Most of us have a daily ritual for charging our phones: we plug them in by our beds when we go to sleep, or set them on a desk charger when we get to work in the morning. But for digital nomads who are always on the go, that ritual can be a little harder to find.

Zurich University of Arts student designer Ramon Marc Zolliker designed a portable, human-powered charger that can create a whole new charging routine. It’s based on the very human ritual of creating fire – the activity which separated us from other mammals.

The IMTI consists of an outer shell with a hole in the top and a cord running out of its bottom along with a stick-like object that fits into the hole. The user holds the outer piece steady and twirls the stick between the palms to create energy which is transmitted through the charging cable to the phone.

The concept is certainly more hands-on than our regular method of plug-and-wait. Zolliker feels that performing this sort of ritual will help digital nomads feel more connected to daily life in some way. It’s kind of a physically demanding ritual, but it seems very satisfying on a primitive level.

The post Primitive Ritual: Charging Your Phone Goes Prehistoric first appeared on Gajitz.

Portable “top-up” or emergency chargers have been available for mobile phones for ages, but they tend to make using your phone difficult. When it’s tethered to the external battery and you want to use the phone for a call, you also have to lift the attached battery.

Designers Sang Hoon Yoon and Hyeji Eom came up with an elegant, streamlined top-up battery concept that gives you double the charge time and half the hassle. The Wireless Dual Battery starts out as a disc-shaped object. When you want to use it to charge your phone, you simply pull the halves apart and plug the half-circle into your phone.

The slimline charger fits right in with the phone’s body and lets you talk while charging without the awkward cord or clunky portable charger. If you’re feeling generous, you can even charge your phone and give the other half to a friend to top up at the same time.

When the Wireless Dual Battery is charging, the two halves fit together to charge at the same time. The charging pins slide to the sides so the halves can click into place. The design is clearly meant for an iPhone, but if the charger ever makes it into production we hope it would be offered for a wider number of devices.

The post Portable Charger Helps You Disc-over Charging Freedom first appeared on Gajitz.

Phone booths are a rare sight these days thanks to mobile phones, but Londoners will soon find themselves seeking one out when their mobiles need a charge. Solarbox London is a project that aims to re-use the iconic red call boxes in London as mobile phone charging stations. Lovers of classic London imagery will balk at the idea of painting the phone booths green, but overall it’s for a greater, greener, good.

Thanks to Solarbox London, some of the city’s remaining red phone boxes will be equipped with 150-watt solar panels on their roofs and chargers for a variety of phones. Based on the strength of the solar panels, each box should be able to provide battery charges to approximately 100 phones per day. Early tests of the six charging stations already installed show that they can provide a 20% charge in 10 minutes, which is ideal for commuters who just need a bit more juice to make a call on the way home.

Users won’t have to pay money to use the Solarbox chargers; however, they will be subject to advertising that displays on a screen inside the box while their device is being charged. Each box will be open and available for charging 365 days a year from 5:30 am to 11:30 pm. Although plenty of people have tried to repurpose the red phone boxes into art, wi-fi hotspots, and a variety of other purposes, the Solarbox gadget chargers seem to make the most sense for the city. They’re practical, they’re financially supported by advertising, and they do a public service. Now if they just didn’t have to paint the red boxes green, we’d all be happy.

The post London’s Red Phone Boxes Become Green Charging Stations first appeared on Gajitz.

Cell phones have become a powerful communication tool all over the world – even in countries with little to no electrical grid infrastructure. Since people without access to electricity in their homes have no way to charge their phones at home, they often must trek many miles into cities where vendors offer access to charging stations for a price.

This cottage industry – offering small amounts of electricity for money – is a positive thing for the communities in which it is available, and a company called BuffaloGrid wants to bring that industry to more places.

The BuffaloGrid device is a solar charging hub that gives phone charging access to communities, which then get to share in the profits. The devices are provided for free to entrepreneurs in the community, who provide phone charging time to others. Customers pay for the service by an SMS text to the BuffaloGrid company.

The operators of the chargers then get a share of the profits. According to a representative for the company, each unit costs £250 (around $425 US) to manufacture. If each device provides 40 phone charges per day, it will generate £350 pounds (around $500 US) every quarter. Operators receive a decent portion of that revenue, providing them with a decent way to earn a living and giving the communities access to affordable electricity in a place where electricity costs more than anywhere else in the world.

Prototype devices have already been put in place in Uganda, and the company hopes to reach 170 other countries where electricity is rare and expensive. They aren’t providing the services for entirely altruistic reasons – the company stands to profit some $66 million per year – but the service is one that is desperately needed and could indeed change the lives of millions of people.

The post Solar Phone Chargers Bring Power to Developing Nations first appeared on Gajitz.

We are all about solar chargers and alternative energy – but most devices meant for that purpose are, to be blunt, really ugly. The Electree Mini is probably the most attractive way you’ll ever find to charge your phone or smart watch without using fossil fuels.

Electree Mini was inspired by bonsai trees and the amazing fractals found in nature. Working with an electrical engineer, designer Vivien Muller turned his idea for the tree-inspired charger into a reality.

The small charger features flexible mini solar panels that can be easily adjusted to catch the maximum amount of sunlight possible. Internal batteries store the energy collected by the solar “leaves” during daylight hours, but the device can also be used to directly power your gadgets when sunlight is available.

At dusk, the Electree Mini turns into a miniature light show. Because the photovoltaic sensors can tell when the lights go off, the device turns on its LEDs as soon as darkness falls. You can change the color of the LED lantern just by rotating the Electree Mini.

Although the photovoltaic technology isn’t yet strong enough to charge a tablet, the Electree Mini can charge your phone or smart watch once per day. Unfortunately, at the time of publication it doesn’t look like the Electree Mini will reach its crowdfunding goal on IndieGogo, but hopefully Muller will find a way to bring the beautiful nature-inspired product to the public in the near future.

The post Little Solar Tree Collects Sunlight to Power Your Gadgets first appeared on Gajitz.