Mobile power stations, 3D printed food and smart bulbs

Your Very Own Power Station

It’s no secret that smartphones today eat through it’s battery like developing country eats up money. The old answers to the issues have always been bank loans, in the case of smartphones: power banks. While our new president figures out an alternative method to develop the country, German start-up eZelleron is busy developing it’s alternative to the smartphone power bank. Say hello to kraftwerk.

It charges your phone. It looks like a battery pack. You can carry it around and put it in your pocket like a battery pack. However kraftwerk is still not a battery pack. Instead it’s the world’s 1^st portable power station. As crazy as it sounds, kraftwerk actually runs on natural gas and converts into electricity to power your devices.  In other words, all you need to do is insert some lighter fuel into your kraftwerk and it’ll give your devices the power to run for weeks. Wait, weeks?! Yup, the folks at eZelleron claim that on a single charge, one kraftwerk can charge an iPhone 11 times. No matter which iPhone you take that’s an impressive number.

So how much does a kraftwerk cost? At a retail price of $149, it’s a big initial investment so while it’s a cool alternative to power banks, it’s not an affordable one. However, if you’re a person with a ton of devices interested in having one power station to rule them all, here’s kraftwerk’s kickstarter page.

3D Printing food

Is there anything a 3D printer can’t make? Actually…..there’s quite a lot due to the various factors involved. However, printing food is no longer one of them! At CES 2015, XYZ Printing unveiled their $2000 3D food printer which will be released later this year.

 However as Mashable notes, there are limitations as to how big a meal or snack you can print with this. Furthermore as CNET has pointed out, the printer can print food but it can’t cook it. Nonetheless, this food printer makes the process of making cookies and pizza undeniably easier. The only question is: can it beat the awesome creations by an actual talented chef? We’ll be happy and more than willing to be test subjects in the experiment to answer that question.

Smart light bulbs

What is the one thing that Sri Lanka currently has more than election posters? Light bulbs, you’ll find at least one of them in every room at any house, shop, office and don’t even get us started on the street lights. Yup light bulbs went viral a long time back and are all over the place. However light bulbs don’t do much besides sending darkness on a vacation. One company plans to change all that.

Recently at CES 2015, Shanghai based Sengel unveiled the latest in it’s line of LED Smart bulbs: the Snap. Priced at $199.99, the Snap is a light bulb that comes with a built in security camera, microphone and speaker and supports motion detection and video recording.

Interestingly this isn’t the 1^st time Sengel has produced some crazy light bulbs. Previously they’ve made a light bulb that boosts your WiFi signal and light bulbs with built in Bluetooth speakers. We’re pretty sure Sengel will be getting a visit from a spy agency soon due to a patent violation or two. If you’re planning to buy a Sengled light bulb, don’t forget to download the app to unlock the crazy extra features either on Android or on iOS.