Transformable Power Strip Twists To Hold More - TwistVolt

Power strips have always been pretty bland over the years generally coming in black or white with the outlets being in a straight line. That is what has been the case for well over 20 years and not a lot has changed. We have seen some in the past few years which allow them to come in different shapes to accommodate that ever growing need to provide power to computers and devices. And with all the USB charge cables we have been collecting, the ordinary power strip does not handle those though some of the recent ones provide for that. Given the straight line power strips, wouldn't you like to see a power strip which can do more. The TwistVolt gives you a power strip along with providing a unique form which looks very interesting.

The TwistVolt is currently looking for funding over at Dragon Innovations where TwistVolt is an active project. This has been out there for only a few days with a goal of raising $95,000. While the goal may seem high, this one is really worth taking a look at. With all the connections to power strips that I have, it seems there are always wasted plugs because some power blocks are just two big and cover over 3 outlet plugs instead of one. There is almost always one plug that seems to go in sideways and takes up 2 power outlets. These reduces the usability of a power strip to plug in devices. The TwistVolt is going to change this problem.

While there are alternatives to this problem, TwistVolt looks to be a very unique solution to the problem allowing one to use each and everyone of the 6 power outlets without having to worry about that power block that is large. There are many different ways that you can twist the TwistVolt with its 7 joints so this is very flexible for you to use and there will always be a way to twist it to take advantage of the 6 outloets. But, that is not all there is to the TwistVolt. It comes with USB conectitions as well and depending on your contribution level, you can get 1 or up to 8 USB charging ports to handle the growing number of devices we all seem to collect.

One might think that this is all there is to the TwistVolt, but you would be wrong. They have added circuits into the product to clean the power flowing through it and while you may not think that is something to be concerned about, it is. This will regulate the power. With that, they will also be providing power to make sure that your devices are getting the amount of power they require to be charged up. We have talked about how different USB ports deliver different watts. Well here is one that will handle that for you.

And there is more. We all know that when you are charging up a USB device that once that device gets charged up, anything after that charging may just be wasted energy. The TwistVolt is going to have technology that senses when your device is charged. And when it senses that, it will reduce to the power to that USB port to be a fraction of what it was. All of these items make this a unique product.

The TwistVolt is scheduled to be shipped to those who contribute to the campaign for delivery in May 2014 if they meet their funding goal. This excellent looking product needs backers and you can contribute at various levels starting at $49 and up from there providing you at least 1 USB port. Higher amounts give you more USB ports. If you have a lot of devices which charge via USB, this looks like a great product for you to have.

New Powerstrip Shape With POWERQUBE And USB Slots

Kickstarter Friday - Protect your devices with power stripe cube

We have all seen the power strip, that straight line of plugs which gives you protection for power spikes. It does the job, but is not exactly the easiest thing to work with. That is because of the inflexible shape of your basic strip. We have seen some interesting ones this past year, but we are now seeing one that seems to really provide a better way for our mobile society. This is in the shape of a cube which is somewhat different and it comes with 3 USB slots for charging up mobile devices. It is called the POWERQUBE.

This week's KickStarter project is the POWERQUBE. And the POWERQUBE sure looks different from what you are used to seeing in a power strip making it much more appealing because of the shape. With a total of 6 power outlets and 3 USB slots, you can be charging up your portable devices all at the same time. The POWERQUBE is 5.5 inches square and 2.75 inches tall. Very compact and not bad to look at either.

If you are mobile like most of us, you have a laptop, at least 1 tablet, smart phone and possibly an iPod. There are potentially more devices that others may have. But, with the POWERQUBE, I can be charging up all my devices and potentially that of a friend at the same tine. With a 5 foot power cord, I can have this set on the desk quite nicely and it looks like it fits in.

The POWERQUBE KickStarter project is set to end on July 14th with estimated dates for shipping to contributors in September. If you want to join in and support a worthwhile product, head on over to the contributions page for POWERQUBE. Contributions of $30 and above will get you your own POWERQUBE to be delivered in September. The $30 contributions are running low and may be gone by the time that you read this. You can still participate at the $35 level. Take a look at this one as you are going to be seeing more of it.

The New Extension Cord From NuPlug

The biggest problem with mobile devices is battery life. And until that gets resolved, you are always going to need some place to plug into for charging. When at home, you look for the wall outlet which is rarely convenient. So, you use an extension cord, but that does not have any surge protection. So you use a power strip with surge protection, but that still makes you crawl around to plug your mobile devices into it. In today's world, having an extension cord that includes surge protection is the best combination for all the things we have to plug in. Most of these are power strips with a lot of plugs, but not the functionality that we are looking for. We have found the NuPlug which looks like it is going to be the one extension cord that will handle my needs for charging up my mobile devices.

The NuPlug surge protector has just completed a round of funding which will allow them to move towards production. So, what is this coming product going to provide. It comes with a 10 foot cord which you plug into a power outlet. As you can see on the face of it, there are two power outlets visible and there are 2 USB connections on the NuPlug. That provides you with the ability to charge up multiple items from a convenient location.

That convenient location is going to be far batter than what you are used to. The beauty of the NuPlug is in its versatility for placement. It is made of plastic in the casing and with the clamping ability, you can easily attach it to furniture so that the plugs are in easy reach. The attaching process is like clamp that you squeeze together to hold it on something. It has an maximum opening on the clamp of about 1.6 inches giving you enough of a width for clamping on the NuPlug onto a table or other location.

The company web site is up at NuPlug.com, but there is no way to order the coming product. For those individuals who helped in funding, the NuPlug should be shipping in October. Based on that, we can assume it will hit the market in November. While we hope that the company will place the ability to pre-order the NuPlug, we expect to see pricing to be in the $30 to $40 range when it is released. Watch for the NuPlug in the fall as it is going to be a great gift in the holiday season.

Travel Outlet With Swivel Plugs And Surge Protection

If you have ever traveled and stayed in a hotel, you know the frustration of trying to find more than a single outlet to plug your chargers into. Whether it be for your laptop, tablet or smart phone, most hotels limit you to pretty much a single plug for your technology equipment. And with some of the large plugs for USB drives and others, you need to find something which you can easily carry with you while you travel. And since the power in some locations is not a clean as it could be, you need to be able to check for it being grounded as well. All of this must include the ability to handle surge protection as well.

While there are many portable surge protectors, few have all the features that we want to see. We have found the Travel Swivel Socket with Surge over at Herrington Catalog and this one provides great features. We have searched to see if you could find this one elsewhere and were not successful. There are several things which make travel swivel socket with surge protection a desirable part of your travel gear, if not an essential part.

The two outlets have the ability to turn 360 degrees, so if you have one of those over-sized transformer style plugs, you can still use the other outlet. By providing the swivel feature, it gives you the flexibility to move things around and have 2 items plugged in. There are also 2 USB outlets as well for charging up your smart phone or tablet at the same time. As you can see from the picture, there is a grounded light and a protected light to provide you with the knowledge that you are protected.

The one big additional feature for this portable power surge protector is the retractable plug on it. So many of the travel surge protector do not have one specific feature which is one we consider to be an important feature. With plugs sticking out, they can snag on things causing potential problems with poking holes in your bag if not covered up. For me, this is a great feature to reduce the packing concerns when traveling.

There are a lot of other popular travel surge on the market, such as the Belkin SurgePlus which has a swivel plug. But the swiveling plug is the one that plugs into the wall. And that plug does not retract so it sticks out to catch on things in your bag. The one nice feature is that the USB plugs are on the side and will not be blocked by the items plugged into it. On the Travel Swivel Socket, the USB plugs are on the top and could be covered by a large transformer block style plug.

If you do not have a travel surge protector, the Travel Swivel Socket is a great item to carry because of the flexibility of the plugs which can be turned 360 degrees. And it provides the ability to know that you are connecting to a grounded power source.

Pivot Power - Unique Power Strips

Power strips have been a bland category in the market. Everything out there is a straight line device which many try and improve on by adding features to them, such as cable control. But it is that sameness which makes them standard, but not unique. But, there is a growing group of power strips which provide power protection from surges which are not your run of the mill devices. Having something which is far different is what many are looking for in providing additional power outlets for our devices. And there are various types which are showing up in the market.

The power strips created by from Quirky such as the Pivot Power Mini pictured above. It is listed on the site at $24.99, but you may be able to find it for less on other sites. This one provides 2 electrical plugs and 2 USB ports for charging up your devices. And it sure looks unique.

Or you can take a look at the Pivot Power which is a flexible power strip which can pivot the electrical plugs in various shapes as shown here. This allows you to get all the power blocks you need into the strip as shown in the picture here. This is a great idea and it is something far different from all the other ones which are in the market today. The Pivot Power is listed on the Qurky site for $29.99.

Both of these items are rather interesting and there is even a Pivot Power Junior, which has a only 4 electrical connections at a listed price of $19.99. All of these are very interesting and make a statement that you want to be different than everybody else.