I picked this up at Apple’s corporate store in Cupertino a few years ago and it remains one of my favorite collectibles to this day. No, I’ve never actually used it (and have no plans to in order to keep it in flawless condition).
It’s prominently displayed on a bookshelf in my home office.
Every now and then I need to slap the tiny hands of visiting children away from it, but it sits there in peace most of the time.
Despite my rant yesterday against all things pink, there are products targeted at women that I do like. Products that are useful, reasonably-priced and tastefully designed are the kind that catch my eye and Quirky is taking pre-orders now for one that meets all of these criteria.
When I go out, particularly when the destination is a bar or club, I don’t like lug a purse around with me. While I think I have good taste in purses, I don’t want to carry one onto the dance floor or worry about where to put it when I’m sitting in a crowded bar. So, I have a small collection of wristlets that are just large enough to hold my iPhone, credit cards, cash and lip gloss. But inventor Tanya John has created a small clutch that looks like it will suit my needs even better.
The Vamp is a small, leather clutch with two different straps that will let you carry it as a wristlet or across the body. It has a special section just for the iPhone along with a cut-out for the camera so you don’t need to remove it in order to take a picture. It has space for a couple of credit cards and cash and a built-in mirror.
Thankfully, it’s not pink. 😉
While the pictures Quirky have posted are of a prototype, it looks like it will be available in a nice, discreet black. I’ve pre-ordered one and hope it will get enough pre-orders to go into production. You can help it by pre-ordering one now at Quirky’s online store – you won’t be charged until the pre-order threshold of 1500 units is met. As I write this post, there are only 278 pre-orders for the Vamp, so it’s got a long ways to go.
Of course, I plan to review it if/when I receive mine.
Dear Manufacturers,
I realize that if you were raised in a western culture, you were indoctrinated from a young age with the idea that genders are color-coded: pink for girls and blue for boys. This was reinforced in many ways, starting with the clothing and toys your parents selected for you as a child through to adulthood where these color themes come into play even when choosing a mundane tool like a disposable razor.
Again, I can understand this. But you should know that this gender color-coding is not instinctive. Girls don’t naturally gravitate toward the color pink and boys don’t automatically like the color blue. There was even a scientific study that tried to prove that these color preferences were gender-inherent, but it was debunked as bad science. It turns out that it’s probably all cultural.
While I admire the split design of the power cord for Apple’s portable computers, they’re not the easiest to wind up neatly when you’re using both of the included cords. I find myself carrying and using both of them when I’m about and about so that I can reach power outlets that are more than 5 feet away from me and to avoid blocking an outlet that could be used by someone else with the power brick.
To solve this problem, designer Jeff Scholen created the PowerCurl, a product idea that was submitted to, refined, and created through Quirky. I helped influence the PowerCurl (a tiny, tiny bit) during the design phase and purchased one when they became available for retail sale and it has been a staple in my gear bag ever since. Read on for my review and a video overview of it in action.
