Gizmodo: surge protector

Keep Fugly Surge Protectors Out of Sight and Mind With Bluelounge CableBox

Jack Loftus — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 15:00:00 EDT

We've already seen what Bluelounge can do with a minimalist gadget charging station, but today they're tackling a different office obstacle with the CableBox: cords. If you haven't gone mostly wireless yet, this is a convenient way to store them. And on a personal note, this space saver also addresses an illogical fear of sticking an exposed toe into an outlet and electrocution. For $30, you get what amounts to a much prettier, much sturdier, shoe box with holes for your surge protectors. [Bluelounge]

Cost Control Power Strip: See How Power-Thirsty Your Gadgets Are

Kit Eaton — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 06:04:48 EDT

The Cost Controller power strip lets you hook up eight gizmos, protects them against voltage spikes, and also shows you how much power they're drawing so you can worry about your electricity bill well ahead of time. It actually shows consumption in kilowatt hours along with the frequency and voltage characteristics of your power line, if you're into that sort of data. At least watching those usage digits mount up on its LCD display might prompt you into eco-friendly behavior, like not leaving stuff on standby. Available now for $99.99. [Computer Gear via Red Ferret]

The ezSpace UFO Surge Protector Gets Price Drop to $29

Jason Chen — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 13:24:11 EDT

That ezSpace UFO Surge Protector we reviewed and loved last month got a $10 price drop down to $29, making it even more of a good buy. [Review]

Surge Power Strip: Your Power Wastage In Plain Sight

Kit Eaton — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 11:00:00 EDT

The Climatized Objects Project think there's a simpler way to make you save energy than clever sockets: "Surge" plops your power sockets and thus energy consumption in open view. Shaming you, and dominating your home. Yup: I'd certainly be tempted to unplug my "on standby" devices if this red surge-protecting beast was draped over my desk, behind my TV and down the stairs. Oh, no: wait— of course I wouldn't, because I'd never use this crazy crapness in the first place. I kind of see what they're getting at, but I'm distinctly glad this will remain just an eco-concept. Spilling coffee with it around would be fatal. [Dvice]

Lightning Review: ezSpace UFO Surge Protector

Jason Chen — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 17:40:16 EST

The Gadget: The ezGear UFO, a relatively compact surge protector/power strip that holds six distinct AC adapters so they don't bump into each other.

The Price: $29

The Verdict: Definitely worth it if you have a bunch of large and unwieldy AC adapters to plug into one port—say, if you were building yourself a home charging station for all your gadgets. The outlets are upside down because your chargers need to face downwards in order to have enough room to fit, but the slots are angled at such a way that gravity won't be pulling your bricks out of the socket.

At $29, it's $40 cheaper than the similarly 6-ported PowerSquid, and takes up less room as well. You could get the $13, 4-port PowerSquid, but you'd skip on the surge protection (which the UFO has). Would we spend our own money on this? Yes, yes we would. [EZGear]

Socket Sense Power Strip Has the Sense to Slide

Jason Chen — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 14:15:28 EST

The age old conundrum of AC adapter bricks not fitting correctly on power strips has had many solutions lately, but this Socket Sense seems to be quite a clever one to add to the pile. It looks like a standard strip with the plugs offset at a 45 degree angle, but each socket can actually slide up and down the strip to accommodate larger or smaller plugs.

The Socket Sense isn't big enough to make for a strip made up entirely of AC adapter bricks, but it should fit a good number more than standard strips—a fair compromise unless you're going for something like this. Then again, at $39, you may be better off getting a few normal strips and daisy chaining. [Ideativeinc via The Gadgeteer via Oh Gizmo]

Flying Saucer Surge Protector Keeps All Plugs Separate

Jason Chen — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:40:13 EST

There have been many solutions to the problem of fat AC adapters clogging up your surge protectors (like this), but this ezSpace UFO flying saucer protector from ezGear looks like it can actually be filled with all AC adapters without colliding. The secret is that it's pretty huge and shaped like an flipped-over bowl, but it does the job in four- and six-plug versions. There's even a wall-mounted version as well. The first products will ship in January. [EZGear]

Plugging Your PS3 Into a Surge Protector Doesn't Void Your Warranty

Jason Chen — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 19:40:16 EDT

A PlayStation forum poster claims that a Sony customer service rep told him his broken PS3's warranty was voided because he plugged the console into a surge protector and not a wall socket, and that he'd have to pay $150 to fix it. When reached for comment, Sony said this wasn't the case and that your warranty won't be voided if you use a power strip.

Even if the forum poster was told that his warranty was voided, it could have been a result of a customer service rep not wanting to deal with this guy rather than some kind of company policy.

We've also heard that Microsoft's recommended usage is to plug your Xbox 360 into the wall, and not a power strip, because a poorly made surge protector or an overloaded strip can cause damage to your console from not supplying enough power. We're still waiting on official word from Microsoft to see if it's against their warranty to plug a 360 in this way (it's probably not). [Wired]

Smart Power Strip Auto Shuts Down Peripherals

Travis Hudson — Fri, 18 May 2007 17:57:49 EDT

This power strip has surge protection, noise filtering and a microprocessor capable of turning off all the peripheral devices when the main device is turned off. So, when you turn off your PC, it can shut down your speakers, printer and other extras, too. It is available for $35, which isn't too bad for a quality surge protector that's smarter than average. –Travis Hudson

Product Page [Via Red Ferret]