For the more tech-savvy, device-wearing, constant-blog-updating consumer, Quirky has announced a product that you can not only use, but wear! Trek Support is a backpack that charges multiple devices at once. With 3 USB ports on the Gadget Dock, consumers can charge phones, MP3 players, iPods, cameras, and portable gaming systems. The backpack's integrated rechargeable battery can charge different devices for up to 7 hours.

To hold all these devices, the backpack is designed with numerous mesh pockets, with one laptop sleeve big enough to fit a 15" laptop. And besides the mesh pockets inside the backpack, there are extra mesh pockets on the straps, with a USB port there as well, in case you want to travel while listening to music and charging your device. Two zippered pockets located on the outside of the backpack can hold other items, like wallets.

Trek Device is made out of durable waterproof nylon, with the Gadget Dock and and laptop sleeve made of padded nylon.

And the cherry on top? TSA is allowing these bags to be used in their screening processes. When traveling with the Trek Support, you no longer have to take your laptop out of the backpack: just unzip it the backpack completely, place it on the conveyor belt, and you're good to go.

The only downside is, you can't buy this product directly right now. Quirky's presale will take your credit card and, once they've confirmed that enough units have been bought, the products will ship out. So if you want to order one and get it soon, spreading the news might be a good idea.

For those that prefer a traditional charger and not a whole backpack, ebatts.com sells chargers and batteries for numerous devices...and you won't have to carry a backpack to do it.

Source: Trek Support Battery Powered Backpack

Battery-powered products are prominent in today’s age, but that power has to come from somewhere. Eventually, you’ll have to charge that battery for your cell phone, laptop, or whichever product you’re happening to use. Tired of having to be near a charger when battery-life is low? You’re in luck.

A group of Korean scientists, led by Young Jun Park and Sang-Woo Kim, are currently researching ways to turn sound into a power-source. For example, a cell phone battery with sound-power capabilities will continue to charge just by having the consumer continue their call.

Their full report appears on an article in the Advanced Materials journal.

Sound-power technology isn’t out yet, but aftermarket rechargeable batteries can still be found.

Fujitsu is developing a compact and highly-efficient wireless charging system for electronic devices. This charging pad will be able to charge future cell phones, digital cameras, camcorders, and other electronic devices. The wireless charging pad uses a highly-efficient magnetic resonance to transfer power remotely with a power transfer efficiency of 85%. More information on wireless charging pad technology can be found on the Fujitsu Web site.

When Nikola Tesla built the Wardenclyffe Tower in 1901, he was on to something that was way too advanced for the early 1900’s with the development of a wireless communications tower, broadcasting, and also demonstrating the transmission of power without interconnecting wires.  Wireless communications is revisited today with our vast cellular phone and wireless technology. Wireless charging looks like the next step in to the future to power small gadgets and devices.

Dr. Matt Reynolds, who is an assistant professor in the electrical and computer engineering department at Duke University, has developed safety gadgets for construction workers. The wirelessly powered safety gadget is a called a SmartHat and is worn by construction workers to alert them of dangerous construction equipment that is nearby them. The SmartHat has a built in beeper and microprocessor with no batteries and is powered by radio waves that are naturally occurring in the air. Big bulldozers and backhoes have wireless network transmitter installed on them and when they get close to a construction worker wearing a SmartHat, the beeper will sound off.

Harnessing radio waves to power small devices may not be anything new, but it is promising to think up of wirelessly powered cell phones, laptops, digital camera and other small devices. The other question is how big of a device can run off of only radio waves? Only time and innovation will tell with our drive to alternative energy power sources.

Dr. Reynolds of Duke University stated: “We are on the cusp of an explosion in small wireless devices than can run on alternatives to battery power. Devices like this can live on and on."

Electronic devices powered by our human bodies are within reach for some scientists. Several gadgets are being researched and developed with examples such as sensor studded clothing to give off vital signs and movement signals, a disposable electrocardiogram machine the size of a Band-Aid that monitors a patient's heart, a cell phone implanted in a tooth, contact lenses with heads up displays, and other miniature electronic devices that can plug people into computer and communication networks. Using regular batteries to power these devices is out of the questions, so new ideas are being researched and developed to scavenge energy from the human body.

Source: Power from the Human Body