Looking for a camera bag that looks as little like a camera bag as possible? The good folks at Blackstone have got your needs covered. Shaped to fit your needs and your gear, this will hold a few lenses and a body with lens. This isn’t something that’ll hold everything you own, but it’ll hold everything you need. You can also strap a mono/tri-pod on the outside of the bag. $125. NC

From the guys who brought you the incredibly popular iPhone camera app, Hipstamatic, comes this nifty little case that completes the iPhone into a camera trend that’s going on right now. With a small mount for your tripod you can even use this to shoot with your iPhone in low light.

Protection wise there’s not much there however, it consists of not much more then a simple hard plastic backing and some retro style. Plus the tripod mount isn’t anything but a small thin piece of plastic, meaning you’ll be waiting for it to stop wiggling before taking any photos. Great idea Hipstamatic, but it need more work for this price iPhone users can do better. This is about the same as the $10 incase Walmart special, yet it costs 4 times as much. We give it style points, but like we said, you can do better and we expect more from this crew. This ones for hardcore Hipstamatic lovers only. 5/10.  $40. NC

We love our Moleskines, but they lack something that is needed in our adventures, durability. We love our iPhones for note taking, but again, they’re not the best for trail use or during a monsoon, like the kind the team at Apolis has dealt with. For these adventures the fine folks at Apolis have released the Apolis transit issue Nomad journal. With waterproof pages, and a cool imprinted cover that gives it the right look for the job, these are fantastic, if not a bit pricy, notebooks for your all weather adventures. $54. NC

Nothing says geek like some Star Wars saga related poster in your pad, unless of course it’s a Trek poster which may be even worse. Anyways, these awesome prints from Berg are a great way to class up your love of that classic Sci-Fi saga we all love. Each of these prints are of course limited to 100, and are priced at about Check out the X-Wing after the jump. $90. Link. NC

Yes it’s here, the newest Apple toy in what’s turning out to be an impressive 2011 release line up. Thinner the before, it’s also host to a slew of other upgrades like a improved battery life, you 30 FPS 720p cameras (one forward facing the other rear mounted), Facetime, the Duel Core A5 chip, and a new smart cover that those have had hands on time with, surprisingly don’t hate. Available for sale come March 11th. $499+. NC

It’s that time of year again, time for Apple to wow us with all new products that make last years newest and best even better then ever. New Intel Duel Core i5  processors, the all new Thunderbolt allowing transfer rate of up to 10gbs, AMD Radeon graphics processors and Facetime in HD. Oooooh yeah. These are good. Starting at $1199. NC

Looking for some power for you’re next off the road trip? This is a two in one power pack that can serve as a battery, or as a storage buffer, insert a fuel pack, add water, the cell activates, and then you can charge via USB. Perfect for those extend adventures. $TBA. NC

The SoHo based art space The Hole is now home (until Feb 22nd anyway) to a new type of vending machine by Kathy Grayson and Meghan Coleman, former directors of the now defunct Deitch Projects. This interesting new take on vending allows you to buy art ranging in price from $10- $1200, all blind boxed, meaning you’ll have no idea what’s inside till you open it.

The project features work from artists like Bast, Eric Haze,  Kenny Scharf, Neckface, Romon Yang aka “ROSTARR,” and many more. Sorry, no Cheetos. NC

ALIFE ART MACHINE at The Hole
104 Greene Street | Map
New York, NY 10012
FEBRUARY 10 – 22nd, 2011
Open 6-9PM

Leica held a contest not long ago where aspiring adventurers could submit a story and a photo in hopes of becoming a sponsored photographer to be sent off the explore the far reaches of the Earth. The contest winners geared up from The North Face and were sent on their adventure with a brand spanking new V Lux 2 Leica DLSR. Yeeeeeah… That’s pretty nefty.

Read the full press release and view the video after the break. NC

The trip to Ecuador inspired the “In the Footsteps of the Great Explorers” competition so ten lucky individuals could follow in the steps of other great explorers like Alexander von Humbolt. We received 980 applications from website visitors hailing from 145 different countries using 111 different languages! After reviewing all of the applications, we narrowed it down to ten explorers who were announced last December on Facebook.

The winners have now had a couple of months to get their gear from The North Face, get accustomed to their new V-Lux 2 cameras, book their transportation and plan out their trips. Some of the explorers are already embarking on their adventures and some are mapping out their journeys. MayLee Weernink, is finishing up her journey to Africa in the footsteps of David Livingstone. She just reported in yesterday from Victoria Falls, Zambia on her Livingstone explorer blog. Annie Atkins is enjoying her last couple of weeks at home in Dublin before following in the footsteps of Nain Singh to Tibet. You can follow Annie’s trip on her explorer blog. Meanwhile, Daisuke Takahashi, in the footsteps of James Cook, is documenting Tahitian sunsets, the flora and fauna of Botany Bay and a cyclone in Queensland on his blog.

Follow MayLee, Annie, Daisuke and all of the Leica Explorers through each phase of their journey on http://leica-explorer.com and see how they are turning from travellers into explorers.

-Leica Internet Team  (Source)

Now here’s an odd little camera, the body swings out from within the framework and is able to rotate up to 270 degrees while the frame itself rotates up to 360 degrees. While this may be a weird design, it’s a very capable  camera for the price featuring a 12.1 megapixel sensor, 240fps slow motion video and a wide angle 21mm lens. The Tryx also features the “Slide Panorama” option allowing for ultra crisp panoramic shots. $250. NC