America alone produces about 2,000 metric tons of nuclear waste annually and our best solution for disposing of it: bury it deep in the Earth. However, a pair of MIT scientists believe they’ve found not only a better way of eliminating nuclear waste but recycling the deadly detritus into enough clean electricity to power the entire world until 2083. Win, meet win. More »
The addition of USB ports have made power bars even more useful as of late. And Quirky’s new Pickup Power promises to now make them almost indispensable with the addition of a large rechargeable battery that can continue to top off your mobile devices when you’re away from an outlet. More »
Like a regular Joe transformed into a superhero through some freak accident, this giant power adapter turns a single outlet into an all-encompassing charging station for all of your gear. Technically, it requires two outlets since the second gets completely blocked, but that’s ok since the Bestek charging station more than makes up for that loss with six new AC outlets, four USB ports, and a dock for your pre-Lightning iOS devices. More »
When lightning flashes across the sky, you only get a chance to glimpse its fractal form for a split second. But when you send 15,000 volts coursing through plywood, you get a much better look at how it grows. Melanie Hoff, a student at the Pratt Institute in New York City did just that, and the result is a timelapse where you can see the patterns slowly grow out and smolder, like lightning made from molasses. [Vimeo Staff Picks] More »
In my experience, battery packs for smartphones can be quite useful, though they have a tendency to add a lot of bulk to your phone. That being said, if you run out of power very often, a battery case can still be a wise precaution. This new battery pack from Mophie aims to boost battery power for the iPhone 5, while not adding too much weight or thickness.
The Mophie Juice Pack Helium for iPhone 5 packs a 1500 mAh battery, which matches the one inside of your phone. It will allow for an additional six hours of talk time on 3G, or six hours of browsing while using either LTE or 3G. It’s also 13% thinner than the Air Juice Pack they had for the iPhone 4/4S. Total dimensions for the Juice Pack Helium are x 5.49″(H) x 2.49″(W) x 0.59″(D) – about double the thickness of a stock iPhone 5, about 5/8″ taller, and barely wider.
One really nice feature is that you can charge both the battery case and your iPhone simultaneously, thanks to a single Lightning connector, which is great because having to charge them separately would be a pain.
The Mophie Juice Pack Helium sells for $79.95(USD), with the next batch of dark metallic units shipping out on February 25th, and the light metallic model shipping in early March.
Power outages can be seriously obnoxious. No Internet, no TV, no lights. On top of that, they can be dangerous, especially in the cold. A prolonged outage is always a danger during a serious storm, no matter the kind. And while it might not happen, you always want to be prepared. More »
Aside from generating heat, most electronic devices also emit electromagnetic fields. A rapid prototyping enthusiast named Dennis Siegel has found a way to tap into those fields and store them as usable energy by way of AA batteries. Think of his harvesters as the real life equivalent of the mutant Bishop.
Siegel wrote about his project on his website but he didn’t go into detail about his build process, only that he used “coils and high frequency diodes” to capture the electromagnetic fields. He also said that he made two different types of harvesters that convert electromagnetic fields of different frequencies. Using the harvesters couldn’t be simpler. They’ll automatically gather and store energy as long as there’s an electromagnetic field nearby. The harvesters also have an LED that glow in proportion to the strength of nearby electromagnetic fields. If you still can’t follow that, watch this creepy dude:
Siegel didn’t mention if he’s interested in making a commercial version of his project. But even if he is he still has a long way to go – his current prototypes need literally an entire day to charge one AA battery. Still, it’s nice to imagine that someday our gadgets will be powering each other and even themselves.
[via Dennis Siegel & Fast Co. Design via Visual News]
Whether you like it or not, electric cars are part of our future, and I hope that my next one will be able to function without the need of any gas. Distance races are quite important, because they allow teams to showcase and iron out the faults in rapidly-developing electric vehicle technologies.
The tiny two-seat Evonik Wind Explorer electric car has traveled across Australia, which covers about 3,100 miles from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Coast. Incredibly, the trip used less than $15 in electricity. The EV was run by rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, which are capable of being juiced up by a mobile wind turbine, producing enough energy to travel 174 to 224 miles a day.
The Evonik car was constructed out of lightweight carbon fiber, and has a kite that gives it an added boost in the wind – but wouldn’t be very practical in the city.
I wonder when I’ll be able to use this kind of vehicle to travel around daily.
[via Wired via designboom]
Don’t be so smug the next time you walk away from a trade show with a mountain of free flash drives. They require electricity too, and with this simple USB power monitor you can calculate just how much those supposedly ‘free’ giveaways are contributing to your monthly power bill. More »
Picture this: you’ve reached a level that you’ve never reached before and your handheld console is slowly running out of juice. You can’t save your game in the middle, since you can only do so when you reach the end of that level. Just as you’re about to hit save, your console dies and you scream out in agony…
Yeah, that totally happened to me. If you can relate, then you’ll agree what a good idea the Universal Gadget Wrist Charger is.
To the rational majority, it’s a silly device at best, geared to a silly audience – but for those who recognize the need for portable power, then it’s a godsend.
The Wrist Charger AKA Bracer of Battery Life +2 is a universal gadget charger that can provide some last-minute, emergency power to all sorts of mobile devices and gadgets -via a mini USB port (a variety of adapters are included for popular gadget makes and models.) The battery band itself can be recharged using your computer’s USB port, and has a 1500 mAh, 5.5V battery built in.
The Universal Gadget Wrist Charger is currently on sale at ThinkGeek for $39.99(USD). It normally sells for $45.
[via Bit Rebels]
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