Technology is expensive. A new iPhone will run you hundreds of dollars. Laptops may be coming down in cost for base models, but they're not exactly the price of a Kleenex. Even a controller for your videogame system can easily run you $40 to $50. All these items are things you want to protect, not because it'll improve their resale value as much as because it hurts to see your new, $600 iPad get that first nick.
Lots of different methods exist for protecting your precious technological bits and pieces, including the seemingly increasingly popular idea of "skinning" your device. Rather than the more traditional use of the term which would involve removing the top layer of your device, here it means to add a protective layer. It is nothing that will prevent damage from a fall, but it most definitely will stop those ever-vexing minor scratches.
Of course, being a society obsessed with choice and individualism, we can't just have plain-looking skins. No, if you're going to add a protective layer to your phone, you're going to want to do so in style and one site which allows that in spades is GelaSkins.
Based in Toronto, GelaSkins has the dimensions of more than 100 different devices and will allow you to put an infinite variety of pictures on your skin. The site works with more than 100 different artists and has deals with Marvel, Busted Tees, Mr. Men & Little Miss, and several other (22 in total) groups for officially licensed skins.
All of this means that there is a whole lot of choice in your potential skin. For the iPhone 4, GelaSkins has 297 (as of this writing) different already sized and arranged skins immediately available. But, if you happen to not like any of those, you can select any skin on the site and simply resize it yourself using their tool. If you still can't find what you want, you're also allowed to upload a pic of your own so that GelaSkins can create a truly customized piece for you.
The real question though is how well any of this works – how good is the skin, how good do the designs look on them, how easy is the customize tool, how easy is it to stick the skin on your phone (or computer or Nintendo DS or PS3 controller, etc.). Overall, the answer to these questions is: quite well.
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