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Student Designs 'Tangle-Free,' Zip-Loc-Style Earbuds
We've all, far too often, reached into our backpacks, briefcases or man purses to retrieve our earbuds, only to find their wires intertwined in some sinister perversion of the Gordian Knot. As one of those ubiquitous irritations of modern daily life, earbud entanglement has become a Gordian Knot in and of itself, leading any number of bright-eyed industrial designers to try and decisively untie it with various designs. The latest of those attempts comes from Lee Washingon, a London design student who has taken inspiration from nothing other than Zip-Loc bags.
While the above video demonstration does suggest that the design works, and while we're sure a single wire is in less danger of knotting up than two, we still have our doubts. In our experience, the primary cause of tangled earbuds is our hastily throwing them in our pockets or bags without properly wrapping them. Zipping up Washington's design would, we think, take just as much time. Plus, even when zipped, there's still a long single cord, very much capable of forming an imposing knot. To our minds, the best idea is still the simplest -- properly wrapping the earbuds. Not only will this technique save your 'buds from becoming pretzels, but it can also prolong their life by preventing shorts. Then again, we don't pretend to be disciplined enough to take such proper care. The best design we've yet seen lies in the linguine-like wires endorsed by none other than Compton's favorite son. [From: Lee Washington, via Gizmodo]
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Comments
3
Subscribe to commentsDarkLightAug 24th 2009 4:45PM
Just wrap them this way: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgku_EHiCsU
No redesign needed. Just don't do it tight because it puts stress on the cables, and there should be no sharp turns on the cable, either. If you get it right it is safe, I've been doing it for years on the same headphones without any incident. (On the video he did it a bit too tight)
If you're too lazy to do something as simple as this, you don't deserve the goodness of untangled cables. Works very well for power supplies too, a lifesaver when traveling.
JakeSep 10th 2009 4:04PM
Very good idea! I have the SkullCandy headphones and they don't tangle. They are made to do so!
AustinMar 8th 2010 1:35AM
I tried both this and the other method used on youtube to wrap my earphones, but neither one works! I hate that these guys try and make this look like it is not a issue. If this was so simple there would not be a ton of people trying to sell ways to solve the issue. Most of them suck. They are like a sock, or look really stupid. This social product development company (WTF?) came up with a cool idea though. I think these will solve the problem of earbud entanglement. But who knows. Decide for yourself. At least they are Cheap: http://www.quirky.com/products/31?r=f895ce66292be9c65ee61d2789ccd4ef