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Hatsuden-Nabe thermoelectric cookpot keeps your iPhone battery charged
It will be difficult to charge your iPhone after the zombie apocalypse destroys the power grid, but a new product from TES NewEnergy Corporation can make topping off your battery as easy as heating up a can of SpaghettiO's over an open fire. The company has created the Hatsuden-Nabe, a US$278 cooking pan with a built-in USB port and a thermoelectric device to turn wasted heat into power. As the company notes, the heat of a wood campfire could reach over 900°F, but water requires only 212°F to boil, so a lot of the extra heat is either retained in the pot or escapes to the atmosphere, wasted. The cooking pan converts some of that waste heat into power that is then used to charge up your electronic gizmos. An iPhone can be fully charged in just 3 to 5 hours. Since every minute counts when attempting to escape a zombie attack, the Hatsuden-Nabe could be just the thing to keep you moving. Competing solar chargers take longer to do their job and are dependent on bright and constant sunlight. This charger pot can also let you cook up some stew or brew a nice cup of tea to energize you for the next round of zombie-slaying. All attempts at bad humor aside, this actually is a rather good idea for an emergency or camping kit. There's no word on when the Hatsuden-Nabe will be available outside of Japan.
USB power pot uses excess heat to charge your gadgets
Most stoves produce heat that far exceeds the temperature necessary to boil water, but TES NewEnergy has found a way to convert that excess energy into power, which can subsequently be used to charge your USB gadgets. Released yesterday in Japan, the Hitochaja HC-5 USB power pot can generate up to 400mAh of juice -- enough to charge your iPhone in three to five hours. Considering it needs a constant heat source to generate electricity, the ¥23,000 pot (about $285, before tax) is even less practical than last week's C-type battery laptop charger, but if you want to expand the service offerings at your local soup kitchen, this double-duty cooking vessel may be the solution you've been looking for.
