You know, whenever I go to trade shows, there is usually a trend in new products that can be spotted.
This year at CES, it was no different as manufacturers saw a need, and rushed to fill it.
Now as we all have been trained in the past 3-4 years to live on zoom calls, and while doing that, you may also need to communicate with your team/client via txt, slack, etc.
What we needed was a way to keep our phones at hand, and maybe needing to charge them while using that all, important second screen.

The most elegant, clean design I saw at CES was the offering from Rolling Square.
Called the Edge Pro system, this modular setup will serve you well, allowing you to attache your phone, and other essentials in a very slim design.
Not only slim, but a very clean design. All designed in Switzerland.                                                                                                       (Below are a combo of a video from the company, and actual photos by me of the product in use.)

take a look at this overview:

All in metal, the Edge Pro system is designed with a series of magnets, embedded within the separate units, and then you adhere these pieces to the back of your laptop, or computer case (which I did), and then add on the proper phone holder, or an adjustable light, or a phone charger. So you are adhering the silicon covered metal disks, and then the mag holders attach where you want them.

The magnets are a strong hold, and, as we are all about the magsafe phones or cases, you’re all good holding your phone. I was using it with an iPhone 14Pro

And they didn’t stop there.
With this system, you can also move it to an iPad, giving you that second screen. you can see that in the video above.

But wait, there’s more!
In the set you also get a round light that adjusts intensity and color balance!
Not the basic rectangular light, but that round beauty light make you look the best, in my humble opinion.

All about the catchlight in the eyes, right?
The light has a 5hr charged life and can adjust color temp, and intensity.
Here is the basic set-up that is an EDC (every day carry)

This is how it looks with just the magnet holders on the laptop case:

And here it is with the holders in place, from the back: (phone mag holder can be rotated & straightened.)

How thin is this? In other words when you put it into your bag, how much will it stick out? Barely at all. And you can always just take the mag connectors off, when traveling. Here it is with connectors folded and ready, and also with out connectors on.

And of course, you also get the magsafe phone charger that fits perfectly in the mag holder.
OR, just add another piece and you have a strong, simple hands free, phone holder.

For best results get 2 core pieces, in my opinion.

Or it works with one as well:

Sure, you will need a hub to connect your light and the charger to, let’s say, a MacBook Air at one time.
I use an EZquest hub for that, with multiple USB-C inputs.

As I mentioned, form and function. The clean design of this system drew me in at CES. And now that I have a sample, it’s better than that.
As we all may be moving to hybrid work and you need to travel your laptop, the connector, or home base as I call it. Folds in so slim, that it is barely noticeable, as you can see above.

I do wish there was a case that held all of the pieces, but I have pockets in all of my backpacks that do the job.

BONUS: As a run and gun photographer, who has to post fast, we all used to velcro a card reader to the top of a laptop.

Now you can use a ProGrade card reader , which has a metal plate in it, and have it held in place with one of the mag connectors.

I don’t want to come off as a complete fanboy, but when something is well designed, I want you all to know about it.

There is another line of products cables that they design, called Incharge-x. You see that in the above photo all folded up for travel?
So why are they good, well designed, and super useful?
Along with a rugged casing on the cable, each end has a sleek, all plug design so you are never without the right cable!
Check this out:

And you can go for the mini, seen above, which is always in my kit, all the way up to a longer version. They have from 1ft to 10ft  long, which stores in a silicon case.

BTW, the mini USB on the lightning output is hidden within the plug.  Genius!

In the case you also get hanger for stashing the cable near your computer. Or where ever you need to use it. Also mag, so the plug area will also just stick.

I write about these items, because they are the often overlooked, but much needed items.

When you show up at a job, or an office you want to look like you have the best usable, best looking kit, no matter what you are doing.
I do, anyway.

The Rolling Square line-up has a sleek design, and smart thinking behind it.

The expression goes, you never get a second chance to make a good first impression.