Cyber, I really enjoyed looking at the Swivel Socket in your portfolio. That’s a darn good idea. I was just looking under my own desk earlier noticing how untidy and chaotic the cables have gotten.
Thanks…
The design itself is the weakest aspect at the moment. It was one of those projects that I got the stroke of brilliance 2 days before the project was due, so the entire design and CAD work ended up being done in about 24 hours.
I’ve got some ideas on how to make it MUCH smaller, less ipod-ish, and less complex (the current design has something like a dozen+ unique parts and half of the areas aren’t resolved properly at all). But that’ll have to wait till I have some free time.
But yeah, everytime I buy a new electronic and have to plug it in behind my entertainment center I’m like “God damnit…why couldn’t that be real”
For me, I usually recognize which plug belongs to which appliance. Sometimes I just stick a little tape on the plug end of the cable to label it. Perhaps something as simple as a cable tag will do the same job?
I haven’t seen CD’s project (how bout a link?)
but
Ridgid power tools placed a small lighted circle with
an icon on the plug of each of their tools.
Again don’t know what this is exactly how relevant this is
since I haven’t seen the project in question.
wtlw.net is the link.
If you take a look at the pictures (none of which were staged to prove the point) you can see in some cases it’s impossible to determine the difference. The rigid idea is brilliant, unfortunately the other 99% of the world isn’t bothering to improve the design of the product. The tape idea works, but at the same time if your surge protecto is buried then often just finding and reading that piece of tape (which will be covered in dust after a long period of time) will be a bit difficult.
It’s a good example of an overdone project whose purpose was to go as far out into left field as possible. For it to be sucessful as a real product it would need to be brought back a bit (which is why I had hopes to revive and revise it).
It also certainly isn’t a product for everyone. But if you’re a technophile like me who is plugging in new hardware 2-3 times a week and then wondering why your HP power brick has to take up 3 power slots, it’s a novel idea. The plug ejectors and the complexity of the base are almost entirely unresolved though, so I’m certainly not ashamed to admit that.
You have to be your own worst critic if you ever want to improve. 
Well, most plugs are OEM and pre-designed, sourced. If you want any distinction, you will probably have to invest in your own molds on something that the company may find insignificant.
So the tag idea is still the best!!!
Labelling was just one of the issues being looked at. The primary idea was to figure out how to fit giant power bricks without having them block off other outlets.
Belkin won an IDEA award for one of their surge protector designs for this year…bit of a similar aesthetic going on, maybe they saw my design. 
They also have a clamping power strip which was one of the feautres meant to be included on my project (the base would be removed and form the bottom half of the clamp).
I don’t really have any intentions of trying to get this into production, though I would like to revise it at some point for my professional portfolio.