Accessories

Learn to Play the Guitar on Your iPad With This Awesome Add-on

Looking for a fun, innovative way to learn how to play the guitar? Well if you happen to own an iPad, you might not have to look further than Ion Audio's new Guitar Apprentice.

The guitar-shaped tablet accessory made its debut last week at the Consumer Electronics Show, and it's been getting a lot of positive feedback. Keep reading for an overview of the Apprentice and a video of it in action...

Easily Pair Your iPhone With Your Mac’s Keyboard

If you are the kind of person who likes to use a real keyboard with your iPhone or iPod touch every once in a while, you'll probably be acutely aware just how much of a pain it can be to have to manually pair your device with the keyboard every time you use it.

Obviously, that situation only crops up if you use your keyboard with a computer as well. But what if you could just plug your iPhone in and have it connect with one keystroke. No pairing, no messing.

A new keyboard from Matias offers just that...

Use Your iPad as a Board Game With GameChanger

The iPad has more than a few accessories already, but we've not seen one quite like this and, to be honest, we don't really know what to think about it.

Shown off at this year's CES, the GameChanger by Identity Games gives gamers a way to turn a $500 iPad into a board game, which sounds both awesome and incredibly boring at the same time. The idea is simple: use the board as the main game board with the iPad providing digital interaction, either asking questions or providing other uses.

The iPad connects to the GameChanger using its dock connector, giving the game board a connection with allows it to feed information back to the tablet. This  allows the game app to tailor the experience according to where pieces are on the game board, for example...

We’re Giving Away a Satechi R1 Stand for iPad

iDownloadBlog is pleased to announce, in collaboration with Max Borges Agency, our giveaway of the Satechi R1 Stand for 7 to 10-inch tablets. The versatile arm hinge stand works with both the iPad and iPad 2, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Motorola Xoom, BlackBerry PlayBook, HTC Flyer, and many other tablets.

The stand, made of solid aluminum, is case-friendly and has rubber grips to safely secure the tablet in place. The Satechi R1 stand normally retails for $49.99, but we're going to give you the opportunity to win one for free... 

Check out the Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 for iPhone and iPad

If you're a gadget freak, then the Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 is going to blow your socks off, just like the first version did twelve months ago.

Shown off at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, the AR.Drone 2.0 takes what was already a super cool and easy to fly iPhone-controlled quadricopter, and somehow manages to make it even more amazing. Featuring a new 720p HD camera and new flying aids, the 2.0 release of our favorite flying machine just took iPhone-related toys to the next level while keeping it just one step ahead of the competition.

Oh, and it now works with the iPad, too...

New iCade Models Shown Off at CES 2012

We're big fans of the Ion Audio iCade here at iDB, so when we heard that the company had announced three new models, we took notice!

Building on the huge popularity of the original iPad-supporting iCade, these three new models build on what has already been done, while bringing the magic of iCade to the iPhone and iPod touch at the same time.

If you're a fan of arcade games and own an iOS device, then Ion Audio has you covered with an arcade stick solution...

iPad Survives 100,000 Foot Fall With G-Form Case

Until last year, G-Form was known for its extreme sports protective gear (elbow/knee pads). Then it introduced the Extreme Sleeve case for iPad, and it is now known for making one of the most durable tablet cases around.

The company has gone through great lengths to demonstrate the Sleeve's toughness, dropping a bowling ball on an iPad wrapped in the case, and even hurling one from an airplane. And now it's taken things to a whole new level...

TidyTilt: A Smart Cover for the iPhone

Smart Covers are awesome! If you own an iPad 2 then you just absolutely, positively must own a Smart Cover. It's a stand. It's a cover. It's smart. What's not to like?

We're not really sure why Apple hasn't made a similar accessory for the iPhone, but there is a new Kickstarter project that's proposing an iPhone-optimized Smart Cover with a unique twist.

In fact, the TidyTilt even has one or two tricks up its sleeve. Tricks that mean the project has already met its modest $10,000 goal, raising $47,000 to date.

This is What a $10,000 iPhone Case Looks Like

Are you tired of your iPhone looking like everyone else's? Are you looking for a case that not only sets your handset apart from all of the others, but also says "hey look at me, I'm filthy rich?"

If you answered yes to either of the above questions, and happen to have 10K laying around, you might be interested in Miansai's solid gold iPhone case. The company's made-to-order 14K gold cover is one of the most extravagant in the world...

60beat’s $50 iOS GamePad Controller Brings the Console Experience to Mobile

iOS is growing to be a major player in the gaming space. When you are selling as many iPhones and iPads as Apple is, not to mention iPod touches, then it is almost an inevitability that your own App Store is going to become a mecca for all manner of games.

With its touch-based interface and huge screen, the iPad in particular has become something of a giant in the mobile gaming world, but the same touch screen that is is biggest strength can also be its biggest weakness. That's why this new accessory really caught our eye.

Coming from accessory company 60beat, this new controller gives gamers a more familiar way of controlling their games. If iOS gaming is to truly take over, then there needs to be a natural way to play traditional games, and that natural way involves a couple of thumbsticks and some hardware buttons.

Griffin HeloTC iOS-Controlled Helicopter Review

The market for iOS-controlled vehicles has become rather crowded over the last 12 months. We've seen everything from robots to helicopters and everything in between. But most of these remote control devices are usually too pricey to go mainstream.

Griffin's Helo TC  breaks that mold by being one of the first iOS RC vehicles under $50. And although it has been available for a few months now, I just recently got my hands on one.

Cregle iPen is the Only iPad Stylus You’ll Ever Want

The humble stylus is something of a polarising accessory for iPad fans. With Steve Jobs famously being very anti-stylus, many Apple devotees look down on the pen-like writing device. But should they?

With the iPad proving so popular in many business situations, being able to write – and draw – precisely is a feature that many of us would love. Yes, there are styluses (or is it styli?) already out for for iPad owners, but if you've ever used one you will know that they have two major drawbacks: an unusually large nib, and their inability to work when your hand is resting on the screen.

Now a Kickstarter project is aiming to fix both problems, and if the videos are anything to go by, Cregle's iPen may well be the solution we have been looking for...