The 360 Electrical outlet lets you plug in one device and then turn it to make room for another plug in the same outlet.

MCT

Outlet solution When it comes to bulky plugs, rotating sockets really help out

Kimberly Gerard found herself annoyed by a common problem. She had two cell phones, but she couldn’t fit both of their bulky plugs into the only readily accessible outlet in her office.

So she and a friend came up with a solution: an outlet with two sockets that rotate 360 degrees.

The 360 Electrical outlet lets you plug in one device and then turn it to make room for another plug in the same outlet. It comes in four colors: white, ivory, almond and black.

The outlets are available at Harbor Freight Tools USA stores, and they can be ordered from online retailers listed on the Web site, http://www.360electrical.com. Suggested retail price is $10.

Stop catalogs

Are you happy to get the Container Store catalog delivered to your doorstep, but not so interested in repeat mailings from Pottery Barn?

A free Web site, www.catalogchoice.org, lets consumers opt out of getting catalogs they don’t want while keeping the ones that they do.

The site launched in November. Since then, more than 358,000 consumers have signed up, according to Mary Burnette, a spokeswoman for the National Wildlife Federation, one of three environmental organizations that created the site. News of Catalog Choice has been e-mailed among friends and relatives as well as community e-mail groups. It is also an official Facebook group.

The originators of Catalog Choice hope to reduce environmental waste produced by the 19 billion catalogs mailed every year in this country. According to Burnette, possible refinements to the site may allow consumers to register for electronic copies of catalogs even if they don’t want paper versions, or to limit receiving a store’s catalog to just once or twice a year.

A photo retreat

You can almost feel the heat radiating from the stone fireplaces as you page through Cabin in the Woods.

The book is a vicarious retreat to a world of rough timbers and smooth leather, to places where homes are an extension of their natural surroundings.

Author and photographer Ralph Kylloe, an authority on rustic furniture, takes his readers on a virtual tour of 10 cabins ranging from the simple to the sprawling. He guides with photographs and few words, inviting the reader to study and absorb the details of the homey settings.

Cabin in the Woods comes from Gibbs Smith, Publisher. It sells for $29.95 in hardcover.