Cable Organizers

With the profusion of new electronic doohickeys—cell phones, MP3 players, desktop speakers, and the like—has come an explosion of wires, cords, and cables. With all those cables sprouting like weeds, it's no surprise that the resulting jumble is spilling onto our desktops and creeping out from behind our entertainment centers.

One problem, of course, is that so-called wireless gadgets really aren't wireless at all—most come with bulky chargers that cover up outlets they aren't even using. Fortunately, several design-conscious inventors have come up with creative ways to tame the tangle and turn it into something worth showing off.

• 

  Cable Turtle

  • Made by: Flex-The Innovation Lab
  • Price: $5.99-8.99
  If you have a six-foot cable where a one-foot length of cord will do, the Cable Turtle may be the answer. Designed by the Dutch company Flex/The Innovation Lab, the Cable Turtle winds up like a yo-yo, gobbling up excess cable around a central coil and concealing it beneath a donut-shaped lid. The Turtle’s marriage of form and function earned it a coveted spot in the Museum of Modern Art’s design collection.
• 

  PowerSquid Surge Protector

  • Designed by: Chris Hawker
  • Made by: Flexity
  • Price: $17.95-69.95
  Designed by 31-year-old inventor Chris Hawker, the PowerSquid takes a familiar concept—the power strip—and turns it inside out. The PowerSquid looks like, well, a squid, complete with a pair of cartoonish googly eyes and six “tentacles,” each with an outlet at its end, allowing the PowerSquid to accommodate AC adapters without wasting outlets. Four models will be available in late spring, including the Calamari 3000, which features two glow-in-the-dark outlets.
• 

  Cableyoyo

  • Made by: Bluelounge Design
  • Price: $4.95
  Sleek, elegant, and compact, Bluelounge Design’s plastic Cableyoyo is a stylish solution for the cable clutter epidemic. Just over three inches square and about a third of an inch thick, the Cableyoyo is designed specifically for accessory cables, such as phone cords, speaker wire, and USB cable. Each one holds up to eight feet of cable and can stick to a wall, computer monitor, or other surface. (iPod addicts should check out Cableyoyo Pop, a tiny spool that attaches to a cell phone or MP3 player with a suction cup.)
• 

  Cable Manager

  • Made by: ZHO Innovation
  • Price: $8.49
  Sometimes getting a handle on cable clutter can be as simple as bundling your wires together. ZHO Innovation’s stylish Cable Manager line of colorful flexible coils wrap around bundles of cords to keep them from straying. The rubber-coated coils bend as easily as a Gumby action figure and hold their shape well enough to be reused several times over. Each package includes a pair of identical coils, available in blue, red, yellow, orange, green, black, and gray.
• 

  XL Cable Organizer

  • Made by: ZHO Innovation
  • Price: $11.99
  Imagine a flying saucer with a hole in the center, and it’s easy to grasp the principle behind the XL Cable Organizer from the Dutch company ZHO Innovation. The XL, which has a five-inch diameter, can hold up to 16 feet of cable around its colorful spindle (available in blue, orange, and lime green). Snap the rubber shell shut and make your wires—and your mess—disappear.
• 

  Cable Zipper

  • Made by: Evriholder Products
  • Price: $11.95-19.95

  Evriholder’s Cable Zipper is a more involved—and more complicated—system for bundling cords. Each Zipper, available in white or black, includes eight feet of plastic zipper cable and a device that resembles a hair clip. Gather the wires you want to bundle and slip them into the hollow section of the clip, then slide the zipper cable over the top. Use a pair of scissors to cut away any excess zipper cable. Each kit includes two adhesive pads and a dozen sets of labels to help you keep track of which wire goes with which device.