Products For The Not-So-Silly Season - Part One

Christmas-time was the traditional period when people searched high and low for inappropriate gifts for their friends and relations. Some were more dedicated than others - visiting designer-bureaux, art galleries, and trendy boutiques in an effort to find the most appalling present. Others were more pragmatic - they just went into the back aisle at Big W, give the nearest shelf a hefty kick, and trollied away whatever fell down. Either way the recipients of this sort of thing got a memorable Christmas, and a year to plan revenge. Or... Or the gift giver went into Camera Electronic and got something that was actually useful and welcome. They need not have spent a fortune to do it - though the accountant asked at the time if a few people could actually do just that - because the good stuff wasn't that dear. A case in point was this Joby accessory for the mobile phone. Be honest - the mobile phone selfie is here to stay. You might as well have made good ones as bad ones - and the Joby Grip Tight One helped out considerably. A combination of a number of Joby products: a. The folding phone grip. Fitted my Samsung and will probably fit your Apple too. b. The bendy tripod grip. This is similar to the familiar Gorilla Pod but has the addition of powerful samarium magnets at the ends of the legs. Any ferrous surface is fair game for these feet, and there is plenty of stick for the phone's weight. The fact that it stuck to the Kelvinator should not disguise the possibility of bending it around the nearest tree limb or chair back as well. c. The mobile button. That little box at the back of the phone with the red lanyard is a tiny transmitter. Apparently you download an app into your phone and then use it as a remote triggering button when you have gone round the back of the camera to get in the shot. You could have decided for yourself if all the hoo hah about the mobile phone replacing the traditional camera was real or just hipster-sell. If you went for it, you could use this tripod to form the basis of a complete professional outfit that would enable you to climb to the top of the architectural and landscape tree. If you were skeptical, this Joby product would at least have made the kitchen selfies a lot easier to do. Remember: You can also stick your mobile phone/camera to the car body for still shots - or for videos if you don't mind the risk of dropping it onto the road and running over it. Don't try to stick it to Audi A9's, Jaguar racers, or AC Cobras...or to any modern car's bumpers. It is unlikely to stick to the outside of an Airbus. At least not in flight...