Improve Your Smart Phone Recharge Time - Practical Meter

KickStarter Friay - Practical Meter charges your phone faster

We all have the goal of having a smart phone which will only require charging every 3 or 4 days. But, until that happens, we want to get our phones charged up as fast as possible. It seems that we can guess how long it will take and over time we become accustom to what it takes. Having some practical device to be able to help know how long it will take is a desire and it appears that we are going to be seeing one very soon. And there is more than just letting you know the time, but there will also be new USB cables which will improve the charging speed and time. This is coming as the Practical Meter and fast charging 3-n-1 cables.

This weeks KickStarter project is the Practical Meter project which has over 1300% of the goal. Impressive with less than 6 days to go, they are at over $136,000 of the $9,999 goal. Odd number for a goal, but the response continues to be fantastic given what they are offering. And it is the product offering that has collected the big interest.

One of the unknowns is that different USB ports may well be putting out different wattages and the higher the wattage, the faster your device is going to be charged up. There are 5 lights (bars) in the Practical Meter and with each one being lite up, it means that your smart phone is being charged faster. Or with less time if you want to look at it that way. In reality, each bar represents 1 watt of power flowing through it, so 5 bars is 5 watts. Just by trying different USB plugs you can find one that will charge things up much faster. More watts means a faster charge.

And the Practical Meter is not all they are offering. They are also offering the 3-n-1 cable which is supposed to optimize the charging rate going to the smart phone. This comes with a 30 pin iPhone, a Micro USB and a MiniUSB connection. We have to believe that they will come out with a new iPhone lightning connector very soon given how popular this project is.

You still have time to contribute to the Practical Meter project and get both the Practical Meter and the 3-n-1 cable for a contribution of $19. And the estimated delivery is set for September. Something worth taking a look at. The company already has their Power Pot site up for the thermalelectric generator and are preparing to add the Practical Meter. Once the KickStarter project ends, you might be able to pre-order from the company site.

Foundation Dock Provides A Dock For Your iPhone And More

New products are coming out all the time in the technology world. Some are stylish in how they look and others are functional in what they provide. Getting both together is a good thing so that you can show off what you have bought while you are using it. If you like the idea of having a dock for your smart phone so that you can just drop it in and have the phone standing up, a new one is coming very soon. The Foundation Dock will provide you with a dock for selected smart phones, but it is going to be so much more than that simple function.

The Foundation Dock comes from World of Simple Design and while the design looks simple, it has so much more to it. It starts with a sleeve that your phone slips into to hold it in place. From there, it has a very stiff cable attached to it which holds the phone up in the air so you can use it. The cables come in a variety of colors. At the end of the cable is a USB connector which plugs into the base unit. And the base unit has a number of features.

Besides the connection on the top for the sleeve cable, it comes with 4 USB connections on the side, supporting USB 2.0/3.0. There is also a USB connection on the back side as well. It includes an audio connection out so that you can connect your phone through the Foundation Dock to your stereo or other devices. And since there is a sleeve you can purcahse for the iPod, you can dock your iPod and play your music. There is also an included 4 watt speaker as well. Seems like they have covered it all.

So, you can disconnect the sleeve and cable from the base of the Foundation Dock and connect it into a USB slot on your computer. Or even in your car in the old cigarette lighter. And for that, they have an optional part you can purchase for the USB car charger so you can plug your Foundation Dock connection in to charge it up. And with the stiff cable, you can have it standing up. It is not recommended to use your phone in the car while you are driving.

The one limiting factor on the Foundation Dock is the docking unit itself. They fit very snugly on the phone so that it is tight and will hold the phone in place. As a result, having one for all the variety of phone makes and sizes is not going to be practical, so the Foundation Dock is only going to make the dock unit to fit the most popular phones. At the moment, that includes the iPhone 3, 4S, iPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S3. They have included the iPod as a selection as well. So, when you purchase one, you have to select the phone you are going to be using with it.

By the time that you read this, the Foundation Dock may have already been released as it is expected any day now. On the Foundation Dock site you can order yours for $129 as part of the pre-order group. It is not known whether the price will increase when it is generally available. If you like the idea of a dock for your phone along with other features, take a look at the Foundation Dock.

USB And A Swiss Army Knife Together

If you are like most people, you remember the first time that you saw a Swiss Army Knife and all the things that it could do. It was amazing how they got everything into such a small unit that you could carry around. A lot has changed over the past 10 years (or more) and the Swiss Army Knife has tried to keep up with what is going on in the world. With all the technology that is out there, it is a natural fit to have them incorporate some form of technology into their famous knife and name.

And with that, they are now providing the Swiss Army Knife included with a USB stick as a single unit. As you can see, the USB folds inside the knife for safe keeping. A great idea and one that many would love to have. In the configuration you see here, there are two sizes. One contains an 8 GB USB for a price of $49.00 and another contains a 4 GB USB at a price of $39.00. And these come with the expected scissors, small knife and nail file. These would probably be stopped by TSA as a security risk, so do not try and take on an airline.

If you want to keep things simple and just get one that contains a USB which can be folded into the handle, they have a large variety to chose from. They have a variety of colors to chose from along with a variety of USB storage sizes to pick from. The storage capabilities range from 4 GB up to 64 GB of storage. Or you can double the highest amount to get a dual 64 GB at a total capacity of 128 GB. As these go up in storage size the price goes up with that. There are higher capacity ones available including one announced at CES 2013 containing 1 TB of storage coming at a price of $3,000.00. Pretty steep price.

Last year, Victorinox, the makers of the Swiss Army Knife, discontinued the security software that was included with some of the USB knifes. They continue to sell their USB Swiss Army Knifes and they are worth taking a look at. These are great conversation starters and a great way to transport important information with you.