Hasta La Gadget!

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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Now: You bring your camera home, battery dead and memory-card full after a long day’s shooting. You remove the card and battery, track down your card reader and charger, plug them in, yawn.

The future: You walk in the door, put your Canon camera down onto the Canon Cross Media Station on the side-table and go grab a cold beer from the refrigerator. As you sip the well-earned beverage, the shiny black box slurps in your photos and videos whilst simultaneously charging the battery, all without wires.

And it is the future. Canon’s prototype is slick, but is still a few years from entering production, mostly because the cameras will need to be re-designed to work with it. Check out the video and you’ll see that the cameras – a compact, an SLR and a camcorder – all have annoying blue lights to let you know they’re talking to the Media Station.

The video, shot by Trusted Reviews at the Canon Expo 2010, goes on to demonstrate the sharing and display features, which group pictures together based on time taken, camera used or even by person (using face recognition). It’s impressive stuff, but eye-candy, and aimed at my mother, who would never buy this thing. Hopefully a final version will just slurp the pictures out and send them to my computer. Or better, to a hard drive that I have plugged into the back, from where I can grab them from an iPad or laptop on the same network.

One thing though, Canon. Don’t write any of this software yourself. I have used the stuff you package with cameras and scanners, and it sucks. I will, however, buy this cool Media Station, if only to add to my collection of 2001 monolith-inspired gadgets.

Canon Showcases Filesharing Cross Media Station [Trusted Reviews]

See Also:

• Wireless Chargers Puff Up Their Green Credentials
• WildCharger Promises Wire-Free Charging of Any Phone
• Wireless Power Energizes Many Devices – Video – Wired

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At this point, the only thing standing between you and one of many, many iPad cases is your indecision. In other words, it’s not for lack of choices. But Kensington has managed to concoct something interesting here in the PowerBack, which is effectively a Juice Pack for your iPad. At first glance, it’s simply a kickstand-infused case used to protect the back and sides of your dear tablet, but the integrated 4400mAh battery pack provides up to five extra hours of juice should you actually decide to prove Steve wrong and read for over ten hours. Surely it’s worth the $129.99 just to say you told him so, right?

Continue reading Kensington’s PowerBack kickstand case doubles as iPad battery pack

Kensington’s PowerBack kickstand case doubles as iPad battery pack originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Sep 2010 21:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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