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Picture 1 of 15
Start the New Year Right
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Whether it resides in the living room or the office, we've all seen a rat's nest of wires, cords and cables, accumulated after months of buying, tinkering, playing, and working. As much as we may want to, we don't live in a completely wireless world, yet. Make the best of it by learning a few tricks to keep your data and power cords organized and pleasant to look at. You'll make your own life easier, and calm the frustrations of your family. This year, let's get cable management right. Not all of the products here will work for you, but one of them might
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$250 for a hollow plastic dog that you stuff cables into.
Dammit, I want people to throw money at me, too!
Rather than a couple of hundred bucks for a plastic dog that looks cheaper than my old 80's goose lamp, why not just use an inexpensive stuffed animal (e.g. a bear) which you've cut a small slit into (say where the Charmin don't leave pieces) and stuff the excess cables into the animal's cavity?
As for me, I bought a few feet of clear, flexible plastic tubing, spiral cut it, then wrapped it around my cables. A thinner-diameter tube keeps my keyboard & mouse cables from getting tangled, and a larger one keeps the video cable plus the ethernet and power cords neatly arranged. One really great advantage of this is that you can split off any cable at any point (e.g. the power for the computer is at a different spot than the power for the monitor. Of course, for power cords, it can be helpful to have an assortment of lengths to make this possible.
Oh, and the cost is about 1/1000th the price of the "Woofy". I can organize the whole house for less than the price of one of those hollow plastic dogs.
i keep and use the plastic strips that comes with the cables when bought. it keeps all cords short and neat, for no cost.
Rather than a couple of hundred bucks for a plastic dog that looks cheaper than my old 80's goose lamp, why not just use an inexpensive stuffed animal (e.g. a bear) which you've cut a small slit into (say where the Charmin don't leave pieces) and stuff the excess cables into the animal's cavity?As for me, I bought a few feet of clear, flexible plastic tubing, spiral cut it, then wrapped it around my cables. A thinner-diameter tube keeps my keyboard & mouse cables from getting tangled, and a larger one keeps the video cable plus the ethernet and power cords neatly arranged. One really great advantage of this is that you can split off any cable at any point (e.g. the power for the computer is at a different spot than the power for the monitor. Of course, for power cords, it can be helpful to have an assortment of lengths to make this possible. Oh, and the cost is about 1/1000th the price of the "Woofy". I can organize the whole house for less than the price of one of those hollow plastic dogs.
Because it would be difficult to explain to your insurance agent that your house burned down because you stuffed power bricks that need ventilation into a stuffed animal?
check this out----> http://imoney.blogs.lv/
Zip ties, anyone?
Zip ties seem like an obvious solution, right? They're very cheap, anyway. But sometimes the obvious solution doesn't work for many people--something about zip ties causes people to avoid them, or else cords wouldn't be such a mess at everyone's house. Some people are looking for an even easier and more attractive solution--these are people who can't muster the will power to remember to use zip ties
Rachel Rosmarin, Editor of Tom's Guide
Some very ingenious inventions here! The turnable socket and the zig zag power strip in particular. A couple of disadvantages of the wireless office are that your going to need longer cables for the connections since your going in an L shape instead of a straight line and I don't see what's to prevent the cables from tangling inside the pipe. If they knot up in there it's going to be a B to get them out. I would also say that many homes have much more cables than would fit in that pipe diameter. I would need one the size of a whale's aorta! Still, it looks great and I bet it was fun to make!
Zip ties seem like an obvious solution, right? They're very cheap, anyway. But sometimes the obvious solution doesn't work for many people--something about zip ties causes people to avoid them, or else cords wouldn't be such a mess at everyone's house. Some people are looking for an even easier and more attractive solution--these are people who can't muster the will power to remember to use zip ties Rachel Rosmarin, Editor of Tom's Guide
I think it's the issue of how permanent zip ties are. After the sixth time you think up a new and more ingenious way to sort out the cable running to your usb pole dancer (or whatever), you have to cut all the ties again and redo them. I know several people who have gotten wires and fingers mixed up in the tie cutting, too.
Uh grims, when u look at the plastic dog do u see any ventilation? or even enuff room to stuff a power brick in there? coz I don't.
Additionally that hang on outlet wont work coz the unused plugs block the outlets. Lower the hooks however, and it'd work like a charm.
I think it's the issue of how permanent zip ties are. After the sixth time you think up a new and more ingenious way to sort out the cable running to your usb pole dancer (or whatever), you have to cut all the ties again and redo them. I know several people who have gotten wires and fingers mixed up in the tie cutting, too.
This stuff works great in place of zip ties http://www.cablewholesale.com/spec [...] -07115.htm
Quick off topic question; I can't unsubscribe from the email alert about new comments to this story. In the email, It says to click the envelop icon in the top right corner but that just seems to be the newsletter. I have checked no under Automatic email notification in my profile but I'm still getting alerts. How can I stop receiving email alerts on this story?