One charger to rule them all

Ok, so it’s not the sexiest item on our wishlist, but it’s still got to be near the top of our most wanted gadgets. A pad that you can chuck all your gear on for recharging without having to worry about the correct chargers would be a complete godsend. Apparently, it’s not an entirely new concept, but the SplashPad from Splashpower (a business wing of Cambridge University) will be the first product that lets you charge as many gadgets as you can fit onto the pad in one go.

The pad has been three years in the making, but the company thinks it may have finally cracked it now. An array of coils create a low-power magnetic field accross the surface of the pad, which the gadgets then pick up. The charge is sufficiently low-power not to affect things like credit cards or tapes lying nearby, but strong enough to charge a number of devices in one go. Unfortunately, you won’t just be able to sling your current gadgets onto the charger as mobiles, digital cameras, PDAs, etc will need to have a sheet of magnetic alloy that acts as a receiver attached to them. The coiled receiver is the size of a stick of chewing gum.

Splashpower is aiming to license the product to gadget manufacturers and claims that six companies are currently considering the product. Apparently, the promo material shows pictures of Nokia and Palm devices. If any companies go for the product we could see it available before the end of the year.

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