Don’t Forget the Small Ideas That Make a Difference

Usually, it’s the big products that get the headlines, your iPhones and Surfaces and Galaxies. But in basement shops and garages, worthy invention is taking place on a much tinier scale and sometimes, that work is worth a look.

To be specific, this week, I offer reviews of three intriguing accessories that recently landed on my desk.

It’s a replacement charging “cable” called Charge Card, shaped like a black rubber credit card; you’re supposed to carry it in your wallet. At one end is the connector for your gadget, in the middle is a flexible rubber tongue with USB contacts on the end.

The idea is that you’ll never again suffer Battery Death Anxiety, where you’re out for the evening, watching your phone’s charge approach zero because you have no way to charge it. Now, you’ll always have the “cable” right there in your wallet. Find the nearest TV or computer and charge away.

The ChargeCard comes in three versions. One has a 30-pin connector for charging and syncing iPhones, iPod Touches and iPads with the original 30-pin connector (2012 and earlier). One has the new Lightning connector, for the iPhone 5, latest iPod Touch and newest iPad. And one has a Micro USB connector for all those Android phones and tablets, Sony cameras, Blackberries, Nokias, Kindles, Jamboxes and so on.

The iFlyPad ($30, available in late July) is a small contraption, about three inches across, in white or black, with powerful suction cups on both sides. The back has one big suction cup (with a sliding lever that increases the suction for an amazingly strong bond), which you’re supposed to attach to the airplane video screen on the seat back in front of you. The front has many small suction cups; they grip the back of your tablet, phone or e-reader.  iFlyPad is well-designed, compact and extremely secure.

The iFlyPad can also, of course, stick your phone, tablet or Kindle to any smooth hard surface in daily life: a kitchen cabinet, bathroom mirror, treadmill console or car touch screen (so you can use the Google Maps app for navigation instead of whatever awful GPS software came with your car).

Apple found precisely the right balance between attachment and detachment. Strong enough to hold the connector in place, weak enough to detach if it gets yanked,” so that your laptop doesn’t go crashing to the floor.

If you’ve had no problem with yours, it’s probably because you always use your laptop on a desk. If you try using it on your lap (yes, some people use laptops on laps), abandon all hope. If it brushes your leg, or if you lean over to grab something, the power cord falls out. I despise this thing.

I have found a ridiculous-looking but very effective solution: the MagStay 2 ($20). It’s a perfectly designed plastic white clip, of sorts, that keeps the connector in place.

- pogue.blogs.nytimes.com