MacBook Leatherbound

The book is a pretty swell design, having kicked around, since the early Codex days, for about a couple thousand years. This time around, it serves as a MacBook case. Created by TwelveSouth, BookBook sandwiches your 13- to 15-inch MacBook between two leather hardback covers, with a rigid, appropriately vintage-y spine providing extra protection. Dual zippers include leather pulls, and an iPad model’s in the works. Zipping up your precious laptop will deter potential thieves, who’ll think it’s just some dumb ol’ book. $79.

Graphic Tees for Book Lovers

As books move toward a digital future, a new brand is celebrating the best of old-school publishing. New York-based Out of Print creates graphic tees emblazoned with great cover art from classic books. For each shirt sold, the company will donate a book to a community in need through its partner, Books for Africa, which ships to rural school libraries, among other organizations. The initial 20 styles for men and women include jacket designs from Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and this beauty of the J. D. Salinger classic (above right). $28 and up.

Vodafone’s $15 Handset

There was plenty of oohing and aahing in Barcelona last month, where Microsoft debuted the Windows 7 phone and Samsung, it’s new operating system, Bada, at the 2010 Mobile World Congress. But another item, markedly less flashy and stripped of features, is set to make a real difference. Billed as the world’s cheapest handset intended to bring mobile services to underserved populations, the $15 Vodafone 150 supports voice and SMS capability and will roll out initially in India, Turkey, and eight African countries.

As Free as a Bird

Aviary, a popular suite of editing tools, is now completely free to use. (And now available in Google Apps.) Previously subject to a tiered subscription plan, Aviary’s services—including image, audio, and vector editing applications—are available to every user. Now everyone can save private files to Aviary, delete the standard watermark, and view all tutorials. Existing subscribers can request a refund and recurring payments will be canceled. Classroom 2.0 member Jenny Conklin describes a student podcasting project using Myna, Aviary’s audio editor, here.

Make a PDF from any Web Page

PDFmyURL.com, by Opentracker, is a dead simple tool for creating a PDF from any Web address. Simply plug in a URL on the site, hit enter, and choose where you’d like to save the file (which includes the original URL). Advanced options let you use the application on your server and customize your PDF. There’s a handy bookmarklet, too. A similar plugin from Wordpress enables users to save blog posts or pages in PDF. 

The Best Free Tools for Libraries

So many great blog posts, so little space in the Buzz in which to share them. One, though, is especially helpful and worth citing given these tough economic times. “13 Ways (and 147 Tools) to Help Your Library Save Money on Technology” is the post, penned by the Librarian in Black, aka Sarah Houghton-Jan, digital futures manager for the San Jose (CA) Public Library. There are free resources in various categories, from staff scheduling and meeting software to site management and elearning tools. The tips continue in the helpful comments.