You Can Now Charge Your Cell Phone By Dancing

A company called Orange announced today that they have made a mobile phone charger prototype that is powered by dance energy. The ultimate in go green strategies has arrived. I do admire what they've done. In this day and age when gasoline and oil prices are just soaring. Alternative power sources are truly a dire need.

The Dance Charge prototype weighs only 180grams and measures 4¼” x 2½”, approximately the same size as a pack of cards and the same weight as a mobile phone. The Dance Charge unit comes encased in an elasticated, black, neoprene strap with Velcro attachments which is attached over the wearer’s bicep in a similar fashion to a runner’s arm-mounted mp3 player according to the press release

As users move their arms along with the music, a specially designed system of weights and magnets creates an electrical current that gets stored as charge in a reserve battery. That energy can then be used to recharge a mobile phone. Reportedly, Orange tested the Dance Charge out at Glasto by employing a "Dance Charging Man" at the festival who was on duty to dance (for free) with those in need of some recharging.

Nokia Launches Nokia 6205 "The Dark Knight" Edition

Nokia just issued a press release of the Nokia 6205 "The Dark Knight" edition has a generous set of features designed to enhance the mobile lifestyle. Touch sensitive external music keys make it simple to access tracks purchased from Verizon Wireless' V CAST Music service, while the crisp two-inch display that supports up to 262,000 colors, makes watching news, sports and entertainment content from V CAST Video entertaining. In addition, the Nokia 6205 The Dark Knight edition includes:

• 1.3 megapixel camera with flash and 4x digital zoom
• 58 MB internal memory expandable up to an additional 4 GB with an optional microSD memory card
• Support for text, picture and video messaging
• Get It Now® capable for downloading games, ringtones, wallpapers and other mobile content
• VZ NavigatorSM-compatible for audible turn-by-turn directions and location information
• Mobile Web for access to the latest news, sports, weather and more
• Voice dialing and voice commands for touch free phone operation
• Built-in speakerphone
• Bluetooth-enabled for Wireless Headset Support

The Nokia 6205 The Dark Knight edition will be available online for $69.99 after a $50 online instant rebate with a new two-year customer agreement. Following the premiere release of The Dark Knight edition, the standard edition of the Nokia 6205 phone - containing all of the same features and a striking metallic blue and silver color scheme - will be available both online and at Verizon Wireless Communications Stores next month.

Do You Want A $10 "Anti-iPhone" Disposable Cell Phone?

Hop-on just released a $10 pre-paid cell phone. I was pretty interested when I heard about it because that is dirt cheap, imagine paying only $10 for a cell phone and having talk time of up to 4 hours and a standby time of 150 hours - that's decent if I do say so myself. It's dual band as well. Plus although the phone is considered disposable, the company Hop-on is offering a $5 rebate for returning the phone to encourage recycling the phone to “Keep it Green”.

It actually looks like a pretty good product until I started to do some research. And I found this on Techdirt

Hop-On's "disposable phones" were really Nokia phones with their own plastic casing put around them. At first Hop-On tried to get around this, but finally admitted that they were repackaging the Nokias - but just for the prototypes. Their "real" phones would show up soon enough. Hop-On also has some legal problems. A few years ago they were associated with a venture that was charged with "fleecing investors out of as much as $20 million". The company also recently lost their corporate status for not filing a tax return for the past two years.

That's quite scary. Their phones still look good, but now I doubt the credibility. But I do still think it may be worth a shot if you've got an extra $10 to burn. The phone is available now “to retailers such as drug and convenience stores, big box retailers and to businesses looking for a unique branding opportunity,” so you may see this around town if you haven’t already.

A Handset For Your Cell phone?

When the cellular phone first came out, I was very impressed. I was in high school then. It's quite slow here in the third world. But just when I thought technology was moving us so far ahead that we are able to combine a whole lot of things into this tiny device (which as by the way getting smaller and smaller as the years passed).

We managed to fit inside the cell phone - a camera, an MP3 player, different kinds of games and videos, not to mention internet connection (blackberry). Enabling business people (or anyone in fact) to have the world at their finger tips. The cell phone is more than just a medium of communication, it is an organizer, a camera, MP3 or even MP4 player that can fit in your pocket.

But then her comes Yubz with a mobile handset that brings us back to the age of bulk. It's ironic how we arrived at something so retro. But at $44.95, there's nothing cheap about it.