Tag: plug

Categories
Chargers/Batteries

Plug’s beefy battery can power anything you need off the grid

Once a novel idea, our growing need for smartphone connectivity has spawned an endless supply of battery chargers. Many of these range from tiny keychain trinkets to more substantial slabs that offer two to three charges of smartphones boasting the biggest internal batteries.

To really stand out, though, you need to something big and different. ChargeTech knows this as the company has released a series of portable charging units including this charger charger that can keep a series of charging bricks topped off.Aafter hitting Indiegogo back in 2014 with what it claimed was the world’s smallest battery pack with an AC outlet, it’s with Plug, which houses a massive 48,000 mAh battery and two AC outlets as well as a USB-C port. How is capable of outputting  250 volts, which means it is robust enough to handle a desktop computer, a monitor, a television, a blender and many other electrical items one normally wouldn’t expect to use away from a wall.

Continue reading “Plug’s beefy battery can power anything you need off the grid”
Categories
Smart Home

VOME gives Siri a bunch of outlets around your home

It’s 2016 and the smart home “revolution” is well underway. Unfortunately, that revolution fizzled out as soon as it started. The problem isn’t a lack of devices — look anywhere online for connected home devices and discover a glut of dual-syllabled hubs and plugs for anything you may need — but rather a lack of standard tying them all together. This was the problem at the very beginning, and it continues to be a problem now.

Mark Van Der Spuy’s VOME home automation system tackles this problem by piggybacking off of iOS. Specifically, Siri and Apple’s foray into home automation with HomeKit. The VOME system itself is comprised of a 4-Way Control Unit that any dumb object can be plugged into, allowing anything from lamps to curtains to coffee machines to be controlled simply by issuing voice commands to Siri.

Continue reading “VOME gives Siri a bunch of outlets around your home”
Categories
Chargers/Batteries

Ora adds aura to wireless chargers, turns charging devices upside down

Wireless chargers are the most important accessories for wireless devices, but they tend to be rather indistinct and boring from a design standpoint. Ora is a unique-looking wireless charger/power bank that is oval-shaped and sleek-looking, coming in a combination of white and one other color of the buyer’s choice.

patent-claimedA sliding panel allows the user to pull out the hidden outlet plug and USB adapter. Ora gets plugged into a wall outlet, and the user can opt to plug a wireless device into it via a charging cable or directly into Ora’s spring-loaded connection port. It is compatible with the iPhone 5 and 6, iPod Touch and Nano, and all Android and Windows Mobile smartphones—and the charger will hold each device upside down safely. Backers who pledge $30 will get one charger when it ships in July as part of an early bird Kickstarter discount. Ora is hoping to raise $60,000 in funding.

The charger certainly looks unlike rival products, but it’s not clear how many consumers will spend extra money for a charger mainly for its nice design. Nor is it clear how many consumers will feel comfortable enough to plug their expensive smartphone into Ora upside down, especially if the wall outlet is far off the ground.

Categories
Chargers/Batteries

Twist caps the MacBook wall adapter, offers USB charging

Keeping mobile devices charged while overseas can be a challenge when one doesn’t have the right adapter. Twist offers users the opportunity to keep everything juiced up in over 150 countries. The charger twists to offer the appropriate plug, and then the user has four USB charging ports available for use. Its unique design makes it a more stable option, especially in older, worn out outlets.

The product is specifically intended for MacBook only, and it appears as if there is only one spot on the adapter for non-mobile device power, a definite drawback. The folks at OneAdaptr would do well to consider adding other models of laptops into the mix to make their product more versatile. Twist is reminiscent of the PlugBug, but offers more options in its usage. This campaign seeks to raise $30,000 CAD (~$26,300 USD) by December 19, 2014. For $22 CAD, (~$19 USD) backers get one product with an expected delivery of February 2015.

Categories
Chargers/Batteries

Tiny TravelBuddy charger/portable battery props up in a plug

Smartphones always seem to run out of juice at the worst moments. And as we become increasingly dependent on them, it will continue to happen more and more frequently. TravelBuddy makes sure that when you’re caught with a dead battery and no cord, you’ll be just fine. This small battery plugs into the wall and into your iPhone, without a cord. It provides fast charging on the go. The best part is that it’s a keychain, so you’ll always have it on hand. Coming in five different colors, one TravelBuddy will cost backers $30 at an early price or $35 regularly. This product hopes to raise $10,100 on Kickstarter. Hopefully, TravelBuddy will be compatible with other types of smartphones in the future. Another drawback of the TravelBuddy is that you’d still need an outlet in order for it to work, unlike the similar Buckle Charger. Still, outlets usually aren’t too hard to find and if it charges the phone fast, then all the better.

Categories
Cell Phone Accessories Chargers/Batteries

NomadPlus lets your Apple charger work away from the wall

nomadplusAll of the portable devices in the world could all use a little boost when it comes to battery life. The NomadPlus is a convenient housing for any Apple USB wall plug with its own USB port on the front that can plug devices in and charge them but also charges itself to act as a portable battery charge. A stylish battery indicator on the device’s front displays the NomadPlus’s status and level of battery charge. Because it utilizes USB, this is a great tool to take the proprietary headache of many Apple devices and make them utilitarian to any USB-powered device. NomadPlus is available for pre-order for $39 and ships out November 30th.

Categories
Tech Accessories

TwistVolt shrugs at plugs, twists to accommodate wall warts and USB cables

editors-choiceThe Premise. Power cords are almost always dysfunctional. They look messy and can’t fit too many plugs at once. It’s almost impossible to find a power strip that is actually well-made or useful without several big drawbacks.

The Product. TwistVolt provides a “new twist on the power strip”. This clever product twists and turns so that each plug doesn’t sit right next to the other if desired. Using several triangle formations, each outlet is accessible and the strip can be used to its full potential. In addition, fancier versions of the TwistVolt come with USB ports. LED lights are also featured in this product, making it look very cool. Part of the allure of TwistVolt is that it is a power strip that you won’t want to hide.

The Pitch. This is not TwistVolt’s first time at the crowdfunding dance, having had a campaign at Dragon Innovation last November. The video for this revamped power cord shows how it stacks up against its competition and also how many different devices can be plugged into it. The rest of the campaign features the various ways that TwistVolt can be configured, including hexagonal and zigzag shapes. Michael Schroeder, the Bostonian creator of this product, has set a whopping $125,000 goal for this product in his 30-day Kickstarter campaign.

The Perks. For $49, backers can enjoy the TwistVolt standard which includes five outlets and an integrated circuit breaker. One TwistVolt with two USB ports and LED backlit side panels goes for $89. Two other TwistVolt versions with four USB ports and eight USB ports costs backers $99 and $129 respectively. Reward tiers go all the way up to $2,900 with estimated delivery dates of December 2014.

The Potential. Without a doubt, one of the main competitors for the TwistVolt would be the crowdsourced PivotPower by Quirky, that company’s greatest success story. There have also been other solutions to the challenge of wall wart proliferation. Particularly with its LED lighting option, TwistVolt truly looks cool, even with a bunch of cords sticking out of it, and the way it bends makes traveling much easier. While a little expensive particularly for the high-power USB versions, the TwistVolt could make up some of ithave USB s expenses because they customers may not need to buy a USB-to-wall outlet converter. All in all, this product combines the best parts of functionality, design and innovation in an item that we use every single day.