[Cyborg] Turn Your Body's Motion Into Power for Your Phone

[Adam]

  Sent to you by Adam via Google Reader: Turn Your Body's Motion Into
Power for Your Phone via Wired Top Stories by Dylan Tweney on 1/5/11



LAS VEGAS — Put this tubular object in your backpack, and you can
generate juice for your cellphone — just by walking around.

The nPower PEG (short for “personal energy generator”) contains a
weight, a spring, some inductive coils and a battery. Put it in your
pocket or your backpack, and it wiggles around with your body’s natural
movements. As the internal weight moves, it generates electricity in
the coils, which gradually charges up the battery. You can then
transfer that power to your phone or iPod via a mini USB port and an
adapter cable.

It’s a brilliant idea, and anyone who has ever watched their battery
indicator dwindle to nothing will surely love the idea of getting
energy from nothing more than walking and fidgeting. However, for
power-hungry smartphones, you’ll only get about a minute of talk time
for every 15 to 30 minutes of walking, the company says. That’s hardly
enough to keep your phone alive all day.

It might make more sense for smaller gadgets like the iPod nano, for
which it’ll deliver a minute of use for every minute you walk.

Of course, you can always grab the nPower PEG and shake it, Shake
Weight-style, to generate energy on demand. But you’ll feel kind of
silly doing it.

The $160 nPower PEG debuted a year ago, and just started shipping this
fall. Tremont Electric, which makes the gizmo in Cleveland, Ohio, says
it had some difficulty meeting demand but is ramping up production and
will begin shipping new orders in February.

nPower PEG (Tremont Electric)




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