I am going crazy trying to find two very small pieces of gear that would make my life a whole lot easier. I can’t find any trace of them online, but I KNOW that they exist because I have had one of each at some point.

The first one is an ingenious little chunk of plastic that I found in Akihabara, Tokyo. A week or two ago I lost (or maybe it was stolen) my small bag full of power cords and accessories. I’ve since replaced everything but this. I can’t find it anywhere.

Here’s a picture I drew that should give you a rough idea:

So basically it’ is a tiny box that you plug between your laptop’s power brick and the wall cord. It lets you plug two additional things into it.

This is good for a few reasons. First’ if you only have one plug available, you can charge your other stuff at the same time.

Second, you only need one foreign plug adapter to charge all of your stuff.

Third, if you and a friend can’t reach an outlet, you can use both of your wall-to-brick cables and this thing to make a longer one, and then take turns.

So cool. Please help me find one (or two… Todd wants one too).

The next thing is closely related. Many years ago I got a Targus slim universal power adapter. It was awesome except that it was shoddily made and overheated and broke. BUT… it came with one of these.

I have no idea where it went, but I would really like to have it back.

Here’s a picture I drew:

That picture came out worse but basically it replaces your wall-to-brick cord with a tiny right angle piece of plastic. One end goes into the wall and the other goes to your laptop.

When you use it your power brick hangs from the wall. It’s good for when you know you’ll be really close to outlets and don’t need the extra few few feet that the wall-to-brick cord gives you.

I really want it because I can then charge my camera battery at the same time as my computer without having to carry around two cables.

If you have any idea where I can get these things, please let me know. I have spent hours searching for them online and in Hong Kong’s computer centers with no luck. If you see one of either, please buy it and I will buy it from you.