Archive for the 'Backpack' Category

Burton, well known for the fashion-street-skating-snowboarding brand and the very first brand that commercialized an interactive backpack added a BoomBag or Ghetto Blaster backpack to it’s range called: Feedback Pack.

Actually, the Feedback Pack has been available since 2007 but Burton made a style makeover for a Spring 2008 launch with cool looking designs.

The Feedback Daypack has a built-in stereo speaker set, an amplifier and auxiliary input allowing to connect any portable audio player or a laptop that has an 3.5mm headphone plug. A tear-off CD storage panel fits underneath the zippered speaker cover.

The large main compartment comes with a laptop sleeve. A great feature for skater: the Feedback includes vertical skateboard carry straps.

The speaker module as well as the backpack itself is weather resistant so there is no worry if you walk down the street in rain. The Feedback Pack will keep on playing.

Available in Rock Salt Bullet (my personal style favorite, see photo above) and True Black Strict Plaid, the Feedback Pack can take a lot of stuff on board measuring 19in x 11in x 9in / 48cm x 27cm x 22cm adding up to a volume of 24l.

There are many online stores selling the Feedback Pack for $ 89.95 for example following this link.

Burton’s choice of speaker technology might not be as ‘magic’ as the NXT technology but it does give good sound quality and most important: another option to have decent background sound while skating, a basketball game or just relaxing in the great outdoors.

As there was a time in the 80s and 90s where a Boom box or Ghetto Blaster was a must have item, it seems the 21st Century equivalent will be the BoomBags.

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REEBOK, a top name when it comes to sport apparel and fashion is joining the list of brands who add interactivity to their products.

Reebok’s first product in the Interactive Fashion segment is the NXT Speaker Backpack featuring a complete stereo sound system seamless integrated in a cool backpack design in Reebok’s signature style.

The NXT flat panel stereo speaker at the bottom of the bag blends into the design while delivering impressive audio quality powered by 2x AA batteries from any device connected via the 3.5mm audio jack.

Personally I like the use of the NXT speaker technology when adding sound into bags as it allows a ’soft’ integration using the bags ‘natural’ materials such as EVA for the speaker membrane. Whit NXT technology there is no need of any additional or different material that would make bags or backpacks look geek like.

NXT’s flat-panel speaker technology transforms the backpack itself into a speaker for portable devices and even a laptop.

Reebok’s NXT Speaker Backpack is tough enough to withstand harsh conditions of school, business and travel.

The Reebok NXT Speaker Backpack is available at this UK online store for £69.99 ($ 136.77) but online for shop pick up at the moment. There are a couple of online retailers from Germany that sell it online for €129,90 ($ 201.-) like this online store.

It is a pleasant surprise to see such a low price at the launch of the Reebok NXT Speaker Backpack. Style and function wise the Reebok is similar to Quiksilver’s NXT sound backpacks which come for a very steep price of $ 500.- and more.

Getting the price of sound enabled BoomBags to a more ‘tolerable’ range will help to bring this product concept to a larger audience. The uses are manyfold: music can be enjoyed without earphones (where appropriate), have a ‘real’ sound background for a quick PSP or DS game or a magic sound system for presentations ‘on the road’.

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We have covered G-Tech products numerous times, no wonder they have a large selection of iPod and Audio bags in their program so it was fairly easy to find a hot bargain: the Soundwave Backpack with integrated soft speaker technology from NXT.

Reason for me to look around for Audio Backpacks: I noticed today quite some youngsters on the street using all kind of accessories to listen to their iPod or other MP3 player via external speaker. Not sure if this is becoming a trend or is it related to the energized spirit spring brings with it.

Coming home I scanned the Internet about backpacks with audio function and sure enough G-Tech came up right on the top. Looking a bit closer I found a real bargain, the roomy Soundwave Backpack with plenty of space for a laptop and many of the other stuff students or office worker need for the day.

The cool thing on the Soundwave is: part of the front material of the backpack acts as a speaker thanks to the NXT flat-panel speaker technology. Connect any audio source via the 3.5mm headphone connector and you have voluminous sound, be it for your and your friends enjoyment or for a more ’serious’ use as audio element in presentations to enhance the laptop integrated speaker sound.

The Speaker/amplifier requires 3 AA batteries and will run an average of 8 hours but this depends largely on the volume setting, louder means shorter battery life time.

Available is the Soundwave in the color schemes grey/black and beige/brown for not more than $46.99 a real bargain even if there would be no sound(wave) in this backpack.

The only downside is: there are no controls in the shoulder strap so each time you need to adjust the volume or go to the next song you need to take out your player to do this - the old fashion way.

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In time for the sunny season Sunload started rolling out the 2008 Solar bags we wrote about back in January.

The first in our overview is the SolarRucksack (backpack) which comes in two sizes, small and large and many color shades.

Sunloads Solar bags come with a ‘on board’ storage battery and can operate any electric device via a USB connection or 12V car adapter.

The solar charging electronic Sunload uses is one of the best i have seen in the market. Controlled via a keypad with illuminated load status display, the internal lithium-ion battery has a power rating of (70Wh) and a capacity of 4.500mAh. This capacity allows many charges for an iPod, iPhone, Blackberry and similar portable devices.

The large solar panel delivers ~6W, a voltage of ~16,7V and current of ~360mAh when the sun hits it head on. All in all, a real power house bag.

The SolarRucksack comes in many different colors like: black, brown, red, orange, royal blue, navy, silver or tricolor and some more on request. The price is €599.- ($ 942.97) direct by Sunload.

Next to the new Solar Rucksack, Sunload has the SolarShopper, a nice and practical shopping bag (material: truck tarpaulins).

Available in many different colors like: traffic white, light ivory, zinc yellow, signal yellow, pure orange, traffic red, carmine red, yellow green, moss green, sky blue, cobalt blue, silver, grey, jet black. The price is €499.- ($ 785.15) direct by Sunload.

By adding constantly new models, Sunload has a large selection by now which makes it easy to select the best fitting Solar bag for almost any occasion an, taste and purpose.

Wherever you go, wherever you are, any time the sun is shining, the Solar power will be with you.

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Few days ago we presented some links where to pick up O’Neill’s cool h4 Interactive Apparel for a reduced price.

Today we found out O’Neill is having their own online Sale, offering the complete h4 Wearable Electronic range for an average discount of around €80.- or $120.- not bad for a cool iPod Jacket like the women Ent. Jacket shown on the left.

The Ent. Jacket for women has a cute design and color combination with some ‘girly’ touches here and there. In this style the small and discrete joystick like iPod control fits perfectly to the overall design.

It’s got all the quality goodies O’Neill always offers like collar adjustment, storm placket, goggle and lift card pocket, key hook and more.

The reduced price for this model is €209.97 or $324.62 directly by O’Neill.

Besides the h4 interactive apparel range, O’Neill offers also the Campack with a price reduction of almost €100.- or $150.- compared to the introduction price last autumn.

Available by O’Neill for €188.97 or $291.94 the Campack has a complete multimedia center on board to capture your action packed life.

For that money you get next to the h4 Campack the helmet camera with extension cord, battery holder, the Portable Media Player, a USB cable to download your action to a computer and a Battery charger.

4 hours of video recording is possible on one battery charge tough the internal memory (512 MB) holds only around 40 minutes but there is the option to use a 2 GB SD/MMC card for 160 minutes of video recording.

All in all a great opportunity to get real cool Wearable Electronic without breaking the bank. As always: the power choice is yours.

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Retro Fashion in Wearable Electronic is something new as Wearable Electronic is not that long around but I think the Burton Amp Pack deserves the label ‘retro fashion’. The Amp Pack was the first backpack with integrated textile iPod controls ever launched in the market (in Feb 2006) . That was before we started talk2myShirt!

Since then many other iPod enabled packs from Burton and other brands followed. Among all those many models I have seen, my favorite in style and coolness is still the Amp Pack with the Black Faux Croc Leather finish. It looks cool on girls and boys alike, the perfect pack for the city life style. This model is by far the best interactive backpack Burton has ever launched.

The iPod remote control on the shoulder strap is based on the SOFTswitch remote system that gives you complete control of your iPod’s playback functions.

One note for caution: being a Wearable Electronic retro fashion item, the Amp works only with iPod’s up to Generation 4 that have the headphone jack with a little slot next to it. This Amp Pack will not work with the newer iPods like Nano, Shuffle, Video iPod or iPod Touch.

You need go retro with your iPod as well. Nevertheless, if you still have one of those older iPod models on hand and are on the look out for a real cool backpack, the Amp Pack is something you might consider.

Music in your ear might be the price drop from $239.90 at the time of introduction down to $107.96 as seen on this online store or on that online store.

Retro in fashion is something that has been around for many years but with the addition of technology there can be some consequences like in this case where the technology (iPod) is not available anymore. I am not saying this is a problem but it is a point to watch out when buying Retro Interactive Fashion.

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Spyder’s Groove Backpack is a gorgeous looking pack, sleek yet sophisticated style, one of my favorites from the interactive bag department.

The interactivity is an on-board sound system, the whole front side is a large speaker working on the ‘exciter’ flat-speaker technology from NXT.

This stealth sound system fits perfectly into the Groove’s overall design. The pack just radiates sound without any hint of a speaker visible.

Like we said in our introduction of the Groove Backpack last October, this speaker technology might not give the ‘boomy’ punch off your tunes but the overall sound quality is very good.

Powered by 3x AAA batteries, the Groove will play for around 7 hours depending on the volume level you need for your action. You can plug into the Groove any audio player with a standard 3.5mm headphone connector.

With a volume of 25L and multiple compartments, the Groove Backpack takes not only great sound on-board but all the stuff you ever need in any situation.

At a price point of $ 119.95 during introduction, the Groove was already a value for money buy. During my window shopping on the internet - actually checking out our links to the online shops we post - I found a real bargain for the Groove Backpack: $69.00 - follow this link to see for yourself.

It will be hard to find another backpack looking that cool and has an integrated sound system for such a low price.

You can thank me for this tip with a nice comment

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Sunload a Germany based company that puts sun in bags has already a nice range of different Solar bags starting from the Messenger models available in many different color combination to the Business bags and trolley up to the briefcase with solar panel.

But there is more coming out of Sunload as they announced new models including (from left to right) a Solar Shopper bag, a Solar Backpack in two sizes and the British Woodland made from Camouflage fabric from the British, Austrian and German army. No prices or availability date yet.

It seems that most if not all Solar bag producer take the environmental issue very serious and combine clean and renewable energy generation - the solar cells - and the use of recycled material for the bag.

Sunload’s bags start from $ 709.- (€ 479.-) for the basic bags up to $ 1,917.0 (€ 1,299.-) for the briefcase. You can order all Sunload products via their online store.

But this is not all Sunload has to offer. DIY enthusiasts can buy the Solar panel for $ 146.10 (€ 99.-) or a complete system containing the Solar Charger,cable and connectors and a Solar Panel for $ 500.- (€ 339.-)

The solar charger can be controlled by via a keypad with illuminated status display. The internal lithium-ion battery has a performance similar to laptop batteries (70Wh) and a capacity of 4.500mAh

Two USB connectors (5V) and one car-adaptor (12V) are available on the charger.

The Solar panel delivers ~6W, a voltage of ~16,7V and current of ~360mAh.

This systems allows everyone to create a very personal Solar charging bag without the need of any electronic knowledge. Just drop the solar panel and electronic into your favorite bag, get into the sun and off the power grid.

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