Accessories

As timepieces become more of a fashion accessory than a necessity, established watchmakers such as Citizen find themselves in a bit of an evolutionary pickle: "How do we remain relevant?"

Perhaps the answer to that question falls upon the company's new line of watches called Proximity. The watches offer low-power Bluetooth 4.0 functionality and a partner app (inconspicuously named Citizen Eco-Drive Proximity) that only works with the iPhone 4S or iPhone 5. Sorry about that Android and Windows Phone. … Read more

Ever wish you lived in the '20s so you could go to parties at Jay Gatsby's house and call your friends up on rotary phones to tell them how much fun you had doing the Charleston? We're still working on a time machine to get you to Gatsby's mansion, but Pyle Audio can help with the antique phone.

The company's out with a new line of retro-style home telephones that also serve as smartphone docks.

The four classically designed phones, handcrafted from real wood and adorned with brushed copper parts, have buttons for answering landline and smartphone calls and easily switching between the two. They also have standard phone features like last-number redial, flash function, and ringer high/low selection. … Read more

The iPad is the perfect size for holding in your hands and playing racing games, it's just not very comfortable for long sessions behind the imaginary wheel. Kolos, an iPad racing wheel, is looking to give your sweaty iPad hands a better grip.

The Kolos wheel can be held on its own or attached to a base with an auto-centering mechanism. A table clamp keeps the base secure. The hand grips are made with an anti-perspirant rubber coating for those times when your heart is racing as you take a corner at full speed.… Read more

Various accessories that include Apple's new Lightning connector are gradually trickling out onto the market, and JBL is the first to announce Lightning-equipped speaker docks.

The smaller $99 battery-powered model, the JBL OnBeat Micro, which gets about 5 hours of power from four AAA batteries, retails for $99 while the $199 JBL OnBeat Venue LT offers wireless Bluetooth connectivity and its dock can also accommodate the iPad Mini and the fourth-generation iPad with Retina Display. Unfortunately, of course, the docks aren't compatible with older iPhones unless you use an optional adapter. … Read more

I'm not entirely sure what's going on with the Survival Senbei edible iPhone 5 case, but I'll do my best to sort it out despite a limited translation. The case looks suspiciously like a Rice Krispies treat wrapped around a phone, except it's made with a brown rice senbai cracker substance.

It seems you stick the case on your iPhone 5 and wait until you get so dangerously hungry that you're willing to eat a case that has been mixing with your greasy fingerprints and pocket lint. Yum.… Read more

I never expected to see an iPhone combined with pepper spray or a taser, and, yet, those cases do exist. I therefore shouldn't be so surprised to see an iPhone combined with an ear-bleeding security siren.

The Coyote Case is raising funds on Indiegogo. The case itself looks innocuous enough. You can even get it in pink. What you don't expect on first glance is the over-100-decibel siren built into it.… Read more

The iPad Mini isn't so new anymore, but new cases for it continue to arrive.

For now, anyway, a lot of case manufacturers have simply shrunken down the cases and covers they made for the standard-size iPad, which is now up to the fourth generation.

What's the best one? Very hard to say. The problem is that everybody has different tastes in cases. And, of course, some folks choose not to bother with them at all.

In doing this roundup I've tried to present a good selection of products, highlighting some of the top cases that have … Read more

Apple's new iPad Mini goes on sale Friday, and if you get one, you're probably going to want to show it off. You could do that by wearing an "I'm with iPad Mini" T-shirt, or you could house it in a look-at-me $700,000 case bedecked in natural sapphires and diamonds.

Yes, in the grand tradition of accessories that require liquidation of your kids' college fund, the National Sapphire Company this week announced an iPad Mini case featuring an 18K high-polished white gold body set with 3,328 natural Ceylon blue sapphires.

An Apple logo set with 50 round diamonds weighing a total of 5 carats rounds out the subtlety. Interested in a ruby monogram beneath the logo? The National Sapphire Company will happily customize your shiny new case. … Read more

I can't say I'm that into Halloween that I'd buy a special Halloween iPhone case. But I guess there are enough people who are, because otherwise Speck wouldn't bother selling them.

The company has three "spooky" cases to choose from and I think the one with the skull on it (pictured above) probably has the most year-round appeal. I only mention that because these cases do retail for $34.95, which seems a bit steep for a case you'd have on your phone for only a few weeks.

But then again, there are … Read more