Compaq may be picking up new customers soon with an ingenious method for extending the battery life of notebook computers, according to New Scientist magazine. A new keyboard design uses small coils and tiny permanent magnets embedded in each key to generate tiny pulses of electricity. These pulses build charge in a capacitor, which then releases accumulated energy to top up the notebook battery. Inventor Adrian Crisan says the device should help you get up to 10 hours life from a notebook battery. That’s as long as you keep on typing. Currently, six hours unplugged labour is about the limit.
Neurotic PCs
Do you work in an office full of people who can’t keep their grubby fingers off your personal computer? The Link-it Orbiter is a new South African invention for greater personal data security. It turns your computer into a neurotic wreck which refuses to function in your absence. To keep it reassured, you carry a small transmitter which constantly tells a receiver built into your PC that you’re around. Should you move away, the PC gets decidedly anally retentive about offering up its secrets, now reinforced by data encryption. At R400 from Automated Identification Technologies, , it’s a good option for people who easily forget passwords, or are careless with their credit card numbers.
Incomer
Vodacom has just announced a new product called the Incomer Vodago voucher. At R120, it further increases the flexibility and value of prepaid options. The voucher lasts a whole year, and entitles you to unlimited incoming calls, voicemail and calls to emergency numbers. Should you wish to make outgoing calls, you can purchase existing Vodago vouchers for 20, 100 or 400 minutes, which will now be valid as long as you have an Incomer voucher. In other words, your 100 minute outgoing call voucher will no longer be restricted to just three months; it will last as long as you have a valid Incomer voucher.