Other options exist. For a while, I was considering an AirStash<\/a>. This is a wireless transmitter for the contents of an SD Card which works with a companion iPad app. It\u2019s not expensive, only $100, but hard to get in the UK without the help of Bundlebox<\/a> and crucially the battery only lasts five hours without a recharge (and you can\u2019t transmit from it while it\u2019s recharging).<\/p>\n In the end, I wound up getting a 320Gb Hyperdrive<\/a>\u00a0for $200 which has turned out to share many of the same limitations as the Camera Connection Kit option, but thankfully not all. It\u2019s a kludge of the Camera Connection Kit software, \u201cfooling\u201d the iPad into thinking that it\u2019s importing files from a camera and although it again denies you access to filenames, and tends to provide only black thumbnails, you can have folders and sub-folders on the disk and navigate through them, so I\u2019ve just put each file in a folder which identifies it. I copied my iTunes movie folder on to it, and most movies were already in an appropriately-named folder which saves time. With TV series box-sets, it was a bit more laborious. I had to create a folder called Breaking Bad S2, and then 13 sub-folders, each called Breaking Bad 2.x, each with one episode in. Sounds tedious, but actually it only took a minute or two. When plugged in to a laptop, the Hyperdrive behaves like any other USB drive. Plugged into the iPad with a mini-USB lead, via the Camera Connection Kit \u2013 take note<\/span><\/em>, it takes 4-5 minutes to copy a whole movie over, then you can unplug the drive and watch your movie through the Photos app (and delete it when you\u2019re finished to make room if you wish).<\/p>\n Just before I entered my credit card details, I had a quick tour of the site and spotted this little beauty \u2013 the Hyperjuice Stand<\/a>. Now, it\u2019s true I already have a navy blue\u00a0Smart Cover<\/a> to prop my iPad up, but that doesn\u2019t stop this being a really, really clever idea. It\u2019s a rubberised stand, lightweight, but just heavy enough to securely hold the iPad in place (360g), at a near vertical angle for watching movies or a flatter angle for typing \u2013 but the space inside is filled with battery!<\/em> 11,000mA of battery which will keep an iPad going for around 16 hours! For only $130 it\u2019s an absolute steal, and because it\u2019s got a standard USB port on it, you can use it to charge or power a great many other devices besides iPads. It charges via a mini-USB connection too, so you can use the same AC adapter as your iPhone, or charge it off your laptop if that’s more convenient.<\/p>\n Having watched my choice of videos, secure in the knowledge that my battery will never run out, and arrived at my destination, I don\u2019t want now to revert to a regular laptop. However, as lovely as the iPad is, it\u2019s hard to type anything as long as, say, this blog post on the on-screen keyboard. So my other purchase was this handsome Aluminium Keyboard Buddy Case<\/a>, only $49. It pairs quickly with the iPad via Bluetooth and the battery life is very good. Typing is certainly easier than without a physical keyboard, although the keys don\u2019t have quite as much travel as I would ideally like \u2013 however it doesn\u2019t really work as a case. I can fold my SmartCover out of the way, but even with it removed altogether, the iPad and the supposed case never snap together securely, they just sort of lie together. I tend to carry them separately in my Troop Brown Canvas Bag<\/a>.<\/p>\n What toys have you bought for your iPad?<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tomsalinsky.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/photo3.jpg?resize=500%2C373\" "\\"iPad")
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