gadgets
You just gotta love solar energy, where all you need is a sunny day and then there's plenty of power that's just there for the taking. Here's a trinket that will help you harvest that energy that's all around you, the Solar Style SC003 Oval Solar Charger. It connects to Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and Samsung phones, and at 3.25 x 2.25 and just 0.75 inches thick, this 3-ounce device is compact enough to slip into your pocket. It not only will revive your exhausted cell phones, it resuscitates MP3 players and some PDAs, too. You can also charge the device itself, storing that energy in an on-board battery inside the Solar Style charger, and then later it will stand ready to charge other members of your electronic menagerie even when it's not sunny. Replenish its energy with an included car charger, or when you get home, plug it in with an included AC wall wart and charge it up there, and then it's ready to keep you going all over again. It's available now for $35.99 from the Solar Style
website.
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Gizmodo
Of all the solar powered gadgets we've shown you recently, I'd have to say this is the most elegant. The Intelligent Forms SOLo is a lounge table (can we call it a coffee table?) and is simply designed to soak up the sun, turning it into stored power so you can charge your gear. Apparently left for a year in a "typical outdoor setting," it can store enough power in its internal batteries to charge up your cellphone 6,800 times or your laptop 168 times. Its got USB sockets, a car-style 12V socket and even a standard 3-pin mains plug, and the whole thing is weatherproof.
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