My pal Frankie was the envy of our classmates back at school; he had a Casio calculator watch that the teachers seemed completely oblivious to in maths exams. iPods, smartphones and the like have made exam cheating methods like that seem primitive, but there's still room for a mix of old-school and high-tech answer-sneaking methods in the test room today.

One of our favourite cheating tools is the new "Back to School" case range from Proporta for the iPhone 4. Durable hard-shells with camera and button cut-outs, they're available with a full map of the Periodic Table for science nuts, a grid of times tables answers and a fun doodle version too, with a non-dusty chalkboard version in the works too.

£14.95 a throw from Proporta, that's money well spent when your perfect GCSE scores land you a job in astrophysics. Just don't tell the head that we helped out, or we'll rush you behind the bike sheds.

Logitech have entered the busy tablet accessory market, launching a trio of new products today compatible with iOS and Android slate devices.

Keyboards, wireless speakers and typist's cases all feature.

"People love their tablets -- the category is growing quickly and is here to stay," said Azmat Ali, Logitech senior director for tablet products.

"We've created a great line-up of products for tablet users, and it's just the beginning. Over the coming months you can expect to see additional products for iPad and Android tablets that are designed to help people create, consume and communicate."

Click below for a closer look at each new Logitech product.

I'm an avid reader and since getting my Kindle 3G, Amazon's ereader literally goes everywhere with me. I take it to work for the commute, read it on the toilet, I even sleep with it by my pillow, much to the annoyance of my girlfriend.

But one area of my life the Kindle has yet to penetrate so far is bathtime. I couldn't risk my most prized gadget getting ruined by suds and soap, no matter how much I needed find out what was in 1984's Room 101.

Until now that is.

Thanks to Proporta's waterproof BeachBouy case, I can now soak and read at the same time. Designed with the Kindle second and third generation models in mind, it'll keep any device that fits within its 19.2 x 12.2 x 1.3cm (H x W x D) pouch dry.

Conforming to the British Standards Institute IP57 and IP58 levels, it's waterproof up to a depth of 5 metres, with its transparent covering allowing for full operation of your ereader.

Click here to grab one direct from Proporta, priced £14.95.

Quick out of the blocks after the flood of new tablet and handset releases at last week's Mobile World Congress conference are Proporta, who already have a range of new cases waiting in the wings for many of the new phones and tablets.

"We had a wonderful time at MWC and were so excited by all the amazing handsets we saw demoed", said Lynnette Prigmore, Head of Products at Proporta.

"It certainly got us thinking and as soon as we got back we started to work our magic on potential ideas for protection. After all, these great handsets wouldn't be much good with cracked screens and scratches! We hope our customers like our ideas and we would love to hear if there are any of our ranges they would like to see extended to these devices too."

These renders show planned covers for the LG Optimus 3D, HTC Flyer and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10-incher among others, which should all be winging their way to the Proporta store in the near future.

Click below to check out the new designs.

Brighton-based artist Ben Allen has teamed up with the iPhone case pros over at Proporta to launch snazzy new range of Jesus Phone coverings. Allen (whose work has been bought by celebrities including Richard Branson, Stephen Dorff and Jade Jagger) will initially launch two iPhone 4 cases, Skull and Zebra, before expanding the range later in the year.

Drawing influence from as wide-ranging sources as comic book covers to Mexico's "Day of the Dead", Allen's colourful designs look set to give the iPhone's sleek lines an edgy makeover.

"This is a great project and I am excited not only to be working with Proporta, but also to see the reaction to my designs and how they translate onto these products," Allen commented.

Lynnette Prigmore, Head of Products for Proporta, was equally enthusiastic; "We're really pleased to introduce Ben Allen as part of the new 'Proporta Collaborates' collection. Not only is Ben a fellow Brighton local, but his paintings have also been exhibited in galleries and venues worldwide. We anticipate that this new collection will be very well received. Our customers are becoming much more design focused and want to accessorise, as well as protect, their mobile gadgets."

You can grab the cases direct from Proporta by clicking here, priced £24.99.

Cases, as useful as they undeniably may be at protecting your cherished gadgets, are pretty boring usually. In fact, most of the time they are down-right f'ugly. It's fitting then, that our favourite iPad case to pop up in a long time takes its inspiration from the same place budding designers and artists first got the bug for drawing and creating their own cool designs.

We're talking about the Etch-A-Sketch, which has now been turned into a retro-cool iPad case. It doesn't do much other than look pretty and protect your tablet, leaving gaps for headphones and chargers etc and having a small kickstand on the rear, but we're smitten. It's a shame someone didn't make an official Etch-A-Sketch iPad app to launch alongside it.

Having said all that, I was pretty rubbish at Etch-A-Sketch. Was it just me, or did you have to have a degree in Maths to make anything other than a square? My pictures always used to come out like a cubist's nightmare.

Still, it looks darn cool. Just don't try to shake the iPad screen clean. Probably wont do its insides much good.

£29.99 from IWOOT.

Whether you are a professional photographer or just like to take the odd snapshot, it is important to have a good camera bag to lug your gear around in and to keep it protected. So to help you find the right bag for you, we have pulled together a list of our top 5 camera bags.

Your iPhone 4 getting a bit dusty while you wait for Apple to fix the signalling problems? Well if there's one thing at least it can handle for the moment, it'll be getting dressed up all snazzy like with these new "Chic" cases from Proporta.

Available in three different styles (nautical stripes, floral or zebra print), the patent leather cases have a mirror on the inside to fix your make-up, or take out that juicy spot that's just being dying for a poke since it invaded your personal face-space.

Interested? Head over to the Proporta website to check them out.

The iPhone 4 has been plagued with signal and reception issues since going on sale late last week. With no sure fire fix in sight (unless you're prepared to hold the phone in a ridiculous fashion or hold out for some sort of potential firmware solution) you might be dropping important calls left, right and centre.

Or, you could try this new case from Proporta....

Their Antimicrobial Silicone case manages to clear up the signalling issue, whilst also protecting the shatter-prone screen from bumps and scratches. The germ-killing coating also means that your iPhone is a hygienic little blower, so it may well eliminate scratchy conversations due to sore throats too.

Now Proporta don't go into detail as to how the reception fix works, but apparently it gives a much needed boost to the phone's signalling problems. Perhaps the antimicrobial coating improves the phone's immune system? I know I'm not up to much if I get all germed up.

What? You got a better reason?

Click here to give it a look.

We all want to keep our freshly bought gadgets in tip-top condition, but when the CEO of Apple starts saying you should buy a case for your iPhone 4 to help with signalling issues, you start to wonder if there's some massive accessory conspiracy ticking under the radar.

Still, at least Griffin's cases are always tasteful, and this latest range of iPhone 4 gear is no exception.

Girffin's Elan Passport Wallet is a bit of a jack of all trades. Featuring a microsuede lining to protect the smartphone from bumps and scrapes, it's folio style hinge reveals a handful of compartments for holding your credit and business cards. The Elan Passport Wallet costs £29.99 and is available in black from O2 or platinum from Phones 4 You.

If you're after something a little simpler, try out their Reveal cover. It's a polycarbonate shell that clasps onto the phone to help it avoid scuffs and scratches. It also features a this rubber lining that should give the iPhone 4 some much needed shock-absorption should you drop it from a reasonable height. The Reveal costs £19.99 and is available from the Carphone Warehouse.

Name: Infinit Solar Charger Bag

Type: Backback with solar-powered gadget charging technology

Price: £89.99 (Infinit)

As the Summer sun slowly begins to peek through the ever-present layer of British cloud-cover, you're probably looking to head on out, tastelessly displaying your milk bottle legs in a pair of shorts, beer in hand, ready to catch some rays. You'll probably want to bring an MP3 player with you for a few tunes and your mobile to call your mates on too. But what if a technophile's worst nightmare comes true and you suddenly find yourself without any battery power for your many gadgets? Enter the Infinit Solar Charger Bag to save the day.

The bag features a 2.4w photovoltaic solar panel on its outside to harvest the sun's rays ,which it then stores in a high capacity 2000mAH Li-ion battery, safely stored away in a pouch inside. Detach the battery from the solar panel and you're then free to use its stored energy to power hundreds and hundreds of devices using the myriad included connections. These include anything from a Nintendo DS to an iPhone or TomTom GPS device (click here to view the full list of compatible devices). You can even plug the battery into both the solar panel and the gadget to be charged at the same time, giving you continuous power providing you stay in quite strong sunlight. The battery can also be pre-charged from a mains supply if you want ready portable energy before you leave the house.

It's a great, green way to stay charged while on the go, and requires very little fuss to attach the many compatible devices it's capable of powering. The battery itself has a great capacity, offering roughly enough power to charge an iPhone twice-over when it has maximum solar power stored. Charging the battery is not always a smooth process though; the length of time it takes to fully power up the battery is very dependant on the amount of sunlight you expose the solar panel to. On a day of bright weather it hit maximum capacity within a reasonable 8 hours, but on a dark, wet, overcast day it was closer to 11 or 12 hours, give or take. It's also worth noting that the Infinit Solar Charger Bags currently don't support charging abilities for laptops or netbooks, though Infinit have suggested this will be on the way in later designs.

As a rucksack, the Inifinit Solar Charger Bag can't be knocked. It's a little weighty at 1.4kg, thanks to the built-in solar panel, but it seems more spacious than its 25 litre capacity would suggest. There are copious amounts of pockets and pouches, including an elasticated spot for laptops up to 15 inches in size. Straps are heavily padded and adjustable, and there's a clever mesh air-flow system for keeping your back cool while the bag is being carried. All in, it's a well built bag that should easily see you through some rugged usage.

How useful you'll find the Infinit Solar Charger Bag is, quite obviously, down to how much time you spend in the sun. It's a great rucksack by conventional standards, with plenty of space and useful pockets, and it is very comfortable on the back, even during prolonged, intensive journeys. But if you live in a dreary corner of the world weather-wise, you may feel that the extra premium you pay for the solar tech wont be worth it. On the other hand, if you're an outdoors type who is always out hiking, is looking to do a bit of globe-trotting or are even planning on attending a couple of music festivals this year then it really comes into its own, providing on-the-go power from Mother Nature herself.

4/5

The iPad may be one of Apple's most glamorous products to date, but if you want to keep the touchscreen tablet in good nick you're going to want to invest in a top-notch case or cover.

Just as with the iPhone, there are loads of accessories vying for both your attention and your cash. But which ones are any good? Shiny Shiny's Anna and her assistant Brendan give a run down on the best of the bunch from tech add-on manufacturers Griffn and Speck.

Hit the video above to check it out.

If you're the sort of person who keeps a track on your carbon footprint with every carefully weighted step, you may want to have a look at Proporta's latest Smart range of eco-freindly smartphone cases.

With a strong focus on sustainability, these green screen protectors and pouches feature no wasted packaging whatsoever. In a spark of genius, the bamboo packaging which lets the pouch hang on retail store hooks is removed and put inside a pocket of the hessian or recycled leather pouches to give your handset maximum protection.

Guy Monson, co-founder of Proporta said: "In early 2008, we decided that we wanted to do more than simply pay money to offset carbon emissions and rename products 'green'. 

"Ever since then we've been conducting extensive research on how we can run our business in a more sustainable manner - looking at every aspect, from the drawing board to the manufacturing and supply chain.  Proporta Smart is the culmination of this and we hope we shall be able to adapt some of the best features from the range into the rest of our products".

Pouches and screen protectors are available for the iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch, iPod Classic, iPod Nano, Blackberry Bold 2, and HTC Desire. There is also a cover for Apple's iPad available in the range, which also doubles up as a free-standing tablet holder.

Prices start at £19.95. Click here to check out the Proporta Smart range in full.

If you're a swimmer, then you'll know what a pain it is when cases that claim to be 'waterproof' leak, and your iPod suddenly dies mid-breaststroke. Well, here's a waterproof case that has won an award for best iPod Shuffle case of the year, and intriguingly, clips to the back of your head.

Makers H2O Audio reckon that it'll go down to 3.6m deep, and because it's positioned on the back of your head, it reduces "water drag". It'll attach easily to your googles, so it won't fall off, though what the sound quality is like on the attached headphones when you're underwater remains to be seen. Oh, and did I mention it costs £60? Pick it up from the H2O Audio website.

H2O Audio

Related posts: American Flag iPod case | 45 iPod case - made out of an old 45 record

I normally turn my nose perhaps not so much up but certainly sideways in search of something more interesting when I read about yet more iPhone covers, but Wrappers is something altogether much more special.

This is a good, honest, grass roots British site who will custom make a case for whatever hardware you like. Who wants their nice, little 8.9" Asus shaking round in a big old laptop case and why squeeze a 10" Wind into a classic sub-notebook protector? Every time someone orders a new size for a new notebook, they'll keep the dimensions on the shelf for any more that get ordered.

It's a beautiful piece. The cheap case gives it a pleasingly utilitarian early-1990s design appearance, with simplistic buttons you could easily believe Nintendo would've chucked into a handheld SNES - had it bothered to make one back in the day. And look at that chunky power button. Imagine the satisfying click.

The poor guy started his portable SNES project last Christmas and eventually finished it last week. Here's how it turned out.

The chap used an off-the-shelf plastic case to whack most of the SNES bits in, then further customised the hell out of it by building his own cartridge slot to stick on the back. It also boasts two internal lithium-polymer batteries, an original SNES d-pad for authenticity when pulling off dragon punches, plus AV and headphone jacks for connectivity.

It's not a case mod. It's art. Well done, that youth. Check out his online photo diary for all the details on how he did it.

(Via Ben Heck's forum)

Related posts: Pink Floyd 'The Wall' PC case mod | NES controller coffee table

With all these new laptops coming out, you'll need something nice and snug to keep them in when travelling.

OverBoard has announced its Carbon range of travel bags, comprising a Messenger Bag, Backpack and Waist Pack, made from premium environmentally friendly thermoplastic polyurethane to offer complete waterproof protection.

The hammers, the bricks, the screaming face, there can only be one theme to this hot-rod case mod. That's right you PC Pink Floyders, I feel you tremble. This is indeed a "The Wall" inspired tower. Tasty, isn't it?

This Tate-worthy creation from the gents at Mnpctech is another in their fine range of specialist PC modifications and I highly recommend taking a look at the pictures and the Youtube video on how it was made. Unfortunately, it wont be available in the shops but If you have any remote DIY abilities - which I certainly do not - there's enough info for you there to make one of these for yourself.

Kensington is introducing 'a touch of glamour to female office workers' daily commute' (yes they really said that) with the Contour Balance laptop bags.

The new Contour Balance bags are compact, ergonomic and made from rugged, water-resistant fabrics, with an impact-resistant laptop compartment for extra security.

Following on from the initial buzz of the MacBook air being as thin as two sheets of paper and the ensuing envelope-related laptop sleeves, Civilian has thrown their hat into the ring with AirManila, another take on the classic manila envelope.

Crafted from textured leather and hand stitched, AirManila has a cushioned interior and heat vents to keep your kit as comfortable as possible in transit. You'll have to provide your own 'Do Not Bend' sticker, but at only $55, you can probably get a gold-plated sticker to accompany it.

Civilian

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