Hot Gifts 3: WiFi Gal or Guy
Hey wifi-users, bloggers, hackers, coffeehouse dwellers and all those chillin’ on the sofa with the wine glass on the side table and TiVo-ing your required dose of The Daily Show, iPod playing and laptop shining in your face - this gift list is for you!
First, I must reiterate the pieces designed by Offi. I posted about the OFFI Overlap Table back in May and there could not be a much better gift for the I-can’t-live-without-my laptop user. It’s this smooth rounded lap desk with a side slot for books, mags, whatever - very sleek looking and very perfect for sitting around on the bed, floor or sofa with the screen popped up. Made of molded plywood with birch or walnut veneer, Target’s got the Birch, Design Public has both.
Agh! I have wanted one of these for years! Acme has perfected the stylish laptop traveling case (not to be confused with the guys that make anvils, dynamite, and invisible holes in the road). How, you say? The Cargo is the most recent addition to their Slim line of cases. The textiles they use are killer. The shape of their cases is very squared and modern looking. They’re lined with this super soft quilted satin lining to be extra sweet on your titanium and foam padding all the way around to protect from bumps and bruises. The Cargo has multiple inside pockets and an additional side pocket lined with micro-suede, saawwft. All of their cases come with a one-year warranty too, which is pretty fantastic. So be mobile, be connected, but seriously, be hot doing it!
Okay, wow. Such a fantastic piece! This simple design, made by utilizing the sophisticated imagination of Alfredo Häberli is called Solitaire - how perfect. Intentionally designed to compliment a contemporary lifestyle by accommodating a variety of tasks and hobbies at an all-in-one leisure, lounging, thinking, working location, Solitaire is versatile, but not complicated, like so much of Häberli’s creations. I chose to do this list for the laptop user because I think it’s very symbolic of urban living today. Many of us are spending lengthy amounts of time multi-tabbing our multi-tasking while keeping up with friends and family, trying out new places around town (because we’re mobile) all while attempting to get things done. We’ve chosen to live downtown because our access and exposure to people, places and free wifi is exponentially greater there. With the same commitment we put into choosing where we live, we put in to how we live - enter our desire also, to be surrounded by great smart designs that compliment such a lifestyle.
Now to get a little techie - the Antec USB-Powered Notebook Cooler in Pearl is a sweet gift for the laptop user who often spends more than one consecutive hour fingering their touch-pad. The nutshell about this thing - it looks pretty freaking nice for a laptop cooling accessory. Second, and probably the most important, it cools the darn thing! Save yourself from red hot quads, and save your processor from bad, bad burnout. Third, and most mobility-friendly, it’s powered by a USB cord, so you can use it and still be wireless.
Then there’s the Mona Side Table. A simple approach to providing a transparent surface at your favorite kick-the-shoes-off sitting spot, the Mona Side Table is a unique solution, especially in smaller spaces. This little table has a smooth powder-coated steel finish, sharp angles and a glass top. Stunningly effortless form and function, this piece is the solution to a variety of surface dilemmas you might come across in your space. It could be a place for your bowl of cereal, coffee mug, Moleskine and pen, iBook or all of the above - the Mona’s got you covered.
And by all means, if you spend lots of time on your laptop, get yourself (or that really rad special someone) an Acme Made Powerbook iCover. Yeah that’s right, you know the grubby fingers I’m talking about. Actually it doesn’t take much more than regular fingerprints from relatively clean hands to build up a bit of gunk that gets transfered on to that fancy LCD. This microfiber cover is very strong, can be used to clean the screen and also being very thin, allows you to close the laptop with the cover between the keys and the screen. Yay! These are available in lime, slate, pink and blue.
And of course I chose this chair because it’s the Oregon Chair. No, not really, well okay maybe a little. What, other than the name, do I like about this chair? One attribute I find very appealing is the microfiber fabric. This stuff, especially when you’re electing to have a light color on something you sit on all the time, is so easy to clean, so durable and resistant to stains and other abuses. So that’s a plus if you sit on it for hours reading blogs and typing on your own. My favorite thing about this chair though, the arms! So incredibly perfect for your laptop, the book you’re reading, that new issue of dwell - all can be conveniently situated on the flat surface next to you so you can easily move around, get up if you need to and get right back to it when comfortable. The ultimate reading chair, whatever way you get your text fix.
