One of the big questions raised when Apple revealed its new MacBook is how you'd connect multiple devices to it with its single USB Type-C port, which doubles as the notebook's only charging port. You could always buy a special docking station or dongle, but the Cusby team thinks it has come up with a better solution, called, um, "Cusby."
The Cusby team started a campaign on Indiegogo to build Cusby, and you can preorder it there through various different donations. The team doesn't have a single word to describe what Cusby is, but explains it as "The first ever modular and expandable solution that unlocks the USB-C port of the new MacBook." We describe it as a modular docking station, although even that is a stretch of the imagination.
Included in the most extensive Cusby pre-order pack are three little bricks and one extension wire. The bricks are simple. One end has a USB Type-C male plug, the opposing end has a female Type-C port, and on one of the sides is a Type-C charging port, a USB Type-A port, or an HDMI port. You can daisy-chain the modules and therefore use them all at the same time, but connect only the ones you need. At the end of the chain will still be a Type-C port, for when commensurately equipped devices do finally hit the market.
The campaign has a handful of tiers, with the least expensive one starting at $39. For that you get one extension cable and one Cusby block of your choice. The Cusby Essential Pack will come with an extension cable, a USB Type-C Power Charging Cusby, and a USB Type-A Cusby for $65. Ten dollars more buys you the Early Bird Cusby ProPack, which comes with all three units and the extension cable.
Of course, the Cusby works not just for the USB Type-C port on the new MacBook, but with any USB Type-C port. Even so, the new MacBook is obviously the product for which it's intended.
The Indiegogo campaign should be live now. Delivery should take place in October if it hits the $15,000 funding goal on time and if all else goes according to plan.
Follow Niels Broekhuijsen @NBroekhuijsen. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.