charging

British Times papers to charge for Web content

It appears the day when we we'll be paying to read general interest news stories on the Web is coming sooner rather than later--perhaps as early as June for readers of the U.K.-based Times publications.

News International, the British division of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., announced on Friday that two of its newspapers, The Times and The Sunday Times of London, are set to begin charging readers using its sites in June.

The two papers have been offering their content in a combined news Web site called Times Online. Under the new plan, however, News International … Read more

Novothink's iPhone Solar Surge charging case finally shipping

Back in November of last year we wrote about an upcoming Apple-certified iPhone and iPod Touch solar charger from a company called Novothink. Well, four months later, the Solar Surge charging case, which Novothink is marketing toward "outdoor enthusiasts," is now available for purchase.

As anybody who's tried to charge an electronic device using a solar charger knows, it doesn't juice up the device nearly as quickly as your typical power adapter would and the Surge is no exception. The charging case can provide up to 30 minutes of talk time on a 3G network or … Read more

Power plug disconnects on its own

Conor Klein, a furniture design student at the Rhode Island School of Design, was inspired by a leech to come up with an ingenious way to prevent unnecessary overcharging. When a device reaches full power, most modern adapters will switch to a trickle charge mode that continues to supply electricity to the machine at a slower rate. Over time, this will reduce the life of the battery and waste electricity.

Klein's Outlet Regulator design is unique in that it comes in two parts--a main unit plugged in to the outlet and a secondary wire to which a device is … Read more

Mass., Nissan partner on Leaf charging network

The 24-city Nissan Leaf Zero-Emission Tour stopped at the Museum of Science in Boston on Tuesday to announce that Nissan and Massachusetts will develop an electric-vehicle charging network and policies to support widespread adoptions of electric cars.

The agreement includes plans to promote a charging infrastructure for electric cars so drivers could charge their cars at home, work, and other locations. Nissan also has agreed to make available a supply of electric vehicles statewide.

Nissan has spearheaded a holistic approach to zero-emission mobility by working with several states, municipalities, utility companies, including the state of Tennessee, the state of Oregon, … Read more

Take wireless charging on the go

WildCharger's products have always left us a bit divided. Though the wireless charging pads certainly work as promised, we haven't rushed out to buy them. Sure the ability to charge several gadgets at once is convenient, and the technology certainly is novel, but we can be content with powering our handset the normal way.

WildCharge, however, is busily expanding its product line, and at CES 2010 the company (now called Pure Energy Solutions) showed the a new Portable WildCharge Pad. At 5.24 inches long by 2.7 inches wide by 0.47 inch deep, the pad can … Read more

Start-ups partner on universal wireless charger

Start-ups Green Plug and WiPower are working together on a universal wireless charger for portable devices, the companies said Thursday.

The partnership makes sense since GreenPlug has developed a protocol to allow power sources and portable devices to communicate, while WiPower has invented technology to transmit power wirelessly over short distances.

Green Plug's universal chargers allow portable electronic devices containing its embedded Greentalk chip to be charged from a universal port. Once a device is plugged in to a Green Plug charger port, the charger's Greentalk protocol reads the chip inside the device to determine the power supply … Read more

Tweak MiFi to charge over USB

A MiFi is a nifty little device you can get from Sprint or Verizon here in the States. It receives a cellular data signal and then rebroadcasts it as a Wi-Fi connection.

However, one annoying thing is that when you plug it into a USB port, it insists on acting as a modem instead of a Wi-Fi access point. This means that you can't charge it from your laptop and share it the data connection. I ran into this issue at an airport when I wanted to charge the MiFi and share with my colleague, but I couldn't … Read more

Get an iPhone battery pack for $9.99 shipped

The older your iPhone gets, the worse its battery performs. Don't blame Apple: it's just the nature of rechargeable batteries that they wear out over time.

Sadly, you can't just swap in a new one--not without some warranty-voiding surgery. But you can plug in external power, which is cheap, easy, and affordable.

For example, Meritline has an 1800mAh iPhone backup battery for $9.99 shipped. That's after applying coupon code MLC262531102717A (which expires Oct. 29) at checkout.

The standard iPhone 3G battery has an 1150mAh capacity, meaning this plug-in pack should afford at least 50 percent … Read more

Powermat charging system took my iPod Touch hostage

I originally planned on writing my review of the Powermat magnetic inductive charging system by highlighting the innovation in the technology and the lack of necessity for a product that costs a serious amount of coin--$99.99 for the wired mat plus $40 for the charger--for achieving the same goal as a simple wire.

But then the Powermat took my iPod Touch captive.

First, the straight shooting: the Powermat system is indeed very cool. It does what it advertises and brings "wire-less" charging to devices that normally don't have the ability: the iPhone, iPod Touch, select … Read more