Oh! Gizmo

By Andrew Liszewski

Meh. While I like the idea of having a jacket that’s capable of recharging all the gadgets stuffed in the pockets, this particular ski jacket from Italian clothier Ermenegildo Zegna really doesn’t seem that innovative. It was developed with a German company called Interactive Wear who are apparently known for developing some type of ’smart’ textile technology, but as far as I can see it looks like they’ve just stitched a couple of solar cells into the jacket’s collar. I mean it’s nice that it can be used to recharge a phone or an MP3 player, and the fact that the solar collar is removable is definitely convenient, but I can’t see myself dropping $1,350 for a few extra hours of battery life.

[ Affluent Page Index - Zegna Solar Powered Ski Jacket ] VIA [ Born Rich ]

By Evan Ackerman

This, folks, is a solar powered camel. Let’s all just ponder that for a second. Truthfully, this camel is not, in fact, powered by the sun, but the refrigerator on its back is. The cooled-down camels are used to transport vaccines and the occasional pint of Ben & Jerry’s to remote health clinics; when they arrive, the panels can be detached and used to provide additional electricity to the clinic. A foot-powered system can be used as backup during the 15 minutes at night when the sun is not actively trying to fry you.

The camels are part of Princeton’s Mpala project, helping nomadic communities in Kenya to use technology to improve their lives.

[ Mpala Project ] VIA [ TreeHugger ]

By Jonathan Kimak

This is probably the most stylish gadget charger I’ve ever seen. For those of you who remember high school biology you will know that photosynthesis is the process by which a plant converts sunlight into sugar(energy) that will be used by the plant for other essential functions. This gadget charger concept does the same.

The Solar Cell Tree Charger, designed by Vivien Muller, powers itself via 54 photovoltaic cells that, like other solar cells, get charged by the sun. The energy is stored in a battery and can connect to all your gadgets and charge them up. All the wires are hidden in the bottom tray to keep clutter to a minimum. All of the branches are adjustable so that you can customize your tree for either artistic reasons or to maximize the amount of cells that are exposed to the sunlight.

While it is still just a concept it is one that I’d like to see make it to the market.

[ Vivien Muller ] VIA [ DVICE ]

By Luke Anderson

So you want to do your part to save the environment by utilizing solar power. That’s great, however, a lot of solar products aren’t the easiest to carry around without making you stick out like a sore thumb. Well if you’re really dedicated to the cause, you might check out this solar powered necktie.

The idea here is that when the solar panels are arranged in a grid, they almost look normal on a tie. I’ve seen people wear some crazy ties, so this one might not look half bad, depending on where you work. Of course, if you work in an office, there’s a good chance that this thing won’t see enough sunlight to be all that useful. Sure, it’ll get some juice from the lights in the office, but I doubt it would be strong enough to charge whatever gadget you have connected. For now it seems only to be a concept, so for now you’ll just have to wear a regular tie, if you have to wear one at all.

VIA [ Dvice ]

By Andrew Liszewski

For some reason it’s been next to impossible to find a 16GB black 3G iPhone where I live, but I have spent plenty of time playing with an 8GB model, and I can attest to the fact that battery life isn’t one of the phone’s strong points. To remedy this situation a bunch of third-party battery pack accessories have been hitting the market, but this is the first one I’ve seen that also incorporates a solar panel. Now obviously the iPhone can’t be powered by solar energy alone (at least with a panel this small) so the case also features a 1500 mAh battery that can be used to provide one full charge for your iPhone.

Sitting in the sun the case’s battery will take about 3 hours itself to recharge, and it also includes a mini USB cable allowing you to recharge other gadgets and electronics when the iPhone is topped off. The case will be available sometime in August from Mobile Fun in black or white for about $54.

[ iPhone 3G Solar Charging Case ] VIA [ EcoGeek ]

By Luke Anderson

I don’t know about where you live, but the county fairs are in full swing in my part of the States. I live in the sort of area that is surrounded by corn, and people love to train farm animals to do tricks. It’s also rather hot out, and the people that attend such fairs have no issue with using strange contraptions to keep themselves cool. I really wouldn’t be surprised to walk past a farmer wearing one of these.

This little fan clips on your hat and gets power from soaking up the sun’s rays. Sure, it’ll probably weigh down your hat, and you’ll look pretty funny, but I guess it beats having a sweaty face. You can pick one up for just $10.

[ Brando ] VIA [ GeekAlerts ]

By Jonathan Kimak

The solar powered iPod is minutely closer to becoming a reality. Back in April of this year Apple filed a patent for solar cells on portable devices. What’s interesting about this patent is that it describes having the solar cells on the surface of the device.

So instead of having a solar charger that you have to attach to the iPod, you would just have to let your iPod rest in the sun. With no charger you can save valuable real estate in your pocket for things like your wallet, which is once again empty because you just bought another iPod, even though you already have an iPod Classic and an iPod Touch and you promised yourself you’d wait at least a year for the price to drop.

This is purely in the hypothetical, and could take years for it to actually be developed. So don’t go lining up for one yet. But if you do, save me a spot.

[ Patent Application ] VIA [ CNET ]

By Evan Ackerman

Yesterday I wrote about a solar power pack that wasn’t quite powerful enough to run things like laptops. If you really must have a solar powered laptop, and that laptop is a MacBook Air, QuickerTek’s Apple Juicz will get the job done. In spite of the horrendous misspelling of the word “juice,” the product seems pretty solid. It’s a fold out solar panel that expands from a 10.5 inch square into a 5 foot by 3.5 foot array capable of generating up to 55 watts of electricity, which is easily enough to both power and charge your Air.

I’m not sure why this is a Macbook Air only product; there’s no reason it couldn’t be adapted to power anything else, and 55 watts is a lot of power to play with. That’s enough electricity for two Asus Eees, for example. As it stands, though, you’ll have to purchase a MacBook Air specific adapter ($100) or have QuickerTek modify your existing adapter ($25), and no other adapters are available. The panels themselves will run you a cool $1000 for the 55 watt version, $600 for a slightly smaller 27 watt version, or $500 for an 18 watt version.

[ QuickerTek Apple Juicz ] VIA [ Crave ]

By Evan Ackerman

Look out the window. See all that? See it? That, my friend, is electricity going to waste. Solar power is the new green, and you can get a piece of it to feed your gadgets with this solar powerstation thingy from Xantrex. It’s got a detachable (whatever that means) 5 watt solar panel that charges an integrated 10 amp-hour battery. You can plug your stuff directly into a couple standard 120 volt wall sockets, a 12v socket, or even a USB port. A little LCD lets you monitor the status of the battery, and for those of you who live in Oregon, it comes with an AC adapter to charge it the old fashioned way.

It won’t surprise you that a 10 amp-hour battery plus a bunch of electronics is not the sveltest thing in the world; it’s portable but heavy at nearly 18 pounds. The Xantrex Xpower is just over $140, and is available from Amazon.com.

So what does 5 watts and 10 amp-hours mean when it comes to powering your gadgets? I’ll tell you (or try to) after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »