charger - page 2

Freak accident electrocutes iPhone user while charging his handset

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iPhone 7
Individual was charging his iPhone in bed at the time of the incident.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

A 32-year-old man is recovering in hospital after he was electrocuted in a fluke accident, unrelated to Apple, while charging his iPhone in bed.

Huntsville, Alabama native Wiley Day was shocked with 110 volts of electricity after plugging his iPhone 7 into an extension cord so that it could charge in the bed next to him while he slept. Unfortunately, Day’s dog-tag necklace managed to slip between the exposed prongs of his charger and the extension cord, transforming his necklace into an electrical conductor.

Man dies while charging iPhone in the bath

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Selling your iPhone? Wiping it clean before you hand it off is easy.
Coroner says that Apple should warn customers.
Photo: Ed Gregory

A 32-year-old British man died after electrocuting himself while charging his iPhone in the bath. The fatality appears to have been an accident, rather than suicide.

Richard Bull reportedly plugged his iPhone charger into an extension cord, and then rested the handset on his chest while he was submerged in water. He was pronounced dead by paramedics after they arrived at his London home.

99% of fake Apple chargers may pose a safety risk

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Only 3/400 counterfeit chargers have insulation to protect users against electric shocks.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Chances are that when you hear the occasional story about an iPhone exploding it’s because its users made the decision to use a dodgy, third-party charger.

But how dangerous are these chargers — and how likely is it that a third-party charger poses a safety risk to you or your family? Pretty darn likely, claim investigators — who have warned customers that 99 percent of fake Apple chargers they looked at failed a basic safety test.

24k gold iPhone dock comes with a nice charity donation

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A gold plinth worthy of your iPhone.
Photo: Brikk

From magnetic chargers to levitating ones, one thing we’ve learned in 2016 it’s that apparently nobody likes to just plug their iPhone in and charge it regularly.

If that includes your good self, you may be interested in a new ultra-luxury Lightning Dock, released by Los Angeles-based premium technology products maker, Brikk.

Available in 24k gold yellow gold, 18k rose gold, and 950 platinum, the docks will make any visitors to your house say, “wow, that guy/girl sure has an expensive-looking iPhone dock.”

This tiny black brick adds a layer of backup to your regular Apple charger [Deals]

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NomadPlus mounts the regular white Apple USB hub, turning it into a portable 1800mAh battery.
NomadPlus mounts the regular white Apple USB hub, turning it into a portable 1800mAh battery.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

All of us iPhone users know the feeling of having to pull the plug and get out the door before the battery’s done charging. The sleek white charging block that comes with our phone channels the charge but can’t carry it, but with the NomadPlus it can. Designed to snugly fit Apple’s USB hub, it’s a great way to turn your average wall charger into a portable battery for just $24.99.

Is your Mac or iPhone charger an energy vampire?

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Don't worry. This isn't a vampire.
Don't worry. This isn't a vampire.
Photo: Hildgrim/Flickr CC

If you’re environmentally conscious at all, or if you’re just trying to save a few pennies on your electricity bill, you’re probably aware that a lot of gadgets suck up a surprising amount of energy when in standby mode.

Consequently, many people suggest that you should totally unplug these “energy vampires” when they’re not in use … but how seriously should you take that? Should you be totally unplugging your MacBook charger, or your iPad charger, when it’s not in use?

Tiny charger taps AA batteries to keep your phone running

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No, that's not a giant hand.
No, that’s not a giant hand. Photo: The Nipper

Modern mobile phones need a lot of power; chances are we’ve all got an external battery pack (or at least a second cable and wall plug) tucked away in a bag somewhere that will charge up our Android and iOS mobile phones while we’re on the run.

The thing is, those things need to be taken along with you when you leave the house. If you’re like me, though, that requires a heck of a lot of cognitive overhead and pre-planning.

The whole point of the Nipper, this tiny new mobile phone charger that uses two AA batteries to give you a bit of juice when needed, is to always be available.

These designer jeans keep your iPhone charged on the go

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Joe's #Hello jeans boast a discreet iPhone charger.
Joe's #Hello jeans boast a discreet iPhone charger.
Photo: Joe's Jeans

Keeping your iPhone charged on the go can be a hassle. You have to bring an extra Lightning cable and a big bulk battery just to keep yourself plugged into your texts, phone calls and all the happenings on social media. But one creative clothing manufacturer has come up with a clever solution that puts a charger in your pants.

This killer trick will charge your iPhone 6 in half the time

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Photo: Apple

The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are the biggest iPhones yet. But that comes with a drawback: Since they have bigger batteries than any iPhone ever, they also take longer to charge.

But here’s a killer trick. You can use a 12-watt iPad charger to juice up the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in half the time when compared to the 5-watt iPhone charger your device ships with by default.

A video first look at Apple’s new iPhone charger and fully reversible Lightning cable

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Over the past week, two new leaks from abroad have given us new details about what accessories will be coming with the iPhone 6. The first leak suggested that the iPhone 6 would ship with a Lightning cable with a fully reversible USB plug; the second leak — which came just this morning — suggested that the iPhone charger was also getting a redesign.

We now have video of both the new fully reversible Lightning cable and the new iPhone 6 charger in action. They look great, but unfortunately, there’s at least one disappointment: while the charger will indeed ship with the iPhone 6, our source says that USB Lightning cable won’t be available until next year.

The NomadPlus turns your iPhone charger into a battery pack

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When you hit the road, you take your iPhone charger. If you’re hitting the road for a long time, you might also take a portable battery along with it.

So redundant. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way for you to roll up your charger and your portable battery pack into a single device? Now, thanks to Nomad, there is, and it’s so ingenious, I can’t believe that Apple hasn’t done this themselves.

See if your iPad charger is a fake before you burn down your house

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charger
Can you spot the real iPad charger?

You probably don’t waste much thought on where to plug-in your iPhone, but not using a real Apple charger has its disadvantages. Not only are they higher quality, and safer, but they also charge faster than a 5W Chinese knockoff.

Millions of cheap Apple copycats make it difficult to tell whether a charger is the genuine article and have been blamed on everything from iPad explosions to spontaneous electrocutions, but thanks to a teardown comparison from Ken Shirriff there’s one little flaw to look for that gives the dangerous fakers away.

Just look for the signature.

Finally, a portable battery designed for the MacBook

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What if you had a Mophie-like battery pack for your MacBook? Available for preorder now, the BatteryBox is exactly that.

The box itself is about the length of a credit card and packs a whopping 12,000mAh battery. That equates to about 12 hours of extra juice for the MacBook Air and 6 hours for the Pro. The BatteryBox can charge any device over USB, and it has its own MagSafe2 connector.

Indiegogo Campaign Aims To Create Wireless Charger For iOS Devices

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Charger

If you believe the reports, Apple is currently working on a way of charging iOS devices using solar panels. If you’re not content to wait, however, and want a quick-and-easy means of charging your iPhone or iPad right now, you might want to consider investing in this Indiegogo crowd funding campaign to create a mobile wireless charging solution for Apple products.

Based on the increasingly popular Qi inductive electrical power transfer system, iQi Mobile Wireless is set to bring true, low-cost wireless charging to iOS device. This is done without the fuss of plugging and unplugging wires, since charging is achieved simply by placing your iPhone or iPad on a Koolpuck charger.

Modified Charger Can Install Malware Onto Your iOS Device

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Photo: CBS Interactive

Thanks to Apple’s strict software approval process, iOS devices are generally considered some of the most secure. But you might want to be careful about where you plug them in for charging. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a modified charger capable of installing malware onto any device running Apple’s latest iOS operating system.

iCarrier Portable Charger Keeps Your iPhone Going, And Going, And Going [Review]

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No outlet? No problem.
No outlet? No problem.

Travelers, campers, heavy users, and those who spend a lot of time away from outlets know when you rely on your iPhone for work or play, it’s not making it through the day without at least one partial recharge. Especially with all the hip Vining and Instagramming we’re all do these days.

iCarrier Portable Dual USB Charger by New Trent
Category: iOS Accessories
Works With: iPhones, iPods, iPads, USB Devices
Price: $68

For those who need a lot of portable power to-go, New Trent’s iCarrier, as the highest capacity portable charger they make, promises not just one smartphone recharge, but up to six. Six!

I devoted my iPhone 5 to iCarrier-only charging to see how well the big boy performed.

MOS Unclutters The Cables In Your Life With The Power Of Magnets [Review]

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You know when you unplug your iPhone and your $20 Lightning cable goes slithering to the floor? I hate that, and it used to happen to me all the time in the morning when I set free my phone from its charging cable, and each time it happened, I thought to myself, “there’s gotta be a way to prevent this.”

MOS (Magnetic Organization System) by MosOrganizer.com
Category: Accessories
Works With: Any cable!
Price: $24.00 for plastic versions, $40 for aluminum

Well, with the MOS securely attached to my bedside table, now there is.

Harnessing the power of magnets, MOS (Magnetic Organizing System) is a handy little puck that keeps your cables stuck to its surface and ready for use instead of lying listless and tangled on your desk or floor.

O2, HTC Initiative To Kill Off Bundled Phone Chargers Goes Well, 82% Don’t Miss Them

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Back in September, British carrier O2 teamed up with HTC and started an initiative to reduce the number of unwanted smartphone chargers in the United Kingdom. The carrier estimated that around 70% of handset buyers already had a charger that would be compatible with their new device, and so it started selling certain HTC devices without them.

O2 is now reporting that the initiative has been a big success. 82% of customers didn’t need to purchase a charger with their smartphone, the company claims, which surpasses its initial expectations for the effort.