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Lithium-ion battery

Eneloop Music Booster to Power Your Guitar Effect Pedals

by Jay Garrett on December 29, 2009

Most performing musicians will know the pain of trailing power to the front of the stage in order to power their effects pedals.

Amps and the like are easy enough catered for but, especially if you have vocal duties as well, pedals are usually positioned by the front stage/monitor/mic area and the latest product released under the Sanyo ‘Eneloop’ brand, the ‘Music Booster’, should help.

It’s a rechargeable DC 9V battery unit specifically designed for music devices.

Sanyo is marketing the product as a long-lasting 9V power source for effects and the likes. These devices are usually powered by an AC adapter or a 9V dry-cell battery, both of which might not be available or likely to run out when you least want it to.

Sanyo claims their lithium-ion eneloop battery (3.7 V, 7.35 Ah) can be used in locations without electricity to power those devices for hours. The maximum output is 2,000mA from the two power outputs.

The standard usage times will obviously depend on what device is being used with the eneloop booster. They can be as high as 50 hours for analog effects or considerably lower for electronic drums.

I still reckon that this can only be a good idea.

It takes 3.5 hours to fully charge the Sanyo battery and it the eneloop music booster will go on sale (in Japan first) on March 4, 2010 for £69 not including Brit Tax.

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Japan and their robots – it’s a love affair. Just as long as they don’t take over!

This clever little humanoid comes thanks to a collaboration between various Japanese companies and institutions – the Nippon Institute of Technology, Harada Vehicle Design, ZMP and ZNUG Design.

If you’re thinking that ZMP is a familiar name – well, this droid is technically based on their open-source loving Nuvo robot.

The little fella is called the e-Nuvo WALK.

Power comes from a lithium ion battery which helps work the camera, a gyro sensor, an accelerometer, a distance sensor, an infrared sensor and a pyroelectric sensor in his body – best/oddly still he as a video projector in his body too!

He’s quite nimble as well having 21 joints (three in his head, six in each leg and three in each arm) and can naturally hear and talk. He stands 1.26m tall and weighs 15kg.

The bot runs on Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio and can be remote-controlled by Wi-Fi.

The idea behind this neat droid is for children to can learn about robotics through a real, finished product.

What is even cooler is that anyone can buy one – as long as they have $77,000.

Check out the CrunchGear vid of the bot in action :)

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e-Wolf e2 – The Electric Lambo

October 2, 2009 Click to read more →
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e-Wolf have dipped their toes into Italian supercar design with their latest plug ‘n’ play sports car.
The e2 seems to borrow heavily from the likes of the Lamborghini Reventón and Ferrari Enzo – which can never be a bad thing can it?
536 eco-friendly horses hit the road via one 134-horsepower electric motor at each corner [...]

Ay-up to the E-UP! New Volkswagen Has a Yokshire Accent [electric car]

September 16, 2009 Click to read more →
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Volkswagen’s E-Up!
Eeeeeeeee. I thought it was saying hello using Yorkshire dialect.
Apparently the German concept vehicle has stepped up its game and appeared at the Frankfurt Motor Show where VW also announced its launch date.
That date will be sometime in 2013 when Volkswagen hopes that the vehicle will become “the Beetle of the 21st [...]

Give the iPhone a Bone – Chew This One Over [Gamebone Pro]

June 23, 2009 Click to read more →
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So – it sounds like the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch will be getting “third party game accessories”.
If you didn’t believe what heard then you’re probably not going to believe what you’re seeing.
Yup - it’s the GameBone Pro controller, which aims to bring six buttons and an 8-way direction pad to your Apple handset and it’s thanks to Aussie [...]

Beanzawave – USB Powered Bean Heating Microwave

June 9, 2009 Click to read more →
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You know what it’s like.
You’re in the middle of a game or watching a film and suddenly require sustainance.
Mmmmmmmmm………beans will always be good and if you’ve got your PC kitted out with a toasting ‘hot bread drive’ – beans on toast right at your desk – BOSH!
That’s the dream.
That’s why Heinz is working on a [...]