Hasta La Gadget!

Quirky, a gadget and peripheral maker that crowd-sources its ideas for its next products, unveiled the Pivot Power today, an adjustable power strip that will bend and flex around objects and into corners to take up as little space as possible. Also, since all Quirky products are made from ideas out of the Quirky community, purchasing a Pivot Power also goes to support the people in the community that had the most to do with making the product come to life.

The Pivot Power adjustable strip comes with six individual outlet pods. Each two pods have a hinge between them so the entire strip can flex at each joint. It can be adjusted into a zigzag pattern, curled up into a circle, left straight, or even angled around a piece of furniture or a wall. It’s designed to help you save space and never waste a plug because it’s obstructed by the charger or device plugged into the port next to it. The Pivot Power is available for $23, and Quirky is taking pre-sales now. 

Apple acknowledges the iPhone 4’s reception problems. Their solution: Hold it differently or buy a case. But if this is an Apple design problem, they should fix it for real or give out cases for free. More »

Despite last week’s flurry of bad press surrounding the iPhone 4’s antenna, Steve Jobs is still in a chatty mood about his company’s newest handset. His latest personal e-mail to a customer relates to minerals used to create the iPhone 4 and other Apple products.

In an e-mail to Jobs on Sunday evening, Wired.com reader Derick Rhodes inquired about whether Apple was using “conflict-free” materials to create the iPhone 4. Jobs shot back a reply an hour later stating that Apple was doing what it could.

Hi Steve,

I’d planned to buy a new iPhone tomorrow – my first upgrade since buying the very first version on the first day of its release – but I’m hesitant without knowing Apple’s position on sourcing the minerals in its products.

Are you currently making any effort to source conflict-free minerals? In particular, I’m concerned that Apple is getting tantalum, tungsten, tin, and gold from Eastern Congo through its suppliers.

Looking forward to your response,
Derick

Jobs’ reply:

Yes. We require all of our suppliers to certify in writing that they use conflict few materials. But honestly there is no way for them to be sure. Until someone invents a way to chemically trace minerals from the source mine, it’s a very difficult problem.

Sent from my iPhone

Rhodes was inspired to write the e-mail after reading a recent New York Times piece detailing the horrific warfare in the Congo, which sells minerals to the suppliers who create components for cellphones, computers and gaming devices. Grass-roots campaigns have dubbed minerals from such origins as “conflict minerals.”

Jobs has been known to occasionally respond to customers’ e-mails, though in recent months the CEO has sent at least one e-mail each week. Many of these e-mails make their way to blogs. Some social media experts told Wired.com that they believe Jobs’ casual replies have evolved into a PR strategy as a means for the CEO to communicate with the world.

Jobs’ e-mail to Rhodes contains a typo — conflict “few” rather than conflict free — presumably because he typed it with his iPhone. Wired.com was able to verify the authenticity of the letter.

Rhodes said he felt grateful about receiving an e-mail from the famous CEO.

“I thought it was really cool,” he said. “His e-mails are really concise, so I really appreciate the thought he put into it.”

See Also:

• Roundup: Steve Jobs’ Terse Replies to Fan Mail
• Steve Jobs: Sorry, No OS 4 on Original iPhone

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Ask, and ye shall receive, FCC: hot off Julius Genachowski’s National Broadband Plan asking for 500MHz of additional spectrum to keep up with anticipated demand over the coming years, the White House appears to be totally on board with an Obama-penned memorandum out today demanding that federal agencies under his control get on board, while also “strongly encouraging” independent agencies to do the same. This isn’t some open-ended, pie-in-the-sky deal, either; the 500MHz needs to be turned loose in the next ten years, and the president wants a plan on his desk — penned with the help of the FCC — by October 1 of this year on exactly how to make that happen. It’s looking more and more like at least some privately-held spectrum is going to need to be reallocated involuntarily, but there’s a lot of underused and unused airspace out there right now, so it’ll be interesting to see if these guys can comply with the order in a drama-free manner. Follow the break for the full text of the memorandum.

Continue reading White House throws its weight behind wireless broadband, wants 500MHz of spectrum reallocated

White House throws its weight behind wireless broadband, wants 500MHz of spectrum reallocated originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Jun 2010 13:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Want to make your 17-inch MacBook Pro look like something a little more literary and a lot less techie? Then head over to Twelve South and pick up one of the new 17-inch BookBook cases. It’s a MacBook case that looks like a book–get it? You can get the BookBook in Classic Black or Vibrant Red. It’s a tough call: the sedateness of the black model is appealing, but the red model has red on the corners, as well.

You’d better hurry if you want one, though, because Twelve South says it has a limited number available at this size. They go for $99.99 each. Twelve South has a gallery of photos up, if you want to see the BookBook in action.