The quest for power will corrupt us all. As we find that more and more portable electronic devices are becoming part of our daily life and wardrobe, the need to find power and ensure they're always charged grows ever more important.
But with an increasingly mobile lifestyle matching concerns about the environment, no one really wants to be tethered to a wall socket or docking station. Enter, then, the new field of solar-powered clothing. The idea is simple -- place solar panels on your jacket or bag, and your devices can charge as you go about your day.
ScotteVest, of Idaho -- already well-known among the gadget-conscious as the manufacturer of clothing with large numbers of hidden pockets specifically designed to carry electronic devices -- has released a solar panel-equipped version of its Version Three jacket.
The large microfiber waterproof comes with a removable section that slings solar panels across the wearer's shoulders and back.
Integral wires and a battery pack built into the jacket mean your devices charge inside your pockets, so you can use them at the same time.
We couldn't try out the Scotte-Vest, so we can't say if it's any good or not. But we could try out an engineering sample from another company, Voltaic Systems, and their range of solar-powered backpacks.
This is a lovely bag -- large enough to fit a Powerbook and with a pocket layout obviously designed by people who use such bags every day. Great padding and a ballistic nylon shell add to the heavy-duty feel. But it's the solar panels that make the bag stand out. They're arranged along the back, inside a panel that zips down along three edges to reveal a battery pack, a cigarette lighter-style terminal and some pockets for your devices and the set of converter plugs that comes with it. The wiring is integral to the bag, with one charge point mounted on a shoulder strap next to the mobile-phone pouch. The cable run that allows this also gives you space to thread your headphone cable -- it's very nicely thought-out.
The solar panels charge up the internal battery, which supplies the power. The bag also ships with a mains charger for the internal battery, so you can keep everything going on a dull and rainy day.
The days I tried the bag out, it was sunny and bright and there was no problem getting my phone to charge. One advantage of such a bag is that you can leave it by a window or in a sunny patch while you work.
Voltaic Systems claims that in direct sunlight the bag will recharge an average mobile phone in four to six hours. On a dull day it will take longer, and this is perhaps the biggest issue with such technologies. If it's a drizzly winter's day, you're not going to have much fun with it -- but then again, you're not going to be out and about with a backpack. In the middle of summer, this bag is perfect for a day on the beach with your MP3 player, or a short hike with a digital camera and GPS unit.
Solar power isn't new, of course, but until now it hasn't been efficient enough to produce the right amount of power on a small enough surface area. The old solar panels would use the sun to heat water, which would then drive turbines. This was inefficient and required huge areas to produce a good amount of power.
The newer technology, photovoltaic cells, uses a different effect -- when light in the form of a photon hits silicon, the silicon gives off an electron. Place the silicon in layers, and you can create an electrical charge. Over the years, photovoltaic cells have grown in power and are now a perfect size for garments. Flexibility and color are being added, although these reduce the power available. The Voltaic Systems bag's panels are not flexible, but are quite light.
The effect is like carrying a magazine in your backpack. The weight is barely noticeable.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique