It seems as if we’re always seeing new and innovative electrical outlet designs. On the flip side, however, we never really see anything new and exciting when it comes to what’s actually being plugged into said outlet. The cable that tethers our gadgets and electrical devices hasn’t changed in decades. Why should everything else have all the fun?
That’s what the “Line Block” hopes to change. The key design element with the Line Block is the puzzle-like design which allows the stacking or coupling of multiple cords. As anyone who owns their fair share of electronics, having stackable/easily containable cords is a god send. If we had the Line Block now, we could throw out all of those twist ties as well as over priced cable management solutions.
Of course, the biggest hurdle isn’t making all of these cables — Ultimately needing hundreds of millions, if not billions — but actually getting dozens upon dozens of hardware/gadget/electronics manufacturers to all come together and agree on some kind of standard so that the Line Block could actually be born. To dream the impossible dream…
How many ways can you really innovate with a plug, outlet, or smartphone charging accessory? It’s pretty basic stuff — electrons shuttled from one probe to another, bringing along their shocking good time. Every now and then however, someone comes along with a facepalm of an idea making us all collectively think “Why didn’t we do that?” The “lighted cable” (some name) is basic in principle though complex in how it makes me want to buy it.
Why is it so cool? If it’s lit up, your device is charging. If it’s off, your device is done (or there’s a power outage). Simple yet complex. I like it.
Green this, hug a tree that. It seems that all we ever hear about concerning heavy gadget usage is how terrible it is for the planet. That very well may be, but at least progress is being made, wouldn’t you say? If any doubt still remains, simply take a look at this innovative and downright cool power strip concept designed by “Soon Mo Kang”.
Similar in design to the Leech Plug, the “Ejector-strip” (self-titled — copyright eleventy billion years with) is so basic yet so complex at the same time. The easy side of things is how it, like any other power strip, plugs into a wall and shuttles electrons from port A to prong B. The real magic is how it handles such things in it’s modular design. By going modular, not only to end users save money on not having to pay for outlets they don’t need, but also in not having unused outlets constantly sucking power (albeit tiny amounts) at home. Further adding to it’s love-a-tree mentality, less packaging is used and trashed as a result. It’s a win-win for everyone.
The other lust worthy feature is the very thing that sparked my naming idea — the ejectable nature of the plugs by way of a simple finger click freeing it from it’s 3 holed prison. Like the Leech Plug, the easy removal of the plugs is by no means revolutionary or a major feature that will save the world. But it’s cool tech plain and simple.
Yes, I’m getting all excited over a concept power strip…
Unbeknownst to many, even if an electronic is fully charged, it will still draw power from the wall. Now it may not seem like much. And in reality, it isn’t — for a single gadget in a single day. But then take into account how many gadgets there are sitting fully charged in wall outlets across the world. It adds up. What if there were a “smart” plug that would detect a charged battery and released said battery accordingly?
Welcome to the Leech Plug. Designed by RSID student Conor Klein, the Leech Plug get’s it’s name after it’s real world ability to sense when it’s sucked all the power it can cram into the host battery and spit out the plug when the deed is said and done. There isn’t much to say other than sit back and watch the movie below. Prepare to be captivated. An automatically puking wall plug is quite the sight.
What the hell is that? At first, visions of some new age weapon come to mind. But in reality it’s something much more and much more useful — a mobile solar power generator.
Being green and living clean is getting easier with each passing day. Regardless if the current world we live in is warming or cooling, giving mother nature a helping hand certainly can’t hurt. In the solar power arena, harnessing such power for larger scale applications (read: large tools/small housing) require some pretty hefty solar cells and hardware. Hardware that is anything but mobile. A new design by Marcos Madia, Sergio Ohashi and Juan Manuel Pantano however aims to make the trek into the wilderness, or at the very least, power away from outlets more mobile and easier to use.
The design is simple — attach some solar panels to a foldable contraption and make it lightweight and compact when folded. That’s where this little beaut excels, providing mobile power in a light and small package that can be folded up when the job or need moves. Pretty cool huh?
Anyone have any great ideas of what you could use this for?
Wall outlets — what exactly can we say? It’s a hole in the wall from which electrons spew forth when the appropriate (and sometimes inappropriate) material is inserted. How could technology and society actually make it better?
Enter the world transformed with the Rambler Socket. For starters, who says technology and mundane things such as wall outlets have to be ugly and unsightly? The Rambler is quite the looker.
Just because it looks good doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be functional. The Rambler excels again — offering up a fair amount of real world practicality.
The houses of tomorrow could have such a gadget pictured above and below. An outlet that stores an extension cord inside the outlet itself, allowing for more versatility and options when designing and building homes as well as giving homeowners one less thing to fret over.
I just with such concepts would come more quickly. It will easily be 15-20 years before we see any such technology implemented as “common” construction techniques in the U.S.*sigh*. Then again, they’ll have to swap out that goofy euro-connector in the pictures with a U.S. style before we could even use it anyway.
I love gadgets. Could you tell? With a vast amount of gadgets comes a lot of chargers and cords to keep track of. And believe me, I’ve got a lot of gadgets. Sometimes finding a computer or one of those nifty wall converters that turns a standard wall outlet into a normal USB port just can’t be done. So there you are starring at two completely capable and electrically charged holes in the wall yet no way to harness the energy. If you’re like me, spending a couple hours swapping out your standard outlets for the USB wall outlets above is a no brainer.
I’m not an electrician by any means though after reading through the self how-to I can honestly say anyone could do it with minimal effort. The benefits of such a transformation are obvious — easy and convenient gadget charging. With more and products gaining USB plugs, swapping out a few outlets for USB outlets doesn’t seem like a bad idea after all now does it?
Power inverters are hardly a new concept. They’re a basic device that converts a cigarette lighter outlet into one or many other types of electrical outlets so that other electronics can make use of an increasingly useless feature on cars these days. But what if you have multiple gadgets that you need to charge and space is a concern? The Multi-Port Power Inverter from Herrington Catalog is just the right size and price as to solve most electrical problems while on the road.
The design is rather simple and functional without useless features or dollars attached. Plugging the MPPI into your cigarette lighter or power point in your car will give you a pass through cigarette lighter/power point style outlet, a standard USB outlet, and your typical U.S. spec home electrical outlet. With an output of 100 watts, the Herrington claims you can run just about any gadget through the USB or wall outlet while still using the cigarette lighter to power say a radar detector. Among the list of other things to juice on the go, portable DVD players, laptops, cellphones, mp3 players, cameras, battery chargers, etc. The list is rather daunting and practically limitless. Pack all of that into a tiny package small enough to fit in a small pocket in pants, purse, bag, or glove box and you have quite a useful gadget.
Finally, dying because your battery exploaded or your power inverter shorted out and burnt your car to a crisp is a real drag. Thankfully this little wonder inverter has electronic circuit protection to prevent any type of electrical baddies that may try to come your way. *sigh of relief*. So whataya say? $40 too much?
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It seems as if we’re always seeing new and innovative electrical outlet designs. On the flip side, however, we never really see anything new and exciting when it comes to what’s actually being plugged into said outlet. The cable that tethers our gadgets and electrical devices hasn’t changed in decades. Why should everything else have all the fun?
