USB charger
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$10 USB power outlet leaves no plug behind
Don't freak out or anything. But all that time you spent building a DIY in-wall USB charger may have been for naught. Of course, you've gained a useful learning experience and potentially gotten a lesson in the dangers of electricity, but you could have simply ordered this TruPower UCS outlet from FastMac, which packs the same two USB charging ports as the DIY outlet, along with two standard power outlets for your other power-hungry devices. Best of all, it only costs the same ten bucks that the DIY option would have set you back, but it looks like it won't start shipping until sometime early next year.
In-wall USB charger is as cheap as it is ingenious
What you'll require here is about 30 minutes' endurance, a $10 budget, and a good reason why you'd want to swap some good old versatile wall plugs in for USB-only power outlets. Once you've got all that sorted, it's a quick skip to the source link, where you'll get step-by-step instructions on converting to "the future" of power distribution. And hey, just to help you justify all that expenditure of effort, we've got a whole category devoted to the cornucopia of most awesome devices you can power via USB. Kudos gained for clever design, kudos lost for relatively redundant outcome.
MiLi Universal Charger for the psychedelic world traveller
Are you a globetrotter with a penchant for vivid colors? Mili's got your back with its compact and surprisingly practical Universal Charger. Capable of plugging into US, UK, EU or Australian-style sockets, this unit covers quite a bit of ground and can power a pair of devices at once via USB. Technically then, you're unloading the chargers from your bag and refilling it with USB adapters, but a lot of UK road warriors would carry live rattlesnakes around if it meant freedom from those humongous plugs. There are nine color options -- some of them are even socially acceptable -- for the discerning customer with £20 ($33) in his pocket, and pre-orders are being taken now for August 14 delivery.
MSI Wind battery used as a not-exactly-portable, unreliable USB charger
Yes, we find the fact that our USB port won't charge our phone when our laptop is sleeping to be pretty annoying, too. But does that mean we'll rip the battery from it and use it as a semi-functional, clunky but self-sufficient charger? Well, probably not, but that doesn't mean someone else shouldn't. Now, we don't want to launch into a big round of spoilers or anything, but we'll say this: it takes a little over four minutes of sweet, blistering house music to get the battery off of the MSI Wind, and there are a couple of false starts before the phone (an iPhone) begins juicing up. The good news? It doesn't seem to permanently damage the battery pack in any way. The bad news? The song eventually does end. Check it out after the break. [Via Oh! Gizmo]
Steam powered USB charger keeps your iPod alive with Victorian sensibility
We love this steam powered USB charging device. It's well built, useful, loud, and totally anachronistic -- the same could be said of many of our editors here. According to the inventor, the thing is based on a Jensen #75 steam engine, which is used to drive a Lego Technic motor. The motor, in turn, feeds into a voltage regulator circuit, providing a continuous 5V charge to which ever USB device you might connect to it. This prompts us to ask a few obvious questions, including: "when is someone going to build us an appropriate steampunk PMP to go with the thing?" And, of course, "aren't Legos awesome?" Video after the break.
Cellink T/M: a swiveling USB stick, card reader, and mobile charger thingamajig
Oh great Korean gods of peculiar gadgetry what have you done? That's the Cellink T/M from Human C&C. The device functions as a mass storage device or microSD card reader when standing in a straight-up, USB stick mode. Give it a flip, swing and slide and you've got a USB charging solution for mobile devices while simultaneously blocking all the ports on your laptop. Mechanical art or overly engineered crap? Really, without any detail we can't decide.[Via AVING]
Belkin unveils new Power Dock AV, iPod charging accessories
Not too long after Belkin threw its name in the iPhone accessory hat, the company has now introduced a number of replacement iPod docks and charging kits. The $49.99 F8Z126 Power Dock AV is essentially a basic silver iPod dock that sports USB connectivity and AV output in order to pipe multimedia to your television set, while the vanilla $34.99 F8Z122 Power Dock strips itself of any video exporting abilities. On the charging side, the $34.99 F8Z152 Charging Kit for iPod consists of an AC outlet to dock connector cable, USB cable, and a cigarette adapter for road trippin', while the $24.99 F8Z121 Power Adapter for iPod offers up just the AC adapter for those strange moments when you can't seem to locate a spare USB port. All four units should be available any moment here in the US, while launches in Asia, Europe, and Australia will be following soon.
DLO's TransDock Deluxe FM transmitter: now with RF remote
At this year's CES, DLO gave its TransDock device a much-needed refresh, and now that the year's nearly halfway over, it's getting yet another makeover. The TransDock Deluxe maintains the same (admittedly poor) FM transmission, AV output from your iPod to your vehicle's in-car displays, and built-in USB outlet for peripheral charging that we've seen in prior iterations, but the Deluxe setup adds an RF steering wheel remote (detailed after the jump) to handle the tunes without removing your hand. The remote purportedly "controls all TransDock functions such as changing your pre-set frequencies," the the unit itself provides a "choice of three LCD colors," comes with a six-foot AV cable, and sports the obligatory auxiliary input for times when your Pod isn't riding shotgun. Of course, for $129.99, we'd have to look into some other way besides finicky FM to get your iPod jams into your car stereo.
Breath powered USB generator does charging on the go
Hey, we're tired of waiting for wireless charging solutions to actually hit the market just as much as the next guy (or gal), but one inventive soul took that frustration out on a swank DIY project that elicits energy from simply breathing. We've seen the use of hot air in powering gadgets before, but this homegrown USB charger was assembled by simply using "parts scavenged from an old CD-ROM drive, a basic electronic circuit, and a few rubber bands." The chest-worn device was intended to output around one-watt for charging a cellphone, which could purportedly juice it up in just under three hours, but unfortunately for us all, this seemingly brilliant device only mustered about 50mW of energy. Of course, that's still getting somewhere, but we're not exactly keen on wearing this thing around for an entire day in order to add a few battery bars to our mobile. Nevertheless, the creator doesn't look to be giving up on it so soon, and hopefully v2 will allow our breath to add new life to our lappies or electric cars, eh?[Via Slashgear]
Sony's Energy LINK USB power supply / recharger
Not everyone is equipped with the skills (and time) necessary to craft their own flashlight-based cellphone charger, so Sony's looking out for those who'd rather throw down a few bills than handle a soldering iron. Looking to grab business from individuals packing a gazillion or so gadgets that receive energy via USB, the Energy LINK USB adapter provides a no frills alternative to charging and powering your device on-the-go. Aside from doubling as a recharging middleman, it comes with two rechargeable Cycle Energy batteries -- which purportedly "bridge the gap" between alkaline and NiMH cells -- to provide portable charging and power. The included batteries can be fully recharged in around three hours, but there's no word on just how much charging / powering abilities it possesses once powered up. Still, for those needing a simple charging option or a makeshift USB power supply in times of emergency, Sony's $35 Energy LINK should do the trick when it lands this summer.
