Finding a place to charge your phone or tablet when you’re away from home often involves ducking into a café or carrying a supplementary battery around with you. Israeli company Sologic created a truly lovely way to capture natural solar energy and provide free charging stations to the public.

The chargers are called eTrees because they look like high-tech futuristic trees. Their “leaves” are solar panels which are always grabbing energy from the sun. Their trunks are brown to simulate the look of real trees.

The first eTree was installed in a nature reserve in Israel. At its base are USB ports for charging gadgets and benches for taking a few minutes to relax. A small amount of lighting beneath the tree provides a bit of illumination for finding the charging ports.

Sologic sees the eTree as a public sculpture that promotes the use of sustainable energy. Its ready availability to the public is a great resource that is not only useful but helps cut down, however slightly, on the amount of non-renewable energy used to charge mobile gadgets every day.

The post Public Phone Chargers Are Artificial Solar-Powered Trees first appeared on Gajitz.

There’s never been a shortage of weird and seemingly-unnecessary iPhone accessories, and the Rolto printer from King Jim is joining those ranks. The $260 (U.S.) printer more or less takes a screenshot of your iPhone screen, then prints it out (in black and white) onto paper – an iPhone-width piece of paper that looks like a receipt.

The printer connects to your iPhone over a wifi connection and requires a free app to use its interface. The app is in Japanese, but is graphics-based so should be easy enough to use for non-Japanese readers.

Even if the thing you need to print is longer than the iPhone’s screen and requires scrolling on the phone to see it all, the Rolto will print it all. Its paper is on a long roll, like a roll of receipt paper, so you’ll only have one piece of hard copy to deal with.

So the concept sounds a little ridiculous (particularly for the price), but we can actually see it coming in handy in a few situations. Sharing notes or directions, taking a recipe into the kitchen without risking your iPhone’s health, and printing a quick photo all come to mind. Since it’s portable and specifically meant to use with an iPhone, it can be used wherever there’s a wifi connection.

The post Mini Printer Produces iPhone Screenshots in Paper Form first appeared on Gajitz.

The human race can never seem to learn from its mistakes. Dubbed one of the worst inventions ever, Smell-o-Vision was a forehead-slap of an idea from the 1960’s. You would think time had buried this concept, but a product called Scentee has already made its way into humanity’s collective nostril.

A small smart phone attachment, Scentee features various scent cartridges that emit smells when you tap on your screen. The accompanying video seems to suggest ceasing actually eating food and instead “tasting and savoring food with your nose.” A good idea for dieters, perhaps, but it may just stimulate your hunger enough to make you actually crave those foods.

The available scents range from pleasant (rose, lavender, strawberry), to not-so-pleasant (corn soup, grilled short-ribs) to downright bizarre (buttered potatoes, beef tongue). It’s basically molecular gastronomy for your cell phone.

The post Smell-O-Phone Attachment Wants to Invade Your Nose first appeared on Gajitz.

We’re so glad that wearing your cell phone outside your pockets (like in a huge leather case that dangles askew from your belt) has become taboo. But what about having easy access to your phone? Clipless can make that happen.

Created by a company called They Innovate, Clipless is a slick way to attach your phone or other portable device to almost any surface. For example, a disc is placed on the inside of your shirt, and Clipless, the super-strong anodized aluminum centerpiece, adheres to it. With the mounting bracket attached to the back of your cell phone, it is quickly and easily slipped into place.

Clipless has a very cohesive functionality. It’s easily detached from the disc, and the bracket that goes on the back of the device, although held by a sticky surface, can be removed and is easily cleaned. One of the best features is that it’s discreet, so no more getting made fun of for that bulky pouch hanging from your hip.

The post Magically Attach Your Mobile Device to Almost Any Surface first appeared on Gajitz.

When you’re reading a text message and someone sends an Emoji, do you ever make a little sound in your head to go along with the picture? The TeleSound is a cute little speaker that puts sound to over 1000 Emoji icons, letting you send a unique kind of message to your friends.

Styled after a vintage rotary phone, the small round speaker is wireless and features Bluetooth connectivity to your smartphone or tablet. People on your friends list send Emojis to you and they’re automatically played as sounds from your TeleSound. It’s kind of like a language, with every character representing its own unique sound.

If you get sick of the sounds and want to escape for a while, you can just turn the TeleSound upside down to go offline. When you get more than 30 feet (10 yards) away from the speaker you’ll go out of range, but when you get back into range you’ll be automatically re-connected.

The project is on Kickstarter to raise funds for their first round of production. You can back the project and get your own TeleSound in a variety of colors. Even if none of your friends get their own, you can use the TeleSound’s “play” mode to just mess around with all of the sounds.

The post Sounds Emotional: Little Speaker Gives Voice to 1000 Emojis first appeared on Gajitz.