USB Power Backup
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The USB Power Backup provides a convenient, portable source of power for your USB devices. |
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The USB Power Backup provides a convenient, portable source of power for your USB devices. |
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If you think you’d lose too many USB ports charging USBCell batteries, perhaps this offering from Energizer can solve your USB battery charging desires. The Duo USB Charger allows you to charge via USB from either a wall socket USB adapter or connected to any other USB port capable of providing the necessary power. Energizer provides both Windows, Mac PowerPC and Mac Intel binaries for monitoring Duo Chargers connected to those platforms so you will know how close to fully charged your batteries are. Availability for these chargers still seems spotty with the price being roughly $14 for the charger. Keenzo is one place the reports to have them in stock for $14 a piece but they require you to buy three. Hopefully availability will increase before it becomes time for me to look at rechargeable battery solutions. |
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There are an increasing number of Wiimote charging solutions available on the market. Here are three of them to peruse. I overbought AA batteries a couple of years ago for some reason, so I am waiting until I manage to use them up before exploring the rechargeable route. First up is Thanko’s offering, the USB Charger for Wii Remote Control (Gizmodo Referer, Engadget Referer) which charges via USB and comes with a Lithium-ion battery pack and is available for $29. Next up we have Brando’s Wii Rechargeable Battery & Charger Stand (Gizmodo Referer, Engadget Referer) which also charges via USB and comes with a battery pack. Linked below is Joytech’s offering which can charge two Wiimotes and comes with two battery packs. The Joytech Power Station is available directly from their UK store for a little over $49. |
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The aforementioned USB Cell AA Batteries have now made it across the pond. Now the USBCell AA batteries can be purchased at Think Geek for $20 for a pair. The folks at Moxia are still working on other battery sizes including AAA and 9V, but still don’t have any for sale as of yet. C and D size converters are also being worked on to allow for the AA batteries to serve for those sizes. Also if you can trust an April 1 press release (Engadget Referer, Gizmodo Referer), USBCell batteries are going to be released in pastel colors: white, yellow blue, pink and green. |
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Charging lamps are clearly the rage these days. Enter the Multipot Table Lamp and Charger designed by Dante Donegani and Giovanni Lauda and produced by Rotaliana. On the power side, it has five grounded outlets spaced far enough apart to allow most wall-warts to fit and gets its power from a 6′ grounded cord. The Multipot can dish out up to 2000W, which is a little over 18 amps when utilizing a normal 110V house outlet if my calculations are correct. The lid and plugs are designed to minimize the visible mess leaving only the item exposed and the tangled mess beneath the surface. On the lighting side, the Multipot features a 24 LED lamp which is rated for 60,000 hours of use and consumes a mere 4.2W of power. The MultiPot Table Lamp and Charger is available in four colors: white, black, chrome and amber and sells for $235 from either Y Lighting or Louie Lighting. |
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The USB Battery Case provides yet another portable method of backup juice for your favorite power hungry USB-charged devices. Powered by either four AA or AAA batteries depending on which model you get, just flip the switch to on and the Battery Case acts as a 5V power supply. No word on how long it can charge typical devices though. The USB Battery Box is available from Think Geek for $8 for either the AA or AAA model. |
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I have seen water powered clocks occasionally but for some reason I have never mentioned them. Save the power source, most of these clocks are relatively boring. So in order to mitigate the boredom, here are four water powered clocks in superfecta format. First up from Select Solar is the Water Powered H2O Clock. Simply fill up the two tubes and you should be good to go for two months. This clock merely tells the time and costs about $12. Select Solar also has a Water Powered H2O Alarm Clock that has larger tubes and costs $24. Think Geek also has a simple Water Powered Clock available for $13 which can also hold flowers in its reservoirs. Linked below and pictured to the left is the Water Powered Time Clock also available from Think Geek that tells time, has an alarm, countdown timer and thermometer and costs $20. |
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If you ever find yourself short on plugs when you travel, this is your power strip. Measuring a thin 2.25 wide and 1.8″ thick, this 8.5″ long power strip packs three outlets on either side far enough apart for the larger then average wall wart. As an added bonus, the plugs light up blue when the plugged in device is receiving power. The Monster Cable Outlets to go is available for $30. |
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Here is an interesting concept for a power supply. Rather then the standard rat’s nest of cables coming out of the power supply blocking all of the fans, why not just connect and run the power cables you are going to use? Most of my systems only have an optical drive, hard drive, video card and motherboard powered, so this sort of option would definitely cut down on the clutter. As the number of devices inside increases, this sort of concept might become more of a hinderance then a help though. AeroCool has included all different sorts of lights in both the cable and the supply itself to make it presentable in cases with windows and the fan is double-layered for “stronger air pressure and quieter performance.” The AeroCool Turbine Power Supply is available from NewEgg.com for $106. |
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With the increasing number of USB powered devices, it isn’t hard to have more devices then you have powered USB ports in your house or especially on the road. This USB AC Adapter from Thanko could help alleviate these sorts of problems. Compact at 2cm x 4cm x 6cm and cheap at roughly $11, this could be a rather handy device if it can be found outside of .jp. |
