SAN FRANCISCO - Hub Innovationsw was showing several new products at this year’s Macworld|iWorld show, but the one that caught out eye the most is Anvil, a very cool stand for the iPad. The device holds your iPad in either portrait or landscape mode, and it includes a stabilizer bar if you want to lean your iPad back and type on it.

Anvil Stand

Anvil is a solid aluminum stand, and the arm that allows you to angle your iPad is a mechanical piece with locking ratchets. While we were looking at it at the company’s booth (#320), the thing we noticed is that everyone handling it immediately began playing with it. We compared notes later, and agreed that it’s just one of those products you can’t help fiddling with.

Anvil Stand

It also looks great, good enough that we gave it an Editor’s Choice Award for 2012. The powder coat black finish looks good and the company said that it includes a protective clear coat that should keep it looking great.

Anvil Stand and the Stabilizer

On the functionality side, the stand has two modes. In its most compact form, which you can see in the first image, it holds your iPad in either landscape or portrait mode (which you can see in the second image). There’s a stabilizer that you can unfold (see the image above), however, that gives the stand enough stability for you to type on it.

Anvil Stand Reclining

In the image above, you can see the stabilizer bar in action, and we did test out typing with it and found that it worked quite well.

The Anvil is priced at US$69.95 and is available now.