We really like Bluelounge as a company. A company that is dedicated to making your Mac experience better and a whole lot cleaner looking is going to get high marks from us. It doesn’t hurt that in the process Bluelounge goes beyond first class in terms of quality and it doesn’t hurt that their products are shockingly reasonably priced. While we still wish that we were reviewing their StudioDesk, (seriously – that thing is crazy, we were tempted to steal it out of the CES convention hall… but it wouldn’t fit in our backpack) – today we look at one of Bluelounge’s many solutions to hiding, storing and controlling those nasty things we call “cables.”
Out of the Box:
When we first got the Cableyoyo, we saw only one use for it – and we didn’t think it was going to be a fairly entertaining one, as we always seem to be – we were wrong. Anyways, the Cableyoyo is available in singles and packs of three in your choice of black, white or silver – so it’s going to match your Mac. Radtech was kind of us to send over a three pack in black when they sent us Bluelounge’s Cool Feet and their own Sleevz. Inside the box was three Cableyoyos and, that was actually it. Each Cableyoyo is fairly simple: thin flexible plastic around the center with a cut in one side for the cable and adhesive on the back. The adhesive portion can be removed from the Cableyoyo and at one end internally there are holders to allow you to place the cable exactly at your desired length.
On Your Desk:
The adhesive was our hint as to how to use the product and we attached our iPhone cable which never leaves the desk, since we have plenty of others. After wrapping the cable around the device until we got our desired length, we removed the adhesive’s covering and attached it to the side of our desk. A month later and it’s still there. We’ve tugged it a couple times harder then normal (or at least harder then we thought it would be able to stand) and it still hasn’t bugged, we haven’t tried to tow the desk with it yet, but there’s still time. Another use we found to be quite creative was placing it on the back of the iMac to limit the lengthy cables and we think that a combination of a couple of Cableyoyos and a BackPack from TwelveSouth could easily turn the messiest iMac work station into something that looks like a Swedish design studio.
In Your Pocket:
We didn’t think of the other use for the Cableyoyo, which was portable storage. Rather then dealing with numerous thick cables in your pocket getting tangled and bulging out – wrap them around a Cableyoyo or two (or three) and don’t worry about pulling an octopus made out of electronics cords out of your pocket. The Cableyoyo’s flexibility and design allow it to accommodate a chord that is .5 mm thick (we haven’t measured our cables, but it fit our USB and Magsafe’s cables fine.) We found the Cableyoyo very useful in a couple of portable situations, particularly for shortening our cables when traveling which became particularly nice on planes.
The Perfect Gift:
We know what you are thinking (or at least we are going to make the bold assertion that we do.) “That’s cute, but do I really need this?” Oddly, there are more then a handful of situations where the Cableyoyo came to the rescue. No longer do we have to: pick up the cable when it gets knocked to the ground, worry about the jerry-rigged USB hub getting pulled out of position, worry about the iPhone getting knocked to the ground (the Cableyoyo will hold our iPhone hanging off the desk), worry about where the cable went, reach behind our desk when the power chord ends up behind the desk, bang our heads on the desk when picking up cables or look at the clutter that was our desk (and we have avoided the always embarrassing cable octopus in your pocket situation.) At a dollar a head bang (not the musical genre) it doesn’t take long for the Cableyoyo to sound like a really good idea. The plastic isn’t the thickest we’ve ever seen – but it does do its job and like we said: zero problems, when have you ever heard that before. We got exactly what we expected: a logical solution to a regular problem from a company that we expect to deliver top products. You can purchase Bluelounge’s Cableyoyo from our friends at Radtech or directly from Bluelounge all colors are sold in single ($4.95) or packs of three ($14.50). Needing a gift for a Mac lover – look no further, here’s the perfect gift for under $15. It may not look like a whole lot to begin with, but three months later – ask if the person has found a use for the Cableyoyo. Ask us after one week, we’ll tell you yes, a couple of times.
We have taken a lot of pictures, but if you have any further questions – check out Bluelounge’s page, which does an incredible job with how to use the Cableyoyo amongst a lot of other bits of information and tons more pictures. Also, thanks to Allan at Bluelounge for meeting with us at CES and showing us all of Bluelounge’s product line, including that wonderful desk.