Before we could graduate with a BS degree in Chemical Engineering, we had to complete our thesis for one course and design a plant (the plant that you build, not the plant that grows) for another subject. For the first one, we worked in groups of three, while for the design project, we were a group of five.

We spent countless days and nights toiling away together in the room with our laptops in front of us, only leaving the room to go to the bathroom or to take a quick nap. We would be cramped so closely together since we needed to constantly charge up our laptops and there was only one extension power cord and as you probably already know, laptop charging wires aren’t exactly a mile long. I just wish I knew about the Pod Power extension cord back then (although it didn’t exist back then) because it would’ve made my life (and my groupmate’s lives) a whole lot easier.

Pod Power is composed of five pods that bring an outlet to you. The cable is 15 feet long, with an outlet every 3 feet – with 5 pods total. And since each pod has a cord reel on it, you can wind up any slack too. This seems like a great idea when you’re working in a group and have various devices that you need to keep plugged in. It’s also great for those conference room meetings where everyone at the table has a laptop to plug in.

The Pod Power is fitted with a standard three-prong outlet with a keyhole on the back of each pod for easy mounting. Pod Power is available from Quirky on pre-sale for $34.99 (USD). They need to sell at least 2000 to go into production, and they’re nearly half way to that goal already.

[via Geeky Gadgets]

As expected, each module can work independent of the others. A power strip with only one outlet may sound like a joke, but as you’ll see in the second picture in the gallery below it’ll still come in handy in some instances. But again, the important thing is that you can rearrange the bricks and that they come in different sizes, making it easy to fit all kinds of plugs.

I’m sure that this concept still has its limits though. There has to be a limit to the number of devices that can be strung together in one mega power strip. And as commenters at Yanko Design have pointed out, if you insert even one plug that had no ground prong, it would negate the point of the ground prongs on the other plugs.

I wonder if this concept really is feasible, and if so, if it could be taken to the extreme: skip the bricks and convert plugs and adapters themselves into modular power strips.

[via Yanko Design]

Berman’s Coil Lamp is one of those “why didn’t I ever think of that” designs. It’s so simple and elegant in concept, but striking at the same time. You see, the Coil Lamp is simply a table lamp made from a 100-foot orange extension cord, wrapped around an acrylic frame.

When fully-assembled, the Coil Lamp is a striking addition to any room, but when you look at the raw elements of the lamp, you’ll be scratching your head saying “that’s all there is?” This is truly a case where the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts.

You can order the Coil Lamp over at Craighton Berman’s website. The D.I.Y. version (B.Y.O. extension cord) retails for $75 (USD), while a hand-coiled edition, signed and numbered by the artist sells for $150 bucks.

Nice touch there with the coiled CFL lightbulb there!

As you can see, you can plug in up to 4 sockets to Icon Socket. It also has a magnet screwed on its back, so you can mount it on the legs of your desk, or on your file cabinet, although I’m not sure if the magnet is strong enough to bear the full-force of 4 sockets. Takumi’s Icon Socket sells for ¥3,150 ($34 (USD)) at the Japanese online store e-goods. Not Japanese? You can still purchase the Icon Socket through Rinkya.

[via a rinkya blog]