Yeah we know we’ve added a lot of Mandarina Duck this week… But can you blame us!?!! We’re so in love with Mandarina Duck bags that we can’t stop. The new batch of bags just added include 12 new styles of wallet from the ‘File’ and ‘Workbag’ ranges, a few new handbags from the ‘Sweet’ line and a few other bags here and there.

Mandarina Duck wallets now start from $85.

We’re excited to announce that we’ve just launched Mandarina Duck MD20 on Rushfaster. The MD20 range of handbags is one of the biggest success stories in the history of Mandarina Duck.

Mixing fresh colours, european design and non-standard materials, MD20 sets itself apart from other bags. Their specially developed fabric ‘Mitrix’ is an iridescent fabric made by combining three different coloured threads to create a truely unique style.

Take a look at Mandarina Duck MD20 Handbags

I hate cables, it’s such a battle to keep them tidy. The sooner we can get everything onto wireless technology the better but in the mean time I guess I’ll just have to put up with them. The good news is that even though I can’t get rid of the cables, I can put them in their place.

Who would have thought that such a simple contraption as a Cable Turtle could make such a difference. Once I discovered these little things I went crazy with them… Kowabunga! I turtled everything.

I was going to take a photo of everything I used it for around the office and house but it would just take me too long, so here’s a list of some of the things I’ve used it for..

- My mouse cord (that was the first thing!)
- Voip headset cable
- Laptop power cable
- Laptop extension power cable
- Monitor cables
- Electric toothbrush power cable
- Hair dryer cable
- iPod earphones
- Digital camera data cable
- Nokia mobile phone data cable

If you take a look at the picture above (the ‘before’ photo), you’ll see some of the cables that I have to deal with. I actually tried to arrange them neatly so that you know I’m not just dramatising the situation. I have to carry some of those items in a bag and usually when I take them out I have to untangle them - pain.

Now if you look at the picture below (the ‘after’ photo) you’ll know why I love these things so much.

See the Cable Turtles

Just to demonstrate how easy they are to use:

And finally here is a quick guide to what size Cable Turtles you need for different types of cables:

Finally someone has released a high quality neoprene laptop sleeve and better yet, it’s got style.

The Look:
When I first saw the Built NY Laptop sleeve I didn’t actually immediately think of a laptop sleeve. It didn’t have a conventional blocky shape like other laptop sleeves and it had an hourglass shape and shark like gills on the two sides! It was very interesting so I took a closer look and I was further impressed when I found that there were pragmatic reasons for the design and it wasn’t just a way to make it look interesting.

Built NY laptop sleeves are available in blue, black and multi-stripe.

The Built NY laptop sleeve has convenient dual zipper access. The zip has large plastic teeth, this means that my laptop won’t get scratched on the way in or out of the laptop sleeve. Large teeth also means that the zip is stronger and at the end of the day, it gives the sleeve a nice finish.

The inside of the laptop sleeve has a soft fleece lining - I have yet to see another neoprene laptop sleeve with fleece lining or any sort of lining for that matter.

The Wear:
This Built NY laptop sleeve acts like a laptop glove. The shark gills pull the side of the laptop sleeve towards the center, so when I inserted my laptop, it actually hugged it. So I can also use it with a smaller laptop because it will hug it nicely anyway! Now that explains the shark gills and the hourglass shape.

The laptop sleeve has visible zig-zag stitching with high quality thread along its perimeter to reinforce the straight stitching. Again it’s pragmatic but adds to the overall aesthetics of the laptop sleeve.

The Laptop Protection:
The Built NY laptop sleeves are made of 5mm Wetsuit Grade Neoprene. Please note that the neoprene grade is a very important factor when selecting a neoprene sleeve, not all neoprene laptop sleeves available in the market are of the same quality. Most of the other neoprene sleeves use a cheaper, thinner and non-wetsuit grade neoprene material - which means the laptop gets less protection and that’s why you pay less for them. But if you think about it, the whole reason for getting a laptop sleeve is to protect your laptop - so why skimp on the quality of the sleeve, I wouldn’t.

I could definitely feel the quality of the Built NY laptop sleeve with my PowerBook inside, there is a BIG difference from other neoprene laptop sleeves. That’s why Rushfaster recommends the Built NY neoprene laptop sleeve as one of the best available.

This is an all time favourite from Rushfaster. I’ve had an All The King’s Men Midi Laptop Messenger Bag for about 2 years now and I’m still loving it, so I think it deserves a review from me. So here we go:

The Look:
The thing that makes this bag such a funky laptop bag and super stylish messenger bag, is the genuine airplane seatbelt that is used as the shoulder strap. It’s totally ingenious. I actually use this bag equally as a messenger bag and a laptop bag because it rocks! Everyone who has seen me with the ATKM has said that it’s a cool messenger bag - which is great because I love the attention

The airplane buckle is actually fastened with a screw underneath to stop it from being released. The reason for this is to stop touchy people from lifting up the flap and unbuckling your shoulder strap - as you can imagine this could be disastrous if you had a laptop inside the bag. If you really want to be able to unbuckle it then you can remove the screw at anytime, which is fine if you’re not using it as a laptop bag.

The other thing you will notice about the ATKM is that the rest of the bag has a very minimal and timeless look, it’s not full of pockets or fancy dangly bits. It has one pocket for your power pack and a laptop compartment. The laptop compartment has a padded divider which is velcro adjustable. This lets you adjust the section to hug your laptop snugly and also acts as a divider for your folders and files.

The Wear:
The ATKM has a slim design which means that there isn’t lots of room. When I put my laptop in the bag there is only room left for another folder and notepad. There is a small external pocket for the power pack which is handy. When I’m not using it with the laptop there is plenty of room for books and folders - I use the external pocket for my wallet and iPod.

As much as I loved the seatbelt strap, I didn’t think that it looked very comfortable. But after trying it on, it actually felt pretty good. Obviously padding would improve it but if you are anything like me, then you’d be more than happy to sacrifice a bit of comfort in the name of style!

The exterior of the bag is made from Superdux 300 Polyester/Cotton 300 gsm Canvas - mouthful. Basically it’s a pretty sturdy material that is water resistant and it’s true because I have been caught in the rain with it.

The Laptop Protection:
The ATKM laptop messenger bag has a good 5mm padding all around, protecting my PowerBook laptop from bumps and scratches. Having said that I am always careful when carrying my laptop around, no matter which bag I’m using. All laptop bags have different levels of protection, this laptop bag is perfectly suited for going to the office or walking around town but not riding a motor cycle. If I know that I have to remove my laptop out of the laptop bag for any reason ie. at the airport, then I usually put my laptop into a laptop sleeve. I would recommend a Built NY neoprene laptop sleeve or a Booq Vyper laptop sleeve . This means that my precious laptop doesn’t have to touch the crappy trays they use for the security check.

By the way, I have the ATKM Midi which I use for my Apple Powerbook 15, it also fits the Apple MacBook Pro 15. There are two other sizes available for the Apple MacBook 13 inch and Apple MacBook Pro 17. And of course they fit a variety of PC laptops.

Every season db clay hand silk-screen 200 wallets with their signature print - each time altering the colour pallet. This season db clay have produced a really nice wallet in three different shades of green. Along with the special print, these wallets also feature grass green thread, matt black gaffers tape lining and are all signed and numbered by Alex Steckly. There are only 200 of these wallets in the world and Australia has about 15 of them.

db clay Ms Frey Green

Can you believe it’s Christmas already?! We thought you might like to browse our gift recommendations for him and for her.

A big thanks to The Sunday Herald Sun for their excellent laptop bag article. They had heaps of bags to choose from and we made it into most of the categories. Being a Victorian publication, it took us a while to find a copy in Sydney but it was well worth it!

Looks cool huh!? The Red Maloo wrap is a high quality felt laptop sleeve made in Germany. It opens up on all four sides to form a workstation, the arms are great to use as a mouse pad and it won’t matter if you’re left handed or right handed.

When you’re done working, simply close your laptop, fold all the arms into the center and secure them using the strong velcro tabs sewn onto the felt. This is possibly the most elegant and stylish laptop sleeve we’ve ever seen.

We have sizes for all the Macbooks and Macbook Pros, it should also fit a range of PC notebooks.