Modern Electrical Outlets and Power Strips

Modern electrical outlets and creative power strips from all over the world.

Socket Pocket

Creative phone-pocket for your electrical outlet. [link]

Hang On Outlet

It is a basic power outlet with a little extra lip to hold on to your lose plugs, keeping your power management neat and tidy. [link]

Wall Cleats

What use is an electrical plug when you’re not plugged in? Two simple tabs on the ends of a standard cover plate increase its function. [link]

Hidden Wall Safe Electrical Outlet

These unique wall safes allow you to hide valuables inside one of many identical looking wall outlets you already have in your home, the last place someone is likely to look. [link]

WirePod

Electrical “power pod” made of thermoplastic rubber and with four plug outlets is the first in a series of Artecnica products called Wiremore, which will make electrical cables more, rather than less, visible. [link]

Swivel Sockets

Swivel sockets rotate 90 degrees for compact use in tight spaces. [link]

Donut Power Strip

Each outlet can spin inside its socket for the best fit. The donut shape also helps to keep cabling organized. [link]

E-Rope Power Strip

Power strip that allows users to add or subtract sockets as needed. [link]

Picket Fence

The Picket Fence adapts to older homes and cleanly manages the electrical necessities of the occupants. [link]

E-Ball Multiplug Connector

Modern power strip concept by MASHALLAH.DESIGN. [link]

Plug with a Hole Concept

Pulling out a plug is not a hard work, but it is not always an easy task. Therefore, you need a better solution. This plug comes with a circular cut-out which can help you pull it out easily. [link]

360 Electrical Outlet

360 Electrical is an electrical outlet plate where the two sockets spin 360 degrees to help manage bulky plugs. [link]

Socket Deer Outlet Cover

These electrical outlet covers let you put your mobile phone on the wall as it recharges. [link]

Power Aware Cord

Electrical power strip in which the cord is designed to visualize the energy rather than hiding it. The current use of electricity is represented through glowing pulses, flow, and intensity of light. [link]

Rozetkus Power Strip

Power strip that gives you free choice of which way to plug. [link]

Electroman Surge Protector

Here he comes to save the day - especially if you have more plugs than outlets. [link]

3D Display Offers Glimpse of Future Media

by Lisa Zyga,

The 3D display system, developed by researchers at the University of Southern California, uses a spinning mirror to reflect images in all directions. Image credit: Graphics Lab at USC.

(PhysOrg.com) -- The 3D objects in the display box may at first look like a product of smoke-and-mirrors trickery. That impression would be about half right, as a rapidly spinning mirror is one important component of the display.

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But the overall 3D display system, developed by researchers at the Graphics Lab at the University of Southern California, is real technology that could one day transform visual entertainment.


The 3D display can project both virtual as well as real images from a recorded movie. The researchers, Professor Paul Debevec and his colleagues, hope that the display´s advantages will overcome many of the challenges faced by 3D technology. For instance, their 3D display is autosterescopic, meaning viewers don´t need to wear special viewing glasses to see the 3D effects. The display is also omnidirectional, so that multiple viewers can watch the display from all directions and heights.

To achieve the high quality, the researchers modified a video projector to project images at more than 4,000 frames per second. Also, the display is interactive, as demonstrated in this video showing a user controlling the 3D human head with a remote control. It can update content at 200 Hz, or 200 times per second.

The video projector projects high-speed video onto the rapidly spinning mirror, and the projector and mirror are synchronized so that, as the mirror turns, it reflects a different image to viewers in all directions.

As the mirror rotates up to 20 times per second, a viewer´s vision creates the illusion of a floating object at the center of the mirror. The image is enclosed in a glass box, to protect anything (such as a hand) from touching the spinning mirrors.

"While flat electronic displays represent a majority of user experiences, it is important to realize that flat surfaces represent only a small portion of our physical world," the team explains on its Web site. "Our real world is made of objects, in all their three-dimensional glory. The next generation of displays will begin to represent the physical world around us, but this progression will not succeed unless it is completely invisible to the user: no special glasses, no fuzzy pictures, and no small viewing zones."

The Graphics Lab has also been involved with creating films, computer animations, and other graphics projects.

More information: 3D Display Research Page

© 2008 PhysOrg.com