Charger

The spring-loaded PumPing Tap concept that would eject electrical plugs from an outlet when not actively drawing electricity attracted a fair share of criticism from readers when we looked at it earlier this week. Bracktron has come up with a more practical solution with its line of GreenZero chargers that detect when the device being charged is unplugged or fully charged and automatically shut off to eliminate stand-by – also known as vampire power – consumption. Read More

The myriad of mobile devices in constant need of recharging that many people now have in their possession can quickly lead to chronic cable clutter, especially when hitting the road. Innergie's Magic Cable Trio provides a neat solution by integrating connectors for micro USB, mini USB and Apple’s 30-pin dock connector in a single convenient cable. Read More

The Solio may not have been the first solar charger, but its appealing design and useful interchangeable tip system gave portable power packs a much-needed popularity boost. Transferring the juice from a charger to a smartphone or media player can be a time-consuming affair, though ... time that could be spent listening to the music stored on the device. SolLight's solution is to combine a lightweight carry pouch, a solar charger and some stereo speakers into something called the SoliCharger-SP. Read More

With recent advances in photovoltaic panels and rechargeable batteries, it's only natural that there should now be an influx of solar-powered electronic devices. Just last week we profiled the Sunbox solar power system, that uses energy from the Sun to power three kinds of lights, recharge AA batteries, and juice up mobile phones. Now, it's time to take a look at a similar product, Third Wave Power's mPowerPad. It can charge mobile devices through its two USB ports, along with serving as a radio, flashlight, reading lamp, and even an ultrasonic insect-repelling device. As you might have noted in the photo, however, it has no external controls ... so how are you supposed to use the thing? Read More

Mobile accessories manufacturer Qmadix has come up with an in vehicle charger perfect for families with more than one mobile device that needs to be charged up. Delivering 2.1 amps to each of its two ports, the USB Twin Tablet Charging Hub is also able to simultaneously charge two iPads at the fastest rate. Read More

The nature of the Apple ecosystem means that many MacBook owners will also carry around an iPhone or iPad - or both. To cut down on the clutter of white Apple chargers vying for an electrical outlet in this situation, TwelveSouth has released its PlugBug accessory that piggybacks on a standard MacBook power adapter to provide an additional USB charge port to charge an aforementioned iDevice and a MacBook at the same time. Read More

To cut down on the amount of mobile phone chargers relegated to the garbage after a phone upgrade, in 2009 the European Commission reached a voluntary agreement with 14 major smartphone manufacturers who committed to providing a standardized charger based on the micro-USB connector that is compatible with all models of data-enabled mobile phones. Apple was one of the manufacturers that signed on to the agreement and has now delivered with the appearance of the Apple iPhone Micro USB Adapter in the company's U.K. online store. Read More

Designers of solar chargers need to deal with a certain issue: how to build a charger so that it had easy access to maximum sunlight, without much effort on the user's part. One clever solution was to combine solar cells with a bikini, but unfortunately that's really only useful on the beach. The Quirky community, a social project based around product development, has come up with another solution – it's the Ray solar charger, and it features a suction cup and a kickstand. Read More

Perhaps you’ve encountered a travel scenario like this before ... you arrive at your hotel room and go to plug in your mobile phone, only to discover that the bedside lamp and clock radio are already occupying both plug-ins of the most conveniently-located AC wall outlet. While there might be room on another outlet, it could involve your having to squeeze in behind the TV, or leaving your phone someplace where you might forget it. If you had a Flipit USB charger, however, you could draw power from that first outlet, while still leaving the light and the radio plugged in. Read More