Energizer

Led by such companies as Powermat, inductive charging has been around for a few years. In case you don't know what we're talking about, the idea behind inductive charging is to relieve you of the burden of connecting your phone (or another device) to a charging cable that has to be plugged into a wall outlet. Instead, you simply rest your phone on a special pad, and--presto!--the battery starts charging.

For this week's giveaway, we're offering up Energizer's Qi Inductive Charger. As part of the giveaway, Energizer is also throwing in a sleeve (normally … Read more

Energizer's AP1201 has been shipping for about a month, but one just showed up in the mail, so we thought we should give it a little ink because it's pretty nice.

The first thing to note about it is that it's relatively lightweight and thin but packs in a rechargeable battery and seems to offer good protection. We also liked the feel of the case, which is made partly out of hard plastic and partly out of recycled silicon rubber. While Energizer serves up a bunch of statistics on how much extra battery life it gives you (… Read more

Led by such companies as Powermat, inductive charging has been around for a few years. In case you don't know what we're talking about, the idea behind inductive charging is to relieve you of the burden of connecting your phone (or another device) to a charging cable that has top be plugged into a wall outlet. Instead, you simply rest you phone on a special pad and presto, the battery starts charging.

Well, the only problem with all that is that you have to add a special sleeve or attachment to your phone to make it capable of … Read more

Start-up EnerG2 on Tuesday dedicated a plant to manufacture material for ultracapacitors that can be used to store energy in vehicles and on the electricity grid.

The Seattle-based company, which was spun out of the University of Washington, received a $21.3 million Department of Energy grant last year to build the facility in Albany, Ore. The funding, which was given to companies pursuing advanced storage technologies, covered the bulk of the total $28.4 million needed to construct the facility.

EnerG2 does not plan to make the actual storage devices, but instead make a material optimized for ultracapacitors, explained … Read more

Weren't the folks who ordered an Intel Core i7 surprised when they got a Styrofoam fake instead? Well, yes. But we still haven't heard from Newegg how this happened. However the fake was incredibly well done. So props to that. We also discuss Apple's first iPad ad and Ubisoft's incredible DRM failure.

And the BitTorrent award goes to… http://torrentfreak.com/and-bittorrents-oscar-goes-to-district-9-100307/

Apple airs first iPad commercial during Oscars, Steve Jobs at event http://www.macrumors.com/2010/03/07/apple-airs-first-ipad-commercial-during-oscars/… Read more

Software that can be downloaded for use with the Energizer Duo USB battery charger contains a backdoor that could allow an attacker to remotely take control of a Windows-based PC, Energizer and US-CERT is warning.

"The installer for the Energizer Duo software places the file UsbCharger.dll in the application's directory and Arucer.dll in the Windows system32 directory," the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team said in an advisory on Friday. "Arucer.dll is a backdoor that allows unauthorized remote system access via accepting connections on 7777/tcp. Its capabilities include the ability to list … Read more

Even in the days of nickel cadmium and lithium ion batteries being used in most laptops, phones, and MP3 players, some of us still need traditional alkaline batteries.

Recently, I was forced by my superiors as if my life depended upon my cooperation I was politely asked if I could conduct some battery performance tests on a few regular, everyday, over-the-counter batteries. I, of course, responded: "Yes! Especially since you asked so nicely, I'd be happy to do it!"

I chose what I thought were two of the most popular batteries on the market, and one not … Read more

Through a partnership with XPAL Power, Energizer has expanded its Energi to Go line of portable battery packs in a big way. The newly branded chargers run the gamut from an iPhone 3G/3G S battery sleeve to a couple of solar chargers to a larger lithium ion charger that can juice up to three devices at once, including a laptop.

Most of the chargers include cell tips for various makes and models of cell phones, and you can get free new tips online as future phones come out.

Many of the battery packs are available already under the XPAL brand, but the new packaging should be appearing very soon in stores.

Here's a look at the line and check out the slideshow above:… Read more

Unlike with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, there aren't any first-party controller charging accessories readily available for the Nintendo Wii. At this point in the console's lifecycle, there are literally dozens of third-party devices that promise the most efficient and painless experience in getting your Wii remotes juiced.

There are plenty of variables to consider in picking out the best charging system. Price, charging style, and number of battery packs are all features you'll want to compare.

Lucky for you, we've put every Wii charger we could find through our vigorous testing procedures and have … Read more