Motorola Plans Bicycle Powered Cell Phone Charger

[Mike Temporale]

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/...b395108&k=17091

"Motorola Inc. will release a new, bicycle-powered cellphone charger aimed at Third World residents who lack regular household power supplies. "For people living in emerging markets, energy is a scarcity," Motorola chief executive Ed Zander said Monday at the Consumer Electronics Show. "In Southeast Asia, rural China and Latin America, we can actually put this in, hook it up and charge this device while we are riding a bike." Zander played up the device, by entering a packed auditorium at the Venetian Hotel on a bright yellow two-wheeler, to the music of Queen's Bicycle Race. He told the crowd the new charging system was aimed at helping to further penetration of the cellular phone in fast-growing overseas markets. He said there are now more than two billion mobile devices in operation around the world."

Alright, this is pretty funny. It's a great idea, but something about it just makes me laugh. There are plenty of people around the world that ride bicycles on a daily basis and this would be a great way to pump a little more juice into your phone during the commute. I just can't stop thinking about the poor guy who has to ride around in circles for an hour to recharge his phone.

Source: Textually.org
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[Rocco Augusto]

[ctmagnus]

I'm getting a mental image of a dork (not a nerd, and certainly not a geek ) riding a 70s-era exercise bike to charge his phone.
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[whydidnt]

It certainly sounds good in theory, but if the part of the world they live in has a scarce energy supply, is it really the best use of energy to power cell towers? Are there even towers in these areas? Just a friendly question from the gallery.

[aroma]

This reminds me of a commercial in the US a few years back, where ESPN had Lance Armstrong locked away in a closet in the basement powering ESPN studios by riding his bike.