Skip to Content

Edited iPlug

An Apple power brick is edited by its owner in DIY fashion to correct its inherent design flaw.
September 26, 2007

Over the summer I vacationed in a house rental on Cape Cod with my family. I noticed this Apple iPod power brick left by a previous vacationer and marveled at the effectiveness of the DIY edit to correct the converter’s fatal design flaw. The brick was designed so that the metal prongs could be easily popped out and replaced with the types of prongs used in other countries. The problem is, the prongs pop out too easily. If you really don’t go anywhere else in the world, the tragedy of having the pluggy part slip off accidentally or remain stuck on the wall can be iDisastrous to your music-listening capability. Tape is certainly the champion material for any quick fix and probably deserves more variations than are available on the market today. In the same way that there is that wonderfully advanced rope from Squid Labs, it would be nice to have a similar advancement in the form of tape. I’m sure that many TR readers out there know of quite a few. Tape, anyone?

Keep Reading

Most Popular

Large language models can do jaw-dropping things. But nobody knows exactly why.

And that's a problem. Figuring it out is one of the biggest scientific puzzles of our time and a crucial step towards controlling more powerful future models.

How scientists traced a mysterious covid case back to six toilets

When wastewater surveillance turns into a hunt for a single infected individual, the ethics get tricky.

The problem with plug-in hybrids? Their drivers.

Plug-in hybrids are often sold as a transition to EVs, but new data from Europe shows we’re still underestimating the emissions they produce.

It’s time to retire the term “user”

The proliferation of AI means we need a new word.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.