Desktop versions of hilltop power-line towers

Industrial designer Daniel Ballou, of Long Beach, CA, creates some pretty sweet housewares. Pictured here are his desktop power lines, which are based on the reasoning that if this form works to organize cabling as it passes over houses, hills and dales, it will likely suit the needs of desktop cable-management as well. Ballou also makes miniaturized home-use cargo containers that make handsome storage boxes.

Ballou Projects (via Core77)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: design • Gadgets • happy mutants • housewares

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Doctor Device

those are wonderful… though, they don’t look as though it would be terribly difficult to make your own.
invictus

He needs to combine this idea with the (sadly not-winning) design submission for high-voltage pylons shaped like giant humans:
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2010-08/16/human-pylons
- http://twitter.com/beep54orama B E Pratt
  
  Thanks! Those are awesome looking! And you’re right; should have won although the winning design is pretty nifty too.
emo hex

I can’t wait for the small trencher that will gouge a 2″ deep trench across your desk/floor, whatever, so we can bury those unsightly wires!
- http://www.matthewpetty.com/ Matthew Petty
  
  Like this? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Router_%28woodworking%29
Mister44

I find them like I find the real thing: ugly. All they need now is a little forest clear cut on the side of a mountain.
http://www.matthewpetty.com/ Matthew Petty

They’d have to be clamped to the desk, but they look cool!
petsounds

If ever there was a post that needed the hashtag “#firstworldproblems”, it would probably be, “Miniature power-line towers to hold up your gadget cables”.

I do find when on a road trip some of the giant towers stretching out along the plains quite meditative and surreal though.

http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/sparky2000/sparky20000511/sparky2000051100476/280016-hight-voltage-lines-are-held-aloft-by-giant-power-towers.jpg
satn

I wonder if that phallus on the right was intentional….
- Donald Petersen
  
  Hope not. Looks rather squat.
- That_Anonymous_Coward
  
  You must be new to the interwebs…
  its ALWAYS intentional
Guest

If those aren’t Sennheiser HDs, then I’m a monkey’s uncle. The dude’s got taste, that’s for sure.
http://illustratorhints.com/ Jesseham

Great idea except don’t we all aim to hide those cables?
http://www.facebook.com/mcmillions Jimmy McMillan

I like the full-size versions, stretched out over an expanse of land. On a desk, it seems to clutter everything up though. I think there’s a reason that there are infinitely more discreet wire-consolidating options for desks.
http://artdonovan.typepad.com Art

I love these things!

I’ve been obsessed with power line towers as long as I can remember. There’s something both ominous and dramatic about them.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001381002931 Deep Six

Just in time for everything to go wireless. Unfortunately powerlines are one of the things that North Americans have used to make our landscapes ugly. Imagine walking down the street and not seeing cords hanging everywhere…
taras

These would look great on top of the piles of paper, empty DVD cases, jars of pens and screws on my desk.