Technology Effect

Ever needed a battery at the last minute? Well, one can now be in your pocket at all times. A new concept found by Yanko Design has merged the AA battery and a USB drive, allowing you to power your devices and store files with ease. What’s even great is that it is a rechargeable battery, via its USB port, meaning that you can keep constantly using the battery/USB drive, which is kind of necessary since it would be weird to dispose a USB drive. The negative pole is where the USB port will be found, and will also indicate how much battery life is still present on the battery via 3 LED indicators on the side. As well, its very simple to switch between the two, just twist the body. Like said, it is a concept. So it’s not out in stores anywhere in the world. So damn.

Got to love green technology, and this is no exception. A park bench that uses solar energy to light up and power a Wi-Fi hotspot, and is made out of aluminium and recycled plastic – so it’s also environmentally friendly as well. Because of the design, the outer cover can be changed to “various environments of the park”. Unfortunately, this thing is sadly not in production, nor will it ever. This is a concept design, so no free internet, nor sleek-looking seat to rest your butt on.

  Dahon, maker of folding bikes, has now shown off another gizmo at the Eurobike show. Called the BioLogic FreeCharge, the silicone-encased box which hooks up with your bike’s generator hub and siphons the power to the box and then charges your gadgets via a USB port, which allows you to charge your iPhone, iPod and your mobile (if it has a USB connector that is used for power). Inside the casing, there is a battery and circuitry to both store electricity and to smooth the bumps and spikes in the output while riding. If you are known to get lost, but don’t want to use the Maps feature because it sucks too much of your battery, just use this device while you ride. Now, you can use the Maps app without killing the battery. It goes on sale for about $99 and will be released next March.

We’ve seen pedal power to recharge your iPod, but now your phone? Nokia has announced that it will sell an additional accessory that will use your wheel movement to power a dynamo (a small electrical generator) through the standard Nokia 2mm charging jack – though, you could also get an adaptor and just use it to power other electronics. It also comes with two small brackets, plus the generator and charge. One is to hold your phone and secure the charger on  the handlebars, while the other is to secure the generator to the fork of the bicycle. Nokia believes that you can reach the same power as a normal charger by reaching a speed of 12km/h, which means that if your phone doesn’t reach full capacity in two hours, then you’ll most likely push 24km – which is a long distance. Though, with the ‘fat epidemic’ in Australia, I think this could push people outside just for some free electricity to power your phone. Plus, it’s cheap. It only costs €15, or around $21 AUD, f...