Once in a while you see something that’s just a darned good idea. We ran across an incredibly good idea at the International Builders’ Show, and I suspect I’ll be placing an order before too long. FlatWire is a wide tape with two paper-thin ribbons of copper bonded to the surface. You spray an adhesive on the wall, apply the FlatWire, hit it with spackle and then paint–and you can’t see where the wires are. This is going to be a neat product for folks who need to run home theater systems in existing rooms, or who need to add lighting without going into the walls. Now, the lighting products are low-voltage lights with a transformer in a wall-wart, but there are a number of different styles and sizes available.

The FlatWire company was purchased by SouthWire over a year ago, and it’s taken a while for the transition to new ownership to work through the company, but they’re beginning a marketing push that should have these products much more visible in the near future. Right now, you can buy the lighting and audio products through an on-line store, and they were demonstrating FlatWire video cable, telephone cable, and data cables in their booth at the show. In some of the marketing material on their web site they talk about Cat6 FlatWire–I want to see it and look at performance numbers before I buy that particular product–but even without the Cat6 this is a seriously cool product that looks like it could make life much easier for remodelers. With so much structured cabling and home entertainment equipment aimed squarely at the new-construction market, it was great to see something aimed at those of us whose houses have already been built.

Categories: Consumer Technology