Green is the new black, it seems. For those not wanting to kill a tree every time they make a phone call, or are just jealous of the OLPC's generator options, the Eco Air's (yes, that's how they spell it) from the Japanese Nodaya Denki is just the thing.
It's a combined torch and charging unit. Crank the handle for three minutes and you have 20 minutes of LED lighting or eight minutes call time. The charging output is via a jack socket, so while right now there are only cables for the major Japanese phone brands, it could easily be hacked to charge anything. Most phone chargers put out around 5 volts of juice, so it's even possible this could be made to work with USB . Goodbye iPod battery woes!
At only ¥1,980 ($16.50) there's no reason for anybody not to keep one in their glove compartment. Except that you can't buy it here yet.
Product page [Nodaya Denki via Tech.co.uk]
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