BlueLounge is among the small group of companies that has yet to release a flop, and for good reason. Throughout this prestigious group, products are designed not only with regard for the shine and glitz, but also function. BlueLounge’s product lineup is aimed at simplifying a users life –physically, not technically– and one of its most popular products has been the CableBox. A few months back, BlueLounge released a new, smaller CableBox, or in other words, the CableBox Mini.

For those who still don’t know what I am talking about, the CableBox Mini is a rather small box, equipped with a power strip, that hides away excess wires.

Obviously, the CableBox Mini was designed for a smaller setup; rather than using it in the living room, it’d be better suited in a smaller workstation. At the same time, and not to sound too contradictory, the CableBox Mini could be used to organize a television setup, just keep in mind the supplied surge protector only has 4 sockets. If you have more than that, I’d recommend taking a look at the original CableBox.

The easiest way I found to install the CableBox Mini, and probably the only way, was to disconnect everything. From there, the CableBox was placed where I wanted it and the wires plugged in. Once everything was back together, I just worked the excess wires into the CableBox –which filled up fast!– and attached the lid. To be honest, this was not the most exciting process –I certainly wasn’t farting rainbows!– but in the end it gave me a chance to clean and tame the jungle of wires which used to reside behind my desk.

The CableBox measures 9.3 x 4.6 x 5.2in. To give you an idea of how big that is, consider this: It is about a soda can tall, a little short of an iPhone’s length wide, and close to an iPad’s length long. In most cases, it offers ample space to house a load of wires, but I ran ridiculously close to being out of room when I used it with an AirPort Express (with extended wire), a MacBook charger (also with an extended wire), and two other regular plugs. Also keep in mind that due to the surge protector being confined to little space, some plugs (the ones with the large card deck-sized plugs on them) will have a hard, if not impossible time getting plugged in.

In conclusion, BlueLounge, yet again, hit it out of the park with the CableBox offering a product with the perfect balance of form and function. I do not see any reason not to recommend the CableBox Mini to those who need a small, out-of-the-way cable organizer. It costs $29 from BlueLounge’s site, though you can find it a bit cheaper elsewhere online, and  is available in a range of colors (white, yellow, orange, blue, green, pink).