Cutest, Weirdest iPad & iPhone Accessories at Macworld iWorld [Gallery]

Reason no. 647 why we are already in the Post-PC Age: the organizers of Macworld, famously abandoned by Apple 3 years ago, seem to have successfully retooled the conference by adding the appellation "iWorld" to the name, and attracting a crowd of iPad and iPhone exhibitors in the process.

Despite the New York Times basically declaring it to be on life support, Macworld iWorld had healthy opening day crowds on Thursday at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. 25,000 attendees are expected at the conference, which runs until Saturday, up 10% from 22,000 last year.

The 250 or so exhibitors at this year's conference is an even better sign. The majority were offering apps or accessories for Apple's mobile devices - not surprising considering that iPhones and iPads outsold Macs by 7:1 and 3:1 in the most recent quarter. The diversity was interesting and colorful, and in its own way, compared favorably to a stroll through CES or or Tokyo's famed electronics district, Akihabara.

Many thanks to Nick Rose, whose photos are intermingled with my own below. His are the sharper ones with his name watermarked on them. See the rest of his photos at Flickr.

The most popular category of accessory is, of course, the case. There were dozens of cases on display, ranging from the colorful and fashion-y:

to the silly:

The Intoxicase seems like it was created by some frat bros after an intense game of beer pong: an iPhone case with a bottle opener glued to the back of it. The Intoxicase comes with an app which uses the iPhone's gyroscope to detect and tally how many beers you've opened. The app can also play your college football team's fight song. $25 gets you one of these gag gifts.

I never thought I would need to attach an iPhone to the outside of my clothes using rare earth magnets, but after talking to BodyDock creator, Art Rojas, I was practically sold. The BodyDock is not aimed at desk jockeys like myself, but Real Men of Action: crowd control guys, soldiers and policemen like Roja's son. Compared to a belt clip, Rojas says a BodyDock is more convenient and "won't pinch the heck out of you" (he didn't have to spell out that it was more manly, too).

Fun fact: Rojas said his company manufactured the carrying bags for the Apple //c computer back in the late 1980s. The two Steves (Jobs and Wozniak) even accompanied him on a trip to Rojas's factory in Korea, as they were so impressed with the workmanship on the bags, he says.

The ArtCase from Solid Line Products combines photos or paintings with a protective cover. These can be noted artists chosen by Solid Line, or artwork you find on Etsy or elsewhere, according to Solid Line CEO, Henry Lo (above).

Not a case but a handle: the FlyGrip is a little L-shaped piece of plastic that attaches to the back of your iPhone so you can hold and use the touchscreen with one hand. Keep your jokes to yourself, please.

Here are some USB drives encased in coneheaded plastic versions of the Batman and the Joker (the classic 60s-era Cesar Romero one, not the Heath Ledger one). The USB drives from Mimobot start at about $15. The most popular one, if its Web site is to be believed, is a 2 GB Hello Kitty USB drive.

Who says Macworld attendees are too classy for booth babes? Not this vendor, evidently. I'm not sure why two of the 3 people in this photo appear to have saline drips attached to their noses.

This was a clever, attention-getting tactic by Polk Audio: have a gymnast do flips on a trampoline while wearing its no-fall-out sports earbuds.

Polk also had a snowboarder doing tricks on the same trampoline while rocking out on those UltraFit earphones.

Keyboards are another popular genre. These Mac keyboards are aimed at graphic designers or video editors who can benefit from these keyboard shortcuts for Final Cut or Avid. I'd never heard of these, but then again, I don't get out much.

The BulletTrain Express is a wireless keyboard lap tray, perfect for your Mac Mini-as-Home Theatre PC. At $79, it is for the Mac (or South Park) fan who has everything.

Naturally, there is a lot of art (digital drawings, photos, computer animation) on display at Macworld, as well as actual artists. I think this is somehow related to an iPad painting app. I mostly remember being impressed with how fast he finished them.

This mobile iPad cart is from Portland, Oregon-based Anthro. It holds and charges 40 iPads and costs $1,499. Aimed at school classrooms and hospitals, the carts have separate locks for the front for the students/nurses, and the back for the IT staffers when they want to fix the charging cables.

By the way, if the name Anthro sounds familiar, that's because they were one of the original makers of ergonomic computer furniture, including this much-imitated narrow, moveable metal computer desk. According to co-founder Cathy Filgas, a new AnthroCart still sells for the original price of $299.