Hasta La Gadget!

In general, insider trading affects the investors who buy a particular company’s stock, not the consumers who buy its products – one reason that we’ve largely avoided covering the insider trading scandal that has netted a number of high-tech executives, including executives from IBM and Intel.

The Wall Street Journal’s latest report, however, names ex-AMD chief executive Hector Ruiz as one of the tipsters in the Galleon case. He is not a defendant, the paper reported. Ruiz, now chairman of GlobalFoundries (the spinoff of AMD’s manufacturing arm) served as AMD’s chief executive during the period of time covered by the investigation. According to the Journal and Bloomberg, Ruiz leaked the AMD manufacturing spinoff before the deal took place, but did not profit from the leak.

For fans of high design who don’t want to put their laptops on any old piece of plastic, there’s the Intelligent Forms Log Pillow. Perfect for Web loafing in bed or on the couch, the Log Pillow consists of six fabric tubes criss-crossed log-cabin style and attached with snaps. The “logs” are made from a mix of hemp canvas, cotton, and Lycra and filled with buckwheat hulls. The design is meant to cause better ventilation and keep heat from building up at the bottom of your laptop. The log pillow also fold flat for transporting.

Intelligent Forms also has laptop pillows with buttons and a “Terrapin” design. Though you might get some strange looks at the airport, these laptop pillows are well-suited to “working” from home with a big hot cocoa at your side. All three pillows are available for $69 each at the iF Web site.