It's essentially a replacement power supply for notebook computers that can simultaneously charge a second electronic device (phone, PDA, etc.). They offer a wide variety of iTips (the iWhatever naming madness is apparently still in vogue) that plug into the charging port of a specific device and adjust the voltage level. Here's an example iTip:
The advertised benefit is that one "brick" can replace several plug-in power supplies that one might carry around. I'm wondering if it might also reduce the number of power supplies people leave plugged in. It also appears to be a relatively small switching power supply, so it could reduce standby power if it replaces linear power supplies. People ostensibly aren't buying this for energy reasons, but it will be interesting to see if this type of product really takes off. The photo above also shows that it won some sort of award at this year's CES.
1 comment:
Yes, I was just thinking today that this iGo adapter concept could be the basis of low-voltage power distribution in the home. The key is getting the right voltage and physical connector for each device. iGo seems to solve that problem.
My other thought is that the low-voltage wiring shouldn't be pulled with the normal high-voltage AC wires, but rather with the comm wiring (coax, phone, etc.), since these communication devices are mostly the ones that need low-voltage DC.
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