Presumably inspired by the famous Manneken Pis statue, these silly things plug into your headphone jack, and pee all over your fancy new gadgets. They’re the perfect complement to those urine-powered batteries I know you’re running all your devices with.

They’re available from Strapya (JP) for just ¥399 (~$5 USD) each, but I don’t see them on their international website yet. What a tragedy.

Imagine how much harder it is for those who don’t, or who don’t anymore. But to make things more organized and a whole lot safer, there’s these Braille Electric Plug Tags, designed by Shuwen Chen. These tags would be made from hard fabrics with Braille letters, device icons and abbreviations embossed onto them. Each tag would have Velcro sewn onto the back, making them easy to put on and remove from cords as needed.

The Braille Electric Plug Tags are yet another winner of the 2011 red dot design concept competition.

[via Yanko Design]

Designers Suhyun Yoo, Eunah Kim & Jinwoo Chae probably couldn’t take oddly-angled sockets any longer, because they came up with the Donut Outlet concept design.

Basically, the Donut lets you to hook up your plugs quickly and easily into the socket, without any of the guesswork or inconveniences. You don’t need to move anything so that the holes of the socket are visible. The Donut has a ring-shaped connector so you can just plug it in, even without looking at the socket itself.

It’s a pretty neat design and a useful one at that. But is it technically feasible? Guess we have to wait and see.

[via Yanko Design]

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]

You can use the Dialug to schedule or set when you want power to flow through. But for everything else, there’s the Eco-Socket.

I honestly prefer the Eco-Socket over the other concept design because it’s more intuitive than a timer. The Eco-Socket automatically pops out and cuts power when it detects that a dip in energy consumption of a device that’s plugged in. It’s the more convenient option because there’s no need to time anything or keep monitoring it.

And when you need to power your device again, just push the plug right back in again. The Eco-Socket was designed by Ya-Hui Chi and is an entry for the 2011 Lite-On Award.

[via Yanko Design]

While modern appliances, this shouldn’t cause a problem, there’s the chance that something might overheat and you might yourself coming home to, well, a burnt or melted mess. Or your cat could try and take a nap on the heated griddle while you’re out. Not only that, but it’s also sort of endangering the lives of your neighbors or other family members who might live in the same place as you, which isn’t good at all.

Quick and smart solution? The Dialug, a concept design by DanBee Lee, JangSoo Kim, KyoYeon Kim and WooRi Kim, which integrates a timer into the socket so you can set the number of hours when you want to keep the electricity flowing to whatever is plugged in.

Of course, there are some kinks that need to be worked out in the design. For one, there’s the issue of twisted wires. They’re bound to become all twisted up and messy and eventually loose and ruined because of repeated twists, unless there’s some sort of rotating strain-relief built into the plug itself. Aside from that, though, I still think it’s a pretty neat idea and will prove to be extremely useful, especially if you’re the forgetful or absent-minded type.

[via Yanko Design]

These Push Plugs aren’t just plugs with a personality. They’re also pretty functional, too. Aside from bearing subtle decorations to give your plug heads, well, an actual face, they also come with this tiny black knob at the back that makes unplugging your plugs from wall sockets a breeze–especially those hard-to-remove plugs that seem to feel like they’re somehow stuck on the socket. (Whew, I think that’s the most times I’ve ever used the words “plug” and “socket” in a single paragraph.)

I don’t think it would be feasible (or even possible) to have all manufacturers incorporate the Push Plug’s nifty design onto their plugs. However, I think it would be a whole lot easier and simpler if the designers instead applied this design to plug adapters, which are designed to fit over plugs and convert them from three-pronged plugs to two-pronged ones (and vice versa.)

[via Yanko Design]

However, in one fell swoop, the Switch Plug solves all of these problems by adding a–wait for it–switch to the plug. Genius?

It might not be the most novel idea there is, since I’ve already seen some adapters on sale in some hardware stores with switches on them. But I haven’t seen plugs with embedded switches–until today, that is.

It’s a smart solution, especially for people who can’t be bothered with unplugging stuff but who can be bothered with switching a switch off instead.

The Switch Plug is actually a design by Gonglue Jiang and it’s still a concept for now. I think it’s pretty practical and would make a fine addition to the way plugs are made today. It will eliminate my fear of sparks, that’s for sure, because there’s no more need to keep on plugging and unplugging all the plugs we have at home. What do you think?

[via Yanko Design]

It’s circular and has room for six plugs, and its round design easily can accommodate multiple AC adapters at the same time. The Pod includes surge protection and an on/off switch. When it’s not being used, you can hide it away and make it look like a pen holder.

It might make sense for certain uses, like in corporate environments, but my power strips are always in use, so the pen caddy would never get used. Still, the Power Pod could look good on a nice desk – until you start cluttering it up with ugly cables and power packs.

The Coalesse Power Pod will go on sale for $99 (USD)  on March 21st.

[via NYT Gadgetwise]

One of Giha’s main motivations included the fact that most chargers for MP3 players can be as large or larger than the actual MP3 player. The overall design is pretty minimal and should work for people who don’t need a screen to check out what’s currently playing. I have to say that I like doing that though, especially with a large music collection, but if you’re used to working with an iPod Shuffle, you’d be just fine with one of these.

Granted, you’ll need a country-specific version plug for it to work in your particular country, but honestly I like the overall shape of the bi-pin version shown here, but the prongs could poke you if you’re not careful when you’re wearing it.

It’s also not clear if  it’s technically feasible to cram a transformer into a package this small -but it’s not much smaller than the cube Apple gives you with the iPhone these days.

[via Dezeen]

A new concept plug from Luofang Jun called the Total Plug Safety, and promises to keep you from shocking the crap out of yourself. The plug is normal enough, but it has a blue accordion-like folding sheath that covers the prongs of the plug as they go in and out of the socket. The thing is sort of like a plug condom, keeping the prongs from spilling their electricity all over the place.

As you unplug the cord, the sheath extends so all you touch if you are not paying attention is the plastic. This would also be a great way to keep kids from shocking themselves as well. The concept is cool, but some have pointed out that plugs in Europe are recessed to prevent this from happening there already.

What was seen, cannot be unseen. Now we’ll all feel dirty when we plug in our gadgets. Hell, “plug in” seems like a dirty phrase to me now.

I wonder if they like it when we stick a bunch of them into a power strip… aaaaaarrrg!!! Enough! Go buy this shirt at Go Ape Shirts for $18 (USD) until all of them are sold out! All of them!

[via Fashionably Geek]

Designed by RISD student Conor Klein, the Outlet Regulator (aka “Leech Plug”) is thusly named because, just like a real leech, this power adapter actually disconnects itself from its host (power source) when it’s sucked up all the juice it needs. By using a timer circuit along with electromechanics, it’s able to detach itself from the wall once fully charged.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy this mesmerizing video clip of the Leech Plug in action.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[via No Smarties via Link Drop via Unplggd]

Marvell just launched the newest version of its Plug computer, the Plug 3.0. It’s based on the Armada 300 processor, and draws less than 1/10th of the power that a typical PC uses. However, it still manages to run at a 2Ghz processor speed and has WiFi, Bluetooth and a built-in 1.8-inch hard drive. Not too shabby, eh?

The case is a lot nicer looking than the previous editions. It’s been rumored that a few big-name brands are working on upcoming releases on this platform. We’ll see how relevant the Plug Computer 3.0 really is later this year. Still, it looks pretty cute.

[via Ubergizmo]

The Outlet Wall is obviously a bit of creative Photoshop work, but I think the concept is fun. Imagine all your walls completely covered with outlets, so you’ll never need to look for a place to plug in your electronic devices. Sure, rigging and wiring thousands of side-by-side wall outlets is completely impractical. And if you have kids in the house, you’d have to buy a crapload of outlet covers. I don’t care. I still like it.

[Ironic Sans via Gadget Venue]

Spinning Hat’s Plug Mug features an ingenious design that ensures that only the person in possession of the watertight drain plug can partake of a cuppa without ending up with a scalding hot lap full of liquid. And you’ve got no reason to feel guilty if that were to befall Susie Secretary when she walks off with your cup. If the bright exclamation mark and stop sign and gaping hole in the side of the mug aren’t sufficient warning, she fully deserves what she gets.

You can grab the Plug Mug over at UK gadget shop I Want One of Those for £9.99 (Appx. $14 USD.)

This electrical dude has got to be my favorite power strip ever. All other power cords in the universe should immediately be destroyed and replaced with an army of Electric Men. Do your part and head over to Urban Outfitters start plugging them in everywhere.