BackPack for your iMac- simple!

Now you’ll notice that I do like ridiculous complicated gadgets. It doesn’t seem gadgety if it’s not got a thousand buttons, hundreds of settings and/ or the ability to make you see in the dark. But sometimes there comes along a gadget so simple, you have to stop for a moment and go ‘huh…’.

Such is the case with the BackPack  by Twelve South. Designed to clip onto the back of your iMac or Apple Cinema Displays monitor, it’s basically just a heavy gauge steel shelf for, well, anything you fancy plugging into your computer. External hard drive, charging iPod, or just a cool way to display your action figures.

It connects to the flat back bit of the monitor with just two clips, leaving no external damage as no screws are needed. It’s repositionable, and due to the size you can have multiple BackPacks allowing you to keep your desk clear of clutter and meaning that you’re always going to know where everything is. Plus they’re easily removed if you decide that the USB dancing flower just isn’t your style anymore.

Oh ok you want a technical reason for them too, not just an aesthetic reason. They’re a really simple way to provide ventilation to your gadgets. We’ve all been there when something electronic has overheated and thrown a hissy fit, so the BackPack can help avoid your hard drive going kaput by allowing increased air flow and thus helping it to stay cool in a way which it may not be able to sat on your desk and covered over with last nights takeaway box. Extra to that, the bottom is performated, so you can keep all your cables tidy too.  But that’s taken me back to the aesthetics.

So there you go, a simple gadget with a simple use, but which should be firmly filed under the ‘why didn’t I think of that?’ column. Although, it may give rise to quips that if they can get people to spend $30 on a piece of metal to clip to their computers then Apple has the world brainwashed…

Buy them at the Twelve South website. $30 for one, $150 for a pack of six (that’s Christmas sorted…)