In last week's Hacker Challenge, we asked you to show us how you hide your cables. We received a lot of great submissions, but this week, the winning entry belongs to reader Nicholas Arvanitis.
Check out the description of Nick's winning entry below and then read about some of our other favorite entries.
Winner: The Pegboard Solution
Nick Arvanitis shows us something we haven't seen around here before (lead image). He uses an old 1950's RCA Victrola turntable/radio cabinet as his desk. As if that isn't cool enough all by itself, he has attached a $5 pegboard to the back of the cabinet and uses zip ties not only for managing his cables, but also for hiding devices he doesn't need frequent access to. Stashed behind his desk, you'll find a wireless router, cable modem, two power strips, terabyte hard drive, Xbox 360 power supply, smartphone charger, tablet charger, Roku LT power supply, and various cables—all neatly arranged and secured.
Clever, indeed! And Nick figures the total cost of his solution at around $8. Congratulations, Nick!
Honorable Mentions
We got a lot of great entries and we'd be remiss if we didn't share some of our favorites. Here are some of the other entries that really impressed us.
The Integrated Solution
Spencer Ross built a small shelf under his desk to hide his laptop along with all its cables. He ran a USB hub and made a cutout flush with the desktop to serve his transferring and charging needs while staying hidden. His laptop easily slides from its shelf when needed. Overall, a nice, clean look. Well done, Spencer!
The Console Lover's Solution
Aaron Beers loves him some video game consoles. He chose wire shelving for his setup because it is highly customizable and easy to add to. The downside to wire shelves is cable management, since everything is wide-open. Aaron has ten consoles connected to this TV, which leaves quite a mess of wires. Aaron's solution was to cable tie them to the back of the shelves and poles. While it might not be a unique idea, his attention to detail caught our eye. Aaron started by using cable ties to secure two surge protectors to the rear of the bottom shelf and placing the A/V switchers on the second shelf. He then connected the consoles on the bottom shelf and worked his way up.
When Aaron had the best routes for all the cables on one shelf figured out, he tied them in place and moved on to the next shelf. He faced some minor problems when connecting everything. Some of the cables were far too long and in a few cases he had to fold them up. But for the most part, he only had to route the cables around the shelf a different way when he ran into trouble. He stashed larger power bricks (like for the Wii and PS2) behind other devices. Overall, Aaron has a total of 29 cables in this setup and managed to hide almost every one of them from sight.
The Apartment Solution
Jay Valentin could not cut openings in the wall of his rented apartment to run cables. Instead, he rigged up an Ikea windows shade behind the TV to hide a full load of cables. At the edges of the shade, he used an iron to gently heat it to the wall so that no cables are visible from the side. All additional cables from components on top of the dresser just fall behind the dresser and plug into the surge protector that's tucked away at the bottom. Surround sound speaker wires run the length of the room tucked under the carpet near the baseboard and into the receiver alongside the dresser.
Thanks to everyone who took part in this challenge! Be sure to check back every week for a new challenge.