Happy Valentine’s Day from Soft Touch!

It’s that time of year again! Let Soft Touch take the stress out of selecting the perfect box of chocolates for your sweetheart with a festive option perfect for any iPad user. The Flex Mount for iPad is available in a wide variety of colors- including pink- and is just the gift for your tech lover this Valentine’s day. And with our special holiday discount it’s easy on the bank account, too.

Flowers wilt, but the Flex Mount is useful year-round. Here is our list of reasons your sweetie will love a Flex Mount around the house:

• Reaching a new level in Angry Birds is a whole lot easier with your iPad securely fastened to the desk.
• Track game stats (with decreased risk of beer spills) with your iPad clamped in the den during the next big game.
• Release your culinary genius in the kitchen with your iPad safely attached to the counter, ready to record your ground breaking new recipe.
• Occupy your bundle of joy with their favorite video at the table while you tackle that pesky home project you’ve been meaning to get to.

Visit our website to order now, and use the code vday2013 to receive 20% off your order during the month of February!

Macworld 2013

We are home from San Francisco and feeling inspired after a whirlwind weekend at Macworld 2013. This annual event brings together a community of tech-lovers for a weekend of talks, expos, networking and general Apple-product celebration. We saw everything from Apple technology-infused art, music and film, to exhibit halls filled with products and services for all levels of Mac users.

Being invited to share a booth with TinyLightbulbs at the event was a great opportunity for us to showcase our products and meet customers who loved their Flex Mounts. Even better, we got to listen to customers and reviewers who had great ideas for improvements and new Soft Touch products. We met resellers interested in helping us get increased visibility in retail stores across the country and listened to innovators with ideas for new product lines. We were interested to hear of a need for a clamp that attaches to a cylinder pole, in addition to the clamp as it’s currently sold. Increased applications in hospitals or on wheelchairs for customers with disabilities has us thinking of new ways to expand our product and meet the needs of a wider variety of iPad users.

While a huge motivation for attending this year’s Macworld was to show off the Flex Mount for iPad, we equally enjoyed checking out all the amazing innovation currently happening in the Apple world. We learned how many Macs it took to land the Curiosity Rover on Mars (which is a lot, apparently), uncovered useful iOS 6 tips and secrets, and even caught a special appearance from celebrity Ashton Kutcher, star of the upcoming Steve Jobs biopic.

We can’t wait to incorporate the momentum from this weekend into new products and innovation at Soft Touch. The sense of community at Macworld was phenomenal, and we can’t wait to attend again next year!

In With the New

Each new year pushes us to makes significant changes – it’s funny how something as simple as the numeral of the year moving forward one digit (and a sparkly ball dropping in New York city) can give us the inspiration to evaluate old ways and create new ones.

Soft Touch is no exception to this “out with the old, in with the new” phenomenon as we also felt the spark to create new and exciting things for 2013. What’s new?

• Our website! We’ve redesigned it to be more user-friendly and to have more photos to help you decide which products will best suit your needs. There are also helpful how-to videos.
• Our product! The “Stage,” is much sleeker and compact for people who exclusively want to use their mount on a mic stand and would like to forgo the quick release clutch for the simpler look with improved portrait and landscape locking.
• Colors! We are now offering the Flex Holder in a rainbow of colors, including red, pink, blue, green, black and white.

We are excited to see what 2013 has in store for us – and for you! Check out what’s new at: http://www.softtouchmfg.com/products/

 

Color Brings Technology to Life

The technology industry has come a long way – and we’re not talking about impressive memory capacity nor blazing fast processing speed. We’re talking about color. It’s something so simple, yet it’s changed the way we interact with our technology, gadgets and the world, much like that scene from The Wizard of Oz where a formerly black and white Dorothy lands in Oz and walks out into a mysterious Technicolor land.

When Apple first introduced the colorful iMac computer back in 1999, our beige-trained eyes weren’t sure how we were going to handle staring at a computer that was strawberry, blueberry, grape, lime or tangerine. And honestly, some of us felt a little fruity about it. But what we came to realize (thank you Steve Jobs!) was that adding color to something that’s functional somehow makes the user’s experience more personal and ultimately, more enjoyable.

This trend has only continued to grow over the past fourteen years with personalized colors and covers for anything and everything from iPods to laptops to tablets. Soft Touch is thrilled to be a part of this movement by offering our Flex Holder in a rainbow of hues, including red, pink, blue, green, black and white. The Flex Holder gives users a hands-free relationship with their iPad, offering stability and flexibility for a personalized viewing experience. And there’s nothing fruity about that! Learn more: http://www.softtouchmfg.com/

 

Square Payment Processing for the iPad

The little white square that’s a credit card reader when plugged into the headphone jack on your iPad looks like something from the future, and we all utter a collective “oooooh” as we see it work so seamlessly. Its impact is changing the way small and big companies (think Starbucks!) start, run and grow their businesses.

Square allows merchants to take credit card payments from anywhere – at trade shows and conventions, on the street, in the office, at outdoor events and more. The service charges either a monthly flat fee of $275 or a small rate of 2.75% of the total transaction for Visa, American Express, MasterCard and Discover – making this option affordable for small and large businesses alike. There are no setup fees or long-term contracts, making Square an option that’s a competitive option for all budgets.

Most importantly, Square lets businesses do what they love and get paid. And, Soft Touch is thrilled to be a partner in this hands-free payment processing option. With the Soft Touch Flex Holder, merchants can securely display and use their iPad and Square card reader, quickly turning any countertop or table edge into a place of business.

Welcome to the future of business with Square and Soft Touch’s Flex Holder. Learn more: http://www.softtouchmfg.com/

 

Before and After the iPad

The iPad and all of its glorious apps has proven that tablets are not just a flash in the pan – they’re here to stay. Not only does it entertain us, lighten our load and make Googling in bed a reality, the iPad and its apps have literally changed the way businesses operate – for the better.

Don’t believe us? Imagine if you will…Bob goes on a business trip, lands in his destination city and takes a taxi to his hotel. In the taxi, a light bulb goes on and Bob has a game-changing idea for his business. Later, on his way to a meeting, he bumps into a past colleague who asks Bob what he’s up to these days.

Before Bob had an iPad, here’s what would’ve happened: In the taxi, Bob would’ve had to dig through his bag to hopefully find a scrap of paper to write his brilliant idea on. Even if he found one (and a pen and a surface to write on), he probably stuffed that torn scrap of paper into a bag or pocket, never to be found again. Big idea missed. Upon meeting his old colleague, Bob would give his 30-second canned speech about what his current company does.

It works. But, it could work a whole lot better. Enter Bob and his iPad: In the taxi ride, Bob reaches for his iPad and quickly types his idea into Evernote – even adds some drawings and a related website he wants to check out – done. He knows right where to find it. As he and his old colleague chat later, Bob says, “Let me show you what my new company is doing,” and opens up an impressive PowerPoint slideshow on his iPad using SlideShark.

This is what doing business in the 21^st century looks like. And with Soft Touch’s Flex Mount and Flex Holder, businesses can enjoy a stable, hands-free, ergonomic experience with their iPad that makes a day at the office feel like a day at the beach. Learn more: http://www.softtouchmfg.com/products/

 

Apps for Moms

Busy moms know that their iPad® holds the secret to making life less of a scramble – it offers an extra hand in the daily juggle, whether they’re syncing the family calendar while soothing the baby, paying bills online while helping with homework or reading a digital recipe for cookies while cracking an egg. Moms just have a knack for making it look easy, especially when they have these must-have apps in their corner…

- Best Baby Monitor – see your baby. Hear your baby. Talk to your baby. Parents can use two iOS devices as a reliable and easy-to-use video baby monitor and more. Perfect for travel and spontaneous naps!

- AnyList – create and share a variety of organized shopping lists with other members of the family (hint: dad).

- Drawing Pad – it’s not just the kids that will want to create their own art using photo-realistic crayons, markets, paintbrushes, colored pencils, stickers, roller pens and more in this mobile art studio.

- Mint – easily organize your finances with categorized transactions, get an overview of monthly spending with colorful graphs and charts and set personalized budgets with this on-the-go money monitor.

- Instagram – snap and edit your favorite photos with filters that boost color, adjust focus or give an old school look and then easily share them with those closest to you via your favorite social media channels.

Soft Touch’s Flex Holder with clamp makes completing the never-ending list of daily tasks even more of a snap with its ability to securely attach a tablet to almost any edge, freeing up mom’s hands for more important duties like wiping noses and giving hugs. Learn more: http://www.softtouchmfg.com/products/

iPad Shoulder

The iPad® has become a welcomed – and even worshipped – staple in the lives of many techies. A typical day for them may include waking up to their iPad’s retro alarm app, checking their Accuweather report, streaming a radio broadcast from across the globe and reading the morning’s digital newspaper – and it’s not even 8 a.m. yet!

With the popularity of frequent iPad usage, it’s no joke that there is an actual term called “iPad Shoulder” (Google it, you’ll see!) You can probably guess what it is – it refers to the strained neck, shoulder and head muscles that arise from iPad viewing when it’s held in one’s lap. Who knew the iPad could be such a pain in the neck?

A recent study done by Microsoft and the U.S. Department of Environmental Health found that whether you are watching a movie or typing, keeping your iPad or other tablet on your lap places greater strain on your neck and shoulders, which can not only hurt, but potentially cause greater posture issues in the long run. Chiropractors everywhere are feeling job security like never before!

According to the ergonomic study, the best way to hold or use your iPad is with a product like Soft Touch’s Flex Holder or Mount Kit which securely raises the height of the tablet, keeping your spine closest to a neutral position, which will help prevent neck, back and shoulder pain while using the iPad.

Protect your neck! Learn more about our products here: http://www.softtouchmfg.com/products/.

 

Innovative iPad Apps You May Have Missed

The iPad’s® capabilities continue to explode with seemingly endless possibilities of what it can do – some of which make our daily lives a breeze and others are, well, a complete time suck (albeit fun). While you have been busy flinging feathered creatures into surly pigs, here are a handful of out-of-the-box apps for iPad that you may have missed…

- FlipTime XL – an old-school, ‘flickable’ flight info board, clock & calendar that includes alarms.

- The CIA World Factbook – provides fast access to succinct, informative facts about over 250 countries.

- Star Walk – allows user to easily locate and identify 20,000+ objects in the night sky including constellations, stars, planets, satellites and galaxies currently overhead from anywhere on Earth.

- Comics – a library of popular comics (DC, Marvel, etc.) with a special reader that makes reading small type easy on the eyes.

- Find My iPad – if you misplace your iPad (or iPhone) this app will help you locate your missing device on a map, remotely lock your device or erase all the data on it.

With a variety of ways to keep us interested and engaged (and yes, possibly obsessed), the iPad and Soft Touch’s Flex Holder and Mount Kits have made connecting with your inner geek not only fun, but functional. Learn more: http://www.softtouchmfg.com/products/

 

Best Musician Apps

You’ve got the guitar, you’ve got the obscure band name, but do you have all the latest and greatest apps and accessories for your iPad that that the hassle out of being a musician? From laying down tracks to selling T-shirts, the iPad and Soft Touch’s Flex Mount allows you to be hands-free from your first demo to the last fan out the door.

Before you scribble out a set list on a napkin or lug around all your piles of sheet music (and awkward stand), check out the list below to see if you are using your iPad to it’s fullest. Did you know that the iPad can be used as a…

-        Recording device (GarageBand)

-        Guitar tuner (iStroboSoft)

-        DM1 (Drum Machine)

-        Sheet music reader (forScore)

-        Set lists organizer and lyric viewer (Setlists)

-        Musical instrument (Korg iElectribe)

-        Amplifier replacement (iRig)

-        Metronome (Tempo)

-        Payment processor for selling merch at shows (Square).

Welcome to the future of music – even Marty McFly didn’t see this coming. The iPad has literally changed the face of music-making, and now the Soft Touch Flex Mount for the iPad has revolutionized how musicians everywhere use the device. Learn more: http://www.softtouchmfg.com/products/.