How many different devices do you power with your car’s cigarette lighter? Now how many of those use a USB cable to draw power? It’s very likely that many of them do indeed use USB, which means having such a port in your car is convenient. I’ve had a couple of different adapters over the years, but they don’t always provide enough power (especially for an iPad), and they are almost always bulky.

Griffin knows what’s good, as they’ve released their PowerJolt Micro, which is a very simple USB adapter for your car. The nice thing is that not only does it provide the necessary juice for an iPad, but the port will actually sit almost flush with the cigarette adapter. No more worrying about bumping and breaking a bulky adapter. For $30, I’d say this is a must-have for the car.

[ Griffin ] VIA [ GeekAlerts ]

By Caitlyn Muncy

There are times when all of our grand technology runs out of juice, all at once. The only problem being that we don’t have enough USB charge ports available to us to charge everything at once. FastMac finally has their U-Sockets shipping out as you read this. A U-Socket has all the normal capabilities for three-pronged ports, but also has USB charge ports as well.

These super charger outlets can be installed on any pre-existing outlet, which makes for a very easy transfer. This is definitely the first of it’s kind on the market, and will improve the lives of gadget and gizmo-lovers across the states. Hopefully there are some designed for those around the globe who have a different shaped socket. These are only going to cost $19.95, and will help you charge everything when it needs to be charged instead of one at a time.

[ FastMac ] VIA [ UberGizmo ]

By Chris Scott Barr

If you’re anything like me, you’ve got more gadgets than you can keep track of. Unfortunately, almost all of them require a battery of some sort to function. This means you need a lot of free outlets to keep them all full of juice. Thankfully the people at IDAPT have a great solution.

Updating their Universal Desktop Charger, the company has released the i4. This time around you can charge up to four devices, instead of three. You still only have the three docks, but they have added on a USB port to the side for charging another gadget. The three docks have interchangeable tips, which can be used to charge everything from your digital camera, to your portable gaming device or even your phone. If you’re looking to cut down on the clutter while keeping your gadgets in one place, this definitely looks worth the $60 price.

[ IDAPT ]

By Evan Ackerman

I’ll be honest… I usually carry around three (yes, three) different mobile charging apparatuses when I know I’m going to be out with my gadgets all day: one of these, one of these, and this. Is it overkill? Probably. But being a ::cough:: professional journalist, running out of batteries is simply not an option. Even I, however, would not wear a universal wrist charger. It’s just too dorky, and I’m really more of a geek. Or I like to think so, anyway.

If you just look at the numbers, this universal wrist charger is actually pretty decent: it has a 1500 mAh battery, weighs 82 grams, and will charge anything that only needs 5 volts (same as a USB port). Since most of your gadgets are probably hand-held, it’s a convenient way to be using something and charging it at the same time. Problem is, there’s really no getting around the utter dorkiness of this thing. If it also had a little LCD on it or something, you could at least pretend that it was some kind of ridiculously fancy watch, but as it is, it just has 4 little lights to indicate what level of charge it has. Wait a sec… Random lights? Weird design? I’ve got it! Just tell everyone that you’re sporting the latest and greatest from Tokyo Flash, and wear the universal wrist charger in anonymous pride. Problem solved!

The universal wrist charger is available now from ThinkGeek for $35.

[ ThinkGeek ] VIA [ Craziest Gadgets ]

By Evan Ackerman

Remember the Airnergy WiFi power harvester that we showed you last January at CES? You know, the thing that charges your gadgets out of thin air that several commenters pointed out was (mathematically speaking) at best impractical and at worst impossible? Well, it’s now called AirPower, and while RCA still won’t provide details on how it actually manages to pull substantial amounts of electricity out of the air in what seems to be a violation of the first (I think) law of thermodynamics, they have designed some new cases for it.

So, yeah. Looking good. But does it actually work? RCA reiterated that the AirPower will charge itself “with around five to six hours of Wi-Fi exposure” by “regurgitating and converting the 2.4GHz Wi-Fi signal,” which is the same sort of thing we heard at CES… I really want to believe that RCA wouldn’t keep showing this thing off and making the same impressive claims if they didn’t have a working one in a R&D bunker somewhere, but at the same time, here’s a quote from a commenter on our original article:

“By my calculations, 100% efficiency and absorption at 5 feet away from a 100mW home router, (reasonable figures), it would take 34.5 years to charge that blackberry battery.”

Also, the release date of the AirPower charger has been pushed from this summer to the holidays, and the pricing has gone from $40 to “has yet to be determined.” C’mon RCA, laws of physics be damned, I want this to be real.

VIA [ DVICE ]

By Chris Scott Barr

It looks like AT&T has hopped on the eco-friendly bandwagon. They have announced a new mobile phone charger dubbed the Zero Charger, which is supposed to be the greenest of its kind. It’s common knowledge that many devices will still draw power, even after their battery has been fully charged. This USB charger is supposed to cut off the flow of energy as soon as your device is juiced up.

To take things a step further, AT&T is delivering the device in a recycled-cardboard container. They’re really hoping that environmentalists won’t have anything to complain about with this one. The only question left is whether it’s as friendly to your wallet as it is to the Earth. We should find out when it hits stores in May.

[ AT&T ] VIA [ Dvice ]

There are lots of ways to charge USB devices on the go using disposable or rechargeable batteries, but none of them are as small or as cheap as this DIY one. It’s basically just a female USB connector stuck to the top of a 9v battery, with a voltage regulator in the middle to make sure that there’s only 5 volts coming out. Total cost? If you have a soldering iron and a scrap female USB cable, the voltage regulator will run you about $1.59 plus tax at RadioShack (which I refuse on principle to call “The Shack” like they want me to). The real beauty of this thing is that you don’t have to use a 9v battery. You could use a whole series of D batteries, for example, and go on vacation for a month with your iPod.

Now, yes, you do have to know how to solder if you want to make one of these yourself. But seriously, soldering is easy. And it’s fun! You get to MELT METAL! You can pick up a basic soldering set at The Shack for all of eight bucks, and there are a bazillion beginner guides online (try Instructables or even YouTube). So, have a fun afternoon and learn a useful skill while making a handy little gadget at the same time. Or, you can always just do it with glue, you wimp.

[ AnythingButiPod ] VIA [ Gizmodo ]

In the olden days, bicycle dynamos were really only used to power safety lighting on a bike. But in these modern times a cyclist can be using everything from a GPS device to a cellphone to an MP3 player while they’re out for a ride. So the PedalPower+ system safely harnesses the power generated by an AC dynamo and turns it into a safe DC source where the current is regulated and the voltage is consistent enough for electronic devices to be recharged.

The PedalPowerr+ system uses either a bottle dynamo (pictured above) which is relatively easy to install, or a hub dynamo which will probably require the assistance of a bike shop since it requires a re-spoking. But it’s flexible and modular enough that it can also be adapted to a pre-existing hub generator if your bike is already equipped for power. And during the times when you’re not riding, the battery charging unit can be easily removed and used to trickle charge your gear until your next ride, or until the battery is depleted.

[ PedalPower+ ] VIA [ Gizmag ]

By Jonathan Kimak

So Medis has been promising a portable fuel cell charger for years. Now it’s finally available online and will soon be seen in stores like Best Buy.

The Power Pack is a fuel cell that can be used to charge your electronics anywhere and at anytime. The Starter pack comes with a fuel cell and all the adapters required to charge the batteries for laptops, cell phones and mp3 players. The fuel cell is good for 30 hours of talking or 60-80 hours of mp3 player use.

The cells are disposable(or recyclable if you like) and you can buy replacement packs that contain just the fuel cell.

$29.99 for the Starter kit and $19.99 for the replacement packs.

[ Medis Power Pack ] VIA [ Engadget ]

By Jonathan Kimak

There are plenty of gadgets that need charging while you’re on the go. The old standard was that all your gadgets could be charged by plugging an adapter into the cigarette lighter of your car. Now more devices, like mp3 players, use USB to get charged. This multi-use charger has two USB slots and two cigarette lighter outlets so that you can keep your gadgets running regardless of which method is used.

The charger also handles up to 20 amps, which should be enough to charge 4 items at the same time. It also comes with a kit to mount the charger to the dashboard and can be wired directly into your car’s wiring. At under $20 it looks like a great deal.

[ Amazon.com ] VIA [ Lifehacker ]