Kickstarter spotlight: xWalldock
The xWalldock is a new twist on an old concept: Making a wall outlet into a charging station. There are wall outlets with USB ports, hangers so your device can lie on a shelf that hangs on the wall charger itself, wall mounts designed to sit next to the outlet, and so on and so forth.
The xWalldock’s take on this is to add a dock to the frame that sits around US wall outlets. There’s no rewiring of outlets involved, you just change out the plastic that goes around the existing outlet. The dock part of the xWalldock does contain some electronics, which take a microUSB input on the bottom and converts it into a dock connector on the top. Both microUSB, Apple 30 pin, and Apple Lightning connector version will be offered.
The power comes from a small wall charger that feeds the dock part through a small cable. Why there is no Power4U version I have absolutely no idea, as it seems like a partnership between those two would benefit everyone. Instead you have xWalldocks for single or double outlets (actually double or quadruple), as well as rounded or square types.
I like the idea, though I’ll never be able to use it here in Norway – this is only for US outlets. Pricing starts at $15 if you’re quick, with all sorts of options and configurations available at different pledge levels.
[Kickstarter]
