Smartphones can do pretty much anything, but most of us still tend to use them in at least one very low-tech way: as flashlights. Getting to the bedroom after you turn out the house lights, finding your keys in your bag, or finding the way to the bathroom in an unfamiliar hotel room all call for the use of the handy-dandy camera flash as a surprisingly powerful light.

The Travelamp, designed by Sebastiano Tosi and Mattia Fossati, uses the same flashlight functionality for small, portable nightlights. These little lights are officially known as “light diffusers” since they aren’t powered in any way; they’re simply shapes attached to little straps that attach around the body of your phone.

The Travelamp comes in two shapes: lamp and lantern. Both are made of soft, durable silicone that won’t scratch up your phone. Just slip the strap around the body of the phone and position the lamp over the flash. Then turn on your phone’s flashlight function and you’ve got a handy little bedside table shining a soft, diffuse light that’s perfect for reading by…or just walking around without battering your poor toes.

The smartphone accessory is expected to be in stock at Fred & Friends in October 2015 and will cost you a cool $8. You won’t need a cable or special battery or anything else to use the Travelamp, but you’d better have a charging cable for your phone on hand since the flashlight function tends to kill batteries in record time.

The post Lighten Up! Silicone Accessory Turns Phones Into Lamps first appeared on Gajitz.

Remember that potato clock you made for your high school science fair? Apparently, the bar has been raised quite a bit. Ann Makosinski, a 15 year old student from Canada, made a flashlight for her science fair project – a flashlight powered entirely by the body heat of the hand holding it. To be fair to the rest of us, though, this wasn’t any old science fair; this was the Google Science Fair, a global competition that brings out the best and brightest in the 13 to 18 age range.

Makosinski used Peltier tiles to create the flashlight. These tiles produce electricity when they are heated on one side and cooled on the other. A temperature difference of just five degrees is enough to power the LED bulb on the Hollow Flashlight. When the ambient temperature is colder, the flashlight will receive more power from the user’s body heat and provide more light. The average amount of electricity generated by palm heat was about 57 milliwatts in tests, and only about half a milliwatt is required to light the LED.

The Peltier tiles are arranged around a hollow aluminum tube – hollow so that the inside can receive air that will cool the backs of the tiles. In tests, the flashlight worked for around 30 minutes, but its useful time could vary widely depending on ambient temperatures. If the flashlight were ever to be mass produced for sale, Makosinski says that she would make some tweaks to her prototype design to make the light more durable and efficient.

Part of Makosinski’s inspiration for the project was her desire to reduce the use of disposable batteries. These single-use power sources are toxic and can leak harmful chemicals into the ground. But her invention can also be priceless in parts of the world where access to electricity is scarce. The inventor’s interest in harvesting sustainable energy that would ordinarily be wasted won her a $25,000 scholarship from Google.

The post Best + Brightest: Hollow Flashlight Runs on Your Body Heat first appeared on Gajitz.

As far as flashlights go, we don’t really expect much. We want them to provide a light in the dark and maybe accompany us on journeys, but they aren’t exactly a multi-tasking tool. The ZeroHourXD is one rugged flashlight that might change the way you think about this essential piece of survival gear.

The waterproof ZeroHourXD puts out an impressive 1,000 lumens of light and can do so for up to six hours. The flashlight comes with three rechargeable batteries; the modular nature of the batteries makes it easier to change them out once they’re used up and allows you to carry along extras wherever you go. You can use the flashlight with one, two, or all three batteries.

But the cool part of the ZeroHourXD is that it can also be used as a gadget charger. One of the battery packs includes a dual USB charger that can charge two gadgets at once. With full batteries, it can charge an iPhone seven times, a Samsung Galaxy five times, or an iPad Air two times.

Although the ZeroHourXD can be used as a flashlight and charge a gadget or two at the same time, the battery power will obviously diminish faster the more you multi-task. But in the case that you don’t need a flashlight, you can use the charging module on its own.

The company says their sources of inspiration were the classic Maglite and the iconic lightsaber. There are different body modules that can be added on to make the body of the flashlight longer to fit your specific needs. Removing the innards of one of the battery packs creates a watertight capsule that can hold matches, medicine, keys, and other necessities.

The flashlight comes with a variety of end caps: a carabiner cap, flat cap, and open cap. They allow you to keep the USB ports open or covered as the situation calls for; additional removable USB covers keep the USB ports. Following a successful Kickstarter campaign, the ZeroHourXD is now available for $225 (US).

The post Rugged Modular Flashlight is Also a Dual-USB Charger first appeared on Gajitz.

After a natural disaster, survivors are desperate to find their way around and to signal for help. This inventive solution from creator Kim Minsoon gives survivors a simple and effective way to do both at once. The Flash Communicator is a small flashlight that can not only show the way, but act as a distress signal as well.

The small device is about the size of any other LED flashlight and, like any other flashlight, can be used to find a safe path in the dark. It comes with an added bonus, however: it can translate speech to Morse code and Morse code to speech. Disaster survivors can push the “Communicate” button and speak into the Flash Communicator; their words will be instantly translated into Morse code via flashes of light.

A passing rescue crew, also equipped with a Flash Communicator, would see the flashes and turn their own device toward the signal. The receiver’s Flash Communicator could then translate those flashes of light back into voice, giving the crew vital information about the victim. Rescue missions could be faster and more successful if survivors were able to immediately communicate their locations as well as any injuries or illnesses that might require priority attention.

The post Emergency Light Translates Between Speech + Morse Code first appeared on Gajitz.

When an emergency strikes and you’re trying to prepare your home and family, one of the last things you want to worry about is whether you have the right size batteries on hand. Panasonic agrees, so they created the Any Battery Light: a flashlight that accepts whatever size batteries you might have lying around. The flashlight works with AAA, AA, C or D batteries, although obviously the smaller batteries will provide less power and a dimmer light.

The user has to flip a switch to select the battery size inside the battery compartment. You can even use a mix of sizes if that’s all you’ve got in the junk drawer, but the light will work with a single battery as well. With maximum power supply, the flashlight can provide 86 hours of continuous LED light. The light will come in red or white and be available in Japan for around US$23, but no word on whether it will make its way to the rest of the world.

The post Emergency Flashlight Draws Power From Any Size Batteries first appeared on Gajitz.