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May 1st through 7th Archives

Wednesday, May 7th 2003 12:35 CDT

Bagweek: Booq's PowerSleeve Now Shipping

Over at Booq, they're ready to send you one of their PowerSleeves. Stay tuned later in the week for a review of a brand new Booq 17" PowerBook bag. Here's the details on the sleeves:

Booq, a fast-growing, innovative brand of laptop sleeves and backpacks, carrying cases and accessories is shipping its ballistic nylon PowerSleeves for the new PowerBook G4 (12 and 17-inch models).

Booq's PowerSleeves are optimized for Apple's newest PowerBooks. Made from extremely durable and lightweight 1680D ballistic nylon, the compact sleeves leave room for magazines, notepad, power adapter or other accessories. The top-loading PowerSleeves incorporate non-scratch velvety interior, 0.5" thick high-density foam padding all-around, snap-lock flap, stylish black & metal zipper pulls, as well as Booq's signature detachable shoulder strap system that is so unique among compact laptop sleeves. The strap is made from the most durable seatbelt nylon and comes with a movable, breathable, non-slip shoulder pad.

By finally shipping the new PowerSleeves, Booq is bringing well-designed carrying solutions of the highest quality and finish to a new generation of PowerBook users. Priced at just $39.50 and $49.50 for the larger model, the well-rounded sleeves may prove to be irresistible to many PowerBook users.

Customers have come to expect fresh and innovative design solutions for mobile computing and have grown to love the exceptional level of quality and practicality of Booq's products. The privately held company is based in Burbank, California.

Keep an Eye on AAPL

Noticed Apple's stock price in the last few days? On news of the success of the iTunes Music Store, the stock has gained roughly 4 dollars in about 4 sessions of trading.

Using an iBook in Wartime

Over at Macity, an Italian site, they've posted an article and its English translation on using an iBook during the Iraq war:

We made an article about a Florida's reporter in Iraq using Mac technology, the Italian one is here

http://www.macitynet.it/macity/aA13837
"Fare il fotoreporter in tempo di guerra con un iBook"

and the English translation is here

http://www.macitynet.it/macity/interviste/reporteriraq.shtml
"To be a reporter with an iBook in wartime"

Thank you very much, I hope you can find it interesting.

Tuesday, May 6th 2003 02:40 CDT

Bag Week Takes Cinco De Mayo Off, Returns Today: Willow Princeton Bag Reviewed

We took yesterday off to do a major overhaul of one of our sister sites (see below for MacDebate news), but are back today with a review of Willow Design's Princeton Slipcase. It's part of a family of bags that fits every model of portable Macintosh available today. To read all about it, click here for the review.

As has become the custom, Willow is offering a discount. To receive 10% off any order at their site, excluding shipping, just note "PBZone 10% Reader Discount" in the custom instructions field in the checkout process.

MacDebate Renovated

PBZone's discussion forum has always been hosted at MacDebate.com. Over the weekend, MD upgraded its bulletin board software to provide a higher level of reliability and more features. All previous member registrations were preserved in the transition, so any existing account should remain intact. If you haven't checked the site out yet, give it a look-see at www.MacDebate.com.

Friday, May 2nd 2003 03:36 CDT

Bag Week Takes Partial Breather: Willow Discount Revealed

We're going to take a one-day break on bag reviews to get some things in place for early next week, but want to offer up a discount from Willow Design before we review their bag on Monday.

Willow is offering 10% off the price of any of their products before shipping costs. To receive the discount, simply put "PBZone 10% discount" in the custom ordering section of the checkout process. Stay tuned on Monday for the Willow review, more discounts, and other reviews.

Bag Week: Marware SportFolio Extreme Available Now

Over at Marware, they've released the SportFolio Extreme, a neoprene slipcase for the 17" PowerBook that reminds us a lot of the old "wetsuits" neoprene sleeves for PowerBooks available in the past.

The SportFolio Extreme retails for $58 and is available now. We're looking into doing a review of the bag as part of "bag week," so stay tuned.

iTunes Music Store Off to Great Start...We Think

According to Billboard, iTunes Music Service blasted 275,000 songs out in its first 18 hours of operation.

Considering that only users in the United States, who happen to be using a Mac, who happen to have Mac OS 10.2 installed, who happened to both hear about and download iTunes 4 on Monday were able to take advantage of the service, we think that's a remarkable number of downloads--about 4 per second.

However, if Apple nets about 20-30 cents per song, as some articles have suggested, this is only around $100,000 in revenue for a company that regularly pulls in $1.4 billion per quarter. While it may diversify Apple's revenue stream some, its main benefit to the company appears to remain giving yet another reason to "switch," at least until the Windows service rolls out later this year.

Thursday, May 1st 2003 04:48 CDT

PBZone Bag Week Soldiers On: Spire USA's Zoom Reviewed

We've got a review of Spire's Zoom pack. We've been great fans of Spire's products since we first noticed them shortly after this site was founded and their latest offerings don't disappoint. Check out the review here.

Don't forget that Spire is offering a 15% discount to PBZone readers as part of Bag Week. To get the 15% discount off any of their products for this week only, enter code "BAGWEEK" during the ordering process.

Bag Week: Willow Rounds out 17" PowerBook Line of Cases

Just in time for our Bag Week, Willow Design sent over a notice of their new products for the 17" PowerBook:

Willow Design has released two new backpacks specifically designed for the 17" Powerbook, filling out its line of five other 17" PB specific cases. The "short" Edgewater will comfortably fit those from 5' 3" to 5' 7, while the second larger Garibaldi fits those with longer backs, or those who want to carry more extras.

Both packs were designed from scratch for the new 17" Powerbook. They both feature extra padded internal dividers to isolate the Powerbook on all sides within the computer compartment and now incorporate a new corrugated plastic stiffener within the the pack body to provide even more stability.

The end result is even greater protection for the Powerbook. The packs' predecessor, the Titanium Jacques Pack, most dramatically displayed this protection for Chris Yip of Toronto who ended up using his pack with his G4/800 sleeping in it as a crash pad. Chris was somersaulted from his bicycle over the hood of a car which had cut him off - landing on his pack and then bouncing upright without even hitting his head. Fortunately, and incredibly, both Chris and his Titanium were fine. [Bicycle story here.]

The new packs feature two main laptop and paperwork compartments with a host of organizer pockets scattered through the packs. Particularly handy is removable accessory pouch to maximize space utilization in the paperwork compartment.

The packs also now have special reflective strips for improved nighttime visibility and safety on the front, sides and shoulder straps of the pack. Both conveniently convert to a shoulder bag or briefcase style cases in seconds for more formal occasions.

The Edgewater and Garibaldi both feature Willow's lifetime guarantee against defects in materials or craftsmanship, as do all Willow's other products.

I've been following your site for over a year now but I didn't become a Mac "switcher" until February when I got a 15" TiBook. And of course I began the search for the "perfect" bag. Now that you have the Bag Week I've decided to share my experience so other readers can benefit from it.

I was torn deciding the usability/comfort and style/look parameters and it wasn't an easy task. I wanted something with the style of a Dr. Bott TiCase, but with the comfort of a backpack.

In my previous life I had to lug around a 9 pound behemoth (plus power adpater, cables and accessories) in a Samsonite shoulder bag and I had decided not to do that ever again.

So my next bag had to be a stylish and sturdy, but at the same time, a lightweight backpack. It had to have a sleeve so I could carry the TiBook independently if I needed to. I tested all the bags they had at the Apple retail sgtore and a bunch of others in other luggage places. The Professional 15 Backpack by Brenthaven has a nice design but it was way too big for me. I looked at all the manufacturers online (thanks to you I found Spire) and tried to read as many reviews as possible.

Finally, I decided to get a Zoom backpack from Spire [See our review of the Spire Zoom today in the above item-Ed.]. It doesn't have as much padding as other backpacks but it's more than enough to protect the TiBook, coupled with a Small Boot (fancy name for their sleeves), which they included for free. This backpack has a unique design that beats every other in the market right now. They have what they call an R3 (Removable Rigid Retention) pocket that keeps the laptop in the middle of the backpack so if you carry books in the rear compartment the laptop rest on them and not the other way around. It is also pretty rigid and will resist some pressure. The sleeve goes inside this rigid pocket giving extra protection. All in all, it is as close as perfection as you can find for a TiBook. My only complaint is that the pockets in the front compartment are too small for carrying accessories and they don't have zippers so you end up carrying most of the accessories all mixed up in a big mess.

So I had the almost perfect bag, but somehow, something was still lacking. Sometimes you need to go to meetings in style (or you want to impress that hot chick at the cafe, not that any geek worth that name will ever think about that, right?) and a backpack doesn't cut it.

My mind kept wandering about the Halliburton or Samsonite aluminum attaches. They are nice but still a bit bulky for my taste, in particular their computer padded cases that are the size of a small suitcase.

As luck have it, you gave me the solution, again. On March 11th, you published the info about the TiBook Case by Shinza and I was sold. You definitely won't find a more stylish case anywhere, period. It fits the TiBook like a glove, there's not even a millimeter of leeway. It provides plenty of protection although not as much as a Haliburton case but it's a jaw dropper. Beware if you are shy though. You will be the center of attention from the moment you enter any place until you pull your TiBook out, and, probably, not even then.

And here's the kicker, the TiBook Case can be stowed in the large compartment of the Zoom backpack. It fits inside even without removing the Boot and R3 pocket although it's better if you remove them. After all, can you find a better sleeve than one made of aluminum?.

Now I have the perfect combination of looks and comfort and my search is, finally, over.