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Down-to-the-wire holiday gift guide: app-enabled accessories (and Swingbyte giveaway!)

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It’s Thursday and you have four days to get the perfect Christmas gift, but have no fear…9to5Mac is here. O.K., enough with the cheese, let’s talk app-enabled accessories. Oh, man, I need to stop.

But, seriously, app-enabled accessories are the perfect gifts: they come in a variety of price ranges and work with a variety of iOS apps. So, we looked at a few popular, unknown, pricey, and not-so pricey ones and rounded them up below. Hopefully, this guide will give you a few ideas and inspire you to go shopping A.S.A.P.

Note: If you buy through Amazon, and are an Amazon Prime member, you could get many of these products shipped overnight for just $3.99 each.

Scroll to the bottom for details on the giveaway.

1. Ion All Star Guitar | Amazon sale: $93.15 (reg. $129.99)

Ion launched this nifty toy in the fall, and it is really, really cool. Think Guitar Hero…but for jammers and free-stylers. Like Ion’s popular iCade line, it charges with AA batteries. So, no wires and no fuss. It also fits any iOS device. A padded storage compartment adjusts to fit the iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch, and there is room to plug in a Lightening adapter (not included).

The built-in speakers pump out great volume, but there is also a headphone output for silent practice, and it has electric, acoustic, and bass guitar effects. The guitar, which is useable by both left-handed and right-handed folks, works best with the All-Star Guitar app that comes with 10 free songs pre-loaded, with access to additional songs for download, but it also works well with Garage Band and WI Guitar.

It’s packed with features, feels sturdy, and is definitely a cool gift for the musically inclined. Oh, and it seems like a neat way to learn guitar.

www.ionaudio.com

More accessories are below.


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Review: iPhoneography series: iPhone Swivl and Lens Dial

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Swivl and Lens Dial

As part of 9to5Mac’s ongoing iPhoneography gear series for the holiday season, we looked at a slew of iPhone 5-compatible accessories, but some of you may still own the iPhone 4S or older, so we got our hands on the Swivl for iPhone 5/4S/4 and the Lens Dial for iPhone 4S/4.

First of all: Yes, iPhoneography is an actual name (it even has a Wikipedia page). It essentially, as one might guess, involves shooting and processing with an iOS device. Photojojo.com offers an impressive, mouth-watering catalog of photography and videography gear for the iPhone 5 and older generations, so we decided to take some of the website’s hottest accessories for a spin. And, over the next few weeks, we will continue to test and review only what’s best for helping creative folks step up their iPhoneography game.

Check out a hands-on review of the Swivl and Lens Dial below: 


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