By Alice Hill
RealTechNews

Rant of the Week: At this very moment I am unable to install my new Slingbox via powerline Ethernet because I don’t have a bare wall outlet that is a) not too far away from my router and b) not already taken by plugs that lead to surge supressors. The one plug I did find just won’t accommodate the shape of powerline adapter, so I am screwed, unless I go out and buy a huge spool of ethernet cable. The same thing happens when I want to charge my phone, laptop, and Blackberry the night before a trip- the chargers fight for space on the wall outlets in my kitchen and I end up having to unplug the toaster, or scatter them throughout the house. Today there’s a little progress to report in the socket side of electricity – a wall outlet where the plug positions can rotate to accomodate today’s larger plugs.

One of the legacy items in every home that just never seems to get updated is the electrical wall outlet or power socket or whatever you call it. Designed in the dark ages before low voltage transformers and other humungous devices became commonplace, we’ve seen an elegant solution for a powerboard in the Powersquid but we haven’t seen an elegant solution to overcome this problem for the wall outlet until this revolutionary re-take by 360 Electrical. The concept is simple – the new wall outlets have receptacles that rotate a full 360 degrees in both directions. The receptacles click and hold in 18 different positions, enabling you to find a way to plug in those big fat problem plugs without eclipsing the next outlet. Source: Gizmag

We Say: Sounds great, but most people are too lazy to do this themselves. Here’s hoping new homes get smarter, or if I could have my dream come true: a huge row of outlets along the baseboard in every room standard.