Freetron’s FunPlay 20-in-1 not only can be connected to your television, but since it runs on 3-AAA batteries can be played on the road with portable DVD players (as long as they have a video input). The battery-operated circuit also makes this a perfect candidate for portable game system hackers – although the built-in 16-bit Genesis/Mega Drive emulator is limited to the 20 included games as far as I can tell.

Here’s a full list of included games: Sonic Blast, Sonic Chaos, Sonic Drift 2, Sonic Spinball, Sonic Triple Trouble, Alex Kidd High Tech World, Alex Kidd The Lost Stars, Altered Beast, Astro Warrior, Bomber Raid, Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, Ecco The Tides of Time, Fantasy Zone, Golden Axe, Penguin Land, Psycho Fox, Quartet, Ristar, and Super Columns.

You can grab one of these over at DealExtreme for just under $15 (USD). With 20 fully licensed SEGA games for that price, this thing looks like a pretty great deal. I think I paid $159 bucks for my original Genesis, and that was before I bought a single game.

Of course, if you don’t need to take it on the road, and you’ve got a PS3 or Xbox 360, you owe it to yourself to check out Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection instead – which includes twice as many games for just $28 (USD).

This Emergency iPhone Solar Charger from Senyx (appx. $22 USD) snaps neatly onto the bottom of your 3G or 3GS and lets you recharge using sunlight. While I’ve seen many multi-gadget solar chargers before, the thing that’s unique about this one is that it’s so compact and designed specifically for the iPhone. So there’s no extra cables or wires required for use. It just connects right into the dock connector and you’re ready to go. And for those of you who have a white iPhone, there’s a version for you guys too.

The snap-on solar panel also has a small 800mAh battery pack built in to give you a little extra emergency power if you pre-charge it with your USB cable. While I certainly wouldn’t rely on this thing as my primary source of iPhone power, it looks like it would be great in a pinch, or if you’re ever stuck out in the woods with no other way to recharge.

Currently, the only USBCell available is the AA size, but Moixa also plans to sell AAA, 9-volt, and phone/PDA battery versions in the near future. You can buy a pair of AA USBCells at Amazon for about $19 (USD).

[via Devicepedia]

The pocket-sized solar charger has a built in 1600mAh battery pack that can juice up to full capacity in about 8 hours of full sun, or about 3 hours when connected to your computer’s USB port. A color-coded ring lights up in red to indicate that your Xbox 360 has died the battery drinking in solar energy, and glows blue as it drains.

Just plug your cell phone, game console, media player or digital camera into either the Freeloader’s USB port or connect one of the ten included adapters and you can operate your gadgets directly off the Freeloader Pro’s battery or use it to charge up your gadget’s internal power source. The kit also includes the CamCaddy, which lets you easily charge up digital camera and camcorder battery packs in a jiffy.

The Freeloader Pro solar charger ships in June and is available for pre-order over at UK gadget shop I Want One of Those for £69.99 (appx. $97 USD).

The guys over at Antrepo Design Industry created these prototype battery-sized Salt & Pepper Cells out of stainless steel and glass. You can even tell how much salt and pepper you have remaining thanks to a see through “power indicator” window.

As Antrepo is still looking for a manufacturer for these, there’s no word on when and where you’ll be able to buy these yet, but you can check for the latest over at the Antrepo Design website. I’d like some 9-volts filled with sugar to go with these.

Built by a guy going by the name “Wolf” (no, not Worf), this mini light-up Starship Enterprise “sparebot” is crafted from three LEDs, a couple of resistors, some wire, a magnetic reed switch and a 3-volt button battery. And it’s sure to defeat those pesky Romulans – assuming they had a tiny little ship too.

Wolf has been kind enough to post the schematic for his teensy Enterprise over on his website. Captain Kirk would approve – then he’d fly it into the middle of a black hole.

[via Hack a Day]

This clever battery recycling box by Luckies of London looks like a giant cousin to those batteries you were just about to throw in the trash. Just load up the cylindrical metal container with your deceased batteries, and once it’s filled up, head on over to your local electronics recycling center. By recycling your old dead batteries, you’ll be doing something good for the earth, as throwing them out in the regular trash can leak hazardous heavy metals into the soil as the exterior shell corrodes.

You can grab the battery recycling box over at UK gift shop Prezzybox for £6.95 (appx. $10 USD). And wheneve you can, try and use rechargeables – you won’t have to throw them out nearly as often

But if you’re looking for a cheap alternative, then you might want to check out one of Deal Extreme’s latest offerings: a portable rechargeable power pack that can be used to charge both the PSP and the DS as well as GameBoy Advance SPs, for the low low price of $12.19 USD. However, if you only own a Nintendo system then you can’t use this power pack, because it can only be recharged using the PSP’s charger.

The portable power pack certainly passes Deal Extreme’s strict screening policy, a policy which takes into account two very important factors in determining whether or not to sell something on their website: 1. Is it cheap? 2. Does it have Engrish? Also, the power pack’s real capacity is 2400mAh, and Deal Extreme knows that, but they still included “18000mAh” in the title of the power pack’s product page. Why? I guess if you’re paying $12.19 for a multi-system battery, such concerns are invalid.

Okay I admit, the text on the back of the power pack’s packaging isn’t that bad. In fact, it’s concerned about the customer’s well-being, advising its user, “Do not be short circuit”.  Awwww, thanks power pack!

Designed by inventor Wayne Poulton of Addject, Machine PP3 glides and spins along any smooth surface while his little bug-like red eyeballs light his way. His buddy bOb is only described as “a bit more skittery” than PP3, and buzzes along to keep him company on your desktop. With no 9-volt battery, he’d not likely to be as mighty as PP3, either.

Still, with his googly eyes, and vibraty metal ball feet, what’s not to like. You couldn’t possibly separate this dynamic duo, could you?

Both Machine PP3 and bOb can be found over at UK hobby shop AntiGravity for £9.99 (appx. $14 USD) each.

Just plug your gadgets into this handy hand crank charger and get to cranking. The SUPERBattery from Datexx lets you juice up your electronic gadgets anywhere, anytime by harnessing the power of your arm strength.

In emergency hand crank mode, the SUPERBattery should give you about 2 minutes of talk time on your phone for every 6 minutes of cranking. My arm is getting tired just thinking about it, but it is probably a good idea to keep something like this in your emergency kit if you go camping or even in the back of your car – just in case you run yourself off the road this Winter. As an added bonus, the SUPERBattery includes a built-in flashlight, just in case you’re stuck in the dark.

Of course if you’re not in an crisis situation, can pre-charge the SUPERBattery with the included AC adapter, giving your devices up to 4 hours of juice on a single charge. The kit includes a hand-cranked 600mA rechargeable battery pack, and adapters for over 1,200 different mobile devices including media players, cell phones and handheld video games.

You can find these over at Compact-Impact for just under $30 USD.

Most of the pics here are from Engadget’s hands-on with the Powermat; here’s one pic that displays a FAIL:

I believe that is what we call a wire, Mr. Powermat Wireless Charger. That dock has to be replaced by a case for the PSP, like the one that’s on the Motorola.

Tech Digest’s Daniel Sung suspects that the Powermat could be operated by witchcraft. He says, “We heard about it a few weeks back but no matter how many times you say magnetic induction it just sounds too good to be true.” Guess what Daniel Sung, your ears need cleaning, but your sixth sense is on the money:

The principles of Magentic Induction are at work, that’s the simplest and most acceptable explanation. That’s from the introduction on Powermat’s website. That’s not edited. Well except for the nomnoms.

Powermat promises to provide more versions of their charger, such as ones that include USB ports. More cases and receivers – these are attached to the gadgets to be charged to enable the wireless charging, as well as tell the Powermat how much electricity to provide and when the gadget is fully charged – that will be compatible with a large number of devices will also be released this year.

So why is the SPPS200 200 Wh Portable Power Station the BMW M6 of battery packs? Because its little brothers, the 118 Wh and 130 Wh models, are the BMW of battery packs, that’s why. So why are they the BMWs of battery packs? Because they’re expensive. So why are they expensive? Because they can power your laptop, for up to 30 hours. Vrooom.

The SPPS 200 can power PC laptops for 20-30 hours, while MacBooks owners can expect 16 hours of extra runtime. BMW of runtimes if you ask me.

And that’s not all: As you may have guessed from the picture, you can adjust the output voltage of the PPS so that aside from giving your laptop the BMW of battery lives, it can also power and recharge your cellphone, your PDA, your PSP, your iPhone, your iPod and other mp3 players.

And that’s not all: You don’t even need to bring the chargers for any of those devices because the PPS comes with adapters that will fit with your gadget. You can check out the link to Battery Geek below for the BMW of supported laptops and mobile devices. And that’s not all: while Macbooks are supported, Battery Geek charges an extra $20 for the Macbook/Macbook Pro adapter. G4 and Powerbook adapters are already included with the PPS.

And that’s not all: The PPS weighs only 4.4 lbs. and is just over an inch thick. What’s the catch? The BMW M6 of battery pack prices, of course. The list price of the SPPS 200 is $800 (USD). Fortunately, you can buy it straight from Battery Geek for the BMW of discounted prices of $500. And that’s not all: when you buy the SPPS 200, you’ll get the BMW of freebies, a free leather & canvas travel case.

And that’s not all: Here are the BMWs of introductory videos for battery packs:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Now you know the BMWs and the BMW M6s of the tech world. Next time we’ll take a look at the Scot Pollard of rap.

Update: a couple of commenters have pointed out that the spps200 may in fact be the Ford Edsel of battery packs. Apparently Battery Geek also has poor service. Caveat emptor.

Aqua Power System is of course a Japanese company. They call their leaktastic invention NoPoPo, short for No Policeman don’t arrest me I’m Powering my batteries. Actually it’s Non-Pollution Power. Both sound stupid but mine is funnier. Inside each NoPoPo battery is a combination of magnesium and carbon that generate electricity when mixed with certain fluids. The batteries come with a pipette so you can inject fluids into the battery.

According to James Sherwood of Register Hardware, the life span of an AA alkaline battery falls between 1700 and 3000 mAh (milliamp-hours), while an AA NoPoPo battery lasts only up to 500 mAh. But Sherwood also says that existing zinc-carbon batteries have the same life span as the NoPoPos, so we’re not looking at some blue sky technology here. I do hope they refine and extend the technology so that it can power larger devices such as phones and PMPs. Would you buy an iPee?

Ready to whiz in your batteries? You can grab a pair over at HimeyaShop for $15 (USD).

Influenced heavily by Sam Thornley’s Pac-Man Mini, modder ela built this portable Ms. Pac-Man Mini video game system using the guts of one of those Jakks Ms. Pac-Man TV Games, and put its circuitry inside the power brick of an old printer.

A couple of cuts for a 2.5″ Intec LCD display, some old SNES controller buttons, pieces of an old VCR and a whiff or two of hot glue, and the mini console was complete. The whole thing runs on a set of AA batteries, so it requires no external power.

The best part, of course – no quarters required.

[via Ben Heck Forums]

The diminutive 3-door MINI E is powered by a 100% electric motor (hybrids are for wusses), and still manages to go from 0 to 62 mph (100 km/h) in about 8.5 seconds. While a top speed of 95 mph (152 km/h) isn’t going to break any world records, it’s plenty for anyone who doesn’t spend much time on the autobahn or the race track.

The car gets its juice from over 5,000 individual power cells, joined together to form a single composite battery. At peak, the motor can crank out 204-horsepower and 162 ft/lb of torque – not too shabby for an electric car.

With a cruising range of 150 miles (appx. 240 km), the MINI E should be fine for heading back and forth to the office, grocery, or any other short haul local destination.

If you live in Southern California, New York City or New Jersey, you could be selected to be one of the lucky early test drivers. For your chance to test out the new MINI E, head on over to MINI Space and fill out the form for more information on applying.

[MINI E Spec Sheet]

Created by Sugar Grove, Illinois inventor Greg Zanis, the Dream Car 123 tools down the street at up to 40 mph. A single 3.5 hour charge provides about 240 miles of driving for only about $5 in electricity cost. Take that gasoline!

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The vehicle is powered by 80 lead-acid batteries which drive four independent motors, allowing the car to make a complete 360-degree turn on a dime.

Zanis claims future generations of his car will use lithium batteries to achieve 2 to 4 times the distance per charge, and is targeting vehicle up to speeds as high as 200 mph and more.

The Dream Car’s unique pyramid shape was designed to leverage head winds to produce downward force to hold the car to the road. The single passenger compartment is surrounded by durable bullet-proof glass on all four sides, providing 360-degree visibility and protecting its occupant. A special honeycomb layer inside of the cars shell provides additional safety for the driver at all times.

The battery-operated car even features a dramatic neon lighting system, which makes it really stand out as it tools around in the dark. You certainly won’t miss this car driving down the road.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

It currently costs Zanis about $8,000 in materials to create one of his Dream Cars. He has plans to ramp up and start mass-producing these in the next few years, with a retail price around $24,000 (which could drop as low as $16,000 after government alternative fuel incentives). For more information on his vehicles, be sure to visit the Dream Car 123 website.

Created by French furniture designers Beau & Bien, the Smoon Ombrella lamp gets its sculptural potato chip-like shape from custom cut Plexiglas. Towering overhead at 81″ tall, the canopy measures in a substantial 39.4″ x 59″.

The Ombrella uses modern LED lighting to cast its out-of-this-world glow. Thanks to its low power consumption, the lamp runs on a rechargeable battery pack that lets you place it anywhere in your home without wires. It’s even suitable for outdoor use. A single 10 hour charge gives you 6 days of run time before it runs out of juice.

The lamp is available in a several cool colors, including red, green, and my personal favorite, clear – which lets the surrounding colors show through.

The Smoon Ombrella lamp is available from Coliseum Shop for about $2200 USD. Now that might seem expensive to some of you, but think of it this way… you could buy 10 of these before you could get just one of those Freewheeler outdoor speakers.

As a matter of fact, the Torch flashlight is so intense that it generates sufficient heat to fry an egg before you can say “Egg McMuffin” ten times fast.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Personally, I prefer mine over easy. The Torch is even hot enough to ignite a small fire (or better yet, toast a marshmallow) in seconds flat.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Cranking out an unbelievable 4100 lumens of brightness, you’ll have no problem finding your way around in the dark with this bad boy.

The Torch gets its mighty strength from a 100-watt halogen bulb which runs on a 14.4-volt rechargeable battery. Of course all this intensity does chew up some power – battery life is only about 15 minutes per charge – so you’ll want a spare battery or two.

The $299 Torch flashlight is available from Wicked Lasers.

All this thing needs now is a pop up dutch oven and a recorded lesson in how to discern the difference between brown bear vs. black bear attacks, and I am so buying this thing.

Available for US $33.26 at DealExtreme.

Unlike the electrostatic charges you run into on a cold, dry day, this new technology uses millions of tiny “nanogenerators” to throw off electricity.

Scientists from the Georgia Institute of Technology have devised microscopic wires which can generate minuscule amounts of current when flexed. To create power from motion, pairs of textile fibers are covered with zinc oxide nanowires 1,000 times thinner than a human hair. One fiber in each pair is plated with gold to provide an electrode. As they move, the fibers throw off a teensy, tiny bit of power thanks to the piezoelectric and semiconducting properties of zinc oxide wires.

According to Georgia Tech Regents’ Professor Zhong Lin Wang, the technology should be capable of generating up to 80 milliwatts per square meter of fabric. By taking thousands of these tiny fiber pairs and weaving them together into clothing, they could generate enough energy to power MP3 players, phones and other mobile devices. They could also be woven into other fabric that moves such as flags, tents or curtains to throw off small amounts of electricity.

Sounds like a cool idea, but they haven’t quite worked out all the kinks. The zinc oxide coating doesn’t hold up well when wet, so they’re trying to create a protective coating that would preserve the wires better. Regardless, I wouldn’t want to be walking around in the rain wearing electric clothes. I’m guessing the consequences could be quite shocking.

[via Reuters]