charger

Most battery chargers today are like leaky faucets dripping out a tiny flow of electricity even when not charging your electronic gadget.

The California Energy Commission yesterday voted in favor of efficiency standards aimed at cutting wasted energy from battery chargers for small electronics, including cell phones and electric toothbrushes, to larger battery-powered machines such as power tools and forklifts.

Once enacted, the measures should improve the efficiency of chargers by at least 40 percent and save over $300 million a year in utility costs, according to the Commission. The energy savings would be about 2,200 gigawatt hours per … Read more

With the help of Cobra's newest charger, your Android phone can automatically reconfigure for driving when connected to your car.

The Cobra JoyRide is no ordinary car charger. This 12-volt plug utilizes the Android Open Accessory framework to automatically trigger the launch of a companion app on an Android phone when connected via its micro USB port.

The Cobra JoyRide app features a car-specific interface that presents the user with large buttons to trigger functions such as voice command, hands-free calling, or launching a GPS navigation app. The JoyRide app can also automatically trigger the changing of phone settings--for … Read more

If you've ignored the naysayers, saved enough money, and splashed out on an electric car, you're probably now looking for a dedicated home-charging station. If that's the case, look no further--architect Giancarlo Zema has teamed up with Luminexence to design a bonkers yet beautiful leaf-shaped example known as the Lotus.

The Lotus--no relation to Norwich's premier manufacturer of mid-life-crisis mobiles--is a giant solar-powered piece of faux flora that delivers pure, carbon-neutral electricity captured from the sun. It comes with nighttime lights plus an optional information screen, seat and car charging port.

The Lotus is a modular system that's designed in a variety of colors and sizes. The smallest component, a single-leaf design, can be supplied on its own, or mated to other single-leaf units to form double, triple, or quad leaf setups. A large leaf, which provides 19 square meters of photovoltaic panels, is also available. Both leaf styles can be combined to resemble a curious water lily configuration.

Read more of "Luminexence Lotus solar car charger is a tree-shaped carport" at Crave UK. … Read more

To get the benefits of fuel cells in portable electronics, Apple engineers think they need to work well with batteries.

In newly published patent applications today, Apple describes a way for fuel cell power sources to be designed into electronics, such as a laptop, and controlled to optimize their performance without adding a lot of extra weight.

In one patent application titled simply a Fuel Cell System to Power a Portable Computing Device, Apple says there is "increasing awareness and desire" among consumers to use renewable-energy sources. Fuel cells are compelling technically because of their energy density, or … Read more

Solar charger kits that help power gadgets aren't new. But how about one that also enables you to brag to your social network about how much energy it's generating?

The Changers Starter Kit, which costs about $150, uses a flexible solar module and a solar battery. The battery calculates how much energy you capture, and then, once connected to your laptop, uploads that information so it can be shared on Twitter or Facebook. SmartPlanet's Sumi Das checks out the Changers Starter Kit in the video above.

This video first appeared on SmartPlanet with the headline "Solar panels go social.&… Read more

The Chevy Volt gets the feds look at the safety of all electric cars, Nissan makes a fast charge cheaper (sort of), Toyota puts Intel Inside, and Mercedes reworks the lowly windshield wiper.

SHOW NOTES

Every winter, I fly out to England to join my in-laws for the holidays. As a result, I'm always packing a one-week supply of the gadgets I'll need to survive in the countryside, fully entertained, yet not overburdened.

It's a careful science: travel gadgets have gotten easier than ever thanks to devices like the iPad, yet you're more likely to pack redundant devices, too. The more options, the more headaches.

Here are a few of CNET's holiday recommendations for world travelers. Kindle? Check. iPad 2? Double-check. Battery-packs, surge protectors, headphones, cameras, and laptops? Of course. … Read more

The GE WattStation EV charger has become the recommended charger for Coda's upcoming all-electric vehicles.

Coda has signed an agreement with GE Energy Industrial Solutions to sell the Level 2 charging stations for recharging EV batteries alongside its Coda sedans and to market them together.

GE WattStation's is a 240-volt Level 2 charger that is compatible with any standard EV. Currently, its competitors include the Ecotality Blink station and the Coulomb Technologies ChargePoint station.

Santa Monica, Calif.-based Coda is a fairly new automotive company that has set the ambitious goal to sell 50,000 EVs by 2015. … Read more

To many of you, one USB car charger is just as good as the next, but if you've ever tried to plug your shiny new iPad or massive screened smartphone into a cheapy charger, odds are you quickly learned how wrong you were.

Not all powered USB ports are created equally. Most USB car chargers output about 0.5A of charging power, which is a massive jump over the original "low load" USB standard of just 0.1A. However, tablets require a bit more juice still than these powered ports can supply. In the case of the … Read more