Tag: CHARGER

Share A Maryland man accused of pulling off ten burglaries is sitting in jail right now, thanks to a single cell phone and a well-timed power outage. On Friday evening, 25-year-old Cody Wilkins broke into a home in Silver Spring, Maryland, in search of jewelry. His operation was interrupted, however, when the family's son walked into the house. Panicking, Wilkins jumped out of a window, and ...

We're willing to bet that you have at least one special electrical outlet that plays host to an overtaxed and exhausted power strip -- you know, the one swarmed by chargers for your cell phone, iPod, PSP or Nintendo DS, and perhaps an iPad or e-reader for good measure. (That's not even counting your roommate or significant other's contributions.) For overwhelmed sockets, we'd recommend the ...

Networks, bandwidth and capabilities are varied enough within any given country (as will be confirmed by anyone who's tried to get an iPhone on Verizon), but they're an entirely new mess when you start crossing borders. So, if you plan on staying connected without bankrupting yourself, you might want to see if your phone can handle the trip -- and make sure you aren't signing away your first-born ...

Once you're across the seas, you'll start snapping photos, turning up your MP3 player, and blogging your adventures -- that is, until you run out of juice. Buying converters in the airport is always über-expensive, and being stuck without one when you need it is hair-pulling. Not sure if you should make the investment? Remember that voltage varies in different continents, and, if you have an ...

We're not privy to the innermost thoughts of birds, but we imagine they must derive some sense of pleasure from hanging out on overhead power lines. In an existence characterized by dodging cars, dogs and tennis balls, the power line must be a much-needed respite for our feathered friends. Even that artificial oasis, though, may soon become an ornithological war zone, thanks to something called ...

HYmini Green Charger (Earth Lover, Under $100) Eco-conscious people, however dedicated to their ideals, enjoy the same fruits of modern technology -- smartphones, MP3 players, and digital cameras -- as the rest of us. One company has created a sustainable way to charge those gadgets using multiple renewable energy sources including wind, the sun, and even a handcrank. The HYMini Green ...

It's hard to call two incidents of some occurrence around the world a trend, but, when those incidents both involve an electrical device catching fire spontaneously, it creates a situation that's hard to ignore -- especially when that device is the iPhone. On Saturday, Italian blogger Tim Colbourne was charging his 3G handset and, after three hours, it sparked and caught fire at the base. Tim ...

Instead of shelling out $35 for a replacement phone charger, get a retractable USB cable and a plug-on tip for your phone. This travel-ready solution lets you charge using any PC USB port and can be plugged into a wall using a USB wall adapter (such as for iPods). Buy a new tip when you upgrade to another phone and keep the same cable. Ziplinq, among others, sells phone kits for under $20. ...

Wall warts -- those blocky black power adapters for cell phones, PDAs and the like -- actually waste more power than they produce, and account for 6% of the national electric bill. And yes, they still suck power when they are plugged into the wall and not charging anything. To save power, unplug them when they aren't being used, or look for Energystar branded chargers. ...

Don't get too excited: the Toasting Charger is merely a concept, at least for now. Still, it always brightens our day to see products that call to mind this most beloved human food. Simply pop in the battery, push the lever on the side and well, that's the beauty of it... you already know how to use this little guy. There's also a helpful LED on the front to indicate the progress of the charge ...

For shame. We know good and well engineers can concoct energy-generating garb that actually looks good enough to wear, but evidently those fashion-minded gurus weren't hired for this project. Granted, we have all ideas the image you're quizzically staring at above is NTT's first go at a pair of power-packing sandals, but there's clearly a good ways to go before these things are cute / safe ...

Details on this one are remarkably skimpy, but here are the facts as we know them. A fire caused around $30,000 worth of damage to a mobile home in Delaware this past week, but thankfully, the Millsboro and Indian River firefighters found no one home at the time of the incident. The culprit? A "malfunctioning cellphone charger that ignited the wall covering in a bedroom." That's it, folks -- no ...

Battery life is often the determining factor when we buy consumer electronics products. How does a cell phone with two years of stand-by time sound to you? A new phone out of China promises just that, giving you two years of stand-by time and two to three days of active talking time -- all without plugging the phone into the charger even once. You may be thinking this device, Solo Mobi model ...

When you lose your phone charger or accidentally leave it behind while traveling, your options are limited to either buying a new one or finding a friend who happens to have a phone made by the same manufacturer – even then, it sometimes needs to be the same exact model. Thankfully, those days are drawing to a close now that the world's major phone manufacturers including Nokia, Samsung, ...

If you read this site, there's a pretty good chance that you have lots of shiny electronic toys. There's also a good chance that you need to charge your gadgets on the go. Enter the Coleman Headrest Powerworks, a one or two outlet power inverter that plugs into your cigarette lighter and turns your car's DC to AC with standard plugs, so you can use your existing power cords to get juice. Like ...