Taiwanese manufacturers A-Data and MSI plan to unveil solar-powered flash devices at CeBIT, though we're
not quite sure either one is a shining example of bright new ways to harness the sun's power. A-Data's offering, the
Solar Disk USB drive, is a fairly generic thumb drive with a solar-powered LCD that displays its available capacity.
Given that USB flash drives with LCD displays are becoming fairly common, and that the use of a solar cell to power
such a display isn't exactly earth-shattering (we seem to remember picking up our first solar calculator about 20 years
ago), we can't exactly see this feature commanding a premium. Meanwhile, MSI plans to demo a solar-cell MP3 player.
While that sounds like it could be promising, the solar cell won't be the sole source of juice for the prototype
player; rather, it'll help charge a conventional lithium battery. And given the amount of time audio players spend in
pockets, backpacks and purses, we somehow don't anticipate this giving the player much of a boost.Sponsored Links
Solar USB drive and MP3 player to rise at CeBIT
Taiwanese manufacturers A-Data and MSI plan to unveil solar-powered flash devices at CeBIT, though we're
not quite sure either one is a shining example of bright new ways to harness the sun's power. A-Data's offering, the
Solar Disk USB drive, is a fairly generic thumb drive with a solar-powered LCD that displays its available capacity.
Given that USB flash drives with LCD displays are becoming fairly common, and that the use of a solar cell to power
such a display isn't exactly earth-shattering (we seem to remember picking up our first solar calculator about 20 years
ago), we can't exactly see this feature commanding a premium. Meanwhile, MSI plans to demo a solar-cell MP3 player.
While that sounds like it could be promising, the solar cell won't be the sole source of juice for the prototype
player; rather, it'll help charge a conventional lithium battery. And given the amount of time audio players spend in
pockets, backpacks and purses, we somehow don't anticipate this giving the player much of a boost.All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. All prices are correct at the time of publishing.