skin

The Star Wars droid fluent in 6 million forms of communication add another to his repertoire--assisting humans through TomToms.

C-3PO is the latest Star Wars character to join the growing list of downloadable celebrity voices for TomTom GPS devices.

Announcing turn-by-turn directions in his unmistakable fashion--"Take the third left; it may be our only hope"--C-3PO will guide drivers to places in a galaxy not so far, far away. VoiceSkins.com released a Darth Vader TomTom voice skin earlier this year, and Yoda is set to be released in July with Han Solo to follow in … Read more

iSkin makes some pretty popular iPhone cases, so we've been waiting patiently for the company to bring out its iPad covers. While it doesn't have anything yet that features a kickstand option, the two new cases--the Vu and the Duo--offer some similar design traits to iSkin's line of iPhone cases, including a layer of Microban that's supposed to keep bacteria from making a home on your case.

The Duo retails for $49.99 and is available in yellow, purple, brown, sky, pink, red, and clear. Meanwhile, the Vu retails for $64.99 and is available in … Read more

One of the glorious things about living in such a technologically advanced era is that we've reached a point where gadgets have become so ubiquitous that manufacturers are constantly striving to make them appealing to the individual eye. Clearly, getting your gear in line with your own personal style is key, but finding that happy balance between totally blah and way over-the-top is also important.

When taking the fashion approach to technology, mobile gadgets naturally spring to mind first. Namely because these are the items you have on your person all the time. Of course, style is important in … Read more

Gadget skin maker Wrapsol this week introduced a new version of its thin adhesive protectors called Wrapsol Ultra that promises to keep your gadgets safe from drops up to 6 feet. And like the Slinky, Silly Putty, and Post-It notes, the technology was created almost by accident.

In a call with CNET on Friday, Wrapsol President Lew Cohen explained that while experimenting with different manufacturing processes for the adhesive layer of the skin, they ended up creating a compound that could take a lot of abuse.

"With more flexibility, we get more impact resistance," Cohen said. "We … Read more

British materials firm Peratech is developing artificial electronic skin for robots at MIT's Media Lab that will allow machines to know where they have been touched and with what degree of pressure. So you could tickle, back-slap, or caress your favorite robot, and it would know the difference.

Peratech is using its "quantum tunnelling composite" (QTC) material to create touch-sensitive skin for intelligent machines at MIT. QTC is a low-cost, flexible, and electrically conductive material that would give robots a new means of interacting with people.

Made of spiky metallic nanoparticles and silicone rubber, QTC works by … Read more

iSkin's colorful, form-fitting Solo line of iPhone cases has some of the slicker designs out there. Now the company has come out with the "special-edition" Solo FX SE, which sports a "luxurious outer surface treatment" that combines an "understated" matte finish with a "subtle," embossed, designer pattern.

Available in Onyx (black), Cosmo (pink), and Ice (white) for $34.99 (list), the Solo FX SE is the only Solo infused with Microban antimicrobial product protection that iSkin says prevents the growth of odor-and-stain-causing bacteria on the product.

This Solo is also the … Read more

I'm a longtime fan of Skinit, which sells nifty vinyl "skins" (i.e. decals) for laptops, cell phones, MP3 players, and other devices.

These custom stickers are a great way to dress up otherwise drab gadgets. For example, I slapped a big ol' Michigan State University logo on the boring black lid of my Acer Aspire laptop.

From now until tomorrow (Oct. 22), Skinit is offering one of the best deals I've seen yet: 50 percent off all skins with coupon code HALFOFF.

Shipping will run you $2.99, unless your order tops $40, in which … Read more

Rainlendar Lite offers not only a fantastic desktop calendar, but also a helpful reminder system. With a familiar layout and useful tools, this program is certain to keep you organized.

The program's interface is simple with intuitive commands. We had no problem finding and navigating this semitranslucent calendar and a to-do list as it nestled into our desktop. Programming the alarm and task lists felt like operating Microsoft Outlook, because the menus mimic that program. With only a few mouse clicks and some times and dates we had our calendar full of reminders. We like how the reminders are … Read more

As we know, the Olympus Micro Four Thirds camera, the E-P1, is based on a retro design sported by the original Pen shooters. But now you can make it even more retro by getting these skins from Kindai International.

The Japanese company is selling body stickers that are carefully calibrated to the dimensions of the E-P1, right down to the space for the leather grip, the button to unlock the lens, and the Micro Four Thirds badge which sits at the bottom right corner.

There are three colors available and each is limited in quantity--green (500), black and gray (1,… Read more