The clear back of Griffin's Reveal Case for iPhone 5 allows the perfect opportunity for embellishment

Hey crafty crafters out there, a new DIY trend is sweeping cell phone accessories – easy, custom iPhone cases or skins that take just minutes. If you're looking to turn your iPhone 5 into a one of a kind statement or show off your artistic talent, all you need is some creativity and a clear-backed iPhone 5 case. We like Griffin's Reveal Case for iPhone 5 because it's tough and comes in a variety of different colored borders.

Start with paper, scissors and exacto. Image courtesy of PharMa. 

Start with your clear iPhone case and whatever you want to put as the layer that shows between your phone and the case's shell. Using a piece of paper cut to the dimensions of your phone is probably simplest, but we've seen people online do this project with everything from lace doilies to feathers.

Of course, even with flat printed materials, there's a world of options. from a cool roadmap for the eternal globetrotter, to personal photos, decorative gift paper, and even collage for the skilled artists out there. The result is a completely unique iPhone 5 case with handcrafted look that says something personal about you.

Use a favorite photograph or decorative craft or gift paper. Image courtesy of Shelterness.

If you're using anything that's remotely 3D, you may want to glue it to a cut-to-measure piece of paper anyway, to keep it in place, depending on the material. Again, Griffin's clear-backed Reveal Case for iPhone 5 is a good choice here since it'll give you a nice snug fit that won't allow your personalized layer to move around too much.

We're loving the versatility of this cool new trend, which will allow you to get as many looks as you want, as often as you want, from a single iPhone 5 accessory. You'll be able to switch up you cover for special events (think team logos for a big sporting event or solid colored paper to match your evening outfit.)

A little ingenuity and a couple of minutes will give you a totally unique look.

To get exact instructions on this trend, you can check out PharMa's article on DIY Intergangeable iPhone covers, but a quick Google search and a little ingenuity should see you through this quick and easy project.

And, at the cost of most clear-backed iPhone 5 cases – Griffin's Reveal Case is around the $20 mark, but Pure Mobile's actually got it on sale at the moment – this is a DIY phone case project that's as cheap as it is fun and easy. If you find yourself inspired, let us know about your own craft project in the comments section below.

When is an iPhone accessory not an iPhone accessory? When it's a musical instrument.

At first glance, you may think you've got Artiphon's Instrument 1 all figured out. On the surface it looks like some sort of mobile take on Guitar Hero that runs on your smartphone or MP3 player instead of a video game system.

But as Mashable explains in their in-depth review, the Instrument One is most certainly more than just an “appcessory.” Instead, it's a real musical instrument in its own right. Scratch that, it's a real multi-instrument that uses your iPhone or iPod Touch “as its brain.”

Made of genuine hardwood and sporting high-end speakers, it doesn't really look like a guitar, or a keyboard, or any other instrument per se, but that's the whole point. As Artiphon founder Mike Butera told Mashable, the Instrument 1 intentionally stays away from trying to replicate any specific instrument so that musicians are free to use it any way they want. So you can play it like a violin if you want, but it's really up to you.

According to Mashable, “The Instrument 1 works with any core MIDI enabled app, but there are plans to release a companion app for more detailed / custom mappings in the future.”

We're not sure what to make of the Instrument 1 yet, or whether we'd actually play one. But we've got to give it credit for being one case where the iPhone accessory outshines the device.

We've all been there.

You think you're phone's turned off, or at least in silent mode, only to have your mariachi ringtone go off in the middle of a movie, a speech, or at work.

But unless you've been yelled at by Hugh Jackman, chastised by the President, or have otherwise had your mortification bandied about YouTube, it can't be as bad as these cellphone ringer fails.

Here we bring you the top 5 biggest cellphone interruptions ever caught on film. Some a cringe-inducing and awkward, while others are hilarious, but all pretty epic. Enjoy!

5. Alizé Cornet's tennis match interruption

In a tennis match against Caroline Wozniacki, Alizé Cornet's concentration is broken by a ringing phone as she prepares to serve. The kicker? It's her own!

4. Hugh Jackman freaks at ringing phone during live performance

During a live performance in a Broadway play, Hugh Jackman and a castmate are interrupted by a cellphone. Obviously annoyed, Jackman breaks character and calls out the rudeness off the offender. Oops!

3. Darren Criss' own phone halts live concert

It's always embarrassing to have your phone go off during a live concert, but just imagine how you'd feel if you were the one performing.

That's exactly what happens to Darren Criss in this video of him performing Katy Perry's Teenage Dream. Wait for Criss' reaction at 1:20.

2. Obama responds to "duck ringtone" interruption

It's Obama versus a duck in this one. While giving a televised speech, the President is distracted by a quacking cellphone, and his reaction is priceless:

"Where do you guys get these ringtones, by the way?" he quips as his audience laughs.

1. Best ever response to a cellphone interruption.

This could very well be the best reaction a performer has ever given to a cellphone interruption.

The violinist in this video keeps his cool after being interrupted not once, but twice, by a pretty loud Nokia ringtone. Just watch it, we don't want to give away the rest.

Lebron James dons Beats headphones on ESPN before a Yankees-Red Sox game

For fashionstas, there's celebrity style – be it the latest handbag, designer suit, or ridiculously expensive shoe.

But for us gadget lovers, there's star tech. We're always dying to know what devices the celebrities are using, and how they dress them up.  So this week, the Pure Mobile blog has scoped out the hottest mobile accessories in Hollywood.

The good news? You don't have to be rich and famous to steal these stars' gadget style.

1: Hugh Jackman's lime green iPad case

We're green with envy for Hugh Jackman's lime iPad case

Judging by his taste for green mobile accessories, you'd think Wolverine actor Hugh Jackman might have preferred to play a different superhero – the Hulk. He was spotted with this bright green iPad case while out and about.

Well, if he ever needed a data cable to go with it, there's always the Apple-compatible  Fluro Green Sync n' Charge cable from Incase. Now we just need to get him a very small pair of purple pants...

2: Blake Lively's black hardshell iPad case

Blake Lively keeps it simple with a black hardshell iPad case

We're not entirely sure who made the black hardshell iPad case Gossip Girl's Blake Lively is toting in this spicture, but our guess is Incipio.

It defintiely has the look of a signature Incipio accessory and if you wanted to steal Blake's style, Incipio's Lexington HardShell case for iPad 3 in black is pretty much as close as you can get. Plus, it's probably way cheaper than copying her handbag.

3. Reese Witherspoon's Pink BlackBerry Curve Case

Lately, Reese Witherspoon has been showing her girly side with a pink BlackBerry Curve skin

Reese Witherspoon likes to switch up her BlackBerry, as well as her smartphone cases.

Lately she's been seen with an adorable, hot pink rubberized skin for her BlackBerry Curve. Love it? BlackBerry makes a similar rubberized skin in pink and white for girly-girls like Reese, and it coes in at just under five bucks. Style. Stolen.

4. The President's black leather BlackBerry sleeve

Presidential elegance: Obama's black leather Blackberry pouch

When you're the President, you can't exactly go flashing a smartphone case with rhinestones on it. Instead, U.S. President Barack Obama keeps it classic, with a black leather Blackberry pocket sleeve on his belt.

Get the look of Washington's most high-profile figure with the sleek and elegant black Leather Pocket case from BlackBerry. Just don't expect to take over the Oval Office or anything.

5. Hollywood's obsession with Beats headphones

Lil Wayne's insane diamond-encrusted Beats by Dr. Dre Headphones

Hollywood, and recording artists in particular, seem to be obsessed with Beats headphones. The Beats by Dr. Dre line includes earbuds too, but it's the over-the-ear Beats models that have racked up a list of celebrity fans like Gwen Stefani, Lebron James, Justin Bieber and tons more.

Gwen Stefani's more modest Beats headphones lack the precious jewels

Lil Wayne even has a special pair of diamond-encrusted Beats headphones, though we're thinking those are probably pretty hard to come by. Still, you can rock stardom's leading headphones in models that don't cost more than than a king's ransom.

Oh, Lil Wayne, why you got to be so fresh?

A poster in the Windows Phone Central forums uploaded images of his Surface Tablet, which still works after being run over by a car

It's doubtful whether any owner of a new Microsoft Surface Tablet would perform the following test on purpose, but a poster in the Windows Phone Central forums has unwittingly discovered what happens when you run over the device with a car.

You know how sometimes, before getting in your car, you'll forget a cup of coffee on the roof of the car, only to have it whip off into the road a block or two away? Well, this unfortunate man did more or less the same thing, but with a his tablet.

Aside from some superficial dents and scratches, the tablet is still intact

Noticing some trash cans that needed to be taken in outside his house, he set the Surface Tablet on the car roof and, forgetting all about it, drove off to work. Naturally, as soon as he realized what he'd doe, he turned right around and drove back the direction he came from, to find his Surface Tablet lying in the middle of the road:

"[I] watched the last group of traffic drove by. Each car passed by with the tires on each side of the Surface until the very last car. The tire of the car ran completely over the Surface and next thing I saw was my brand new $700 tablet and touch cover flying through the air in separate directions!"

Long story short, the poor guy was delighted when he opened up the tablet and found that, not only was the screen completely intact but that, hitting the power button, everything worked as it should.

"The Surface feels completely sturdy, exactly like how I got it. Everything works in it, even the touch cover (which got a slight tear in it) works completely fine! Microsoft has made such an incredible product, I am completely speechless how this could happen!," he wrote.

The tablet has a few scratches dents and dings, but otherwise survived no worse for wear.  Needless to say, the poster is pretty happy about his choice of tablets, writing: "This product is insane! I would love to see what an iPad looks like after getting run over by a car going 60 mph!"

"There is not a single scratch nor crack in the screen!" wrote the relieved tablet owner

U.S. wireless carriers and the Federal Communications Commission have joined together to create a national database that locks stolen cellphones out of carrier networks.

Smartphones and other mobile devices are so easy to snatch. They’re small and portable. They’re worth a lot of money. They’re easy to pirate with just a swap of a SIM card. The FCC's database of stolen phones is designed to limit theft to the plastic and electronics and not the information contained inside.

The database works by blocking a stolen cellphone’s IMEI number, making it impossible to get service for that phone. AT&T and T-Mobile have teamed up, and their joint database is online now. Verizon and Sprint are supposed to have their joint effort up and running soon. In the next year, the four major carriers are planning to merge their databases. Smaller carriers will join in along the way.

Eventually the FCC and the U.S. carriers will expand the database to cell providers all over the world. “The goal is to not only protect the consumer by cancelling the service, but by ultimately protecting the consumer by drying up the aftermarket for stolen phones,” said CTIA Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Chris Guttman-McCabe.

While we can’t stop ourselves from leaving our phones in the coffee shop or having it picked out our pocket, there are things we can do to protect our privacy. Use PINs or passwords, and make sure you know how to use your phone’s remote-wiping capabilities. It might seem like closing the barn door after the horse has left, but at least a thief has only stolen your high-buck smartphone and not your identity.

Branded as the official James Bond Skyfall phone, Sony's XPeria TL arrives at AT&T November 2

Dubbed the "Official James Bond Phone," the latest in Sony's XPeria Lineup, the Xperia TL, will be swaggering into AT&T stores as of November 2.

In pretty hyperbolic style and promising to "give everyday people the chance to live like James Bond," the AT&T press release promised to make the new smartphone available for $99.99, so long as you sign a 2 year contract.

According to Engaget, the device has quite a lot going for it, despite the fact that its "materials feel cheap." For one, it's got a 1.5GHz dual-core S4 processor as well as NFC capabilities.

Sony's XPeria TL features a 4.6-inch 720p display

Aside from that, AT&T just couldn't help reminding us all (for what seems like the thousandth time) that the Xperia TL is "featured in the upcoming James Bond cinema release Skyfall [and] will be used in the film by 007 himself."

But just in case you didn't get the message, they've preloaded the device with tons of Skyfall content like "behind the scenes footage, interviews, clips, wallpapers, ring tones, and more."

Though we have a hard time believing that any smartphone can ever really let someone "live like James Bond," we have to admit the XPeria TL at least looks slick enough to be something Bond would carry.

Alarmingly Android: Pure Mobile is rounding up the best in Halloween smartphone apps

This week, we started a frightening little feature on the Pure Mobile blog with a list of our favorite Halloween-themed smartphone apps.

In our first instalment, we rounded up some eerie apps for iPhone, but today, we'll be moving along to the best Halloween apps for Android.

From games and photo editors to real ghost detectors, your smartphone will have all the spooky it can handle come October 31, with these seasonal picks

1. Angry Birds Seasons for Android

If you've ever wanted to go ghost hunting, SpecTrek lets you chase spectres using your smartphone's GPS. The augmented reality game shows you "ghosts" on a map of your area and gives you a time limit to find and capture them.

It may be kind of silly, but hey, it's probably the most fun you'll ever have using a smartphone GPS.

3. Entity Sensor Pro app for Android

If virtual ghosts don't cut it for you, the Entity Sensor Pro app for Android claims to let you detect "real" ghosts using a supposed EMF sensor in your smartphone to check for "paranormal" readings.

It's essentially like playing Ghost Busters with a mobile device. Whether or not you actually believe in ghosts, the app has a pretty high rating among users.

And even if you think it's useless as a ghost detector, you can always use it with friends as a gullibility detector.

4. Ouija Board app for Android

Like so many classics, the Ouija Board has been revamped for modern mobile devices.

Use your smartphone to try making contact with the spirit world, or simply relive the fun of middle school with this Android app. In any case, it gives new meaning to "the ghost in the machine."

5. Ghost Camera Pro app for Android

Halloween pictures looking like dullsville? Think a specter would spice things up?

You can add a little eerie appeal to party pics with the Ghost Camera Pro smartphone app for Android.

The app lets you choose from a bunch of different types of ghosts and spirits (not just the cute kind pictured above) and insert them into pictures on your device. You can also edit the size, color and opacity of your ghosts.

We consider this more of a humor app, especially if some of some of your subjects have been going at the punch bowl hard.

Have you ever lost your car in the parking lot? Do you live in fear of forgetting to lock it? Does starting it from inside the house on a cold winter’s morning sound like a magnificent start to the day? The SmartStart app can do all of this with a push of a button on your mobile phone.

SmartStart is an app that connects your car to the cloud. It’s a component of a system offered by Directed – one of the biggest car alarm and remote starter manufacturers in North America.

To use most of the SmartStart system’s features you’ll need the hardware installed in your vehicle (called Viper SmartStart) and a subscription to a Directed service plan. But, the company offers a free SmartStart app that you can use to operate many of the system's features without the equipment. Some like SmartPark (car locator) and Parking Meter (tells you when it’s time to refill the parking meter) don't require the hardware.

The main purpose of SmartStart is to remotely lock, unlock and start your car. It will send you texts whenever there is activity to report – like if multiple people use the car you’ll get notified when anyone starts it. If you have the hardware that can operate GPS, you’ll even be able to tell where the car is going. You can also control multiple vehicles and assign more than one user to control a vehicle.

Right now, the only app version that is fully integrated with the Viper SmartStart system is an iPhone 4S or iPhone 5 running on iOS 6. With the Siri function you can just say “SmartStart” and the app will open. You can preset a defined command, so when Siri launches the app, the car will automatically start and the doors can be set to lock or unlock. The app also brings in controls for SMS and email notifications.

SmartStart app versions are available for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry.

The upcoming 2012 Presidential Election is likely to be more closely followed on mobile devices than any other in U.S. history. Voters will be keeping up with the election on their smartphones with polls and political news, as well as on social media.

But how, exactly, will smartphones figure into this election and, ultimately, who will smartphone owners be voting for?

Mashable reported on a new study from ad network Mojiva, which surveyed smartphone owners 18 and up to get answers to some of those questions.

According to Mojiva, people who use smartphones are more likely to vote for Obama on November 6. 47% of those polled said they identify themselves as Democrats, while only 28% identified themselves as Republicans.

Either way, 82% of respondents said they are planning to vote – a very high rate compared to the actual voter turnout for the past two elections which were below 60%.

In the lead-up to voting day, more Democrats than Republicans will be reading political news on their smartphones (63% vs. 59%), but more Republicans than Democrats will be researching the candidates (53% vs. 50%).

Come election day, over half of respondents said that they would be using an iPhone or an Android-powered smartphone to check results throughout the day.

But many of the respondents said they would use their phone to do even more if they could. When asked if they would use their smartphone to vote if they had the option to, 59% said they would, while a whopping 85% said they would at least consider doing so.

What about you? Do you plan on using your smartphone to follow the elections? If so, how? Let us know in the comments section.