Crave

(Credit: Sequoia Design)

Does the world really need Post-it 2.0? Ask those of us with Post-its habitually plastered on our monitors, walls, backs, and foreheads, and we'd probably be hard-pressed to come up with suggestions for improving the classic attachable notes.

Still, the designers at Sequoia Studio have come up with an inventive concept product called E-notes. The notes use tactile and flexible electronic paper technology and are powered by a solar captor. They can be stuck and unstuck to surfaces easily using a glue inspired by the adhesive that keeps the gravity-defying gecko in place. The best part? They can be reused, thus saving paper.

E-notes even have a visual alarm/organizing function that changes colors. That we like.

Watch a more detailed explanation of the product here. But as Yanko Design cautions in its post on the subject: whatever you do, don't call it a digital Post-it!

"Welcome to the new AT&T, we're currently out of iPhones, how can I help you?"

That's how two AT&T stores--one in Los Angeles, another in Denver--answered their phones Tuesday. But those stores are hardly alone in their lack of 3G iPhones. A CNET News survey on Tuesday and Wednesday showed that during their first week on sale, Apple's latest iPhones are playing extremely hard to get.

In total, we contacted 50 AT&T stores in 21 cities across 11 states, and not one had any of the three models of the Apple iPhone 3G. And none had good news about when one might be able to get the device.

When asked if someone could walk in and buy a phone any time this week, an employee of an Austin, Texas, area store put it this way: "No way, no how, no store."

That's because of the huge back-order of phones. An AT&T representative confirmed that most of the company's stores ran out of iPhones on Friday, the first day the devices were for sale. Since AT&T doesn't have any in stock, its individual stores are taking "direct fulfillment" orders, which means customers can put in an order, pay for a phone, and will be contacted when it arrives. Most of the 50 stores said that process is running between 10 and 21 days before the phones will arrive.

"We are shipping tens of thousands of iPhone 3Gs each day to accommodate demand," said AT&T spokeswoman Jenny Parker. "As we're able to start re-stocking our stores, we will do so as fast as we can."

From what we can tell, the shipments vary. Though each store said it gets a shipment of phones every day, some said they hadn't received any containing iPhones since launch day and didn't expect any until next week. When they do arrive, "sometimes there are 10 iPhones, sometimes 100," reported a Seattle-area AT&T employee who answered the phone.

Of course, this evidence is entirely anecdotal, but similar stories have been showing up on the Web this week. Suffice it to say, it's fairly improbable anyone will be able to waltz in off the street and buy an iPhone 3G from AT&T until at least the end of August. Though you could get lucky if someone happens to return a phone the same day you go in.

Lines like this, taken on iPhone launch day, remain at Apple stores, while AT&T outlets across the U.S. are sold out.

(Credit: Tom Krazit/CNET News)

Apple stores are faring moderately better. There are more than 1,000 AT&T stores carrying iPhones, and 188 Apple stores in the U.S. Of those Apple outlets surveyed in the same cities of the AT&T stores that had no phones in stock, seven Apple stores reported having the iPhone in stock and three said they just ran out Wednesday morning. Those that still had iPhones to sell reported lines with waits of one-and-a-half to three-and-a-half hours.

Still, the odds are heavily in favor of Apple being able to supply iPhones to their customers on the spot. So if you really, truly must have an iPhone as soon as possible, it seems pointless to bother with AT&T.

CNET News' Holly Jackson contributed to this report.

The last five days have been all about breaking down the iPhone 3G--how the big release went, how many phones have sold, how the device lives up to its promise.

Now, some more numbers to toss in the mix: iSuppli has completed its iPhone 3G teardown analysis and estimated that Apple cut more than $50 from manufacturing costs per unit since the first-generation phone made its debut last year. Profit margins for the new gadget, according to the market research firm, are measuring in the range of 55 percent.

(Credit: James Martin/CNET News)

Apple spent $174.33 for initial production costs for the 8GB model, according to iSuppli. (This figure consists of the iPhone 3G's bill of materials (BOM) and manufacturing expenses combined. It does not include other costs, such as software development, shipping and distribution, packaging, and miscellaneous accessories included with each phone.) Beyond the $174.33 BOM/manufacturing costs, Apple is spending an estimated $50 on IP royalties per unit shipped.

At $174.33, the BOM and manufacturing cost of the new phone is markedly less than the $227 outlay iSuppli estimated for the first-gen 8GB iPhone last year.

iSuppli's cost estimate is just about on par with the $173 BOM predicted in its virtual teardown released in late June. While using a new design, the iPhone 3G represents a refinement of the original iPhone 2G, the firm says.

"The addition of 3G wireless capability represents an evolutionary design step for the iPhone, not a revolutionary one," said Andrew Rassweiler, teardown services manager and principal analyst at iSuppli. "iSuppli believes Apple aimed for a more cost-effective design for the 3G iPhone compared to the 2G, in order to lower the retail price--which will allow the company to seed adoption and to capture maximum market share now, while the company still has buzz and a perceived differentiation relative to its competitors."

iSuppli dissected the product to identify component suppliers, and determine preliminary part and system costs. Other conclusions:

• The redesigned phone internals include only one large printed circuit board, instead of the two nested PCBs found in the 2G version. The iPhone 3G uses a 10-layer board, compared with the less expensive 6-layer PCBs commonly employed in mobile handsets.
• The battery is not soldered into the iPhone 3G as it is in the 2G, making it more serviceable.
• Some chips have the Apple logo or are unmarked. Although iSuppli has been able to identify many of these parts and their true manufacturers by de-capping the chips and examining them, some devices currently remain unidentifiable.

Updated at 10:04 a.m. PDT to correct the total number of Apple stores there were checked for iPhone availability. The total is 188.

These days, Apple has enlisted a widget to deliver its bad news.

According to a man who checked all 188 Apple stores via the company's iPhone Availability widget, the iPhone 3G is in very short supply, says Fortune's Apple 2.0 blog. In total, it appears the device is sold out in 21 states.

The list of states fresh out of iPhones includes: Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin.

The widget is updated every day after 9 p.m. with the current stock of each store.

If you live in one of those states and are able to get a phone from an Apple store there Tuesday, let us know in the comments.

Though AT&T stores nationwide were also carrying the iPhone when it launched Friday, many of them are still sold out of the devices. All three AT&T stores in downtown San Francisco reported that they still don't have any in stock as of 9:30 a.m. PDT Tuesday.

CNET's Josh Lowensohn contributed to this report.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

According to a new survey released today, about 60 percent of the Canadian workforce is making personal use of their office printer.

The survey, conducted by Angus Reid Strategies for Samsung Electronics revealed that a large majority of Canadians who work in offices with high volume laser printers aren't using them for memos and work-related e-mails, but rather for personal letters, color photos, and even *gasp* resumes! The study breaks down the percentage of people that print out random documents:

I think it's safe to assume that the reason for all this work-printer abuse is because of the consensus that printers are simply too expensive to maintain. After all, why pay for an expensive toner cartridge or inkjet when your company is willing to foot the bill?

Well, for starters, using the company printer for your own personal needs is an unethical use of work supplies. I'm certainly not playing moral police here, and I've definitely used the office printer to print a few e-mails and online articles, but there's simply no reason to print personal photos and resumes at work, namely because printers today are wildly affordable, even for homes on a strict budget.

The price for print cartridges is also much lower than it's ever been. Considering the average cost of paper and inks (that now come in XL capacities), today's standard photo print only costs between $0.25 to $0.35 to print. If you print out an inordinate amount (you know how much is too much) of documents on the company dime, it's time to consider a printer for the home--you might be surprised at the low price of workplace integrity.

(Credit: Black & Decker)

These always sell out fast, so I'll cut right to the chase: Buy.com has the Black & Decker Pocket Power on sale for $10 shipped -- no rebates required.

This portable, rechargeable battery pack promises up to four hours of extra power for your mobile electronics: cell phones, iPods, digital cameras, etc. Just plug in your regular USB or AC charger and you've got juice. (On the plus side, that means no "tips" to manage, as with other portable chargers. However, it also means you have to bring along your power/USB cables.)

For 10 bucks and not a rebate in sight, this is a hard deal to beat. Definitely a worthwhile buy for folks who frequently take long trips.

Marvell has released chips for PC and notebook power bricks that can will substantially cut down the amount of electricity required to run these machines.

The chips, a type of power factor correction (PFC) controller based around a digital signal processor, effectively determine the amount of power an application will need and optimize accordingly. The chips also try to keep peak current at the lowest level.

The chips, which will be included in power supplies, are made to comply with new Energy Star requirements that require that 80 percent or more of the power pumped into PCs actually gets used by the computer. Right now, inefficient computers can lose around half of the power through heat or in the AC to DC conversion process. Pick up that power supply connected to your notebook. Feel the burn! These chips will reduce it.

Optimizing power cuts down on power consumption and, of course, global warming-causing greenhouse gasses. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that there are more than 10 billion AC-DC power supplies attached to computers out there. More efficient power supplies could save nearly $3 billion in electric bills annually.

Other companies out there working to revamp the oft-overlooked power supply include iWatt, which has received money from Vantage Point Venture Partners.

Marvell has chips out now but will crank into volume in the first quarter of 2008. That means the chips will likely be seen in PCs coming out for the fall of 2008.

(Credit: Sanrio)

It was inevitable, really. We've seen aquariums of all kind on Crave, including one that can even be controlled via Wi-Fi. So of course we would eventually encounter one from Hello Kitty.

And just so we can always stay near, Tokyomango says the Sanrio empire has generously included a USB connection for this faux tank as well. It makes perfect sense, now that we think about it: first air, then land, now water. The invasion continues unabated.

(Credit: Staples.com)

This is one of the few gadgets that I think would actually be enhanced by the presence of a cute, anthropomorphic face. The MailMate shredder, as featured on Outblush, is hungry and will only be satisfied if you feed it lots of junk mail! Wouldn't it be satisfying to feed all those credit card offers, sweepstakes promotions, and what-have-you into the mouth of an adorable, anime-inspired monster? If Domo-kun could eat my junk mail, it'd make my day.

What makes the MailMate special is that it won't just chomp up paper. It also likes to snack on CDs (helloooo, AOL), small paper clips, credit cards, and staples. So you can be sure that none of that junk mail you get will leave this little fellow with an upset stomach.

Mmm, tasty!

Shouldn't this cute shredder look like Domo-kun?

(Credit: domo-kun.com)