Hasta La Gadget!

The folks at Griffin have revealed a lovely multi-device charger for your home or office by the name of PowerDock 5. This machine works to charge up to five devices at once and, as you can see, it works with Apple devices (as well as anything else working with USB) just so long as you’ve got the right connection cord. Along with this release you’ll see a couple of new Griffin ChargeSensor-weilding adapters for your everyday USB-bound device charging action.

The PowerDock 5 consists essentially of a massive power source with five large bays that hold your smart devices upright, one next to the other, as they charge. The side of the PowerDock 5 has a set of 5 USB ports where your own cords will be attached. This machine is able to work with smartphones and tablet of all types, again, just so long as you’ve got the cords your devices use on the regular.

Next you’ve got the Griffin PowerBlock Universal as well as the PowerJolt Universal. Both of these accessories work with ChargeSensor technology – this technology “senses the requirements of any device plugged into it, providing optimal charging for all USB-chargeable devices.” The PowerBlock is a low-profile plug that’s made to fit in nicely along with the rest of your plugs in a power strip.

The PowerJolt also works with a low profile plug for your auto’s 12 volt accessory outlet with a powerful 10 watt charging circuit ready for action. This tiny beast has an LED power indicator to tell you when the device is ready to safely charge with and works with an internal SmartFuse with its own built-in circuit breaker with no fuses that need replacing.

The PowerDock 5 will run you $99.99, the ChargeSensor PowerBlock will be $29.99, and the PowerJolt will be out for $24.99, and the whole lot will be available in the Spring of 2013. Be sure to stick with SlashGear to see the full CES 2013 blast both in release and hands-on form all week though our giant CES portal!

Griffin PowerDock 5 revealed for massive multi-device charging is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
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If your bedside table has become an unmanageable menagerie of phones, tablets, and other devices charging overnight, Griffin wants to bring order to your chaos of cables. The company’s new PowerDock 5 charging station has a footprint no larger than an iPad, but can accomodate up to five tablets, or a mix of devices, and charge them all from a single power outlet. More »

So far your footsteps, breath and nervous energy have all been tapped to charge up batteries, and now researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology scientists have pulled it off using thermal changes. They did it with so-called pyroelectric nanogenerators, which use polarization changes to harvest heat energy from temperature fluctuations. Normally output current is too low for commercial electronics, but by making one with lead zirconate titanate (PZT), the team was able to create a device that could charge a Li-ion coin battery to power a green LED for a few seconds. The researchers predict that by doubling the surface area, they could drive wireless sensors or LCDs using only environmental temperature changes from an engine or water pipe, for instance. The result could be green power, but without all that pesky moving around.

Filed under: Peripherals, Science, Alt

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Via: Phys Org

Source: Nano Letters

When Darren Kersey plugged his mobile phone charger into the power supply of a picnic shelter in Gillespie Park, Sarasota, all he wanted was a little boost of his battery level. He certainly didn’t bank on getting arrested and spending the night in a cell. More »

Design by committee might not be the death knell for technology after all. Over four months after the Alliance for Wireless Power was founded in earnest, the coalition has already greenlit a specification for its partners to work from. The guideline lets device makers start building devices that charge through a magnetic resonance technology more forgiving of distance and material than Qi while simplifying the process through short-range wireless formats like Bluetooth 4.0. While the A4WP group hasn’t made all the details public, it’s holding meetings this week to speed up the commercialization process — it’s here that we’ll learn whether the corporate bureaucracy is just as quick at getting wireless charging hardware into our hands as it is handshaking on standards.

Continue reading Alliance for Wireless Power approves its specification, edges closer to truly cable-free charging

Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals, Tablets

Alliance for Wireless Power approves its specification, edges closer to truly cable-free charging originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Oct 2012 01:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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