Ugly tie? Sweater vest? Ha! Wonder what you did to deserve that! Good techies got one of Apple’s new notebooks or tablets in their stockings. And really good Mac fanatics like me get Quirky’s Digits Conductive Glove Pins — these really are pins for to pop into your winter gloves, allowing you to operate your touch-devices without taking the gloves off. Also from Quirky, the Power Curl, a power management system I’ve been reviewing for a while now. Neither will set you back more than $20 and are more than worth it.
Quirky, a crowd-sourcing outfit aiming to match inventors to investors to customers, took this invention from its community and raised money for it last year. Everyone knows you can’t use regular gloves on your tablet. But these mini conductive pins for operating tablets or smartphones at sub freezing temps. You just pop them in your gloves like so.
Check out this little video — it describes how its inventor came up with the idea and its intended use.
To install the conductive Quirky Digits, just push them through the fingertip(s) of your glove. A pack of four costs about $12 — use one set of pins per pair of gloves and you’ll have some to share with a friend or hoard for yourself. There’s a lot more information about them here — but trust me, if you live in frosty climes, you’ll like them plenty.
Also from Quirky, there’s the Power Curl-Mac-Cord-Manager. I say this is a great cable management system for Apple MacBooks, Pros and Airs — Apple should be including one in the box of every cable-bearing product it sells.
That’s because, currently, Apple’s idea of cable management for its line of notebooks is half-baked. You only are able to wrap the thin power cable permanently attached to your MacBook power adapter, for example, around its flip-up prongs. That leaves you with the thicker wall-plug cable to roll up and toss in your bag — or the option of just not using it since it is so hard to keep rolled up.
Photo Credit: Quirky
The PowerCurl secures Apple’s power adapter at its center. Then you simply roll both cables around the PowerCurl. There’s even a handy clip for securing the end of the thicker cable to keep it from unraveling. Good thinking.
The thinner cable secures with the Apple-supplied clip. Once rolled up the cables are easy to unfurl and use. It is considerably bulkier, but I like the option of having the extension cable with me where ever I go.
I’ve used a PowerCurl for over a year and I recently gave it to a relative to use with her 11-inch MacBook Air. I ordered a replacement to use with my own 13-inch MacBook Air from Amazon. The cost is around $15, but I find mine for a few dollars less on Amazon.
And who says power management can’t look pretty! The PowerCurl is available in a variety of colors for 45, 60 and 85-watt Apple notebook power adapters.
If you plan on carrying the complete Apple notebook power adapter with you every day, this affordable product is a must in my book.
