Community-developed Pivot Power strip now available to order
By Donald Melanson 
posted June 29th 2010 4:49PM
posted June 29th 2010 4:49PM
The community-driven Quirky website has already managed to bring products like the Space Bar and DigiDude camera mount to market, and it's now offering what may well be its most useful product to date: the Pivot Power strip. That, as you can probably surmise, is a power strip that pivots, which lets you plug in up to six power adapters or chargers of any size (within reason). This being Quirky, however, things are done a bit differently that your usual retailer -- only 960 units are available for pre-sale right now, and you can "commit" to buying one for $23. If all those are sold, the Pivot Power will go into production, and its designers and top "influencers" will receive a small percentage of each sale. That goal should be easy enough to meet in this case, though -- more than half of the pre-sale slots have already been snapped up as of this writing. Hit up the gallery below for a closer look, and head on past the break for a video and the complete press release.
Pivot Power, Adjustable Power Strip, Hits Quirky's Online Store
collaboratively developed in one week by Quirky's community
New York, NY, June 28, 2010 -- Today marks the official release of Pivot Power -- a community-developed electrical power strip that adjusts and flexes to maximize outlets as well as conserve space.
Pivot Power is designed to solve all the frustrations of traditional power strips. Its six adjustable outlet pods allow you to make room for all of your plugs at once so that large power bricks don't hog all the space. Plus, Pivot Power's flexible form easily bends into circular, semi-circular, and zig zag shapes, enabling it to fit into tight spaces and wrap around furniture and corners. Finally reclaim your outlets with Quirky's Pivot Power.
Pivot Power is the 44th product designed and developed by the Quirky community since Quirky's launch on June 2, 2009. Quirky gives everyone the chance to get product ideas out of their heads and onto shelves. Each week, Quirky's community collaborates to select and produce one new product idea. This week ends the development phase of Pivot Power, and it is now available for pre-sale in Quirky's online store for $23 (MSRP: $25).
You might remember other successful Quirky products including the Cloak, a sleek, sturdy iPad case; the DigiDude, a portable camera tripod and keychain; the Scratch-n-Scroll, a mousepad with a writing surface; and the PowerCurl, a cord wrap for Apple's MagSafe power adapter.
Quirky engages participants to collaborate in every aspect of product creation -- from ideation, design, naming, manufacturing, marketing, right on through to sales. Anyone can participate on Quirky.com either by submitting their own product idea for $99, or by voting, rating, and influencing other people's product ideas. Cooler still, 30¢ of every dollar generated from the sale of a Quirky product goes back to these influencers.
Every week, users post ideas on Quirky to be rated by the Quirky community. The community surveys the submissions during a seven-day evaluation period and selects one product to move forward into product development. Quirky's community then begins weighing in on everything from naming to logo selection to packaging through to prototype.
The final product becomes available for pre-sale in the Quirky online store (quirky.com/products). Once the product hits its pre-sale threshold, credit cards are charged, and the product goes into production and delivery. At this point, 30¢ of every dollar made from the sale of these products goes back to the community. "Community" in this case covers both the ideator as well as all people who voted, commented, and rated the project idea along the way.
collaboratively developed in one week by Quirky's community
New York, NY, June 28, 2010 -- Today marks the official release of Pivot Power -- a community-developed electrical power strip that adjusts and flexes to maximize outlets as well as conserve space.
Pivot Power is designed to solve all the frustrations of traditional power strips. Its six adjustable outlet pods allow you to make room for all of your plugs at once so that large power bricks don't hog all the space. Plus, Pivot Power's flexible form easily bends into circular, semi-circular, and zig zag shapes, enabling it to fit into tight spaces and wrap around furniture and corners. Finally reclaim your outlets with Quirky's Pivot Power.
Pivot Power is the 44th product designed and developed by the Quirky community since Quirky's launch on June 2, 2009. Quirky gives everyone the chance to get product ideas out of their heads and onto shelves. Each week, Quirky's community collaborates to select and produce one new product idea. This week ends the development phase of Pivot Power, and it is now available for pre-sale in Quirky's online store for $23 (MSRP: $25).
You might remember other successful Quirky products including the Cloak, a sleek, sturdy iPad case; the DigiDude, a portable camera tripod and keychain; the Scratch-n-Scroll, a mousepad with a writing surface; and the PowerCurl, a cord wrap for Apple's MagSafe power adapter.
Quirky engages participants to collaborate in every aspect of product creation -- from ideation, design, naming, manufacturing, marketing, right on through to sales. Anyone can participate on Quirky.com either by submitting their own product idea for $99, or by voting, rating, and influencing other people's product ideas. Cooler still, 30¢ of every dollar generated from the sale of a Quirky product goes back to these influencers.
Every week, users post ideas on Quirky to be rated by the Quirky community. The community surveys the submissions during a seven-day evaluation period and selects one product to move forward into product development. Quirky's community then begins weighing in on everything from naming to logo selection to packaging through to prototype.
The final product becomes available for pre-sale in the Quirky online store (quirky.com/products). Once the product hits its pre-sale threshold, credit cards are charged, and the product goes into production and delivery. At this point, 30¢ of every dollar made from the sale of these products goes back to the community. "Community" in this case covers both the ideator as well as all people who voted, commented, and rated the project idea along the way.
About time!
@DeFlanko This is MUCH better than the regular ones where its just straight and it hard to use it coz it gets too congested
@statickeith
Very elegant design!
@DeFlanko i wish woman were that flexible.
now i will wait for that one dude from necklace post to attack me lol :P
I'd imagine the UK version would weigh a metric tonne.
@inimicus Except UK outlets are bigger than most wall warts, so there's no need.
@inimicus No need for this in UK as the spacing between outlets already accommodates power packs.
Nice solution though.
@inimicus Regardless, I want a UK version, if only to sit nicely in the corner of a bay window.
I need a dozen of these.
DigiDude camera mount link goes to space bar.
You made me google.
Me want.
"You know, there are people in this world that don't have to put up with all this shit. Like that guy who invented the pet rock. You see, that's what you have to do. Use your mind to come up with something great like that. You'll never have to work again. The guy made a million dollars."
Their site seems to be down. I'm sure it will sell out. I was going to buy one.
@MBN
I was able to access it by going to http://www.quirky.com and then going to the page with the strip.
And so, the sperm power strip begins it's final stage of its job. It collects all of the power plugs it can find and fertilises all of them.
This is the end of Sex Ed with Electronics
Tetris, block game, brick game, falling blocks-they're all the same.
I'm certainly willing to plunk down $23 for one ... or two... or three. But the website seems to be down. *sigh*
I'm sold, I need one now. Great idea, I have this problem all over my house.
I will be totally amazed if this ever sees the light of day. Unless these guys already have UL approval on this thing, which I sort of doubt, there is almost no chance we'll be able to buy this within 5 years.
TechCrunch had a series of guest posts a while back from the inventor of the PowerSquid, and the Kafka-esque hell that he had to go through to be able to legally sell that thing was mind numbing.
I just can't look at my existing power strip the same way again
Okay the page is back up with 517 of 960 preordered. I hope it does come through though. It seems like a nice clever way to get around trying to plug stuff of various sizes in a strip.
Bring a German version pls.
And for the rest of the world too
The site is very slow but I'll be able to get my order in. The confirmation e-mail says it could be a while till they are available, but you can cancel any time up to when it goes into production.
Like everything else Quirky, it will take about 1.5 years to ship. Good luck with your orders!
@smakus Yeah probably, but they don't charge you anything until then. Actually I guess my credit card will be expired by then. LOL
Nice how about some surge protection?
Too much geodefence?
Hot...
Finally something useful to carry around in airports. It's so annoying to see someone hog the only electric socket at the terminal.