Wind power for mobile phones
Prototype
What New England lacks in sunshine, it makes up for in wind. So after you roll up your cellphone's solar panel for the winter, wouldn't it be great to plug in a turbine that does the job just as effectively?
Orange, the European telecom company, and researchers at the University of Texas demonstrated a new wind charger at the Glastonbury Festival last month. The Orange Mobile Wind Charger ( gotwind.org) has a bracket for mounting the device on top of your tent. Unlike some solar charging systems for hand-helds, it has a control box for storing collected energy while you are out catching fish.
You can also break down the Mobile Wind Charger to fit into a rucksack. The kit weighs about one-third of a pound, according to Orange.
My understanding about wind, however, is that it has its limits. There are only so many variations you can try in turbine design, for example. And the smaller the blades (essential to keeping the mobile charger "mobile") the less juice you will collect, and the longer it will take.
There is no release date for the wind charger, but Orange says it is committed to a commercial version of the device.
Prototype
Nicotine without the smoke dangers
The problem with so many stop-smoking therapies is they treat nicotine as the only appealing part of tobacco. There is much more to the weed than the mere drug fix.
So picture, if you will, the French crooner Serge Gainsbourg sucking droplets of nicotine from a device that looks like a miniature heart-lung machine, rather than his ever-present Gauloise cigarette.
That's what a North Carolina company, Next Safety, has in mind for smokers: its "handheld nicotine delivery device" promises to deliver enough inhaled nicotine, without the toxic smoke, to last you all day.
Don't get me wrong, I am all for harm reduction. But the Next Safety gadget (pictured here in a conceptual drawing) looks like the machine doctors unplug when its time for you to depart this world.
Next Safety's battery-powered delivery system uses nicotine cartridges with electronically stored "safe dosing" instructions for the device. The device delivers an aerosol spray through a mouthpiece, which is connected to the unit by a flexible hose.
Next Safety ( nextsafety.com) claims it can make the nicotine device for less than $100 per unit, and that it will weigh less than 7 ounces.
The device, expected by the fall, will be "around the same size as a pack of cigarettes," according to a statement from Next Safety.
Mobile Phones
HTC Mogul for Sprint: classy but heavy -- and a tad pricey
I've been testing the Mogul from HTC, and I am having a ball with it. The hybrid cellular-and-WiFi pocket PC phone (available through Sprint) helped me keep up with e-mail messages from my POP3 and Hotmail accounts, and comments readers place on my blogs.
The Mogul has a big, 320-by-240 screen that shifts its orientation sideways when you slide out the keyboard, which is also large and easy to figure out.
The Mogul also takes great pictures. A button on the side of the phone turns the 2-megapixel camera on. The same button doubles as a shutter button.
The Mogul's touch screen is well calibrated for use with its telescoping stylus. But I wish, when it comes to making calls, that the buttons on the screen were larger. I hate dialing a phone with a pencil.
The Mogul weighs in at about 6 ounces, but you will certainly feel it tugging at your chest pocket if that's where you like to stick your phone. The phone provides four hours of talk time between recharging.
The Mogul is cheaper than an iPhone, by the way. But it is not cheap. Sprint customers will pay $400, with a two-year contract.
Innovative last week
TLC creates online games for grown-ups
Media companies, apparently, are catching on to the fact that some grown-ups like to play video games, just not those that hog up all their time downloading outfits for their 3D avatars.
Discovery Communications ( discovery.com) has crafted a handful of easy, and rather funny, games for geezers on its website.
My favorite is Must Get Caffeine, in which you guide a middle-age schnook through a typical rat maze of cubicles, picking up coffee and chocolate and a key to the corner office, to win a promotion. The guy starts crawling as he runs low on fuel. (Just thinking about the pressure is making me feel all tight in the "chestal" area.)
