The Gadgets Page

I have been looking for a hand crank charger for my iPhone for over a year now. I tried out so many of them and returned them to the store disappointed. The biggest problem is the consistency of power. The iPhone must have a consistent charge in order to work.

Eton got things right with their FRX3 Solar/Battery/Handcrank Charger. As soon as I saw it at their booth, I pulled out my iPhone and wanted PROOF that it would charge it. So many chargers had claimed to work with the iPhone that I really didn’t believe it would.

They gladly let me try it out.

It worked easily and the reason is quite ingenious.

Instead of depending on the user to crank the handle at the PERFECT speed to provide power to the iPhone, the Eton charges the iPhone with its battery. When you need to charge your iPhone, you must crank up their battery FIRST and then it will charge your phone without any problems.

Additionally, it can trickle charge the battery with its solar panel on the top, using an electrical outlet and with AAA batteries. I was really impressed with all the options available.

Here is a video of me attaching my phone to the charger.

It’s a good looking unit that comes in both black and red.

There is also a radio and a flashlight included, so it doubles as a great emergency tool.

They are going to retail for only $60 bucks, but there was no word on how soon they would be available. Until then, I’m checking the Eton website every few weeks to see if I can buy it.

• FRX3 Solar/Battery/Handcrank Charger

Hak5 did a FULL booth tour here:

The day before the official start of CES this year, I dropped my phone in a cup of coffee. The width of the phone just barely cleared the size of the cup and it was a one in a million shot. It only dropped in for a second, but it was long enough to short out my poor phone.

You can understand why I was obsessed with waterproofed phones and other gadgets because my entire life had just been short circuited by a simple cup of coffee. That’s why Fujitsu’s booth at CES this year was so appealing to me.

The first thing we saw as we walked past the booth was a huge aquarium with a working phones and tablets within it.

My eyes were immediately drawn to the brightly colored phone at the bottom of the aquarium. Was it really running or was that just a fake screen?

The girl at the booth saw my fascination and reached her long arm into the aquarium to retrieve it.

She removed it and handed to me. Yes, it was a fully functional phone that had been sitting in that aquarium for at least a couple of hours.

I was shocked and amazed. My poor phone had been in my coffee cup for no more than a couple of seconds and it was completely destroyed. This phone could take hours in an aquarium with no problem. And, it wasn’t just the phone, there was a tablet with the same capability!

I was drawn in to the bank of phones available for hands-on play.

They were called Arrows and I loved that they came in a wide variety of colors. They felt really good in my hand.

Unlike the iPhone, they are made of plastic, so I was shocked at how light they were in my hands. After years of holding wafers of glass and aluminum, I had forgotten how light a phone could be.

The Arrows wasn’t the only waterproof phone they were showcasing. There was also a phone that claimed to be the thinnest smartphone on the market.

Actually, they only claimed to be the thinnest phone to be accepted by the FCC, so there must be a thinner phone out there that is still waiting for approval.

It was an impressive design as well.

The specs of the phone were the disappointing aspect, however. They only run Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), so they are a few versions behind the curve and no guarantee that I’d be able to upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich when it comes out.

I was really attracted to the waterproof feature of these Fujitsu phones, but I have been less than impressed with Android Gingerbread. The fact that these phones use an operating system that is so far behind makes them unsuitable for me, so I kept on looking.

There is a design flaw in this Earbud Knitting Kit from UncommonGoods.

A truly awesome earbud organizer would not only roll up into a untangled mess in a little package, but also be a cross body bag to hold your iPod or iPhone. These earbuds aren’t connected to the case, so they are just something that makes your earbuds more bulky, but less tangled.

Don’t worry, The Gadgets Page hasn’t been blocked, but it could be under the proposed legislation, SOPA and PIPA. This isn’t the first time the government has tried to squash innovation. As an example, let’s look at the Wireless Telephone.

• A mobile phone from 1922? Not quite. – Paleofuture

I recently came across a short, silent film from 1922 called Eve’s Wireless. Distributed by the British Pathe company, the film supposedly shows two women using a wireless phone. Apparently this video has been making the rounds for the past few years. Could it be an early demonstration of some futuristic technology? I hate to be the Internet’s wet blanket, but no. It’s not a mobile phone.

He’s talking about this silent film called Eve’s Wireless:

The truth of the matter is that when the radio spectrum was less crowded, people of the past were able to use it to communicate. Sure, it was a one-way communication, but it WAS a wireless communication device (although there are an awful lot of “wires” grounding the device to the fire hydrant and on the umbrella for an antennae). Once the FTC got involved, only the chosen few were able to broadcast on the radio spectrum and devices like Eve’s Wireless were considered pirate radio.

It’s a lot like what the government is trying to do the Internet right now. At present, anyone who wants to and pays for the server can put information on the Internet. The U.S. Government right now is considering two bills: SOPA and PIPA to put dampeners on that freedom. Just like when the FTC appropriated the radio spectrum, the government is trying to stronghold the Internet, only allowing approved content to be accessible, supposedly under the banner of protecting us from “piracy.”

Would we have had our cell phones YEARS before they came on the market if the FTC hadn’t appropriated the radio spectrum and deemed all other users “pirates?” We’ll never know where innovation would have taken us had the government not intervened.

Let’s not make the same mistake twice…

For more info:

• Stop Online Piracy Act – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Last night at CES Unveiled, my favorite new gadget was the Powertech Ultra Slim USB Charger. The foldaway plug shrinks in size to create a flat charger that easily stores in your laptop bag. It wasn’t connected to power, so I couldn’t check to make sure the USB ports were strong enough to power an iPad, but they will definitely work on your iPhone, Kindle or other USB charging device. In addition to the two USB ports, there were two electrical plugs as well.

You can see a video of it here:

I have been using Powertech’s EZ GO Travel Outlet for the last few months and it has been a very reliable charger. The USB ports aren’t able to power my iPad, so I have to plug in the charger to one of the outlets, but other than that, it has been wonderful. I love that the cord is long enough to reach behind the nightstand in the hotel. That is one thing I DON’T like about this new Ultra Slim Charger. Without a cord, it makes me leave my iPhone, iPad and other things that need charging near the outlet. Sometimes nothing can beat a good old extension cord.