This gadget will put an end to people stealing your phone charger at work

We’re going to start this article out with a test. Reach under your desk, or wherever you normally keep your phone charger.

It’s gone, isn’t it. Sneakily ‘borrowed’ by your colleague. When did they take your charger? Lunchtime? No, wait, it was yesterday lunchtime, and you still haven’t got it back.

If you’re the sort of person who doesn’t like blaming others, you might have blamed yourself for making the charger too visible, as if inviting others to grab hold of it.

Now, however, there’s a way to avoid a repeat of such a thing.

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Now, some gadgets are undoubtedly more practical than others. This polaroid camera that prints gifs? Fun but limited.

This phone cover that makes espresso? I guess it has two uses at least.

However, this new product from Japanese firm Elecom has an excellent triple threat: you can hide stuff, you can protect the cable from breaking, and you can keep your colleagues from talking to you.

It’s essentially a lightning cable protector that makes it looks like a connector cable – so any co-workers looking around for a lightning cable to steal will simply pass by your desk, thinking to themselves, “a VGA cable? How quaint a notion! No use to me” and - hey presto - you get to keep your cable to yourself.

The product will be available soon from Elecom, though there is no official price for it at the time of writing.

You’ll have a little longer to wait before reaping the benefits.

(Images: Elecom)