Hasta La Gadget!

It’s been more than a year since Nokia, Apple, RIM, Motorola and just about every other major cellphone manufacturer agreed on a micro-USB cellphone charger standard for Europe, but the two key European standards bodies have just now finally followed up on their end of the bargain. CEN-CENELEC and ETSI have today published harmonized standards for a universal cellphone charger based on micro-USB, which has now put the ball back in the manufacturers’ court to actually produce phones that rely on the newly standardized chargers. According to the European Commission, the first of those are expect to arrive sometime “in the first months of 2011,” and it expects the chargers to be “predominant” within two years. Head on past the break for the official announcement.

[Thanks, Pavel]

Continue reading European standardization bodies formalize micro-USB cellphone charger standard

European standardization bodies formalize micro-USB cellphone charger standard originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Dec 2010 13:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Graphene. We hear of your achievements so often, but feel your benefits in our everyday lives so infrequently. We’d be remiss if we didn’t point out how unhealthy of a relationship this is, but hopefully Bor Jang and co. have a mind to mend it all. Bor, along with a number of colleagues at Nanotek Instruments, have just uncovered a graphene advancement that could put conventional Li-ion cells in a world of hurt. Of course, we’ve been hearing about so-called “battery breakthroughs” for the better part of our lives, but few have involved progress with ultracapacitors. For those unaware, ultracapacitors are energy storage devices that can “absorb and release charge in minutes,” and they’re pegged as cheaper / safer alternatives to batteries for electric vehicles. The only problem? Mainstream versions today hold just five percent of the energy held by Li-ion batteries. Nanotek’s crew has figured out that the use of graphene electrodes “could lead to ultracapacitors with more than five times the energy density of commercial devices,” but as these things always go, no one’s coming close to producing a hard release date. We’ll just assume it’s undergoing lab tests for now, and in 2022 we can all weep at what could’ve been. Prove us wrong, whiz kids.

Graphene electrodes promise 5x energy storage boost for ultracapacitors originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Dec 2010 23:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PhoneSuit’s no stranger to the reload-and-refuel arena, and just months after ushering out the Primo Battery Cube, along comes this: the Primo Power Core. For all intents and purposes, this is an iPhone-sized battery pack, and it just so happens to be fully capable of charging your iPhone or iPod touch. Unlike the vast majority of alternatives, however, this 8200mAh pack can also rejuvenate an iPad, not to mention a wealth of Android smartphones, your mom’s BlackBerry, a couple of unnamed netbooks (yeah, seriously!) and practically any other handheld gadget that can be juiced via USB. The company throws in a cornucopia of tips for a range of “popular” devices, though high-drain devices like netbooks will need to make use of the 12V port. There’s an external LED charge meter to keep you abreast of how much power remains, and it can be headed to a stocking near you in exchange for $99.95.

Continue reading PhoneSuit’s Primo Power Core charges your iPad, BlackBerry, and pretty much everything else

PhoneSuit’s Primo Power Core charges your iPad, BlackBerry, and pretty much everything else originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Dec 2010 07:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While Energizer’s moving forward with its newfound Qi partnership, its bunny-less arch rival seems content right where it’s at. Duracell’s WildCharge-based myGrid charging mat, which was actually introduced over a year ago, is finally gaining a second good reason to purchase one: the myGrid USB Charger. The nugget you see above is a rechargeable Li-ion battery with a USB output, and according to Duracell, there’s enough juice in there to extend the life of most smartphones by four hours and the life of most e-readers (Kindle included) by up to 100 hours. It’s available today at CVS, Walmart, Target and Amazon for $34.99, and that does indeed include both mini-USB and micro-USB adapters. The full release awaits your eyes after the break.

Continue reading Duracell myGrid USB Charger gives your Kindle 100 extra hours of life for $35

Duracell myGrid USB Charger gives your Kindle 100 extra hours of life for $35 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Nov 2010 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You can’t help but smile, can you? ECOtality‘s latest entrant into the rapidly expanding Blink line of EV chargers looks awfully familiar to avid motorists, and for good reason. Designed to mimic a conventional petrol pump, the DC Fast Charger should blend right in when installed in Best Buy parking lots, gas stations and beyond, with the company aiming to get these positioned in a wide variety of locations in order to ease “range anxiety.” We’re also told that motorists will eventually be able to utilize the Blink Network Smartphone Application in order to locate the nearest charging station and receive GPS directions, and an RFID-enabled payment system makes it easy to drain your wallet, rejuvenate your vehicle and get you back on the open road. There’s even a 42-inch LCD on the top, and while it’s primarily engineered for ads and information, we’re sure a few wire swaps would have your Xbox 360 displayed in no time flat. The DC Fast Charger should be hitting 16 major American cities in the near future, and there’s a video after the break to tide you over.

Continue reading DC Fast Charger joins the ECOtality EV charging station fleet, looks like a fuel pump

DC Fast Charger joins the ECOtality EV charging station fleet, looks like a fuel pump originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Oct 2010 09:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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