If those nesting USB plugs look familiar, you've been reading Gizmodo for a long time. Back in 2010, the stackable USB plug wasn't much more than a big-spoon/little-spoon concept, but now it's almost real—by which I mean it's on Kickstarter.

I am willing to bet that at some point in the last few months, you slightly struggled to plug something in. Not a particularly difficult scrap: just enough to cost you a few seconds, turn on a light, or actually put your iPad down. Well, someone is now here to solve your most first-world of problems.

The future of automobiles is upon us. Or at least it's getting a lot closer. This week, the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International announced the first official charging plug standard for North American cars. The brand new plugs may arrive as early as next year, meaning that, someday soon, the new American…

The Pivot Power strip isn't the first to try and solve the bulky power adapter problem. And like others, its rotating design probably won't top the Power Squid in sheer utility. But others aren't nearly as attractive as this one. [Quirky]

Hide your cables, hide your plugs! This elegant concept, the Plug Hub, can become real if enough people buy it. Think of the $24 you spend as an investment towards a lifetime of peace, serenity and organization.

Does your old person have trouble unplugging power cords from their sockets? Fear not! This award winning student design can see to it that, with a simple eject button, your grandma's osteoporotic fingers need not suffer unplugging her computer again.

For years only deep fryers and Apple laptops have had breakaway cords. Stanley's new Safety Socket adds breakaway protection to anything with a power plug. Expect it within the month for something like twenty bucks. [StanleyTools.com]

The electricity that courses through your body whenever you're together. The way you fit perfectly in her arms, powering you up. The voltage you feel as the relationship sours, when you stick your ring into a wall-socket. [Artifacts via DesignMilk]

The Video Electronics Standards Association has codified the standard for the next version of DisplayPort, and the small, Apple-loving HDMI competitor, and it just got a lot more interesting. Like, multiple-monitors-on-one-plug interesting.

Ok, maybe not every country, but with at least 12 different sockets in widespread use it sure as hell feels like it to anyone who's ever traveled. So why in the world, literally, are there so many? Funny story!

It's why we declared independence in America, and it may have something to do with fabled British teeth. The UK's power plug is ridiculously large, and now one designer has fixed it.

Molex has prototyped a new miniature HDMI connector called Type D, which boasts the whole range of regular HDMI specs—19 pins, 10.2 Gbit/s bandwidth, HDCP, etc.—in a package the size of a Micro USB cable.

You know, I'm not one to pass judgments, but I'm not Ace Hardware. [Consumerist]

We put up with too many cables. There are at least four different kinds of USB plugs, two kinds of FireWire and like a million different ways to connect something to TV or monitor. Modern gadget life can be kind of retarded in this way. Why not one kind of cable, or just a couple? I don't know. But until everyone gets…

The BreakFree is Belkin's fix for crazy rockers who can't get through a set without ripping up their amp or guitar's cord jack by flailing around too much. One part of the $20 two-piece kit fits in the axe's cord jack, while the other goes to the cord itself, and you can rock safe knowing that if you make any wild…

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,…

Forget Lifehacker tips for cord organization to make your desk neater. When you have a custom Electric Table by Broberg & Ridderstrale of Stockholm, your entire desk is your outlet. These guys custom create a desk that plugs into the wall, which powers custom outlets embedded all over the face, sides, and legs of the…

Your very own JohnB will be on Open House on CNN this weekend. Check your local listings so you can watch him and Phoebe rock the Headline News.

Sometimes a simple yet elegant idea comes along that solves a pressing problem, and here's a perfect example of that: 360 Electrical's Plug and Turn, a two-plug wall outlet that can rotate in any direction and maintain power even while being rotated. Each receptacle has 18 click stops around the full 360 rotation,…