Tangled cables are an unfortunate staple of my life, thanks to the five different devices I have to juice up every night. Until good wireless charging is a thing, I suspect that will never change; but this USB hub with its neat cable-management system might stave off insanity a little longer.
The Fishbone, currently just a twinkle in Kickstarter’s eye, actually looks like a pretty good bedside charging station: rather than being designed for any one specific device, it offers five USB ports, and stands that tidy up cables and stash any tablet or phone.
The USB ports are pretty standard — I’ve been using a $20 six-port version off Amazon for a year — but the Fishbone’s cable management is where the magic happens. The excess cable gets wrapped around the dock, which should mean no tangling, and no excess cables. The only real flaw I can see is the 180-degree bend on the cable where it plugs into the USB port, which could destroy things in the long run.
The dock alone runs $30 on Kickstarter, or for $40 you can get the dock, and five cables to go with it. Shipping is set for December, which means I might have just four months left to suffer, fingers crossed.
Contact the author at chris@gizmodo.com.