Dan300 x Eubi portable mobile charger

Oh look - technology that's not ugly! In fact, it's downright cute. This is a universal portable mobile phone and tablet charger by Australian design powerhouse Dan300 in collaboration with Melbourne-based Eubi.

Super-chic Logitech Case+ for iPhone and cool UE Mini Boom speaker giveaway!

I love my mobile. And I'm happy to have finally found some slick accessories for it that are beautifully-designed and functional too. The folks at Logitech recently sent me three products from their new super-chic case+ range for iPhone 5/5S to trial. I immediately fell for the case+drive phone mount for the car and my husband snapped up the case+energy spare battery pack (he just had to have it).

The system starts with a case+ iPhone case with magnetic panel on the back. The magnet connects the phone with accessories in the range, and also means you can pop your mobile up on the fridge (or any other metal surface) to use as a timer or to read recipes.

Here are the three accessories that I tested:

It's time to say goodbye to Google Reader - how you can continue to get your Bondville fix

Well my friends, if you use Google Reader, you will know that this fabulous service finishes up in the few days. If you are keen to keep up-to-date on Bondville posts, I recommend these great blog readers:

1. Email!: Subscribe to receive Bondville posts daily by email the same day they are written
2. Email newsletter: Get Bondville post highlights once a month via the Bondville newsletter
2. Blog Lovin': Follow Bondville here
3. Feedly: Follow Bondville via Feedly
4. RSS reader: You can also add Bondville to your favourite reader including your Yahoo homepage or iGoogle homepage.

I love having you here. I hope you will continue to get your fix of Australian design for Mum, Kids and Home!

Image: Steph Bond-Hutkin | Bondville

Best iPhone and iPad Apps for 3 Year Olds

My friend Bron passed along this list of the best iPhone and iPad apps for our 3-year-olds. Our big girl already loves iWriteWords and her writing skills are improving in leaps and bounds. Can't wait to try out the rest:

• ABC Maze
• iWriteWords
• Tozzle
• FirstWords: Sampler
• Giraffe's PreSchool Playground
• Drawing Den
• Word Magic
• Giraffe's Matching Zoo Deluxe
• My Coloring Book Free
• Shape Builder
• abc PocketPhonic
• Morgan Moody's Math Adventure
• Sneezies

Thanks Bron! These are going to be soooo handy at the bank, at the checkout, in the car, .... (you know, the list goes on).

Cool Websites: kirtsy

If you've ever used those social bookmarking sites like Digg or Del.icio.us, or news aggregators like Fark, you'll know that you can spend hours browsing through weird stories - some interesting, but most fairly uninteresting and dare I say, boring. Wouldn't you love a site that has fun, cool categories like 'Design and Craft', 'Fashion and Style', 'Food and Home', Mind, Body and Spirit', and 'Travel and Leisure'? Well, kirtsy is it. This great site (formerly known as sk*rt) is a collection of articles, blog postings, news and stories submitted by people just like us, so you know you'll find some really good (time wasting) content on there. In kirtsy's own words, the site is "a place where women give nods, respect, and props to the coolest things out there." and "kirtsy is like that friend who always finds the best stuff... only better". So now you know.

Image: kirtsy

Cool Websites: Better World

If you love books and you're a make-the-world-a-better-place kind of person, then Better World is for you. It's a fantastic concept - new and used (donated) books are sold online, with the profits going towards improving literacy around the world. All books are available with free shipping to any location within the United States (or $2.97 worldwide). Their four major partners are Our four primary literacy partners are Books for Africa, Room to Read, Worldfund, and the National Center for Family Literacy. So far, the company has converted more than 11 million donated books into $4.5 million in funding for literacy and education. In the process, they’ve also diverted more than 6,000 tons of books from landfills. You can find out more about their program on their Website and on their blog and you can become their fan on Facebook here. Move over Amazon!

Cool Websites: wardrobe_remix

If you're in a fashion rut and feel like you're being dictated to by the big chain stores (and can't see past yet another plaid dress shirt and leggings), take some inspiration from real street fashion on the very cool Flickr group wardrobe_remix. You'll find photos of thousands of real people wearing real (cool) outfits - last count was 40,199 photos. The group was created in 2005 by artist/designer/writer and San Francisco resident Tricia Royal, who posts the best photos each week on her blog bits+bobbins. Much cooler than any department store catalogue!

Cool Websites: Tiny*Prints

I've really enjoyed ordering birth announcements through Tiny*Prints - a US-based company with stylish, modern stationary designs (the best designs I have found online!) at reasonable prices. They are a great option if you are lucky enough to have someone in the US that can ship them to you, as their international shipping prices are outrageous. However, their online interface for creating the stationary is easy to use and provides an instant preview of the final product. You can upload photos, edit them using their simple tools, and save different versions. I only wish you could view each of your saved versions side-by-side with pricing to pick the best one. Envelopes are included in the price, and stationary types include dog and pet announcements (!!!!), birth announcements, holiday cards, thank you cards, invitations and gift tags. The finish on the cards is matte. Highly recommended.

Best Online Baby Sites in Australia

After much research, I put together a list on Squidoo of the best online baby sites in Australia. This is an overview of the most stylish baby product sites, maternity sites, eco-baby shopping sites, the big baby super-store sites, and pregnancy/baby forums. All the hard work done for you.

Cool Websites: Netvibes

Finally! A place online that doesn't try to be anything other than a homepage for you to aggregate all your other web spaces. Netvibes allows you to add RSS feeds from your favourite sites (and there are a lot of suggested sites), include your myspace updates, your new emails, the weather, your Twitter updates, whatever you are watching on eBay, Craigslist, etc. I'm also a fan of iGoogle, but Netvibes is super-customisable and very easy to use.

Cool Websites: Virb

I like to try out all the social networking sites, just to keep my finger on the pulse. But one site (that my friend Lachlan told me about) recently caught my eye, as it's just so gorgeous to look at and use. Virb is a myspace/facebook-style site that just screams style. You can customise pages to suit your own style, and interestingly, you can uncustomise someone's page to get back to the Virb standard (and easy on the eye) style. Social networking for the design crew. I like that you can import your RSS feeds and Flickr photos very easily. It would be great to have an interface to your email to check if you have any friends in the system, but I'm sure that will come with time. My profile is pretty basic right now, but I'm looking forward to playing around with Virb a little more.

Image: Virb

Cool Websites: Sprig

Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive has just launched a delicious site that I am loving - Sprig. The site provides information on eco-friendly products for the home, food, fashion, beauty, technology and family. Some of the editorial staff come from the former Organic Style magazine and it looks gorgeous.

Image: Going Green Matters

Cool Websites: Sydney's Best Kept Secrets

I've been working on a new site with some friends here in Sydney to put together a list of our favourite businesses for all the services you need. No-one wants to try out 10 different hairdressers before finding one works - these "Girls you can Trust" provide recommendations across a range of categories including doctors, beauticians, dentists, massage therapists, personal trainers, shoe repairers, house cleaners and more. You can also read comments on each business by other readers, all in the spirit of finding the best Sydney has to offer. These are Sydney's Best Kept Secrets!

Image: Steph Bond

Cool Websites: Get The Glass

Truly one of the coolest ads ever, Get The Glass is an online flash game, branded by the California Milk Processor Board (Got Milk?) that will have you spending a long time fixated to the screen. The quality of the animations and the environment feel very Myst-like, and the board-game style with mini-games interspersed is both accessible and challenging. A new bar has been set.

Image: Adverblog

Cool Websites: Stick Cricket

In preparation for The Ashes 2006, check out this Stick Cricket video that I worked on. The idea here is that Mark Waugh (famous Australian cricket player) is harrassed about his run rate by a new 'friend'. He doesn't realise that the guy is referring to his Stick Cricket run rate, an online game (warning - it is hard to stop playing once you start).

Image: Cricketweb.net

Cool Websites: Kongregate

There has been another great new site launched in the last week. Kongregate has been developed by my friend Jim in San Francisco. Still in Alpha, it is a collection of fun and addictive flash games combined with community aspects such as tagging, voting and commenting. The site offers cash prizes for great games submitted by the community, and the site shares advertising revenue with developers. I think it's a great platform for developers to create a name for themselves.

Image: Kongregate

Cool Websites: Trip Tie

A friend of my husband's recently launched a new community-based site for travel called Trip Tie. Like other travel sites, you can plan your travel and there are a list of useful resources. However, the clever aspect of the site is that you can read and submit your own trip itinerary. You can vote on itineraries, and if the content has changed, you can edit other people's itineraries. Tags help you to navigate around the site, and there already some fun ideas in there - "Las Vegas for "Ladies" anyone? Or 25 Days in Japan.

Image: Trip Tie

Hip Products: Guitar Hero

Without a doubt the very best game/toy for the 2005 holiday season is Guitar Hero. This PlayStation 2 game is bundled with an electric "guitar" input that allows you to karaoke on to your heart's content. You can play the guitar (no musical knowledge required) in quick play mode, or work through songs progressively to unlock new songs, skins, and guitars. We are spellbound. This game rocks. Buy on Amazon.com now!

Image: Amazon.com

Hip Products: Lumines

I haven't touched my PSP in months, so I decided to rest Nintendogs for a while, and have picked up Ubisoft's Lumines - a highly addictive Tetris-style puzzle game for the PSP. It's fantastic! I haven't been this addicted to a game since Zoo Keeper for the DS. Lumines will keep me tied over until I get Zoo Tycoon and Animal Crossing for the DS.

Image: Ubisoft