Gizmodo: cover

Make Your Own Laptop Sleeve Out of Any Fabric

Dan Nosowitz — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 22:30:00 EDT

Ars Technica posted a guide showing how to make a laptop sleeve out of any fabric you happen to have lying around. It probably won't protect your laptop from falls, but it'll provide some style and probably reduce scratches.

Unfortunately, it does seem to require some basic sewing knowledge—that's a problem for me, since my greatest sewing accomplishment is basically strapping a button to my coat with about half a spool of the wrong colored thread (and it still falls off every couple weeks). But if you're a real human being with basic skills (which I clearly am not), it should be a pretty simple project, and a nice way to customize and protect your laptop at the same time. [Ars Technica]

Test Card TV Cozy Reminds Us That We're Old

Jason Chen — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:10:00 EDT

Do kids nowadays even know what TV test screens look like? In the world of 24 hour broadcasting, how often do stations prefer to put these up instead of some Everybody Loves Raymond rerun? Not very often, but if you want to re-live those glory days of annoyingly bright colors in felt form, there's this TV Cozy. The standard one costs $25, but you'll have to pay more if you own a larger sized set. Putting these on when you're not watching TV should make the set last a few more weeks between dustings, plus also protects against errant baby spit. [Etsy via Boing Boing]

Is.a.Brella Wine-Bottle Umbrella Doesn't Contain Wine, Sadly

Kit Eaton — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 05:59:00 EDT

First I thought "ah... what a cute gimmick" about this Is.a.Brella thing, but then I realized the essential cleverness of the design. You're in a rush to get on the train on a rainy day: furl your Is.a.Brella, leap aboard, slide it into the bottle cover keeping it compact and tidy, and stop all those trapped raindrops from splashing onto people nearby. Neat, and pretty unusual looking too. So I get it... but what I don't get is the marketing-speak from the website, auto-translated by Google.

Grabbed the tip and pull, collapsible umbrella in the form of units. Hardcover looked like a bottle of enjoyment as well as the smooth opening and closing / wet umbrella on the receipt in the bag immediately and round, and also glad to have a Jacuzzi-whirlpool! Afterlife as a unique design is also recommended.

So... uh... if I use this thing I'll be happy to sit in a jacuzzi and contemplate the uniqueness of heaven? Wow. That's quite a sales pitch!
Anyway, the Is.a.Brella from Ofess is available in many color combos for around $27, but that's in Japan and there's no info on whether you can get it over here. [Sixem.com and Impress]

Digital Bath Spout Cover Keeps Kids From Crying About the Bathwater

Jason Chen — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 22:00:07 EDT

Instead of manually checking the water with your hands to make sure it's not too warm or cold, just plop on this digital bath spout cover and be done with it. The easy-to-read display shows both the temperature in number form and in color form. Once you get your water just right, dump your child inside and get back to blog surfing.

Even though we have no kids of our own, we still really want one of these. We swear we've burned our peepees for the last time, Trebek. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Kidsafeinc via Crave via Gearlog]

Fuzzy Mouse Cover

Jason Chen — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 19:30:17 EST

A gimmicky gift for grandma, this fuzzy mouse cover could be the tackiest thing we've seen all day. It's a mouse cover. That's shaped like a mouse. And comes in a cheese-themed box. Great. If you order 500, you can get'm at a quantity discount.

If we ever buy one of these, please do us a favor and firebomb our homes while we sleep. Thanks.

p.s. Start with the other guys first. – Jason Chen

Product Page [BytesnGrins via Gadgetell]