drop

One of the first things most people do when they get a smartphone or iPad is buy a case to protect it from accidental drops. Cases themselves range from purely decorative to nearly hardhat-industrial — and now one iPad case manufacturer, G-Form, has put its products to the ultimate test.

Thanks to a steep drop in crude-oil prices, gas costs have fallen below $3 a gallon in parts of Michigan, Missouri and Texas, and are expected to decline in many other states as well. Call it an unexpected bright spot in the global economic crisis. Now that drivers have cut back on trips, shippers are moving fewer goods, and vacationers are staying closer to home, the demand for gasoline, diesel a