Device Charges Your Phone, MP3 Player While You Run

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Now you have no excuse to wait to go on that run because your phone or iPod doesn’t have enough juice yet. The nPower PEG charges any device with a standard USB 2.0 while you’re on the go, allowing you to multi-task like you’ve never done before. Using your kinetic energy, you place the device vertically in your bag, and presto, you’re collecting a charge while you’re doing daily chores or out on that morning run. When you run out of battery, just plug your electronics into the PEG, and the device will transfer all the energy it has stored.

It’s not exactly the lightest thing around at around 11 ounces, and it isn’t small enough to fit in your pocket – it kind of looks like a baton that relay runners use. The current version has a really slow recharge rate – 26 minutes of walking provides approximately 1 minute of talk time on an iPhone 3 and 11 minutes of walking provides approximately 1 minute of talk time on an iPhone 2G (Does anyone even have one of these any more?). The iPod Nano fares a little bit better with one minute of walk time to one minute of listening time so you could theoretically listen to music while on your run. For a first generation device with many possibilities – think kinetic energy powered pacemakers or runner-powered cars, although that would probably need a whole horde of marathon participants to get enough charge to go anywhere – it’s a great step forward for people power. Until then, if you just need the PEG now and can’t wait for the technology to improve, the personal charging station is only going to set you back $159.

More on TIME.com:

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Man Raises Over $500,000 to Build iPod Watches

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