Funchico.com - Funky, Chic & Cool Laptop Bag News

New Laptop Bags from Alesya

Almost two years ago, I wrote about the amazing laptop bags from Alesya Opelt, a new laptop bag designer from Charleston, South Carolina. Well, Alesya is back with Version 2 of her bags! In addition to some delightful new colours (with great names like Technically Green, In the Cloud and Hot Spot), Alesya has also made improvements to the zippers (one of my pet peeves for Version 1) and the leather.

Take a look - they are beautiful bags and a smart design! They retail for $289 USD and are available at alesyabags.com.

Keep Your Cables Organized with Skooba's Cable Stable

I've become an avid fan of little accessory bags as a compliment to my laptop bag.  They help keep my usb keys, security tokens, video dongles, pens, business cards and other assorted tech miscellany neat and tidy.  The pouches from Tom Bihn with the clear plastic front are probably my favourite, but I've also used the minis from Lexie Barnes and the cachets from Coakley.

But I don't really have anything for my cords. The power brick on the MacBook power cord is so unweildy - I just kind of bunch up the cord and wrap a rubber band around it. Not particularly classy. However, I just found out about the Cable Stable from Skooba and this might be a good solution.

You can even stash your netbook in one side and still use the other side for cords and other accessories. Sweet.

You can get more pics and details on the Cable Stable at Skooba's site. The Cable Stable retails for $39.95 US.

The Vote is in for the Name of the new Rainebrooke Laptop Bag!

Congratulations to Shannon (@zchamu on Twitter; Shannon’s blog) for winning Rainebrooke's laptop bag naming contest with the name “Black Candy”.

The name Black Candy won the popular vote with 62% of the votes.

Here’s the final vote (Name, % of vote):

• Black Candy (62%)
• Roxy (17%)
• Soda Shoppe (12%)
• Cityglide (7%)
• Patent Plush (3%)

Thanks to everyone who submitted names and voted.  Look for the new Black Candy laptop bag sometime in May!  To make sure you know when it's available, sign-up for the Rainebrooke newsletter.

Feeling Creative? Help Rainebrooke Name Their New Laptop Bag!

Rainebrooke is launching a new laptop tote in the next month or so and they need some help naming it!  The new bag is a two-compartment laptop tote that comes in both a pink and black version as well as a red and black version. 

You can get the full specs and larger pictures over at Rainebrooke's site.  Once you've got a sense of the bag, visit our contest page and submit your idea for a name for this kicky laptop tote.  The winner will get one for their very own!

Reviewing the Laptop Bag Reviewers

This is a very cool article I found today from Consumer Search - a review of laptop bag reviewers.  I am, of course, delighted to note that my Funky, Chic and Cool laptop bag lens made their Top 10 of Laptop Bag Review sites (even if they spelled my name incorrectly - sigh).  From their site ...

Browsing through the well-illustrated reviews at this site is like browsing through a beautiful store. The reviewer tests laptop bags that designers and manufacturers send her for review, using each for a week -- unless she really dislikes it after just two days. The FAQ section lists her personal favorites, which include the Tumbuk2 laptop sleeve, the Rawlings Messenger bag, the iSkin SOHO sleeve and the Tom Bihn Archetype laptop sleeve.

(Note - the above isn't quite accurate - it's the Timbuk2 laptop backpack)

Their other Top 10 review sites include the usual suspects like MacWorld and PC Magazine, but also cool sites like National Geographic and TheGadgeteer.com.  If you want to make sure you've covered all your bases before buying a bag, definitely check out Consumer Search's review of laptop bag reviewers.

Doing Good Through (Laptop) Bags

There are two amazing bag projects that I wanted to share with you: Bags for Zaza and the Darfur Project.

I first read about Bags for Zaza through the blog Profy.com where the founder, Jennie, was interviewed about grassroots fund raising.  Jennie is creating cool bags from fabric she already has in her stash as well as from friends and is selling them on her blog (via an auction model) with all of the monies going to her brother and sister-in-law for costs associated with adopting a little girl from Columbia.

In reading the interview I was impressed with Jennie's take on current fundraising models as well as her personal desire to give people something for their donation - but something made from materials she already had.

I ... embarked on a journey into the dusty closets and corners of my home and started gathering all of my fabric into one handy location, my living room. I'm a terrible packrat and as I sorted through my finds, I projected that I could easily make 20 bags with the materials on hand (I realize now that I can make more than that). I made a pattern from my Darfur Bag with a few little modifications of my own. I sewed together 8 bags and built my blog site before I even mentioned the scheme to my in-laws. I told them what I was doing, then launched my site the next day. I sent out emails to friends and family and sold my first batch of bags within a couple days.

In less than 4 weeks I reached my initial goal of raising $500. However, if you know anything about adoption expenses, you'll know that this is just a drop in the bucket. Gosh, I could go on forever, but I'll wrap up this little history by saying that my sister-in-law (Zaza's momma to be) is sewing up a storm now and other friends and family have also helped with the sewing. It looks like we're going to keep going on this until Zaza comes home.

In a nutshell, inspiration for the scheme came from my desire to support Zaza's adoption in a substantial, but feasible way. And the Darfur Project certainly provided a great model to build on. Another family was raising money for their adoption by selling t-shirts. The project was called "Saving Dowensky" and I've certainly thought of them a lot through this.

Bags for Zaza is modeled after the Darfur Project, another online bag auction started by Joyce to raise funds for the unimaginable situation in Darfur.  Joyce has this to say about her project:

It has been an unbelievably fulfilling ride to combine several passions in this project. Listening to the small, still, easily ignored voice of God. Combining a passion (compulsion) for thrifting with a passion to create with needle and thread. Using reclaimed fabrics rich with imagined history and sending them back out into the world to begin anew.

Now skirts, jeans, curtains, quilts, tea towels, kitchen aprons, flour sacks, couches, belts, neckties, bedspreads, and table cloths are being casually slung over shoulders from across the prairies, over the mountains, and over oceans. The joy and connectedness spreads right around the world.

From off my shoulder and through my heart, welcome to the Darfur project.

The bags created by Jennie and Joyce are beautiful and unique works of art.  Now they aren't always suited for laptops, but sometimes we need to leave that laptop at home!!  Jennie names her bags after different books which is delightful.  I encourage you to check out both sites and maybe buy a bag (or two) for two wonderful causes!!

Some thoughts on the new TSA laptop bag guidelines

As you may have heard, the Transportation Security Administration (aka the TSA - the folks responsible for security screening at airports) put out a request to a number of laptop bag designers to design a "checkpoint friendly" laptop bag in a effort to reduce screening time as well as to reduce passenger anxiety of sending "naked laptops" down the belt.

A number of companies responded and have developed prototypes.  Mobile Edge has created Checkpoint Friendly backpack, messenger and briefcase style bags. Skooba has a briefcase style bag. And Tom Bihn has a checkpoint friendly briefcase in the works as well as a backpack and a messenger design (no pics yet, but I've seen the briefcase - it's cool).

Recently, the TSA released some additional bag design guidelines to further help designers as well as passengers in packing these bags.  From a design point-of-view, I find this diagram really interesting:

If you haven't spent a lot of time thinking about bag design - this picture is a good place to start.  Even when you're trying to choose a bag just for day to day commuting, start by thinking about the basic style of the bags and what needs you have for your bag.

The TSA info also included some guidelines for passengers:

If you intend to use a checkpoint friendly laptop bag once they are on the market, make sure to check that:

• Your laptop bag has a designated laptop-only section that can lay flat on the X-ray belt
• There are no metal snaps, zippers or buckles inside, underneath or on-top of the laptop-only section
• There are no pockets on the inside or outside of the laptop-only section
• There is nothing in the laptop compartment other than the laptop
• You have completely unfolded your bag so that there is nothing above or below the laptop-only section, allowing the bag to lay flat on the X-ray belt

Remember, a well designed checkpoint friendly bag must be packed appropriately if you intend to leave your laptop in your bag for screening.

These are important to understand.  I was speaking with a writer for Aviation Week today - she and I agreed that there will have to be an increased level of responsibility taken by the passenger to ensure their bags are packed smartly.  No more willy-nilly throwing everything into your bag and hoping for the best.

What I'm really waiting to see though, is once the basic form of the bag is in use, how long will it take for these designers to make stylish versions of them?  I want my funchico checkpoint friendly bag!!

Are you a knitter? Check out our knitting bag reviews - starting with the Swift by Tom Bihn!

I'm pleased to announce that we've added a new type of bag review to the FunChiCo family - Funky, Chic and Cool Knitting Bags!  Now, I'm not a knitter, but my partner is - so she is going to start reviewing knitting bags.  Our first one is the Swift by Tom Bihn.  From the review ...

With its clever construction, myriad organizational options and action-oriented name, I predicted that the Swift would take me from knit klutz to knit kninja in seconds. That's right! Knit Kninja! Hear that wooshing sound? That was me, finishing a whole sock before you could turn your head!

Okay - the Swift does not *technically* make me a faster knitter. But it makes me a much more organized knitter, so that I can get to the knitting faster and that's the first step.

Read the full review of the Swift by Tom Bihn.

Your Blackberry Need Some Bling? Violet May is in the House!

Just got the head's up from Violet May that they have a new glamour line of Blackberry Purses for us gals who want something nice to stash our Blackberries in when we're headed to dinner, the opera, the Oscars - whatever.

Now, they will run you likely as much as your Blackberry ($390 - includes VAT, US & CDN customers have this deducted so you're only paying $321.75), but hey, can you ever put a price on style?  Also, it's made of Italian leather and lined with satin, so you can't really go wrong.  The Blackberry Purses are 17cm x 12cm x 3.5 cm and have the following features:

• 5 slots for bank or business cards
• Internal slot suitable for Blackberry/iPhone/iPod
• Coin compartment
• Internal bank note compartment
• Extra compartment for receipts or passport

I expect to see a lot of these on the red carpet this year!

Have a New MacBook Air? Waterfield Designs has It Covered!

The cool folks over at Waterfield Designs have been working flat-out to get some new cases ready for all the MacBook Airs that will certainly be acquired.  They actually have three very cool options:

1. The new HardCase - sleek with serious protection.  All black, or, even better, with Kiwi or Pink interior leather!  $239.
2. The Racer-X - solid bag, great grip.  Reviewed over on my Squidoo lens.  Black with some high-colour accents. $169.
3. The SleeveCase - when you just need that slip of protection inside another bag.  Black.  Starts at $39.

If your new Air needs some laptop bag lovin', check out what Waterfield Designs has for you!  I think my fav is the new HardCase, Kiwi accent, shown below.