While we may not have jetpacks or flying cars, the future is here. Lilliputian Systems, originally part of the Massachussets Institute of Technology (MIT), is releasing a new fuel cell external battery pack that they promise can charge smartphones like your iPhone up to fourteen times per single charge.
Unlike current external chargers, this one will use fuel cell cartridges, each one holding a fairly large amount of potential juice when you need it. The company is calling it Silicon Power Cell technology, and it was originally developed at MIT’s Microsystems Technology Laboratory (MTL). They also promise that the tech is reliable and safe enough to be approved for use on an aircraft–great news for frequent fliers. The fuel cell cartridges are filled with butane, so hopefully the TSA won’t start banning cigarette lighters again. The empty cells will apparently be recyclable when empty, which should please more than a few green-tech proponents.
The new charger will charge any device with a USB charging cable, and while the price of the enclosure hasn’t been revealed, CNET reports that the fuel cells themselves will only cost a few dollars or so, comparing it to the price of a cup of coffee at Starbucks. The device will be sold through Brookstone, via both retail and online channels.
For those of us who carry around several mobile devices in this post-PC world everyone’s talking about, this could be a serious new day in power management.
We’ve reached out to Lilliputian for a release date, but have not received a reply as yet.
