Bags

A formidable strength-to-weight ratio combined with properties like high temperature tolerance have seen carbon fiber used in the construction of airplanes, bicycles, yachts, automobiles and now ... err, bags. Lamborghini, a company that has invested heavily in the development of carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) for supercars like the Aventador and Sesto Elemento concept, has just announced a line of carbon fiber bags. Read More

Dog poop bags have become so commonly used, it’s hard to believe there was ever a time that dog-walkers typically let their pooches go Number 2 in parks or on other peoples’ lawns, with no intentions of cleaning it up. While it’s definitely a good thing that such is no longer the case (for the most part, at least), there’s still the small matter of what happens to the bagged excrement once it’s thrown away. Conventional bags keep it sealed inside, perhaps so that future archeologists can marvel at it when digging through our landfills. Even biodegradable bags take a long time to break down under certain conditions, and leave landfills full of untreated feces. Flush Puppies flushable doodie bags, however, reportedly allow dog poop to be flushed down the toilet, so it can be treated in a municipal sewage system. Read More

While iPads and other tablet computers are highly-portable, the fact is that they require some kind of protective case if you plan on taking them out into the real world. The iPad 2 comes with an optional Smart Cover to protect its screen, but it's still handy to have something with a shoulder strap in order to to keep your hands free and minimize the chances of the computer being dropped. Waterfield Design's iPad Travel Express both protects iPads and provides an easy way of carrying them, plus it has room for some extra bits and pieces. Read More

Scientists may be working on things like increasing the efficiency of solar cells, finding new methods of filtering water and growing hardier strains of wheat, but they have been woefully neglecting one important task for decades ... creating a better way of closing plastic bags. Currently, options include twist ties, spring-loaded clips, plastic tabs and zip-lock bags. The first three of those aren’t particularly sturdy, while it’s often difficult to get zip-locks to seal properly. Perhaps, however, all of us frustrated plastic-baggers might have better luck with the recently-released Pull Ties. Read More

Over the years we’ve seen increasing numbers of solar backpacks and messenger bags designed to keep mobile devices juiced up by harnessing energy from the sun. With the flood of tablets looking to jump on the iPad’s coattails at CES 2011, it comes as no surprise to see a solar bag specifically designed for such devices. Produced by Voltaic, the company behind a variety of solar backpacks and messenger bags including the Converter, the Spark Tablet Case’s solar panels generate 8 watts of power to provide about an hour of iPad runtime for every hour in direct sunlight. Read More

Business travel in the 21st Century is a whole new ball-game. With the advent of laptops, netbooks and even smaller form factor connected devices like tablets and smartphones, the task of taking your office on the road with you is getting easier, but there's still a compromise between the gear you need to maintain full productivity and the reality of wrestling your way through airport check-in queues. So what are the options? In the first of a three part series that will look at the best of what's new for the mobile technophile, here's our pick of essential accessories tailored to the needs of the mobile business traveler. Read More

As a manly man who will eschew a shopping trolley in favor of carting a multitude of plastic shopping bags (on the rare occasion I forget my more environmentally friendly cloth bag, mind you) to the car - only to find I don’t have the third hand required to find my keys and open the boot - I would probably be the perfect candidate for the Yoke Shopper. This ingeniously simple device allows shoppers to lock together a number of plastic shopping bags and carry them on a shoulder. Read More