all)... flipping pages is a such a nice gesture, and i'm in love with the mirrored little scroller squares. I know i'm a bit late to the game on this one, but check out the pics after the jump to see how nicely done the packaging is!

So far, i have impulse bought the new Sophie Kinsella book Remember Me (embarrassing as it is, i'll admit it, i read a few of those Shopaholic books on the beach while on post-uni euro trips) to try out, and have been surprised how quickly i've been flying through the pages between working on the laptop today and taking calls on the pearl (this may be terrible for multitasking!)... i am also trying out the WSJ and NYTimes subscriptions, but so far it feels a bit too RSS like for my tastes, and i think newspapers are still most fun in print for me, but this is definitely nice to slip in the purse. And of course... i've browsed the NOTCOTs on the web browser, and while we're not the best optimized for advanced kindle rendering... in default mode its not half bad! Also tried browsing gmail a little.... anyhow, check out the unboxing pics below, probably more to come on this new toy later...

TO PAGE 2 of "Amazon Kindle Unboxing!"! ----->

Tags: books - gifts - kindle - shopping - technology