The only real problem with today's portable electronics is battery life. The gear gets more powerful but sadly battery technology really hasn't kept up, that's why we write about things like solar power. But there are also nifty things called dynamos, devices you pump or crank to juice up your batteries. O2, a large mobile carrier in the UK, will be installing bicycle-powered dynamos around a festival it's sponsoring this coming weekend to charge up music fans' mobiles. Sure, they could have run power cables and created power stations, but where's the fun in that? And as anyone who's been to a large outdoor festival in the last few years knows, you're going to want to power up at least once a day or else you're cut off. And if you've got our luck, it'd be right before Winehouse takes the stage, so you'd have no bawdy SMS session to distract you. [Pocket Picks]

From a technical point of view, the Trailcart is like a hybrid mountain bike and four wheeler. It's got permanent four-wheel-drive and is powered by roughly 290Nm of torque. In terms of conquering rockey terrain, it has 400mm of axle displacement. TreeHugger adds that it has a "double-action mechanical hydraulic braking system" and a Shimano Nexus 8 shifter coopted from the cycling world. The developers are trying to keep the weight at 50kg or less, in order to be transportable on automobile bike racks.

At the moment Trailcart is getting some serious investment from some heavy hitters, including Land Rover, and speaking of Land Rover, the little four-wheeler is involved in testing at Land Rover's "obstacle park" in Wülfrath, Germany. I really really want to try one of these out. There's no word on how much exertion is required to get that thing really moving, but if it takes any kind of physical strain at all, chances are it'll never make it to America. [Trailcart via TreeHugger]

Sure, it is Earth-friendly and it could come in handy during a power outage, but the product site is also billing the device as a great upper and lower body workout. And let's face it, there is nothing more satisfying than turning on your MP3 player and knowing that each song was powered by your own sweat and tears. Available for around $141. [Rakuten via TFTS]

The bikes were hooked up to generators that supplied direct current energy to a converter which, in turn, fed couple of small SiCortex supercomputers with alternating current. At the time, the computers were running a program that simulates a fusion reaction. According to the findings, a traditional supercomputer would have required 10x as much electricity to perform the same calculations. In the end, the team did its part to promote alternative sources of energy —let's just hope, for the cycling team's sake, that the focus at MIT stays on nuclear fusion as this alternative energy source, and not the legs of its top athletes. [XConomy and Gizmag]

[Designboom via Gearfuse]

Yep, it's like that little pedal-powered fire truck you had when you were a kid. It's super light, made of aluminum, bamboo and something called "bioplastic," known to you and me as garbage. Why was this designed, anyway?

Toyota didn't say if or when it plans to build such a vehicle; the company was just playing a game called the Design Challenge, dreamed up by the greater Los Angeles Auto Show, urging nine carmakers to imagine "a time when all vehicles have technology allowing the public to enjoy the distinctive Southern California lifestyle and unique environment without harming it."

The goofiest vehicle in the competition was the Green Hummer, pictured above, that somehow uses panels made out of slime, I mean, algae, to pay back for all of that polluting carbon dioxide it spews. The algae is supposed to photosynthesize oxygen out of the Hummer's plentiful supply of carbon dioxide emissions.

We'll find out who wins this competition on Thursday (November 30). – Charlie White

Toyota Unveil Hybrid Pedal-Electric Concept 'Car' ]treehugger]