We’ve come to rely on blinking dots and obscure icons to tell when a device’s battery is low, but the human face is just so much easier to read and decipher. You wouldn’t want to have to flip a baby over and check a set of LEDs to see if it was happy, so the expressive face on this Mr Pow backup battery reflecting its charge level just makes sense.
Photo: Josh Valcarcel/WIRED
Now that there’s a version of the Microsoft Office suite available for the iPad, it’s a decent time to make sure your tablet’s case looks like it means business. From the makers of the much-loved Cord Tacos, This Is Ground’s Cargito iPad cases combine simple design with hidden treats. They’re loaded with mobile charging options and compartments for sidecar necessities.
The Cargito Air Charging iPad Case comes with a 7000 mAh battery in a zip-up compartment and an integrated Lightning cable that lets you give your iPad a full recharge in transit while it’s tucked inside the full-leather sleeve. There’s also a smaller and cheaper version — the Cargito Mini Charging iPad Case — made for the iPad Mini.
Both sizes include a strap that’s fitted to hold a Pencil stylus, a compartment for your business and/or credit cards, and a zip-up pocket. In the charger-equipped versions of each case, the rechargeable battery goes in that zip pocket; there are also non-charging versions of each sized case that free up that zip compartment for spare change, hard candy, or a pocketable amount of what-have-you.
These high-end cases come with some high-end price tags. The Cargito Air Charging case costs $165, and the Cargito Mini Charging case goes for $155. If you want to supply your own battery pack, you can save a little bit: $109 for the larger non-charging version, and $99 for the non-charging Mini version.
Color options abound. Each case size comes in eight colors, including various shades of brown, black, white, and gold.
     |
It may seem a little opulent, but a lot of us won’t leave home with at least our smartphone—maybe even two—and a tablet. And eventually one of them is going to need a battery boost, so instead of carrying charging cables and adapters for every single device, toss this single colorful USB adapter in your bag and you’re all set.
| |
Not all chargers are created equal, even if they look similar. Here are some quick buying guidelines that’ll save you time and ensure you’re using a charger that’s optimized for your device’s the power requirements.
| |
Did you know there’s a right and a wrong way to wrap your MacBook charger? Curl it up in a ball, and eventually it’ll break. But wrap it like you see in the picture above, and it’s going to last a whole lot longer.
| |
Your dream of cruising around your local galaxy with your feisty astromech droid by your side simply isn’t going to happen in your lifetime. It will be years before robots can even pick up a wrench and remove a bolt by themselves. But ThinkGeek’s got the next best thing. It won’t fix your warp drive, but perched in your cup holder this tiny version of R2-D2 will keep your phones and tablets charged.
| |
Got a 5 hour flight but only an hour or two worth of battery left on your gadgets? Depending on your airline, you may have a power outlet or USB port in your seat. Here’s how to find out which planes have some extra juice to give.
| |
Apple is going to let people trade in their third party iPhone chargers for an official Apple USB Power Adapter for 10 bucks. So if you want to save $9 off the retail price and/or get rid of possibly faulty chargers, head to an Apple Store starting August 16th with a third party charger and an iPhone, iPad or iPod. [Apple via 9to5Mac]
| |
Although not technically Apple’s fault, the death of a Chinese flight attendant (who had purportedly been electrocuted by a third-party iPhone charger) has prompted Cupertino to create a site meant to help consumers recognize 100 percent genuine, actual Apple-approved chargers.
| |
By all metrics, Kingston’s wireless Wi-Drive has been a successful product: the company is still selling it two years later, and has since refreshed it with beefier storage and Android compatibility. If there’s one thing customers complained about, though, it was the lack of expandable memory — a problem if you used all the space on the drive, or if you already had stuff stored on an SD card. With that in mind, the company’s coming out with the MobileLite Wireless, which ditches internal storage in favor of an SD slot and USB 2.0 port. (It will also ship with a microSD adapter.) At the same time, it packs a modest five-hour battery you can use to recharge USB-powered gadgets; Kingston says there’s enough juice in there to fully charge a phone, but probably not a tablet.
Technically speaking, you can access everything stored on the device by typing the MobileLite’s IP address into a browser. But for all intents and purposes, this is currently an iOS exclusive, as that’s the only platform for which you can download an app. As with the Wi-Drive, though, Kingston plans to add an Android app, as well as one for WP8. In the beginning, at least, it will be available through just a couple sellers (Amazon and Staples), with street prices expected to fall somewhere between $50 and $70. Any questions? We hope not: this thing’s aimed squarely at mainstream users, so if Engadget readers don’t get it, we’re going to be seriously concerned about all the regular folk.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
