Dealing with wires in a wireless world

4/3/2010 12:00 PM EDT

But reality is somewhat different, and even wireless advocates have a lot of wires in their life. There are AC-power wires to the chargers, DC cables from the chargers to their devices, interconnects between units in close proximity (often, a direct, hard- wired connection is the most cost-effective and technically wise solution, rather than a more complex, costly, power-hungry RF approach).

And that's where the problem lies. All those cables of varying types, thicknesses, and signals soon evolve into a tangled mess, affectionately called a rat's nest by most engineers. You have cables on the floor, tucked over and under, some wrapped, some randomly scattered—what a mess.

But where's there is a mess, there's a solution. In fact, the wire-tangle mess has many solutions, ranging from basic cable clamps for one or two wires (see 3M Command clips for just one example). But for serious cable management, I just came across a "larger" solution that looks pretty interesting. It's called the WireMate and it certainly is a total approach. (Full disclosure: I have absolutely no personal or financial connection to the product; I just think it's an interesting approach.)

The issue of cables and wiring in this increasingly wireless world is one that won't go away. Even universal "wireless" chargers based on inductive principles won't get rid of them entirely; they will only reduce or move them. But the issue of cable management is one we all know about, and we can all grasp, and to which we can all relate. We can also be impressed with the diversity and creativity of solutions that people have developed for it. ♦